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glacecakes · 3 years

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Wild Hunt

Eugene isn't exactly well liked by his men, but when they want to induct him into their ranks, he's not going to complain! All he has to do is hunt down a beast that they prepared for this event specifically-

It's Varian. Eugene is accidentally hunting down Varian. Now the two have to survive the night together, while one of them is injured, against a squadron of Corona's best men.

Uh oh.

IM BACK! Kinda. Finals are due Tuesday and I wrote this instead of doing them but WHATEVER WHO CARES

This was mostly written on the Varian Hivemind server, with some lovely inputs from the folks on there, and I edited it and finished it before throwing it up here. So uh. Yea. Team Awesome my beloved

Life and Times and VVO will also be updated soon!!! I hope to have at least one if not both chapters done by the end of the month

ANYWAY HERES 8K OF TEAM AWESOME ANGST

Being Captain of the Guards sure had its perks.

For one, he got to attend meetings with Rapunzel, finally. You'd think being the princess's future husband (probably) and Prince of the Dark Kingdom got him some recognition, but noblemen are jerks and elitists, so what can you do. Granted, the meetings were boring as all hell, but still, it felt like he was actually being respected and taken seriously. Something Rapunzel had been pushing for since the start. Personally, he wasn't all that sure he deserved it, but if she was happy, so was he.

Another was that the guards no longer gave him shit. That's not to say they did before... well, they did. Stan and Pete didn't, but every other guard called him Flynn Rider at least once or twice before begrudgingly accepting him as their teacher and now commander. He no longer had to worry about someone breathing down his back, waiting for him to slip up or commit a crime, eager to throw him back in prison.

Speaking of which...

He turned the corner to see a few guards, couldn't remember their names off the top of his head, forming a small circle around a corner. Their predatory grins barred down on whatever their target was, whichever poor soul had angered them. One of them had his hands on someone much shorter, so short he couldn't make them out beyond the red coats and gleaming gold... which could only mean it was one person.

"Don't get comfy, brat," the one hissed, pushing Varian up against the wall with an audible crack as a skull hit stone, no doubt hoisted up by a shirt collar. "One of these days the princess is gonna get sick of you, and when she does, we'll toss you back into your old cell... and we'll restart our favorite game. Ain't that a swell idea?" Varian hissed, a soft thunk of his boots scrambling for purchase against the wall.

"Hey!" Eugene snapped, having heard more than enough. "Put him down now ." His words were like fire, causing the other two to jump back and reveal the battered and bruised alchemist. His lip was split, a large scuff of dirt on his white shirt.

One of the guards snapped his head around, whacking the leader's shoulder to get his attention. The guard frowned. "Oh yea? Or what?"

Before his new position, he would've leapt into the fray, hackles raised, punching the lights out of these jerks, but now, he had a much better stance. "Or you're fired." He crossed his arms, the perfect picture of a guy in charge who knew how to keep his men in line.

Someone who was clearly not him.

The guard hummed. "You don't have the nerve." To emphasize his point, he shook Varian a little harder, the kid's toes barely scraping the floor and his hands gripping the soldier's wrists. Leather gloves creaked with how tight the pressure was.

But Eugene's glare didn't waver, hand itching for the sword at his hip, his anger radiating in waves. It was enough to get the other two to back off.

"Cmon, Aaron," one whispered. "It's not worth it."

"Yeah, it's not." Eugene agreed. "Put him down now, and I'll lighten your sentence to a week in the stables instead of a month."

Aaron's face turned sheet white, then bright red. With a huff, he dropped Varian to the ground, readjusting his gloves while Varian cried out on the floor.

"You got lucky this time, brat," he hissed.

Oh, he knew that type of speech. The Baron used it all the time. Anyone who got told that never lasted to the next month. "And all other times," he said. "Because if I see you go anywhere near him I'm taking you to the princess."

Aaron rolled his eyes, clearly uncaring, and stormed off with a huff, his buddies trailing after. No doubt they didn't like a criminal ordering them around. Or, ex-criminal. He'd have to keep an eye on them.

A sniffle broke Eugene's musings, the fog of satisfaction and annoyance quickly replaced by concern for his younger friend. Varian sat up, wincing as he did so. He rubbed his neck, feeling for any injuries and finding none except for his ruined collar. "Aw man," he mumbled.

Dad had fixed his collar for him that day, a proud smile on his face. "You need to look sharp for your first day on the job," he'd said, ruffling Varian's hair. They'd grown so much closer in the past few months, the man always seeing his son off. Today was the first day back after his kidnapping, after all; he'd spent a month recovering from a broken rib.

"It's not my first day, I've been working there for weeks," Varian had grumbled, but let him do it with a cheeky grin.

"First day of the week," Quirin rectified, placing a kiss to his baby's forehead.

A forehead now covered in dust and a bruise.

"Hey kid," Eugene offered a hand that Varian gladly took, stumbling a little as he was helped upright. "You ok? Nothing knocked outta place?"

"Just my pride," Varian joked, smile quickly fading. "I'm ok though, really. I'm used to it." He shrugged, hugging himself for comfort. Maybe he could pretend dad was here, hugging him... he always had the best hugs. Even when Varian was little, before they drifted apart. Back when he was just the weird magic kid. Back when his biggest worries were some older kids picking on him... Dad would always scoop him up into a big hug with flowery words and a book of Flynn Rider.

A warm hand wrapped around him, pulling him into a red chest. Eugene took his other hand to ruffle Varian's hair, earning a squawk of complaint.

"Just because you're used to it doesn't mean it's ok, you know that, right?" Silence followed. Gosh, this kid... say what you want about being an orphan, at least everyone around you was on the same boat. No place for bullies, nothing to bully about, when everyone was doing just as badly. "If they ever give you more trouble, you come to me, yeah?"

"Huh?" Confused blue eyes met warm brown.

Eugene smirked. "You say the words and I boot them out of the castle, goggles. Team Awesome looks out for each other."

"Oh," Varian mumbled, dazed. He'd never had a protector, never had anyone looking out for him. Cold sneers and flowery words, manipulation and secrets and ulterior motives, sure. His chest fluttered, a laugh escaping.

But then... the anxiety returned full force, maybe even stronger.

If those guys got fired because of him, good god, he could only imagine the fallout. Well, that's not true. He absolutely could. One time in prison a guard got fired for beating a cellmate within an inch of his life, and though the guy lived, the second he was out of prison he got jumped, or so the story goes. In all honesty it was probably an embellished truth, stretched out to frighten prisoners into silence, but god damn if it didn't work. No one ever complained about their beatings. A peep was all that was needed to spend a night in the infirmary for even worse injuries.

"No, no, it's fine," Varian flicked his wrist. The dial on his hand spun with each flick, the ticking grating. "Besides, we have work to do!"

"Oh, yea!" Eugene gasped. Right! The whole reason he came out to this part of the castle was to look for Varian specifically, after all.

"So, right, maintenance stuff." Varian waved his hand, motioning for Eugene to follow. "Here's what I had in mind..."

It was a week later, late at night, when Aaron approached him. The moon lay low in the sky, just bright enough to allow for vision without torchlight, but not bright enough that anything beyond shapes were clear. True to his word, the guard had been stationed on stable duty for the past several days, coming back to the barracks covered in dirt and angry every time.

So maybe Eugene had whispered to Max about him. Big deal.

Anyway, the captain was knee-deep in paperwork when Aaron knocked on his office door. "Sir," he said. "Finished up for the day, and I wanted to talk to you."

"Oh?" Eugene put his quill down hesitantly. Aaron was his first big show of power, the first punishment he'd dished. Everything else had been a variation of "keep doing what you're doing" as he settled into his new role. Who knew being in a position of power was so stressful?

(Everyone. Literally everyone.)

"I wanted to apologize for testing you, sir." The man shifted, eyes never meeting. His face was unreadable. "I wasn't sure you were going to be as..... sharp, as our previous captain. And I'm sorry for that."

"....Ok," Eugene said. "Thanks? I think?"

"So, I uh... wanted to do something for you." The man continues. "Me and a few others. It's sorta a ritual for guards. We didn’t do it before cuz of, yknow, Cassandra and stuff. And you're one of us now, so...?" He raised an eyebrow, a quiet invitation.

Oh boy.

Knowing these guys, it was probably something really stupid. Most of the guards were pretty nice, maybe a bit airheaded, but a lot of meatheads mostly. Big fans of machismo and showing their strength, boosting their ego, stuff like that. It's why none of them were fans of being run by a criminal. And no doubt Eugene would have to clean up their mess anyway, so he sighed deeply and rose from his seat. "Alright, what did you do now?"

Aaron placed a hand to his chest. "Why, sir, we did this out of the goodness of our heart! We're just welcoming you to the team!" He laughed a bit at that last part. He pointed out the door, leading his superior down the suspiciously empty barracks, and out into the courtyard.

About a dozen or so guards were outside, waiting. One of them was holding a horse's reins, and a crossbow.

"He's in!" Aaron called, and the guards all broke into cheers and raucous laughter.

"Yea, nice to see you guys too, uh. What am I... in?" Eugene asked, shifting awkwardly.

Aaron's smile widened. "It's just a fun little game, sir."

"The game is simple, really," Aaron slung an arm around Eugene's shoulder, pulling him close, not unlike how Lance does. But unlike his larger friend, this man is wiry, more of a weaselly kind of build, with stick thin arms that hide his muscle. "See, when someone new joins the guard, we test their skill by having them hunt down a beast in the nearby forest. Once they catch it, we all celebrate together! And welcome him into the ranks!" The guards all cheered, no doubt thrilled at the prospect.

"....right...." Eugene smiled uncomfortably, cheeks pulling and stretching, a puppet controlling the strings attached to his face. His stomach swirled, bouncing all over as he was passed around.

"But see, you're not just any guard, you're the Captain," Aaron's smile took an equally unpleasant demeanour. "So we figured we'd give you some extra... challenge." Outside of their little circle, no sounds could be heard. Not a peep from a cricket, or a cry from a bird, just dead silence in the surrounding glen. Just the crackle of torches, and the rustling of men.

"The beast for this occasion is small, smart, and fast. The goal is to catch it before it reaches the wall at Old Corona. All you gotta do is," he makes a noise with his mouth to emulate the crossbow. "Hit the target, and the rest of us will finish the job."

"Finish?" Eugene echoed.

The guards around him smiled with all of their teeth. "Well yea, we're not just gonna waste a perfectly good beast, are we?"

Eugene narrowed his eyes. If Rapunzel heard about this, no doubt she'd flip. "How will I know what I'm looking for? And why should I even approve of this?"

"Relax, sir," Aaron shook him, patting his chest with a heavy fist. "We're not just killing an innocent creature. It's always something that's been marked for slaughter, or is causing problems. And trust me," his voice deepened. "You'll know."

No horse was as good as Max, but that was probably for the best, what with his gut screaming about how this all felt so goddamn sketchy. "This isn't some trap where it turns out I'm the one being hunted, right? Cuz I don't want to shoot any of you with this," he joked, brandishing the crossbow.

"No, sir, not at all! In fact we'll be supporting you! No one makes the first shot until you do." He promised, patting the horse's flank. "Rest assured, no tricks here. Just a beast already marked for capture. Or recapture, in this case. We picked this one special for you."

"That sounds like it's supposed to be flattering but it really isn't."

Aaron shrugged. "Not my problem. Good luck!" With a smack to the horse, she cried out, spurring Eugene forward.

They rode through the Capital, out into Corona proper, lush with trees. At this time of night, no one would be about, not even thieves, laden in their straw beds and cots. The only things out right now are animals, or a beast, in this case. How is he supposed to know what he's looking for? What, is it going to be some giant thing with red eyes? No, Aaron said it was small, how the hell is he going to...

Then he hears it.

It's faint, almost like a windchime, but sure enough, the clanking of chains, and a small whimper. Somewhere through the trees there's a rustling, something moving. He can't make it out, the guards didn't give him a torch, but a blob of something rushes forward, the only thing he can make out the distinctive shine of metal, a chain reflecting in the moonlight.

Ah.

Eugene smirked, the rush of adrenaline from a chase beginning to pump through his veins. It'd been a while since an adventure without any stakes, without any daring challenges or risking death. The last time must've been... gosh, probably the Herz de Sonne misadventure? And even then he and Lance had just goofed off for the majority of it. Maybe the Spire? That one was much riskier but he and Rapunzel had been so outrageously drunk during that whole endeavor that it felt more like a fun jaunt.

He shook himself out of his reverie. Focus, Eugene! Fun or no, you're proving yourself to the guards! Show them that you're a worthy Captain beyond just barking orders and supporting the princess!

He spurred the horse forward, hooves thundering against the undergrowth and disturbing the leaves below. The beast let out a shriek, shrill and shaking, rushing forward. It weaved between trees, trying to throw Eugene off. Man, Aaron wasn't kidding about how fast it was. Even on horseback he couldn't keep up very well. The chains wrapped around the beast's legs screamed in complaint, clanking and clattering with each huff of its breath.

Eugene lowered the crossbow, sticking his tongue out. Steady... steady.... he fired.

The bolt whizzed through the air, lodging into a tree just a few feet away from its target. The beast flinched but didn't slow, scampering through the undergrowth, leaping over a fallen tree towards the river.

"Hyah!" He yelled, leading his horse over the log and splashing down into frigid waters. Water rushed past his horse's hooves, dulling the sound of chains, and when he looked around, the beast was gone.

Drat.

Eugene grumbled, reloading the crossbow before urging his horse onward. If this beast got away he'd never hear the end of it! They'd be all "Yes sir, Captain! We'll catch that criminal! As soon as you catch that beast!" And then they'd laugh and he'd moan and he'd have to go catch the criminal himself which is honestly not too far off from how it is already-

Anyway.

It took a few minutes to find it again, the beast trying to muffle it's movements by shuffling, but the metal song was too alluring to ignore. There was no time to waste. With the horse at a fast trot, quieter and steadier, he fired the bolt, this time getting much closer, barely whizzing past the silhouette and lodging into a tree trunk with a chunk of hair.

The creature cried out again, beginning to run and renew this dance of cat and mouse, but Eugene wouldn't have it. Dexterous fingers clasped a new bolt and quickly reloaded, giving barely a few seconds for the creature to try and run before firing again.

He didn't miss.

It was almost silent, the bolt's descent. Its tip gleamed in the moonlight alongside the chains keeping his prey in place, the one thing that slowed it and gave Eugene the upper hand. Whatever this beast was was quick, too quick, and if he lost it again, no doubt he'd never find it again. So when he aimed, he aimed down, and sure enough, the bolt embedded itself into the beast's calf, sending into stumbling.

It shrieked, screamed and sobbed in agony, noises bordering on almost human-like as it thrashed on the floor. The arrow stuck straight up, bright color on the end almost a beacon for the beast's location. Poor thing. He really should've just aimed for the head and put it out of its mercy, but this was the only way to ensure a clean shot.

Eugene slid off his horse, crouching low to the ground as he readied the final blow. But as he got nearer, as the moon hung lower in the sky, providing light through the filtering trees. He hesitated.

The beast was crawling, still trying to run, front legs pawing at the forest floor and clenching the leaves beneath with hands.

Hands...?

Eugene's stomach sank, lower and lower with each passing step, heart climbing higher and higher in his throat, the closer he got, the more ill he felt.

He saw the chains first. No, not chains like that on a cattle’s neck. Prison shackles, the kind wrapped around a prisoner's legs. And they were wrapped around legs, keeping strides from being too large.

And their torso.... clothed torso..... The beast heaved, each breath causing it to rise and fall with rapid panic.

The Captain's hands brushed against the tree with his other bolt embedded in it, eyes trailing onto it, and he froze.

Blue hair, stabbed by the bolt.

"No," he breathed. "No no no no no..." His boots picked up the pace, speed walking over to his catch, to his victim. Please, for the love of god, let him be wrong. Let this be a cruel prank, just a bear or deer dressed up to fool him... don't let it be...!

The creature heard him approach and sobbed, flipping itself over on shaking hands to get a better look at its assailant.

There, lightened by the moonlight, chest heaving, tears streaming down his face and blood oozing from his leg, was Varian.

"Varian....?" Eugene whispered, tears of his own budding when his friend whimpered, scooting back and away. With each step forward Varian scrambled back until his back hit a tree, at which point he curled into a ball. Like a frightened animal. Like a cornered beast.

Oh god... this whole time, he thought it was just one of the farm animals marked for slaughter, or a meddlesome woodland critter... he thought it was an animal destined for someone's table, so why not the guards'? Why on Earth did he agree to this? Was he so desperate for approval from his peers that he would simply shrug off the ringing alarm bells, put aside his gut instinct, and dive in blindly?

Yes, his mind whispered. You would, and you did.

"Hey, buddy," He leaned down, inching closer. "Varian, goggles, it's me. It's Team Awesome." His hand shook as he reached forward, but Varian flinched violently, causing his leg to spasm. The boy hiccuped, a hand clamping over his mouth to stifle his sobs. A small mercy came from the shadows of the night, with it too dark for details, Varian wouldn't see the blood rapidly soaking his pants.

The crossbow glinted, a sharp refraction bouncing off frightened blue eyes and causing him to wince. Eugene tossed the weapon away like it burned him.

"It's me, it's Eugene," he reassured, scooting closer bit by bit. "I'm here to help. I'm not gonna hurt you."

"You did," Varian gasped, whole form shaking. "You did."

And that really was the crux of it, wasn't it? At the center of Eugene's self loathing was the spiral of guilt that you shot him, you shot the kid. He trusted you, and you shot him.

"I know," he rasped, trying to keep his voice level. "I did. I'm so sorry. Fuck, I'm so sorry." Varian sobbed, unfurling slightly if only to reach out for comfort. Even if this was the man who hurt him, who hunted him on horse and acted as the boogeyman straight out of nightmares, he was also Eugene, his friend, the one who stood up for him against Cass and Aaron, held his hand and promised he'd be there if Varian ever needed it. And god did he need him now.

Shaking, gloved hands connected in the middle, Eugene's grip gentle but grounding, a careful smile on his face. "That's it, bud. You're safe."

“Aw, ain’t that cute?”

Faster than a bullet, the smaller hand retracted, Varian’s eyes wide and horror-struck. In his attempt to comfort the boy, Eugene had let his guard down. He’d forgotten the final rule of the game.

No one moves until you make the first shot.

They were surrounded.

Aaron swaggered up to the duo with a grin, torch in hand. It flickered and sputtered, illuminating his blinding white grin amidst the darkness. The other guards formed a circle around them. Every other man carried a torch, while the rest had a weapon or tool or rope.

“The Captain has captured the beast! And in remarkable time, too.” Aaron simpered, waltzing up and gripping Varian’s cheeks in his hand. The boy snarled, teeth grit as he stared up at his bully.

From behind them came Aaron’s two buddies, the guards from before, each one wrapping an arm around Eugene’s shoulder, hauling him up and away.

For a moment, Eugene's insides were pure ice, frozen in time, unable to react despite the screaming in his mind as the puzzle pieces failed to connect. They jumbled and sloshed in his mind, the picture only half complete and the rest of the pieces strewn atop, obscuring the image from his view.

"Eugene...?" Varian whispered, thawing him.

"What have you done!?" He bellowed, anger hardening his voice. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!?" He strained against the guards.

"Just as we told you, sir!" Aaron mocked, forcing Varian to meet the Captain's gaze. "We captured a beast for you to hunt down! And now that you have," The grin was razor sharp, shark's fangs practically drenched in blood. "We'll dispose of it properly."

A guard from the circle threw a rope, the ends tied into a loop. Like a ring toss, the aim was true, ensnaring Varian's wrist and tightening when he pulled. Another guard followed suit, yanking the boy back and forth till his arms were spread eagle and unable to move.

Varian turned a stark white, paler than the moon that neared the horizon. He cried out, straining to try and escape, but another spasm from his leg paralyzed him. “N-no, please not again…!” He sobbed. “Let me go-!”

"Again!? Varian, what do you mean? VARIAN!" Eugene yelled. "VARIAN!"

The boy screwed his eyes shut, praying for the nightmare to end.

"LET HIM GO!" Eugene strained against the guards, lamenting once again, his own stupidity. He should've brought Max, or an actual weapon, like his sword, or something! He'd gone in totally blind, expecting that the guards were decent people and that this wouldn't be anything out of the ordinary. Honestly, he should've known better! After everything he's seen and done, never leave the house without a concealed weapon! You were almost executed by half these assholes!

When he gets back, he's firing everyone except Stan and Pete.

A third rope flashed through the air, this time with a loop larger than the others. It latched itself onto Varian's neck, wrapping tight and close. His eyes snapped open in pure terror, mouth opening in shock. But before the boy could protest or scream, the rope was pulled taut, and his face turned an awful shade of purple. He coughed, thrashing in place with tears of fear and hypoxia trailing his cheeks.

"Aw, the beast is scared! Doesn't he know how all animals are slaughtered?" Aaron cooed, faux sympathy marring his features. "You know, don't you? You were raised on a farm, after all." His question went unanswered, Varian too busy rasping for breath to respond.

The man with the rope pulled harder, forcing Varian's face down into the dirt where his muffled cries barely caused the leaves beneath to move. A steel boot stomped onto his head, and the cries went still.

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM!?" Eugene bellowed, the protective instincts in his mind going haywire, overheating and exploding with pure rage and an intense need to save him, free him. He let this happen, if he had been smarter, stronger, if he hadn't shot him, hadn't let his guard down, hadn't shrugged and taken the guards' words at face value… “Oh relax, it'll be painless!” Aaron hummed, producing a knife from his belt. “The beast didn’t answer the question, but, I’m sure you can figure out how animals are killed after falling unconscious.” He jokingly slashed the dagger in the air above his throat, and Eugene saw red.

"YOU ARE SO FIRED!" He screeched at Aaron. "WHEN RAPUNZEL FINDS OUT-"

"Oh?" Aaron mocked, turning around and placing a hand to his chest daintily. "When the princess finds out? You're making her do all the heavy lifting?" He sauntered up to Eugene, hips swaying with each step till they were nose to nose. "This is your job, sir. You are in charge of keeping us in line, keeping the prisoners in their place."

"Varian is NOT a prisoner," Eugene hissed, meeting his gaze with pure fury. "He is a friend, my friend, my brother."

"Perhaps to Eugene Fitzherbert, but not a Captain of the Guard." Aaron shrugged.

Eugene lowered his head. For a brief moment, Aaron grinned victoriously. Now he's getting it.

"Too bad for you, I'm both."

Aaron's face fell, the cheerful facade falling into a brutal glower. "What does that mea-"

He was cut off when Eugene slammed his face into Aaron's, hitting the bastard's nose with a CRUNCH. He staggered back, and his buddies loosened their grip on Eugene to see if he's ok. It's all the advantage Eugene needed, quickly pushing them both off him and charging Aaron. His shoulder bowled into Aaron, sending him sprawling, and Eugene only stopped to grab the dagger he dropped before sprinting for Varian's crumpled form.

"Oh sun, please be ok, come on kid," Eugene chanted, slashing the rope around his neck. It leaves a brutal ring of red around his neck, as do the ones around his wrist when they're dispatched. There was no time to remove the chains, what with the remaining guards quickly regaining their senses and gearing up for a fight.

He lifted Varian up into his arms as if he were made of glass. Dark black hair lolled against the Captain's chest as he stood to his full height, glaring down at his employees, the hazers, the conspirators.

There was no hope of taking them all on, that much was clear. Charging into battle with hands full and armed only with a knife was stupid. He'd have to outrun them, play the game, and make it to Old Corona where Quirin could protect his son and he could get actual backup from loyal men.

Perhaps this was the true game, the true test of his worthiness.

Aaron snarled, staggering up while clutching his nose. "GET HIM!"

Eugene crouched, letting the first guard try and charge him before jumping out of the way at the last second. This he was used to, dodging men who wanted nothing more than to hurt and destroy what he held dear, making a run for it to the relative safety of the familiar. He fell into the old routine without too much difficulty, leaping over heads and ducking under blows. It helped that Varian barely weighed more than a few grapes, still a stick from his year in prison. He and the others had been hard at work trying to help him gain at the very least some muscle, though Varian was a big fan of skipping meals for science.

According to Quirin he's had that habit for a while, and right now it was a minor blessing.

Huh, he thought to himself as he dodged a crossbow bolt, taking off into the trees. Captain of the Guard isn't all that off from my usual life, just with some added benefits. Another arrow nearly took off his ear. Yea, same old stuff.

His feet pounded against the forest floor, dredging up leaves and dirt alike as he ran. There was no time to cover his tracks or be discreet, there was a whole battalion after him, so it wouldn't do much good anyway. But as his steps quickened, as Varian bounced up and down in his arms, the chains still rattling, the boy stirred, groaning in pain with each motion.

"Gene...?" He mumbled, muffled through the man’s coat.

"Hey kid," Eugene grinned down, not slowing for a second. "Glad to see you're ok. How's your throat?"

"On fire..." a weak hand pawed at his throat, rubbing the soreness away.

"Sorry about that, you're gonna be just fine, ok? It's all gonna be ok."

Varian hummed, eyes glossy and not fully there. His head fell back onto Eugene's chest, a soft smile full of love that he didn't deserve. "K. I trust you."

Varian fell back into an uneasy sleep after that, his breaths wheezing against Eugene, lips stained blue and face clammy. Anytime exhaustion tried to creep into his bones, tried to sneak into his soul and drain him to surrender, he looked down at Varian and his spirit would renew.

At some point, they were hiding behind a tree, keeping to the intense darkness. A few guards could be heard not too far off, their annoyed mutterings like an alarm bell, a siren's song of false security. Just as they passed, Varian coughed, clutching at the fabric for comfort. It was an ugly sound, weak and ragged, as if there was something coming up.

When he looked down, those blue lips were now stained red.

He picked up the pace after that.

But even he couldn't run forever, no matter how light Varian was or how determined he was. Inevitably he had to stop for water, hiding Varian behind a fallen tree and drinking from a stream whose sounds hid them from view.

He just finished his own drink when Varian stirred, and the Captain was quick to help Varian get some water of his own.

They sat by the stream for a bit, catching their breaths, Eugene from exertion, and Varian from strangulation.

It was here that Varian recounted his side of the story, tears dripping and mixing with the stream below him. "I was so scared..." he whispered, voice hoarse.

"I bet," Eugene soothed, running a thumb over Varian's palm. "What happened?"

"....I got jumped," his eyes turned downcast, shame coloring his features. "T-they grabbed me when I was gonna head home. Said that they wanted to make it up to me, to... to give me "a job befitting my talents"...." He sighed. "You can probably guess what that was, huh."

Eugene's ears burned. A flame simmered in his gut, nausea falling away as his free hand clenched at the leaves below him. "Yea. I can." He bit out.

For a moment, neither spoke, unsure of what to say. What could they say? The situation was insane, it was cruel, it was... it was…

Varian hacked, more blood than before coming up and splattering on the shackles that remained.

"Oh, let me get those," Eugene hissed. "I'm sorry, shit," He fumbled for his pockets, procuring a lock pick and making quick work of the shackles. "We gotta move. We can't let them find us." His hands hovered over the bolt, unsure. "Can I... I mean, you can't run with..."

Varian turned a shade of green, barely visible. “It’s stopping the blood from coming out.”

"Yea, good point, sorry." He coughed awkwardly, the stream bubbling and gurgling a simple melody.

"Why do... why do you keep apologizing?" Varian asked, not meeting Eugene's eye for a second.

"Wh- seriously?" He let out a bark of laughter, fading when Varian's face didn't change. "Kid, it's my fault you're in this mess! Sun above, I shot you. I said I'd keep you safe and I shot you." Anger swelled in his words, but Varian didn't flinch. He knew it wasn't directed at him. "Some Captain I am, I'm being chased by my own guys."

Varian bit his lip. "Did..." he hesitated to ask. If the answer wasn't what he was hoping for, he'd never recover. "Did you know it was me?"

"No!" Eugene's eyes widened. "No, I never would've agreed if I knew it was a person, let alone you!" He ran a hand through frazzled hair.

"So..." Varian hummed. "You shot me on accident, and then saved me. Again. Even when your men tried to convince you otherwise." Each sentence was slow, filled with Varian needed to take in a breath, but he met his friend's eyes this time. "I think that's a pretty good Captain."

Eugene blinked, then smiled. "Thanks, kid."

Dark voices shouted across the clearing, words incomprehensible. Varian jolted, hands flying up before doubling over hacking. Each cough shook his body so hard you’d think the boy was trembling with fright.

“Woah, easy,” Eugene’s hand rubbed over his back. “Deep breaths. Come on goggles. You got this.”

“You would think,” Varian rasped. “But I do not.”

Finally, with one final hack, his coughs ceased. Each gulp of air felt like heaven, or at least it did for the first few seconds. Then it was replaced by a searing hell, leaving him scrambling again.

God, what is the culprit?

As his breathing quieted, as the burn turned to a small simmer, Varian’s eyes trailed to the forest floor beneath him.

Stained with blood.

Varian’s eyes widened, his pupils shrunk to pinpricks as his entire world focused in on the blood. The dark blues of night left it hard to see, more a black shine than the vicious red, but there was no denying what it was.

“What-oooh,” Eugene hissed, grabbing Varian’s shoulders for support. Shit, this was bad. He made a mental list of symptoms for the inevitable doctor visit: raspy voice, struggling to breathe, coughing up blood... all signs pointed to the noose as the culprit. Whichever guard had tried to strangle Varian was getting fired and arrested.

No, screw it, all of them were.

“Focus on me, hair stripe,” he warned, shaking his brother slightly. “Are you ok to move?” All he got was a weedy moan. “I’m taking that as a maybe.” With no preamble, he scooped his arms under Varian’s knees and back, pulling him into his arms as he stood in one fluid motion. “I’m gonna try and make a run for it, ok? We’re almost to your dad. I just need you to stay with me.”

Silence, and then a faint nod moving against his coat.

Each step sent vibrations up Eugene’s spine, tingling and thrumming in his veins and pounding in time with his heart. The sun would be rising soon, it had to be, with the dew that is forming at his feet.

At some point Varian readjusted, shifting so that he could see over their shoulders. He couldn’t run, couldn’t fight, but at least he could keep an eye out.

And it’s a good thing he did, when he beats wildly at Eugene’s chest in a signal. The captain was about to duck behind a bush, but the forest’s edge is within sight! Maybe if they made a break for it...?

An arrow grazed his side.

The pain looped through his system, joining the adrenaline for a joyride through his mind and it sent him sprawling. Varian rolled out of his arms, collapsing at the forest’s edge.

Eugene groaned, raising his face with the sun to see Aaron’s smug grin glowing in the upcoming dawn.

“Well, look what I caught! A daddy beast and a baby beast!” He said.

Eugene gaped. “Could you be any creepier? Really, gotta go for the weirdest shit to say, don’t you?”

“Eh,” Aaron shrugged, crossbow in hand. He stepped past his boss (Er, ex boss), boots crunching on leaves and leaving nothing but dust in their wake. “I’m a weird guy, I guess.”

“Yea, a real weirdo. Kidnaps a teenager and has the captain hunt him for sport. A nice quirk, ain’t it!” Each word is angrier than before until he is spitting acid.

Aaron doesn’t even argue; he’s too caught up in his victory. Varian shook as he struggled to sit up, arms quivering with effort. Just as he raised his head his eyes met the gleaming tip of an arrow, aimed right between the eyes. “Say goodnight, kid. Don’t worry. I’ll make a fine trophy out of you. Hang your goggles over my mantle.”

“Would you knock it the fuck off!?” Eugene wheezed, scrambling up. His feet gave out near instantly, but he leapt forward, colliding with the guard and driving his aim up. The arrow whizzed overhead, harmlessly lodging into a tree.

“Varian, run!” Eugene yelled, still on top of the other.

“I CAN’T! What part of arrow in my leg don’t you get!?” Varian yelled, immediately followed by coughing.

Eugene went to answer, only for the butt of the crossbow to whack him in the face.

Aaron laughed, loud and manic, the sound like nails on a chalkboard. It was quickly stopped by a punch to his stomach from the furious man above him. If the others found them, it’d be game over. Literally.

Whether or not Eugene would be killed was unclear. While he didn’t always need Rapunzel to save him, her good graces granted him immunity from most local threats. But they’d definitely kill Varian, and that was the bigger concern to him.

Unfazed, Aaron slammed his skull into Eugene’s, sending him tearing back. The guard quickly flipped them, crossbow still in between.

“Face it,” Aaron snarled. “You’ll never be a true captain. You can’t control your men, can’t protect a kid, can’t even protect yourself. You just got the job because you saved the lost princess.”

“In my defense,” Eugene wheezed. “Your previous guard couldn’t do that either.” That only angered him more, digging the crossbow into Eugene’s Adam’s apple.

The two men wrestled briefly, Eugene finally getting a good grip on the crossbow, and kicking Aaron off of him. He scrambled to Varian, fully prepared to scoop him up and begin the dance again, just for a little longer, but Aaron just yelled out in anger, drawing a sword from his belt. As strong as Eugene was, he couldn’t outrun him with Varian in his arms. He would know, he trained his men to match him in speed and strength.

Varian moaned in pain. He had to do something, he couldn’t just sit here! Eugene had spent the whole night running around, working his ass off to keep him safe after the initial mistake, he couldn’t let him down...

But the arrow scraped against his bone, pain sending stars across his vision any time he stood…

The captain’s hands clenched down on wood, eyes calculating. He looked into Varian’s eyes, then down at his leg. Then up again. And down again. He hissed between teeth, kneeled down, and clenched his fist around the arrow. It sent a pulse of pain through Varian’s leg, the boy wincing, but understanding.

“Do it,” he hissed.

And yanked.

The pain was so sharp, so intense, that for a moment Varian was certain he was dead. There was no way anyone could survive with this much pain, he must surely be dead or dying. White hot agony stabbed into his leg, and he bit so hard on his lip he broke skin. It took everything in him not to scream.

Aaron laughed again, shadow blanketing them. Eugene turned to see him looming over them, sword above his head. “Say goodnight, Sir!” he shrieked.

Fwip!

Thunk!

The man’s grin vanished in an instant, replaced by sheer shock at the arrow sticking straight into his throat. Blood trickled down the wound, looking more like an impulse tracheotomy. Suddenly, he pitched forward, face hitting the forest floor with a sickening shick as the arrow went the rest of the way through his throat. There wasn’t even a struggle, no death rattles or cry of pain, just the sounds of a morning dove in the coming dawn.

Eugene’s shoulders slumped, and Varian leaned back into the cool grass.

“You doing alright there, Goggles?” Eugene called.

“My lungs are on fire, I can’t feel my legs and I’m sweating in places I didn’t even know I could sweat. I’d say I’m in the mood to die, but I literally just spent the whole night trying to prevent that.”

“...fair enough.”

The weeks that followed were, for lack of a better term, a total fucking nightmare.

After pulling themselves together, the brothers managed to hobble to Varian’s house in Old Corona, just in time to greet Quirin at the door. Imagine the poor man’s shock when he was headed out to work only to be greeted by his son’s blood and the captain’s exhaustion. Suffice to say, they got a proper tongue lashing the whole cart ride to Corona proper, the father fussing over them both while he rushed them to the infirmary. And then they had to get chewed out by Rapunzel, and Lance, and pretty much everyone else, despite their repeated insistence that it wasn’t their fault this time.

“What did you expect us to do? We were being hunted!” Eugene whined at Rapunzel while a nurse cleaned up a cut.

“Uh, I was being hunted. You were hunting me .” Varian hoarsely piped up from his own bed, leg propped up in a cast. He paused at the frantic stop motion Eugene was making, and the paling faces of his father and princess. “Oh. Was I. Not supposed to say that.”

“You’re not supposed to be talking,” Rapunzel chided lightly, though that was clearly not the problem. The doctor had been pretty quick to explain Varian’s breathing issues were just from the throat trauma, and would heal with time and supervision.

“I didn’t know! In my defense,” Eugene held up his hands as if to shield from Quirin’s murderous face, but if looks could kill he’d be a pile of bones. “I didn’t know.”

“How do you…” Quirin pinched the bridge of his nose. “I’m going to remind myself that you saved my son’s life and ignore the part where you endangered it in the first place.”

“Yes, please do,” He said, shifting under the glare.

And then came the paperwork.

Trying to figure out who among the guards was part of the hunt was hard enough, seeing as outside of Aaron and his cronies, no one was going to say a word. All they had to go off of were the men who saw Eugene off, and the ones who initially captured Varian. And since they hadn’t run into anyone else directly, no one could be properly accused and charged. But Eugene wasn’t going to take any chances, and therefore anyone who he saw at least once was fired, and if they wanted to dispute it they could come to him and explain why they were willing to throw his little brother to the wolves.

Suffice to say, no one did. Which left Eugene with only two thirds his original squadron. He spent a good while of his recovery vetting new recruits and creating incentives for others to try out, and while he was able to replenish his ranks, they weren’t nearly the same elite task force they’d started with. And considering the threats they faced on the regular, that was a serious problem.

It was after a long day of training and interviews that Eugene finally stumbled into the castle library, ready to destress with a nice long binge read of Flynn Rider. He grabbed a few books off the shelves as he walked, headed for his favorite couch and the cozy fireplace at its side, only to stop dead in his tracks.

Varian lay spread across the couch, foot propped up on the armrest as he glossed over some scientific text that Eugene had no hope of understanding. His eyes flitted up and down the page, clearly not actually reading and more just staring at the words.

“Hey,” Eugene called, and Varian barely reacted. “Oi, kid, that’s my spot. Scooch it.” “I got here first,” Varian said, not looking up for a second.

“Older brother gets first dibs.”

“Little brother gets his way.”

Oh he was gonna play it like that was he? Eugene smirked, plopping his books down at the floor before collapsing directly on top of Varian, making care to not crush the injured leg. Varian squawked in protest, limbs flailing.

“Get off! You’re heavy!” he yelled, trying to push him off. When that failed, he resorted to whacking at him.

“Never!” Eugene laughed. “Your little punches feel like flowers!”

“I have an iron deficiency!” Varian responded, cheeks red but smiling slightly. The captain finally stopped suffocating him, but didn’t get off, instead wiggling in close so they could share. “Mean,” Varian whined, a pout on his lips, but didn’t complain.

“Oh hush,” Eugene chided, grabbing a book from the floor. “You know you love me.”

Varian simply hummed, buck teeth peeking through a tiny grin. “So, what did you grab for today?”

“Ah, glad you asked!” Eugene held up the cover, which Varian oohed in appreciation. “One of the older ones, came out when I was your age.” He wrapped an arm around Varian, pulling his brother close, the warmth of his side and the fire combining to create a heavenly cocoon. “You want to read, or should I?”

“Your turn,” Varian responded, stifling a yawn.

The book creaked in protest, Eugene gazing down at his little brother with a smile. He leaned his cheek on the boy’s hair, deep voice dripping with fondness as he started to read.

Being Captain was fun, but being a brother was even better.

#tangled the series #varian #tts #tangled #team awesome #tts eugene #eugene fitzherbert #tts varian #rta #rapunzel's tangled adventure

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7soulstars · 3 years

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Hello :) I hope it's okay to send a request (if not, then I'm sorry about it ) So maybe where Bucky lives on Clint's farm to get away from everything but then there comes this woman, Clints best friend besides Nat and he immediately wants to know her better.. after a while they get really close and develope feelings for each other but dont talk about it. So one night, she stays over and needs to share a room with Buck, things get heated and passionate between them ? :) then it's all cuddly? ❤️

Hey darling! Thank you so much for requesting! I am so sorry it took me so long! I blame it on my lazy ass and also on the many pending requests. Thank you so much for being this patient with me! I really hope you like this one!

Мой целитель

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Reader

Warnings: Broken Bonky Babie, Avengers are teasing little shits, Steve leaves like in the movies and doesn’t come back (I want to kill him for that), Fluff, Shy Bonky and Y/N, Liddle angst, Both idiots doubt themselves, Y/N likes beating the fuck out of bullies a.k.a Violence, steamy stuff but not smut ( cuz I don’t write smut”

Summary: Someone managed to make Bucky accept the fact that everyone can heal.

..............

Мой целитель ; (pronounced: Moy tselitel') Russian for My Healer

War never ends. It just rests. One day someone will come to ask your help that is when the rest of war is over again.

That is what Bucky has always been of the belief ever since before and after endgame. Ever since Steve left, most of Bucky did too. Yes, he had Sam and the others but Steve was the only part of his original past left and he couldn’t even stop him.

He decided that the rest period for his war conflicted heart had started when Clint had offered him a place to live at his farmhouse to ‘heal and stay away from the space bullshit’.

Not to brag but he had fit right into the little family. The kids loved Uncle Bucky and Laura appreciated the extra help she got with the house. Sam and Natasha would come by every two days and the rest every once a week. They would go visit a bar and hang out. That was Bucky’s life now. That was his routine.

Clint had sudddenly announced one fine weekly team hangout day that his long time best friend would be joining them. Bucky couldn’t care less. He had seen people come in and out of the Barton house all the time. Most sending him glares due to his past. He couldn’t blame them. Not when he knew he would do the same in different set of circumstances.

But he was proved wrong. Y/N was an angel. More so to him. Not a single glare was directed at him by her the entire time. She just smiled sweetly. Maybe he did care a little bit.

Y/N turned out to be Lila and Cooper, Clint’s first two children’s godmother. She had finally come home after 15 years of being in and out of the country for her job. Clint had mentioned that every time she came back she would first visit the kids not forgetting to bring them gifts from everywhere and how the snap had worried her. So Bucky was not surprised when he had to get three kids off of her as she entered the house. His heart swelled when she said ‘Thank You’, although everyone said that.

He was unusually getting attached to her and that scared him.

After Steve attatchment was difficult. Trust was difficult. But Y/N made it seem like child's play. She somehow completely saw through him. Almost as if she knew everything about him and he was confused by that.

Especially at those little moments when he felt hesitant.

Bucky was a handsome man no doubt and that meant some women were confident enough to ask hit on him everytime he was out at a restaurant or a bar with the others. Y/N would join them quite often and on one such day she saved Bucky from his anxiety issues.

"Hey.....you come here quite often.....can I buy you a drink ?", a very confident girl had managed to come up to the table and asked Bucky who looked at her with eyes as blown out as big as saucers and immediately looked down stuttering as he tried to politely reject the lady. A hand carefully wrapped around his metal arm as he realized Y/N had said "I'm sorry he's taken", before sending the girl as kind smile which had lead to Bucky's hair-hidden neck to go red.

Bucky had excused himself to the washroomas the rest relentlessly teased his popularity but he had not noticed Y/N following suit.

"I'm sorry", she had apologised leaving the other puzzled again. "W-why?" "I should have asked before touching you....I know-I know you don't like being touched....I'm sorry". There was pure sincerity in her voice "NO!",his own voice startled him and her as she looked at him in confusion. "I-I mean I'm glad....You helped me out there......Also.....",there was hesitation in Bucky's heart, "Also....I don't mind if you touch me Y/N".

That day onwards something changed. Significantly so, Bucky found himself calling and hanging out with Y/N more. She filled his thoughts would be one way of saying that and the Avengers noticed. So the next time Bucky tried to sneak out of the farm when the others were there Sam noticed, “Hey Hey Hey ! Where are you sneakin to ?”. The other stood frozen like a deer in the headlights staring down at his best friend like he had been caught doing something he shouldn’t be. Nat smirked as she bit on her grilled cheese sandwich sing songing, “He’s going to meet Y/N~~”Bucky grumbled a little ‘Shut up Nat’ before taking the car out towards the bar.

“Buck !”, she had yelled waving as he smiled and pulled her into his arms for a hug and staying like that for a few minutes both eventually hesitantly letting go. Joe the bartender already having set up their regular drinks showed how often they frequented the place, even having seats that were almost always empty for just the two of them.

After meeting Y/N, Bucky realised new things about himself. He liked sweet stuff more than savoury. He liked playing games at the arcade. He was definately much more open to technology than Steve ever was. He liked being spoiled and babied. And he was extremely serious about board games. He knew all this because Y/N made him realize that.

That day he found out another thing. He likes staring at Y/N looking at the sunset. In other words he likes Y/N. But he had promised himself to not act on it. He didn’t want to loose her. Not now, not ever.

Walking through a dark alley way was not something Bucky liked but with Y/N it was something he was starting to hate. Y/N is beautiful. Obliviously so. He could sense sleazy men staring at her but chose to stay put. But we all know that rouse wasn’t going to stay put for long considering a group of 3 men surrounding the two of them all eyeing Y/N. “Hey sweetheart why don’t you come with us ? We counld have a darn sweet night”, exclaimed the one that looked like the leader as the other two laughed behind him. “Back off”, Bucky had warned. He didn’t want to fight. He felt like he’d embarrass himself before Y/N. “Ohhh look who it is The Winter Soldier”, the other said mockingly. “What are you going to do? Kill me? You don’t have Captain America now to back you up do you ?”. Before Bucky could even reply the third guy let out a scream at which everyone turned to look at him to see him cradling what seemed like a freshly broken wrist and before he could even react the second one went flying into a pile of trash (where he belongs) and the main commentator’s head was being bashed strait onto the road by Y/N’s hand. “No, but he does does have an ex-black ops now turned into a CIA Agent to back him up”, she quipped seethingly through her teeth.

Bucky said nothing. His brain was still processing the information he was bombarded with. He walked Y/N to her car and drove back to Clint’s all while still processing.

So when Sam (who was just about to leave) asks “How was it ?” Bucky looks him in the eye and goes.

“I’m in love with Y/N.”

Tony had decided to prank Clint one fine day and told everyone that Clint was hosting a sleepover. So that meant Clint had to accomodated several idiots into his farmhouse. Within this chaos he also had a very great idea.

So when Y/N was pushed into Bucky’s room both stopped functioning.

Y/N spotted him angrily whispering into is phone as she got out of the shower. Throwing his phone into oblivion ,startled, when she called name out suddenly. “Y-You’re done ? Uhhhh you can take the bed doll, I’ll take the floor”,Bucky hates the floor but if it meant Y/N would be comfortable, he’d be ready to sleep on a block of ice. “Nope definately not ! We can share the damn bed Buck the floor uncomfortable !”, she argued. “ No Y/N you don’t understand I can’t !” “WHY! IS IT BECAUSE I MADE YOU UNCOMFORTABLE AFTER THAT DAY ?”, there was a grave silence between the two. He knew exactly what she was talking about. Bucky’s eyes soften and for the first time he realizes that he had never thaken the effort to know more about Y/N. He was focused on her helping him find himself. “Why would you say that ?” ,he said softly as he moved towards her and she moved backwards. “Because it is what it is isn’t it?”, she retorted. “NO IT IS NOT !”, Bucky sighed as he sat on the bed and watched the woman of importance as she paced around the room. “Why then Bucky ? You’ve been distant from me since that day....” “You won’t understand.....” “Try me” “I’M IN LOVE WITH YOU OKAY !”

12 minutes. It had been 12 minutes since Y/N had froze and stared at Bucky.

“Shut up. You’re lying” , she finally said.

“What ? No ! Why would I lie about that”,Bucky argued

“Because ! You are James Buchanan Barnes ! One of the most attractive men I have seen in my life period.”

“And here I’m the one firmly believing someone like me doesn’t even stand a change with someone as pretty as you.”

“See, you’re lying again”

“Doll, shut up before I will have to make you”, he warned

“Don’t make empty threats that you won’t fulfill James”, she challenged.

And with that Bucky has Y/N slammed into the bed , his mouth moving roughly along her’s as she puts her arms around his. There was something different about this Bucky. Y/N felt every single pent up frustration that the man kissing her had felt supressing his feelings had felt.

Soon enough they seperated, finally gasping for air. Bucky plopped beside Y/N as she placed her palm on his cheek rubbing a thumb over it while smiling at him blissfully.

“Take my hand

Take my whole life too

For I can't help falling in love with you”

“I love you...”, she said and somehow Bucky knew he had tears running down his cheeks. He curled into her arms. Clint’s loud speakers playing Elvis as the two dozed off to sleep. But Bucky waited for her to doze off, kissing her forehead as he ran his metal arm through her hair.

“Мой целитель, I love you too”, he said.

He wasn’t alone anymore. He was healed. His internal war had ended forever. That’s all he ever wanted. That’s all he was thankful for.

---The End---

Guess who almost cried writing this fic? That’s right! ME. Now I need myself a Bucky to hug. I really hope you liked this fic and I CANNOT STRESS ENOUGH ON HOW MUCH I APPRECIATE YOU BEING SO PATIENT WITH ME! Please like, share, comment and reblog if you like my work to support me ! Please do not plagarise my hard work and thank you so much for reading!

~Love, Hri

#ask hri #ask response #ask reply #james bucky barnes #Bucky Barnes #bucky x you #bucky x reader #bucky x y/n #bucky barnes imagine #bucky barnes one shot #bucky barnes fanfiction #marvel x reader #mcu x reader #avengers x reader #ask me anything #SEND REQUESTS #send me asks #send asks

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nachohypno · 3 years

Text

Pine’s Football Jocks (Rewritten) - Ch. 2

Little heads up: This one is a weird thing. It’s a rewritten version of the original Pine’s Football Jocks, but it contains spoilers for the college series, so it should still be read after reading the other ones (Original included) first, like a sequel.

------

Present Pine's POV

I had an awful day. Nothing bad really happened, just a lot of stuff to do and me not being capable of doing it all. Skipping today's football practice, I had to take a bus to the sports club and check out that everything was working out (Hah, see what I did there?) with the coaches that were working today. I needed more employees? Yes. But keeping up with the maintenance while still having to do my college essays during my free times was actual hell.

I think I'm smart enough to keep being one of the best of my class (Spot that I'm afraid I'll lose soon), but I don't have enough energy to do all of this at once.

I'm not going to lie, these many responsibilities are *burning me out*. I'm heavily considering giving up the football team back to Peter (Of course, keeping him under control and checked), or set a new manager for the sports club. It's a hard choice, but I'm not going to stop studying to keep track of those two little jobs I got for myself. I also love those jocks way too much to let them go.

Have you spent an evening with them? The revamped football team is lovely! They're always joking around and being nice whenever they're not on the field or studying. Gotta spread the jock love around the campus, right?

Taking care of Mike wasn't an easy task either. The big guy was heavily expecting news to know if he would be able to play again without any risks, or if he'd have to focus completely on getting his college degree.

Mikey wasn't used to being restricted before, he's the physical kind of guy and likes to spend a good amount of time working out or playing sports, or chilling in a physical kind of way. Videogames could keep him entertained, but only so much.

So, he went back to his other favorite hobby...

I sat on the couch, leaving my laptop on my lap readying myself to check out some documents, and suddenly heard an awfully loud fart. Jumping up again, I realized I had sat on Mike's whoopee cushion. A loud laugh could be heard from the couch.

"Never gets old! I was wondering how much you would take to sit on that one spot, because filling the couch with whoopee cushions would be quite expensive!" He said while walking into the room, as I took the cushion and threw it at him, but the shot failed awfully.

The guy was wearing a football jersey that looked like a pajama shirt without the armor underneath it. It still managed to make his pecs stand out a bit, which made me take the work off my mind for a bit and I was thankful for that.

I tried to be comprehensive, it was either that or watch his football team play without him while he's on the bench. Or study, but that was always slow and boring for him when he’s not ordered to do so. 'Nothing better than being stuck in here, with an amazing boyfriend, and just being able to read books about biology' He'd say, jokefully, trying to take a bright look at his situation.

I thought about hiring him as one of the club's trainers, since he has a good amount of knowledge on the matter, already helps anyone who'd ask him nicely, and he wouldn't need to make a lot of effort with his bad arm!

...Better than having him prank me all day, I guess. Or laying around while groaning ‘I’m boreeeeeeeed…’

Loud steps and he jumped over the couch to sit down beside me. “Hey there, bro. How was your day? Went to my classes and did all my homework already. Need help with anything?”

“Not really, just gotta finish examining these documents Peter forwarded me and I’ll be done for the day” Just a bit longer and I would be free from work!

“Did coach Peter mention something about me? Maybe he can pull some strings and allow me to… I dunno, take a magic drug that’ll heal my arm and make me into a super soldier?” I can see he has been watching movies lately.

“You know what the doctor said. Just a few more weeks and-”

He rolled his eyes. "C'moooon, just a few more weeks could be enough for that temporary quarterback to steal my spot!" He's so paranoid about that.

"Who's the coach?" I asked him, pushing my glasses back into place.

"You are, bro, but-"

"Thus, who has the final choice about who plays and who doesn't?" I didn't try to sound dominant, but it kind of came out like that on its own.

"You do, sir." Mike answered, sounding a bit defeated. I motioned him to come closer, and he did, then I grabbed his hand and pulled him in to lay on my lap (Being careful and leaving the laptop beside me to make room for him).

"Just relax, let your arm get better, then you'll be back on the field in no time, alright?" I whispered to him, trying to sound confident. A little kiss on his lips, and he nodded.

"Sure, whatever you say." He sighed.

I ruffled his hair. "Good boy, now... Want to hear the rest of the story? You fell asleep yesterday" Maybe that would get his mind off things again. It seemed to make wonders yesterday.

"Really? Oh, fuck. Where were we?" Mike asked, scratching the back of his head nervously. "I remember the outing, I went to change, then we resumed with some time later on?"

"Before I got my powers, yeah." I finished, turning around from him and looking for the doc file on my laptop. "Well, take a seat. I have some time so we can continue the story where we left it..."

As I grabbed my laptop, Mike got up and positioned himself belly down on the couch, occupying the rest of available space while getting comfortable (He kind of didn’t fit while doing that, so he had to keep his legs up to actually fit his whole torso on the couch).

I chuckled, before leaving the laptop on my lap again and looking over for the spot I left it at yesterday...

-----

Past Pine's POV

Nighttime already. My arm was still hurting, but quite less than earlier today.

My family was nice. Mom and dad are nice, and my big brother Dwight sometimes comes to visit after a big exam. He's not a jock, but he's not a nerd either. You learn to differentiate them after a while. Just those two sides of the spectrum exist for me: Nice guys, and not so nice guys. He's nice, but loves to bug me from time to time. ‘Middle point’ is how I describe him.

It's understandable though, I'm easy to bug.

I honestly just wanted to go to sleep, and silently count the days until my graduation. Then, I'd be able to enter some random college, hopefully a great one, and be done with this.

After dinner, I went up to the bathroom and checked out my arm. It didn’t look bad, nor it had any sign of me having been shoved. Just a little pain, but nothing else. I could cope with that.

Going back to my room afterwards, I dropped to bed and just reminded myself it would all be over soon. A nice career waiting for me after college if I worked hard enough, then the good life!

A little smile formed on my face as I fell asleep.

Okay, I'm not a big dreamer. Like, I never have dreams, and if I do they're weird things where I get run over by cars out of nowhere or medieval-like settings. Like my mind is setting up these weird scenarios to keep myself entertained even when I sleep, but I often forget about them quickly so no point on that either.

This time, it was like I was awake, but at the same time I kind of knew I was asleep.

A lullaby was being hummed, I was on my bed covered by my sheets, the ones that protect me from monsters!

The lullaby was nice and relaxing, but it felt like... it came from inside my head? Imagine being in your bed all comfy and suddenly Zelda's Lullaby starts playing on your head and makes you feel like everything is alright but nothing is alright because there are still months of bullying waiting for you at school but those thoughts are also getting muffled by the nice lullaby, which made not want to move at all.

The thing kept going for a few minutes, which developed into a nice sleep for the night as I forgot about my worries. Like I was a bit more 'in control' of my anxieties.

One thing was for certain, that was the best sleep I had in a goooood while.

------

The relaxation didn't last long.

I felt sick. I really didn't want to go to school today. One thing was for certain, that was one hell of a weird dream, but also quite amazing.

I had a really bad headache, but it didn't feel fever-ish. I could move myself without any pain, so I thought it was just a lack of sleep. 'Maybe a coffee will help me out...' I thought, as I got up from bed and lazily walked out. According to my phone, I woke up way sooner than I should have to. But maybe that'd give me time to enjoy a nice breakfast. Believe me, I'm not in a hurry to go to school anymore.

'Ugh... Can't see...' I thought. I liked to wash my face before putting my glasses on. Helps me wake up faster, maybe it'd help with the headache too.

Walking out of my room in my pajamas, with my glasses in hand.

I yawned, rubbing my eyes.

"Watch it!" I heard my brother saying. He had come out of his own room and we almost crashed into each other. He didn't sound mad, just a bit annoyed. "Rough night?"

"Uh... kinda," I mumbled, trying to process all the stuff he just said.

My older brother patted my back "Don't stay up studying for too long, you'll forget half of it once you graduate anyways." He said in a funny voice. As I mentioned, he's nice. Loves to bug me and my love for disconnecting from the world by just... reading books, but he's still a good brother.

"Never, heheh." I tried to seem cool, finger gunning at him, but Dwight just laughed at me. "Hey, you're heading downstairs, right?" He nodded. He was wearing some joggins and a sweatshirt, so I guessed he was going to jog for a while. "Turn the coffee machine on, please. I wouldn’t mind a good breakfast today…” I said, holding my stomach with my empty hand. I was hungry, not going to lie.

I didn't get an answer from him, but instead noticed him walking away without a single word. Quite rude I thought, but decided to shrug the thought off and go to the bathroom.

After washing my face, I placed my hand on my forehead. It was normal, no fever, but the pain was still there. I could ask mom if I should take some medicine, but she may still be asleep.

A little part of me wanted to use this as an excuse to miss school today. Imagine getting through the whoooole day, with Garrett and his army of neanderthals following your ass all day, and not in the good way.

Walking downstairs, still in my pajamas, I noticed Dwight walking out of the kitchen and heading outside already. I opened my mouth to ask if he did my coffee, but he faced me as soon as he noticed my presence.

“Hey, made you some quick breakfast. Enjoy, Piney! Gonna jog for a while, alright?” I nodded, kind of wondering what got to him. It’s like, he’s not really a bad brother, but he wouldn’t make me breakfast even if I asked reeaaaally nicely.

I stood there as I watched him leave the house. I went to the kitchen afterwards, and noticed Dwight prepared me a mug of coffee and left a cereal bar next to it. Hey, he tried! That’s what counts.

I enjoyed my quick breakfast as I watched a bit of TV, trying to make time before going to school, but I figured I wouldn’t be able to do that. Even if I tried to take it slow, I felt compelled to finish quickly and go back to my room to change.

Sucks being such a responsible asshole! But whatever, my mug was empty and I finished my cereal bar.

Just had to get ready, head to school and… try to be a ninja around there, because this headache wasn’t going off.

---------

Hours later, it had been a good day so far!

I mean, as good as a school day can be, of course, but I still really enjoyed my classes! No jocks nearby either, so that’s another plus!

My headache wasn’t there anymore, luckily. It’s like the world was turning brighter for me each moment I thought about it. I had fun in math and literature, Garrett and a few of his teammates were there, but either they didn’t notice me or my ninja skills (Aka lowering my head to the point of seeming stuck to the table) helped a lot!

And now, I just had to head to my locker, leave last class’s book in there and grab the next one, and keep doing as well as-

“Oh hey, it’s faggot!”

Spoke too soon.

I didn’t look back, I tried to pick up my pace as soon as I heard the familiar voice, but it seemed to be quite pointless.

Garrett grabbed me by the shoulders, and dragged me into an empty classroom. My attempt to make a stealthy escape failed miserably and I was now getting one of my weekly’s beat ups. The sad part was that nobody in the corridor seemed to notice or care.

Closing the door after throwing me in, I started walking away from him. Maybe I could loop him around some tables, I saw that working in a video game!

“What’s up, faggot? Scared of a real man like me?” He slapped his chest, asserting his dominance or something? Fuck, and I thought this was going to be a good day.

The guy chuckled at his comment, before charging against me. I avoided him, and started walking around a desk, trying to avoid him by keeping a good chunk of distance and going towards the opposite direction he tried to go. I knew he was getting mad quite fast, but I didn’t care. If I could slow him down enough for the bell to ring, I’d be happy and safe!

Good thing that this was a biology/chemistry classroom. The desks were long enough for me to keep distance from the big mean guy, and if he tried to attack me I could maybe grab something from the desk and get him off me…

Fuck, my thoughts about self-defense using chemistry instruments distracted, and Garrett was now a few feet away from me now. He enjoyed this little cat and mouse game, it got him in the mood for ‘a good beating’. I wonder if he’s mentally sick or something like that, because he enjoys this a lot.

“Fuck, you’re really putting on a show today, ain’t ya?” He mumbled, grabbing me by the wrist and twisting it to make me move closer to him.

“Let… go!” I told him, covering my face with my free hand just in case he tried to hit me.

And surprisingly, he did.

Of course, I didn’t stop covering my face. But I did notice the jock was standing there, his face still showing off that proud asshole-ish grin. “Wait… you’re letting me go?” I asked, with some hope in my voice. Maybe Garrett wasn’t so bad after all!

“Uh… yeah… no need to hold you to beat you up!” He resumed. After that little ‘realization’, the linebacker tried to charge at me without a single doubt on his face. He was really enjoying this

After that, the guy walked closer and held his fist up preparing his first strike. Before that would happen, I yelled “Stop!”. What, you thought I’d stand there waiting for the blow? I’m not an idiot! Hopefully, someone would hear me and rush inside the classroom!

Once again, I was surprised to realize Garrett did as I said. Or sort of. He froze in place, still smiling with his fist high. I kept walking away but my bully didn’t move at all. By this point, I knew something wrong was going on. I mean, I’m not saying I would have preferred for him to beat me up, but I was pretty curious about what was happening.

“Man, can’t wait to freaking beat you up today. Had an awful morning and I need my favorite punching bag to get off” But he still wouldn’t move.

“Then… what are you waiting for?” I was tempting him now. What if this was just a very elaborated joke and he would just break my glasses with a single punch?

“I dunno. Just wanna prolong it to scare you a bit more, I guess” He shrugged. He freaking shrugged, like we were chatting about a normal subject, not beating me up.

I loved that last ‘I guess’ though. It kind of gave me a little push to try out if this was really happening or I was just going crazy while Garrett played around with me like a spider.

“Can you put your arms down?” I asked him, and he did so. He still retained his cocky smile, but he just seemed alright with doing what I just asked him to do for me. “Uhm… Flex now?” And he did as I asked.

Okay, I’m not going to say I lust after this piece of poop, but these biceps oh lord. I wondered if he was on steroids or something. Can a senior student really be that muscled?

He’s 18, like most of my class and his whole team, but I think he’s one of the biggest ones I’ve seen in there. “Can tell you’re really thirsty, nerd. No wonder why, always knew you had a crush on me. Sick pervert…” He mumbled.

“Don’t worry. I wouldn’t mind being as far from you as possible.” I was cocky and I shouldn’t act like that. “But now that you mention it, I’d like to examine you closer and I’m sure you won’t try to harm me in any way.”

Uh… his eyes seemed weird, but before I could check them out, they returned to normal as he started speaking again. “Of course I won’t. Why would I waste my energy in a lil’ faggot like you?” Was his answer, before I walked closer to him. He was still flexing his arms, pecs noticeable under his shirt. Baby stepping towards him, I reached out and started touching his arms first.

“Not going to lie… you do have some nice muscles…” I mumbled, bringing my other arm to feel him up too. I was shaking, my heart was beating like crazy, but I couldn’t help myself. Garrett was exposing himself to me like it was a normal thing to do.

“I know I do. Chicks love ‘em, but you don’t know about that, huh faggot? You look skinny as a twig.” Ouch. I mean, it wasn’t really something hurtful, especially since he told me worse things before.

It was a good chance to try out if this was an elaborate joke or not. “Hey, that wasn’t nice at all. You should apologize, Garrett. Pretty sure you just want to be a nice guy to me, don’t you?” I took a step back again, because there was a 50% chance it would actually be a big joke and he was just playing along until this point.

“Y’know what? You’re right, nerd. I’m sorry. Would hate if someone body-shamed me too… Uh…” I was really surprised. Jaw-dropping surprise. Here was Garrett, the king of the football team, the big meanie, the superior asshole, apologizing to me after I suggested him to do so. I think I noticed his eyes getting glazed as he spoke? I couldn’t tell, there was a few inches of distance and my glasses weren’t helping now.

“Thank… you?” I didn’t know how to take what was going on. Maybe I was still dreaming! Hmm… No, dreams aren’t this long. Something definitely happened, and Garrett is doing what I tell him to do.

I looked up at him, as he stared around, probably trying to avoid looking at me or I just wasn’t worth his attention anymore.

My bully didn’t seem so menacing anymore, he just looked like a normal guy. It doesn’t erase the fact that he brought me so much pain before but… he was just exploring the area with his gaze now, like he just got bored of me and wanted something else to focus on.

I still don’t know if I’m doing something or if he just decided to be less of an asshole suddenly, but it seems that he’s reacting quite obediently to what I’m saying. Remembering that we are in an empty classroom that may not stay empty for too long, I decided we may just leave the scene and try out more stuff later, for testing purposes.

“So… I’m going to my next class now…” I started to say, and Garrett looked at me again.

The jock nodded. “Yeah… I should do the same, nerd. Uh…” Again, he seemed confused. Scratching the back of his head, he turned around and started walking towards the classroom’s door.

“But… Uhm… I think you should invite me over to your place after school…” I had to find the words for this to not sound weird, but it was almost impossible. How do you suggest someone to invite them to your place? I’m not a very social guy either, so that added a bit of doubt if what I was saying was normal or not. “You know, for a good study session with your favorite nerd?”

I tried to appeal to the nickname he gave me. It was better than ‘faggot’ at least. Garrett stared at me, like waiting for me to finish talking, before flashing a smile. “Yeah, of course we’re going to my place. I’ll take ya after school, I guess?” His confusion was still notorious, but he seemed to try and take the best out of this. It was quite nice from him.

After he walked out of the classroom, I did a little celebration dance. I got Garrett to not only not beat me up, but also treat me nice! I still wasn’t sure what was going on, but I’m going to enjoy this evening after school!

-----

As you may have guessed, I was kind of dying inside. Not literally, but I like to be dramatic sometimes.

Garrett waited for me after school in his car. I sat on the co-driver’s seat and just… stood there silent. He didn’t seem like a chatter box either, so it was just a nice silent moment between bully and random gay guy.

After a few moments of staring straight ahead, the jock turned the car on and drove off. His face didn’t seem confused anymore, but it was clear he wasn’t happy either. I wasn’t a blissful flower either, I knew what I was doing.

I wanted to try out this apparent new “ability” of mine, and it got me to Garrett’s house. Now I was walking into the wolf’s mouth, but he wouldn’t be as dumb as to beat me up in his own house, right?

“So… Garrett… Uh… Tell me what do you think about like… us, hanging out today?” I asked him, still nervous but trying to get the hang of whatever that was going on with me. “Oh, and uh… be honest about it, speak your mind and all that”

He eyed me, probably a bit weirded out by my choice of words, but still answered “It’s weird. I never thought I’d be driving you home, much less having a study session with you. You being, y’know, a nerdy fag and all that. It’s weird that we’re hanging out at all, we never hung out before”

Then he focuses back on the road. I did the same, not knowing what to answer. But he gave me a little push, returning the question. “What about you? Uh… Have you ever tutored someone before? I know my mates need some help”

“I used to help Mikey- Ehem, Mike, with his homework. And I find learning exciting, so helping others with it just comes naturally, you know?”

“Y’sound like a nerd. Sorry, had to point that out” He turned the wheel, and I noticed the houses looked a bit more luxurious on this side of town. Not that my house is awful or anything, but these look like really cozy places to be. I knew Garrett was wealthy, but didn’t know he lived in a mansion!

“What’s the deal with Mike anyway? I used to think you two were lovers or some shit like that, never got what he found in you.” The jock continued, without taking his eyes off the road.

I got a glimpse of his big arms as they held the steering wheel. They seemed to be holding the thing really aggressively, before letting go slowly. Like he was struggling, but it made his muscles and veins stand out a bit more.

“That’s kind of personal, so… I wouldn’t like to go there, if you don’t mind.” I tried to avoid the topic, especially because he was one of the reasons I stopped hanging out with Mike, but I don’t think he cared about it. Garrett wasn’t a nice guy.

He shrugged, “Whatever, keep the love story for yourself then. We… just arrived.” He took a moment for those last few words because he tried to park on the big driveway. The house was reaaaally nice looking. Like, not huge, but at the same time not your normal suburban house. I loved it, not going to lie.

I was in awe, as I grabbed my stuff and walked out of the car. The place was beautiful! And Garrett stopped at the front door waiting for me. He was waiting for me!

I picked up the pace and followed him in. The ‘lobby’ was good looking too. Kind of empty, but still gave that welcoming feeling you expect when you enter a house.

“So, do you prefer studying in the dining room, or my room? You’re the… teacher…? here, I guess” It didn’t feel natural for him to say that, I could tell. He was still kind of struggling, as his hands were closed and seemed to be clenching into fists, but at the same time he offered me a gentle smile.

“Your room would be perfect. We could use some extra privacy for… studying. Yeah, just studying.” I replied, as I kept looking around. I’m not going to get tired to say that this place is huge-

My little expedition was interrupted by Garrett’s pair of big hands. Taking me on a tour apparently wasn’t his goal, he just made sure I walked faster towards our destination: His bedroom, while not getting distracted by the place.

My bully only let go of me once we arrived at his room. He let me go in first, before dropping himself on his desk chair. The door was wide open, and I was tempted to close it but maybe I should make a bit of chit chat first.

Garrett’s room… It was alright. In comparison to the rest I’ve seen so far in this house, this one room looked kind of small, but still wide enough to contain Garrett’s interests. A computer, a console with a pair of joysticks, and a big bed against the wall.

“What are we going to study, by the way?” He looked at me. I took a good moment to examine his face now. No more confusion, one of his eyebrows raised, as he stared at me with friendly eyes.

His arms were still kind of twitching, but he was apparently trying to contain them by playing with one of his cord bracelets.

Now, time to keep testing my ‘power’.

“Well…” It was difficult to put it into words. He seemed to believe and/or do whatever I suggested him to do, and find out a way to make it his own idea. That’s what I theorized so far. So… “Garrett… You trust me completely.” I tried to avoid making it sound like a question, and more like an order. It was weird, but I just wanted to put more ‘power’ into my words, if that makes sense?

Now that I could see him clearly, I noticed his eyes definitely glazed over before he spoke again “I trust you completely.” After the words were said, emotion had returned to his face already. He sat down on his bed, still staring at me.

That’s great! I actually do seem to have powers! And Garrett was doing everything I said! Fuuuuuuck. This opened so many possibilities. I wanted to jump with excitement but I didn’t want Garrett to think I was weird.

“And also, we weren’t going to study,” Okay, this seems like I’m pulling his dick now. Studying was the whole reason he ‘invited’ me over, so if I pulled that out of the question, his reaction could change completely, right? Don’t mind me, just investigating here. “You asked me to come because you wanted to talk with me”

As I thought, he seemed confused again. Poor guy may be having the weirdest day of his life. But he didn’t fight me on that, he just nodded before agreeing. “Uh… Yeah…” Then he shook his head for a bit “Sorry, nerd. I’m a bit lost today. I can’t even remember what I wanted to talk about, fuck.”

The bigger guy tapped his head a few times, apparently trying to remember. Better help him ‘remember’ what he had to say, hehehe.

“It’s okay, you actually told me what you wanted to say and everything. You want to apologize for being such a dick to me” I don’t usually speak like this, but if I got him to apologize, then getting him to do anything else may be a piece of cake. And if I’m going way too far, then at least hearing that apologize would be really great on its own.

His eyes went glassy again. Great! A few seconds afterwards, he replied with a “Yeah. I’m really sorry for being such a dick to you.” And after shaking his head again, his blank face changing to a sad expression “Can’t believe I did all those awful things to you, I’m so fucking sorry, man.”

No more glazed eyes, but he didn’t seem to be tearing up exactly. I’m not a sadistic guy though, I just wanted a bit of payback after these few months. I could use the dick card and be like ‘I don’t accept that, you’ll have to do so much better for me to forgive you’.

But… I’m smarter than that.

“Okay, apology accepted, I guess.” I tried to sound uninterested, but the apology thing was enough for me to internally freak out again. Couldn’t show mercy, though! “I’ll have to think it through, but in the meantime we could… make a deal?”

Garrett raised his eyebrow, but before he could reply something or tell me to fuck off, I decided to interrupt his train of thoughts with another command. “You’re curious about what I’m talking about and you’ll accept the deal no matter what it is”

That should be explicit enough. Eyes glazed over again, as he nodded slowly.

“Yeah… I’m really curious. What do you have in mind, nerd-o?” That ‘nerd’ thing would be nice to change, but it’s not as bad as it felt before, at least!

I tried to think about exactly what I wanted to say to him, because I didn’t know if I could control this ‘persuasion’ or ‘make him obey whatever I say’ thing. So better be careful, even if he deserved an accident.

“This is the deal: You will obey everything I say and will love to do so, no questions asked. You’ll start to recognize me as your absolute superior, like… your master? Yeah, that sounds good, you will call me ‘Master’ when we’re alone.”

Garrett remained silent as I talked, which was good. No unwanted interruptions as I explained the terms of our ‘deal’! “You will treat me like your best- No, that spot is sort of still taken… You will treat me like a good friend. Understood?”

No reaction at all, until a few seconds passed. Then a smile appeared on his face. “That’s it? Of course, bro! Sounds like a great deal!”

“Wait, I’m not done.” I wanted this to be the *perfect* moment for us. Like, here was my bully, and I was about to take complete control over him. I didn’t want this to go wrong by any means. “Uh… One last thing, for now. You will start feeling attracted towards me, if that makes sense…” Would I be able to also manipulate his feelings? Only time will tell, I guess.

He didn’t freeze this time; the reaction came way faster than before. Garrett turned around to see if his door was closed, which wasn’t, so he got up to close it before answering a very proud “Yes, master! We got a deal!”

Great! It worked! Now, some testing was needed to ensure the orders I just gave him worked perfectly. First things first… “Do you mind if I call you Gary? Bit less of a mouthful than ‘Garrett’”

“No problem, Master. My bros call me Gary all the time” He stated, smiling like an idiot.

“Right, great. Uhm, stand up now Gary. And, uh… Lift your shirt up so I can check you out” I ordered. The jock in front of me didn’t hesitate, getting up from his bed and moving his hand to the bottom of his shirt, slowly lifting it up.

His abs seemed rock hard, his pecs were great looking. Was this a high school linebacker or a bodybuilder on steroids? Maybe he takes steroids for football? I don’t know, but I loved it. I moved closer and caressed his abs up and down. He just smiled at me as I admired his torso. It was weird, but also quite fun.

“What do you think about this whole… situation, Gary?” I asked, as I moved my hand up to his pecs and played with them for a bit.

“Honestly, I never thought I’d be doing this. But it’s what you want, Master, so I’m happy to do it” ‘Smart answer’ I thought.

“Uh Huh... Say, have you ever… done something with another guy?” I asked him, without taking my eyes off the pecs. “As in sexual stuff, I mean…”

“Nah, Master. I’m straight as an arrow, never done something with another guy. Prefer them chicks with big… personalities, know what I mean?” He sounded gross again for a bit, but as soon as he shut up and went back to smiling like an idiot, I was happy.

“Funny, neither did I,” I said, looking up at his face again. “And you will help me with that, don’t you?”

His smile faded. “Yes, Master.” Gary said, as I grabbed the back of his head and pulled him in for a kiss. And he was kissing back.

My first kiss was happening with my bully jock ‘slave’. Huh, that’s weird to say. Guess I’ll have to get used to it.

I didn’t know the difference between ‘good kiss’ and ‘bad kiss’. But it felt amazing, and magical, and just… it was turning me on so much. Maybe I can say that he’s an amazing kisser?

We stood like that, taking little breaks from time to time to breath, where he would smile at me and I would just blush. I don’t romantically like Garrett, he caused me so much pain, but I wanted to enjoy this. I’m not going to cause pain to him, because I’m not evil. I’m nicer than him. Better, I would say.

I found it funny that he would still hold his shirt up. I could have told him to take it off, but there was something about it that made me choose not to. I wanted to see his body, but let’s leave the full naked stuff for later.

We stopped kissing.

“So, uh… I’ve heard rumors about your… ‘thing’, down there.” I mumbled, as I groped his crotch. I wanted to sound confident, but it felt really weird after so much time of keeping myself ‘hidden’. Gary didn’t answer, he was still smiling at me. “Can I see, Gary?”

“Of course, Master. Anything you want!” He accepted, and I looked down to undo his belt and lower his jeans. Huh… It was semi-hard.

A bit veiny, 4/5’ inches semi-hard? I’m not a cock measurer, but I think that’s quite good.

I slowly went down until I faced Gary’s cock. I wasn’t sure if I should do this. This wasn’t going to bring me any pleasure. But maybe…

“Gary, I’m going to give you the best blowjob you’ve ever had. And as I do, I want you to feel the orders and the deal we made today cemented on your mind, understood?” It could be of use for our control thing.

“Understood, Master” I dove in the cock after that. Slowly taking the tip in first and giving some gentle licks before starting to get more of Garrett’s cock inside my mouth. It wasn’t hard to do, getting it inside. And then I just had to take it in and out, being careful with the teeth and trying my best with my tongue.

“You like that?” I asked him as I rested for a few seconds, before getting it back in my mouth. It felt naughty, and awesome! Like, the adrenaline of doing the dirty stuff with another guy… Huh, and I haven’t lost my cherry yet!

“Yeah, feels great… Keep going, Master… Please…” He moaned, arms behind his head as he sported a relaxed face. I loved hearing him calling me master, not going to lie!

Although, after thinking about it for a bit, it would be better if I didn’t let him cum. Maybe I could get him to record a video of himself jerking off or something for later. Anyway…

I took the cock out of my mouth and got up. “I want you to listen carefully, okay?” Gary nodded, not seeming to care about me not finishing the job. “When in public, you will still act somewhat attached to me, like we are good friends. And if someone suspects about it you will explain that I’ve been tutoring you and that I’m an amazing teacher, understood?”

“We’re good friends, you’re helping me with tutoring, and you’re an amazing teacher. Gotcha, Master” He repeated, eyes a bit unfocused again, but still a degree of emotion on his voice.

I ruffled his hair. He would have beaten me up in the past for that, now he just smiled even more than before.

“Good… boy.” Felt amazing to say that! “Could you give me a ride home now?”

-----

Present Pine’s POV

“What’s up now?” I stopped reading after noticing Mike was frowning. Like when you see that one character you don’t like in a TV show on-screen, that type of frown. “I thought you and Gary made up with each other already?” I assumed that was the problem, the big guy may have felt a bit jealous of his former football mate.

It killed me not reading his thoughts whenever I wonder if something is wrong, but I respected my best friend and boyfriend’s mental privacy. And if Leo or any other mind controller (Assuming there are more) discovered about this, they would laugh at my face.

“I know, he’s my bro and all but you gotta admit that he was such a dick before. I’m pretty chilled but I don’t think I could have just… given a turn to his personality and called it a day” He chuckled, as I closed the laptop. “Probably would have been way unforgiving, but you’re the lead here, bro”

“Well anyway, enough story for today. Any thoughts you’d like to share? This one was one of my favorite moments of the first plan I had” I mentioned, leaving the laptop on the coffee table before setting my attention to the jockboy beside me.

“It was great, got me hooked already. It’s also a nice throwback, ‘cuz I barely remember senior year other than ‘playing lots of football’ and doing awesome pranks” Mikey said, leaning in quickly to kiss my cheek. “By the way, which guy comes next? Is it me?”

He seemed excited to know the answer. It was Brent, Garrett’s friend, but I wasn’t going to give it away. Gotta keep my public engaged!

“Sorry big guy, got to keep the mystery, hehe.” Mike looked disappointed at my answer, but I just ruffled his hair. “But hey, all this reading about mind control got me in the mood. Wanna do something?”

“Huh… my thoughts exactly” I don’t know if he intended to make a pun on me being able to read his thoughts, but I wasn’t going to put much thought into it. I had to put thoughts into his head already.

It was like flipping a switch via the mind link, and then Mike’s eyes were glassy, and he had a dumb smile that curiously reminded to that of Gary back when I first enslaved him.

“Who’s a good jock boy?” I asked, pulling Mikey closer to me.

“I am, bruh… I’m a good jock boy, huhuhuh” was his answer, before going back to smiling like a big dummy.

Doing hot stuff with Mikey while his arm was casted wasn’t all that different from before. Now he just had to use his bad arm less than before, but you can still do plenty with one arm. Like have the jock take off his shirt, revealing his nice, muscular torso.

If I weren’t careful, I would be the one drooling here. I leaned in for a kiss, and Mike kissed back.

It was just a nice little moment between the two of us. Making out without a care in the world. Certainly a good way to forget about my responsibilities, no complaints there!

----

Author’s note:

Thanks for reading! I hoped to publish this here a few weeks ago, but writing the next chapter took me more than intended, so the public release also got pushed back a bit. Sorry for that 💦.

But, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! And thanks again for reading! <3

#PinesJocks #mind control #hypnotized #straight to gay #gay hypnosis #jock #brainwashing #brainwashed

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mammonshuman92 · 3 years

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- Freckles -

(Yamaguchi x F!Reader)

Warning: none. fluffy stuffs.

NOTE: I kinda went my own way a little, and kinda made our shy boy a tad more nervous and such than he’s usually portrayed. Hope I didn’t fuck it up :)

“I’d like to see you after class.” Mrs. Saito said quietly, laying his test paper face down on his desk. Once she moved onto the next student, he flipped the paper over to reveal yet another failing grade.

He sighed, slightly sinking down into his seat, wishing he could hide. English was definitely his hardest subject.

When class was over, Yamaguchi reluctantly made his way to the teachers desk.

“Tadashi, with the score you made on the last test, you’re grade for the class has fallen into the failing range.” She explained.

F-failing..? He thought.

“As you know, extracurriculars require you to maintain good grades. I understand you’re on the volleyball team?” Yamaguchi nodded anxiously.

“Don’t worry, there’s still plenty of time to raise your grade. However, per the rules, I did have to inform Mr. Takeda, since he’s your head coach.” She said apologetically.

This is bad...

He left the classroom in a slight daze. Not only was he failing English, he could also be removed from the team..

Takeda sensei has always been very understanding, and has done his best to help the team and the players as much as he could, but as a teacher and the actual head coach, he couldn’t just over look failing grades.

Lost in thought as he walked to practice, a nervous wreck after talking with his teacher, he didn’t hear the footsteps of the person coming around the corner until it was too late. He lightly bumped into them, knocking some papers out of their hands. He immediately apologized, bowing to the other person, his cheeks turning pink with embarrassment.

“I-I’m so sorry! I wasn’t paying attention! A-are yo-” When he stood back up, he froze.

It was you.

One day in seventh grade as he walked home from school he dropped his bag, causing all of his textbooks and papers to spill onto the sidewalk.

You had been walking by with your friends when you saw what happened. You knelt down next to him, helping to gather the bags’ spilled contents. He began to say thank you as he turned to the stranger, but ended up stuttering incoherently and turning bright red when he met your e/c eyes. You were so beautiful; angelic. Even in your small interaction, he could feel your warmth and kindness.

He’s had a secret crush on you ever since.

Well, almost secret. Tsukishima was the only one who knew, quickly figuring it out when he noticed how his friend reacted whenever you were nearby. He teased him about it occasionally.

He was sure you didn't remember his existence though. Sure, you were in the same grade and even had a few classes together since that day, but he tried his best not to stand out. Anyway, you helped him in passing that day after school. Not like a timid, insecure, freckle faced boy would make a lasting impression.

You are friendly, and beautiful and really smart. Your laugh is like music and your smile is radiant. You easily stand out in a crowd. You are angelic, ethereal.

And he is, well, he is average.

There’s no way he would ever be brave enough to tell you that though. Someone as amazing as you wouldn’t want to be with someone like him. Out of immense fear of rejection and humiliation, he kept his feelings to himself.

He was pretty sure his brain was short circuiting. Surely, this wasn’t happening right now. He just wanted to spontaneously combust.

“I’m so sorry! Are you alright?” You asked, studying his face, eyes bright and full of concern.

“O-oh, um, yes. I-I didn’t mean to run into you, I’m really sorry!” He stuttered, gathering up the papers you dropped during the collision, cheeks burning as blood rushed to them. “A-are you hurt?” He asked as he handed them back to you, heart pounding so hard the sound filled his ears. He’s never felt more embarrassed.

“No, I’m okay. I wasn't paying attention either, so no worries.” You said, taking the papers from his trembling hand, giving him a small smile. His chest ached at the sight of it.

Thankfully, someone had called out your name from behind him, potentially saving him from embarrassing himself any further.

“Coming!” You called to your friend before returning your attention to him once more.

“Maybe next time we run into each other it won’t be literally.” You said, smiling at him before walking off to meet your friend.

He just stood there a minute, not quite believing what had just taken place. The interaction was over as quickly as it had started, but he was ready to combust.

Please, please tell me that that didn’t just happen..

He flushed red all the way to his ears, and all but ran the rest of the way to the gym.

“I talked with Mrs. Saito today. She said you’re having a hard time in English.”

When Takeda sensei made it to practice after his meeting, he pulled Tadashi aside.

“Uh, y-yes sensei. I’m trying, but I don’t understand it..” He explained sheepishly, Takeda nodded.

“There is no shame in asking for help.” He said quietly, placing a hand on the boys shoulder.

“That being said, I’ve asked one of my best students to tutor you. She’s going to come by after practice today.”

A tutor? Wait..today?! Oh, man..

Yamaguchi has been insecure since he was a kid, always being bullied for his freckles and such, so meeting new people always caused him anxiety.

This can’t be over fast enough..

After practice had ended, everyone started their cool down stretches and began cleaning the gym.

“Hey, who is that girl? She’s really cute.” Nishinoya asked, elbowing Tanaka to get his attention as they carried equipment to the storage room.

“Huh? Whoa.” He said, eyes landing on the girl standing in the entrance of the gym, “Never seen her before. Uh, random question though. Can you feel this?” He held the bottom of his shirt out to the libero for him to touch it.

“What about it?” Noya asked, giving his friend a confused look as he rubbed the fabric between his fingers.

“That, my friend, is boyfriend material. Watch and learn, dude.” He said, confidently, taking a couple steps in your direction. Nishinoya started laughing.

“That was a good one!” He said, complementing his friends cliche line. ”But, what if she doesn’t like bald dudes?” He asked, slightly cocking his head to the side.

“Hey! I am not bald!” He yelled, cheeks turning pink.

Their not so quiet conversation was starting to attract the attention of some of the other teammates. Including Daichi, who scolded the two boys.

“Oh, that’s Y/N L/N.” Kageyama said. “She’s in my homeroom.”

Nearby, Yamaguchi was assisting Ennoshita in taking the volleyball net down. At the sound of your name, he turned to see that it was in fact you, now standing inside the gym talking to Coach Ukai. His heart beat accelerated.

W-what?

Previously not caring about Tanaka and Noya’s conversation, he felt a slight pang of jealousy, now realizing you were who they were talking about. It was quickly overshadowed but the flashback of your earlier encounter, which made him feel humiliated all over again.

Coach Ukai scanned the group of boys, looking for one of them in particular.

“Yamaguchi!” He called, waving him over.

Me? He thought, quickly being snapped out of his daydreaming.

Your eyes, along with several others, landed on him. He was pretty sure his heart stopped beating momentarily.

What did you being here have to do with him?

Then it clicked.

Oh, no. No, no, no, no..this isn’t happening..

As soon as he made it to the front, Coach Ukai switched spots with him, going over to help Ennoshita finish taking down the net, and leaving the two of you alone.

“Hi again, um, Takeda sensei sent me. He said you need help with English class." You said with a smile.

All he could do was nod. After what happened earlier, and now finding out that you of all people are going to tutor him, there’s no way he could talk to you again so soon and actually form coherent sentences.

"I’m free all afternoon, so if you have time after practice we can go ahead and get started."

This is so bad.. What if I say something stupid?

"O-okay, yeah." He said quietly.

"Cool! I'll just wait over there." You said, gesturing to one of the tables outside of the gym.

After giving him a small smile, you disappeared through the doorway.

Once he knew you couldn't hear him, he sighed heavily.

There's no way this is happening.. It's a joke, right?

He wasn’t sure how he was going to get through a study session with you without combusting. You talked to him for a minute and a half and his heart was racing and his cheeks are an embarrassingly bright red. Not to mention he was still mortified about what happened in the hallway.

A playful slap on his back, quickly brought him out of his thoughts.

“Dude, when were you gonna tell us you had a girlfriend?” Tanaka asked, throwing an arm around his shoulders.

“W-what? No! W-we’re not, I mean-” Tadashi stammered. The redness of his cheeks was starting to creep up to his ears.

“She’s way too pretty to be kept as a secret, my guy.” Nishinoya chimed in.

“Oh, totally. Not to mention it’s rude.” Tanaka nodded in agreement.

“I-it’s not like that! S-she’s not-”

“He wishes.” Tsukishima said as he walked past the group on his way to the club room.

“Tsukki!” Yamaguchi whined, wanting nothing more than to crawl under a rock. Hopefully you were far enough away that you couldn’t hear any of his teammates’ conversation.

He was glad practice was finally over, as well as the barrage from his teammates, but now he had to meet up with you. He was somewhat excited, but definitely way more nervous.

Aside from other people at the library, he would be alone with you. No one to act as a buffer, all the attention, your attention, would be on him. It made his heart flutter before it fell into his stomach.

When he left the club room after dressing out, he found you exactly where you said you’d be. You were sitting at a table underneath a tree, a book sprawled open in front of you. Even doing something so basic, so common, you were so beautiful.

After practice, everyone seemed to be in a hurry to get home. He was never more thankful. No way did he want Tanaka or Nishinoya talking about you where you could definitely hear it this time. The thought alone was terrifying.

He usually walks home with Tsukishima but now that he was going to be doing tutoring after school/practice, his best friend gave him a quick “don’t be lame” and left. He knew the meaning behind it essentially translated to “you’re finally getting you’re chance, try not to screw it up.”

You looked up as he approached the table, most likely alerted to his presence by the sound of his footsteps. If he didn’t know any better, he would’ve thought you heard his heart hammering away.

You put the book you were reading into your bag and got up, rounding the table until you were next to him.

“Well, at least we only figuratively ran into each other this time.” You said, laughing lightly. The bubbly sound made his heart squeeze.

Just breathe, Tadashi. You’ll be fine, just try and calm down. He kept thinking over and over.

If he was ever going to get through this tutoring with you and pass his class, he at least had to learn to talk to you without stuttering, and blushing so hard he thought his face would catch fire.

“Y-yeah, sorry about that.” He said, rubbing the back of his neck.

“I guess I can forgive you.” You teased, gently elbowing his arm. The corner of his mouth pulled up slightly, but on the inside he died a little from the brief contact.

“So, the library down the street has rooms specifically for studying. Unless you have somewhere else in mind, we could go there.” You suggested.

“O-okay, yeah.”

“Awesome, come on.” You lead the way, gesturing for him to follow you.

She’s so outgoing. I wish I could talk to people as easily as her..

“So, English, huh?” You asked, trying to make small talk.

“Yeah...I just can’t understand it.” He said, laughing weakly.

“We can fix that.” You assured him.

“Um, t-thank you for helping me. I’m sorry Takeda sensei drug you into this.” He said apologetically, looking at his feet while he walked. He knew how relentless Takeda could be, it’s how they’d gotten quite a few practice games.

“He didn’t.” You said in a matter-of-fact tone.

“Huh?” He asked confused, lifting his head slightly to look at you.

“Takeda sensei? He didn’t drag me into anything. He didn’t have to.” You said, voice dropping to a whisper at the last part.

Didn’t have to?

“What do you mean?” He was sure he hadn’t heard you correctly.

“Oh, it’s nothing. Anyway, he asked and I agreed. Simple.” You explained, quickly waving your hand dismissively.

He let it go, but was sure there was some hidden meaning in there.

He didn’t have to talk her into it? Maybe tutors get extra credit.. That would make more sense.

“Okay, instead of doing it this way,” you pointed to his answer, “try doing it this way.” You said, writing on his paper. “It makes it a little easier to remember.”

It had been nearly two hours since you got to the library. It was surprisingly going well. He was beginning to understand some of the material, and from the forced one-on-one time, he even felt just a little less nervous around you.

“Oh, it’s getting late. We should stop for today.” You said, checking the time on your phone.

You gathered up all your things and made your way to the exit. Once outside, you turned toward him as you began walking down the sidewalk. “Do you feel like it helped so far?”

“A little? It’s still kind of confusing, I’m sorry..” He apologized, feeling defeated.

“That’s okay! You don’t have to be sorry. I’ll help you as much as you need.” you reassured him with a smile. The small gesture was enough to get his heart racing again.

“R-really?” He was a little shocked. Not only did you spend two hours tutoring him today without having to be convinced, but you also wanted to continue to do so?

I know she didn’t mean it like that, but still..

“Of course. It’s only day one, after all.” You shrugged nonchalantly.

Hmm. Day one.

The implication of more days like this gave him butterflies. It didn’t start out the best, but it turned out pretty okay. Even if you were only studying, he really enjoyed being around you.

You stopped walking when you were about a block away from the school, Yamaguchi following suit.

“This is my turnoff.” You said, pointing toward the street to your left.

This is it, Tadashi. You can do this. You can’t be scared forever.

“Oh, um, d-do you mind if I walk with you? It’s getting kinda dark, y-you shouldn’t go alone.” He couldn’t bare to see your reaction, instead choosing to look at the ground. His heart was pounding.

He was mostly afraid for your safety, but he also didn’t want to part ways yet. Although his heart raced the entire time, he really enjoyed the last couple hours that he’d spent with you. His nerves kept getting the best of him; getting inside his own head. Preparing himself for the rejection that would leave him feeling like a kicked puppy.

“I’d like that.” You said quietly.

He looked at you, surprised that you actually agreed, let alone saying that you’d like it; and something seemed different. He went rigid when it clicked.

Is she...blushing?

Your eyes were averted and attention focused elsewhere, as if you were embarrassed. A light dusting of rosy pink on your cheeks. The sight of it gave him butterflies.

Still trying not to look at him, you led the way. Yamaguchi quietly walked beside you, trying to hide the small smile that crept onto his face.

“Thank you, Yamaguchi. For offering to walk with me.” You said quietly, breaking the silence as you walked side by side down the street.

“O-of course. Anytime. Oh, and um, you can call me Tadashi, i-if you want.” He said with a smile, blushing at his own forwardness. You smiled back at him.

“My house is just up here.” You said, pointing up the street. “Oh, before I forget.” You handed him your phone, “We should exchange numbers in case one of us needs to cancel or something.” He nodded, taking the phone from you, returning a few seconds later. You immediately sent him a message.

His phone vibrated in his pocket, “There. Now you have my number too.” You said with a smile, sliding your phone back in your bag.

“This is it.” You said as you turned to him, gesturing to the house on your right. “Same time tomorrow?”

He nodded, maybe just a tad too eagerly, which made you smile.

“Can’t wait.” You said quietly, giving him a quick smile and waving good bye before walking up the pathway to your house. Once he saw your door close behind you, he made his way home. He was so lost in thought the whole way, still not quite believing this day actually happened, but thankful that it had.

Over the next month or so, he was able to get over most of his nervousness about being around you. It became easy and refreshing to spend so much time together. He’d learned so much about you, which only made him fall harder.

You were his complete opposite, and although you made him more nervous than anyone else on the planet, you were like a breath of fresh air. You always initiated conversations, asking questions or talking about something random, so he never had to worry about trying to fill awkward silence. You were so easy to talk to, when he wasn’t getting flustered by something that is.

You studied at the library nearly everyday after school, followed by Yamaguchi walking you home. It had quickly become the new normal. Thanks to you, he’s able to understand the material now and has even brought his grade up to a passing level.

Deep down, he was scared though.

Scared that when you no longer had a reason to be around him, you wouldn’t be. That the nature of your relationship resided solely on the fact that you were just doing what your teacher had asked of you, and it would end as quickly as it had begun. Scared that he’d foolishly let himself believe you would ever be friends with him outside of school stuff, much less like him.

And now that his grade had improved, tutoring would be coming to an end soon. He didn’t want to stop meeting you after practice; always sitting at the same table reading. Or walking you home everyday. Watching your face light up when he showed you his good grade on a test. How you’d go over something he didn’t understand as many times as necessary, never once getting annoyed.

He’s spent so long admiring your light from afar, that once he got the slightest chance to feel the warmth you radiated, he didn’t want to lose it.

“...ashi. Tadashi?”

“Hmm? Sorry, I wasn’t paying attention..” He smiled apologetically, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Are you okay? You’ve been spacey all afternoon.” You looked up at him, genuine concern in your eyes. He’d been feeling kind of out of it; lost in his thoughts about the possibility of not spending time with you anymore.

“Yeah, I’m sorry.. I was thinking. My grade is an A now, so before long tutoring will come to an end..”

“Oh, well that’s great though!” You exclaimed, “I thought something was wrong.” You laughed, glancing over at him; but it was cut short when you took in his gloomy expression.

“Uh, is there?...Something wrong, I mean?” Your voice was softer now, concern washing over your face.

“Not really, I guess. It’s just that... not spending every afternoon together studying is gonna be..weird.”

“Tadashi! Are you going to miss me?” You gasped dramatically, lightly bumping his elbow with your own; he scoffed sarcastically.

“Anyway, just because tutoring is over doesn’t mean we can’t still hang out.” You said casually.

“R-really?” He asked surprised. He honestly wasn’t expecting that.

“Umm.. yeah? Are we not friends?” You laughed lightly.

“W-well, I wasn’t sure if you thought so or not.. Since you’re just tutoring me and all..” He said, fidgeting with the strap on his bag that hung over his shoulder.

“Why wouldn’t I?”

Your persistence in questioning the “why’s” was starting to get to him. He was trying to be careful of his word choices, as to not end up confessing to you accidentally.

“I don’t know.. because you’re you and I’m me.”

“Wait..what?

“You’re outgoing, and funny, and smart. And I’m.. not.”

You stopped abruptly on the sidewalk; Yamaguchi following suit, looking at you in confusion.

“So...you think you’re not good enough to be my friend?” Your voice was barely above a whisper. He remained quiet; looking away from you. Something stirred inside you.

“Tadashi..” You began, nervously fiddling with your fingers as you looked away from him.

He looked like a kicked puppy. Worse, even. The slight hesitation, how you immediately got nervous when the subject was brought up; he knew what was coming next.

“It’s okay, Y/N. You don’t have to say anyt-”

“You are smart and funny. Outgoing even, around the right people. And also thoughtful, and a really good listener. And literally, the cutest freckles.”

It took a few seconds, mulling over your words, before they made sense.

Wait...

Oh.

...OH!

Judging by the look on your face and the shade of red your cheeks turned, he was sure you didn’t mean to say the last part out loud. Regardless, it caused him heart palpitations.

“No turning back now.” You laughed nervously. “Tadashi, I really like you. I don’t want tutoring to be where it ends.”

He was sure his heart stopped as soon as your words reached him. However, the loud hammering sound in his ears proved otherwise.

Calm down. She means as a friend.

..Right?

He hadn’t quite come to the solid conclusion if you had meant as a friend or not, before a wave of courage washed over him, giving him exactly what he needed to be able to speak the words he’s always wanted to say to you. Whether you meant as a friend or not, it was now or never. He wasn’t sure if he’d ever get another opportunity like this one. He needed to make the most of it.

With a deep breath to help calm his racing heart, he turned his gaze on you. Words began flowing completely uninhibited; and getting straight to the point.

“Y/N, I really like you too. I’m still not certain if you meant that you like me as a friend or like-like me, so if it’s just as a friend my confession is probably gonna make this pretty awkward, but I definitely like-like you. I have since that day in seventh grade when you helped me. I’ve just never been able to work up the nerve to tell you.” Yamaguchi was practically winded from talking so fast, in an attempt to get it all.

The reality of the situation, and the fact that he just spilled his guts to his crush, caused his face to erupt into a shade of bright red, practically turning him into a beacon in the night sky like the ones signal a superhero for help.

“I’m sorry, I guess I should’ve been more specific.” You said.

Oh no.. this is bad. It’s not mutual. I should’ve kno-

“I like-like you too. Also since that day in middle school.”

Excuse me?

His heart definitely stopped this time.

Where was Yachi with the AED when you needed it..

S-she..likes me back?

“This isn’t happening..” He whispered quietly, squeezing his eyes shut. He still didn’t fully believe your words; didn’t believe this wasn’t all a fever dream or something.

He was slightly taken aback when you closed the gap between the two of you and reached for his hand, slightly rough and calloused from volleyball, and intertwined your fingers in his.

“It is. But, only if you want it to.” You said gently, once again meeting his gaze.

He’s on cloud nine. He’s absolutely sure he’s died and ascended.

“I-I’d like that. A lot.” He said, face lighting up; a fresh round of blush creeping onto his cheeks.

You smiled his favorite smile at him and gently pulled him by the hand, leading him down the sidewalk along your normal after-tutoring-route.

Tutoring and hanging out didn’t have to come to an end after all. Instead, a whole new chapter was beginning for the shy, freckle faced boy.

#haikyuu fluff #haikyuu #haikyuu fanfiction #yamaguchi #tadashi #yamaguchi tadashi

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petri808 · 3 years

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@ktdkvalentines for Syd on Ig Valentines Exchange

Bakudeku College Au. TW: panic attack, anxiety, some angst w/happy ending based on the request.

Izuku Midoriya was in a great mood that Fall morning as he arrived at the college campus. His first day of his first year away from home, ready to start the next leg of his journey. He’d chosen this university for its good reviews and psychology program. He wanted to do something good in his life and what better way then helping others who’d suffered like he had. Not that he’d had a horrible life but growing up in a single parent household created some attachment issues and bullying when he was younger left him with anxieties. All through high school he’d worked extra hard to get to a point where he could function most of the time, and he was proud of how far he’d come. That growth is what led him to pursue a career in psychology, to take his negative experiences and turn them into a positive one.

So, he wasn’t ready when he walked into the dorm room and saw the familiar blonde hair and red eyes of his nightmares looking back at him.

Oh, this couldn’t be happening! Izuku swallowed hard, a mantra of calming statements flooding his brain as a silent staring content ensued. Neither man said a word, but the longer this went on for, the voices in his mind slowed and were replaced with questions. He was starting to realize... did the blonde even remember him?! He couldn’t tell if it was confusion, or maybe pain on the man’s twisted features, but it certainly wasn’t the angry boy he’d grown up with.

“Wow, Izuku is that you?” The man spoke with no malice in his tone, even rubbed the back of his neck nervously. “Been a long time, huh?”

“Yeah... about 7 years I think.”

“H-How you been?”

“Okay, I guess. A bit surprised to see a familiar face.”

The blonde’s shoulders dropped slightly, and he averted his eyes to the ground, “probably not who you’d hoped to see again...”

“I didn’t say...”

“No, no, it’s okay.” The man waved his hands to stop him. “I— I owe you an apology Zuku. And I’m not looking for forgiveness cause I don’t deserve it, but I hope we can, I don’t know like start off fresh, I guess, since we’re stuck in this room together.”

Izuku blinked in confusion, what had happened to Katsuki Bakugou in these past 7 years?! He was certain it wasn’t all arouse, or that the man was trying to bring his guard down, because Katsuki sounded genuine. Until the age of 2 or 3 they were actually really close, but for some reason by the end of their first year of primary school, he’d started picking on Izuku, or taking out his anger on the smaller boy. He had no idea what triggered it, but in the end, he was left emotionally scarred. Now, the man standing before him exuded a broken version of that 3-year-old child he once knew.

“You’re right. I lost count of how many times I ran home in tears because of you. We were best friends and it really hurt when you started picking on me and being mean to me.” The pain evident in his voice rang out into the small, shared room. “I don’t care why you did it. But,” Izuku continued with a sigh, “you’re right, I don’t wanna rehash the past either, so if we can just start over and put up with being roommates, we’ll see how it goes.”

“I’d like that. A-and I know it might not mean much but am sorry Zuku— about how I’d treated you. I promise, I’m not that guy anymore.”

“I believe you.” And he did, for now. Deep down, Izuku always tried to stay positive because if he didn’t, and allowed the irrational thoughts to fester, it could pull him right back into an episode. He didn’t fully trust Katsuki yet, but if was serious about going into the counseling field, he also knew it was important to continue moving forward. That didn’t mean divulging all of his secrets, or telling Katsuki about his own struggles, but he’ll stay alert to make sure that at any sign the man was slipping, he’d get out of there.

As the first two months crept along, the roommates went about their own business with very little interactions at first. It was a bit weird to Izuku, to be in a shared room where their beds were literally just a few feet from one another’s, yet they were lucky to go beyond a good morning or hello. In comfortable situations, he was a bubbly person who genuinely enjoyed talking to people, so the stillness of their room was unnerving. Of course, this was better than feeling fearful around Katsuki, but how are they to move forward and maybe become friends again, if they weren’t interacting?

So, because they weren’t talking, Izuku did the next best thing and observed. One thing that had not changed about Katsuki, was being meticulous. The blondes side of the room was always neat and tidy, books or stationery on the desk stacked perfectly, clothes in the closet organized by color and type, even the bed was always made with crisp corners. Early to bed and early to rise, the man had a ritual of sorts. If he wasn’t studying at his desk, he’d be on his bed reading or listening to music. Even the way Katsuki ate was curious to Izuku, constantly wiping his hands or face of any residue. There were a few things the blonde requested of him, no scented candles or strong, smelling fish type meals, and to leave his side of the curtains closed, something about the sunlight bothering him. They were simple enough requests to acquiesce to.

The man rarely left the room except to go to class and as far as he could tell, Katsuki had only one other friend on the campus who’d occasionally drop by. A nice guy, very friendly named Eijiro Kirishima. Well, he assumed they were friends because most of the time, his roommate stayed quiet while Eijiro did the talking. Izuku was pretty sure he spoke to the man more then Katsuki during these visits. They seemed unlikely friends really, one happy-go-lucky, and one anti-social... kind of reminded him of their once friendship now that he thought about it.

Izuku could appreciate the idea of sticking to familiar surroundings. Their dorm room was a sanctuary for him as well. He avoided large, crowded areas as much as possible, and if he didn’t know anyone, did his best to be inconspicuous. But within their room, with just the two of them, it should be a comfortable experience. Before coming to the school, he’d wondered what his roommate would be like or imagined making friends, so it was a little disappointing. By the third month it was a close friend of Izuku’s that suggested he make the first move to engage Katsuki in conversations. Start out simple, maybe learn any hobbies, what music he listened to, his major, etc. Forget the fact he knew the man and pretend as if he’s trying to make a new friend. Ugh, he hated making the first move. Izuku preferred being engaged not initiating it because it drove his anxieties up. But they were right. ‘Think of it like practice,’ Izuku reasoned with himself, ‘pulling a difficult client out of their shell.’

It was a lazy Sunday around midterms when Izuku decided to make a move. As he sat rested on his bed similarly to Katsuki, with his back against the wall and a textbook propped on his legs. Every few seconds, he glanced over the book’s edge, side-eyeing the blonde who was also nose deep into a chemistry textbook. Should he say something? But the man looked preoccupied, and Chemistry is a difficult subject. Maybe he shouldn’t bother Katsuki? He didn’t want to be annoying or anything and it wasn’t important really. Then again, the guy was always preoccupied with something or other and if he waited for a perfect moment, what if it never came? Would he wait forever? No, this was as good a time as ever.

Izuku lowered his book. “H-How’s the studying going Kacchan?”

The blonde turned to look at him briefly. “Fine.” Then returned to his reading.

“Oh, that’s good.”

Ugh! It was always so hard to get a read on Katsuki! His affect and tone were flat, no anger, amusement, nothing, just his common one worded response. It was rare for the blonde to give or maintain eye contact, so at least the man looked at him this time.

He tried another question. “I noticed your chemistry book, is that your major?”

“Yup.”

“Um, what do you do with a chemistry degree?” Izuku asked genuinely.

This time Katsuki surprised Izuku when he stopped and put his book down before engaging. “I’m fascinated by the chemical reactions of fire and combustion. How it works, why it occurs, how it can be manipulated, stuff like that. And I don’t know, I could be a scientist, or maybe do pyrotechnics, just work somewhere I don’t have to talk to too many people.”

“Wow! I mean I was never good at math and stuff to understand, but it sounds pretty interesting.”

“I guess so. What’s with the questions all of a sudden?”

“W-Well,” Izuku shifted his body to face the man completely, “we’re roommates. I don’t expect us to be full-on friends, but I figured it would be nice to talk sometimes.” Katsuki’s silent reply of nothing forced him to make a decision to continue talking, because he assumed if the man wasn’t interested, he would have turned away. Silence wasn’t exactly a normal response, but maybe the blonde really wasn’t sure what to say next. “I don’t expect you tell me super personal stuff— just small talk. Like, um, what kind of music do you like?”

“Alternative.”

Izuku’s eyes flashed with surprise at such a quick response. Okay, so Katsuki was fine with answering. “I like that too! Well, some,” he giggled. “Though I mostly listen to pop now. What about movies?”

“Horror films.”

“Oof,” Izuku cringed. “I can’t handle those they scare me too much!”

“I remember. It gave you nightmares.”

Bouncing on the bed, Izuku’s legs moved to hang over the edge in his excitement. He was really surprised in a good way that Katsuki remembered something so mundane about him. “Wow! You still remember that?! Yeah,” he laughed, “I’ll stick to sci-fi or action. Plus, I’m not fond of theaters anyways so, I just watch stuff on my laptop.”

“Why not? You used to be the outgoing one.”

That made Izuku flinch because he wasn’t ready to tread into that territory with his former bully. “Oh, you know, it’s always crowded, and you have to deal with parent-less kids causing a racket in the place. I rather just enjoy my movie without all that.”

“Makes sense. I don’t care to go to places like that either.”

“Yeah, I noticed that— is there anything you do like or hobbies maybe?”

“Just exercising in the early morning, by myself, except since Eijiro inserted himself, I tolerate him.”

So, that confirmed what he’d already suspected. Katsuki kept his body in really great shape and that hadn’t gone unnoticed by Izuku. But since he wasn’t much of a morning person, he didn’t notice what time Katsuki left the dorm, only the man’s return, showered and refreshed. Needless to say, the blonde male with wet hair was nice to look at and smelled good too. “Oh,” his face heated up at the thought of it, but he needed to play dumb. “So, that’s what you do in the mornings. I wondered about that.”

Things between the roommates settle into a comfortable routine. As another month passes by, Izuku still needed to start the conversation, but at least Katsuki would respond amicably or engaged with him, and to his delight with the help of Eijiro, they’d even managed to get the man to go out to dinner once. Those years of dread and angst were melting away, and soon enough Izuku looked forward to spending time with his old friend.

He still couldn’t get a full read on Katsuki’s demeanor. The man’s emotionless responses made it difficult to tell whether or not he was even enjoying anything. So, Izuku could only assume that by participating, he didn’t mind. The old Katsuki would say whatever he was thinking, good or bad, and while he got the sense that he would do so as needed, such as letting him know about the scent issue, it would be really nice if it didn’t feel like a guessing game all the time. Regardless, the progress they were making to rekindle any sort of relationship was a win in Izuku’s mind.

“Here.”

Izuku looked up from his desk to see a plastic shopping bag held in Katsuki’s hand. “What’s this?” He took it tentatively.

“I saw it at the store. You still into this stuff?”

He opened the bag and pulled out the latest action figure of his favorite comic book character. It was a figurine he’d been saving up his spare money to buy. “Kacchan,” Izuku looked back up curiously at the man. “Is this for me? How’d you know?”

Katsuki just shrugged. “Just remembered you were obsessed with the guy.”

“Thank you, really, but I can’t except this gift, it’s not even my birthday.”

“Just take it. Think of it as an I’m sorry gift if it makes you feel better.”

As Izuku sat there stunned, the blonde simply went back to his bed without another word and picked up a book as if nothing significant had just occurred.

“T-Thank you, Kacchan.”

“Yeah, no prob.”

His face heated up and a smile took over as he stared at the action figure for a few seconds before staging it prominently on his bedside table. Izuku had left all of his collectibles at home, so it was nice to have something in their room. But even more important, was again, Katsuki remembered something about Izuku from their childhood and took the time to get this gift. Despite their long rocky history, this small act meant the world to him. It was the first true moment to make Izuku think, maybe they really could be like they once were.

Finals were approaching in barely two more weeks, and some students were already stressing out. The anxiety in the air felt palpable to Izuku. He could feel it practically oozing off the other students. Of course, everyone dealt with stress in different ways. Some went inwards, the pressure fueling them to work harder while other’s went the completely opposite route of goofing off and procrastinating. Other’s might stress eat, binge caffeine drinks, and friends banded together in study groups. But then there are the ones who took out their frustrations and stress on others.

Bullies. The bane of Izuku’s existence.

Most of the time, he could easily avoid their type around campus. He’d developed a sixth sense for such individuals which his therapist explained as a heightened sense of energy levels. It’s really not as mystical as it sounds, rather that, those like him that suffer from a high level of anxiety, are sensitive to other people’s emotional outputs. Being bullied or harassed himself certainly sent his anxiety’s skyrocketing but seeing it could also trigger a problem depending on the severity.

Hence his current predicament...

It was the end of the day for Izuku and he was ready to just get back to his dorm, eat something, and dive into his studies. One of his teachers had released the finals study guide early, so he thought it best to get a head start. But as he made his way past the row of dorm buildings, Izuku spotted something that sent a cold chill down his spine. Three men cornering a fourth. They were at least 50 yards away and he couldn’t hear everything they were yelling. Something about a group project, pulling weight— One man had grabbed the victims shirt and was semi-lifting him up while the other two men just watched and egged him on.

Oh, this was not good! Izuku’s memories started to replay and his experiences were brought back to the forefront. The men’s faces were so close... he could almost feel the hot breath wafting over, spit hitting his face, or the smell of the bullies breath. It made him sick to his stomach. Izuku’s heart raced, his throat began to close up, and breathing grew erratic. He needed to get out of there! The red piercing eyes of his nightmares took center stage in his mind’s eye... all those times he was harassed and battered by Katsuki rushing back like a wave to toss him against a wall of sandy hair.

‘Deep breaths, deep breaths, deep breaths!’ Izuku screamed in his head, ‘calm down, calm down, get back to my room! It’s not you, it’s not you... it’s not him! It’s not him!!’

Izuku picked up the pace, a fast walk over a running sprint to avoid being noticed. The last thing he needed was to draw attention to himself and risk becoming the new target. He dug his nails hard into his arm to force his mind towards a physical distraction, but it wasn’t working.

A deep voice screamed, cursing at the top of its lungs, and filling Izuku’s mind, just like that long ago day. The worst attack, the one that finally pushed his mother to move him to a different school. All the fear coursing through his veins rush back, heart pounding against his rib cage. Katsuki had grabbed him, hand fisted into his shirt as he pushed Izuku up a wall and off his feet. He could still feel the cold stone wall behind him juxtaposed to the pain from his hot throbbing lip and swollen cheek where he’d been struck.

He burst through the dorm room door, stumbling, spilling his bag onto the floor as he fell to his knees, gasping for air because his jaw felt locked up and he couldn’t get enough air. All of his muscles were tensing up, imagined or not, it felt like he was suffocating. His body was shaking, sweating— he wanted to puke.

“Whoa, Zuku, what’s wrong?!”

Katsuki had rushed over and dropped to the floor, grabbing Izuku by the shoulders to hold him up and steady. But he couldn’t answer the man in words. Tears were streaming down his face as he did his best to focus and answer the man, but it was tough, fighting against the rapid assault of images in his mind and cursing blaring in his eardrums.

“Fuck, um, allergic reaction?!”

Izuku shook his head violently, no.

“Choking?!”

Again, Izuku shook his head violently, no.

“Panic attack?!”

Izuku now adamantly shook his head, yes!

“Okay, okay, shit, panic attacks, um, it’s been awhile, what do I— oh, right, okay, okay, d-don’t move!” Katsuki stumbled back to his feet and ran out of the room, coming back within a minute with a cup of ice cubes from the common kitchen. He takes one, two, three, shoving it into Izuku’s mouth. It took a bit of effort to get the man’s jaw to open wide enough to shove it in. “Close your mouth all the way, try to get the ice to touch the roof of your mouth.”

Seconds after the ice touched, it sent a brain freeze from hell shooting through Izuku’s pain receptors. “Ahhh!” He spat out all the melting cubes as his hands fly up to his head, cradling, squeezing to counter against the physical pain, “cold! Cold! Cold!”

At that statement, Katsuki slumped back onto his haunches in relief. “Oh good, it worked.” He then took Izuku’s hands with an even soft tone. “Look at me.” Once the man complied, he continued. “Focus on your breathing, inhale when I say to, exhale when I say to.”

Izuku struggled against the embers of irrational thoughts coupled with the brain freeze coming down. His breathing stayed haggard, jagged as he fought his own mind to follow Katsuki’s instructions. But every time he’d start to struggle, the man would refocus him back to the breathing by pressing his thumb nail into the webbing of Izuku’s hand. Not very hard, but enough of a sting to bring back his focus on the physical. It took about 15 minutes until he could breathe in time with Katsuki’s words.

Be it the overwhelming sense of release or sheer exhaustion, Izuku collapsed on to Katsuki’s chest. His panicked breathing whittled down to silent sobbing. The blonde didn’t move or flinch and held the man up, simply keeping his arms around his back without a word. Minutes dragged by as the tears finally slowed.

“Thank you, Kacchan,” Izuku breathed out. “How’d you know what to do?”

“Let’s just say, I’ve had my share.”

Izuku sat back, rubbing away the moisture drying on his cheeks as he looked at his roommate with new eyes. “You? W-When? I-I mean if you don’t wanna say, it’s fine, I’ll understand. We probably both have a lot a secrets.”

Katsuki thought for a moment. “If I tell you what happened, you gotta come clean too.”

He hadn’t expected that, but after what had just occurred, perhaps it was time. “Okay,” Izuku nods.

“In middle school I was sent to a therapist because of my anger issues and diagnosed as a high functioning autistic. Frankly, I don’t know how much to believe in that, but in the end, the therapist was a good thing.” Katsuki leaned back against a desk leg. “The short answer, I learned the reason I’d started bullying you was because I was getting frustrated with myself which lead to anger, and I wrongly took it out on the closest person to me.”

“Why were you frustrated? I thought we were fine...”

“It had nothing to do with you. It was me and I don’t know, I just started feeling different, I didn’t like being around people, didn’t understand or even care about anyone because I couldn’t figure out how to fit in. Yet I’d watch you make friends so effortlessly and I got mad. There’s a lot more to it, even blamed my mom for some of it, but I just didn’t know how else to get it out except through anger. It took a few years to learn to control myself. That’s one of the reasons I got into exercising. If I start feeling frustrated, I can take it out that way now, burn off the excess energy I guess.”

Izuku was a little taken aback at the idea Katsuki’s been diagnosed on the autism spectrum. The man didn’t seem like he had a mental disorder, but the clues were there. The aversion to certain stimulus, social apathy, his fixations on certain elements. “Wow... I had no idea. It doesn’t excuse what you did, but I’m glad you’ve come this far.”

“So, what about you?”

“I don’t think it was just the bullying that started it all. After my dad left us, I was already vulnerable, it’s why I latched onto you so quickly. So, when you started— I-I felt extremely hurt. You were my first friend, my best friend Kacchan and when you started hurting me... I don’t know what was worse, the physical pain or the mental ones. By the time I moved schools, I’d developed anxiety and depression, and it got so bad my mom finally took me to a therapist where I worked all through high school to get it under control. I do really good now, but sometimes things trigger me.” More tears resurface to cloud Izuku’s eyes, but he kept them from spilling. “Today, on my way here, I-I saw a guy being harassed and it brought it all back again. Nothing was working, so I just thought if I could just get to safety, a-and I don’t know, I figured I could get it under control once I was alone. But I’m glad you were here, because I don’t think I could have. You really, saved me today Kacchan.”

“It doesn’t make up for anything. I’m the asshole who made you like this.”

He snorted a laugh, “that’s for sure, but the cause became the cure.”

“What?”

“You caused this, but today you cured it. That means a lot to me because I do want to forgive you.”

“No. I don’t deserve a second chance. I’m content that we’re at least on speaking terms again and I could make amends somehow.”

“Kacchan, everyone deserves a second chance.” Izuku’s smile returned. “We were kids. You didn’t know better. And you’ve changed, that’s the important thing. I think we’ve both changed.”

“How?”

“Well, it’s those experiences that helped me to find a new passion in life to help others— people like us who are struggling with something. Turn a negative into a positive.”

“How the hell do you do that? You just had a panic attack and you’re already sunny smiles again. I mean you were always like this, and it’s me, I just don’t get emotions, but if you wanna forgive me, I guess I can’t stop you.”

Izuku shrugged. “Nope you, can’t,” he smiled wider. “Right now, this is probably the happiest I’ve felt in a very long time.” He stood up and extended a hand, helping Katsuki to his feet. “Dinner, my treat.”

“I don’t feel like going out.”

“I know,” Izuku smiled. “I’ll order in.”

#bkdk #ktdk #ktdkvalentines #bakudeku #katsudeku #Bakugou katsuki #Midoriya izuku #bakudeku au #TW: panic attack #tw: anxiety

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elves-n-angels · 4 years

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How Sebastian Stan Went From Winter Soldier to 'Winter Swoldier'

To keep up with the Chrises, Stan upgraded his diet, training, and worldview. And 2020 is shaping up to be his best year ever.

BY LAUREN LARSON

DEC 19, 2019

THE COFFEE-SHOP staff is having a silent meltdown. The peppermint tea I ordered was forgotten as soon as Sebastian Stan walked in. He orders a coffee, receives it instantly, and goes to put it down on a table. The lid isn’t fully on, and the coffee spills. It’s almost a “stars are just like us” moment, but then a barista suddenly materializes with a paper towel in his outstretched palm. “It’s wet,” he says eagerly.

Stan, 37, is wearing black shorts, a black T-shirt, midcalf black socks, and a gray hoodie missing its drawstring. He looks very off-duty SoHo, which he is: He’s back home in New York City on furlough from preparations for The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, an extravagant collaboration between Marvel and newborn streaming service Disney+.

He’s also wearing a blue baseball cap, which sits slightly higher on his head than it might on the head of someone with less va-va-voom hair. That hair sent the Internet into a tizzy recently, when a poster for Falcon showed Stan with a short cut. In the past when Stan has played the Winter Soldier (né Bucky Barnes), he’s had shoulder-length hair. Next to his forehead, which is giant—the White Cliffs of Dover of foreheads—the longer style made him look very sinister.

Stan is somewhat less recognizable in street clothes, but women still side-eye him on their way to the bathroom. Maybe they recognize him; maybe he’s just a little too strapping not to be famous.

As Stan talks, he maintains an unsettling deadpan, verging on a glower. “People always ask me if I’m okay,” he says, still glowering. “They’ve said I have ‘serial-killer resting face.’ No matter what I do, I’ve always had dark circles under my eyes that never really go away. Lately there might be a little moisturizer happening here and there, just in case. Preserving a couple years, or whatever.”

The more reserved the actor, the more likely he is to become part of Hollywood mythology. Between Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) and Captain America: Civil War (2016), a rumor circulated that he had gotten too ripped for the arm he’d worn in the earlier film, a wraparound contraption meant to look like a machine prosthetic. Redditors called him “the Winter Swoldier” and “Bulky Barnes.”

Stan laughs when I bring it up and clarifies that he used a new-and-improved arm in each successive film. With the first iteration, he had to apply lube to slide his real arm into what was essentially two rigid metal tubes. “It was like having a massive hammer attached to me,” he says, “but it looked unbelievable in the movie, and it actually informed a lot of my body language.”

Subsequent arms were more mobile, and Stan doesn’t have to lube up to get in there anymore: There’s a sleeve inside the arm for his next appearance as the Winter Soldier. But, he concedes, he did get too big for the arm used in Civil War. “I was so insecure being around these massive fucking guys, so I started lifting really heavy and ate a lot. I remember I showed up, and I was a little bit bigger than I had been in The Winter Soldier. The arm was a bit tight,” he says. “I was losing circulation.”

Stan is not a new arrival in the Marvel universe: He made his superhero debut in 2011, with Captain America: The First Avenger. But recently he’s enjoyed a burgeoning late-term fandom as his roles (and arms) have ballooned. Beyond Marvel, he starred alongside Margot Robbie in 2017’s I, Tonya, as Tonya Harding’s jackass boyfriend. When we meet in October, he’s just returned from shooting the spy film 355 in London, with Jessica Chastain, Penélope Cruz, Lupita Nyong’o, and Diane Kruger. Another insecurity-inspiring roster.

With Stan’s constellation of anxieties—he says he’s “terribly self-aware, to the point of detriment”—he is uniquely suited to stardom in 2020. A decade ago, audiences wanted actors to be pillars of Hollywood hubris, strutting around in latex Marvel suits, muscly and impenetrable. We still want the muscles, but we also want stars to be genuine.

Marvel films can seem at odds with that national craving for authenticity. Steve Rogers, for example, becomes Captain America instantly, in the first ten minutes of The First Avenger: He goes into a machine and emerges fit, huge, and self-actualized. I ask Stan whether that narrative—man gets muscles and immediately earns the admiration and attraction of everyone in his midst—isn’t a dated, unrelatable picture of masculinity.

“When I was watching Steve Rogers,” Stan starts in, “I saw him question his identity, his alliances, the government. ‘Who am I? What is this? What made me come into this is very different than the role I am in now.’ I think it was very timely, in the sense that you could see that character evolve. Then he gives up his shield and is like, ‘I’m out. I’m going to do my own thing.’ He chooses his own life. It’s actually more relatable.”

There’s an obvious metaphor there: Stan is Captain America, and stardom—and the press tours, the scrutiny, and the training that come with it—is his government, always invading his carefully fortified sense of self. As a result, he can appear very reticent in public, offering only occasional glimpses of the unguarded Sebastian Stan. Audiences live for those moments.

Stan is the anti-celebrity in the year of the anti-celebrity.

And his ambient hostility toward questioning is offset by the behavior of his Falcon costar Anthony Mackie. When alone in interviews, Stan can seem deflective and bored, but he gets an enormous kick out of Mackie, who has jumped in to rescue many an interviewer left to writhe on the hook by Stan. He is the Sebastian Stan whisperer, midwife to a charm that can be difficult to coax out.

“When I’m trying hard to find the honest moment, he sort of unlocks me a little bit. We both laugh and we find a way to have a good time,” Stan says. When I tell him that I’m planning to mine Mackie for gossip, he laughs. “Here’s what he’s going to say: ‘He’s way too serious. It’s boring. He slows everything down. It’s always these questions and, like, the stare. Give this kid a Yoo-hoo! Somebody get him a chocolate milk. Good God, put a smile on his face!’ ”

Mackie is the enthusiastic extrovert to Stan’s pensive recluse. Even though I reach him on the phone at 9:00 p.m. after a long day of shooting in Savannah—“I’m already going to bed,” Mackie says in a N’awlins drawl that sounds sleepier than usual—he’s forthcoming about Stan. He describes his costar as a hermit, a chronic Irish-goodbye-er who doesn’t offer much of himself at first. “If the FBI ever needed to get anything out of him, they’d be in very big trouble,” Mackie says. “I don’t know what the male equivalent would be of ‘resting bitch face,’ but Sebastian has nailed that 100 percent.”

His first impression, which lingered for a long time, was that Stan was a very quiet, very reserved actor. They shook hands when they met, but it wasn’t a buddy-com bromance at first sight. It wasn’t until much later, when the two were on a press tour for The Winter Soldier, that they hit it off. Mackie hung out with Stan and a few of his closest friends, and they “unlocked” Stan for Mackie the same way Mackie now unlocks Stan on press tours.

Their chemistry also plays well on set. They share a dedication to their work, and they both come from classical acting backgrounds. (“He went to Juilliard,” Stan says of Mackie. “He can do anything.”) Beyond that, they’re opposites, reining in each other’s moods to a perfect, workable middle. “He calms me down when I’m ready to rage against the machine,” Mackie says. In turn, Mackie bullies Stan into having fun.

Case in point: When they were on a press tour in Beijing, they had one of those endless nights that make press tours seem glamorous. “It just went on and on and on,” Mackie recalls. “We had to do press the next morning, and he’s like, ‘I’m going to bed.’ I’m like, ‘Nope.’ I took his wallet and his cell phone so he couldn’t get into his hotel room. Then, by the time we got to the press, I was fine. He just looked like he’d gotten hit by a car.”

Hollywood has always relished actor partnerships—from Robert Redford and Paul Newman to Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson—but now more than ever, buddying up feels like an imperative. Pairs perform, especially on social media. In November, when Stan and Mackie took over Marvel Studios’ Instagram to announce that they’d begun filming Falcon, fans were as thirsty for their friendship as they were for the show. Their dynamic is the stuff of memes: “[I] want someone to look at me the way Sebastian Stan and Anthony Mackie look at each other,” one fan tweeted.

I know what that fan meant. When Stan does look at you without suspicion—when, perchance, he laughs at something you say—it’s like winning a battle.

WHEN IT COMES to fitness, Stan has also benefited from the influence of a charismatic spirit guide. He played soccer and basketball at his Rockland County, New York, high school, but he didn’t start running and going to the gym until he was in college at Rutgers University. And he didn’t get really into fitness until 2005, when he was cast in a film titled The Covenant, which Stan calls “really classic.”

Really classic, indeed: The Covenant also stars Chace Crawford, whom Stan would later join on Gossip Girl (another classic), and Taylor Kitsch. Stan plays one of five prep-school boys endowed with supernatural gifts and sick abs.

“I got a call,” Stan says. “And one of the producers said to me, ‘Look, you’re going to have to look like John Travolta in Staying Alive.’ He’s just glistening with muscles. It’s ridiculous. I was like, ‘Oh my God.’ I started to work out with a trainer, but it was my buddy

Taylor Kitsch who got me into it.” With the trainer and Kitsch as his gym shepherds, Stan began exercising in earnest.

Then, in 2013, ahead of The Winter Soldier, Stan teamed up with trainer Don Saladino, who’d also sculpted Ryan Reynolds, John Krasinski, and Liev Schreiber. That same year, Stan starred in a Broadway revival of William Inge’s Picnic, playing a character whose defining trait is his hotness.

“Inge was writing something very important about vanity and how people were perceived in terms of being quote-unquote good-looking, beautiful, or pretty,” Stan said in a Playbill interview in 2013. “In the play, there’s something shameful and dirty about it. Our obsession with beauty has not changed. When we see something that turns us on, we either appreciate it or judge it. It’s so primal. We still dismiss people if they’re pretty; we don’t care how they feel, because they should just be happy looking the way they do. That’s something we were trying to say with this production.” Stan is less philosophical about his Picnic bod these days. “I had to be basically shirtless every night, like eight shows a week,” he says. “I really zoned in on diet, and everything transformed.”

He prefers exercising on an empty stomach, so he generally starts his day with coffee—and a rice cake with some almond butter and honey if he’s feeling depleted. Today he was feeling very depleted, he says, so he had some scrambled eggs with Brussels sprouts and aioli. “I’m not going to tell you the place where I got that,” he adds, unprompted and wary, as though I might start dining there daily in a stalker vigil.

Stan is a proponent of “quality over quantity,” but that doesn’t mean he skimps on his workouts; he just knows that a 20-minute session that catapults his heart rate into the red zone is as effective as an hour of low-intensity bullshit. He runs (“I’m not going to tell you where”) when he’s feeling meditative.

In advance of the Falcon shoot, Stan started lifting weights every morning and knocking out stunt training for the fight scenes. He points out that filming an action movie is a workout in itself: You spend whole days running around and sweating in a heavy suit. “I mean, next to Evans and Hemsworth and all those guys, I feel like I’m 50 miles behind. I don’t think I can get to that size, to be honest,” he says. That aside, Stan feels, in his late 30s, better than ever. “My body right now is probably the best it’s ever been.”

THERE'S A PHOTO of Stan, age 15, on his Instagram. It’s a headshot from Stagedoor Manor, an acting camp that he attended while in high school. He’s recognizable from the brow up—he has the same broad forehead, the same voluminous hair. His arms look pale and soft, like overcooked linguine, and he’s staring down the camera with theater-kid intensity.

Stan lived in Romania until he was eight years old. Shortly after the Romanian revolution, he and his mother moved to Vienna and stayed there for four years before heading to New York in 1995. No, he says, he didn’t have a foreign exchange student’s social cachet in middle school. “Maybe if I was from France or something. But I am Eastern European. We left communism,” he says. “When I came here, I just wanted to be like everybody else.”

I ask Stan which of his mannerisms are typically Romanian. “You’re kind of putting me on the spot to define a whole nation—a guy who hasn’t been there for years,” he says. But he thinks for a second. “For me, based on my mother, the ‘Romanian temperament’ is perseverance—being able to handle more than you think you can. At 27, my mother was working two jobs in a foreign country where she barely spoke the language. There’s a sense of family and perseverance that’s deeply ingrained in the blood.”

Even for someone who has experienced a certain degree of stardom, Marvel fans can be a shock to one’s sense of family. Certain Marvel stars acquiesce to the attention on some level, greeting fans with a Chris Hemsworthian openness to scrutiny. Stan’s boundaries are reflexive and firm, as though his sense of self is always under attack. (Which, to be fair, it may well be: “He’s so reserved,” Mackie says, “but in this day and age that’s a very good quality.”)

Stan is more protective of his personal life than most actors. Celebrities often use social media to dispense calculated chunks of themselves in exchange for privacy. Stan occasionally opens up on Instagram: “Been working with this guy through years of self judgement and mental wars when it comes to fitness and LIFE,” he wrote of Saladino in a caption accompanying a gym selfie. But questions about the people in his orbit ping ineffectually against his poker face.

He attributes this to only-vaguely-alluded-to incidents in which his family and friends were subject to public attention. As a public figure, he has opted into that attention, he explains, but they haven’t. It upset him when they were the targets of scrutiny, particularly when that scrutiny came from his fans. Stan seems to be looking for earnestness in an industry that, on the whole, disdains earnestness. He “tries hard to find the honest moment,” as he himself puts it (much like how he saw a profound statement about “our obsession with beauty” in William Inge’s horny play).

In this, the Marvel universe is an improbably good fit for him. We speak the week after Martin Scorsese said Marvel films “are not cinema,” and Stan is as defensive of the films as he can be without disrespecting Scorsese, one of his heroes. “All I know is that all movies affect people,” he says. “I’ve certainly experienced firsthand many people who have been affected and helped by Marvel movies.”

Captain America fans lean earnest. People have told Stan that Bucky Barnes helped them cope with their PTSD. During Q&A sessions, he’s asked questions like “What would Bucky Barnes’s major be?” and “What happened to Bucky Barnes when he fell from the train?” Stan fields those questions without sarcasm or diversion.

“They think we are these people,” Stan says, again without condescension. He’s content to take questions about Bucky Barnes, especially if it distracts fans from asking questions about Sebastian Stan. “Now we’re much more obsessed with the personality rather than the actor. We take people and swallow them and digest them and chew them up, and then we spit them out the other side. Then we’re done,” he says. “We’ve done that with numerous celebrities—people. I’ve seen people have massive ups and downs and stuff. All I can do is just try to be as honest as I can. And do my job.”

Men's Health Magazine, December 19, 2019.

#sebastian stan #bucky barnes #winter soldier #mens health #long post

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set-phasers-to-whump · 3 years

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scars and stories

prompt: scars

whumpee: nick burkhardt

fandom: grimm

hi! this fic is weirdly not very whumpy...it’s much more like...Thinking and Talking and not hardly any pain at all which is So not my brand but this is how it ended up. i hope that you like it despite the fact that, for a fic written for a whump event, it’s really not so whumpy at all lol. (title from champagne for my real friends, real pain for my sham friends by fall out boy)

Renard has been at the hospital for six hours now. At first, it had been stressful, but he’d had company. They’d all shared in the anxiety and the fear of Nick being in the hospital - again - with a very large, very bloody stab wound in his stomach. And then a nurse had come out and they’d all stood up in unison, and he’d given them one look and taken a step back like he was worried they were going to attack him, then delivered the good news. Nick was okay, stable, and sleeping. And then the bad news - visiting hours were up.

Renard had managed to talk his way into being allowed to stay until Nick woke up (one of the perks of being a police captain), and the rest of the group had insisted that he provide them with updates as they had made their way out the doors. They’d also half-bullied, half-begged the hospital staff to let them stop by an hour before the visiting hours resumed the following morning.

And now, Renard is here, by himself, sitting in a chair while Nick sleeps in the hospital bed next to him. It’s odd seeing him so still, paler than normal with several small cuts and scrapes on his face and an IV in his arm and a pulse monitor on his finger.

“He’s alright. I know you’re well aware of that, but it’s worth repeating, anyway. He’s a real fighter,” says a voice from the doorway. Renard looks up in surprise, instinctively reaching for his weapon until he realizes it’s a doctor. In fact, it’s the doctor who is responsible for stitching Nick back up. He relaxes, slightly sheepish, and lets the man continue.

“He’ll have another new scar to add to the collection, though it’ll hardly be his worst. I have to say, I’m…well, impressed sure isn’t the right word, but…I’ve worked on plenty of cops before. Your detective here has more scars than any of the others, and I’ve operated on lifelong officers, thirty year veterans, the works. Detective Burkhardt has them all beat.”

Renard doesn’t know what to say in response to that. It’s not surprising that his young detective - young Grimm - has scars - he’s been shot and stabbed and in countless fights, and frankly he’d be more surprised if Nick didn’t have scars. It’s more the fact that he apparently has so many - enough to impress a doctor who creates scars for a living.

And what’s more, Renard realizes, he doesn’t think he’s ever seen any of these supposed scars. Nick is virtually always wearing long sleeves and pants, and his face and hands have somehow avoided being badly hurt.

Before he can do too much more thinking on the fact that he’s worked with Nick for years and never seen any of his scars that he can recall, the doctor says, “I’ll be on shift until four, if you need anything.” He leaves the room, giving Renard a wave goodbye, and then he’s alone again.

Renard gives Nick another once-over. He still looks as pale and vulnerable as before, and his right arm is poking out from under the blanket with an IV sticking into the skin. He doesn’t want to touch the arm and risk pulling the needle out, so he instead carefully untucks Nick’s left arm from the blankets. Just to see if the doctor had really been telling the truth (though there’s not any reason for him to have lied).

There are a couple of scrapes, clearly from this most recent fight, and a few small, faded scars. Most of them are short, thin. Grazes from knives, maybe. There’s one near the inside of his elbow that looks like a bite. He’s about to push up the sleeve of the hospital gown, where he can just see the edge of what looks like something jagged and deep and painful on Nick’s upper arm, when Nick moves and makes a soft noise, and he quickly pulls away before Nick can wake up and ask him what exactly he’s doing.

Nick wakes up slowly, blinking around and looking down at himself and the hospital bed, clearly completely confused. He winces softly as he sits up, putting a hand to the spot on his stomach where Renard knows several fresh stitches are holding him together.

“What…?” he asks, voice soft and scratchy, as his eyes finally land on Renard.

“You were stabbed,” Renard reminds him. He passes over a small cup of water that had been left for him by a nurse at some point. “You lost quite a bit of blood. You were in surgery for awhile, and you’ve been asleep for the past few hours.”

“Oh.” Nick looks at him with a kind of questioning expression, and Renard pretty easily works out what it means.

“It’s the middle of the night. The hospital staff allowed me to stay, as a police captain, but visiting hours are long over.”

There’s a look of…surprise, mixed with something like gratitude, on Nick’s face.

“Why?”

Renard shrugs. “It’s confusing enough waking up from surgery after being stabbed. And more confusing if you’re completely alone.”

Nick hums softly in response, his eyes starting to close. Renard doesn’t want to keep him awake, but he is also a bit curious, and his detective is…uninhibited, thanks to the pain medicine he’s currently on, and he may not get a chance to ask again. So he goes for it.

“The doctor who operated on you told me you have more scars than anyone he’s ever seen.”

That wakes Nick up. His eyes open fully, and make contact with Renard’s. “What?”

“I’ve just…never seen them. You’re always wearing long sleeves, and we’re not exactly the kind of people to talk about…anything like this.”

Nick shrugs like it doesn’t matter at all. “Yeah, I’ve got scars. Part of the job.”

“Which job?”

“Both, I guess. Mostly the Grimm stuff. Y’know, my Aunt Marie was covered in scars. I never knew until a doctor told me, when she was here, before she…”

Scars run in Nick’s family, Renard realizes. Physical, emotional…being a Grimm takes its toll over the course of a life. Has already taken its toll on the man in front of him, who has only been a Grimm for a few short years.

“How bad are they? The scars.”

Another shrug. “Some are big. Mostly they’re small. I don’t know, I don’t pay much attention to them.” Nick looks down when he says this, his left hand picking at the edge of the blanket. “Guess this will be one of the big ones.”

“It will,” Renard agrees, matter-of-fact. The injury itself had been bad, deep and long and jagged, and he’s sure the new scar, right across Nick’s stomach, will serve as a very prominent reminder of this particular event. (He’s also pretty sure it won’t be the only scar - getting stabbed tends to leave more than one kind of mark, but that’s a talk for another time).

“Do you have any scars?”

Renard shrugs, not entirely surprised that the conversation is now turning towards him. “A few. Mostly from my time serving as an officer. One or two from Wesen-related incidents. Nothing close to what you have, though.”

“It is kind of a lot, isn’t it?” Nick asks, and he sounds as though he’s never really thought about this before. As though he’s always accepted this - this pain, these scars - as something that is simply a part of his life. The thought makes Renard equal parts angry and sad, and he looks away from Nick for a moment and decides to change the topic of conversation to something a bit lighter. He’s hounded Nick with enough questions for now, he decides (though he also decides that they will be picking this topic up again at a later date).

“How’s your -” he starts, looking back at Nick. Who has fallen asleep again, still pale and not himself, but peaceful, now, too. “Never mind,” he finishes. Lighter topics of conversation can wait.

Renard stands from his seat by the bed, and before he can think the better of it, reaches out and pulls the blanket tightly around Nick, tucking his left arm back beneath it. He lightly touches the side of Nick’s face. “Sleep well,” he says softly, then sinks back into his chair and waits for the morning to arrive.

thanks for reading! hope you liked this despite it being not my usual sorta thing lmao. anyway i wanted to write this when i rewatched the first couple eps and a doctor asks nick if he knows about aunt marie’s scars. it got me thinking like, nick should have scars too what with all the shit he’s had happen to him. so i decided to write it and give him some :) may revisit this concept later...who knows.

#summerofwhump #summerofwhump24 #emotional whump #i guess #grimm #nick burkhardt #my writing #i say things #scars #another fic title i have been waiting to use forever lmao #tbh tho i am very very much out of my emo phase fob still goes Hard

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izzyfandoms · 4 years

Text

Miraculous: Tales of Tarantula and Prince Dragon

Origins - Part One

This is a Sanders Sides Miraculous Ladybug AU, where the Sanders Sides/Sanders Shorts/Cartoon Therapy characters take the place of the Miraculous Ladybug characters, becoming Miraculous heroes with original Miraculouses and fighting akumas similar to the ones in the show. The main cast and other important teenagers are all TS characters, while all the background characters (adults) and villains are the same ML ones. I imagine the characters are slightly older than they are in ML though (closer to 16). There will definitely be a part two to this, and hopefully more oneshot episodes too in the future. Hope you enjoy!

SHIPS: Future Prinxiety, implied Remile, one-sided Rosleep crush, implied Thomas x Andy

WARNINGS: Bullying, fighting, anxiety

GENERAL TAGLIST: @quillfics42 @ajdraws0430 @phantomofthesanderssides @phlying-squirrel @sly-is-my-name-loving-is-my-game @because-were-fam-ily @imtryingthisout @a-creepycookie @emo-disaster @littlestr @spooky-scary-virgil @fuyel @mimsidoodles @soupgremlin @aroaceagenderfluid @birdsbookshiddeninrealbirdsskin @quirkalurk @gingers-trashy-stuff @iinyxtello @justaqueercactus @melodiread @mrbubbajones @glassferns @pun-master-logan @gayturtlez

Miraculous: Tales of Tarantula and Prince Dragon Masterpost

Masterpost

Many centuries ago, magic jewels bestowing extraordinary powers were created. These were... the Miraculouses.

Throughout history, humans have used these jewels for the good of the human race. Two of these Miraculouses were more powerful than the others: the earrings of the Ladybug, which provided the power of creation; and the ring of the Black Cat, which granted the power of destruction.

According to legend, whoever controlled both those jewels at the same time, would achieve absolute power.

And so, in the face of a dangerous, rising super-villain – one wielding the Moth brooch Miraculous, who likely sought the combined power of creation and destruction for themself – the guardian was conflicted. His kwami could feel that the Butterfly Miraculous had fallen into the hands of evil, so it was only a matter of time before that evil surfaced and attacked.

Did he risk using the two most powerful Miraculouses? Granting their powers to two new heroes, in the hopes that they won against the Moth, and that the jewellery wouldn’t fall into the wrong hands? Or did he give out other, weaker Miraculouses, ones that wouldn’t be too dangerous to lose, keeping the Ladybug and the Black Cat safe, but risking it not being enough?

His hands hovered over the small Octagonal boxes laid out in front of him.

They were mismatched, not all from the same Miraculous box. A mistake in his youth had led to that, and it remained his biggest regret.

The Ladybug and the Black Cat came as a pair, from the same box as the Butterfly and the missing Peacock, as well as the Turtle bracelet that sat on the Guardian’s wrist. The rest, though, were all different. A mismatched collection, grabbed in a panic.

The Owl.

The Yellow Snake.

The Spider.

The Red Dragon.

The Bird.

The White Cat.

The Lion.

The Octopus.

The empty box of the Turtle.

And the Ladybug and the Black Cat, a pair, sat in the centre.

The Guardian glanced up at his kwami – a small, floating, green turtle by the name of Wayzz. They held a silent conversation, and came to a silent agreement.

(Their many years together had given them a deep understanding of each other and their thoughts.)

Then, he turned back to the boxes, carefully picking out the necklace of the Spider, and the bracelet of the Red Dragon.

The Ladybug and the Black Cat would stay tucked away, for now.

***

“Virgil. Virgil!”

Virgil yawned, sitting up slowly and blinking the sleep from his eyes. He stretched noisily, making a face when he realised that the alarm on his phone was going off, and likely had been for a while.

How did he sleep through it again?

“I’m up, Mama!” He shouted back when he heard his mother call his name again. “Coming!”

Maybe she needed help in the bakery. He had been assisting his parents more over the Summer.

“You’re gonna be late for school!”

Virgil froze mid-stretch. He stayed like that for a moment – blinking in shock – before he unfroze and hurriedly grabbed his phone, switching off the ringing alarm and checking the date.

It was Monday.

The first day back at school.

He groaned.

“Ah, shit,” Virgil mumbled under his breath, rubbing at his eyes with over-sized sleeves.

He had borrowed one of his dad’s old shirts to sleep in again. It was comfy – very comfy – but worn-out and definitely too big on him, and he thought he probably looked ridiculous.

He somewhat reluctantly climbed out of bed, scowling at himself as he left the warm comfort of his duvet and pillows. He knew he would miss them. It would be far, far too many hours before he’d be able to sleep again. He already deeply missed the Summer, even though he definitely wasn’t a fan of the heat.

He left his room and made his way down the stairs, entering the kitchen and immediately heading over to his mother to kiss her on the cheek.

“Ugh, I think Remy’s in my class again this year,” he said as he sat down at the table.

His mother, Sabine, pulled a face. “Really, again? Four years in a row. That can’t be possible.”

“Oh, it’s definitely possible – with my luck at least.”

“Hmm... well, maybe he won’t be so bad this year?”

Virgil scoffed. “Nah, Remy’s never gonna change. He’s always been like this. Once an asshole, always an asshole.”

“Language.”

“Sorry.”

His mother shot him a chastising look that was tinged with a fondness that made the corners of Virgil’s lips twitch upwards. He knew he’d inherited his mischievous streak from somebody, though his father was also a potential candidate. He also knew that he’d overheard her talking to his father about Remy in a similar way, in the past when his classmate had been particularly nasty to him.

“Well, let’s look on the bright side, honey,” Sabine continued, turning away to continuing preparing her own breakfast, as Virgil poured himself a bowl of cereal. “It’s the start of a new year! I’m sure everything will turn out just fine.”

Virgil huffed. “I hope so.”

He lifted the first spoonful of cereal to his lips, but before he could get even a single taste of that sugary goodness, it slipped from his fingertips, landing in his bowl and splashing his shirt with milk and cereal.

Virgil sighed; this was going to be a long day.

Sabine passed her son a cloth to wipe his shirt with.

The rest of his breakfast passed quickly – and, thankfully, uneventfully, with minimal mess. He got dressed quickly, too: he was running late, after all. Black socks. Black boots. Black jeans. Purple shirt. Black and purple hand-made jacket. Make-up. Purple backpack. He double checked and triple checked and quadruple checked that he had everything he needed – anxiety may have been a bitch, but it at least made him thorough – before he headed back downstairs again.

As he entered the bakery below his house, he was immediately greeted by the usual sounds of his father, Tom, singing out of tune to himself as he moved around the room. The bakery wasn’t open yet, so there were no customers, only them.

Virgil then smiled slightly as Tom turned around, revealing the box of freshly-baked cupcakes he held in his hands, quickly (and carefully) handing them to his son.

“Thanks, Dad.”

“No problem! Glad you like them. Make sure to show off your new logo design to your classmates, I’m sure they’ll bring in a ton of new customers this year!”

Virgil huffed a laugh. “Pretty sure it’s your baking that brings in the customers, Dad.”

“We all bring in the customers. We’re great, and we’ll be even greater this year! We’re the Dupain-Chengs, and there is nothing we can’t do!”

Tom moved into a super-hero pose, flexing his arms and grinning. Virgil snorted.

“Yeah, well, I’ve gotta go, Dad. I’m kinda late.”

“See you tonight, then!”

Virgil pushed past his parents and exited the bakery, moving as quickly as he could whilst balancing the box of cupcakes in his arms. With his luck, he was surprised he didn’t trip the moments his boots hit the pavement, but, somehow, he managed to stay upright and begin to make his way down the street.

He stopped at a crossing, almost tripping into the road but managing to lean back and catch himself at just the right moment. He let out a sigh of relief, and then tensed up again, gawking, wide-eyed when he noticed the small, old man slowly trying to cross the street – travelling slowly and with a cane – right in the way of an oncoming car. He wasn’t looking where he was going, and the rest of the surrounding people were far too focused on their phones to notice.

Virgil leapt forward, grabbing the man by the wrist that held his cane and tugging him towards him and out of the way of the car.

The old man stumbled, though made it safely to the other side, but Virgil’s box of cupcakes flew from his hand and landed on the pavement, spilling cake and multi-coloured icing all over the grey concrete.

“Thank you, young man,” the short old man in the Hawaiian shirt said, smiling gratefully, before noticing the spilt cupcakes all over the pavement. “Oh, what a shame!”

“It’s- it’s fine,” Virgil sighed, picking himself up and dusting himself off. A few cupcakes were still mostly intact and still the box – unaffected by the pavement – though most were unsalvageable. He offered one of the remaining ones to the old man, who took it.

“Mmm... delicious!”

“Yeah, my da- oh, shit!”

Ah, shit, Virgil just swore in front of an old man.

“I’m late for school!” He continued. “Uh- bye!”

He waved a quick goodbye to the old man, and then proceeded to sprint across the street and over to his school. Luckily, he lived right by it, but, unfortunately, that didn’t often save him from his usual lateness.

Unbeknownst to Virgil, the old man watched him intently as he went, his gaze following Virgil’s running form until he was out of sight. Then, he retrieved a small octagonal box from his pocket, looking it over.

“Thank you very much, young man.” He smiled to himself, before walking off in the direction of the bakery at an easy pace, holding his cane off the ground, behind his back, not needing to use it.

***

“Logan, why don’t you sit in the front row, this year?” Caline Bustier said as Virgil burst through the door of the classroom.

Logan sighed, pulling out his earphones and lifting his bag as he made his way to one of the front desks – the outer right seat – sitting down reluctantly. Virgil took one of the seats behind him, the middle right seat. He and Logan had had classes together for years, though they didn’t know each other nearly as well as they could have.

Logan Lahiffe was into music – the violin, in particular, and composing his own tunes – whilst Virgil was into fashion design. They both mostly kept to themselves, though they got along well enough when put together.

A hand suddenly slammed into Virgil’s desk and he jumped, looking up. His eyes immediately landed on a familiar, sunglasses-wearing face and his stomach dropped.

“Ugh,” Virgil grumbled, crossing his arms and leaning back in his seat. “What is it now, Remy?”

“You’re in my seat. Move.”

“Wha- but this has always been my seat? Get your own.”

“Not this year, dumbass. New year. New seats. You can go sit with that new guy over there.” He gestured vaguely at the other front desk across the room, where a teenager in a green and black t-shirt and ripped jeans was sat. He was barely paying attention to them. “He’s a weirdo, too. You guys could totally be, like, best friends or something.”

There was a second new guy sat beside Andy, just behind the desk Virgil was sat at, too. Two new students were joining their class this year? Virgil almost pitied them, they wouldn’t know what to expect with Remy – the serial bully and life-ruiner.

The mayor’s son. A spoilt brat.

Virgil rolled his eyes. “Why do you even care so much, Remy? It’s just a seat.”

“Roman’s coming today!” Remy’s lackey, Emile Picani-Raincomprix piped up from behind him. He was far too nice to be friends with Remy, but had been for as long as Virgil could remember. “Remy’s his best friend, so we’re gonna sit behind him.”

Three new guys?

“Who’s Roman?”

Remy laughed, loud, mocking and only slightly over-exaggerated. He mimed wiping a tear from his eye, shooting Virgil a short look of fake pity.

“What rock have you been living under, babe?” He glanced back at Emile. “Can you believe he doesn’t know who Roman Agreste is? Totes adorbs, don’t you think?”

“He’s a famous model,” Emile supplied helpfully, giving Remy an apologetic look when Remy scowled at his friend for being nice to his enemy.

(Virgil hoped that one day Emile would move on from Remy. He seemed nice, and deserved better than a friend who walked all over him.)

Something suddenly clicked in Virgil’s head.

Roman Agreste. Like Gabriel Agreste. He certainly wasn’t one of Virgil’s favourite fashion designers, as they had very different styles, but he was famous, and Virgil could certainly appreciate his work.

“Roman adores me,” Remy said. “We’re, like, meant to be. So, go on, move!”

The new guy across the room burst into laughter at that, making everyone’s eyes fall on him. His whole body shook under the force of his loud cackles, and Remy immediately turned to glare daggers at him.

“What are you laughing at?”

“You, duh.”

Remy let out an offended noise, hand over heart. “Excuse me? Do you even know who I am?”

“Course I do. You’re the mayor’s bitch son.”

Virgil heard Kai Kubdul snort in the background, and he didn’t even try to hide it. He did hold his hands up in mock surrender when Remy turned his glare on him, though. And when Remy turned back to the new kid, Kai rolled his eyes and scowled.

Remy opened his mouth to snap back, but the new kid continued before he could.

“And what makes you think Roman adores you? He thinks you’re annoying as hell.”

“Excuse you? How the hell would you even know that?”

The new kid looked at Remy like he was stupid. “Oh, come on, Rem. I know it’s been ages since Dad made us hang out, but you’re really saying you don’t recognise me?” He paused, watching Remy cross his arms, before glancing around the room at the rest of the staring class. “Roman... is my brother. We’re twins, dumbass. We look basically the same, except he’s boring and stupid. And I know he doesn’t like you.”

“You know nothing,” Remy said coldly. “You’re just the loser your father gave up on. He’s the cute model. You’re nothing.”

Emile made a quiet noise, grabbing at the sleeve of Remy’s leather jacket and tugging gently.

“That’s mean, Rem.”

“Uh, duh, that’s the point.” Remy huffed. “Where is Roman, anyway? How come you’re here and he isn’t?”

The new kid grinned, showing off his teeth. “I snuck out. He tried, but he got caught. Loser.” Then, he turned to Virgil. “Come on, come sit with me. Let the bitch sit near my dumb brother. Who even cares about them?”

“First smart thing you’ve ever said,” Remy mumbled, turning back to Virgil with an expectant look.

Virgil shifted uncomfortably as all the attention returned to him. Then, he sighed, reluctantly scooping his backpack off the floor and the box of cupcakes off the desk and standing up. He ignored the apologetic look that Emile shot him as he and Remy took their seats – Emile behind Logan, and Remy where Virgil had just sat – and went across the room to sit beside the new kid, who immediately bumped shoulders with him.

“God, he’s such an asshole, isn’t he?”

Virgil snorted. “He’s the worst.”

“Yeah...” The new kid trailed off in thought. “I’m Remus, by the way. Remus Agreste.”

“Virgil Dupain-Cheng. It’s nice to see someone stand up to Remy, for once.”

Remus scoffed. “The bitch deserves it.” Then, he grinned. “Now that I’m here, he’s gonna be getting some payback for walking over everyone his whole life. You with me?”

He spoke quietly enough that Remy couldn’t hear, which seemed like a miracle given Remus’s brash personality, though the two students who sat behind them – Kai Kubdel and Thomas Haprèle-Sanders – probably could. They’d both dealt with Remy long enough not to speak up in his favour, though.

Virgil glanced back at Remy. He was staring at the door, a bored expression on his face as he drummed his fingers on the desk. Emile was staring at him with a lovestruck expression, and Virgil was suddenly stuck by the memory of that disaster of a crush, that apparently hadn’t faded over the Summer. Everyone in the class but Remy, himself, seemed to know about it. That was likely a good thing, as, knowing Remy, he probably would’ve taken advantage of it if he’d known.

Virgil turned back to Remus, pulling a face.

“I don’t know...” he said. “He’s been making school hell for me for years, I don’t wanna make it worse...”

Remus scoffed. “Nah, you’ve got me now. No need to be a coward when I’ve got your back!”

Virgil blinked. He didn’t know what to say.

So, instead, he opened the cupcake box and handed Remus one of the last remaining two, keeping the final one for himself.

Remus perked up. “Oh, nice!” He immediately took a large bite of his cupcake, continuing to talk with a mouth full of food. “Thanks.”

Virgil snorted, turning away from the crumbs that spilled from the corners of Remus’s mouth.

“No problem.”

“Has everyone found a seat?” The teacher, Miss Bustier, called out, reminding Virgil that she was, in fact, still in the classroom.

The fact that she hadn’t intervened in the fight over desks was unsurprising, but still a disappointment. Virgil severely doubted her ability to keep their class – and, in particular, Remy – in check. This would be a long year.

“For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Miss Bustier,” the teacher smiled as she introduced herself, gesturing to her name that was written on the chalkboard. “I’ll be your teacher this year.”

“Ugh,” Remy complained, leaning back in his seat and crossing his arms. “He should be here by now!”

Remus leant in closer to Virgil, swallowing his last mouthful of cupcake. “Dad probably caught him and isn’t letting him come.”

“Why hasn’t he pulled you out of class, yet, then?”

“Ro’s the model. I’m not,” Remus explained, shrugging. “He doesn’t care what I do, as long as I don’t ruin his dumb ‘reputation’.”

***

Roman ran down the street, his red and white schoolbag hanging over his shoulder. He ignored his father’s assistant, Nathalie, calling after him, and hoped his bodyguard wouldn’t catch up in time.

Maybe, if he made it through the front doors of the school and into the classroom, Nathalie and his father wouldn’t pull him out until the end of the school day. Then, maybe he could convince them to let him keep coming back. After all, Remus had already snuck out and made it into the classroom, and had texted him a selfie of him and his ‘new friend’ to prove it.

But the expectations for Remus and Roman were different.

Remus was the lucky one. He wasn’t the model, so he was allowed much more freedom. Roman had to do as he was told.

He reached the bottom of the school steps, and was almost ready to ascend them and make his way through the doors, when he heard a sudden groan of pain. His head swivelled around and his eyes landed on an old man on his hands and knees on the pavement.

He’d clearly fallen, and he couldn’t get up.

For a moment, he glanced back and forth between the school and the old man. Did he help the old man, but risk being caught by Nathalie and his bodyguard, who were oh-so close behind? Or did he leave the man on the ground, but make it to school, to freedom?

Roman sighed, and turned back to the old man in the Hawaiian shirt, rushing over to him and bending over to help him up.

“Thank you so much, young man,” the old man spoke as Roman handed him his cane.

Roman smiled at him, opening his mouth to say something, but freezing as a large, familiar hand landed on his shoulder. He glanced back, and his eyes immediately landing on the blank face of his bodyguard, and the stern expression of Nathalie, who was stood just behind him.

No words had to be exchanged for Roman to know what was going to happen next.

As Roman was led towards the car that would take him home – to the prison he rarely got to leave on his own – he was unaware of the pair of eyes watching him intently. The old man, who now stood just fine without the useless cane, was staring at his back, watching him go.

The old man then smiled as the car drove away, turning and balancing his cane on his shoulder, before walking back in the direction of home with ease.

***

“For those of you who have P.E, Mr D’Argencourt is expecting you over at the stadium. The rest of you can all head over the library,” Miss Bustier called out as her class finished her lesson and got up, gathering their things.

Over by the desks, Pryce passed Andy a note, snickering to himself as he did so.

Andy read it quickly, and then crumpled it into a ball in his fist, turning back and glaring at the other, laughing teen.

“What the hell, Pryce?” He snapped, lifting his arm and looking just about ready to punch him.

Pryce just laughed, leaning back in his chair as their teacher sighed at Andy.

“Andy, what’s going on?”

“It’s Pryce! He’s- he’s- he’s such an asshole! Oh, I’m gonna-” He grabbed the front of Pryce’s white and red hoodie, glaring up at the taller boy and shaking him roughly.

“Andy!” Miss Bustier scolded. “Go to the principal’s office.”

Pryce laughed – and Remy, who was always one for drama – laughed along with him as Andy angrily grabbed his backpack, throwing it over his shoulder and storming out of the classroom. The rest of them just watched.

***

“Perfect. A heart full of negative emotions. Anger. Sadness. Betrayal. Just what I need.”

A glowing white butterfly landed on the gloved hand of the super-villain. He covered it with his other hand, and it turned a neon black and purple.

“Turn him into my soldier. Fly away, little akuma, and evilize him!”

The akuma left his hand, and he thumped his cane against the floor – the sound echoing across the dark empty room – as he flew through the window. It moved across Paris, an inconspicuous little butterfly that drew no attention, as no one noticed its dark aura and glowing purple pattern, with a one-track mind as it headed towards its victim. Hawk Moth didn’t have to wait long before he felt it infect Andy Bruel, and he smiled as the connection between him and his target was opened. A glowing purple outline – a jagged mask – appeared across his face, a matching one appearing on his victim, too.

“Blackheart, I am Hawk Moth. You feel weak and helpless, scorned by your peers and the teacher you thought you could trust. I give you the power and strength to seek revenge on those who have wronged you. You’ll never feel weak and helpless again”

“Okay, Hawk Moth.”

***

The library was full of students talking quietly amongst themselves. Only a few were really doing work, though all were supposed to.

Virgil and Remus had managed to find themselves a good table – with Remus having elbowed many others out of the way to get it – and were sat across from the other new kid, Patton Césaire, and Thomas Haprèle-Sanders. They had their school books open in front of them, but were paying them little attention as they had been mostly left unsupervised.

Then, there was a loud bang as something large shook the whole library, knocking all four of them out of their seats and to the ground. Virgil yelped, holding his backpack to his chest and looking around frantically.

Remus jumped up first, grabbing Virgil by the wrist and tugging him up and across the room, towards the large TV that showed off security camera footage of different areas of the school. Both Patton and Thomas followed immediately behind, as did a few other nearby students, and they all watched in helpless shock as the screen showed a large, black, stone-like monster landing just outside the front of the school.

It dented the pavement, and the few nearby cars and people they could see all fled at the sight of it.

“Pryce!” It shouted.

Many of the other students around them began to shout and flee, but the four of them remained glued in place, watching the screen with a mix of anxiety and excitement.

“What the hell?” Virgil exclaimed. “That’s Andy’s voice!”

“Woah, it’s like he was turned into a real-life super-villain!” Remus’s voice lacked the fear that Virgil’s held, as he just stared at the screen in amazement.

“Do you think he’s okay?” Thomas asked worriedly.

Patton grabbed Remus’s arm, shaking him equally excitedly. “Do you think there’ll be a super-hero, too? Whatever turned Andy into this, it’s gotta be some kind of super-villain!”

“Or Andy’s the super-villain,” Remus commented.

Thomas shook his head. “Andy wouldn’t do that. He’s- he’s intimidating, but he’s not evil.”

“We’ve gotta follow, we could record it.” Remus grinned. “There’s no way I’m missing this!”

Patton nodded enthusiastically in agreement, and when Remus turned on his heel and ran in the opposite direction, he immediately ran after him. Thomas turned to follow, too, but hesitated, glancing back at Virgil, who remained in place.

“Are you coming?” He asked.

Virgil shook his head. “God, no. I’m going home. I don’t wanna be killed by this thing.”

Thomas’s brow creased in thought. “It’s Andy,” he said softly. “He wouldn’t hurt anyone.”

Then, he, too left, leaving Virgil on his own, still watching the TV screen. He watched as the monster with Andy’s voice picked up a car and threw it at the security camera, breaking it and showing only a rainbow error screen.

“Pryce!” It shouted as it did so.

Virgil winced.

***

Roman’s lesson had been far more boring than usual. Normally, he at least had Remus to entertain him, but as Remus had managed to successfully escape and go to school, it had left only him and Nathalie in the large, echoing dining room. The subject was boring, too. Roman never had been the biggest fan of History.

For a minute, his father, Gabriel, had emerged to scold him for going to school, and comment on how Remus was a ‘lost cause’ and that only Roman needed to be protected. Roman hadn’t been sure which of the two statements had angered him more, but he’d left in a hurry, locking himself in his room and turning on the TV.

The day became significantly more interesting when the news displayed a monster named Blackheart rampaging across Paris, but Roman was still stuck in his room, far from the action.

(When the police had fired their weapons at Blackheart, the monster had only grown larger and stronger, still yelling the name ‘Pryce’ as it destroyed cars and damaged the pavement with each footstep. The mayor had recommended everyone stay home while the police dealt with the threat.)

Then, Roman noticed the octagonal box laying on the coffee table in front of the TV.

***

“This day keeps getting better and better,” Virgil mumbled sarcastically to himself as he watched the news report on the super-villain.

Then, he noticed the octagonal box – one that he’d never seen before – laying on his desk by the computer.

“Huh?” He said, picking it up and looking it over. “What’s this?”

It was well-made: black with an intricate red pattern carved into the top.

He opened it, and the first thing he saw was a necklace – a silver chain with a large black and purple spider-shaped charm hanging off it. The second thing he saw was a purple ball of light emerge from the necklace.

The spider charm changed to a black tear-drop shape, and a small, round, spider-shaped creature with a large head formed out of the ball of light, floating above the jewellery.

Virgil yelped, pushing his chair back, wheeling as far away from the floating spider as possible, only just managing to not fall out of the chair as the box and the necklace clattered to the ground. The floating spider stared at him from a moment, uncurling its eight legs and blinking its eight eyes at him. It looked almost... cute – mostly black, but with a purple pattern – but Virgil was far too freaked out to notice that.

“What the fuck?”

Then, the floating spider opened its mouth and spoke, and Virgil just about had a heart attack.

“That is not very nice,” it said, in a low, female voice.

“What the fuck are you?”

The spider had a very inhuman-looking face, but Virgil could immediately tell that the look she gave him was flat and slightly annoyed.

“I am a kwami,” she spoke calmly. “And my name is Boo.”

“Boo? Like- like a ghost?”

She sighed. “The sound was named after me, not the other way around. Plagg thought it was funny, but I beg to differ. I suppose it can’t be helped anymore, though. And you can’t have known any better.”

Boo floated closer to him, and Virgil immediately jolted back.

“There is no need to be afraid,” Boo continued in an impatient tone of voice. “I am here to help.”

“Help with what?”

Boo made a quiet sound that was halfway between a hum and a buzz, before she drifted down towards the floor, landing between the box and the necklace that had fallen out of it.

“This is a Miraculous,” she explained. “The Spider Miraculous, to be precise. Miraculouses are magical pieces of jewellery that grant powers to their users when combined with their respective kwamis. Currently, the Butterfly Miraculous – also known as the Moth Miraculous – is in the hands of a super-villain. It grants the user the ability to choose a champion to fight for them, granting them temporary powers to aid them in battling evil.” She paused for a moment. “But, in the hands of evil, it is used to turn victims into-”

“Monsters,” Virgil finished, his eyes returning to the computer screen, where the news still displayed the battle against Blackheart. “Like what’s happened to Andy.”

Boo nodded, seeming please that he figured that part out on his own. “Exactly. The villain has used an akuma – a butterfly, that when combined with an object turns the owner of the object into a hero or a monster. The Butterfly Miraculous must be retrieved and returned to the Guardian.”

“Guardian?”

“Yes. The Guardian keeps a hold of the Miraculouses – or, at least, some of the Miraculouses.” She sighed, her small body drooping visibly. “Many are still lost to us. You see, Miraculouses come in sets, in large boxes that hold at least a dozen at a time, but our Guardian currently only holds a few of us, all from different boxes.”

“Okay... but, what are you doing here? Like... in my room?”

Boo moved so she was right in front of his face: all eight of her eyes staring right into Virgil’s two, and he barely resisted the urge to look away uncomfortably.

“You have been chosen to wield the Spider Miraculous, to become a hero and fight the wielder of the Butterfly Miraculous.”

Virgil froze.

“Wha- but I’m not a hero.”

“Not yet, but you will be.”

“But- but I don’t know how to fight,” Virgil spoke hurriedly, stumbling over his words. “And I especially don’t know how to fight a super-villain!”

“The Miraculous will enhance your strength, speed and agility. It will give you the physical abilities needed to fight.”

“But I’m just a teenager! I go to school, I design and make clothes, I bake with my parents. That’s it! I can’t fight!”

“Anyone can use a Miraculous to fight,” Boo said calmly. “Even the weakest of people could use a Miraculous to fight. But it takes a special kind of soul to be a hero.” She flew forwards, resting one of her eight arms on Virgil’s chest, over his heart. “And you have that.”

"I- what?”

“Every Miraculous has a specific type of human it matches well with,” she continued, speaking slowly and patiently. “These people are rare and difficult to find, but every Guardian has the ability to see which souls make the perfect wielders. And you, Virgil Dupain-Cheng, are a perfect match for the Spider. The Guardian tested you, too, and he saw that your heart is good. You will be a good hero.”

There were many things to unpack there, and Virgil was feeling really quite overwhelmed. His hands bunched up the material of his hoodie in tight fists, and he could feel his heart race.

“I... I don’t remember being tested?”

It was difficult to tell with her inhuman face, but Virgil got the feeling that Boo was smiling at him.

“The best tests are the ones where the subject is unaware that they are being tested,” she spoke cryptically. “Those produce the most genuine results.” She paused for a moment. “Does this mean you are ready? Because there is still a villain rampaging through the streets of Paris, and we really should be quick.”

Virgil straightened up suddenly, like he was only now remembering the situation at hand.

“You said that the monster was created by a- a wielder of the Moth Miraculous, right?”

“Correct.”

“So, where are they? The news only talks about the, uh... Andy. Blackheart. Where’s the Butterfly?”

“Likely in hiding,” Boo answered. “The Butterfly works from a distance. The wielder likely won’t emerge unless absolutely necessary, and will only fight through their champions.”

Virgil’s brow creased in confusion. “But then how am I supposed to fight him?” He paused for a moment, watching the kwami’s expression, before sighing. “This is gonna last more than one battle, isn’t it?”

“I’m afraid so. I believe it won’t be so easy to draw out the Butterfly user, and you’ll have to fight many akumas to get there.”

“Shit.”

Boo shot him a chastising look, and he mumbled an apology. She sighed.

“We do have some idea of the Butterfly’s motivations, though.”

“And what’s that?”

“I believe they are going to be after the Ladybug Miraculous and Black Cat Miraculous: the most powerful of all Miraculouses. Creation and Destruction. Combined, they give the user practically infinite power, so we must make sure they stay out of the wrong hands. The Guardian currently holds these Miraculouses, and we believe that that is what the Butterfly holder is after.”

“So... it’s a race to see who can find the other first? The Butterfly sending out a – what did you call it? – an akuma, and the Guardian sending out me?”

“You will have a partner, too. The Guardian has sent out the Red Dragon Miraculous as well as the Spider. We should hurry, he might have already transformed by now.”

“Crap, okay.”

“So, you’ll do it?”

“Uh... yeah? I guess. It- it's worth a try.”

“Wonderful.” Boo clapped with four pairs of spider-hands. “Put on the necklace and from now on, you cannot take it off.” She paused for a moment, watching as Virgil bent down, picking up the box and the necklace, shoving the box into a random desk drawer, and putting the necklace on. “When you wish to transform, say ‘Boo, web out,’ and then when you wish to de-transform, say ‘Boo, web in.’ When transformed, there will be a glamour on you that keeps others from recognising your face and voice, though if you are not careful, they may still work out your identity. This cannot happen.”

Virgil nodded. “Oh- okay.”

“Your power is called Spider Web,” she continued. “Say the words when transformed and it will be activated. You will be able to shoot out a large web from your fingertips that will trap anyone and anything, but yourself. It cannot be destroyed by anything but the power of a few different Miraculouses, and will stay in place for as long as you are transformed. Once you use this, however, you will have five minutes before you de-transform, and you will have to feed me to transform again.”

“Well, that’s bullshit.”

Boo huffed, crossing four sets of arms. “We will have to work on your language, spiderling.”

“Sorry, sorry, it’s just- Andy’s been a monster for way more than five minutes. How come the Moth guy doesn’t get a timer?”

“The Butterfly wielder is likely an adult. Teenagers are given timers, but they are much more flexible and it is easier to develop a Miraculous bond with a teenager than an adult. This will not be too much of an issue, just as long you carry around food to feed me with. It does not take too long to recharge.”

“Okay... what do you eat?”

“Anything sweet.”

“So... like candy?”

“That shall suffice.”

“Okay, that’s... I should have something somewhere...” Virgil wheeled his chair back over his desk and began to hurriedly sift through a few drawers before he finally found what he was looking for, and pulled out a small bag of gummy worms. “Will this work?”

Boo’s eyes lit up. “Oh, these are worm-shaped?”

Virgil nodded.

“That is certainly preferable.” She nodded, and Virgil stuffed the bag into his hoodie pocket. “Insect-shaped sweet things would be my favourite.”

“Is- is that everything?”

“I believe so. You partner’s Miraculous will give him the ability to destroy akumas – not ideal, the Ladybug does work better in these situations, but we must work with what we have got. My recommendation is that you trap this ‘Blackheart’, and then your partner breaks the object and the akuma. After the akuma is destroyed, the Guardian will use the Ladybug Miraculous’s cure to fix any damage caused by the akuma.”

Virgil blinked. “But I thought you said he didn’t want to risk using the Ladybug or the Black Cat?”

“He will not be involved in the battle,” Boo explained. “He will remain in hiding, as the cure can be used from a distance. Do you understand?”

“Alright... I- I think so.” Virgil nodded. “So... uh, I guess – Boo, web out?”

He said it more like a question than anything else, but it worked just fine, and Boo was immediately sucked into the Miraculous. Virgil felt the transformation wash over him – strangely cool and tingly as his clothes were replaced by a surprisingly comfortable super-suit.

Most of the super-suit was one piece – solid black with deep, purple pockets on the trousers and a purple belt around the middle. The boots were black, too, (but with purple soles) and there was a large white spider-web in the centre of the chest, just under the necklace. The jewel had changed to a bright purple, eight-legged spider again, like it had had before Boo had come out, but this time it had five glowing purple eyes on its head. There was a jacket, too, that was black and purple with white spider-web patches, that had a large hood currently pulled down. His gloves were thick, sturdy and black.

Under the jacket, over the suit, there looked to be four thick 3D lines – two on each side – spreading out from his spine, like extra ribs over his ribcage, that gave the illusion of Virgil having four short extra legs, just stuck to his torso.

Attached to his belt on one side was something that looked halfway between a phone and a tablet, that matched the black and purple aesthetic, with a spider-web across the back. On the other side, also attached to his belt, was a coiled-up piece of white rope that appeared to be thick and sturdy and incredibly shiny.

And, on his face, there was a mask. It was black and purple, surrounding his eyes and covering most of his nose, but spreading out like a spider-web near the edges of his face.

His previously brown eyes were now solid black – no whites or irises, just solid black and shiny, with quite the creepy effect – and his previously black hair was now tinted purple, a colour he’d always wanted to dye it to. His canines had sharpened to a point, like fangs.

Aesthetically, he looked closer to a typical super-villain than a super-hero, and Virgil loved it.

Virgil grinned despite his anxiety – it was ever-present, really, so he had experience trying to ignore the pounding heart in his chest. This felt... right.

“Virgil? Honey, is everything okay?” He heard his mother call out from under the trapdoor that led to his room.

“Crap,” he muttered. “Uh, yeah, Mama, I’m fine!” He shouted back.

Part of the whole ‘super-hero’ thing was keeping your identity a secret, he assumed, so he figured he probably shouldn’t let his parents know. He left his room, climbing up onto the rooftop balcony and ducking down so no one on the street below could see him.

“Okay...” he mumbled to himself. “How do I...”

Virgil’s hand landed on the rope attached to his belt. Immediately, he could feel himself connecting to it, almost like it was becoming an extension of his body – something he could use just as easily as the rest of his limbs. He knew exactly what to do.

He straightened up, pulling the rope off his belt and feel one end of it coil around his hand like a snake, attaching itself easily. Then, he flicked his wrist, and the other end of the rope shot forward, stretching and elongating itself magically and catching a gargoyle on the rooftop of an opposite building, just across the street.

Virgil took a deep breath, and then tugged.

He was suddenly pulled forward as the rope followed his silent command and made itself shorter, swinging him across the street and then up and over the building, much further than he’d anticipated.

He yelped, then bit back a scream as he tumbled uncontrollably through the air – the rope detaching itself from the building as his grip on it loosened. He moved too fast to see where he was going and he couldn’t catch himself in time before he crashed into another figure on a whole different rooftop than the one he’d meant to land on.

“Jesus- fuck!” He yelped as he rolled off the other person and landed on his back.

“Oh, wow! You were-” they took a moment to huff loudly, out of breath from being knocked into by Virgil. “You were not looking where you were going, were you?”

Virgil panted, out of breath, taking a few seconds to compose himself – staring up at the blue and white sky and wincing slightly at the too-bright sun – before he finally had enough air in his lungs to talk again.

“Excuse me for not being perfect on my first day of people a superhero,” he hissed, perhaps a little harsher than intended, but he was having an interesting day.

There was a beat.

“So, you’re my partner, then?” Virgil didn’t have time to answer that before a masked face appeared in his vision as his partner got up, looking him over critically. “Hmm... you look like a villain, but I suppose you’ll do.”

Virgil took a moment to glare half at him and half at the sun, before he sat up and finally looked over his partner properly.

It was a teenage boy about his age – though that part he could’ve told from the voice alone – with blond hair and bright green eyes. He was dressed in a way that looked halfway between a super-suit for fighting crime, and a proper suit for a formal event: red and gold with hints of white, all made up of dragon-like scales. His gloves were a pristine white, matching his boots. On one side, on his hip, he had a tablet similar to Virgil’s, though red and gold inside of black and purple, and on his other hip there was a sheathed sword.

On his wrist there was a golden bracelet: it looked like a dragon with red gems for eyes and five red spikes down its back, its tail in its mouth. Virgil assumed that that was his Miraculous.

Virgil huffed, crossing his arms. “How come you get a sword, and I just get a piece of rope?”

The other hero laughed, holding out his hand to Virgil. “Because I’m awesome, that’s why.”

Virgil took his hand, allowing the other boy to pull him up so they were standing side-by-side. He was slightly taller than the Dragon hero, and he couldn’t help but feel just a tad smug about it.

“So,” his partner continued, straightening up and announcing. “I am Prince Dragon.”

“That’s too long,” Virgil said immediately, without thinking. “I’m calling you Princey.”

Princey huffed, crossing his arms. “Fine, whatever. And who might you be?”

Virgil blinked. “Uh...”

“You mock my alias, yet you still haven’t come up with your own?”

“I wasn’t mocking, I just- I'm not creative, okay! I dunno. How the hell did you come up with yours so quickly?”

“Because I’m a genius, spider boy.”

“Oh, well, sorry it takes me more than fifteen freaking minutes to come up with a good name,” Virgil snapped sarcastically. “My mind’s been a little occupied.”

“No need to be rude, oh, eight-legged partner of mine,” Prince Dragon said, before flashing a bright grin. “I’ll just help you come up with one. Hmm...” He tapped his finger on his chin. “What about Spinner? You know, ‘cos spiders spin webs?”

“Pass.”

“What about... Charlotte?”

“What?”

“You know, Charlotte? Like Charlotte’s web? Ugh, please tell me my partner isn’t uncultured. I don’t know if I’ll be able to work with you if you can’t understand my references.”

“No, I- ugh, no, I get the reference. I just- whatever, that’s a dumb name. Try again.”

“No, need to be so rude, my knight in gloomy armour.” Prince Dragon then suddenly perked up again. “Ooh, what about something knight-themed?”

“No.”

Princey ignored him. “Stormy Knight? That matches your gloomy attitude!”

“But not my powers or my costume,” Virgil said flatly. “I’m a spider. I can make a big web to trap people, that’s it. Nothing weather-related. Also-” he paused, before his eyes widened. “Oh, shit, shouldn’t we be saving Paris?”

Just as he said this, the pair suddenly heard a loud rumble and a crash. Both jumped, startled, their heads swivelling around. They watched, wide-eyed and shocked, as a nearby building fell and crashed to the ground in a large cloud of dust.

“Oh, my stars, I can’t believe I let you distract me like that! We have a job to do!”

“Me? Distract you? You were the one listing names and wasting time!”

***

The seats of the stadium were all empty, the only people in the vicinity being the students stretching and doing P.E. in the centre. They were all calm, relaxed and chatting amongst themselves, none of them having heard the news of the monster roaming the Paris streets, who was looking for one of them in particular.

“Pryce!” Blackheart roared, leaping into the stadium and denting the ground as it landed with a crash. “So, who’s the coward now?”

The rest of the students fled, leaving only a frozen Pryce standing terrified in the centre, his legs unable to move for once in his life. Then, after a moment, he finally remembered to run, and he turned on his heel and attempted to flee.

The monster was large – at least twice as tall as the average human – and made out of smooth, black stone, with two large, glowing white eyes that took up almost half of its face. One hand was permanently clenched into a fist. The other reached out towards the fleeing Pryce. Its hand was five times the size of his head – it would easily be able to crush his skull to dust with just one simple squeeze.

Pryce tripped, but before the monster could grab and destroy him, a hero dressed in red, gold and white landed between them.

(Enhanced speed, strength and agility made travelling across Paris much swifter and easier, especially when paired with a partner who could swing between buildings with invincible spider-silk rope.)

“My, you’re quite the giant, aren’t you?” Prince Dragon grinned at the beast, unsheathing his sword and getting into a fighting stance.

“And you’re tiny compared to me. Is that toothpick supposed to scare me?”

Blackheart lifted his fist, before smashing it down over Prince Dragon’s head. He dodged out of the way just in time, and a cloud of dust burst from the spot that the stone hand had hit the ground. The giant straightened up again, and the purple of a mask appeared over his face for a brief moment.

“No!” Blackheart heard Hawk Moth shout in his head. “They don’t have the Ladybug or the Black Cat Miraculouses! Capture them, take their Miraculouses, and find out where they’re hiding them!”

Then, the outline faded, but Blackheart knew that the villain was still watching through his eyes.

“Where are the Ladybug and the Black Cat?” He bellowed at Prince Dragon as the hero easily dodged another blow. “Give them to me!”

Prince Dragon jumped up – his Miraculous making him leap much higher and further than he usually could – and brought his sword down over Blackheart’s head. The metal and stone collided with a loud cracking sound, but the villain remained completely unharmed. If the sword hadn’t been magical, it likely would’ve broken, but it didn’t, and, for that, Princey was very grateful.

But when the hero’s boots hit the ground again, he watched in open-mouthed horror as Blackheart began to glow, increasing in size before turning back to Prince Dragon with a growl.

“Crap.”

As he said this, Virgil finally landed in the arena, just across the grass from the fight – having slowed down and dawdled out of anxiety, gnawing on his thumb as he considered just turning around and fleeing.

Being a hero? That wasn’t for him! He was Virgil, he was a coward! He was no hero. He couldn’t do this. He really, really couldn’t do this. He should’ve told Boo ‘no’ and just given the Miraculous to somebody else, someone actually fit for being a hero.

Maybe Remus? He certainly seemed brave enough.

Or Thomas. Or Patton. They were both nice and smart and-

“Hey, spider-guy, what are you waiting for? Kill him!”

Virgil jumped, spinning around, his eyes finally landing on Remus, Thomas and Patton, who were crouching down at the edge of the arena, watching the fight.

“No, no! Don’t kill him. Save him!” Thomas elbowed Remus’s arm, shooting him a reprimanding look, before turning back to the hero with one of wide-eyed concern

Remus then muttered something that sounding something like. “Fine, if you wanna be boring.”

(Virgil suddenly realised that his hearing was much, much better like this. As was his eyesight, as he could make out things far away much clearer than usual.)

Patton nodded enthusiastically, agreeing with Thomas, and then held up his phone, which appeared to be filming the action – which included Virgil, too, of course.

He took a deep breath – feeling his heart beat loudly and steadily in his chest: ba-dum, ba-dum, ba-dum – before he straightened up, suddenly filled with a courage that he hadn’t felt before. Virgil turned back to the fight, and cursed under his breath when he realised that, in the moments he’d been hesitating, Prince Dragon had lost his sword (it lay abandoned on the grass, not too far from Virgil) and the hero, himself, had been grabbed by Blackheart.

Virgil grabbed his rope, feeling one end coil around his wrist, just as it had before. It was tight enough to be reassuring, but not enough to be physically uncomfortable. He then whipped the other end forward, and it wrapped itself around Blackheart’s legs.

He tugged, and the villain fell forward onto its face. Both of his hands opened as he tripped: Prince Dragon tumbling out of one of them, and a small purple rock falling right out of the other. Blackheart picked the rock back up as quickly as he could, curling his hand into a protective fist around it, but Virgil managed to catch a quick glimpse of it, and something clicked in his head.

He turned and ran over to his partner as Prince Dragon got back to his feet.

“The akuma’s in his fist,” Virgil spoke quickly. “It’s a purple rock. He dropped it when he fell, but I doubt he’ll make that same mistake again.”

“Alright, then let’s kick his ass and destroy that thing!”

Virgil grabbed his elbow and tugged him back before he could run off. “Not so fast, Princey. I think he gets bigger when you hit him. We’ve gotta be smart about this.”

Prince Dragon huffed, crossing his arms. “Fine, then. What do you suggest, knock-off Peter Parker?”

Virgil rolled his eyes, glancing around the arena for inspiration. Blackheart was frozen in place with a glowing purple mask on his face. It was vaguely butterfly-shaped, so he assumed it had something to do with the Moth Miraculous wielder who had turned him into that monster.

“What’s your power? I can make a big web to trap it with. It sticks to everyone but me,” Virgil said, but when Prince Dragon opened his mouth to respond, he hurriedly interrupted him. “And don’t say the name, yet! That activates it, and it’s a one-time use kinda thing.”

Prince Dragon blinked. “It is?”

“Yes, and we have five minutes afterwards before we de-transform. Didn’t your, uh... your kwami explain that to you?”

Prince Dragon shot him a sheepish smile. “I got excited.”

Virgil huffed, rolling his eyes again. “Fine. Please, tell me you at least know what your power is.”

“Relax, Hot Topic, I'm not stupid, I know that one! I can breathe fire – it lasts a few seconds and can destroy anything. Tarr said I should use it to destroy the akuma.”

“Right, you’ll use it on the rock then.”

Princey nodded.

“Okay... but how do we get him to open his fist?”

“Uh...” Virgil trailed off. He didn’t know what to say, but his thoughts were interrupted when Blackheart suddenly turned and leapt at them again. “Improvise!” He shouted as they ran in opposite directions to avoid being crushed.

“Nice plan!” Prince Dragon shouted back sarcastically, grabbing his previously-abandoned sword off the ground and quickly re-sheathing it.

Blackheart turned to Virgil, lifting his fists in the air, and Virgil gulped.

“Where are the Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculouses?” Blackheart shouted again.

“Why the hell would I know?” Virgil shouted back, jumping to the left just in time for a large, black stone fist to come crashing down where he’d just stood.

His head swivelled around quickly as he looked for something, anything, that could help them defeat Blackheart. At one side of the stadium stood Thomas, Remus and Patton, still watching and filming the fight. Virgil was quite grateful that Blackheart showed no interest in attacking the trio, as he wasn’t sure what he would do if he had to protect them, too. At the other side stood his partner, who stared at him expectantly.

“Shit,” Virgil swore under his breath. “Uh- uh-”

Then, suddenly, something clicked in his head and he straightened up. He had a plan.

Blackheart turned, ready to attack Prince Dragon, but before he even had his back fully to Virgil, the hero whistled loudly get his attention back.

“Hey!” Virgil shouted, cupping his hands around his mouth. “I lied. I’ve got them right here!” He patted his pockets, backing up as he did so. “Come and get them!”

Blackheart spun back around, roaring and running towards Virgil, bringing the fist that didn’t hold the akuma down. Virgil stayed in place until the last second, then rolled out of the way just as the stone hand hit the ground.

“Spider Web!” Virgil shouted, aiming his hands in the direction of Blackheart’s fist.

A white web shot from the palms of his hands, flying in the direction of Blackheart and landing over his fist, spreading out, covering it and attaching it to the ground. The villain tried to pull his hand back but failed, grunting as he did so. He tried to rest his foot on the web to steady himself, but the foot got stuck, too.

Blackheart turned and roared at the heroes as Prince Dragon returned to Virgil’s side.

“Nice work, sidekick.”

Virgil turned and glared at him. “Partner,” he corrected.

Princey raised his hands defensively. “Kidding, kidding! No need to get your super-suit in a twist, my dark and stormy knight.” He grinned widely. “So, what now? How do we get him to open his other hand?”

“That’s where you come in,” Virgil said, turning back to Blackheart and watching the villain try and fail to escape the web. “I need you to throw me at him.”

“You- what?”

“Throw me at him,” Virgil repeated, a tad impatiently. “At the fist we need to open. The suits make us strong enough, I’m pretty sure. I’m hoping he’ll try to catch me and drop the rock.”

“And what if he doesn’t?”

“Then... panic.”

Prince Dragon snorted. “Well, I suppose it’s the only plan we’ve got.”

“Destroy the rock as soon as you can. Hopefully, before Blackheart can crush me.”

“You have such faith in me. Surprising, given your gloomy attitude and evil colour-scheme.”

“Yeah, well, don’t make me regret it.”

Prince Dragon grinned. “I wouldn’t dream of it.”

Then, without warning – which Virgil supposed he should’ve expected – he picked Virgil up, taking a moment to adjust him in his arms, and almost balance him on his shoulder, before launching him straight at the villain with a strength much higher than any regular human’s.

As Virgil tumbled through the air, he heard cheering from the side lines, with Remus’s voice being the loudest of the three. He probably would’ve smiled at the reassurance if he hadn’t been currently falling through the air towards a stone monster at an alarming speed.

Blackheart opened his hand to catch Virgil – just as he’d hoped – the stone fingers wrapping tightly around the hero’s middle, and the rock fell to the ground.

Prince Dragon dashed over to it, picking it up and tossing it into the air.

“Fire Breath!” He shouted, and a large bright flame immediately burst from his mouth, lasting a few seconds and burning the small, purple rock into ash.

A small, black and purple butterfly appeared from the ash, and, at the same time, Blackheart turned back to Andy. Both him and Virgil fell to the ground with a thump, and Andy immediately began to look around wildly – wide-eyed and panicked and confused, like he had absolutely no idea how he’d gotten there.

The ash turned back into a crumpled ball of paper, and the akuma flew away. Neither of the two heroes noticed the butterfly.

“Yes!” Prince Dragon cheered, pumping his fist in the air. “I’m awesome!” As Virgil got up, dusting himself off and shooting him a pointed look, he continued with: “Oh, and, uh... you’re awesome, too, I guess.”

Virgil rolled his eyes.

He then looked around. “Uh... isn’t all this damage supposed to fix itself? Boo said that when we were done, the Guardian would use the Ladybug to fix everything that was destroyed by the akuma.”

Prince Dragon shrugged. “Maybe he’s just late. This is our first time doing this, after all.”

“What the hell’s going on? What am I doing here?” Andy sat up.

“Woah! That was amazing!” Patton exclaimed as the three other students ran over to them. “You two are so cool!” He bounced up and down on the spot, still recording on his phone. “Who are you? What can we call you?”

Princey beamed. “I am Prince Dragon, and I vow to protect Paris until the villain that akumatized your friend is caught!”

“And, uh... I am...” Virgil trailed off, glancing for a moment at Prince Dragon for help, but his partner just shrugged. “I’m... Tarantula?”

“Woah! Badass!” Remus exclaimed. “You look like Halloween threw up on you. That’s awesome!”

Thomas spared a quick glance at the two heroes, before rushing over to Andy to help him up. Andy’s face reddened slightly when the other teen touched him, and something immediately clicked in Virgil’s head. He opened his mouth to speak, but then he noticed that his necklace was beeping, and he glanced down at it.

Three of the eyes on the spider had stopped glowing, leaving only two remaining. One was flickering, and it took him a moment to realise that that meant he had less than two minutes before he transformed back.

“Crap, I’ve gotta go,” he said. “Identity’s gotta stay a secret, you know?” He turned back to the others, who were watching him, and he awkwardly saluted. “Uh... Tarantula out, I guess.”

Before he could die of awkward embarrassment, he grabbed his rope again, quickly using it to swing out of the stadium and leave. Princey seemed the friendly type – he could finish dealing with the civilians on his own.

***

“So, thanks to this amateur footage, the Parisians now know the names of our heroes. The Mayor is organizing a huge celebration in honour of our new protectors: Prince Dragon and Tarantula!”

Roman sat back on the sofa, grinning proudly as he watched the news.

“I can’t believe it, I’m a super-hero now!”

“Eww, what’s this?” The red dragon kwami pulled a face.

“What? It’s ice cream. My personal chef made it. Don’t you like it?”

Tarr flew closer to his face, crossing his arms and glaring at Roman. “No! It’s cold, so I hate it! If you expect me to get my energy back up, I’m gonna need something hotter!”

“Like what?”

“Like peppers! The spiciest you can find!”

Roman sighed, taking his phone from his pocket and switching it on. “Fine. Remus isn’t home yet, I’ll text him and get him to pick some up. If I bribe him with video games, he’ll probably do it, no questions asked.”

“Good! Remember, no one can know about me, not even your twin. It’s, like, one of the most important rules of the Miraculous.”

Roman sighed again, louder this time. “But what’s the point of saving people, if no one knows to praise my name!”

***

“Just as Paris is about to celebrate the appearance of our two new super-heroes, Prince Dragon and Tarantula, a new wave of panic is sweeping across the capital as dozens of people are mysteriously transformed into black stone monsters. It’s simply unbelievable!”

“Wha- Boo, what the hell? You didn’t say this was gonna happen?”

The spider kwami flew over to her holder, who was watching the news on his computer, which now displayed video footage of dozens of black and purple butterflies – akumas – flying around Paris and turning people into frozen black stone monsters. Statues.

“Did you destroy the akuma?” Boo asked.

“We destroyed the stone that held the akuma. Isn’t that what you told us to do?”

Boo shook her head, sighing. “No, an akuma can multiply, that’s why it must be purified or destroyed after breaking what holds it. Virgil, if Andy’s emotions turn negative again, then Hawkmoth can use original akuma to turn him back into Blackheart. He’ll bring all those statues to life and control them as one giant army.”

Virgil’s stomach dropped.

“Shit.”

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imaginethathaikyuu · 3 years

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How did I find your blog? I was looking for soft Kuroo content on google. And your soft birthday hc’s for him came up. And that’s also how I found tumblr

What was the first story of yours that I read? That Kuroo piece ^

Roughly, how long have I been following this blog? Well I found that piece shortly after it was posted so…. Around the beginning of December 2019 I think. Got a tumblr a few months later and you were the first person I followed (had you in my bookmarks bar before that! (still have you in my bookmarks bar and when I share my screen in classes there are occasionally questions. I ignore them))

What’s something I’ve noticed about you personality wise? You’re really clever and funny. But you’re also sweet. But because you’re clever you have no hesitation in setting up and enforcing your boundaries, and I really admire that strength and confidence.

Have we ever interacted, either by PM, ask, or in the comments? What was my perception of you? YES!!! PM, SOOOOO many asks, comments, and you sent me an ask. And reblogged it. And I cried. A lot. My perception: you’re lovely and I want to h*ld your h*nd ….please.

What’s my favorite story of yours? Oh how to choose. Firstly, I’m a nb, biracial, bisexual. Honey, I’ve never made a choice in my life. But let’s try here. Anything you’ve written for Tsukki. Literally all of it is gold. Fight me. I was going to write “especially [piece title]” but I LITERALLY CANNOT CHOOSE ONE. Your Bokuto nightmare piece. Your Kuroo angsty fight. Your Tendou dealing with S/O with parents who yell piece. Your Kinktobers. Your Futakuchi and Mattsun pieces. And your Terushima pieces. Ugh. I CANNOT CHOOSE. OH AND YOUR STREAMER KENMA!!!!!! OKay just… all of it. I can’t choose. I tried, and I failed, and I’m willing to admit failure.

What’s a story I’d love to see you write? I don’t want to say this… because it hurts me… but I just KNOW you’d write brilliant angst. Some of my fav pieces of yours are pained beginnings with happy endings. That fight with Tsukki after a bad day at work. The pieces I mentioned above (nightmare pieces and fighting pieces and angsty home life ha.. ha.ha.ha.). That Oikawa one where the reader wakes up in bed without him and thinks he left. You write these gorgeous atmospheres and descriptive, visceral feelings, and if you chose to use it for evil…. You could get evil shit done. You’re SO powerful. So I want to read it… but also…. I don’t. I’d love to see you write ABO like you mentioned a while back or just see you explore a cutesy soulmate AU or something. I think you’d be really good at writing an AU where you hear what the other person’s listening too. I feel like you’d be so good at making me feel something for someone who was in another city. (think this would be cute with Tsukki cos he’s headphones boy, OR terushima because I like the dynamic of someone flirty, who clearly cares about looks, falling for someone he can’t see) ANYWAY….

Favorite pairing you write for?/fav reader insert? Tsukishima x reader. It’s my fav self-ship. (but also Mattsun, Bokuto, Oikawa, Tanaka, and Akaashi because you write them SO WELL!!!!)

Have any of your stories helped me through a hard time? Of course. Your self-harm piece came at a time I needed it. Iwaizumi’s in particular saved my life. But also your Tendou dealing with S/O parents who fight… came right when I needed it. Also starting college… was hard.. And reading and rereading your fluff really pulled me through it.

Have any of your stories hit closer to home? YES (see above).

Do I genuinely like your blog, it’s aesthetic or posts? It’s overall feel? It’s content? Yes. The aesthetic is, ngl, a wee bit basic. But I kinda love that. And the feel? It feels like home. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Your blog is my safe space. So, yes, I love. It’s content? YES. OF COURSE. Your personality probably could have kept me here even if your content was kinda shit, but I follow you RELIGIOUSLY because of your content. So yes. I adore.

Is English my first language? Kinda??? I grew up in a trilingual household so I kinda learned three languages at the same time while growing up. But no, I don’t need to translate it in my head. Because English was one of the three.

Anything I want to share? Yes. Please keep being kind to yourself, caring for your mental health, enforcing your boundaries, loving Akaashi, and just generally being you. You’re so lovely as you are, and I hope you continue grow, but never change. Also I’m sorry about all your work stuff…. It literally makes me feel sick. And I hope you find a job where that’s not tolerated, or that your work finds a better way of protecting it’s employees. I know you know this, but none of it is your fault. I just hope things improve. AND I love you… a lot. And I’m so proud of you hitting 9K and you deserve so many more followers because your pieces are just... GORGEOUS. I can’t wait until I’m at Barnes and Noble in a few years and I can pick up a hardback copy of your debut novel. I’m so excited to say “I knew Em Akaashi (which is your legal name as far as I’m concerned) before she was so popular among the masses.”

so ive been trying to figure out the correct and worthy way to reply to this ask since the moment i got it......because its so fucking sweet and kind and amazing and pure and perfect and i just dont know how to use WORDS to explain the way it makes me feel so.......i will just reply in bullet points in regards to every question u answered to make it a lil easier :D

- the fact that u found my blog on google ....... like this may be odd and a very specific thing but before i made this blog i always hoped that 1 day my fanfic would pop up in google searches bc thats ALWAYS how i found fics when i was reading them religiously and i felt so much ENVY!!!!! LIKE I WANTED TO BE THERE I WANTED MY FICS TO B POPULAR ENOUGH TO POP UP ON GOOGLE.....that may sound very selfish but its true......so thats just very cool to me... :]

- u’ve been here for so long omg 🥺🥺🥺🥺 if anyone in ur classes ever asks jus promo my blog like its nbd

- thats so sweet what 🥺🥺🥺 i try my best to advocate for myself and be confident for myself.....ive spent far too much of my time being silently uncomfortable because i was afraid of pushing someone’s buttons seeming rude.....but NO MORE!!!! i know what upsets me, i know my triggers, i know what i dislike experiencing, and im never gonna let myself be anxious or uncomfortable for someone else’s sake, esp if theyre being rude 2 me. i would say its less strength and confidence and moreso me attempting to take control of my anxiety in the places i can (aka on the Internet) bc i am SICK OF ANXIETY ATTACKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

- BBY no dont CRY!!!! im racking my brain trying to think of who u are i wanna know so bad so i can thank u personally for being the kindest person in the world n so i can send u more asks >:(........MY HAND IS URS TO HOLD!!!!! dont tell akaashi tho

- OMG my TSUKKI pieces.....hes so hard to write why ;-; thank u so much im so glad u enjoy my works<3333

- NOT ANGST NOT LIKE THIS!!!!!!!!! pained beginnings to happy endings are my specialty.....IMAGINE me writing a sad ending like i CANT!!!!!!!!! ive only done it a few times and it is so Difficult.....YALL ARE SO LUCKY IM NOT EVIL!!!!!! ive had this idea for an angsty akaashi fic that i think about and write in my head every night before falling asleep and it Hurts and i wanna write it but i also can’t make myself :D ABO would be very fun but i genuinely do not know how to explore the concept while making it feel like it’s Written By Me.....u know what i mean? same with soulmate aus, i really dislike writing them because theyre just boring to me like they all feel the same everything’s been done for them.....which is FINE!!! but i write enough cliche stuff as it is HAHA, a long distance type soulmate au could be fun and interesting but ldr’s trigger me bc of a past relationship so </3 but hey maybe someone else could use the idea!!!!!

- gotta love tsukishima <3

- im rlly glad my writing could be there for you friend, one of the biggest reasons i write fanfic (and write the kind of fics i write) is bc i know firsthand how much reading sweet stories abt ur comfort characters can help u through the shittiest times - i just wanna offer ppl some support and happy feelings and love cuz sometimes fanfic is the only time we can find those things (and theres nothing shameful abt that either if anyone bullies u for reading fanfic i will fight them)

- I KNOW MY LAYOUT IS LAZY AND BASIC AS FUCK AND THAT IS BECAUSE I DO NOT GIVE A SHIT LMAOOOO so im glad u think its ok...... like i dont have the patience to create a fancy ass layout that actually works are u KIDDING ME??????? I COULD LITERALLY NEVER plus i kinda like that its just the basic kinda ugly boring default layout like it makes it simple and easy and i feel like it brings focus to the only thing on this blog that i care about which is my writing, i rlly only care about the content here and not aesthetics jdbljdabsdk that blue background will be there til i Die......i adore u more btw

- WHOA trilingual what the hell ur so cool tell me more

- you have my word, friend, that i will continue to do all of that so long as you do the same. take care of yourself, be kind to yourself - i know u can do it, ur so kind to others and u deserve to be kind to urself, too so this is the part that genuinely brought me to tears because *sappy dumb shit ahead* ok look ever since i can remember the one and only thing ive wanted to do with my life is become an author ...... dreams of book covers with my name written on them and words in pages written by me and fanart of my characters and going into my local bookstore n seeing my book there....these thoughts all haunt my fucking brain because i want it SO BAD!!!!!!!! so bad that it makes me CRY!!!!!!!! ive never wanted something more and just!!!!!!!!!!!! idk how much u meant that part but holy fuck!!!!!! i hope so bad that one day i can send u a free copy of my book as a thank u for being the person u are. u have all my love friend, every last bit of it <333333333

#ily<3 #long post

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techouspeaks · 3 years

Text

Healin Good Precure Final Verdict and thoughts on Tropical Rouge Precure!

First off, sorry I haven’t been around that much to even talk about Healin Good. First, I just kinda lost interest in doing reviews for a while and then some personal snit just had to be thrown in when I really wanted to discuss somethings. So this review is kinda gonna be slightly unorganized but I’ll do my best and I’m really sorry about Precuruary again not being this year. This past year has been whoo! Just yeah...Anyway! I will try to be more active when I can be but I can’t make any promises right now. So onto the review!

I know every year I’ve said that each precure seems a little better than the previous ones in some aspects. Like for example, Star Twinkle I felt was a little better than Hugtto in terms of overall enjoyment and characters, but it lacked developing the plot and the lackluster in the personality of the princesses. They could have had each princess have the certain traits expected from their signs such as Virgo being a perfectionist and Aries being hot tempered.

Than again, maybe it’s cause I just think anything is better than Kira Kira! lol! I know I get a little harsh with that series. Given the other series that came before and after, can you blame me? There are better series than that. (In my opinion, anyway.)

Healin Good, I can definitely say this was a good ride for both plot, character, music and animation! Yes, the designs for the cures were a little lack luster and I still can’t help but get Cure Flora vibes from Grace, but eventually, I got used to it. In fact, while I know it was the anniversary of Yes Precure 5 Go Go!, I almost felt like they should have just made that into a separate movie and have Healin Good meet Go Princess since the cures there have a lot in common!

But of course being their own thing. They’re not copies of the GoPre girls, but they share definitely some things in common such as Cure Grace and Cure Flora’s flower theme, Cure Sparkle and Cure Twinkles love for fashion and star themes and Cure Fountain and Cure Mermaid for the water themes.

In terms of plot, it wasn’t like the most amazing plot ever, but it was decent and coherent. It was a serviceable plot that did the bare minimum and not be too crazy and outlandish and the morals at least made more sense unlike Twinkle. There was no getting grumpy dog people to learn to smile and be happy.

Yes, the one thing that doesn’t make sense is how Cure Earth came to be and I will admit she as well as Fountain are the least interesting girls. I know people love Fountain/Chiyu! For me, blue cures have interesting stories but a personality that doesn’t fit it. They’re okay but I always feel like they’re just the cool kid that’s typically the responsible role model and nothing more, with the exception of Cure Marine and Cure Beauty, the later fits that role but she also has a bit more to her in terms of personality. The backstory for Fountain/Chiyu doesn’t make sense either. She sees the horizon line between the ocean and the sky and wants to jump that high. Then at first she’s just sees high jump as fun, which annoys a rival of hers and thus she’s pressured to like it more than just a school thing. It’s weird and almost complicated...

Cure Earth/Asumi is sorta a motherly kind of character since she’s in her 20s in appearance, but still a fish out of water. I’m glad they didn’t make her a teen so she had to go to school with the girls and she’s like the first adult main cure (Like I get Cure Flower, ancient cures and the Hugtto Cures, but I’m talking as in the main team member and not a side character type thing.) Which is nice, it shows that yes adults can be heroes. I mean we had adult superheroes all the time and the teen was just the less experienced side kick.

As for personality, she’s a bit of a blank slate but I love her design! I know Green Cure and all wah, but hate to say it, the more people complain that there isn’t a green cure in every season, the more I’m kinda glad cause people get sooo uptight like they’re whitewashing a character or something. Like stop! It’s just a team color for Pete’s sake! Like even if they did her as a green cure, she’s kind of bland in personality so would you be happy with a green cure that’s sorta the blank slate?

I’m not saying she’s bad. She can be funny and it can be enjoying to watch her understand feelings and things since while an adult physically, she was basically born out of a whim and only knows how to talk and understand the basis of the Healing Garden as well as Princess Latte and Queen Teatinu. Shoot, she couldn’t even eat on her own.

My two favorite characters by far have to be Nodoka aka Cure Grace and Hinata aka Cure Sparkle. Hinata is just a fun character. She’s emotional, got a go getter attitude and I like the fact she’s into fashion but isn’t over the top annoying or particularly snobby, kinda like Cure Twinkle but different that Cure Twinkle has more of a professional attitude and higher skills, while Cure Sparkle is a bit clumsy and overly excited about everything. She has insecurities and flaws but thanks to Nodoka and Nyantoran, she gets over these rather quickly.

As for Nodoka, I know people are disappointed that her illness turned out nothing more than Daruzen, I don’t blame them for going this route. Yes, it kinda gives an unrealistic impression that the disease just simply needs to jump out of someone and they’ll be okay. I can’t help but think it might have backfired especially given the time since we had the you know what virus. So many kids were watching their families get destroyed and while, yes, it would be good to teach kids to stay strong and fight through it and that it takes time for people to recover fully, it could also be too overbearing for them as well if they happen to have a loved one who is sick or they themselves and are just constantly reminded of the suffering.

Put it short, there’s kind of no best way around it. You can either do it this way and there might be some kids that think well the virus can just jump out or do it the other way and risk kids getting depressed and anxious, which would be bad as depression and anxiety in kids has risen a lot since 2020. For me, I think kids are smarter than we give them credit. They are gonna be aware that stuff in cartoons/anime works differently than in the real world, so I feel like the route they took was better. It was already risky having the main character be sick and being put in the hospital to begin with.

With that being said, Nodoka is a good character for more reasons than her being sick and fighting an illness. She wants to be supportive because she needed support. Just because her illness turned out to be some alien germ from another dimension, doesn’t make her desire to help any less meaningful. She did suffer a lot, fought through pain and suffering through an unknown amount of time. Just cause she healed miraculously doesn’t make her suffering not real and her inspiration and influence on others less so.

Bottom line, it doesn’t matter how she healed, she still suffered, got inspire by those who helped her and thus inspired those to work hard on getting better. The message is still there.

But there is another thing that makes her special and that is when Nodoka told Daruzen off! That alone was the most inspiring thing ever done in a Precure series in a LONG time! It’s not just her standing up to a bully. She stood up to her abuser! And yes, I do like Daruzen and at first I thought they would be a cute couple, but I will admit when Daruzen took things too far and as someone that’s been sexually harassed and known people who were forced on, I can’t push forward with the ship or Daruzen for that matter.

When Daruzen needed help, Nodoka pushed him away and then he outright made her feel bad about it. “I thought you were about helping others.” This is a tactic used by abusers, taking advantage of the kindness their victim usually has and congrats to Rabirin for being the best partner to a Precure.

Nodoka holds no responsibility for Daruzen. He used her thus abused her, he caused so much pain not only onto her but to those around her. Put it short, Nodoka doesn’t owe Daruzen anything! That to me is one of the most important lessons to teach anyone especially young kids. It’s good to teach others to be kind and forgive folks, but if you don’t want to than don’t especially if they have done nothing but hurt you. Your health including mental health comes first above all else. It’s not selfish especially if the one needing help was selfish first and didn’t think about you in the long run.

So as much as I think that Daruzen X Nodoka could have been cute, I can’t help but applaud Toei for going this route instead. Especially these days, I feel it’s really important teach kids that it’s okay to think of what’s best for you, including putting a limit on helping people and setting boundaries. I’ve known even family members and friends that were in this situation where they had to stop helping someone, because that person took advantage of them and they had to put their foot down, cause they had to finally think of their own health and well being. It’s not selfish. It’s important to take care of yourself first!

Speaking of mascots, all the mascots are useful including Latte, which is the main mascot that is in peril the most since the villains make her sick. However, she is far from a passive pup as some people pass her off as. She does know when to put her paw down and even in the midst of her suffering, she does try when she can to help. Even go as far as refusing Nodoka’s care until she and Rabirin settle their differences to work together. She also has the ability to sense when the earth needs help and is the only animal that can do this. She also refuses Cure Earth’s/Asumi’s overly servitude towards her, showing she knows when to speak out about her own well being. True Latte doesn’t get too much to shine but when she does it’s rather welcomed.

Normally with mascots, I don’t care for them since they tend to be typically one note. The mascots for Healin Good are all memorable with their own personality and they grow along side their respected cures. The only mascots I know that grew a lot was Yes! Precure 5/Go! Go’s Coco, Nuts and Milky, Go Princess Precure’s Aroma and Puffu. Mofurun only showed much growth in the movie where they became a cure. Though Mofurun is still more useful than the mascots in Kira Kira. (Yes, I will always take the opportunity to slam on that series!)

Speaking of Kira Kira...Oh boy. Well I was a little excited to finally have an ocean themed precure series with a mermaid, my excitement kinda dropped when I noticed the transformation compact and transformation. I’m gonna go a head and review the first episode since I watched it.

I’ll first start off the with positives and move on to what I wouldn’t say are horrible things, but more so my overall concerns with it.

First, like others, I’m glad we got a lead cure that isn’t pink for once. This is a first since Splash Star Precure, whom I don’t think Cure Bloom counts. I mean in the first season, she kinda is pink, but then when she becomes Cure Bright her colors change so I kinda count her as being mix color, while Cure Dream was the first official Pink Cure.

I also like that while Manatsu/Cure Summmer is another happy go lucky type, she does have a bit more zest and isn’t the overall cutesy happy go lucky cures we’ve come to know. She’s different from Cure Star and Cure Yell, in which she’s happy go lucky in a more of a hot headed sense, than the cute, been bullied but still brave kid which was Cure Star and Yell.

Manatsu/Summer reminds me of Lina Inverse from Slayers and other similar red head characters from that era, which makes sense she is a red head. (Least Manatsu is).

The transformation and battle scenes are better too. I was worried that because the pact and start of the transformation looked so similar to Kira Kira, I was worried it would be exactly the same but it’s different enough it seems. My only gripe is that maybe Cure Summer’s final pose at the end for her transformation sequence could have been a bit more dramatic. Her pose look lack luster compared to the rest of her transformation.

The animation in Cure Summer’s attack is amazing but the 3D part of is a little distracting somewhat. I feel like the sun could have been done in 2D. Other than that, animation is gorgeous! Bright and colorful with nice detailing within the characters and background.

I also can’t help adore Cure Coral/Sango’s design and character. She hasn’t appeared that much, but already I kinda already adore her! She’s so precious and I can tell she’s already gonna be a fan favorite among many! I also like how she seems sweet and quiet but isn’t shy either. She’s rather just down to earth, just doing her own thing but still being polite. Refreshing take especially on a purple cure!

Now onto my issues with it. Starting with a bit too many similarities to Kira Kira such as the transformation pact and the overly energetic, silly theme. I don’t mind silly when it’s balanced out right. For me, it’s a bit too crazy and kinda the issue I had with Cure Princess and sometimes Cure Marine. I get that it’s about motivation VS procrastination. I hope they work it out to teach kids there’s an importance of both. Just teach that you need a bit of balance. Right now, it’s just not. Manatsu kinda gets on my nerves a little bit and then you have Laura...

I kinda have mix feelings about Laura. On one hand, I do relate to her. She’s a little vain and I like the fact that despite being a main character, she’s actually quite selfish! Her whole desire to do this mission is out of hope that she’ll be the next Queen, which apparently, the current Queen isn’t her mom I guess, but she’s chosen to be in line and she seems to want to be Queen simply for the selfish reason to be praised and adored, not cause she wants to help her people. I like this for the fact that it makes her far different from Cure Milky/Lala, whom many have said she was probably a little too responsible for her age, but I digress, Lala/Cure Milky is one of my favorite cures.

What I’m concern is the fact that Laura will outshine the cures and take over the spotlight especially when she becomes a Cure. There’s no denying this will happen especially since it’s been confirmed the Midseason Cure is called Cure Le Mer, which is her last name. She seems to already outshine the mascot for the series Kururun, who is the first mascot to not meet the lead cure in the first episode because the poor thing barely gets any screen time!

I noticed this especially when the products for the series came out that Kururun is barely in any of the merchandise. I guess after focusing so much on the mascots for three seasons, having at least one be the token mascot to save all humanity, they decided “Eh, lets just make a mermaid the star seller and just have the mascot be squeezed in for those who want a stuffed animal.”

I get that the Midseason cures tend to take over the spotlight anyway, but I don’t always agree. Cure Scarlet and Cure Earth kinda grew along side the other cures. Taking time for both them and another Cure or character to shine as well. With Laura, because she’s already part of the group, hopefully won’t outshine the cures, but being how much they merchandise and show her off, it’s looking a bit bleak for anyone who isn’t Manatsu/Cure Summer when Cure Le Mer takes the stage.

I also fear since the series was announce that Asuka/Cure Flamingo maybe too much like Cure Chocolate given how her design is similar. I love her design, her’s is my favorite design of the bunch, but you can’t deny she looks like Cure Chocolate with longer hair. I hope they give her and the other cures more personality and growth especially before Laura becomes a cure.

Other than those gripes, I don’t hate it and do like some things about it. Maybe I’m just used Healin Good’s more relaxed theme that I’m kinda skeptical for this more wild, eccentric series. Maybe it will grow on me in time. Hoping it does since as said, been wanting an ocean themed Precure series with mermaids in it for a looong time!

Without further a due, I give Healin Good Precure 8 out of 10 stars. Won’t rate Tropical Rouge Precure until the end of the season. Seeya in the next review!

8 Stars Level: “Great!”

#Healin' Good Precure #healin good precure #tropical rouge precure #precure

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