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gravedigginbbydoll · 8 months

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Hawkins University : The Munson Edition

AN: Hey y'all!! Thank you all so so much for the love and support for this AU! I really appreciate it! This next chapter is a peak into Eddie's life and his coping with University. Also pls remember reblogs and comments are appreciated ! I love feedback!

→ cliches: friends to lovers, heavy use of nicknames instead of Y/N, we're all just struggling college kids, Music Tutor! Eddie, Resident Assistant! Reader, good girl x bad boy, instant connections, 'I don't trust most people but I trust you', 'are we friends or more?', and 'I can't believe you're such a slut that you have a special dtf drawer...'

→ warnings: mature topics, drinking and drug usage, strong language, bullying, mental health, eventual smut, minors dni

→ pairing: modern!college!eddie x college!fem!reader

Chapter 3

Eddie’s POV

Eddie sat across from you, in the rundown booth of Mr. Frosty’s. It was a burger joint older than the both of you and well loved by both the students of Hawkins and older working adults alike. Eddie had ordered a burger, with fries and a float to share. You had ordered chicken strips, causing Eddie to scoff at you. Burgers and soft serve were what Mr. Frosty’s were known for, but it seemed like you were sheepish about eating in front of him anyways, so he didn’t push.

Eddie almost felt embarrassed about how carelessly he was putting away his burger, but he was starving, so he ignored the feeling. He hadn’t missed how your lips twitched up in a smile as he ate the thing in what was probably 4 large bites before sighing and slumping in the booth. You were mostly quiet, and Eddie had been at first way too focused on his burger, but after that was completed, he was able to just slowly eat fries and talk to you.

You intrigued him. It wasn’t every day he got to really meet someone outside his circle with his friends. I mean, sure, there were the parties he occasionally dealed at and would pick up a pretty person to release some stress and tension, but outside of that, his circle was fairly small. Plus, something about you drew him in. Nothing felt too weird and he didn’t feel as self conscious as usual.

“So, graduating early, huh?,” Eddie asked, grabbing for a fry before dipping it in the soft serve overflowing in the float.

You nodded, grabbing for a fry and nibbling thoughtfully. “Yeah. I have that timed loan.”

Eddie nodded, sipping on the float while contemplating that. He had considered that exact loan but had preferred to work on the side while having his scholarship to cut down on costs. He figured it would probably be amazing to graduate within the time frame it allowed in order to have the entire sum of money forgiven. However, he’d rather just risk it with other forms of financial aid due to his… track record with graduating in the past. Sure he had loans, but they weren’t timed. He just sort of figured his suffering from working on campus during summers and then also working private music lessons would assist in paying back the mountain of debt he was building.

“What about you?,” You questioned, pulling Eddie from his thoughts.

“Huh?,” Eddie furrowed his brows, cocking his head in confusion.

You laughed a bit, smiling at Eddie. He felt his face heat up at your smile. Damn, she’s cute.

“I mean, why are you taking a beginner’s guitar course? You clearly know how to play, Mr. Rockstar,” You teased, swiping a fry through the ice cream now dripping down the sides of the tall frosted glass. You ate while looking at Eddie, your eyes sparkling with amusement and now appearing less sheepish.

Eddie felt a smile tug at his lips, a flush clearly building under his skin. “How do you know? What if I am just a really fast learner?,” He argued playfully, pointing a fry at you with narrowed eyes.

You laughed, the sound igniting a sort of glee in Eddie. He wanted more. “Puh-lease. I heard from the professor that you teach private guitar lessons. Bet you play at The Hideout too, huh?,” You teased while referencing the ever popular venue for budding musicians near campus, raising a brow as you ate the slightly soggy and ice cream coated fry from earlier.

Eddie felt his whole face heat up to the tips of his ears, his head hanging a bit to use his hair to cover his red cheeks. That contagious and sweet laugh graced his ears again as you giggled, shaking your head as you held your side and tried to hide your smile.

“That obvious, huh?,” Eddie asked, a bit sheepish.

You nodded a bit, fighting back the giggled clearly and faking a serious expression. Eddie felt his own lips get tugged in a smile and his head clear. This had been surprisingly easy. You were easy. Something felt… different. Maybe it was because you hadn’t seen the raw and jagged edges of him yet, or because you weren’t there to get anything out of him other than to learn. Usually people only came to Eddie for weed or sex. But you were here, just offering to buy him a burger as thanks for helping you learn his favorite instrument.

“Look, I’ll take it as a compliment that you think my shitty band is rockstars, Bug,” He teased, sipping some more of the float down as you shook your head, smiling at him.

“Of course it’s a band!”

Eddie threw a fry at you, eyebrows furrowed despite his smile and laughter.

“Hey!”

The two of you giggled the night away and Eddie felt a little of the weight on his shoulders lighten. Maybe a new friendship was just what he had needed.

Eddie sat in his apartment, staring at his laptop. He had submitted an assignment earlier that week and was now staring at his grade, his heart sinking and his hands shaking.

A C. He had gotten a C.

He worked tirelessly over the project. Staying up late to figure out the mixing and different programs he was expected to use to produce. He had cried to Nancy about maybe turning out just like everyone said he would. She had assured him that he was worth more than his grades, but also that he wasn’t a failure.

But here it was. The single letter threatening his scholarship, Uncle Wayne’s pride in his nephew finally attending college at age 20, only to last a year and a half. The thing caused him to shake and left him wanting to rip out his hair.

Eddie sighed, closing the laptop. He read over the feedback over and over, all of it the same. All telling him that he needed to work on the quality of his mixing, branch out, and be more creative. Eddie’s frustration grew with every criticism and issue. He felt like the fire in him for music was burning out. He was tired. He just wanted to disappear.

Eddie looked up at the clock on the dingy microwave he and Steve shared and felt a wave of relief. It was almost time for the party. The party that would be full of booze and drugs (provided by the courtesy of Eddie himself). Sure, Eddie would be selling, but he could also lose himself in the numbness of the alcohol as soon as he made a few hundred, which wasn’t hard at a party like this. Maybe he’d even catch a girl.

Eddie stood up, waltzing off to the bathroom to prep his supplies and himself. He’d leave the worrying for later.

Eddie arrived at the Sigma Nu house around 10 pm, the time he knew where everyone would be itching for shrooms or weed and already be pretty buzzed by the strange concoction of jello shots and Sigma Slush (the frats version of jungle juice, only turned into an slushy consistency to beat the heat of the bodies piled into the house). He adjusted his sleeveless muscle tee, his tattoos out on display. He felt a tug of worry over whether his eye makeup and liner was too much, but pushed it down with a confident stride into the packed room. He strode back towards the kitchen, taking a red solo cup and dipping it into the tub container full of icy alcohol, pulling the cup out when he was satisfied with how much was in it. He took the cup out towards the back porch, his usual selling spot among the picnic table near the shadow of the bushes.

He smirked when he spotted a group of people already seated, clearly itching for a hit. Guess this night wouldn’t be a total fail.

Eddie was significantly gone by the time he noticed the one and only Chrissy Cunningham walking towards him. She was one of the most well known people at Hawkins University, and viewed as ‘Hawkins’ Local Sweetheart’. She was on the dance team and a member of a sorority that boasted the hottest girls on campus. Why would she head over to Eddie to grab some weed?

Eddie sat up, eyes squinting as he glanced towards the shy blonde. She was looking around nervously, a blush clear across her cheeks. She walked towards the table, sitting across from Eddie. Eddie felt his mind swirl with thoughts and disbelief at the Chrissy Cunningham sitting by him. She tucked a stray strand of light strawberry blonde hair behind her ear, smiling timidly.

“Hey…I’m Chrissy. I’m in your English Lit class. I just wanted to come by for…I dunno…a hit? I’ve never done this before,” She confessed shyly, her timid gaze and baby blues causing Eddie to get flustered and blush.

Eddie was a simple guy. He liked men, women, and individuals of all sorts. He had a reputation for giving people a good time overall, and not pressuring others into a relationship. However, he had yet to experience someone as sweet and well loved as Chrissy. Plus, he couldn’t help but notice the soft pinks and blues she wore, her personality and style a clear contrast to his own. It made him excited.

“Yeah, I know. It’s alright. You want an edible instead? It’s easier… and for you, a special discount,” Eddie winked, his words slurring together. Chrissy blushed and nodded, pointing to the knock off cosmic brownie Eddie had used concentrated infused butter in. He grinned, sliding it over and noting Chrissy’s lip bite.

She looked up at him, her big blue eyes drawing him in as she bit a plush pink lip. “We could share…right?”

Eddie grinned, halving the edible with a plastic knife and winking at the blushing girl in front of him, noting her squirming and slight giggle as she daintily ate the treat.

Oh yeah. He was for sure getting lucky.

Eddie sat in the booth at Mr. Frosty’s, slumped against the cracking vinyl seats and a pair of sunglasses over his clearly bloodshot eyes. He had split the edible with Chrissy, who ranted to Eddie over her latest breakup with local douchebag and football star Jason Carver. Afterward, the two had danced and grabbed drinks, bodies flush against each other and Eddie growing harder by the second. Chrissy had kissed him, all feverish and desperate, as he rushed to pull her into the closest room. He made sure she was sober enough to consent and understand what she was doing. It was good…great even. But something about her finishing, quickly zipping up her skirt and pulling on her cardigan, waving bye to a still shirtless Eddie and thanking him, hurt. He understood that she probably was excited by the idea of hooking up with someone who was the total opposite of Jason, but Eddie couldn’t help but feel like a toy.

Afterwards, he went home and passed out, mind swirling with dark thoughts of his impending doom and his obvious failing grades. He immediately thought of you and the texts you’d exchanged back and forth, the small sparking friendship you were building. He decided to ask if you two could grab lunch. You had texted back almost immediately that you would be there as soon as you finished your desk shift.

Eddie went ahead and ordered fries and an over the top shake, something ridiculous like banana chocolate cream whatever. He could care less. He was sipping on the milkshake and munching away on fries when you slid into the booth across from him, a polo with the University name on it and your expression a bit confused while also slightly amused at Eddie’s state. He groaned.

“Look, just say-”

“You look like you stepped straight out of Weekend At Bernie’s,” You giggled out, your light laugh making Eddie wince slightly with his headache, but soothing his hurt nonetheless.

“I partied a little too hard,” He joked, smiling at you weakly, holding his head in his hands and sighing.

“And you decided to meet up at the best diner in town to soothe your hangover?,” You joked, cocking a brow at Eddie.

He felt his cheeks heat and shrugged and then glared at you, confused at your attire.

“What’s with the polo?”

You groaned, covering your face and digging through your backpack you brought to grab at something. You pulled out a hoodie, despite the weather outside not yet reaching fall’s familiar chill.

“I was at work, okay? I forgot that I was still wearing it…” You grumbled, snatching a fry from Eddie.

Eddie furrowed his brows and fought off a bit of a smile. Of course you worked on campus, you were an exemplary hard worker and a perfect little academic. “Wait, you work on campus too? Where? My roommate and a few of my friends also work on campus.”

You mumbled, your embarrassment clear across your face as you looked away from Eddie.

“Hm?”

“I’m a Resident Assistant, okay? A professional narc. An RA. I live in a dorm,” You huffed out, clearly embarrassed by your position in comparison to the cool and rebellious alternative nerd that was Eddie Munson. A wicked grin grew on his face, his headache subsiding slowly at this amusing information. “No way. You? Didn’t you tell me your favorite pastime with friends is Wine Uno?,” He chuckled, cocking his head at you. He was mostly teasing, as you had shown yourself to be a bit of a rule follower and worrywart, but occasionally you revealed that you could let loose.

You sighed, looking at him. “Look, it pays for housing, I don’t have to have a roommate, and frankly, I don’t get people in trouble unless they decide to be idiots. Then I have to follow the rules. Plus, I’m of age. I can drink,” You protested, throwing a fry at him weakly, which he had caught in his mouth somehow, clearly feeling more chipper now at your embarrassment.

Eddie smirked, putting his chin in his hands, his elbows against the table.

“Please tell me more.”

He was feeling a tug at his mouth and his heart felt lighter. Hanging out with you was just what he needed.

Taglist: @josephquinnsfreckles @corrodedcoffincumslut @kirisuteg0men @bebe07011 @amira0303 @vintagehellfire

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chaotic-on-main · 1 year

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No Regrets | CanonAU One-Shot

☾ Pairings ➼ There really isn't one in this, but we all know where it'll lead yeah?

☾ Content/Warnings ➼ underground Levi, low-key violence

☾ Author's note ➼ Uhhh my cute aggression might have come out in this one. To be honest, part of me is like, "take this idea and make it into an enemies to friends to lovers fic" and I feel like that's just the devil talking right now because I'm not even done with Unspoken Words at the moment. Time will tell. Also pretty much all of the dialogue and actions, minus the ones made by the OC, are taken from Gun Snark's manga No Regrets. I'm sure y'all are familiar with it. I just wanted to see what would happen if I placed a character to be canon compliant. So uh. Here? Enjoy?

☾ Word Count ➼ ~1.9k

“Erwin, are you sure about this?” You whisper to your blonde-haired leader as you, him, and your other squad mate, Miche wade through the crowd. The Underground, as always, reeked of dank mildew and smoke. Mid-afternoon proved to be the busiest time of day as merchants yelled over at each other and patrons alike.

“Trust me.” Erwin affirms, as if that would be enough to explain why you and the rest of your team were down here in the first place. You glance over to Miche for any sort of further explanation, but he just shrugs at you and continues on Erwin’s heels. A sudden crash piques your attention and you’re quick to swivel your head in the direction of the noise. There’s a barrel containing some sort of purplish liquid falling to the ground as a merchant shoots off his gun.

“Damn it!” He shouts. Then someone else is slammed into the ground with a hard smack, and you hear him wheezing as the air in his lungs is forced out of his chest by a short figure standing on top of it. He’s in a long dark cloak with the hood down. You only see the back of his head, a wispy black haircut with an undercut creeping up his neck.

“Erwin, is thi-” You glance at your Erwin with a raised brow.

The culprit in charge of all the commotion is already running off. No, not running. He’s flying off. Along with two other cloaked figures trailing close behind. Your ears perk at the familiar whirring of ODM gear. The leader twists his head and even from far away, you can feel his hard stare on your little group. When you look back at Erwin, he has a small smile playing on his lips.

“Let’s go.”

As always there were no explanations, only orders. The wind on your face would have been welcoming had you not been enclosed in rock in all directions. You find yourself zipping through the buildings and stalactites. Three figures zoom around in front of you attempting to escape your chase. The one you saw mere moments earlier, the leader you assume, circles around a large stalactite in a maneuver that for those who were not trained properly would have had difficulty following. Fortunately for you and the rest of the team, you've been in the scouting regiment for a while. Without any hesitation, you clip yourself on to the rock and circle around as well with grace. He was doubling back. Smart.

“Split up. Miche, Astrid, with me.” You grunt in response and continue to tail Erwin’s billowing cape. The rest of your squad members vanish down alleys that you just now realize two of the three hunted had disappeared in. You squint as you notice the one you currently follow zip down another alley up ahead.

“You two, go. I’ll cut ahead.” Erwin orders at you before flying off to your left. You tighten your grip on the controller and speed up. Miche disappears behind another wall and then you’re alone. For a moment, it’s just you flying through the alley with nothing but the wind roaring in your ears. Then, you spot a flash of dark fabric in your peripheral and you twist your body accordingly to follow. When you turn the corner, you see him. There he was with his hood down and as he walked with his back turned to you in a casual manner.

“Hah! Got you!” You shout before tucking yourself into your body and slamming into him. Your eyes widen as you notice he had already pulled his arm up to guard from your attack. His eyes flash with something and you notice a moment of hesitation, but it wasn’t fast enough for you as he grabs you from the back and flips you over to slam into the ground. You choke as you feel the air out of your chest escape quickly from the impact. You groan and slowly sit up in time to see Erwin come from above in full force. His surprise attack grants him the opportunity to fling the mysterious man into the wall next to him. Miche lands behind him out of nowhere and gives you a quick glance.

“You okay, Astrid?”

“Yeah,” you cough again. “Yeah, I’m fine, just winded. Jeez dude, you didn’t have to throw me so hard.” You force yourself to stand even though your back felt like it was on fire. You attempt to stretch out the pain but end up wincing from it instead. Throwing a thumbs up in Miche’s direction though, he nods in response then looks back at Erwin.

“You brought him down, Erwin?” There’s a silent pause.

Then, “No.” And as quick as lightning, the man that had flipped you over was now running towards your leader with speed you’ve never seen before, holding some sort of pick in his hand. Erwin is too slow to pull his sword up to block but luckily Miche was able to step in quickly, using his blade to protect Erwin's face.

“Stop! Look around you!” Miche shouts out.

“Leggo, you bastard!” A feminine voice shouts out. You turn your head to see your other squad mates with two people in their clutches.

“Don’t waste your strength, Isabel.” The girl, Isabel, is actively squirming to try and escape while the one who just spoke stumbles ahead with a disappointed glare.

“Squad leader, are you all right?”

“Yes, you both did well.” Erwin gives you and Miche a nod and with that you step over to the detainee and grip his bicep tightly, making sure to lock his wrists behind him with a wooden board first. He shoots you a seething look but doesn’t shake you off. If daggers could form from his silver eyes, they would surely kill you on the spot. In response, you give him the sweetest smile you can muster before dragging him over and forcing him on his knees next to his other friends who have been forced to do the same. He hits the ground with a grunt. You stand next to Miche behind them in case they decide to flee.

“I have some questions to ask you.” Erwin steps up in front of them. “Where did you get your hands on this?” He holds up the controller grip. Nothing but silence. You eye the trio in front of you, at Isabel’s choppy red hair and the other boy’s sandy-blonde. You can’t see their expressions from where you stood but you could feel the rage radiating off their bodies.

Erwin continues, “Your vertical maneuvering skills were excellent. Who taught you?” Stark silence again. Erwin’s eyes shift over to the raven-haired man. “You are the leader, right? Have you ever received military training?” Nothing. You huff impatiently and stare up at Erwin. Nothing was going to get through them with just words. His blue eyes shift to you quickly with a warning look of 'don't'. You roll your eyes but say nothing. He glances back down to his captives.

“That is the face of a man… who wants to kill me and escape.” Erwin states. He looks up to you and Miche when he says next, “I’d like to avoid any rough treatment if I can.”

You take a moment to glance at your squad mate, but he just gestures forwards, as if to say ‘all yours’. You grin at him happily then in a flash your hand’s knitting into the man’s dark hair and you shove him down into a puddle that just so happened to be there. His head hits the wet ground with a splash, him no longer on his knees but now laying on his stomach. You hear him grumble as he forces his head to the side so he can look up at Erwin’s dark gaze.

“I’ll ask again. Where did you learn vertical maneuvering?” The man’s hard glare matches Erwin’s, but he still says nothing. You tighten your grip in his hair and are about to push his face in the murky water even more when the girl named Isabel shouts out.

“We didn’t learn it from anyone! You think we’re gonna let a civil servant push us around?!”

“We figured it out so we could survive in this dump! Anyone who doesn’t know what sewage tastes like couldn’t understand!” The other captive yells, a cutting glare aimed at Erwin. You can’t help but snort at the insinuation that you’ve never tasted shit in your life. Quite the assumption of theirs, you think. The head you had clenched in your palms shifts so they can stare up at you. Now dark gray eyes bored into yours with malice. You can’t help but smirk down at him.

“Yes? Want to say something?” You taunt him. You’re met with a sneer, but he still says nothing.

“My name is Erwin Smith. What are your names?” When no one answers, you yank the captive’s head up with a jerk but not before pushing his face deeper into the puddle as you do so. He comes up, sputtering at the dirty water he had accidentally let into his mouth.

“I applaud your determination. But keep it up and we’ll move on to your comrades.” Erwin’s voice is stern. When you look over to the other two still on their knees, your squadmates have their blades loosely up against their throats.

“If you’re gonna do it, do it!!” Isabel screams, eyes narrowed over in your direction.

“You bastard.” A deep voice grumbles from below your grip.

“Ah, he speaks.” You tease again. He doesn’t acknowledge your comment, instead glaring at your leader who is now stepping closer to him.

“What is your name?” Erwin asks, his voice now soft.

“…It’s Levi.” You let go of Levi’s now soaked hair and take a step back. He takes this moment to sit himself back up on his knees, his head bowed slightly to keep water from dripping into his face as he looks up. Erwin takes another step forward and then pushes himself down onto the ground on one knee so that he’s level with Levi.

“Levi. Would you make a deal with me?”

“Deal…?”

“I won’t ask about your crimes. In return, you will lend me your strength, and join the survey corps.” You whirl around to face Erwin with your mouth agape.

“Erwin, wha- are you sure?” His gaze shifts to you and nods. You press your lips together into a thin line. You knew you were down here for scouting reasons, but you had no idea that it was for this.

“If I refuse?” Levi grumbles, his shock mirroring yours.

“I turn you over to the military police. Considering your crimes, I don’t think you or your comrades can expect decent treatment.” Erwin nods over to Levi’s friends. There’s silence as Levi considers this. You notice a shared look between him and the sandy-haired one.

“Choose whichever path you wish.” Erwin states with finality. You see Levi gritting his teeth as he shoots you a cold stare. You give him a playful smile in return, despite your reservations about this plan.

“Very well. I’ll join the survey corps.”

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sithstrings · 9 days

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a little blurb of my oc and tech talking about Phee and life in general.

Its also on ao3 here

Hope y'all enjoy :)

Auren joined her squad in Cid’s office, tuning out most of what they were saying. Whatever mission Cid would send them on Tech would brief her on all the details over. However, when she stepped inside Cid’s office, another woman was in there as well.

“Well, well, well. The space lugs decided to finally show up,” Cid complained.

“Better late than dead, I always say,” the woman added. Her features were rich, and her clothing seemed that of someone who was on the go. Very practical.

“And who are you?” Hunter asked.

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” she asked in return. “So, this is the top team you’ve been talking about? The rogue clones on the run from the Empire, huh? How juicy.”

“You told her?” Hunter spoke up.

“Don’t get twitchy,” Cid defended, in an unthreatened tone. “Phee’s a friend. She’s the most trustworthy pirate I know.” “Is that supposed to be comforting?” Hunter asked. “A bit of a paradox, huh?” Auren whispered to Tech, who wasn’t paying attention.

“Aren’t clones supposed to look alike? So much for quality control,” Phee scoffed. Pointing to each of them she noted “This one’s too big. This one’s too small. This one doesn’t even look like a clone. This one’s got a face tattoo. Yeah, real subtle.”

Auren knew that all too well. She wasn’t a clone like they were, after all. Genetically, she was completely different. Auren noticed Phee’s expression shift to one of interest, as she looked to Tech, who was sort of hidden behind Wrecker.

“Oh, hey now,” she smiled, “Got a name, brown eyes?”

“Tech. However, the phenotypic eye color for all clones is brown. Iris pigmentation was not affected by our mutat-“

“Well, as fascinating as this has been,” Phee cut him off, “I have places to be.” And like that, she promptly left.

Auren shared a look with Echo, who caught that interaction too. She put a hand over her mouth to hide her smile. But then a sad thought entered her mind.

Crosshair would’ve never lived it down had he seen a woman flirt with his brother like that.

Auren had always noticed, during the war, that Crosshair and Tech had a sort of unspoken bond. Crosshair was the one who observed what Tech would do at the computer, and in some instances could replicate it himself. Similarly, it was undeniable that Tech was a pretty good shot. Crosshair would never miss an opportunity to make a playful jab at his brothers, but Tech got the least of it. They seemed to understand that they both expressed their feelings quite differently from each other. Tech was the first to acknowledge that Crosshair’s decision to stay apart from them was something he had to respect, even if he knew Auren was heartbroken by it.

As soon as they were back on the ship and everyone was off doing their own thing Auren joined Tech in the cockpit as he tinkered with something on his data pad.

“What you working on, brown eyes?” Auren asked with a small grin. Tech didn’t respond. “Uh…Tech?”

“Yes? Did you require something?” He asked finally looking up from his data pad.

“Nope. Just wondering what my old pal brown eyes is up to.” Auren said, leaning back in the chair, putting her legs up on the controls.

“I was looking at possible artifacts that could be retrieved from Dooku’s War chest,” he said looking back down at his data pad. “Some are quite fascinating.”

“I’m sure they are,” Auren said. “Tell me about one of them.”

“Well, I thought this artifact hailing from Balmorra thought to be thousands of years old was quite fascinating, particularly because there were very few made, each one of them different,” Tech began.

“What’s it look like?” Auren asked, leaning in to see what he was looking at on the data pad. It looked to be a goblet of some sort.

“It appears to be a goblet of some sort. Each one has different inscribing on it, in what is thought to be an unknown language. But I think I could decipher it given the time and resources,” Tech detailed.

“What do you think it would say? Are the other ones transcribed already?”

“I’m not sure. The others aren’t transcribed either, and many of them were proven fakes or have gone missing. But the general idea is that it belonged to someone who the locals of Balmorra treated as a prophet, but my suspicion is that they were just force sensitive in some capacity, if not fully a jedi or even a Sith.”

“Seems like something that girl Phee would like. She said she was a ‘liberator of ancient wonders,’ right?” Auren asked, getting to the subject she really wanted to ask Tech about. Not that she didn’t find the subject already interesting and saw it as a moment of bonding.

Tech hesitated. “Perhaps…” Something in his expression changed slightly. “I’m…not quite sure I would trust that it would not end up on the black market, however. An artifact like that…well, it either belongs in a museum or back on its home planet.”

“I agree. Although, I think you can trust her,” Auren reassured.

“Why is that? We’ve barely even spoken to her,” Tech asked.

“I didn’t say we could, I think you could, brown eyes,” Auren smiled, widening her eyes a bit at him. Tech frowned. Auren just sighed, still smiling.

“I get the feeling this whole ‘brown eyes’ debacle is one of those instances where something goes over my head.”

“Echo and Wrecker already started bugging you about it, huh?” Auren asked. Tech nodded. “Do you want me to give it to you straight?”

“Yes. I don’t see why not,” Tech replied, putting his data pad down and giving Auren his full attention.

“She was flirting with you, Tech,” Auren let out a small giggle, making a whoosh sound moving her hand over her head.

“And it went right over my head. Great,” Tech sighed, rolling his eyes and crossing his arms.

“I’m sorry, Tech. Don’t beat yourself up about it. We’re just giving you a hard time is all,” Auren tried to comfort him.

“It’s fine. I don’t mind that part at all. I do the same to Wrecker quite often. It’s just that…” He trailed off. Auren looked at him with intent, giving him permission to continue. “I suppose sometimes it is difficult to live with how I process the world. I often wonder if some things would have turned out differently had I seen them like everyone else does. It can be quite…isolating, I guess,” Tech admitted, looking down at the ground. Auren’s face filled with sympathy instantly. She took his hand in hers and felt him twitch at the contact.

“I had no idea you felt that way, Tech. But I promise you, you’re not alone. Things going over your head here and there is nothing to beat yourself up for.”

“I know. It’s just…frustrating. Especially with stuff like this. If I had known, perhaps I would have acted differently.”

“Acted differently? Tech, are you trying to say you think she’s pretty?” Auren smiled.

“I suppose so,” He admitted, “I guess I just don’t think of…that sort of thing as an option for myself.”

Auren remembered that same thought. She had it with Crosshair. He had it with her.

“I thought the same thing with Crosshair,” Auren said quietly.

“And in the end, you wound up hurt.”

“I did. But Tech, you deserve those things too. Even if they’re temporary and they end up hurting us it is worth it.”

“I guess I never thought of it that way,” Tech said, “Is that how you still feel about Crosshair?”

“Every day. A part of me feels like he died. Like he didn’t choose the Empire over me. But I know that to some degree, it wasn’t his fault. Or that he’s just being himself-wanting to fight to prove something that you and I already know. And you taught me that it’s okay to not agree with a decision, but to still understand it. You did.”

“I see. And for the record, I am still on your side with the issue,” Tech added. “I can imagine how it may have felt easier just to stay with the Empire, but I admire your commitment to this path,”

“Really, Tech?” Auren laughed a bit. “Well that means a lot coming from you, Mr. ‘Brains of the Operation.’”

“I know that was a rhetorical ‘really’ but yes, I think it sets a good example, especially with someone as young and impressionable as Omega along with us.”

Auren squeezed his hand with hers. Auren never really told Omega about the exact details of their relationship, because that would be weird. But the way that she and Crosshair acted the last time they saw each other on Kamino…well Omega was smart enough to figure it out.

“I appreciate that, Tech. More than you know, honestly,” Auren said. It was always nice to know she was needed. “I’ll tell you what. If there’s ever something that goes over your head again, or you just need to talk through something, I’m here for you.”

“I will…gladly take you up on that offer,” Tech replied. Auren let go of his hands. “Thank you for understanding.”

“Of course. Brown Eyes.” Auren replied, a wide grin on her face. Tech’s small smile was rare, but it made his whole face glow. She stood up, patting his shoulder as she left to go take care of other tasks in the ship and let Tech return to his research.

#tech tbb #the bad batch #crosshair x oc #tech x phee #techphee #phee genoa #tech is alive #star wars tbb #clone force 99 #the bad batch oc #tbb oc

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winterwerewolf · 1 year

Text

Coming to terms with being a man.

I am certainly not the first to bring it up and I will not be the last but: The hardest part for me personally as a trans man is not the fact that I experience severe gender dysphoria, it's the fact that being male/masc or a man has been so severely demonized by queer people that were supposed to be my friends, my found family, that it steered me right back into an even bigger closet for 8 years. Yeah. 8 fucking years. I knew I was a man when I was 12 years old and aside from the obvious hostility I faced because of garbage cishet people it was even worse through non-cis, non-het and non-cishet people.

I see others like me trying to raise awareness for this issue only to be shut down as someone who "whines and bitches" or even "tries to separate and divide the community". Every time an issue is brought up by trans men we are accused of "looking for issues where there are none", we are accused of "attempting separatism" and accused of "stealing other peoples spotlight" by OTHER queer people no less and all of this gets sort of covered up. As if queer people cannot be evil. As if being queer and specifically being trans somehow absolves you from being a massive bitch and asshole towards other trans people.

You do not have to punch me in the face to make clear you want me to face/experience violence. You don't have to say "I hate trans men in particular" for me to know that you do. When I found the Hashtag Transmisandry and Transandrophobia I cried tears of joy because there was finally a group of other men and mascs who have very similar experiences to mine. I am thanking y'all on my knees and kissing your hands for being brave enough to share these awful experiences even when faced with hostility and scrutiny and even though retelling also means reliving them to some extent. My point here is: Queer people who are hostile towards me have always had this weird victimhood complex of "I was affected by the patriarchy therefore it is my right to hate men." When I dared to point out that I also have experiences with the patriarchy (as does every member of society btw, there are no people unaffected, they are just affected in different ways) I was told to shut up and sit down because I could not possibly understand what it feels like to be raised in a misogynistic society. As if I am not viewed as a woman by transphobes and alike. As if I was not raised "like a girl". As if I had no fucking first hand experience and still do because I do not "pass".

I was there in the boat with you and you decided that, no, actually I never fucking was because what, it challenges your narrative about trans men experiencing zero oppression?

Anyways, this is long and ramble-y enough as it is so to finalize this emotional mess: Fuck TERFs, TIRFs and Baeddals or whatever y'all decide to name your cute little hateful-group next for making me feel like I have no voice, no right to love myself, like I am somehow rotten through and through. Fuck you so hard.

#misandry #transmisandry #transandrophobia #transphobia in queer spaces exists even from other trans people and I am tired of pretending that it doesn't because it is not #expressed through someone punching me in the face and calling me a slur #other transpeople can be transphobic and it does not reduce itself to internalized transphobia #this is not a goddamn jab at transfemmes btw so fuck outta here w your “just say you hate transwomen lol” and your bad faith argument #a lot of people that were shitting on me for being a man were non-binary or otherwise gnc #lets not pretend being queer makes you inherently good and supportive of other queer people aight

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justicefanged · 5 months

Note

"Well now, who is this?" Though he had approached the young man with goodie-bag in hand, the moment Sigurd laid eyes on the puppy he had become distracted, depositing the goodie-bag into Linus's hands to kneel to the dog's level, smooshing the dog's cheeks affectionately. "I had seen that we would be expecting a four-legged friend, but I hadn't expected such a good boy!"

(The bag is of a plush sapphire velvet with braided gold drawstrings. If he were tempted to peek inside, he would find the festive goodies of the typical Chalphy holiday season: roasted nuts coated in a caramelized warming spice mixture, a hand-pulled twisted peppermint stick, decadent candied orange peel, and a holiday cracker to be pulled later with little knick-knacks within.)

It took a moment of this for Sigurd to recall that he'd also a human guest to attend to, and he rose, laughing, to clap a warm hand on Linus's shoulder. "Welcome, my friend – we have met before, have we not?" Winking, Sigurd recalled the moments he had seen Linus as a blur during trick-or-treating, when he had barreled to his door and snatched handfuls of candy in truly spectacular fashion. "But now you are not here merely as friend, are you? Or, perhaps you are – you are close with my niece, are you not?"

Sigurd's eyes flicked across the young man in assessment; built hardy and strong, with large calloused hands. But it wasn't the ability to destroy that made a man; it was the ability to create.

Sigurd smiled. "I hope that the two of you enjoy the party. Ah! Apologies - " He knelt, rubbing the pooch's ears vigorously, "The three of you!"

Linus barked out a laugh as the goodie bag is handed off to him, and then he's almost completely forgotten in favor of the puppy that had been padding alongside him. He didn't really mind -- after all, puppy's had this effect on a lot of people -- and it gave him a second to poke around in the bag. He pulled out the peppermint stick with a noise of appreciation and promptly shoved it into his mouth; it really wasn't meant to be eaten in such a way, and was sort of awkwardly placed in his mouth, but all it took were a few well placed crunches and that was all sorted.

Honk is ecstatic to be here and get attention right off the bat! The puppy is quick to scramble closer when Sigurd kneels down, doing his best to slobber over the hands that are squishing at his face. His whole body is being wiggled by the forceful wagging of his tail, the little green and red bowtie that has been incorrectly tied around his neck looks like it'll come loose any second.

"Figured it'd be good to let y'all know 'bout him." A rare instance of foresight on Linus' part. "Think we did -- ya know, bit of a fast an' furious first meetin'," he grinned, "Nice to know that first candy run wasn't a fluke!"

At least some rich folks didn't have a problem with sharing their good food around.

Linus swallows at the question -- ah, minty fuck -- coughing a little. "Definitely more than friends, but I dunno if we're at the...y'know...Goin' at her comfort. Whatever, uh--"

Wow, that was weird and awkward, and more than a little embarrassing.

"'M mostly here for, like...if 'Tena needs a quick exit. I want her to have a good time, if she can. You're her family, yeah? That's...important, even if it's also messy and complicated, and a major fuckin' pain in the ass sometimes," Linus huffed out, stashing his opened goodie bag into one of the pockets of his jacket to keep his hands busy.

He was lucky that his brother was alive, that his sister was here. But there were others that were missing. Blood and chosen family alike. There would be no more gatherings like this. No stupid jokes told over cheap ale. No more songs or stories shared by firelight and dancing shadow on sturdy walls that kept cold winds at bay.

Linus wasn't going to have that sort of connection anymore with those of his family that were gone now. But Altena had a chance. Whether it turned out good or bad, he wanted her to be able to make that choice.

"It's a party, what can go wrong?" Linus tries to recover the utter embarrassing sappiness that had been this greeting so far, forcing out a laugh that was too loud. "I'm sure we'll have a blast!"

Honk, who had been exceptionally disappointed that he was not the focus of attention anymore, had been clumsily dancing around the two men's feet while yapping away. He almost bowled himself over in a rampant return of excitement when Sigurd returned to rub at his ears, oversized puppy paws making uncoordinated attempts to hold on to such good scritches.

#toabaldrsbounty #[bless sigurd me too buddy]

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quirkle2 · 2 years

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WAIT WAIT if wars is exiled from his own home ,,,, the amount of dread. he would feel when LU is over and the found family is unfounded my god . like yes, he still wouldn't regret it bc it happened over him standing up for ledge, but that opens up the problem of homelessness and not to mention the spiral he'd probably go down from losing the family he's grown so used to having by his side. from how you've said it, im guessing he really has nobody to lean back on in his own time. i can see him digging his own way out and still finding a way to live happily but the way you've set it up makes at least the first few months for wars post-LU hurt and i am here for it <33

WIGGLES WIGGLES RUNS AROUND IN CIRCLES i actually have . an lu ending established in my head. i wont ramble abt it here cuz i don't wanna stray from ur ask but could y'all possibly indulge me sometime and let me ramble abt the Literal Best Case Scenario that will indeed give wars a very happy ending . it's my beloved ranch au and i cherish it deeply looks at u all like a pathetic little wet dog that's begging for scraps

BUT IF UR HERE FOR HURT,,,, i think i have some. in my head this is sort of a What If scenario—horrible-no-good-terrible-worst-case scenario—cuz i'm a little bitch boy who can't handle unfounded family and ill sob for three days straight if it ever happens for real but i can destroy him in hypothetical scenarios . for the funsies

(warning for unfounding the found family . and also additional stuff in the tags)

he Would be homeless and honestly he'd be damn hard-pressed to find any inn or business who would allow him service. imagine: he's just said goodbye to the chain and he's an absolute wreck—emotionally exhausted and Yeah rly fuckin hopeless, and he trudges to the nearest town he can find and discovers that 1) everybody he sees looks at him w malice, and 2) all of the business owners in town Refuse service to him

he discovers that somehow, at some point, false word had gotten out that their hero "abandoned" them. the stories r all different, and wars has no idea how they originated—some of them claim he simply quit and left, some say he Attacked The Queen and went rogue, some call him a traitor and accuse him of working with and fleeing to other countries, and some think he's Dead

and that . is a fucking slap to the face. he's been training 24/7 since he was 9 years old, put up w the abuse and neglect from his shitty father all the while, risked his life every day when promoted to captain to defend this kingdom from enemies and traitors alike, and when his people abandon him, they accuse him of treason and say he left his home to rot.

he walks through the streets of this town and most families are ushering their children into houses bc they heard the one-man army hero has gone mad. some of the more hostile, up-front people take him head on, spout death threats at him, swipe at him w blades and torches. he can't escape into a building bc no owner will let him in. he Has to flee

and u can imagine how the rest of his days go. search for a town, get chased out, camp in the woods and survive on scraps and dirty river water until he can find another town that prolly Won't sell him anything. he's fucked. he's truly and royally Fucked.

occasionally, he's saved by a town or two that leans toward the other side of things and some people don't believe the stories. some people think he was wronged, some believe he was Murdered, some think he simply fuckin retired, it varies. they're usually nicer to him, sometimes indifferent. the kinder people take him in, give him clean clothes and a warm meal and let him stay at the inn at a discount and sometimes even for free, if he looks particularly ragged or starved (he . is indeed lookin a little thin). he makes sure to thank them plenty

one time, he's invited into a nice family's house and they cook a hearty meal for him, offer a guest bed to rest in. and then they try to kill him in his sleep.

he doesn't take any handouts after that.

it takes a while—and i mean a while—to find somebody who's willing to let him rent a property or stay at an inn for an extended period of time. most people r wary of him, and since they've all heard the stories of how unstoppable he is, to regular old people he now seems like a monster. eventually though, he does find a place and folk who don't think he's all bad that'll let him stay if he pays well. he has plenty of money—he just hasn't been Allowed to spend any of it

that whole other ask ? the whole Point of the scarf deal, and what it symbolizes ? it's . kinda shredded into pieces in this scenario. yes, he did get better from his time in the war and Yes, the scarf still represents him finally finding a family to love and happiness to be had, but . now that's gone. his family is Gone. literally all that he has left is his mother's scarf, and even what it represents feels,,,,,,,,, soiled

he can't even visit his mother's grave. the cemetery is in castle town. he's been robbed of Literally Everything

.,, yeah ok that's all im so sorry GVIEAGYV hate to cut it short but this is too sad for me and like I said I'm a goddamn little bitch boy and if he doesn't get happiness RIGHT NOW !!!!!!!!!! I'LL DIE!!!!

i like to think he'd get better. but honestly ? that's . so much on him. all that on Such a sensitive and sweet person is a lot. i feel like he'd be miserably unhappy and hopeless for . a long time

#BUT GOOD THING THAT'S JUST A WHAT IF SCENARIO :DDDDD [my face is covered in tears]#when u think about it artemis and impa in this case Ruined His Life . [lets out the most stressed sigh you've ever heard]#once again have no idea how to tag this #tw homelessness #homelessness #tw starvation #starvation #<- he learned a Little from the others about hunting and foraging for food #it's enough to survive . but he's not getting a whole lot out of it #he's a city boy . he did not grow up having to hunt and he'd never even seen a goddamn deer before he became captain #even though the opportunity for angst is So goddamn high this is not a canon thing for like . my version of lu i guess #i need wars to be happy .#picture an image of maslow's hierarchy of needs next to me and the entire basic needs section is simply warriors being happy #torturing him is fun tho . he gets to suffer a little sometimes. as a treat #qktalks #soul-of-rei

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lowkeyclueless5137 · 1 year

Note

I was rereading your twst one shoots when I got to the Castle of Illusions AU and as I read on I began to think.

It is merely a question and not a request. But can you make this exact AU, as in an epilogue of sort or something but take place in the newest Masquerade event? Because considering the change they have now, and how 4 of the dormheads are invited to that event by Rollo, it would make some interesting interactions.

Of course it is just a question and I don't really thought you will take it. But I am just curious. I also alright with just listening (reading) to your thoughts about it.

:0 the first miniseries UwU

The event is not yet over(heck it's not even halfway done...) I cannot do anything with it for now, just to dunk it in crack. U-U

Spoilers for the masquerade event under the cut :3

For this one, Vil, Leona and Kalim are sitting out of it and skulking.

Don't worry, most likely Idia or Azul FaceTime with them or make photos for them. Lots of accidentally 'where tf are y'all' in the dormleaders gc.

Maleidiazu galore✨

Riddle's just in there, squaring up with Rollo spiritually.

Rollo would be took aback by Malleus's appearance. He knew that Fae looked... More alike to humans, not like THAT. Malleus's tail is just wagging around non-stop bc he is just so happy to be invited somewhere and see a new place.

Since the event is far from over and we don't really know exactly what Rollo's up to, we will keep it neutral.

Although I wanna have evil Rollo and the boys to be saved by the goat.

Since they are keeping their rainbow gems around, they use magic to make them apart of their masks. Rollo takes note of the fact that 4 guests have this wierd gems, which makes him more suspicious of them.

Making a tour and the flyers(Riddle and Malleus) have no problem climbing up the tower.

Meanwhile, Idia and Azul still suck hard at PE. At this point, Azul is just invisible so that no one will notice that this boy takes an eternity on those stairs to the tower. Idia isn't that lucky, so everyone is pretty much looking at this pathetic lil man climbing the stairs.

Malleus is just admiring the gargoyles on the roofs as the others simply stay in the bell tower and try to call him over.

Riddle goes to pick him up, since it was the only one besides Malleus who has wings. When going down the stairs, Idia just makes an indestructible bubble and throws himself over with it.

Noble bell college students are scared from this guy's stunt.

While exploring the city, for now everything will stay close to the cannon. Malleus befriending the goat, Idia being salty for not ending up in a team with one of his boyfriends, Azul being a big bro to Epel and Deuce.

Rollo is sus, but for now he stays a bit further from Malleus, who just intimidates people around with his hugeass wings and tail.

But also a lot of crack can happen:

Rollo: *sneeze*

Azul, invisible: Bless you...

Rollo, looking around: God?!?

Idia, after hearing they gotta go and interact with people: time for my secret weapon! *summons his bubble*

Ruggie: You will hamsterball your way around?

Idia: I will hamsterball my way around!

Goat: *exists*

Malleus: is this a new friend?

Rollo: I believe we don't see the things from the same angle...

Riddle, flying up to his level: Try me...

Leona, at NRC: What are you doing?

Kalim: Calling Riddle! I wanna hear what they are doing in there...

Vil: Kalim... It's the 30th time you call...

Kalim: BuT wHaT If tHeY geT LOsT?!

Idia: Malleus... I don't like this dude... He's suspicious *pointing towards Rollo*

Malleus: Now now... It's rude to accuse people, let alone our guide and the one who invited us in here, of being suspicious...

Azul: No... He's suspicious... I heard him talking about 'purity' and all that religious jazz...

Malleus:....

Azul: Yeah... I don't feel safe near THAT guy...

Everyone: where's Malleus?

Malleus, up on a roof with a gargoyle: :3

Everyone:.... Ri-

Riddle: No <3

Azul, invisible: >->

Idia, holding him by the arm: No... You cannot check if that sus guy has a bald spot under that hat.

Azul: But what if he has a bald spot?

Rollo: What if I had a WHAT?!

Yep... Just chaos in general :'3

#twisted wonderland #asks :3 #Castle of illusions au #twst glorious masquerade #Smol spoilers for the event :3

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foxlover0615 · 1 year

Text

Ruthless

chapter 5

Everyone, we brought to a secluded room with a man in a suit asking questions.

Olivia Park, a 15-year-old sophomore at Gabriel Veréz High School of Arts, was recommended here for her violin skills because of how precise and perfect her aiming skills are. She was also recommended to the school by her father.

Talent: None

GPA. 93.63

"Do you feel cluttered by your dad in any way after losing your mom?" The M.I.B. says.

Olivia cleared her throat and blinking multiple times

"Yeah, sometimes, but only because he thinks I need so much attention, and dad, I know you can hear this, so listen up because I've got a few words to say about you," Olivia speaks and looks at the camera in the corner.

Rubiana Blake, age 17, is a senior at Gabriel Veréz High School of the Arts. She was recommended by her old high school for her singing skills, and although she's not the brightest, she knows how to come up with a good plan if she stays calm.

"Did you recently experience something so emotionally traumatizing that it impacted your life?" The MIB asks, and Rubiana just looks at him.

"What?" She somehow managed to say

Talent: None

GPA. 70.38

Penelope Wright, age 16, is a junior at Gabriel Veréz High School of the Arts. She's at the top of her class and is an incredible actress. She's a very petty and stubborn person who cares mainly about her looks, but she can be used as a distraction with her acting skills.

"I gotta get out of here; the temperature is 21.1 degrees celsius in here, and if you mix us with those Amazon products, then you know there's going to be problems, especially if I have these stupid mineral oils in my hair," Penelope says and just walks out of the room.

"Wait, I didn't ask you the question." The M.I.B. says

Talent: poisonous gas

GPA. 87.29

Austin Zeak, age 17, is a senior at Gabriel Veréz High School of Arts. He has a great singing voice and can oddly go high enough to sing like a girl. His creative tactics and his ability to adapt to any circumstance are incredible. He is a follower, not a leader; don't expect him to ever take charge.

"Why did you choose to sing over the track?" "Not only would you be closer with family, but you wouldn't be made fun of for having a female singing voice," the M.I.B. asks.

"Well, even if we're twins, we're nothing alike, plus I really love to sing, and I don't care if others don't agree with me," Austin says.

Talent: Electric

GPA. 75.0

Dallas Zeak, age 17, is a senior at Gabriel Veréz High School for the Arts. He is a track star and the fastest on the track team. His mobility skills are incredible; he knows how to catch anyone he runs after, making him perfect when it comes to avoiding a target.

"Have you ever thought of leaving the track since you obviously have a choice to stay on track, right?" The MIB asks, and all he does is shake his head.

"Wait, which question are you saying no to?" The MIB asks, and Dallas leaves the room.

Talent: Sand

GPA. 80.0

Conner Pinnel, age 15, is a sophomore at Gabriel Veréz High School for the Arts. He is an amazing artist who frequently posts online. Because of this, his hand-eye coordination is what makes him great when it comes to using weapons like a sniper. But the bad thing is that...

"You have recently become dead, so how do you think it has affected you recently?" The MIB asks, and he doesn't answer.

Conner points to his ear. The M.I.B. member looks at it and realizes he has no hearing aid.

"Somebody get the boy his hearing aid," the MIB member says to the camera, but Conner just leaves the room.

"Y'all, we need to have some sort of shield that blocks everyone from leaving this room because this is getting too damn annoying." The M.I.B. member says holding his head

Talent: Water

GPA. 96.98

Kent Bank age 16 and a junior at Gabriel Veréz High School of the Arts. He's the bad rich boy who knows how to play the piano. He is a great fighter, especially when it comes to hand-to-hand combat, plus he can use his piano skills when it comes to guns.

"Listen up idiot." I'm not answering any questions because I know nothing now and I want to leave this place. I mean, do our parents know about this?" Kent asked

"Your parents don't know about this; only the principal does, and hey, you're not supposed to ask questions here." The MIB member said

"Hey, can I get out of here? There's someone I want to see and make sure she's okay," Kent asked.

"Who is your girlfriend?" Yeah, she's fine. "I was going to talk to her after you." The MIB member said

"Well, take her to me!" He shouts

Manipulative and protective

Talent: fire

GPA. 81. o

Courtney Brown, age 15, is a sophomore at Gabriel Veréz School of the Arts. Her talent is hip-hop dance. She was good with her feet and can use the tricks she learned to avoid the attacker with ease. She is also really good at martial arts, so her kicks are powerful.

Courtney was waiting nervously for whoever was supposed to come when she found out the chair she was sitting on could spin.

Courtney spun as fast as she could.

"Wee!!!" Courtney said excitedly.

Once they walked inside, Courtney was having fun, and Kent just thought it was adorable.

Courtney stopped and ran up to him.

"I'm so glad you're okay, baby," Courtney says, hugging him.

"I'm glad you're okay as well," Kent says.

"Get a room, you two," the M.I.B. says.

Talent: Telekinesis

GPA.87.30

Charlie dale 14-year-old freshman at Gabriel Veréz High School of the Arts. He's great when it comes to problem-solving and puzzles. He's not athletic, so he tries using his brain to fight instead of his body.

"Based on what I see, you trapped us in some dystopia most of you built underground and kept each and every one of us in separate rooms to learn more about us and how valuable we are," Charlie says, and the M.I.B. member wasn't even surprised he knew that.

"Can't you see that from a mile away? It's pretty simple to figure out," The MIB member says to look through a folder.

Talent: None

GPA. 80.0

Daniella Veréz, age 15, is a sophomore at Gabriel Veréz School of the Arts. She has incredible flexibility and is in the same hip-hop group as Courtney. Daniella is pretty nimble, which can be great when avoiding predators.

"Why are we here?" Daniella asks me

"Because we want to help unite talented people and normies," I said, holding her hands.

"Well, Olivia doesn't have a talent." "I kept it from her because I knew she'd judge me because of it," Daniella says and looks away.

"If she judges you because of it, then she's not a good best friend or girlfriend," I explained to her, and she just left the room.

Talent: neon light

GPA 68.90

I also left the room and saw such a beautiful dystopian world; it looked so familiar until I realized

"ARE TRAINING HERE?! I was surprised that we were training near the exact place I live.

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meshlasolus · 2 years

Text

Who Are You Really (2)

Andrew Garfield!Peter Parker x Reader

A/n: okay... I saw it. It was amazing. I CRIED (that scene with Mj and Spiderman 3??? Devastating. Completely wrecked me) anyways enjoy this i wrote it on an empty stomach so yeah I was hungry-... also y'all i posted the first chapter of this yesterday and y'all ate it up so thank you for the support!

Warnings: ⚠️mild No Way Home spoilers⚠️ not the big ones yet... those will come later 😈 ... also kinda some touching but idefk

“Let me go over this again, you’re Peter Parker, and simultaneously Spider-Man .... from a different universe?” You roamed around your apartment, multitaksing as he told you everything he knew, which wasn’t much. He wasn’t lying, obviously he was Spider-Man, but not the one you sat next to everyday. “Let’s say I believe you, how did you get here?

“I know it sounds crazy, but I really don’t know... I’ve also got no idea of how to get home.”

You went into the bathroom and grabbed a few supplies from under the sink. You figured Peter would still have the ability to heal himself quicker through the spider cells he obtained, no matter which universe that be, but you on the other hand were not so lucky to have regenerating power running in your blood.

You came into the room and set down the box of medical supplies onto the bed, opening the top and inviting him to sit there also. You had a few cuts on your arm and one just above your eyebrow. Not anything too bad... not like what you used to get in the streets.

“Help yourself, if you need to,” You said, leaving to the bathroom once more and retrieving a wet cloth to wipe your face and arm.

“Thank you,” He said kindly. You were certain he wouldn’t have needed it, but he dug in to see if he could use anything.

“No problem.”

It was silent for a few minutes while you’d gone into the bathroom to dress your own wound. You tried to process all of this, to try and make something out of the insanity that you heard. Of course, insanity as it were was far from a rare occurance nowadays. You could testify to that just as anyone else here.

You finished taking care of things, taking a deep breath before you would resuface with more questions.

When you walked back into the room, he’d just finished pulling his spandex top off, and you could see all the scars and bruises that littered his body. So... Spider-Man bleeds.

“That looks nasty,” you pointed out the small gash in his side, and upon second glance, saw how deep it went. It could easily get infected without the proper treatment. Luckily you’d dealt with this sort of thing before on your own body, so this should be a piece of cake.

“It feels nasty.”

He was so different from the Peter you knew, but also so much alike him. It was a contrasting paradox that would boggle your mind for days if you let it. Just the thought of there being another version of yourself in another universe was a lot to take in. The proof was standing before you, and you couldn’t bring yourself to just say that this was all madness. Stranger things have indeed happened.

“Let me help you,” you let out, after watching him helplessly reach for it several times without being able to get it quite right. “Could you hand me the-?”

Your gesture to the box was pitiful, but he handed it to you anyway, watching from the corner of his eye as you started messing around with a bloody rag at his side.

“You’re lucky, no stitches.”

You threw the red stained rag into the bottom compartment of the box, reaching for a gauze patch to stick on it.

You kept going on in silence for a bit longer, until Peter had enough of the awkward tension building in the room while you took care of him. You thought nothing of it, how could you? You were helping a spider person in need.

“You know you faught pretty well against those guys earlier,” He said, pausing when you let out a deep sigh. You kept on your job of fixing him up, hoping that maybe he’d drop it, but he didn’t. “I don’t know you very well, but it looks like maybe you’ve done it before.”

“Yeah sure, that’s why you came to save my ass.”

He chuckled a little, turning a bit when you made him move his arm. You were struggling to get the bottom piece of cotton to stick in the area you needed it to, otherwise you would have been done ages ago.

“Four guys is a lot for even me, okay?”

“Five guys,” you corrected.

“I’m sorry?” He looked so confused, like he thought you weren’t paying attention.

“There were five guys.”

“Look, all I’m saying is... you’re pretty good at protecting yourself,” he winced through his teeth when you pressed the cotton, finally getting it to stick so you could move onto the gauze patches.

“I’m rusty, that’s what I am.”

“So you have done it before?” He finally got you to crack and you didn’t even realize it. You were too focused on his damn blood that was literally all over your hands.

“Spider-Man wasn’t the only Crime fighter in this city.”

“So what happened, then?”

You scoffed, remembering the day it all happened. You turned to ashes in your living room, and suddenly you return five years after to learn about everything that went on.

“I quit.”

That answer was vague and unconvincing. He twisted his neck to look down at you, trying to coax more without a single word being said. You could feel his burning stare, it was not one to bring ease. You huffed a sigh, meeting his eyeline once before going back to work. He had nice eyes.

“Spider-Man was ten times the superhero I ever was, so when he started swinging I stopped going out every night. Then I realized I wasn’t a superhero at all, just some wild, viglante wannabe.”

He was pretty stunned at your confession. Through everything he’d been in, he never gave up. Not after Uncle Ben, not after Gwen. It was strange to see someone so unwilling to keep going, simply because they got outdone. It wasn’t your only reason for stopping, but you barely knew him, and didn’t feel like oversharing tonight.

You finished up what you were doing and took the box back into the bathroom after you pressed firmly on the pad to make sure it stuck.

“You can hang around for a while until you find out how you got here, I’m sure it might get a little hectic out there if people see two Spider-Men flying around.”

“Thanks, I appreciate your help,” he said, standing up. He didn’t really feel like putting his suit back on, but it also felt a little weird to be shirtless in a random stranger’s apartment. You noticed, tossing him an oversized shirt of yours that would fit. It was your favorite, but some sacrifices had to be made. He pulled it over his head with a slight struggle, reminding you of a little boy.

“I’d offer you the leftover pizza in the fridge, but it’s like two weeks old, so...” you pressed your lips in a thin line, walking past him and back into your living room.

He found himself laughing again at your humor, following you into the other side of the apartment.

“So does anyone else live here? Or is it just you?” He wondered, coming to gently sit down on one of the worn out chairs in the sitting area.

“Full of questions, aren’t we?” You teased him, fully well knowing he was from an entirely different universe.

“I’m sorry, I don’t mean to pry,” he ducked his head in embarassment while you brought him a bottle of water from the fridge. “I just know that some roomates can be a little sensitive to random people sitting on their furniture.”

That one made you laugh, if only a little. He was funny, and he was cute. He had an innocence about him that you liked to see. It was rare in men these days.

“It’s just me, now. My mom left this place in my name before she died, so I kept it for her sake,” you explained, getting a bit stone faced at even subconciously mentioning your mother.

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. The blip screwed up a lot of stuff, it ain’t no one’s fault but Thanos.”

“Thanos?” He was definitely puzzled at such a name. Must be a super villain from your timeline.

“Yeah, he caused a lot of crap for a lot of people. I’m one of the unlucky souls,” you plopped down onto the sofa, grabbing the remote to turn on the TV.

He settled down a little, seeing you calmly flick through the channels like it were a regular thing at the end of everyday. You stopped at the news, having to look a double take at the headline.

Spider-Man Fights New Monsters!

“What in the hell-” you trailed off, standing from your seat to get a closer look.

A man with tentacles branaching off of his body, suspending him in the air. He had been throwing cars off bridges when Spidey got ahold of him. The other monster was not quite as easily identified, and without a good photo, there wouldn’t be any telling what it was.

“What’s wrong?” Peter glanced up at where yyou were standing, unable to see the shots they played.

“I work for the Daily Fix, and they didn’t even call me to come get shots of the scene,” you complained, crossing your arms over your chest, disreguarding what this headline probably meant. “I’m the best damn photographer in that company.”

“Huh,” he said with a slanted brow. This was a little trippy. seeing the similarities you two held, and yet? You weren’t Spider-Man. That title belonged to whoever the Peter Parker of this world was.

“You think those could possibly be connected to your situation?” You stepped aside for him to see the so called ‘Monsters’ onscreen. He shook his head, unsure of where they came from. They weren’t from his line of existence.

You grumbled one more time, bitter that your boss of a year never thought to mention that there were monster attacks in the city. It's fine, there's bigger fish to fry.

“It’s getting late, we should probably set a plan in place for tommorow.”

You went to the other room to fetch the poor guy a pair of sweatpants, knowing that spandex was not exactly a comfortable way to sleep. You hadn’t worn anything of the sort in a while, but that didn’t mean you forgot the discomfort.

You also grabbed a pillow and blanket from your closet, throwing it all on the couch when you got out. He was curious as to why you were helping, though he didn’t say it, you could read the facial features rather well.

“You don’t have to help me,” he said softly, feeling kind of upset that you were dragging yourself into something you knew nothing about. You knew enough. He needed help, and you could provide it, so you did.

“You’re right, I don’t...” you trailed off, tossing him the pair of sweatpants before you continued, “Call it coming out of retirement.”

He scoffed at your willingness. You didn’t seem so willing when he was asking a bunch of questions earlier.

“So what is the plan, then?” He leaned forward, a smile gracing his face with optimism. Cute.

“I think we oughta try and find my English deskmate tomorrow,” you said flatly, breaking the eye contact you’d struggled to stray from. He immediately looked confused, because of course he was.

“Who’s your deskmate?”

“Peter Parker.”

Anyways I just want to start by saying I love Andrew and have missed his peter parker more than anything. I'm so happy to finally see him getting the recognition he deserves. I hope he sees the reaction videos of everyone screaming in the theater when he came on screen. He needs to know we love him.

Tags:

@thottio @glytchfic @navs-bhat @taina-eny @parker-natasha @yuujichan @tinker-hell @ardepy @the-little-book-princess05 @nobody7102

#andrew garfield x reader #andrew peter parker x reader #andrew garfield peter parker #andrew garfield #peter parker x platonic!reader #peter parker x reader #peter parker #spiderman #spiderman no way home #no way home

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surveys-at-your-service · 3 years

Text

Survey #425

“evolution repressed by our backwards contest / breeding our torrential demise as we come to this edge”

Serious question, peanut butter or nutella? I think Nutella is a godsend, but I use peanut butter waaaaay more often. We don't even really buy Nutella because I will destroy the jar. Do you prefer baked potatoes or mashed potatoes? Baked. What is your oldest sibling’s middle name? Kathryn. I think. Do you like breadsticks? I just like bread, man. What are your favorite things to spend money on? Tattoos, uuuuugggghhhhh <3 Which would you rather have a new puppy or kitten? Neither, really. Most puppies drive me insane (even though they're cute as everliving fuck), and I don't want another cat. Mom actually talked about getting another, but I really just want my one boy. Roman would get SO jealous, anyway. I enjoy just having my baby. How old will you be on your next birthday? 26. Yikes. Do you ever feel self-conscious when you eat around other people? As "the fat one," I can be sometimes. I would say though that more often than not, it's sort of whatever to me because I'm a human that has to eat. When you opened your eyes this morning, what were your first thoughts? I thought I slept way later than I actually did. What is one thing in the room you’re in that reminds you of somebody? My stuffed meerkat Rebel. Jason got it for me for my first birthday that we were together. Could you ever be friends with somebody who was homophobic? Never again. I was once able to think "agree to disagree," but sometimes by doing so, you're siding with evil by not enforcing what is more than just a belief. It should come with being a human. Also given my own sexuality, it would be a slap in the face to me. Would you ever want to be a supermodel, or date one? Hell no. I'd date one though, if they were modest about their position. Honestly, have you ever made fun of somebody so bad they cried? Wow, no. Honestly, would you rather be complimented on your looks or intelligence? Quite frankly, nowadays, my appearance. I need it. My self-confidence is so far below "shit." Have you ever purchased a pregnancy test, for yourself or otherwise? Nope. You can get one thing, anything, for free right now. What do you pick? Why? Hm. I know I talk about it a lot, but it would still probably be a 40 gallon terrarium for Venus. She needs - and deserves - it. Honestly, have you ever danced naked? NOOOOOOOO. What was the first illegal thing that you did? Did you get caught? Downloaded music. My mom eventually found out, but didn't care much. What is the home page on the computer you’re on? Google. Do you like to write poetry? I do, but I haven't done it in a while. :/ Are your ears pierced? Yes. If so, were they pierced with a piercing gun, or with a sterile needle? Piercing gun. Which, by the way, do not do. There are many more risks with a piercing gun versus a needle by a professional. Do you wear makeup regularly? I never do. Did you eat cereal for breakfast today? No. I've been on a bagel kick lately. When was the last time you tripped over something? Last night, actually. The rug in the living room was slightly turned up, and I tripped in the dark. I didn't actually fall, thankfully. Any obsessive-compulsive tendencies? I'm diagnosed with OCD. I experience more ruminations and intrusive thoughts more than obsessive behaviors, though. Who was the last person you yelled at? Probably Mom. Why did you yell at them? I don't remember. Favorite type of apple? I like pink lady apples. I really enjoy any, so long as they're crisp. Ever seen live horse racing? No. To be totally honest, I don't really like the concept of it. Motivating a horse to run by hurting it doesn't exactly seem moral... How about live greyhound racing? No. What’s one thing, besides the obvious, that you couldn’t live without? The Internet, haha. Have you ever touched a giraffe? No. What does your mom call you? Britt. What stresses you out the most in life? I really don't think I could pick a top one. There are so many. Do you play any PC games? What is your favorite? Yeah. Y'all probably know WoW is my favorite. If you were pregnant, how would you tell the father? Well, that would depend on the circumstances. Did we want a baby? Was it a bad surprise, a happy surprise? I can't answer this with just one idea. What’s the hardest level you can play on Guitar Hero? I used to be able to slam out Expert easily with only very few songs I had to play on Hard, but now it's been YEARS. I've played less than once in a blue moon, and my skill's definitely faded some. It really depends on the song. What ever happened with you and your first boyfriend? He couldn't handle my depression anymore. What’s your favorite country song? "When The Stars Go Blue" by Tim McGraw, probably. What is the worst thing a former boyfriend/girlfriend has done to you? Fail to communicate what he was feeling with me and then make a dashing break for it very, very abruptly after three and a half years. It put me past a state of shock, but trauma with how no less than obsessed I was with him. What were you for Halloween last year? I didn't dress up. :/ I wish I had the money and motivation alike to. Are you feeling guilty for something? I always will. Are you usually quiet or loud? Quiet. How many hours do you spend on the computer a day? Like... uh... all of them, oof. What is the show that you watched when you were little, and you still do? Meerkat Manor. Do your siblings text you? Not really. Do you want a small or big wedding? Small. Have you ever searched for your own house on Google Earth? Not the house I currently live in, but I have before. Who is your ex dating/talking to? I don't know. Ever kissed someone who smokes? No. Does it take a lot for someone to annoy you? Frankly, no. Do you own your own computer? This laptop, anyway. Did you ever have to share a room with one of your siblings? Yes, with my younger sister as a kid and pre-teen. What noises in the room you’re in, do you hear at the moment? I hear the video I'm watching, as well as my fan. Have you ever dated someone with longer hair than yours? Yes. What’s the biggest upcoming event for you? Nothing. Not like that's a surprise. What do you typically order from Wendy’s? Son of the Baconator. @_@ Have you ever been given a lapdance by an actual stripper? No. Those are so awkward to me. What do you love most about yourself? I don't know these days. Have you ever received a hickey from the last person you kissed? No. What are you doing right now? This survey and re-watching John Wolfe play Outlast 2. What’s bothering you right now? I'm immensely nervous about tomorrow. I have my first (and I pray the fuck to God not only) session with my new personal trainer then, and I'm terrified by how my body and my mental fortitude is going to react. Y'all have no fucking idea JUST how out of shape I am, and the muscles in my legs seem basically non-existent by now. I have to do something about my health, though, and I'm determined to make this shit work. More than determined. I know the first day is going to be hard, but I need to do this more than I can explain. What was the last thing you drank? ... What great fucking timing, I have a can of Mountain Dew, lol... That's another thing that needs to change. I've gotta stop the emotional and boredom-eating and chill the fuck out with soda. Be honest, do you like people in general? Quite frankly, no. There are plenty of people I love and think are amazing, of course, but I think I lean towards humanity being too shitty to like "in general." Do you want your tongue pierced? I miss my snake eyes. :/ That was suuuuch a cute piercing. I just had to take it out for the safety of my teeth. I kept accidentally clamping down on one of the balls when eating, and it would cause tiny fractures. Do you change your phone background a lot? No. Have you ever made someone so mad that they broke something? No. Have you ever been strip searched? No. Do you have a funny last name? Does anyone make fun of it? It's not funny-sounding, no, I just think it's too manly for me to enjoy as part of my name. Ever have a drug overdose? What did you OD on exactly? Yes. Oddly enough, I don't remember what I OD'd on now... You'd think I would, given how extreme the situation was. It was some cold medicine. Do you get sick of people who call themselves bipolar all the time? I absolutely do. It's extremely insensitive to people like myself who legitimately suffer - and I do mean "suffer" - from the disorder. Describe your day so far in three words: Dull. Lazy. Anxious. What was the most stressful project you had so far/while in school? Probably my senior project and the presentation I had to do for it. I taught about the fallacies and misconceptions of snakes, and I made a PowerPoint and some drawings to color and crosswords for the special ed children. I was so, so very nervous, but I got through it fine and the kids seemed to enjoy it. I actually still have the recording. Choose one- Butterfinger, Milky Way, Snickers: MILKY WAY. FUCK I love those. Have you ever stepped in dog poop? UGH yes. What was the last thing you spent money on? My niece's birthday present. Have you ever slept in the same bed with the last person you kissed? Yeah. Is there a guy that knows a lot about you? I almost said "yes," but then I realized he doesn't know me at all anymore. I've changed so much, hopefully mostly for the better. He hasn't "known" me in many years. Is there someone you just can’t imagine your life without? It's terrifying to imagine my life without Mom; Sara, too. Do you prefer Starbucks coffee or small cafe coffee? I prefer no coffee. Would you ever consider getting a piercing in your septum? Nah. Do you enjoy being outdoors? If it's cool outside and I have somewhere to sit that's not the ground, yes. Do people tell you that you have an accent? Sometimes. Do you enjoy watching fireworks on the 4th of July? They're pretty, but I don't support their usage by this point in my life. They're a fire hazard, triggering to some vets with PTSD, and beyond terrifying for animals. What’re some unspeakable subjects for you? I get most heated about child molestation. You do not fucking touch a child like that. I don't even write any of my bajillion evil guys committing it in RP because I just can't stomach it. Even when my little sister (a children's social worker) is telling Mom about some stuff she sees at work, I have to not be present, 'cuz that shit isn't rare. It's nauseating. Is there anyone you would take a bullet for? A good number of people, honestly. Do you enjoy tanning? Hell no, I avoid the sun and heat at like all costs. Are you a virgin? This is going to sound weird, but I actually don't know, but I lean towards no. Who’s your celebrity crush? mARK EDWARD FISCHFUCK Did or do you get good grades in English class? I was always excellent in English. What part of your body are you self-conscious about? My stomach. But I'm self-conscious about everything else, too. Are you expected to help fix Thanksgiving dinner? No. Everyone knows I can't cook worth a damn. Have you ever lost anyone close to cancer? Truly close, no. Unless you include pets, actually. Then a few. :/ Do you personally know anyone who is transgender? Yep. When was the last time you got a shot? Earlier this year for Covid. Get your fucking vaccine, btw. :^)

#survey #surveys #random questions #lyrics: ''altaer" by 3teeth

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fairycosmos · 3 years

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eheheh not to be a hater but im about to make a mentally ill grieving person feel like a parasite 4 staying at home during a pandemic also lol bc i'm 18 and i'm a much more productive member of society hehhHEHEHEH i don't mean to be a hater tho heheh he. seriously what the fuck is it with people? don't y'all think before sending shit? don't you have Thoughs? i'm sorry chloe. i'm also mentally ill, grieving, and made to feel like a parasite by family and society alike. i get you.

it’s ok they messaged me again basically explaining that they were just genuinely curious and had no ill intentions at all 😅😅 i think because it’s a touchy subject for me i kind of snapped at them a bit and assumed a patronizing tone when there wasn’t one. i don’t think they knew about the details of my situation either. but anyway we sorted it out n i said sorry n it’s all good lol. thank you so much for like defending n understanding me though love aaaa <3 i’m obsessed w the ride or die energy pls marry me rn im not kidding around.....but yeah it just sux to feel like completely worthless. n knowing i’m literally so mentally fucked rn that i wouldn’t even be a contributing active normal person even if there wasn’t a pandemic or even if i tried. and ALSO knowing that translates to laziness in the eyes of other ppl (not what that anon was saying btw which they clarified) but in the eyes of my family and stuff ughhhh. i know i’m such a disappointment to them hfjlsfjdkz i can tell even by how they look at and talk to me. my version of trying isn’t their version of trying but i feel like i’ve been trying so hard for so long in my own head. and it’s tiring. ANYWAY it’s completely fine, just a miscommunication. even though i’m sorry you relate to me on this i’m glad we r in this together and that someone gets it, it’s so appreciated <3 i hope you’re doing as ok as can be expected and that ur taking it easy on yourself. i’m really sorry for your loss dude. i know it’s the most incomprehensible horrible thing. you’re not a parasite because your existence, just by you experiencing it for what it is, adds to this world rather than takes away from it. even if u cant see that rn. mwah x

#anon

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damienthepious · 4 years

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no one asked for me to write an epistolary-style epilogue to When The Reckoning Arrives and yet here I am, doing whatever the fuck. ???? yeah. Also apparently tumblr doesn’t support the html for underlining so there’s some stuff lost that looks much better on ao3. of course i basically always recommend ao3 over tumblr, but whatever floats yer boat.

Fumble Through the Fog (chapter 1)

[ao3] [ch 2]

Fandom: The Penumbra Podcast

Relationship: Lord Arum & Queen Mira, background Lord Arum/Sir Damien/Rilla

Characters: Queen Mira, Lord Arum

Additional Tags: Second Citadel, Epistolary, (I hav eno fucking clue how to tag this y'all), friendship?, maybe friendship?

Summary: After the knight, the herbalist, and the monster have been pardoned, Queen Mira intends for her acquaintance with Lord Arum to be as enlightening as it can be.

Notes: An epilogue of sorts. It's kinda messed up that I posted all of Reckoning in APRIL of last year, yeah? That feels messed up to me. I can't believe that was all in one goddamn month. Also I'm continuing with this as like... obviously Reckoning is not compliant with the new season, lol, and nor will this be. Anyway, we'll see if this goes anywhere.... ;3c

Lord Arum,

Sir Damien informs me that you are healing quite well. He indicated, when pressed, that you would not be opposed to opening a correspondence, now that some time has passed.

"Would not be opposed to" was the precise phrasing Sir Damien used. I am choosing to take those words literally, rather than interpreting them as the polite declination that they may, in fact, be. When caught in the web of decorum, it is best to learn to use such mores to your own advantage, I think.

Regardless. I will admit that curiosity more than decorum drives me to open this correspondence. Curiosity, first, as to whether or not you will respond in kind.

Beyond that, however, it would feel irresponsible not to speak with you as I am able. If you are any example whatsoever, it is clear to me that our understanding of monsterkind is… flawed, at the very least. As I said at the time, I have not spoken with a monster before, nor have I done so since. You are the my sole point of contact, notwithstanding the mental assault on the Citadel a number of months ago. So, I suppose it would be more accurate to say that you are my sole point of nonviolent contact.

You were not optimistic about the possibility of this war coming to an end, when we spoke. I admit, I find optimism on this front difficult as well, but you, Lord Arum, are the living proof of a possibility so enticing that it draws out what little hope still exists within me.

I want peace, Lord Arum. Whether or not I believe it possible.

My people deserve to live without such threat looming over their entire lives. If even a fraction of monsterkind is alike to yourself, perhaps the same should be said for your own.

Sir Damien is reluctant to speak with me on the subject; I understand that your privacy is important to you, and your secrets are not his to tell, but I have gleaned, at least, that while you rule the Swamp of Titan's Blooms, your authority does not extend beyond those borders, and that you are not a part of the monster "Senate" I have recently been made aware of. I do not know if you have any sway with these creatures, or if they may be reasoned with at all, but I would be negligent if I did not broach the subject.

That seems a somber note upon which to leave this letter. Somber, and impersonal as well, but I realize in the writing of this that there is very little I know about you, in truth. Perhaps I should leave it in your hands, to decide what you think I should know about you.

Of course, this is all contingent upon whether or not you choose to respond at all. I suppose I may only send this letter, along with my hopes.

Queen Mira of the Second Citadel

You may write whatever you like to me, little Queen. I do not care.

Also Do not take my Sir Damien informed me the correct way to greet you in these missives. I am choosing not to do so. Perhaps you will find this educational, considering your stated curiosity. Monsters abide by no set custom in anything, least of all the written word. I mention this only so you will not assume that your knight has not done his duty in informing me. Perhaps this will hurt your feelings. I do not care about that, either.

To assuage your concerns, I will inform you also that I am not healing. I am healed. We will discuss this matter no further.

I do not believe it is accurate at all to say that our "point of contact" has been nonviolent. It involved my near-death, and I am respo and my wea my wor and it is not as if I never contributed to the war between our peoples in the past.

There. I have answered you. Your curiosity may rest.

Lord Arum

Mira

Do not take my previous letter as an attempt to close this correspondence. Perhaps my own curiosity will bring me to harm in the end, but I would rather continue than not. I know some of the other humans that are important to my Damien and Amaryllis, and you are important in Damien's life. I should know you, I think.

If you believe our acquaintance may, in some way, soften the edges of this conflict, I will not attempt to disabuse you of that notion. Write. Ask what you will. I will answer when and how I am able, though I will assure you from the start that there are secrets I must keep, and there is knowledge of my kind that I do not possess.

I contributed to the war, yes. The vast majority of that contribution occurred at a distance. I am a Lord. I am not a warlord. Do not be disappointed when your more strategic questions return unanswered.

I sat with the rest of this blank page for some time, I think you should know, in the attempt to decide "what you should know about me," if anything at all. Amaryllis suggested I should remind you of the sharpness of my teeth, in an attempt to be deliberately unhelpful. I imagine you remember my physical form well enough. Damien proposed a number of suggestions himself, all too disgustingly and predictably poetic to repeat.

I am only myself, little Queen. I imagine you will learn me well enough in time, as I will you.

Lord Arum he wh of the Ke of the Swamp of Titan's Blooms

#elle's fanfic #the penumbra podcast #second citadel #towards the aftermath #fumble through the fog #lord arum #queen mira #hjfdkjafsdljklaskhhfdlajs;dfjalsdf

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staytheb · 4 years

Text

Like Oh 2.0 - [EPILOGUE] 7 For 7

Previous Chapter: We Under the Moonlight Word Count: 5,208 Summary: It’s the year 2021 now and life’s a little different for both couples as their relationship is officially known.

Like Oh 2.0 masterlist

hello! it’s here. the last chapter just before the 2019 year ends. so the ending got a little revamp from it’s original posting and i’m quite happy with it as it reflects a little more of what happened in those years. but still it’s all fanfiction and just for fun. anyways, i had fun revising this and hope that i can write another long chapter fic in the future. other than that, thanks for being on this journey with me and happy reading and kthxbai, Admin Lia~

January 16, 2021. 00:00AM

It's another joyous year for AHGASEs out there! All the baby birds around the world have come together to celebrate and trend another year for GOT7 in the K-Pop industry! GOT7 and the fans alike are celebrating the group's seventh year with the hashtag #Happy7For7GOT7Day, but it is also to celebrate their departure from their former agency, JYP Entertainment. There were lots of speculations about what would happened with all of the members last year and finally it has been all settled out with good terms, especially for the seven members. All the members decided not to renew their contracts with JYP Entertainment and have left the company as a whole shortly afterwards. They will be resuming activities once everything is in order. Anyways, like other groups before them, GOT7 instead had established their own entertainment some time after and would be independently managing themselves under JJAI Entertainment.

The hashtag along with several others have been trending worldwide within four hours and continues to gain lots of love and attention from fans and non-fans alike. GOT7 has surely broken the seven year curse that most K-Pop groups goes through that ends their reign with one another. Still GOT7 is really showing that they can withstand it all as they wish for many more years with one another and to start a new journey as well. Despite all that has happened over the course of their years in the industry, GOT7 is seriously still going strong and AHGASE is definitely going strong alongside them. Anyways, Happy 7th anniversary GOT7! Please head on over to their newly created official twitter and instagram accounts to wish the group a happy seventh year anniversary if you haven't done it yet! Also, please me mindful of your words and only send good thoughts and vibes their way!

~~~~~~~

January 17, 2021. 00:26AM

BREAKING NEWS!

This is just in! Everybody is totally buzzing about it! GOT7 have just recently celebrated their seventh year in the K-Pop music industry with their fan-club, AHGASEs, just yesterday. Although it's barely been a day it seems that the group have something else to celebrate as well for two of its members. In particular it's concerning the two eldest members, Jaebeom and Mark. The two GOT7's members have released official statements from their agency about their personal love life. JJAI Entertainment has revealed that both Mark and Jaebeom have been in a secret relationship since two-thousand and seventeen and decided that now was the right time to announce their relationship status to the world. Both idols have asked for the public, the fans, and everyone else to respect the privacy of their loved ones. If any malicious comments or actions occur, then the idols will not hesitate to take legal action to protect themeselves and their loved ones.

We were able to investigate further without stooping low to get our information and it seems that Mark and his now wife have officially tied the knot just a few weeks back in December on the twelfth of Saturday. The wedding's theme was a Winter Wonderland fantasy of sorts and the ceremony was a small and private one that was held in Los Angeles accompanied by their immediate family, close friends, and a very few selected celebrities who were able to attend the special event. Our reports also states that the couple also has a two-year-old son by the name of Philip. As for Jaebeom, our informant says he just recently proposed to his girlfriend a few days before his own birthday. The couple also has a one-year-old daughter by the name of Alice.

Reactions to the news have been positive, negative, and others left in-between of the two. Many fans are thrilled and wished to hopefully see who these lucky ladies are as well as how the children may look like. Many of them couldn't believe that there are little GOT7 minis running around now. Other fans have voiced out their opinions of being lied to and that the idols shouldn't have waited this long to revealed such big news. Or well more like being in a secret relationship at all as it seemed there's some misunderstanding about a betrayal of being faithful to one another. For the neutral ones some have left comments that it's their life and to leave them alone because they can live it however they like and that the fans do not own them one way or another.

Either way, the best thing about it is that the positive vibes are winning out as fans and non-fans alike are totally wishing for happiness for both couples and that their privacy would remain drama-free as much as possible. Plus, we wanna respect our idols, right? They're just as much as human as we are despite the path they have chosen for their careers. Much so, we also wish the same for the respect that they deserve as the idol life isn't all that what it's cracked up to be. Sure they may have chosen it and knew the consequences, but still there's a need of respect and a boundary, right? Anyways, on behalf of all us here at K-Wave News, we're wishing the couples good vibes along with their little ones and hope nothing but happiness their way!

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January 17, 2021. 03:57AM

MAJOR UPDATED BREAKING NEWS!

O-M-G! This is just in! I repeat. This is just in. Let the spazzing continue! All the more positive vibes going in with the new 2021 year! Yay!

Although it's only been a few hours since our last update, but we've been notified that both Jaebeom and Mark have uploaded a few things onto their Instagram accounts about their new immediate family from our lovely readers. The boys have just made their account public after having been privated since two years ago. Each upload has already received over two thousand likes, comments, reactions, and the numbers continue to soar despite some not so nice comments making in it as well. It also seems that many AHGASEs are supporting both couples and trying to encourage others to spread more love than hate and even gaining help from other fandoms as well to do so. It's a lovely gesture because these updates are seriously too cute to not love! If you're a hater, then please move on and go and focus on something else. There's no need for any hate whatsoever. Love and peace y'all!

Anyways, Jaebeom has uploaded three images to his account. The first image of the three that he'd shared shows his daughter, Alice, playing with his many adorable cats! The caption that was uploaded with the image reads something along the lines of, 'she loves them more than me TT_TT'. It's safe to say that the cats belong to her now. Ha. The second one is of the idol dad himself holding his daughter who smiles just as brightly as he does. She is honestly way too cute! Baby Alice really takes up after her father as we can spot some faint eye moles on the same side as her father. Of course we're sure the mother is just as beautiful and hope to see her in the future!

Anyhow, Jaebeom has captioned this photo with 'seeing her smile really brightens up my mood'. The last picture is a candid photo of the idol's fiancée eating a green colored macaron ice cream although her face is obscure and no clear view of how she may exactly look like. Maybe he got caught or he just wanted to tease us. Because we all know how much of a great photographer Jaebeom is, right?! So, we better get a clearer image in the future! So yeah, moving on, the caption for this image reads, 'Fate was the green tea macaron ice cream, but Destiny was all her in choosing to be a part of my life <3'. We're sure there's definitely a deeper story behind this and hope to find out in the near future if ever! Just didn't think we'll be able to witness this side of GOT7's leader in this lifetime. We hope we get more!

Now the next taken member, Mark! The oldest of the group and kind of makes sense for him to settle, right? No? Whatever. Moving on. The idol has shared a video and two pictures to his account. The one minute video clip is of the adorable baby, Philip, as he cutely speaks in several languages! He counts up to the number five in English, Korean, Chinese, Thai, Japanese, and even Spanish. Wow. What a genuis child he may be because he's two and I'm totally jealous as I can barely even count in English alone and I barely passed Gerrman in high school. Enough of me, does this mean that the mother knows Spanish and Thai as we all know that Mark doesn't. Ha. Still, there's a pretty high chance the other members could be teaching little Philip too. Lucky guy. Total free language instructors right there.

Anywho, again moving along. The first photo shared seems like a candid shot of his lovely wife smiling and laughing, but Mark got caught or something in the process as she partially blocks her face with one hand while the other hand is used to try and move the device away. It's captioned with 'Always too easy to teased' and several laughing emojis. It's good to know that we're not the only one that has to put up with Mark's antics. Still, who knows how many times she has to put up with him compare to us fans, right? Haha. As for the other picture it's of baby Philip again. This time it shows the child happily smiling while holding the fluffy poodle, Milo, in his loving arms. Mark has captioned the image with, 'I feel like they don't need me anymore when they have each other TvT'. I mean, I don't disagree. I would, too if I was in the same boat.

So what do y'all think? I think it's fantastic. From these latest updates it surely appears that both couples are happy with their lives along with the happiness of their adorable children being total cuteness! Now that the male idols have revealed their actual relationship status to the world and the fans, it seems like that they aren't afraid to share some of those moments with others virtually as well. Still there's no information on the two females the two idols are with and no one else revealing anything else. Like, we don't know their names. We don't know if they were previous AHGASEs or maybe part of some other fandoms before meeting Mark and Jaebeom. Like we don't know anything about them, to be completely freaking honest. Some have gone and done some searching, but it's quite surprisingly nonexistence. Which is kind of surprising as we know a lot of netizens are good at searching up stuff and spreading it around. Right?

So far, all we know is that it's a possibility the two ladies were already friends before the duo had met the two GOT7 members and it bloomed from there on. One rumor suggests that the females were fans and they met at a fansign through connections. Another rumor claims that the females are distantly related to the other GOT7 members and were introduced at a concert. Even one rumor is going around that claims the two women were former JYP trainees and left the company because of the boys. Like who knows though. Anyways, we may never know, but please do show lots of love and support to both idols and their loves ones. Also please respect them and their privacy! If you wouldn't want to be bothered, then why bothered someone that would like the same treatment. So please behave and just act accordingly. Peace and love y'all! K-Wave News, out!

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January 17, 2021. 9:37PM

"So, Mel, you and JB gonna have an engagement party?" Serena asked her sister while joining her in the kitchen after she had put the children to sleep in their nursery room which was originally the apartment of 503. The sisters had decided to combine both apartments of 501 and 503 to make it like one large unit for them to live in since having their kids. Although of course their other half have been trying to convince them otherwise to move out and to move in with them in their own apartment together for the past year. "Um, dunno yet." Melanie answered as she scrolled through her phone. "We just don't know if we should do it here or somewhere else."

"Somewhere else like where?" Serena inquired as Melanie explained further. "Hmm, back home since I have more family compare to JB." "Hmm true. Then what about the actual wedding?" Melanie shrugged with a sheepish laugh. "Um, again either here, but maybe Hawaii." She then added more as her memory recalled some of the places. "Another one is like somewhere in Europe or probaby Japan." Serena nodded before voicing out her opinion. "If not, then y'all can just do them places for a honeymoon." "We haven't even discuss our honeymoon plans yet." "Well, y'all still got a long ways to go." "True, we do. I know I'm kinda planning, but JB's schedule is a bit busy so we just need to find time to talk and what not." "Hmm, yeah pretty much."

"Who knew, huh?" Melanie scoffed with a smile a moemnt later as Serena's eyebrows furrowed with confusion. "Knew what?" "Who knew that you and I would actually find a K-POP boyfriend, then get or become married to them, and later have an actual family. Like I mean, I know I wanted it, but I didn't think you would have it before me when you weren't even wanting it." Serena agreed with an even bigger scoff. "I know right? It's totally crazy. Like you got with JB who didn't want kids, but now the two of you have a daughter. Mark wanted kids and I didn't, but now we have a son." Serena huffed a bit before speaking again. "And like, I never wanted marriage and here I am married and now you're gonna get married like you wanted, too. It's so crazy."

"I know and it's so funny." Melanie stated with a laugh. "You've changed so much because of Mark." Serena rolled her eyes, but didn't say anything as Melanie continued talking. "Do you remember when you had your little weird moment when you ignored Mark for weeks because you were pregnant with Philip?" Melanie reminded Serena who suddenly laughed at the memory. "It was because I was having an idol's baby, Melanie. We weren't even public with our relationship or even married for that matter. Besides we were together for a year at the time and I didn't know what he would have thought or do or think or whatever at the time." She explained before flipping the situation onto her sister.

"How about you when you were pregnant with Alice?" She asked her with a pointed look. "I wasn't the only one freaking out about having a baby and whatever." Melanie rolled her eyes at her sister's words. "I was also having an idol's baby, Serena. Duh." Melanie defended herself as Serena rolled her eyes. "Of course. Your emotions were seriously all over the place." "Yours were, too. Don't deny that." "True and I'm not gonna deny it, but I wasn't as emotional as you." "Right, bullshit. Your emotions were all over the place when you were prego. Don't you remember when you got mad at everything and everybody?" "Uh, no." Serena denied as Melanie glared at her sister with a look. "Seriously?"

Serena shook her head with an aloof expression as Melanie reminded her sister what happened at that time. "Because of your moody self during it all, poor Youngjae didn't want to come over for a month because he was afraid that he'll set you off and take it out on him again." "Oh yeah he did. Shit. I totally forgot about that." Serena recalled with a slow laugh. "Poor Youngjae, but I did make it up to him with new video games." "Yeah, and then you had to do the same thing with the others." "Right. Wow. I don't want to pregnant ever again." "Hmm, you'll have to talk that over with your husband." "We're not gonna talk about shit." "Mmhmm." "Whatever, Melanie." "Anyways, Serena, when are you gonna finally move in with Mark, huh? I'm sure he would love his wife and child with him at the end of the day in their own place."

"Well, honestly," Serena drawled out with an unsure expression, "I would rather not." "Why not?" Melanie inquired before realizing something. "Ah. Is it about the whole thing with the fandom and public eye and all that, right?" Serena nodded with confirmation before speaking with another reason. "Also, Mark lives with that one friend of his and so it's not like he can break his lease so soon since it's too early." Melanie scoffed with a laugh. "It's not like he doesn't have the money, Serena." "Oh, true, Melanie, true, but still he has to pay if he does leave earlier than expected. Besides, I really like this place and don't wanna part with it." "Yeah, I feel you on that. Aunt Julisa did major work to this place and did gift it to you and me after she left." "Mmhmm."

Serena switched the attention onto her sister. "Anyways, what about you, huh? What are you gonna do?" Melanie shrugged with a chuckle. "Seriously, I have no clue, to be honest with you. Like he wants us to live near his parents, which isn't a bad thing, but I guess just like you I don't want to part with this apartment either." Melanie glanced around the place with a tender look and smile. "There's a lot of memories here and I really know this area more than I do anywhere else if I have to move." Serena chuckled at her sister's words. "I do have to agree with you on that, too. I actually like this location more because I know it well enough."

"So, basically, what you're saying is that we're not gonna move out any time soon, right" Melanie stated with a knowing smile. "Yeah, basically." Serena agreed with a chuckle with Melanie joining in the laughter a second later. "The boys will be so sad." "They'll live." "What about Alice and Philip? The kids will be so sad since they've wanted to live with the pets, too." Serena rolled her eyes in good-nature. "Again they'll live, too, and get over it faster than their fathers. It's not like they don't see one another a lot and besides, the kids are still too young to be playing with the animals as they get grabby and the poor critters have to deal with that. Also, I don't want to deal with that on a daily." "Yeah, that's true, but hey, kids are kids."

The sisters looked at the time before looking over at one another with Melanie speaking up first. "I'm surprised no one has called or messaged us about the news being released." She paused to think for a bit before resuming again. "Well except for the ones that lived here as I meant the ones that don't live here." "I'm pretty sure it's because it's too early for them over there and they're still asleep." Serena answered before adding the last part. "And they don't follow K-Pop stuff so they won't see it right away." "Hmm, true, but I'm sure the twins will mention something later since y'know that those two are dating the other two older members, too." Serena laughed upon hearing that. "Oh, yeah, true. Shit, I can't believe I forgot about that." "How can you forget about Jinyoung and Jasmine while Jeannie's with Jackson?" Melanie mused as Serena rolled her eyes before responding.

"Because I don't care about other people's relationship unless they want me to know about it. Plus, I'm still surprised that Jasmine gave up on Johnny and accepted Jinyoung, which isn't a bad thing, but I really thought Jasmine was gonna stick with Johnny as she had no interest in any other idol, but him." "Oh, my bro, I know, I know. I was hella shocked that Jasmine and Jinyoung liked each other, too. I mean Jeannie always liked Jackson, but I didn't think Jackson was interested in her like that as he wanted to focus more on his life and career, y'know." "Yeah, true, but the boys will be happy when they find out that the twins will be moving back to Seoul in a few weeks."

Melanie nodded happily. "Yeah, I know. Which reminds me, we need to clean out their rooms and make them livable again." "Oh, right. Also need to tell the boys to stay at their own places, too." "Psh, yeah right. It'll be a reunion and a big ass slumber party all over again." "Oh, please, I hope not. We're all too grown for that." "Says, you." "Yeah, I guess, but it's not like I can't deny it." "That's right. We're all family here and have changed for the better." "Yeah, that's true. I mean, honestly, look at how you and I turned out. So I guess things really do change over time for sure when you meet that person that's meant for you." "This girl." Melanie cooed in a teasing manner. "Mark really brought out your inner softie, bro." "I've always been like this."

"Mmhmm." Melanie hummed mischievously as Serena brushed her off. "Whatever, enough about me. Just go plan yours and JB's engagement party so that neither parents have to nag at y'all about the details." Melanie scoffed with a roll of her eyes. "I'm pretty sure I'll have to nag him about all of this. He always just agrees with what I want, but I get he wants to make me happy, but he has to be happy about all of this, too. It's not just about me, but it's about him, too." "Hey, Happy Wife, Happy Life, right?" "That phrase is so overused, but it's kinda true." "For you." "Yeah, basically." The sisters laughed before Serena brought up a serious topic. "I'm just worried about what the fans will do now. I mean, I don't care since they don't know how we look like, but I do care about the boys' health and their careers though."

"I'm pretty sure it's just that the fans have matured over time and become calmer like back in twenty-nineteen. Some of them aren't teenagers anymore." Melanie reasoned and assured her sister. "I mean, the fandom's have been very supportive lately, but then again there are those sasaeng ones that get it over in their heads about things. Still, it isn't as bad as it was before, Rina." "True, Mel, but some are still young minded and closed minded, too. Also the reality for them is the fact that both of them are off the market while two more will be later in the future." "Bro, calm down. Just don't worry about it so much." "I know, Mel, but still, I just do. I can't help it."

Melanie started laughing as Serena frowned at her sister's behavior. "What's so funny?" "I'ma tell Mark that you're worried for him, but won't show it and let him know about it." Serena groaned with her face in her hands. "Ugh, please, don't tell him that. He's gonna tease me so much about it." "Why not? I find it funny." Serena groaned again while looking up at Melanie with judging eyes. "Ugh. To this day my misery is still your pleasure, isn't it?" "Yes, ma'am. It is." Melanie replied with a cheeky smile before speaking again. "But luckily the more positive ones have won out and aren't stressing the boys as much from what I know so far. Fortunately they are doing well and not suffering." "Unless they're not saying anything." "True, but they usually let us know about it though." "Yeah, that's true."

"Anyways," Melanie changed the topic. "I wanna do my hair like this." She showed her phone to her sister. "You think Chloe can do something like that?" Serena gazed at the image before nodding. "Yeah, but she's been busy since she opened her own shop several months ago." Serena went through her phone while speaking at the same time. "Um, just call her tomorrow and I'm sure she'll squeeze you in without any trouble as she works fast and has some skilled workers, too. Try for the early morning or just before she closes." "Alright, cool. I would rather trust her than anyone else." "I know." Serena let out a yawn while standing up. "Well, I'm off to bed. Night." "Night and dream of your precious hubby." Melanie teased as Serena rolled her eyes, but bid her the same thing with a laugh. "No, you dream of your precious hubby." "I always do unlike you." "Mmhmm."

~~~~~~~

January 18, 2021. 2:23AM. Mark~

Serena stirred awake when she felt arms comfortably wrapped them around her waist and pulled her against another warm and familiar body a second later. She slowly shifted her position to face her husband while placing an arm over Mark to rub his back a bit as he cast his wife a tired smile. "Hey." "Hey." Serena returned the same tired smile to him. "What time is it?" "It's almost two-thirty." "Did you eat already?" "Yeah, but I'll eat something proper later today though." "You better or I'll have to come by with packed lunches to make sure you eat properly." "Hmm, now that you mention it that actually sounds like a good plan, Serena." Mark said with a laugh as he hugs Serena closer. "The boys wanted to see Philip, anyways."

"Don't tempt me, Mark. I may leave Philip in your care then." Serena countered nonchalantly as Mark chuckled while entangling their legs together. "I'm pretty sure I've already done a good job with that, Mrs. Tuan. That's why we're married now." "Mrs. Tuan is your mom, Mark. Not me. Technically, I'm still Serena Vorasavane by paper and other legal stuff." She muttered against his chest as she was becoming sleepy again. "True, but you're still known as Mrs. Mark Tuan openly." "Yes, I know and everyone that knows about us, but not to your lovely fans I'm not." Serena replied with a yawn. "Now go to sleep before Philip wakes up in several hours." "Can't you just spend those hours with me before then?" Mark whined affectionately. "I heard that you were worried about my well-being."

Serena inwardly groaned knowing exactly that Melanie had told him of her thoughts, but didn't want to give in to her husband just yet. "You heard wrong and no. Go to sleep. We're already spending our life together forever, Mark. So for a couple of hours without interacting with one another you can deal with it until then." "Still my same tsundere baby girl." Mark cooed although Serena could tell he was still pouting as she chuckled sleepily. "Yes, I am, but please go to sleep, Mark. I'll make it up to you later with those packed lunches." She finally gave in as Mark grinned while placing a kiss on top of her head. "You're the best." "I know. Now sleep." She snuggled up against him as Mark softly squeezed her gratefully. "Make sure to give me triple extra." "Sleep and I will." "Alright." "Night, Mark." "Night, Serena."

~~~~~~~

January 18, 2021. 2:23AM. Jaebeom~

Jaebeom slowly eased himself onto the bed where Melanie was sleeping undisturbed, but she stirred when she felt the bed dipped too low for her liking. She turned to face her fiancé with a tired smile while sitting up. "Hey." "Hey to you, too. Sorry for waking you." He apologized as he leaned over to place a soft kiss onto her lips before making the both of them comfortable while cuddling against each other ready to fall asleep soon. "It's all good, Jaebeom." Melanie assured him before asking him about his day. "How was your day?" "Same as every day, but better now that you're in my arms." "Stop." Melanie chuckled as Jaebeom smiled before placing a kiss on top of her head. "You know you like it, Chaewon."

"Right, like as much as your cats do. Huh?" Jaebeom chuckled as he squeezed Melanie affectionately. "They were a part of my life before you entered." "Yeah, sure. Soon enough it'll all be about Alice and I'll just be an afterthought." "Quite true, but you'll always be my one and only favorite one." "Stop." Melanie said as she playfully smacked Jaebeom with his response just pulling her closer and tangling their legs together. "Don't want to and so you're stuck with me forever and ever." "I know." The female sighed as Jaebeom frowned. "Why does that sound like you're regretting it?" "Because I accepted the fact that I'll have to deal with you for the rest of my life and your cheesy softness. Plus, we have Alice so I can't let her not hang out with her father."

Melanie leaned up to check the time before making herself comfortable against Jaebeom again. "Now go to sleep, please. The baby wakes up in maybe five or six hours, I need enough sleep to deal with her until our nap time." "I'm sorry that I'm not around much to help you in raising our daughter." "It's okay. You're still in her life and she knows who you are, is what matters the most." "I know, I know, but we should have a free day soon and we can go do something as a family." "Sounds wonderful, but we'll talk later as it's too much to deal with right now when I'm sleepy." She told him with a yawn. "Good night, Jeffrey." "Good night, Melanie." Jaebeom smiled as he placed one more kiss on the top of Melanie's head before falling asleep soon after.

#staytheb #got7 scenarios

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dontyoudarejudgemesworld · 4 years

Text

The Apple Doesn’t Fall Far Chapter Four: The Girdle Rule

Alright, so first off this one maybe a bit on the rough side as far as editing goes. My back up beta flaked on me and there was a whole slue of issues with even getting this to be able to post it (say it with me computer problems suck). Anyways this is a very Billie-centric chapter giving a bit more insight to her as a person and why she is the way she is. It's also 6.643 words about 85% of which is rather angsty. And while there arent any real graphic descriptions there are underlying themes of drug use, OD, death, grief, childhood trauma, abandonment issues, and violence. So you know be aware of that.

Also as a heads up the next chapter will land in the series bringing Dipper and Mable into play and really taking the first step toward the real meat of the story. So that's something to look forward too. Other then that if you read this likes comments are always appreciated.

As always this is posted on AO3 and you can read it there by clicking here.

And with that I scream yet another chapter into the void

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January 2011

Billie sighed as she walked through the mall, it was almost deserted, the snow that fell lazily outside enough to deter all but the most determined of shoppers and teenagers. Pulling her phone out of her pocket she looked at the screen for the millionth time, even though she knew it was useless; Stan didn’t own a cell so when he got the messages she’d left on the answering machine he would call her. Still, she was restless, she didn’t even know what she was doing here. She’s just been up a few weeks ago to throw Stan’s Christmas gift at him and spend a few days getting a crash course on Hanukkah since it turned out the Pines were Jewish. It had been nice to spend an actual holiday with someone, but after she’d left to head down to California for a job everything had gone to hell.

She'd met with the client and decided to pass on the job. While she wasn't one to pass up a job simply because the employer was obviously less than upstanding, she was one who listened to her gut. And her gut had screamed danger in big red letters with flashing lights and sirens. So she'd politely declined and the soft-spoken man who'd offered her the job had been less than pleased. After trying to throw more money at her only for her to insist she wasn't interested, he'd changed tactics to one of intimidation. Four hours later after being roughed up a bit by his 'bodyguard' they'd parted ways with the understanding that she'd never met him and would forget his face, and he'd return the favor. It wasn't the first time that sort of thing had happened, but that didn't make her ribs any less sore. After that, she'd decided that it might be better to head out the next town to find another job. And then...

"God damn it, Stan, it's the off-season what could you possibly be doing?" she growled her finger hovering over the screen as she considered calling him again, before shoving the device back into her pocket. She'd already left four messages telling him that she was suddenly in town and asking if she could crash at the Shack, if she left another he might start worrying. And he didn't need to worry, there was nothing wrong, she'd just decided to come up this way.

In fact, it was stupid she'd even bothered him, she should just call him back and tell him never mind. It wasn’t like she really needed to see him, or she wanted the strange comfort his presence gave her. No, it wasn’t that she wanted someone to tell her that it was all going to be okay. Or that she needed someone to tell her she was wanted. She really should just keep moving. Seattle was close and she had a few repeat clients there she could check in with. Yeah, she would do that.

"... said move on creep. We aren't interested," came a familiar voice sharp with anger and a hint of fear. Her head snapping up her eyes found a group of three men in their twenties crowded around someone besides a hallway over which the word 'Restrooms' was stenciled. They looked a bit rough, and even though she didn't claim to know everyone in the town she could tell they weren't locals. Glancing past them, she found the voice she had recognized; Wendy stood in front of her goth friend defiantly glaring daggers at the men.

"Oh come on. We just want to have some fun. Why don’t you show us around? You two would love to do that, right," the biggest one pressed in a friendly tone as he took a step towards the girls causing Wendy's face to waver as her friend shrink back in an effort to hide behind the redhead. He looked like he just walked out of a James Dean look-alike shoot and just radiated sleaze.

"Yeah, we're new in town. Show us around," one of the others chimed in with a predatory grin.

"We said beat it," Wendy growled, though a slight crack in her voice took some of the venom out and seemed to encourage the men who took a step towards them.

"Hey, fuck face the girl said beat it," Billie snapped as she traveled the distance between them in a dozen steps to place herself in front of the two girls much to the surprise of everyone, "So you best be movin' on," she snarled her shoulders squaring and fists clenching. While she would never have hesitated to step into such a situation no matter who it was, the fact that the assholes had picked Wendy pissed her off to no end.

"Who the hell are you?" one of them demanded a scowl on his face as he took half a step forward in an effort to intimidate her. Behind her she felt Wendy and the other girl shift as they pressed into her to hide. Letting out a soft growl she leveled her gaze on the one who'd spoken her features unreadable and eye cold as ice.

"You feelin' froggy, boy?" she asked calmly, "Go ahead, I'll tan your hides gladly," she said with a slight laugh that just screamed unstable. The men hesitated as they looked at each other, before the leader smiled at her, raising his hands in surrender.

"It's cool," he assured her, "Come on guys," he said as he turned and walked away. The other two hesitated before they followed him and Billie glared at them as they headed out the nearest exit. Shame, she really wanted to hit someone today. Rolling her shoulders, she turned to Wendy and her friend, Tammy she thought, flashing them a smile.

"Y'all alright?" she asked and Wendy smiled as she let out a breath she'd been holding.

"Yeah, thanks man," the teenager said as she stepped back, her friend nodding from behind her phone. The older woman nodded and the two stood in silence for a minute as Billie looked her over. Despite the girl's easy going tone and relaxed posture it didn't take a genius to see she was a little shaken up, making Billie wonder just how strong those assholes had come on.

"Alright, but for my own piece ah' mind, let me get y'all home," she said, choosing to pretend she didn't see relief flash across the redhead's face.

"My Dad's picking us up in like a half an hour, but if you need to hang around, that's cool," Wendy told her, "I didn't know you were back in town again. Soos normally texts me when you show up."

"Yeah, not stayin' though. Just passing through to Seattle. Needed a new pair of gloves," she lied smoothly, "Was just picking them up 'fore heading out. Good thing I did."

"Wait, you aren't gonna go see Stan?" Wendy asked in surprise.

"Naw, he hasn't called me back, and I don't wanna just drop in unannounced. Lord knows what Stan's doing. Probably sitting around watching those historical dramas he pretends he don't, but you never know," Billie replied, rolling her shoulders as she looked around. Wendy's face pulled into a confused look. She like Billie, sure she was a bit rough around the edges, but she was cool. Aside from the fact that she was more than willing to help her skip out early sometimes, she had almost the same kind of salty charm Stan did. Though Stan was charming in a gruff kind of way where as Billie had a sarcastic kind of charm... she was pretty sure it was the southern accent that sold it. But there was something off about the woman today.

"You okay?" she asked, earning another charming smile.

"Finer than a frog hair split four ways, darlin'," she assured the girl, "It's been a long drive. Sometimes the glamorous lifestyle of a PI gets tiring," she said with a soft laugh. Wendy stared at her for a moment with her eyes slitted, that was bullshit and they both knew it. But before Wendy could call her on it her phone buzzed and she pulled it out to look at.

"Dad's here Tambry," she said and the goth girl nodded, "Thanks again Billie."

"I'll walk with you, darlin'. I was on my way out anyway," she said smoothly as she turned to lead the way out. Wendy just shrugged, knowing it was better than protesting. Soon enough, they were outside Dan's truck idling right by the doors.

"See yuh Billie," Wendy said as she pulled open the door, letting Tambry climb in first which she managed without ever looking up from her phone.

"Have a good evenin' girls. Stay out of trouble," the older woman replied, glancing past her to Dan, whose brows were furrowed in confusion at her presence. Flashing him a smile she lifted her hand flashing him a six fingered wave, "Hey Dan," she said as she kept walking heading out to the parking lot and her bike.

"Billie," he rasped automatically in greeting as his daughter climbed in closing the door behind her, "What was that about?" he asked.

"Oh some creeps were hassling us and Billie scared them off," she told him calmly. Dan's eyes narrowed slightly at her words over protective feelings surging at the idea of someone messing with his daughter.

"Creeps?" he repeated, "Who?"

"Dad be cool, it's fine. I could have handled it, and besides Bille took care of it," the teenager sighed settling back in her seat. He considered pushing the issue but decided against it. Instead, he made a mental note to ask Billie about it when he saw her at the bar next.

"Seat belts," he boomed and Wendy rolled her eyes as she buckled up Tambry affirming she already had.

~*~

Billie slouched against the bar moodily working on her fifth beer. She’d been planning on just going out to Seattle. After all, if she kept moving she didn't have to think about anything besides keeping her bike on the road and away from cars. The snow storm, however, had different plans, in town it was a steady drifting fall but once she hit the base of the mountain it had turned into a full blown white out. And as self destructive as she could be she wasn't insane. So she'd landed at the Skull Fracture drinking away the last month. It was a quiet night no one but a few regulars; Bats and Cat (so named for his tattoos) were playing pool in the corner growling threats loudly at each other. Chin lounged at the table beside the door to check IDs if someone happened to venture in, and rowdy laughter drifted over from a few of the Scacr-O-Dacyles who sat BSing in the corner. She'd been invited to join Bats and Cat but had declined. For all the buzz about the place in town she actually liked it. While it could certainly get rowdy and fights were a dime a dozen on Saturday nights the regulars were good guys. She'd brawled with most of them at some point or another in the last year and a half but after they always wound up laughing and drinking together. Good guys if a bit rough.

Still tonight was quiet which didn't do her much good. Billie had hoped to take her mind off her trip back to Georgia, but only managed to dwell on it. Groaning she shoved a hand through her hair as she took another drink.

"Ugh, how the hell did I get stuck with you?" she growled at her glass her mind drifting to the urn in her saddle bag, "An' what the hell am I supose ta do with yuh now?" she muttered. The call had come in when she'd been on her way to LA; Mary's parole office had found her with a needle in her arm. Billie had wished she was shocked at the news, but she wasn't. Her mother had been an addict in the truest sense, sure she got clean here and there but she always went back. The last time Billie had talked to her was a few years ago when she'd been 'born again', for the third time by Billie’s count. Billie had given her a chance though, told Mary if she stayed clean for six months she'd come visit. That visit hadn't happened. God had lost his appeal four months later. Two months longer then when she'd regained custody of Billie when she'd been 12 and four months sooner then when she'd invited Billie to see her baptized when she was twenty.

Still, Billie had been her listed next of kin, which meant her death had come a whole heap of problems. The woman's older children didn't even speak to her so all the debts, apartment, and arrangements had been left to her youngest. And while Billie had considered telling them to donate her to science and give away all her shit, she couldn't do that to her. As angry as she was there was still a small part of her that remembered eating ice cream at midnight and making blanket forts with her Mom when she was between benders. So for the first time in eight years Billie had gone back, and now she wished she hadn't.

She hadn't had a service or anything instead choosing to have her mother cremated, and after looking through the sad little apartment her mother had for anything of value she'd donated what she could and had a service come clean up the rest. The landlord had been a man so sleazy her skin had crawled and it took every ounce of self restraint she had not to punch him in his face when he'd demanded next months rent and the costs of repairs over the security deposit. Credit cards, pay day loans, and a court fees had run her a pretty penny but she'd made sure they were all taken care of.

And that had been the easy part. She'd also taken the time to call all five of her siblings to let them know; Vernon and Ivy hadn't even picked up, Emma May had hung up on her, and Jesse had laughed over the sounds of his girlfriend demanding to know who 'the bitch on the phone' was. Only her eldest brother Bo had shown any kind of feeling, he’d sighed sadly and asked if she needed help, though she knew his heart wasn't in it. He'd asked out of obligation, he was 11 years older then her and the first born so she knew he felt like he should be the one taking care of it. She'd assured him that she had handled everything, asked the obligatory 'how's the family's, answered his standard 'still doing the gypsy detective thing', and given the standard staying in touch niceties. Bo was a good guy, and honestly they were the only ones that ever spoke with each other even if it was only once every five years or so. Honestly, none of them had anything in common beside having been brought into the world by Mary. And after being separated in the system they had gone on to live their lives trying their best to find some sort of normality.

"Hey!" came a raspy voice pulling her from her internal brooding causing her to blink as she looked over to find Dan towering over her. Blinking again she flashed a smile up at him as she straightened up swiveling the bar stool to face him.

"Oh evenin' Dan," she drawled lazily as she glanced around him finding his perpetual shadow behind him, "Tyler you're in actual jeans...it must really be cold," she told the smaller man with a grin.

"Billie Jean! I didn't expect to see you again so soon. You finally deciding to move here?" he asked cheerfully causing her to laugh. She really liked the flamboyant little man, when he'd first met her he'd squealed in delight asking excitedly if her middle name was Jean. When she'd confirmed that it actually was she had thought he might explode with excitement insisting on calling her Billie Jean, something she hadn't been called since high school.

"Naw sug. Though if I ever decide to settle down this place is in the top contenders," she assured him finishing her beer, "What are you buys up to tonight?" she asked and Tyler laughed happily.

"I should hope so. It's a great place. I convinced Dan to play some pool. Wanna join?" he asked eagerly.

"Naw, I'm beat. Maybe next time," she told him and he nodded before bouncing off to call the table next and eagerly cheer both Bats and Cat on. Chuckling she stretched running her fingers through her hair again as she realized she was feeling the beers more then she'd thought, before looking up at Dan who still loomed over her. Raising a brow she cocked her head looking up at him. She liked Dan as much as Tyler, though he came off as a meat head with too much testosterone and shoulder hair he was actually a lot brighter then most people gave him credit for.

Sure he absolutely fit the name Manly to a tee, and took shit from no one, but shed had more then a few intelligent conversations with him. From the value of reforesting in the logging industry to him telling her that the weird rattle she kept hearing was the Hide Behind, she'd found him rather engaging even if he did deliver his points in a booming raspy voice that could blow out your ear drums. Plus, it was pretty endearing the way he watched out for Tyler.

Apparently, they'd been best friends since elementary school, and Dan really loved the enthusiasm enthusiast. She'd even seen him play wing man for his fabulous friend which had been priceless. She’d sat by and watch Dan distract a middle aged woman who had been all but begging him to take her home so Tyler could chat up her friend, a cute red headed bear of a man...obviously he had type. But what she liked best was he seemed like he was a good Dad; hanging out at the bar was something he did when all the kids were off somewhere safe and sound, and even then he never seemed to get good and drunk just in case he needed to switch into Dad mode. Something she could appreciate, and she guessed that had something to with him towering over her at the moment.

"I wasn't corrupting your daughter. Scout's honor," she told him raising two fingers.

"I know, she told me," he growled and she smiled wondering what it was then, "She said some guys were hassling them. Who?" he demanded and she chuckled. There it was, he wanted to know who he was hunting down.

"I dunno I didn't recognize them. Some James Dean wanna bes in leather jackets. They'd cornered them and were trying to get them to ‘show them around town’," she told him as she signaled for another beer, "She was holding her ground but she had...Tammy?" she hesitated trying to remember the goth girl's name.

"Tambry," he supplied and she nodded.

"Tambry hidin' behind her. They were pretty easy to scare off though. Still, I insisted on hanging around until you got 'em," she finished with a shrug as she caught the glass the bar tender sent sliding down to her, "If I see them again I'll let yuh know."

"Thanks," he said after a second, "For keeping an eye on Wendy that is. I know she can handle herself but...," he trailer off a bit awkwardly and she gave him an understanding smile.

"'Course Dan," she said as Tyler shouted that they were up.

"Sure you don't wanna join?" he asked and she smiled shaking her head. Nodding, he turned and headed over to his friend. She watched him go out the corner of her eye. While she enjoyed Dan as a person she also enjoyed him as the world's biggest piece of eye candy too.

Settling back against the bar she glared at her drink. It occurred to her that trying to drink away the feeling in her hadn't been the beat idea. While she wasn't drunk, she was certainly feeling it, and booze tended to make her short to begin with. But she had been out of pot for awhile and needed to do something. She knew that the mix of anger and sorrow was normal for grief, and she was self aware enough to know that she'd spent years repressing the complex emotions she had about Mary and that her death was trying to drag it all up again. But still she didn't want to deal with them now. She wanted to stuff them all deep inside and leave them there.

She didn’t want to wonder if she had forgiven her mother and spent more time with her if Mary would have cleaned up a bit. The question ‘Am I going to end up dead alone in some crappy apartment too?’ wasn’t one she wanted to ask herself. Facing the deep seated insecurity of not being a good enough daughter making Mary choose partying over her wasn’t a thing she wanted to do. Every time she’d angrily wished her mother dead, and all the nights she’d spent wondering if she was broken since even her own mother didn’t love her swirled around inside her. If only she had some kind of magic memory ray to erase it all...to delete everything to start fresh tomorrow with out all the damage she carried. Taking a drink she caught someone leaning against the bar next to her as well as movement behind her.

"Hey, you're the one who ruined our fun earlier," came a smooth voice. Setting her drink down she turned to find the James Dean wanna be staring down at her, and realized his two friends were now flanking her. Calmly she glanced at the other two before turning back to the leader who was looking down at her with a predatory grin.

"But I'll tell you what. Since we're such forgiving guys you can make it up to us. How about we have a few drinks and then you and us can see where the evening goes. Maybe find a way to keep us all warm," he leered and she realized he was staring down her shirt. Cocking a brow she wondered if this guy was for real, if he seriously thought she was going to take this. Looking him up and down as he leaned casually against the bar and looked like he owned the place it hit her. She was the only woman in a bar full of bikers and roughnecks, he and his friends assumed they were alphas in the situation. That because she was sitting alone in a room full of men who all oozed testosterone no one would object to them objectifying her. But man had they read the place wrong, while the regulars were certainly less then civilized by most standards none of them were animals when it came to women. Letting out a low chuckle she sat up cracking her neck as she stretched. Glancing at the two that flanked her she returned her gaze to James Dean and smirked.

"Yuh actually think that's gonna work on me?" she asked taking a drink, "Listen son, even if I wasn't already in a piss poor mood I wouldn't keep you or yur flunkies warm if we was six feet deep. Anyone who tries to scare girls into goin' with 'em ain't worth the shit on the bottom ah my shoe," she told them cause the men to shift angrily around her but she just smirked as she stood rolling her shoulders. Displeased with her dismissal of him the scumbag pressed forward almost touching her as the other ones crowded around her. He was using his height to force her to look up at him but she just smiled catching movement behind him, glancing past him she saw Chin has stood from his stool beside the door very aware of the situation. Raising her hand slightly she signaled she had this and he stilled not sitting down but trusting her for the moment.

"You got a smart mouth bitch. Maybe we should teach you how to use it," he threatened and she let out a bark of laughter in his face which only served to piss him off more. Good, she needed to blow off some steam.

"Oh bless yur heart, huh really don't realize how fucked you are do you?" she asked her tone dripping with southern condescending, "Maybe if you weren't so busy trying to intimidate women into yur bed y'all'd've realized you picked the wrong bar to do that in. In fact, y'all picked the wrong town, an' y'all certainty picked the wrong girl," she chuckled.

"Oh really?" he asked glancing sarcastically around, "Because there's three of us and you don't seem to have any friends. So why don't you think this through. We can have some fun and make nice," he offered and she laughed again causing his face to contort in frustration. It was clear he was use to women submitting to them...scumbag.

"Oh honey I got plenty a friends here. But no, I meant at the mall," she informed him raising her fingers to her lips and letting out a loud whistle causing the whole bar to fall silent. The dawning realization that they'd fucked up that was creeping into his face was priceless as she looked over her shoulder to Dan and Tyler who stood beside the pool table staring at her. The look on his face told her that he was already piecing together what was going on and she grinned.

"Hey Dan these are the assholes that were hassling Wendy," she called and the snap of the pool cue as his fist clenched around it sounded like a gun shot in the silence. All at once every pair of eyes turned to the men who surrounded her the hate tangible, before they all looked over to Dan. Well, actually they all turned to the little man beside Dan. Raising a brow Billie looked at Tyler who’s eyes narrowed in anger as he stared at the men around her.

“Get ‘em,” he said softly rendering his verdict to everyone. With those words what was going to happen became clear. Turning back to the scumbag towering over her she felt the acid grin splitting her face.

"Thanks hun. I've been lookin' ta hit something all day," she told him before snapping her hand up to the side of his head and slamming it viciously into the bar. And with that all hell broke loose.

Twenty minutes later Billie panted slightly as she watched the three assholes get rolled out the door. Blood dripped from a split on her forehead and she could feel her left eye swelling already. In the split second after she'd slammed James' head into the bar his two friends had jumped her landing solid hits to her face and chest and the world had gone red. After that it was a blur of fury and pain as she and Dan had beat the living hell out of them. She had taken out every ounce of rage she'd built up over the last month on the poor bastards until finally Dan had dragged her off them, probably so she wouldn't beat them to death. Looking down at his arm that was wrapped around her waist she pushed gently on it.

"Uhh Dan you can put me down now," she told him and he looked down at her skeptically, "I'm not rabid I won't attack," she assured him. Grunting he set her down on her feet and he frowned as she stretched.

"Uhhhh you okay?" he asked raising a brow at her and she sighed nodding. It was obvious that he wasn't just talking about physically. While Billie was always up for a fight she was never out of control. But tonight she had gone insane, and now she was just exhausted. All of her anger had been channeled into her hits leaving her feeling nothing but a strange kind of hollow sadness. Still she put on a charming smile and shrugged.

"Yeah, rough week," she told his dismissively. He opened his mouth to say something but her phone began blasting an air raid siren from under a bar stool. Thanking God for the excuse to avoid any further explanation she dove for it flipping it open.

"'Ello," she chirped wiping at the blood seeping down into her eye.

"WHERE ARE YOU?!" Stan thundered causing her to pull the phone away from her ear, "I'VE CALLED YOU FIVE TIMES. YOU SCARED ME HALF TO DEATH! YOU SAY YOU'RE IN TOWN BUT NEVER SHOW UP?!" he raged, "IT’S A GOD DAMN BLIZZARD OUTSIDE!"

"You never called me back to say I could crash with you," she snapped and the silence on the other end was slightly threatening.

"I told you last time to just come in," he told her, "Now get your ass over here before you get snowed in," he barked before he hung up the phone. Looking down at the cell phone she snapped it shut and shook her head. Well, guess it was time to start walking cause she sure as hell wasn’t in any shape to drive.

~*~

Stan sat glaring at some late night documentary on the manufacturing of mud flaps played on the screen. It was almost midnight and Billie still hadn’t showed up, he’d called her 45 minutes ago. It wasn’t that he was worried about her or anything he was just cranky that the woman was keeping him up. He’d spent the last two days down in the basement with that damn portal and unsurprisingly gotten no where. So when he’d come up to find the answering machine blinking he’d been glad for the distraction, if a bit surprised to hear she was back so soon. But after listening to the messages he had gotten a bit concerned, the last few times she’d come for a visit she hadn’t asked if she could stay, she’d just told him she would be there. And he’d told her that she was always welcome. But suddenly she was acting like he might turn her away. Had he done something last visit to make her feel like she was no longer welcome? He didn’t think so.

But then when he tried to call her she hadn't picked up, which was weird, the woman was attached to that damned cell phone like if she missed a call she might die. Seriously, it was like the thing shocked her every time it rang. When she’d finally picked up he was pretty sure that he’d heard the sounds of the Skull Fracture in the background. And the bar was only about ten minutes away so what was taking her so long? Looking outside he could see the snow was falling more heavily then it had been an hour ago. The plows wouldn’t be out until the morning either which only served to make him even more agitated.

She only ever rode that bike of hers and if she had skidded off the road she had no shelter. She could have been hurt or worse. He trusted her to know her limits, and he knew that she never really got hammered. She had a few beers at most and had walked back the few times she had felt she wasn’t able to be safe, but the snow was a different story. Even seasoned drivers could get in trouble in it.

“Damn it Stanley you should have gone and got her,” he growled to himself, “You idiot. What were you thinking? You know she doesn’t have a car,” he berated his anger manifesting in self loathing, “Stupid worthless old man.”

As he stood to go get dressed so he could go out looking for her a knock came on the front door sending him charging towards it like a bat out of hell. Relief washed over him as he wrenched the door open ready to demand to know what the hell was wrong with her, but the sight before him left him speechless.

Billie stood on the porch snow clinging to the messy black braid of her hair and the shoulders of her fur lined parka. Her jeans were soaked through to the knees where she’d obviously trudged through the snow. Still sticky blood coated one side of her face from a large gash on her forehead, her left eye was half swollen shut and blackening quickly, and her bottom lip split and seeping blood. Her skin was even paler then normal from cold or blood loss and her jaw was bruised and angry looking. Staring at her he felt his heart stop in his chest, he should have gone and got her. She’d obviously crashed on her way over and had to walk here, he needed to get her to the hospital. There was no telling how badly she was hurt, she could be bleeding internally, or have broken bones and only be standing because of shock. She could be dying and it was all hi fault. Stupid worthless old man, he should have gone and gotten her.

“Holy Moses, are you okay? What happened?” he finally managed to bark as he reached a hand towards her pulling her into the house. She was freezing, he could see her shivering and her lips were tinted blue. Good god he need to get the keys to take her to the hospital. “Stay there I’ll get my keys. We have to…,” he began but she cut him off.

“No,” she said her voice thick with pain as she caught his hand with hers. Her skin was like ice, and he noticed her knuckles were bruised and bloody, “No,” she repeated and he stopped looking down at her. Something was wrong, the Billie he’d come to know always had a cocky manner, head held up defiant to the world, sharp eyed and ready to take on the world. But now…she didn’t look like the hell cat that was his daughter. Instead she looked…like a lost little girl. Her shoulders slumped, one arm hugging herself, and big green eyes watery with unshed tears. He looked like he’d felt so many times in his life; lost, alone, and broken. Now, utterly confused he stood looking at her and wondering what the hell he was suppose to do. For a second she stood motionless before shaking her head and moving like she was going to leave. Catching her hand he stopped her, he couldn’t let her go back out there in her current state.

“Billie…what happened?’ he asked again unable to think of anything else to say, “Hey. It’s okay. I’ve been around the world. Whatever it is I’ll understand,” he said echoing the words he’d said so many years ago. He didn’t know what was wrong but this time he wasn’t going to fuck it up again. He refused to loose his daughter like he’d lost his brother, “Come on kid, you’re freaking me out.”

“I…I…Mary died and I had to go back to Georgia. And none of the others seemed to care. And I…I tried to just forget, but it didn’t work. An’ I came here because…I dunno. And I went to the bar but then I beat up James Dean and….and,” she spewed as tears began pouring from her eyes before she lunged forward and hugged him so tightly it almost hurt as she buried her face in his chest. Blinking Stan stood for a second staring down at her as she sobbed quietly into his chest, “I don’t wanna die alone Stanford,” she whimpered into his chest and something in him broke a little as he wrapped his arms around her.

“I know kid, but it’ll all be okay I promise,” he told her his own voice a bit choked. What else could he say? He’d never been good with word or feeling so he just decided to let her cry it out. After all he couldn’t do anything else for her besides be a caring ‘uncle’.

For a while they just stood there; Billie crying softly into his chest as she let out all the grief she’d been holding in and Stan letting her. Finally, she took a step back scrubbing at her eyes and staring at his feet embarrassment washing over her. She must look like an idiot, showing up on his door step crying like a little kid. Sniffing she rolled her shoulders the beating from earlier staring to set in as her body ached along with her heart. Her eyes were puffy and itchy from all the crying and her throat sore from the walk in the snow. She realized she was exhausted in every possible way and looked up at him to find him staring at her hesitantly.

“Feel better?” he asked finally and she gave a jerky nod.

“Yeah…thanks Stan,” she said shoving her hands in her pockets, “So…I’m gonna invoke the girdle rule here.”

“The what?” he asked his face contorting in confusion.

“The fact that you wear a girdle. You know it’s a thing. I know it’s a thing. But we don’t talk about it and pretend it never happened,” she told him and he couldn’t help but let out a huff of laughter.

“Alright, alright I get it,” he told her and she gave a weak smile, “Now not to sound too bossy or anything but you should go get cleaned up and take some aspirin. Probably wanna ice that eye too. Cause it looks like James Dean beat you up not the other way around,” he told her and she let out her own laugh. Nodding he turned to head into the kitchen for the first aid kit and a glass of water for her. She was going to need it.

“Yeah, yeah,” she said as she dragged herself towards the stairs only to pause on the first step, “Really, thanks Stan,” she said not looking at him.

“Sure thing kid. That’s what family is for,” he said not turning from his path to the kitchen. Smiling she nodded as she headed up stairs.

#Gravity Falls #gravity falls fanfiction #the fanfic formally known as I have no bloody idea what to call this; the gravity falls fanfiction #stan pines #billie pines #pines family #pines family bonding #manly dan #lost pines #illegitimate pines #Angst #Mystery Shack #AO3 #you have no idea how much i had to go through to get this up #computer problems suck

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lakesandquarries · 5 years

Text

Brimstone In My Garden (Chapter 4)

Chapter Four: you can bring the fire

Summary: When he was five years old, Midoriya Izuku went missing. Now, ten years later, he’s one of the top villains, whether he likes it or not. When an attack on UA leads to him encountering his childhood best friend, new possibilities open up for him.

Pairings: todobakudekukiri

Notes: Villain Deku au, will have quite a bit of violence and gore later on, along with implied/referenced child abuse. None of this is appearing just yet, but I’ll warn when it does happen.

Today is my birthday, but y'all are the ones getting a present!

< Chapter One < Chapter Three Chapter Five >

Read it on AO3, or under the cut!

Someone’s coming.

Bakugo is standing in the middle of the league of villains secret base with a passed out Deku at his feet and no idea of how to get out, and someone is coming.

He’s glad he brought the rope now. It takes a few minutes, but he manages to tie Deku to his back, wearing him like a backpack, his actual backpack attached to Deku. It’s...weird, but it works.

He looks around Deku’s room for a bit, grabbing anything that looks like it belongs to Deku. There’s not much, just a few pieces of All Might merch and some random crap that probably holds weird sentimental value. Under the bed, he finds some notebooks and an old magazine, and he grabs them too.

With that, he sets out, attempting to retrace his steps in the winding halls of the league. He gets lost quickly, which isn’t a surprise, but is annoying. Everything here looks exactly the same. And the whole time, he hears footsteps behind him.

He’s so close. If he can just outrun those footsteps, figure out where the hell he’s going, he could get back. But this place is probably designed to be confusing.

He regrets knocking Deku out. Not a lot - it was better than leaving him there or continuing that stupid argument - but Deku probably knows his way around the place and that’d be very helpful right about now.

He’s barely focused on where he’s going, instead looking at where he’s been, trying to keep track, and that’s when he slams into someone.

Bakugo scrambles back, uncomfortably aware of the boy strapped to his back. The man standing in front of him is a terrifying figure; black hair, bright blue eyes, and bizarre, almost patchwork skin. He looks like the staples in his skin are the only thing holding him together.

“Hey,” he says.

“Fuck,” Bakugo says.

“Whatcha got there?” the man says, nodding his head towards Deku. Bakugo tries to stand up taller, to block the man’s view, but this asshole is tall.

“Nothing.” His voice shakes, badly. Bakugo has never been more afraid in his life.

“Sure looks like something to me.” There’s no emotion in his voice, and that's the scariest part. He doesn’t look concerned or annoyed or happy. He’s completely blank, and it’s terrifying.

“We’re leaving,” Bakugo says, tilting his chin up. “You can’t make him stay here.” His palms are sweating, blood replaced with pure fear. This is where it all goes wrong. This is where Bakugo gets him and Deku killed, and no one will ever even know. There’s more footsteps coming - backup, probably.

“You’re taking him with you?”

“Yeah, and you can’t stop me.” This time, his voice is steady. “I’ll - I’ll fight you if I have to.” He holds out his hand, preparing an explosion. Any explosion he sets off is likely to just draw more attention, based on how much he’s sweating, but the man doesn’t know that. “So don’t get in my way.”

The man is silent for a moment, blank as a brand new sheet of paper.

Then he nods at Bakugo. “Exit’s that way.” he points back the way Bakugo came. His facial expression never changes. “Take two rights and then a left. I’ll buy you some time, but you should go soon.”

“You’re helping me?” Bakugo lowers his hand. “But -”

“You’re running out of time. Get him out of here,” the man says. His expression softens, just enough for Bakugo to notice. “....take care of him for me.”

“I -”

“Go.”

Bakugo has a thousand questions, but he doesn’t ask any of them. He goes.

---

Getting back into the dorms is much easier than any other step in the process. All he has to do is text Hatsume, who immediately starts doing her thing, and texts him back less than a minute later to give him the go ahead. With the cameras and sensors shut off, he can just walk back in without anyone knowing.

Once he's inside, he realizes he has no idea what to do next. He hadn’t really expected to get this far.

Still strapped to his back, Deku starts to stir, and Bakugo decides he’ll just do the first thing he can think of - build a hiding place.

He puts Deku on the bed for now and gets set up. There’s built in closets in each dorm, but Bakugo never uses his, instead using the dresser he brought from home. Hanging up clothing is too much effort for him.

That means the closet is empty, with plenty of space to hide a certain (former??) villain. Of course, he’s not gonna wanna stay in a plain, empty, uncomfortable little space, so Bakugo starts piling some blankets and pillows in there, turning it into a sort of nest. There’s not as much as he’d like, since Bakugo doesn’t have many extra pillows, but it’s comfy enough.

It’s better than Deku’s old room, at least. Bakugo hadn’t stayed long, but it didn’t look like a place for someone to live. Everything was gray and black and cold, from the walls to the tiny desk in the corner to the hard plastic chair to the too small bed. It wasn’t a place for anyone to live, much less Deku.

So, maybe it’s just a closet, but it’s cozy. Comfy. And that way, Deku can stay safe while they figure out what to do next.

With that settled, he gently moves Deku in the closet, leaving the door open. For all his movement earlier, Deku is still now. Bakugo paces back and forth, waiting for Deku to wake up, and also dreading it just a bit.

He didn’t think this far ahead. They’re in unknown territory now, and Bakugo has no idea what to do. What if Deku wants to go back? Bakugo can’t really force him to stay here. But if he does want to stay, he’ll have to be completely hidden, from students and teachers alike.

Bakugo takes a seat on his bed. Deku’s safe, now, and that's what’s really important. They’ll figure out what to do. Bakugo had seen the way he looked, the place where he lived. There’s no way he wanted to stay there.

He looks peaceful, curled up in the closet. Bakugo can see how he’s changed since they were kids better, and how he’s stayed the same. The most obvious difference is the scar that runs across Deku’s face, starting next to his eyebrow and traveling across his nose before ending right under his eye.

He looks so much like he did when they were kids. The same big green eyes, same freckles, same messy hair. Yeah, he’s older, and a little messed up, but he’s unmistakably Deku.

It makes something in Bakugo’s chest clench up. He’d been so awful, when they were kids. Maybe now he can finally make up for it.

There’s so much he still doesn’t understand. Deku didn’t have a quirk when they were kids - what was with the plants at USJ? Even weirder is the man Bakugo ran into.

“Take care of him for me.”

The man was clearly a villain, and yet he helped out. He wanted Deku to be safe. Why?

Too many questions, not enough answers. Bakugo flops onto his bed, dropping an arm over his face. Rescuing someone is emotionally exhausting, and he’s tired.

Despite his frantic thoughts, he falls asleep.

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