#my first crush and my current crush promoting voting together
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choose your hero!nct127
ﾐ☆ genre: punch inspired!au, video game au!, superhero au!
ﾐ☆ word count: 7k
ﾐ☆ warnings: mentions of greatest fears and nightmares, fighting, death, light smut but nothing too vivid, and sm ceo and dispatch make an appearance ew i know
ﾐ☆ author’s note: ah my first nct 127 headcanon and second creation on this site! yes i know it’s been a long time coming since punch dropped but ever since i saw the music video, this idea popped into my head. i heard of other nctzens talking about this aesthetic when mentioning the mv, but hopefully you like my take on it! please enjoy and look forward to more writing from me in the future! thank you so much! ps this is not proof read yikes sorry
Velvet clouds of psychedelic purple with the scattered rays of sunset hues made an unnatural background for the logo’s electric lettering with lightning strokes cracking the static screen in your stuffy apartment. Outside was a different matter. A thunderstorm jolted the placid crimson sky to a violet that only nature could create, although the graphic designers of PUNCH: NCT 127 came close. It was rather befitting for the stark opposition of the hurricane raging outside to the retro sparking aesthetic that you’ve witnessed for the ninth time, and it was the most pivotal. It was as if the thunder was the applause, the lightning rallying behind you, the pelting of the raindrops reverberating the hammering of your heart. Almost victorious in a way, the non-player hero that lurked in the background of the other eight paths taken would finally be the alternate hero to your player. He was a prize in the reverie that you constructed solely from his brief bio to the artificial mannerisms and quotes that he generated in the story lines which enabled you to project your fantasy on mundane men. The comparison was cruel, fictional characters were even crueler. Nimble fingers and darting eyes fell into a comfortable routine, familiar with the introduction story, it was a race between the controller’s buttons and the spiteful lightning that would sever the power.
[FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY]
[PROPERTY OF THE NCT 127 DIVISION UNDER THE SM AGENCY]
PRIORITY IDENTIFICATION
[NAME]...F/N L/N
[ID #]...07201607
[STATUS]...Active
[CLASS]...Agent
[ALIAS]...Punch
[TEAM AFFILIATION]...N/A
Welcome to the NCT 127 Division, Agent L/N. I am Lee Soo-Man, the Director of the SM Agency and your guide for your latest mission: THE FINAL ROUND. On behalf of the whole SM community, we apologize for the abrupt summoning, but your presence and skills are crucial if we are going to defeat the DISPATCH terrorist. For too long, the person that cowers behind the mask that claims itself DISPATCH has tormented South Korea for too long, and only you can stop them. It cannot be done alone though, if you so choose to take on this responsibility, I will assign one of the nine superheroes of your picking to share this task. Do you accept it?
CLICK [YES] TO CONTINUE
CLICK [NO] TO RESTART
I am pleased that you have accepted the assignment. For the duration of the mission, the NEO ZONE will be the location of the base for you and your partner. Intel, equipment, and training will be at both of your disposals. Now that you have been briefed on all inner workings of the mission and the NEO ZONE, there is one last obstacle until you defeat the enemy. The selection of your partner is based on compatibility and trust, I implore you to consider wisely until you make a final decision. The designated superhero of your liking will be under one of two teams, FUTURE OR DREAMER. Both equally beneficial, but the bonds of loyalty run deep between the members, you have to determine which one of their morals you value more. Heed my warning though, with the right set of skills and talent, you and your partner will be unstoppable but tread lightly your connection with him. After all, you are his only weakness. Which team and hero will you choose?
CLICK [TEAM FUTURE]
CLICK [TEAM DREAMER]
You now have the option to choose your hero.
Before your perplexed mind could comprehend the change of dialogue, a streak of lightning had pierced the stillness of the undisturbed bedroom and released the tempest that was once contained to reality. With the abundance of consuming darkness, shards of glass pricking your paling skin, and tree branches pounding for entry--your white knuckles and twitching eyes fathomed the only connection you had with actuality; a plastic controller and the flickering avatar of your destined hero you chose only seconds before. Your heart had been thumping, not from the anticipation of a new adventure, no, it was pure fear that jolted your numbed muscles to sprint to sanctuary. The thunderstorm mocked your failed attempt at fleeing as another surge of electricity enveloped the room in white and sparks rippled at your ankles as you ran away but the tethering currents from the screen wrenched you back.
SOUL TRANSFUSION NOW COMPLETE_
Team Future
Taeil
Power: Pyrokinesis
A very vocal opponent when he’s on the battlefield, you might be on the other side of the area but you can always figure out where he is located by listening to his strange grunt/growl combos, enemies usually have to process the inhuman sound that came out of a small man but you just roll your eyes and toothy grin grows as you run to him for back up
Says “let’s get it!” any chance he gets, always attempts to make it your team chant before going on a mission but everyone votes no, even you
Loves to wear long sleeves as a staple piece of clothing despite his already burning temperature, he claims it eases him as if it were security blanket, and he enjoys when you tell him he looks adorable with his sleeved paws
During winter though, he always has to stock up on sweaters because you are always stealing them, whether it’s the feeling of his residual heat ghosting over your skin or look of complete adoration glazing over his eyes as he devours that look of yours, it’s a great excuse to wear one
If you had to assign ‘roles’ in the relationship, you would so be a top, he’s the most chill boy out there as you throw tantrums or squeal out of pure joy when you are finally promoted, it’s either purring hums out of his mouth or a silly smile as he gazes at you
Physical affection is minimal between you two unless you initiate it, but it’s mostly wrapping his arm around you, it’s in no way conveying that he doesn’t love you, but rather love to him is experiencing moments with you, making memories while watching a funny movie or dancing horribly to a playlist he created
An exception is when you end up falling asleep on the couch as you two watch a movie, he secretly loves to carry you back to bed as he tucks you in and truly soaks in what you mean to him
His hair gradually transitioned to its current red as his powers grew throughout the years and he would always dye it but his genes overpowered any artificial color, not until you said you liked his hair like that, he decided to keep it
King of making you smile especially when you are down, he can’t stand seeing you sad so he insists on becoming a goofball until your sides hurt from laughing so hard
Takes training way too seriously, you always start off competing but by like the 100th crunch you are wiped but he’s still going
Becomes sulky when his Disney Hades costume doesn’t come out as planned because his fire is red and not blue, but it was the best decision ever when you suggested Ghost Rider for the Halloween party, Taeil never looked better with just a leather jacket covering his bare skin
You finally convinced the clothing department to give you a fireproof uniform because Taeil has really bad aim, and your clothes are rags after a mission
Figured out you had a crush on Zuko when you were younger, so he would rewatch it with you and definitely cosplay Zuko, perhaps even role play with it if it’s something you were into
Having sex with Taeil was searing pain shooting through your thighs, tender love handles, heaving chests and lactic acid seeping through your muscles as he cheered you onto the last lap--it was a workout in itself with a sweltering room that reflected his aroused emotions
Both of you are constantly battling, whether it’s a rap battle or a cooking battle, Taeil is in love with the passionate side of you
Breakfast in bed is a tradition held during the weekends, he says he loves to spoil you but he just loves tasting his own food while you give him compliments on how delicious it is
Taeil is usually saved as a last resort for dangerous group missions, you’ve heard stories of his past battles as if he were legend already, but you’ve only witnessed his true power once by scorching down the enemy in one go, flames clawing his body as the inner glow within him exploded like he was a supernova--someone had to drag you out before the building collapsed on itself from the stifling heat and the roaring fire
You pinch his bouncy cheeks as often as possible just to see him roll his eyes while he fights off the widening smirk that makes his doe eyes curve into crescents, but it’s the blooming crimson of his cheeks that you indulge in, lightly sizzling your fingertips until you can’t take the pain any longer and yelp slips out, but Taeil swiftly swoops in and kisses your fingertips in an apology, it was a good pain though
It’s a normal night for both of you, 2 AM and your blabbering about everything and nothing, and Taeil always ends up the saying the same line to you as he coaxes you to sleep because he knows how grumpy you become in the morning, “I’m grateful we’re together, who would make you a fire if you were stranded on a deserted island? You definitely can’t, so, hmm, I guess it has to be me”
Johnny
Power: Lycanthropy
You’d suspect him to be bear when he morphed with his build and height, but he’s a hulking chestnut brown wolf with gentle eyes
Basically a puppy on steroids always expects a treat and good belly rub after eviscerating all his targets
Has the ability to shift at will, so during winter nights you can find him nestled around you for added warmth
During the colder months, he usually wears knitted sweaters and oversized coats in his human form because it reminds him of his fur, and he claims he likes to keep you warm while he holds you in any form
Creates video tutorials of both of you sparring with each other, lots of constructive criticism and compliments on your ‘form’
Begs you to ride him into a mission just for the sake of it, he can so see you as a badass warrior on their monstrous steed
Johnny’s favorite time of day is during the end when you wind down with him and you tell him every detail of your day despite you two being joined at the hip as partners
Always asks questions out of plain curiosity and simply in love with the sound of your voice, it’s the equivalent of you petting his sweet spot on the back of his ear
Without a doubt, he howls in bed while having sex, he’s always teetering the edge of shifting and even though you repeatedly tell him it’s fine to let go, the splintered wood of the headboard and floating feathers of a slashed pillow is evidence of how much concentration he puts in to keep you safe
Manicures and pedicures on a regular basis in the Suh household got to keep those claws clean
Adamant about not getting a pet dog with you, his excuse is he would get too jealous of another canine but his stance is weakening with your improved puppy dog eyes
Multiple jokes about ‘starting a pack’ with you
While in his wolf form, he can understand human language but he doesn’t have the ability to communicate, so both of you rely on subtle gestures
Naturally has a small smile, always nudges you with his snout, and whenever you make a joke to him, he bears his canines that are frightening to most but to you it’s comforting
Johnny’s greatest fear is if you two are ever in an argument and his anger blinds him to the point of him unconsciously shifting and accidentally harming you
Even clumsier in his wolf form, he doesn’t realize actually how massive he is which makes him a hazard to normal-sized beings
Gets most of his stances and moves from the wolves from the twilight series, he won’t admit but he’s certainly inspired by them
Sexual appetite is at a peak when the full moon comes out, growl central!!
The most treasured item you two have is a portrait of wolf-Johnny on his hind legs, attacking your face with slobbering kisses and you grinning brightly because nothing can compare to the bliss of that snapshot
Taeyong
Power: Superhuman Speed
After every assignment, Taeyong’s personal mission is to dote on you, this usually happens by using a covering or his own jacket and slinging it over your shoulders, if there is grime or blood on it, he lets out soft ‘sorry’ even though you always tell him not to
He knows it’s his job, he understands the need, but that doesn’t mean he is comfortable with the bloody side of it, and so he loves talking to you after incidents, your voice is soothing and it helps him process all the trauma, he says it’s for your sake but you know in these moments you are his crutch and you gladly accept the job
Naturally, a faster walker than you so he always manages to be a few feet ahead of you, but when he sees you fall behind, he holds your hand and tugs lightly while matching your pace
After enhancing his speed, he always has flushed cheeks and a glossy sheen across his forehead, so you make it a habit to kiss his forehead, cheeks, and lips to cool him down
It doesn’t work, his heart his pulsating harder than ever and does that exasperated airy laugh as an attempt to stabilize his heightened emotions while walking away so you don’t witness his even redder face
You give him piggyback rides after missions, his energy is basically depleted by then, so a jacket for a piggyback ride seems like a fair deal even though he fights you the whole way but you know he adores being cared for
You were the one to convince him to dye his hair pink in an effort to have an easier time spotting him during assignments and now he’s pink blur racing off to defeat villains
When he lightly peppers kisses on your face, the smacks get louder until he finally lands on your lips and it’s the most exaggerated sloppy sound he can make while he squeezes your cheeks
Weekdays for him are for cooking dinner, and you occasionally join to help him but mostly it’s him feeding you bits asking if everything is seasoned well and by the end, he is cursing because half the dinner is already gone
Type of boyfriend to remember you mentioning something you like and a few days later, he buys it for you or he randomly buys you things that remind him of you and leaves it for you as a surprise
Always doodling on you or leaving you notes with drawings so he can remind you that he loves you or to hydrate
After stressful missions, he just plops on top of you, his nose inhaling your scent as he forces his heart to match your rhythm, it lasts for about twenty minutes or until he can finally recharge
Taeyong’s gym locker in the NeoZone is plastered with couple photos of you two and photos of you modeling or candid while he directed you with his camera
The only way you can convince him to give you ten more pushups or five more pullups is if you bribe him with kisses and it always works
Very sacrificial, it’s one of his main flaws, he’ll get super flustered and annoyed when he sees you in the line of fire, so he’ll ultimately take all the heat and scold you after to put yourself first
His face usually has a cold blank stare to it as he observes his surroundings but once you collide into him and coil your arm around his, he grows this massive grin that only you can create
Never takes advantage of his speed with you, his surroundings are always in a constant race and he’s always anticipating the next move, but with you, your a serene presence washing over him; calming him, grounding him to capture every moment of you so it isn’t a blur but a vivid mural
Definitely tender and sensual in bed, once tried to spice things up by using his speed but he almost broke you, so now he only changes his pace if you request it
With your head on his chest every night, the last thing you hear before you fall asleep is the rapid thumping of his heart; it’s the only lullaby you’ll ever need
Yuta
Power: Supernatural Swordsmanship
Cut his hair with his kodachi and you most definitely needed to clean up the edges
Villains dread combating with Yuta, not just because he’s insane with a sword but he only talks about you and your relationship while fighting as if the opponent will answer his question of whether he should give you a cookie or ice cream cake for your birthday or even both
Rather than making you feel better when you feel down, he would be your soundboard, a shoulder to cry one, a great pair of ears; patience and multiple ‘mhms’ as you unravel your worries while his fingers swirl on your thigh and he kisses your temple
You two could be on opposite sides of the room but his eyes would always gravitate to you and he would wait until you notice so he could meet your gaze and he would do the dorkiest faces, especially his famous lion rawr aegyo, it makes you realize how good of a father he would be
Goes wild when he sees your body tremble beneath him as the cold metal of the kodachi glides along your skin
The only thing rivaling his love for you is his love for his katana, it’s bond that can never be severed and it’s a trust that only develops between soulmates, you could never understand but you accept and allow it to be the third partner in the relationship
It shouldn’t be possible for Yuta to look like a prince walking out of an otome game right after a battle, but there he is, glistening skin with swept hair and twinkling eyes as he sheathes his katana across his back as if he’s going to ride his horse in the Sengoku period
It’s usual occurrence to catch him absentmindedly talking to his katana, you wouldn’t be surprised if it could talk back, he can summon it by hand already, that sword and he shares one brain cell but he usually uses it as a mirror
You’re a killer couple, not only with looks and fashion but it’s quite a sight to experience as you shoot a bullet to his katana so it can ricochet at a target eighty feet away
Manages a rigorous training session before you wake up and when he’s done, he ends up collapsing on top with his sticky body as you screech at him to get off
The training facility in the NeoZone is rarely used because Yuta is a big believer in fresh air and beautiful scenery will motivate you more, so your sparring on the edge of cliffs and sprinting along the seaside
Alternates between reading books with you outside in your backyard with a makeshift picnic or both of you cuddled in bed with the open windows and the only source of light is the sun
If you have missions abroad, he convinces the agency to always give both of you one day free so you can act like tourists, nobody can say no to his dashing good looks and he knows it
One year for Christmas, you got him custom made tiny katana earrings and it’s literally the one pair he uses now, at least on his lobe
Yuta isn’t the overbearing type when it comes to jealousy, he shouldn’t have a say in what gender your friends are but when he sees a certain person obviously flirting with you it just takes slight glint of his katana to blind the intruder and they are already scurrying off
Gets a kick out of playing real-life fruit ninja
Decided to shave a slit in his eyebrow with his katana one spontaneous night, he got out of the bathroom with a huge grin and asked, “does this make me look more badass?”
Your hands always end up somewhere around his stomach, gliding across the lean muscles, squeezing around his hips, twiddling his piercing, you name it, you can’t keep your hands off him
Nakamoto Yuta is a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield, the pang of fear thrills you as you witness his lack of mercy and fiery anger at injustice as he slaughters anyone that stands before him, but that wicked glint in his eye softens just for you and then you see the scrawling of your name engraved on the hilt of the katana, and you know you are the only one that knows the true Yuta and you feel so blessed
Doyoung
Power: Precognition
You beg him every possible waking minute for him to allow you to do his makeup if only to contour his insanely sharp cheekbones, he finally relents but he has a scowl on his face the whole time
You’ve become quite a baker with Doyoung but he always has to guide you so his arms snake around your waist as an excuse yet he acts completely innocent when he knows it makes you distracted
Playlist for every occasion, especially when he’s having sex with you, the house ends up feeling hollow whenever he’s away without his angelic voice but to your surprise, Doyoung leaves you secret audio files lulling you in a trance
His mouth becomes a cherished part for you, especially the way the corners of his lips curl up naturally, the small smirk instantly widening when in front of food, or the blinding white teeth as he’s gritting them when approaching an orgasm or laughing at you, not with you
It takes about five minutes for Doyoung to arrange his plushies in the right position so you both don’t ruin them as you cuddle
One arm draped over a plush and the other wrapped around your back, or him in a fetal position with his plush embraced into his chest as you act as the big spoon
Hand holding is strictly for the bedroom with him, but he knows you admire his hands often, so he’ll have him some type of connection with you when out in public; whether it’s his pinkies wrapped around yours, curved into the loop of your pants, or his delicate veiny hand wrapping around your sleeve
End up catching him more than once, gushing over the phone with his brother about how in love he is with you and you may not lurk in the background for a few minutes until you interrupt the conversation by saying hi to Donghyun
Downtime for you two is building a puzzle, coloring some pages, playing board games and him smug with his victory, watching some documentaries or kdramas, and if you two bought some new furniture for your renovating house, he would most definitely want to do it by himself as you laugh while handing him pieces
Manages to still be shy when you both kiss, it’s you who initiates the subtle peck on his pouting lips, but soon the soft curve of his lips invites you more while your hands cup his warming cheeks--he’s a contradiction of being timid but with all the confidence as he nibbles your lips as if you were a delicacy
Training for you two equals nap time, his power allows him to rely on his mind rather than his body, so when you ultimately force yourself to exercise, Doyoung is laying on the couch, lazily cheering you on
Always giving you little compliments in your earpiece as he guides you around for a recon mission, and still holds his breath when he tells you about the unforeseen event that you need to be prepared for even though he knows you can handle it with ease
Studies multitudes of intel before a mission because he can never be too prepared, and it eases his nerves knowing that he can take every precaution in ensuring your safety
Would dedicate a photo album of himself on your phone, and even send you his recent selfies, telling you to choose one of them as an updated contact photo
You clown him 24/7 but he clowns you right back, it’s always a constant playful banter between you two, his eyebrows would furrow when you called him cute, the trembling of lips broke his facade, and when he does it to you, you essentially become his baby as he bites your cheeks but tell no one or he would deny it
From the moment you two wake up until you both arrive at headquarters, he has sullen look across his features, he would brush his lips across your temple and a hoarse good morning would escape his mouth in a notion to acknowledge you, but until he gets coffee in his system his energy hasn’t been restored yet, but your use to it as you tug him to the break room with his lidded eyes
Alone time is a must for you two, it could be both of you in the same room doing your own thing without communication or different parts of the house or mostly you would leave to run errands and Doyoung stuck in his room, but at the end of the day he crawls to you and says a small ‘hey’ as if his day just started from the moment he set eyes on you
Doyoung was always on alert, aware of incoming predictions that he had no say in but easily accepted, it’s a strain on his mental being, a reason why he needs to center himself by being alone, but then you come
Your blank, just like him, you’re unpredictable and foreign to him, but it’s not until you two kiss for the first time, that a hazy premonition reveals itself in a form of two children that share your hair but his feline eyes, it’s fragile though and uncharted, he knows that he needs to do right by you to get to the last level that seemed like paradise to him
Team Dreamer
Jaehyun
Power/Being: Android
During his exoskeleton stage, Jaehyun requested that the scientists create dimples during his living tissue transplant because he heard “they’re to die for”
Definitely thought it was a weapon utilized to kill his enemies
You make a habit to poke at his dimples until you feel the exoskeleton underneath, an oddly comforting sensation that makes you realize that Jaehyun doesn’t have a heart but his actions say otherwise
Literally the personification of steam coming out of ears in cartoons with scalding red tips, this only happens when you’re in danger or when he sees you in what he perceives as provocative
It took five hours to draw an array of tattoos on him for a disguise on a reconnaissance mission, and a certain neck tattoo was going to make you abandon the mission and your sanity
Sadly, he had to erase them because the “the bad boy” persona was an official disguise in his hardware and couldn’t be revealed to the public
Jaehyun kept one design, however, a soft beauty mark on the apple of his left cheek, he claims it’s your signature as his owner but you like the word partner better
Programs all your training sessions and signature moves to his hard drive because he believes there is no better instructor than you (except Bruce Lee)
The first time you helped him clean his internal munition unit, you couldn’t decipher any of the weapons so you gave them your own personal nicknames, he kept correcting you but he got tired so he now calls them “wholly fist” and “boom boom pow by the BEP”
You joke around with him that because he was created on valentine’s day, he should be credited as a sexbot but he always frowned at that comment until he figured out he could turn the tables on you by saying “I could be your sexbot”
Whenever he sees another person eyeing you in what he perceives is attraction, he activates his instant kill function with laser red eyes and declaring “target locked”
Suave and intimidating when you two first meet but truly transformed into a ‘soft boy’ after downloading your Pinterest board
Whenever both of you are out in public, eyes ogle him and mouths gawk, but Jaehyun is oblivious to it all until he turns to someone and starts up the most wholesome conversation about something mundane and you know that person melts with ease because Jaehyun was built to reflect human nature, but he was doing better than most in your opinion
Lots of arcade dates with him, he quickly figured out the algorithm of each game just so he can overflow you with gifts and so he can show off his basketballs skills because he knows you love eyeing his arms in action
When he’s with you though, he’d rather listen and absorb every action and word that you produce, he wants to immerse himself in you because he truly believes that you are all that is good about humankind
Archives every single detail that you speak, and replays it for you when you forget something or to prove you wrong, there is no in-between
Robot sex!!!! That drilling option though...oof
The moment he realizes the blaring internal alarm warning him of his elevated temperature and the shorted circuits whenever you are near, he correlates it to what humans label “love” so he downloads files on expressing these so-called feelings
Instead of saying “I love you”, he says “I dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin you” when he first confesses, and you assume there is a chemical imbalance within him so you rush him to the infirmary but for the first time, Jaehyun stalls and his eyes are clouded with retrieved information glowing neon green until he settles on “I love...I love...I love you” (yes, he stole it from Mr. Darcy, so sue him, he’s a fracking android)
Jaehyun sometimes doubts his ability to love you and even you sometimes question if you can love a piece of metal, but then you observe him before he joins you in bed that he triples check his instant kill function is disabled and he gushes about the new song he discovered and you are so sure that he was made for you
Jungwoo
Power: Lightning Bolt Projection
Gets easily flustered with the most pouty lip ever when you call him ‘Zeus’, it was his failed superhero name when he was trainee, but to you, he is much better than that jerk of a Greek god
Dressed up as the actual Zeus once for the office Halloween party and the year after that as a lightning bolt and you a storm cloud
Whenever Jungwoo craves attention but you’re occupied with another task, he repeatedly zaps you, not enough to harm, but until you cave in yet when you want to be annoyed with him, his owlish eyes and trembling lips easily subdue you
Your shoulder is a sacred space for him, it's the perfect fit for his head to settle in with a toothy grin and the warmest ‘mhms’ as he listens to you speak
Jungwoo was never much of a fighter, his powers were swift enough to eradicate enemies with not much mobility, but training sessions with you were more than enough of an excuse to spend time with you
Lately, your skin has been electrifying, not only the amorous glow you were emitting, but everyone you came in contact with felt a slight spark
Hair treatments are a must, the frizz is wild with Jungwoo, you really need to ask about his hair products because his hair so fluffy despite the amplitude of currents running through him
While brushing your teeth with him, he always shoots out finger hearts to you and winks through the mirror, it’s a great way to start the day
Never felt more grateful for his power until you were attacked on an assignment and your heart failed, it took four shocks to revive you with streams of tears and muttering to any God to hear his prayer
He’s most himself in the rain, umbrellas have never been on your shopping list
Definitely shoots bolts out of his finger guns and then blows on them afterward, if he’s feeling flirty, an added wink explodes your heart
Your biggest cheerleader when you are kicking ass during a mission
It’s a tradition for him to rake his fingers over your back with slight ripples of electricity while you cuddle in bed, it does wonders to relax your muscles
It’s been months of practice to improve his bolt voltage and range, but he finally managed to write ‘I love you y/n” in the sky, he couldn’t help it, he’s bursting at the seams with adoration for you
Both of you in the kitchen is a sight to see, you season but he cooks the food, his specialty is slightly charred chicken
Packs both of your lunches so you can eat together on break
Gets scared easily and as a result will discharge a lightning bolt as a defense, so pranks are off-limits between the team members
Literal sparks when you kiss, numbing and exhilarating as currents pass through your molding bodies to create goosebumps and raising hairs
When he thinks of home, his first instinct is to be cradled in your arms, watching trashy movies as a thunderstorm quakes the earth
Mark
Power: Compulsion
Mark might excel in whispering but when you turn the tables on him, with your sultry murmurs, he can’t help becoming a puddle of blushing mush
Never once used actual compulsion on you, the only exception is when you figured out the surprise birthday party he was planning for you, he redirected your attention to grocery shopping
His favorite part of you is your right ear because it’s where you naturally tuck your hair at and he just loves to twirl a strand of it in his finger while he mutters sweet nothings to you
You’re his bodyguard during missions, he can’t possibly get that close to targets while they attack if you aren’t watching his back
Even when he is supposed to be acting intimidating during an assignment, he can’t help but stutter and repeat ‘uh’ a thousand times, but he gets the job done eventually
Your literally breaking sweat, contorting your body so four targets don’t reach Mark, and he’s over there oversharing with another target
“The love of my life is about to kick your ass and you aren’t going to do a single thing about it, booby head” or “make the password ‘mark and y/n forever’ or else”
Naturally whispers in his sleep with his stinky breath in your ear, and you try to push him off but he just clings onto you like a koala
In the morning though, the slight breakage in his voice from pitched to croaky as he says good morning to you is on repeat in your head for the whole day
Mark’s give away when he is about to use compulsion is him licking his thin lips, and almost makes you get knocked out by the enemy because your already under his spell
Does a tiny dance for any occasion, from doing the laundry, stripping naked, or when you two had your first kiss
It’s the strained grunts, the heavy breathing, and the showering of hushed compliments in your ears that makes you reach your peak in bed, Mark always sounded better when he was being pleasured
To him, your voice is the loveliest sound across the universe and your adorably awkward cackle that you so desperately try to hide as he reenacts vines to you is what happiness is to him
Ice cream dates consist of him bringing a tub of ice cream to a yogurt shop because he knows you prefer it
Coughed over his first fart with you but now he loves to fart on you as you pretend you are suffocating and gagging
Has a folder in his photos dedicated to you where it ranges from blurry to candids and in during most of them he was either hyping you up or teasing you
Greets you with a ‘yo!’ whenever he enters the room
Will always buy you any lip product associated with watermelon and you’ll always buy him baseball caps for him to wear
Despite being loud for 90% of your relationship, he is most vulnerable with when he whispers his greatest fears, future goals, and nightmares to you because your the only one he can trust
With the many decibels that Mark Lee varies in, your favorite by far has to be the ascending chortle from the low HAs to the high HEEs with clapping hands and a scrunched nose that puffs out his cheeks-- it’s pure bliss to you
Haechan
Power: Light Manipulation
Haechan is utterly in love with your cheeks, instead of biting them or pinching them, he opts to kiss them whenever he has a chance, it’s rushing heat of your blush and the swelling of your smile that he lives for
The little spoon in bed, just so he can wrap his leg around you and nestle his head in the crook of your neck just like a koala
Literally always a brat to you, it’s the many ways he shows you affections
You asked him once to paint your nails, and now he does it every Friday ever since he discovered the ‘my hands look like this so hers can look like this’ meme even though his hands just have bitten nails
A man of action, Haechan shows you love through his movements with a heart framed by his fingers or blowing a kiss
Needs to always be physically attached to you, whether it’s hugging you from behind, leaning his head on your shoulder, or falling into you when he’s in a fit of giggles, he needs you to know that he will never let you go
Snarky remarks and cheesy jokes define your relationship with Haechan
Manages to always wake up before you on those lazy mornings with you burrowed deep into his side, and he can’t help but be memorized by your presence but soon feels selfish when he moves a ray of sunlight to your eyes so he can just peek at the explosion of colors in your eyes when you flutter them open--ah yes, this is his favorite part of the day
Loves to play video games with you into the late hours of the night, especially overwatch, but your always the first one to pass out, so he makes sure to tuck you in and dim the light of the screen so it doesn’t bother you
Most nights the both of you are wide awake so you end up playing ‘what the light?’, a game where Haechan creates 3D objects out of light and you have to guess what they are before he finishes them
Oh, and shadow puppets! He’s become quite the expert with them, he creates the most ridiculous stories with them but you join him by voicing the characters
In addition to ‘I love you’ as a goodbye, you have a secret intricate handshake with him, his excuse was that if you two ever question’s one identity if ever an enemy swapped bodies, you two would know the truth with the handshake but in reality, he just loves that extra time with you before you two part
It’s either Haechan teasing and making fun of you or he’s doting on you, there is no in-between because after all, you are his idiot
If he’s in the mood, he’ll solidify light photons into the shape of a sword and call it ‘sunflower’, he just loves to tell the tale that he took out fifteen assassins with a sunflower, but usually, he blinds them or burns them
Goes the extra mile for you to create a spotlight on you when you are giving a mission brief at headquarters, that’s the love of his life right there and he’ll make damn sure everyone notices them
Recreates Edward’s sparkling in the sun scene just so he can see you beam with laughter
Master of mood lighting during sex, and don’t even mention when he hits his climax, bulbs flickers and lamps explode
It might be a trick of the light, but Haechan’s eyes are vividly bright and he’s drowned in golden hues of sunlight, it makes you wonder if he was plucked from the star itself
Yet, as your lips quiver and your glassy eyes blink the last remnants of tears in Haechan’s cupped hands, there is an inner glow from them as you bask in their warmth, he can’t help but proclaim that you are the sun of his world, you are the light of his life even when it feels like his is diminishing
#NCT 127#NCT#nct 127 punch#nct 127 au#nct 127 x reader#what did i even write#im choosing either jaehyun or yuta#taeil x reader#taeyong x reader#mark lee x reader#johnny suh x reader#kim jungwoo x reader#jaehyun x reader#haechan x reader#doyoung x reader#yuta x reader#nct scenarios
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“I made your favorite.” For CatRaf? 😘😘😘
Thank you for sending this in Jo! Please enjoy this little slice of life piece that I had so much fun writing!
“What day does dad come back again?” Liz asked as she hung upside down on the couch, The Old Man and the Sea in her hands as her long hair pooled to the floor beneath her, “I need to know when to get his present ready.”
Cat looked up from the stove to Liz, “You’re not going to try and deface property again are you?”
“I was joking,” she gave Liz a sideways glance, Liz changing her tune, “Well the shop owner gave me permission, not my fault it was the wrong one we needed.” Cat shook her head, turning the stove down, “Danny is the one that drew it,” Liz grumbled.
“But you let yourself take the fall for it,” she pointed out, her daughter letting out a huff, “You want to take a break from your homework for a little bit?”
Her brown eyes looked over to Catlina, narrowing slightly, “Depends,” Liz let her legs fall forward cartwheeling off the sofa, “What are you making?”
“The recipe your grandmother left for me to start,” Cat looked down re-reading the instructions making sure she understood what was written, “I feel like this doesn’t need that much paprika.”
Liz put her chin on her mom’s head, “Careful mom, you know how they can be about following the recipes. Dad had to get it from someone.”
“Hush you,” Cat said, laughing as she waved Liz off of her, “Will you start peeling the potatoes for me, please?”
Liz smiled, getting the peeler out, “You didn’t answer my question though.”
Cat hummed, “He flies in the twenty-ninth.”
“What are we going to be doing when he comes in? Are we celebrating his birthday first or Christmas? Cause I vote we get the capitalistic holiday out of the way first.”
Cat looked up to her daughter, eyes tired, “You love Christmas so don’t try to put your social justice airs on for me.” Liz scoffed mumbling to herself, “I think it’s going to be Christmas first. I don’t know what we can do for his birthday.”
Liz gave a solemn nod, “You left it to the last minute didn’t you?”
“I did not, now peel those potatoes,” Cat tied her hair up letting out a breath, “I just feel like we’ve done everything at some point for him. There’s nothing left to do that just feels special enough for him.”
Liz stopped peeling looking up, “I’ve never seen you make him any food for his birthday.” Her brow knitted together frowning, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you two make anything for each other for events that special. What’s up with that? You two cook so often you think you would have at some point in my life.”
“That….,” Cat stopped thinking it over, “No we can’t. It became a rule and after all these years of peace, we don’t need World War Three happening.”
“There was already a threat of that mom,” Liz pointed out, “And I’m sure yours and dad’s isn’t going to live up to that one.”
“Watch yourself,” Cat warned, “Just trust me, it’s better for everyone if we don’t touch that flame.”
“Mom, it's not that difficult, all you have to do is make his favorite food and be done with it.” Liz put a hand on her hip, “Besides what can be more special than doing something he would never expect from you? You say it yourself all the time, you making food is a labor of love. Why is making something for dad on his birthday any different.” She stood straighter, “In fact I find that that qualifies as more reason for you to show him that you love him.”
Cat crossed her arms, Liz was right and she hated to admit it, “There’s also one hiccup in your plan honey,” Cat turned back to the stove, “I could never make the dish to his liking. He’s so particular about it. I’ve tried and just can never seem to get it right. Even he doesn’t like it when he makes it.” She gave a heavy sigh, “No one else can make it like his mom.”
Liz rolled her eyes, “Oh so tragic that she isn’t currently staying with her for a while.” Liz held a potato up after seeing the narrowed eyes her mom gave her, “I know, I know. Watch the sarcasm. But mom seriously just ask her to teach you. Grandma isn’t going to be offended, bet she wants to teach you.”
“I want to teach your mom what?” Raf’s mom asked as she walked in setting bags on the counter, Liz rushing to help her put the groceries away.
“How to make dad’s favorite dish,” Liz said giving her mom a smile, “She wants to do something special for his birthday.”
“Oh,” the older woman said looking at Cat, “is that all?” Cat nodded, glancing between the stove and her mother in law, her grey hair falling into her eyes as she pointed to some places in the kitchen, directing Liz where to put items. “Where’s your younger brother?”
“Sketching upstairs,” Liz saw the package of sweet rolls, longing to have one, “You got him his favorites didn’t you?”
“Of course I got them for my little Cielito,” she said sweetly, handing the bag over to Liz, “Here put these in the bread box with his name on it, Loquita.” Liz muttered under her breath as she put them away, going back to peeling the potatoes. She gave a clap of her hands turning to Cat, “Now what’s this I hear about you wanting to learn how to make my most secret recipe?”
“You don’t have to. I can always come up with something else to make or do. Liz just thought it would be nice because it’s something we never really do.”
“You never cooked for my boy?” She asked a serious note in her tone.
Cat’s eyes went wide, “Oh no. That’s-that’s not what I meant at all,” she stammered, “I cook, we cook, for each other all the time we just agreed to not on special occasions. It’s just you know- it makes life easier so we aren’t trying to pass the other one up.”
“You and that damn competition of yours,” she waved off, “You know there’s no beating him. But here,” she placed her hands on Cat’s shoulders, looking her in the eye, “I will teach you.”
Cat blinked a few times, “You will?”
“Of course. I can’t have that recipe lost just because I didn’t have a daughter of my own,” Cat and Liz opened their mouths to speak, “I only taught Raf the basics. He doesn’t have the permission to learn the secret ingredient. It’s why he can’t make it properly. Gotta keep the boy humble.”
Cat and Liz looked at each other shrugging, “Can’t blame you.”
“Exactly,” she gave a single clap before pointing to Liz, “Now you. Out of the kitchen. Go and find your brother.” She turned her eyes on Cat, who shifted under the woman’s gaze, “You finish that recipe so I can see just how much my son has taught you.”
“I-. Well we don’t have to start right now,” Cat watched as Liz made her way upstairs laughing to herself.
“I have to know where to begin with you,” she pointed a finger to the skillet on the stove, “because I already know you didn’t measure out the paprika.” She turned Cat to face the stove before taking a seat at the breakfast bar, “Now show me what you got.” Cat stared at the stove trying to remember where her place was. She turned ready to ask a question, “No you can’t have any help.”
Liz came back down the stairs, Danny following behind her, “Is this a test to see how good of a teacher dad is?”
“Grandma’s actually teaching mom how to cook?” Danny asked as he made his way into his grandmother’s outstretched arms, “This oughta be fun to watch.”
“Mom,” Liz said noticing how still Catlina had become, “You were on the sixth step.”
“I said no helping,” her grandma warned, looking down to the sketch book Danny had brought with him, “What are we working on today my Cielito?”
She took it from him, as he sat down next to her, “Something for dad since our last attempt didn’t work out.”
“Awww,” she pinched his cheek, “Your sister should have done more research, so that your art could grace this county.”
Liz got a glass of water taking a sip, “And we wonder how dad could have ever gotten his ego,” she mumbled under her breath. Cat smiled holding back her laughter.
“I heard that Liz,” she said, not looking away from her grandson.
“Grandma, if not for Liz I’d have been arrested,” Danny reminded her.
She gasped pulling him close to her, “Oh, you’re right. Your face could not survive such horrors.” She gave a smile to her granddaughter, “Thank you Liz.”
“Wessy would have gotten him out before the paperwork was even finished,” Liz joked, rolling her eyes as she sat on the other side of Danny.
“How is Wes and his wife doing lately?” She asked watching as Cat made her way through the recipe picking up a serrated knife, “You need the chef’s knife, my Lina.” Cat nodded grabbing the one from the wooden block.
“They’re doing well, mom,” Cat said chopping up some of the potatoes, “Wes got a promotion and Wren has been doing a lot of great work with the kids and starting plans for connecting music therapy to the schools. They also really enjoyed the cookies you sent over to them for Christmas.”
“Of course they did. Are their kids still doing well in school?”
“Willow always does. Same with Wyatt when Liz doesn’t rope him in to something potentially stupid,” Danny teased.
“At least I’m not taking after my namesake and pining,” Liz gave him exaggerated puppy dog eyes.
“Danny is this true,” Raf’s mom asked.
Cat looked up to Danny seeing the blush creeping up his neck, “Yeah. I didn’t know you had a crush on someone at school.”
“It’s not a crush. We’re just friends,” he argued.
“And so were your father and Wes,” grandma stated, “Now I just want to know who so I can start listing off reasons why they aren’t good enough for you.”
Liz subtly flipped the sketch book a few pages to a sketch of the girl, “He draws pictures of her.”
Danny snatched up the book holding it close to his chest, “Liz,” she stuck her tongue out at him, “that’s not funny. She’s just my friend and these are from a school project that she helped me with.” His cheeks burned as Cat held her hand out for the sketch book.
“Give it here, it’s causing too many problems now,” Danny handed it over, his mom putting it on the counter, Raf’s mom looking at it over her glasses.
“Her hair is too curly,” the three of them gave a side glance to the old woman, “We’d lose the Estrada curl that’s too perfect.”
“Mom,” Cat said laughing.
“What? We just got lucky your dad’s hair had a curl that was close enough to ours,” she said ruffling Danny’s hair, “Now it’s even more perfect.”
Cat rolled her eyes, “Grandma how come you never ask Liz,” Danny looked his sister in the eyes as she took another sip of water, “if she ever has any crushes at school?”
“Liz do you have anybody that you like at school?” Liz stayed silent shaking her head, “See there we go.”
“That’s not fair,” he pouted, Cat shaking her head as she grabbed the small measuring spoons.
“Pobrecito Cielito, Liz doesn’t need the protection that you do,” she wrapped him in her arms, stroking his hair, “You’re soft and sweet just like your mother. You need someone perfect.”
Liz looked over curious, “So then what do I need?”
She didn’t look up to Liz, “You need a Wesley.”
Cat snorted, holding back her laughter as Liz’s mouth fell open, “What’s that supposed to mean, Grandma?”
She pulled away from Danny with a sigh, “It just means that while Danny here,” she cupped his face, “is soft and precious just like your mother,” she gave a smile to Cat before turning to Liz, “While you my dear are like your father.”
Danny laughed pointing at his sister, “You’re bossy Liz!” Liz glared, lightly punching his arm.
“So I just need someone to boss around?” She leaned back in the chair crossing her arms in a huff, “Well that’s not happening. Never going to find someone here like that.”
“No you won’t, because,” their grandma said pointing to Liz, “you need someone that will keep you grounded but appreciate your flying. If it was just a matter of who’s the boss and who’s not then your mother and father would have never worked out.”
“I feel that is our dynamic mom,” Cat said, putting the finishing touches on the meal, “He leads I follow.”
“Wrong.” Her finger moved from point at Liz to Cat, “You remind him how to lead. Don’t think I forgot the first Thanksfighting, you held your own against him. He did relent eventually,” Cat grabbed some plates from the cupboard brow knitting together, “He did. It’s harder to see but I know it when I see it.”
Cat shook her head making plates for them all, “Well no need to question something if it’s not broken. Danny, make your grandma some coffee, there’s hot water on the stove already.” He nodded making quick work of what his mom asked of him. “Shall we eat at the breakfast bar or the table?”
“This is fine,” Raf’s mom told Catlina, taking the mug from Danny, “Thank you. We might get to cooking lessons right away.” The four of them grew silent as they ate for a few minutes, Cat’s eyes not leaving her mother in law, waiting for her reaction. She gave a small shrug with a small frown, “It’s not bad, Lina,” Cat took a breath waiting for the rest, “but could use a little work.” She turned to Danny, “Danny! Get my chef’s coat!”
“Ohhh,” Liz started smiling, her laughter intermixing with her voice, “Mom’s in for a crash course in cooking.”
“I love how you think you’re exempt from this Loquita,” her grandma laughed, “Come. If I’m gonna teach your mom, I’m going to save time and teach you too. Two generations taken care of.”
Liz whined looking to Catlina for help, giving her daughter a shrug, “Estrada’s are nothing short of efficient.”
“I thought that was the Rojas’,” Liz argued.
Cat rolled her eyes, “It's from both sides. Besides this was your idea and I’m sure it’ll be fun.”
The week that followed stopped being fun pretty quickly as the three generations tried to work together in the kitchen. There was no formal recipe, so both had to pay close attention without getting in the other’s way, all the while Danny got to watch eating the sweet rolls and sketching the scenes from time to time. Raf’s mom made sure there was nothing but perfection from Liz and Cat, their days getting longer as the pieces came together, their bonding feeling more like a bootcamp. Finally, two days before Rafael’s expected return Danny was finally kicked out of the kitchen and sent to his room, the time finally coming for them to learn the secret step that was tradition for only the women to know. One that wasn’t mastered until twenty four hours before Raf’s return.
That night, Cat and Liz were tasked with making a portion each to make sure it was the perfection grandma expected. The two tired as they placed their plates in front of their judges, leaning against the counters. “I’m never listening to your ideas again mom,” Liz whispered.
“I don’t know what planet you just came from,” Cat narrowed her eyes at Liz, “but this was your idea.”
“And you should know better than to listen to me,” Cat rolled her eyes at the comment watching her mother in law. Cat’s hands starting to shake as her heart thundered in her chest, Is this what it feels like to be on the TV competitions?
Raf’s mom looked to Danny, the two giving curt nods, the older woman stepping down from the chair, arms outstretched. “Mijas,” she embraced them both, “It is perfect! I am so proud of you both.” When she pulled back her eyes looked at Liz first, “Yours can use a little work but you’re still young,” she gave a pinch on Liz’s cheek.
Cat had started to laugh as the two discussed what needed to be fixed when her phone rang. Cat ran to it, her smile spreading seeing Raf’s picture on the screen, “Raf, please tell me they gave you an earlier flight. The kids and I miss you so much. We can’t wait for you to get home!”
He was silent a moment before letting out a sigh, “I know you do Conejito, but,” Cat’s face started to fall at his hesitancy, “there’s been some delays here because of the weather.”
“Oh,” Cat said crossing her arm across her chest, “You’re just gonna be a bit later than expected which is okay. We can all wait up for you.”
He gave a small laugh, “I’d love for nothing more than to see all your faces as soon as I walk through that door, but it’s expected to be an extra day, maybe a few more depending on how this storm goes.”
“I-I see,” she turned away from everyone else hiding her disappointment, “What does it mean if it’s longer than a day? Will you be able to extend your leave?”
“I can’t this time, mi amor. Worst case is that I would only get a few hours with you all,” she could hear the pain in his voice, “Which is fine, so long as I get to see you all, but we won’t be able to do much more than have lunch.” Cat stole a glance behind her to their kids, their faces growing sadder as they put two and two together. “Look, we just have to hope for the best okay. We do that and it’s going to all work out.”
Cat nodded, “You’re right. That’s all we have to do. In the end we get to see you still and that’s what matters.”
“Exactly, and don’t worry I’ll keep you updated,” she heard him swallow hard, “Are the kids there? I want to say hi to them.”
“Yeah, your mom is here too still,” Cat handed the phone off to them making her way up the stairs to the master bedroom, wiping the tears from her face. It just didn’t seem fair that while he was away he only got so much time to fly overseas to see them, only for a storm to hit where he was making it harder for them to see each other. She gave a sigh making sure she looked presentable before making her way back downstairs.
The next twelve hours were slow and filled with dread as they all waited for updates on what was happening with Raf. It was Liz that spoke up first during the family’s transition to another movie, “I can’t stand to mope about any more today! I’m calling Tia Wren to come and get us.”
“And do what,” Danny asked looking up from where he laid against Cat.
Liz stood putting her hands on her hips, “Anything but what we’ve been doing. Time will move faster if we go out and do something.” She held her hand out to her younger brother, “What do you say?”
Danny looked up to Cat, giving him a nod, “Alright let’s go call them.” He jumped up following Liz to the other room.
Raf’s mom moved to sit next to Cat, putting an arm around her, “I’ll drive them there. You stay here just in case he never got a chance to update us on his arrival.” She kissed the top of Cat’s head, “You look like you could use the rest anyway.”
“Mom,” Danny called out, “Aunt Wren and Wes want to know if it’s okay for us to stay the night there. They have something planned for dad and want us to help out.”
“Are they planning a party?” Grandma asked, “Cause if they are I will stay with you all.”
Danny nodded going back to the room, “You don’t have to do that mom. They’ll be fine with them.”
She waved off Cat’s comment, “I like planning parties and I can give them a little break too. Take the kids out to a movie or something.” Cat’s phone chimed with a text from Raf. It was a selfie of him with a sad face next to a screen with the estimated arrival date of his flight. From what Cat could gather from the picture he at least wasn’t where he was stationed at. She gave a sad laugh showing the screen to his mom. “He’s not coming in until tomorrow it looks like,” she gave a sigh, hugging Cat, “You still get a few days with him, mija.”
Liz and Danny rushed back into the room, “They said you can stay if you want grandma,” Danny said as Liz made her way up the stairs. He took in their faces, “Any word on dad?”
“Tomorrow afternoon,” Cat told him, “Sorry buddy.”
He gave a shrug, “He’s still going to be on time for the party and then we have him all to ourselves for a few days after that.” He gave Cat a hug, “It’s all going to work out mom, just you wait and see,” she gave him a kiss on the cheek before letting him rush up the stairs to pack an overnight bag.
Cat looked to Raf’s mom, “Do you know how to get there?”
She nodded, “A little and if anything I’m sure those two know how to get there.” She gave a pat on Cat’s knee as she stood to collect her things. The three of them were saying their goodbyes to Cat in the span of ten minutes reminding her to keep the party a secret as they drove away. Cat laid herself down on the couch putting another movie on to keep the silence of the house at bay finding herself falling asleep for the duration of it. She woke to an update from Raf, this time showing himself at an airport that looked more clearly to be one in the states, his face looking bored as he stared off into space, the caption reading “Why must airplane food taste worse than MREs?”. The second picture he sent was one of a golden retriever that had rolled onto their back looking up to Raf, it’s tongue hanging out “Since when does Wren let Wes out without a leash.”.
Cat couldn’t help but laugh at the pictures, sending a selfie of her own worried face, “Well that’s a problem considering I just sent the kids to stay with him for the night.”. Raf’s response was quick as he sent his own worried face. She laughed a moment before her heart felt like it was pulling towards him, “I miss you, my love.”. His response took a little longer, the little dots staying up as he must have been deciding what to write before settling on, “I miss you too.”.
Cat looked up to the ceiling debating what to do with the time she had. She didn’t feel like watching another movie yet and the time showed that it was too early to start getting ready for bed or even dinner. Her eyes looked to the kitchen, it wasn’t too early to start making a meal though. Cat got up making her way to the kitchen, making the dish she had perfected, readying it to be stored in the fridge, just under cooked enough for it to taste it’s best when she heated it up.
Time was still stretching as she just decided to make her way upstairs to take a bath and relax. Another update from Raf, this time a picture of the inside of a plane, “One more layover!....I don’t know how long it will be.” a sad face emoji with a tear became its own text. She smiled settling in, asking him to hurry back to her along with a picture of her in the bath as extra incentive. She found herself getting ready for bed once the water became cold, her routine taking longer than normal making herself perfect for Raf’s return.
By the end of it she still found herself wandering around the house settling back down on the couch getting her favorite show ready to watch, one more text from Raf coming in. This time it was a professional photo of a blue horse statue with red eyes, followed by the familiar terminal behind Raf’s smiling face, “Praise Blucifer! I am within driving distance if I have to be.” Cat laughed simply sending a kissing face emoji to him. Her mind no longer able to focus on the show as she laid there her heart racing, knowing he was just so close to her. Her eyes started to close as a slow song played during an episode, her mind already playing a scene of her and Raf together again.
The moving headlights hurt her eyes as she sat up in the now quiet house, catching the time on her dying phone, six in the morning. She yawned, stretching out her arms, hearing the faint sounds of a car door slamming shut. Cat walked to the front door of the house, smoothing out her hair, watching as a familiar silhouette passed the windows, heart racing as she wanted nothing more than to run to him. The door opened slowly, his smile meeting her first as he stepped through, Cat running into his arms as the door closed behind him.
He lifted her easily as she buried her face into his neck, wrapping her arms and legs around him, “I missed you so much,” she said between her tears falling, kissing his cheek.
“I can’t even begin to tell you how much I missed you,” he pulled away far enough to take in her face, kissing her deeply, his arm tightening around her. “Is everyone asleep upstairs?”
Cat shook her head, “They’re all at your brother’s place,” she put her hands around his face kissing him again, “You said tomorrow afternoon, so they stayed the night.”
Raf moved them further into the house setting her on the back of the sofa, “It was going to be,” he kissed down her neck, his hands running along her legs, “I guess I must have looked so sad seeing that picture of you,” Cat started to unbutton the jacket he wore, “because someone gave up their seat to get me home faster.”
“Well I am thankful for them,” she pulled on the lapel of his jacket bringing his lips down to hers. His hands moving under the silky pjs she wore, trails of fire forming with each touch of his fingers against her skin, as his lips moved down her neck. Cat gave a small moan parting her lips, before she started to hear Raf’s stomach start to growl. She laughed pulling away from him, “When was the last time you ate?”
“It doesn’t matter,” he tilted her chin to look her in the eye, “I can wait.”
She shook her head, “No, mi amor,” she pushed him away gently, “You need to eat or else you’ll have no energy.” She got down from the sofa making her way to the kitchen, “Besides I made your favorite,” Cat stopped at the fridge holding on to the door turning to him, “and I promise you that it’s going to be worth the interruption.”
He leaned against the counter, arms crossed, cocking an eyebrow, “Oh will it now? Cause you’ve tried in the past to make it.”
“Well I didn’t spend a week learning exactly how to make it from your mom,” she teased as she bent down grabbing the food, feeling Raf grab her hips.
“She actually taught you how to make it?”
Cat nodded, setting the food on the counter, “Liz too. Even had to make a blood oath to never tell the secret step to you or anyone else. Only our granddaughters.”
He laughed, pinning her against the counter, giving her a kiss. When she didn’t start laughing with him, he stopped, “Oh you’re serious. Even the blood oath?”
“Well Liz and I both cut ourselves at least once during the week and your mom said it counted,” she explained holding up her hand with the mostly healed cut between her thumb and forefinger. He smiled, bringing her hand to his lips.
“Well at least you and Liz survived.”
His hands started to run up her body, bringing their hips together, “I’m still going to make sure you eat dinner first,” she whispered in his ear.
He kissed up her jaw before whispering, “And what if I just want to skip straight to dessert,” he lightly bit her ear lobe while his left hand found its way into the waistband of her shorts. “There’s only so much time we truly have alone,” he said lowly, his fingers running over her lace underwear, sending small waves of pleasure through Cat. “We should take advantage of it, mi amante,” his hand left her shorts lifting her by her thighs, Cat’s legs wrapping around him on instinct. She smiled kissing down his neck, reveling in the moans he gave her as he walked them up the stairs.
Once at the top he set her down letting her pull his jacket and shirt off before Raf had her against a wall his kisses feverish and hands rough, Cat’s trying to keep up as she fumbled with trying to loosen his pants and feeling his toned body. She wanted every part of him, making it known as she made a space big enough to rub his already hard length, his hands starting to push her towards their bedroom. The two didn’t even bother closing the door as Raf threw Cat on the bed, letting her watch as he quickly removed his pants, pulling her legs to the edge to remove her clothing.
He brought himself onto the bed using his hips to part her legs for him as he kneeled above her taking in her body. His hands ran down her body lightly, as her breathing became heavy as his touch traced every part of her. Cat moved her hips up trying to get some kind of friction, Raf pushing them back down against the bed. She let out a small whine growing tired of him, in her mind, teasing her, pulling on the dog tags that still hung around his neck. She kissed him roughly taking advantage of the small surprise on his end to force him on his back, straddling him as she moved her lips down his neck and across his collarbone. Her hands played with the waistband of his boxers, sliding in after he gave a few breathy moans from her kissing alone, running her fingers up and down his shaft. He let out a groan, his head falling back, muttering to himself as she kissed down his torso, stopping just above hips. She gave a smirk biting her lower lip, meeting his eyes as she said, “Welcome home, my love,” she pulled his underwear down letting her tongue run along his length, “and happy late birthday.”
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Mine
Ship: Taron Egerton x Female Reader
Word Count: 4413
Summary: You and Taron are out celebrating when you happen to see your celebrity crushes at the bar. After getting a few pictures with them and having a chat, Taron is strangely quiet during the ride home. An argument ensues and it gets hot and heavy in the room.
Additional Tags: SMUT, rough sex, argument, swearing, unprotected sex, kissing
Sitting at the bar of the club was Cillian Murphy and Joe Cole. Two of your favorite actors and the stars of your favorite show at the moment, Peaky Blinders. Since starting the show, you have been obsessed with the two men and have been following them on social media, as well as watching their entire careers through earlier works. You couldn’t believe you were in the same room as them and excitement flowed through your body. You felt like you were in high school again, secretly stalking your crush through the halls.
You were at the local club downtown with Taron and some friends, celebrating your new job promotion. You worked extremely hard as an assistant director and Taron knew it. So tonight, he decided to congratulate you with a night filled with drinks and well-deserved, candid fun. Currently, Taron was talking to Bryce and you were attempting to hold the conversation with your best friend, Sierra. But your eyes couldn’t help but wander over to Joe and Cillian. Sierra followed where your eyes were trained and grinned.
“Oh, what are the chances? Both your celebrity crushes in the same place at the same time as you?” She spoke in your ear. “I’m pretty sure this was a fantasy of yours if memory serves me correctly.”
“Don’t make it obvious. I don’t want them to know I’m checking them out.” You chuckle and sip your drink. You hadn’t caught either of their eye yet, which was good for the moment. You were staring kinda hard and it would’ve been awkward. It’s a shock Taron hasn’t noticed yet.
You look over at your boyfriend sitting across from you. He laughs loudly along with Bryce, probably at something he said. You smile a bit at him. The pure joy in his face and his body language in this moment made your heart smile. Your little bundle of joy.
“Oh, come on, (Y/N). Just go up to them and ask for a picture. You’ve been waiting for this moment for years. Take the opportunity now.” Sierra encourages and gives you a little nudge.
Your eyes widen and you laugh nervously. “Are you kidding? I could never go over there alone. I would freak out as soon as I tried to introduce myself. No way.” You shake your head and decline the vote of confidence trying to creep into your system.
“I’ll go with you. Besides, who’s gonna take the picture?” She points out.
“Don’t you want a picture with them too?” You ask.
“You can take mine after I get yours. You need to shake those nerves and just do it. Don’t be a wuss all your life.” She teases with a grin.
Your jaw drops and you put a hand over your heart, faking insult. “Ouch.” You say with a flip of your middle finger. She giggles and shrugs, gulping down the rest of her drink.
“Now or never, (Y/N).” She raises her eyebrow and nods towards them. You bite your lip and look over towards the two men. They were just having a chat with people nearby, casual and candid. What’s the worst that could happen? You were just getting a picture and leaving.
With a quick gulp of the remainder of your drink, you sigh and look at your friend. “Let’s go.” You say.
“Woo!” She cheers and grabs your hand, standing up and pulling you along with her. As you get steady on your feet, Taron looks your direction with a curious smile.
“Where ya going, babe?” He asks, slightly yelling over the music. He takes in your body and smiles to himself before looking in your eyes.
“Just gonna go to the bar and get another drink. Do you want anything?” You answer with a grin. Okay, so it wasn’t the complete truth, but it wasn’t a lie either. You were going to the bar, just not specifically for a drink.
“Nah, I’m good. Be careful. It’s a bit crowded in here.” He says and you nod.
Sierra walks you both over to the bar, slipping in between dancing bodies. At first, it didn’t seem like a big deal. They were just regular people who just happen to be famous entertainers. They also seemed pretty chill. No reason to be scared.
But as you drew closer and their full figures were in your line of sight, your heart began to speed up. Though they were just normal people underneath the titles, you still have been crushing on them since the show began airing. You couldn’t make a fool of yourself now, or you would never live it down. Oh boy, please don’t let this go wrong.
Finally, you and Sierra stood in front of them, a wide smile on her face. “Hello, boys.” She speaks to get their attention. Joe turns around first and his eyes immediately land on you.
“Well, hello girls. Are we in your way?” He asks and flashes his signature smirk. You blush lightly and smile, but on the inside, you were screaming very loudly. Keep your cool, (Y/N). Cillian turned around and took a sip of his beer, showing a grin afterwards.
You breathe and find your voice, speaking up. “Actually, we came over here for you guys. We’re huge fans of Peaky Blinders and wanted to know if we could get pictures with you, if it’s not a bother.” Sierra nods at them and squeezes your hand shortly, a way of saying good job.
“Of course! It’s no bother at all for two beautiful girls.” Cillian speaks. You cheer to yourself and look over at Sierra. She winks at you and nods for you to go first. Giving her your phone, you walk over to the men as she sets up the camera.
“Hi, my name is (Y/N).” You introduce yourself and wave a bit timidly.
“Hello, (Y/N). Nice to meet you.” Cillian greets you and opens his arms a bit. You smile and give him a hug. Very gentle, yet secure.
“My turn.” Joe jokes and you and Cillian laugh, pulling away. You move over a bit and give Joe a hug, taking in his warmth. This was hands down one of the best days of your life.
You stand in between them and wrap an arm around them. Both of them put an arm around you and you blushed. You were in heaven.
“Alright, smile on three. One. Two. Three.” She counts and takes the picture with flash. Sierra shows you all the picture and you nod in approval. You heart was beating a million miles a minute. You just got a picture with Cillian Murphy and Joe Cole! You thank them and step towards Sierra to switch places.
She gives you the phone and you look at the photo as they go through introductions. You still couldn’t believe it. Your other friends were gonna be so jealous. Sierra calls out to you and you look up, seeing they were ready.
You smile and hold up your phone. “Smile on three. One. Two. Three.” You count and take the picture with a smile. “Got it.” You open the picture and show them. They all nod in approval and Sierra thanks them, stepping towards you.
“So, what brings you lovely ladies here tonight?” Joe asks curiously.
“(Y/N) just got a new promotion at work.” Sierra says and looks at you. You blush and smile, nodding at the actors.
“Oh congratulations. What do you do?” Cillian smiles and takes a sip of his beer.
“I’m an assistant director. 4 years strong.” You reply proudly.
Joe lets out a cheer and begins clapping. “That’s awesome. Maybe we’ll be working together on a project someday.” He raises his eyebrow and smiles.
“I would love to work with you guys. It would be a dream come true.” You geek out a bit and smile wide.
“Maybe we can get you and your friend on the set of Peaky as well. Give you guys an exclusive tour and you can meet the rest of the gang. Sound good?” Cillian proposes the idea and flashes a grin.
You nod and smile warmly. Is this really happening? This couldn’t be real. But when Sierra squeezes your hand and smiles at you, you are reminded that this is your reality.
You two decide to stick around and chat with them a bit longer. Joe bought a round of shots for you all and you happily accepted, clinking glasses before knocking back your shots with ease. You chat and share laughs. You find yourself getting closer to Joe, standing next to him and engaging in a conversation about your experience in your field of work. You share gentle touches, nothing more than harmless flirting between you two. Sierra keeps an eye on you as she chats with Cillian. This was clearly a boost on your already great night.
---------
Taron continued his chat with Bryce, but looks across the table at one point. Noticing you still weren’t back yet, he asks Bryce. “Hey, do you see where (Y/N) went?”
Bryce looks around and shakes her head. “Nah, it’s really crowded in here now. But she said she was going to the bar. See if you can see her from here.” She suggests as her eyes study the crowd.
Taron sits up a bit and starts looking towards the bar, trying to find anything to identify you. He stands up and focuses in, determined to find you. Suddenly, he sees your shirt and smiles. Sierra was still with you, which was good. But who was that guy you were with? He couldn’t exactly identify the stranger since his back was facing his direction.
But what Taron did see was Joe grab your hand and kiss it gently. You turn your face away to hide the blush on your cheeks. Taron furrows his eyebrows. Who the hell was this guy? Were you flirting with him? Taron couldn’t put together what he was seeing.
He watches you give Joe your phone so he could put his number in it. Taron glares at you both and lets out a deep breath he didn’t know he was holding in. He couldn’t believer this. You were openly flirting with a stranger! He starts to go over to you, but Bryce grabs his hand. Looking down at her, she shakes her head and pulls him down to sit.
“Don’t jump to conclusions. He may just be an old friend, Taron.” She tries to persuade him. He opens his mouth to protest, but Bryce raises her eyebrows as if to tell him no. He sighs and closes his mouth. “Talk about it at home. At least finish having a good time here.”
“Yea, you’re right.” Taron gives in. But his mind was replaying the scene over and over. He wasn’t happy at all, but he wasn’t going to make a scene. At least not here.
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You and Taron drove home in an eerie silence. He had been acting strange since you left the club. He wasn’t talking to you nor looking your way. He just kept his eyes on the road and his hands on the wheel. You were confused, what happened between then and now?
“Baby” You speak to get his attention.
“Hm” He grunts, still not looking in your direction.
“Are you okay?” You watch him closely.
“Fine.” He gives you a short answer.
“Are you sure?” You reach your hand out and place it gently on his thigh.
He tenses underneath your touch and shifts a bit in his seat. “I’m driving, (Y/N). Move your hand.” He mumbles just barely above a whisper. You raise your eyebrows and move your hand slowly. What the hell was going on? You turned your attention to the atmosphere outside of the window and don’t speak until you’ve gotten to the house. This was going to be a long night.
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Stepping inside the apartment you two share, you take off your shoes and walk further into the house. Turning around to face him, you fold your arms over your chest and watch him. “Are you going to talk to me now?” You press him on the matter.
“Who was that guy?” He asks and leans against the door.
You furrow your brows and drop your arms. “What are you talking about?”
“I saw you at the bar with Sierra. You both were with two guys and the one you seemed to be rather close with was flirting with you. You were doing the same.” He spoke, but you could hear his voice begging to raise a few octaves. But he was going to be patient and hear you out, for now.
You scoff and rubs your eyes, not believing your ears. “Are you being serious right now? You gave me the silent treatment the entire care ride home because I was talking to som-“
“Flirting, (Y/N). You were flirting with him.” He cut you off in the middle of you trying to clarify this situation. “He kissed your hand and you blushed like a damn teenager.” His voice began to raise.
“Okay first of all, it was a hand kiss. Nothing more. You’re acting as if he actually kissed my lips.” You begin to defend Joe.
“Who was he, (Y/N)?” Taron asks again, his arms now folded against his chest.
You sigh and close your eyes. This is not happening. “It was Joe Cole. Sierra and I noticed him and Cillian Murphy at the bar and went over to get some photos.” You give the full explanation. Maybe now he’ll relax a bit.
But Taron didn’t look convinced. In fact, he looked a bit more pissed off. “So, you were openly flirting with Joe Cole. Did you forget that I existed or something?” He squints his eyes at you.
Oh no he did not. “What are you implying, Taron?”
“You two looked pretty comfortable. Ya know, as if you don’t already have a boyfriend. Or is Joe your boyfriend?” His tone was bothering you and you felt your blood get hot.
“I’m not gonna sit here and listen to this.” You raise your voice.
Taron pushes his body away from the door and slowly steps towards you. “I’m just trying to understand why you were cozying up to him at the bar.” He keeps his eyes locked on you.
“I wasn’t cozying up to him! I was being friendly. If I complained about every woman you flirted with, we’d be arguing for days!” You throw back at him and stand your ground.
“I don’t fli-“
“Don’t even try it! Before I even told you Sierra was my best friend, you couldn’t stop touching and flirting with her. If anyone was giggling like a schoolgirl, it was you!” He stopped a few feet away from you and rolled his eyes. “And let’s not forget your female friends that you make sexual jokes with.”
“They are my friends! Not strangers!” He yells. “Don’t pretend you don’t do the same.” He says through gritted teeth.
You glare at him. Just as you open your mouth to speak, you chuckle softly and shake your head. “I can’t believe this.” You say, figuring out what this was about. “You’re jealous.”
Taron rolls his eyes. “Oh please, what do I have to be jealous for?” He speaks bitterly. You were right.
“You were jealous of the attention that I was getting from one of my celebrity crushes. You’re unbelievable.” You look in disbelief.
“I have nothing to be jealous of.” He warns you with a stern tone. “You’re mine and mine only.”
“Really? Because Joe seemed to like me a lot. Ya know, maybe I should put his number to use. Go out to dinner with him.” You begin to taunt him.
“(Y/N), stop. I mean it.” Taron spit out.
“Why? Afraid to admit I’m right?” You raise an eyebrow. Now that he brought you to this point, you were going to push his buttons. But just how far were you going to go with this?
Taron scoffs and turns his back to you, rubbing his temple. He needed to calm down.
“You know what, I will go to dinner with him. I’m sure he’s a lovely guy.” You press on.
“Oh, I’m sure he fucking is.” He cursed.
“I bet he’s a good kisser as well.” You taunt him with a grin.
His head shot in your direction as his eyes widen. “Oh really? You wanna go there?” His words were warning you to stop before it got out of hand. But you were willing to go there.
“You’re damn right I do. And you know what else?”
“What?” He glares at you, daring you to say your next sentence.
You smirk. “I bet he’s great in bed too. I’ve seen the show enough to picture it. He knows what he’s doing.” You finish and stare directly in Taron’s eyes.
That was the final straw. He takes a few long strides towards you before his hand is wrapped around your throat and you’re pushed against a wall. You gasp as you feel the slight pressure on your throat and Taron’s body pressed against yours. His breath was hot on your neck as he took in your scent. His free hand roamed your body slowly, ghosting over belly and waist.
”I don’t think I heard you correctly darling. Say that again.” He whispers into your ear. You feel the hand on your body lowering until it reaches the waistline of your leather skirt. Your breath hitches as he travels lower. “I can’t hear you.”
You gulp. “I-I said Joe was-oh god!” You breathe out when Taron’s hand finds its way underneath your skirt and is ghosting over your clothed core. His fingers softly rub over your clit through your panties and your body instinctively push against his fingers.
“What were you saying?” He looks dead in your eyes, watching for every reaction. You bite your lip and look in his eyes. As soon as he moves your panties to the side and teases your core with his fingers, you close your eyes and swallow the moan threatening to break free.
“Taron, please touch me.” You whine and try to get some friction from his fingers. But he was teasing you, pulling his fingers back ever so slightly every time you squirmed.
He brings his face close to yours, your lips barely centimeters apart. Reaching out as much as he’ll allow, you try to kiss him. But he pulls his face away from reach, grinning at your frustration. You try again a few more times and you get the same result. With a whine, you give up.
“Is this what you wanted all along? You just wanted me to touch you?” He asks, but already knows the answer judging by how wet you are against his fingers. He teases your entrance with the tip of his finger and you moan lowly.
“Shit mmm.” You bite your lip. “Baby please, I’m sorry. I’ll be good.” You try to convince him.
“What do you want, love?” He teases and begins kissing your neck, biting down softly. He knew your body and knew it got overwhelmed when it was hit with too many sensations at once.
“Touch me, Taron. Please baby.” You whine and give him the best puppy eyes you can manage. He growls and kisses you roughly. You melt into the kiss, battling his tongue for dominance. With your focus on that, you don’t notice him sliding your panties down a bit and pushing two fingers inside you.
You gasp at the feeling. “Oh fuck!” You moan out. He smirks and kisses your neck and collarbone, fingering you fast. He was hitting the right spot with every thrust of his fingers. You close your eyes and moan loudly. God, his fingers shouldn’t feel this good inside you. This wasn’t fair.
“I bet Joe couldn’t make you this fucking weak just from his fingers, now can he?” He taunts in your ear and bites down on your earlobe gently.
“Taron!” You whine and grind against his fingers. You were gushing against his fingers with every stroke of your spot. Your orgasm was building quickly, but you were trying to hold it back for as long as you could. But Taron knew when you were holding back with just a simple feel of your walls clenching around his fingers.
“Oh babygirl, you’re getting close.” He whispers in your ear. “I’m nowhere near finished with you.” He uses his thumb to rub your clit and speeds up his fingers.
You cry out and can’t help but tighten around his fingers. “Fuck T-Taron! I’m gonna cum if you ke-ep oh doing that.” You plea with him to get him to slow down. But that only triggered him to go faster. Your body tenses and you try to close your legs around his fingers.
He pries your legs open and smirks down at you. “How close are you babygirl?” He asks.
“So close. Taron pleaseeeee!” You whine and bite your lip. All you needed was a few more thrusts.
But all hope seemed lost when Taron pulls his hand away suddenly. You let out a shaky sigh and pant heavily. You look up into his eyes and whimper.
Taron grins and brings his hand closer to his mouth. Looking in your eyes, he takes his middle finger and sucks it clean. You watch and lick your own lips, desperate for a taste. Once his finger had no trace of you left on it, he raises his other to your mouth. With no hesitation, you take his finger into your mouth and savor the taste on your tongue. You moan at the taste and clean his finger off effortlessly.
He grins and pulls his hands away from your body. For a short second, you have time to breathe and try to cool down, your orgasm still too close for comfort. But it doesn’t last long as you feel him tear your panties away from your body and pick you up in his arms.
You gasp and wrap your legs around his waist instinctively. “Taron, wha-“ You don’t get to finish your question as he cuts you off with a strong kiss. With your body still pressed against the wall and your tongues battling, Taron unzips his jeans and pushes them down along with his boxers and teases your entrance with the tip of his cock.
“You’re soaking, (Y/N). I wonder who made you this wet.” He teases you and bites your bottom lip, pulling gently. You groan at the feeling and kiss him passionately. Taron takes the opportunity to thrust into you fully, swallowing the loud moan that leaves your throat. He doesn’t give you any time to adjust and goes at a steady pace, holding you tight in his arms.
You moan loud as he fucks you against the wall, not missing a single beat in his rhythm. He starts kissing your neck and marking your body. Marking you as his and only his. Your hands tangle in his hair as you fully enjoy the sensation he’s giving you.
“Taron, baby” You whimper out and pull his hair a bit. He grins and picks up his pace, putting one hand on the wall next to your head to steady himself. Your legs tighten around his waist as you feel your orgasm building up inside you. Biting your lip, you try to keep in the obscene sounds daring to leave your throat.
But Taron noticed and wasn’t having any of it. He holds you close and walks you both over to the dining table, laying your body down and moving your legs from around his waist to on his shoulders. “Don’t be shy now, love. Let them hear who’s making you feel this good.” He leans down towards you and thrust into you hard, taking your breath away. The new angle was perfect to hit your spot, and of course he knew this.
He fucks you fast and hard, rocking the table a bit with each thrust. You were trapped between the table and his body, with no other option than to take it. The thought alone made you gush and the way he hit your spot over and over was tightening the coil in your stomach quickly.
You clench around his cock tight and moan loudly. “Taron! Fuck I’m so close!” You yell out and tangle your hands in his hair.
His hands gripped the table and began putting all his force into his thrusts. He was owning you and making sure you would never forget it. “Who’s fucking you like this? Who’s making you scream loud enough for the neighbors to hear?” He grunts in your ear and you cry out.
“You, Taron! Only you baby!” You scream out and feel your legs start to shake. You needed to cum now or you felt like you were gonna explode. “I need to cum! Oh shit!”
“Cum for me, babygirl. Let them all hear who’s making you cum.” He bites down on your neck and grins.
You closed your eyes and let your orgasm go. You felt your body unraveling as your orgasm washed over you. You screamed his name and he grinned at the sight. It only took a few more thrusts from him and he was cumming inside you. Your walls were still gripping his cock tight as he came. He groans into your neck and lays on top of you.
“Fuck babygirl.” He pants and kisses your neck softly. You pant and close your eyes, trying to catch your breath.
“My legs, Taron.” You pat his back. He sits up and lays your legs down, loosely putting them around his waist. “Thank you.”
“Mhm.” He presses light kisses to your neck, moving up towards your face and covering your face in kisses. You chuckle softly and just endure his treatment. Finally, he gets to your lips and gives you a long, passionate kiss. Not too rough or needy, just relaxed.
You break away from the kiss and look into his eyes. “I’m sorry about what I said earlier. I just was upset.” You say softly, gently caressing his face.
He smiles and kisses your lips. “I know love. It was just in the heat of the moment.” He says. You smile and bite your lip. “But, don’t forget who owns you.” He grins and playfully slaps your thigh.
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Chemistry | knj
This is part of the BSC 1st Anniversary Drabble Request Exchange!!
Scenario: hybrid au + Namjoon + hybrid him and hybrid reader go to a school for hybrids, they’re vice president and president and maybe they both have a crush on the other but dont know about the other’s crush (some jealousy would be cool 🥰 thanksss 💜)
Word count: 3.6k
Pairing: hybrid!Namjoon x hybrid!reader
Warnings: unprotected sex (stay safe!), little bit of ol’ dirty talk
You pulled the poster down angrily as your tail twitched furiously behind you. Ears laid flat, you stood, fuming, in the middle of the hallway.
“____?” Haeun asked, nervously. “Everything okay?”
“Absolutely not.”
Haeun, being a bunny hybrid, was timid in comparison to your feline attitude. You were the only panther hybrid in your school, and everyone was afraid of you. You weren’t sure why, but that was just how the gavel fell. Haeun had been your friend since childhood, enduring the hardships of being hybrids together. Even now, hybrids were segregated to their own schools.
You were currently in the running for senior class president with your arch enemy, Namjoon, a wolf hybrid. You had been at odds for years, vying to be on top of your class and each time he seemed to get the best of you, even though you were equally matched.
“Why does he feel the need to try for everything I want?!” You crumpled the paper in your hands and threw it into the nearest trashcan.
“I think he knows it gets to you,” Haeun interjected.
“Of course, he knows it gets to me. Smug jerk.”
You spotted him across the cafeteria laughing amongst the rest of the baseball team and sneered at his stupid, boyish smile. For someone so cute, he was the most annoying.
“I’m getting this.”
The next week called for a student council meeting of the current board and to establish rules and school functions promoting the election. You crossed the mostly vacant room and planted yourself in a desk closest to the windows, hoping to avoid talking to anyone. You were staring out of the window waiting for the others to arrive when you felt the downy swish of a tail brush against your arm. Before you even turned your head, you were painfully aware of who had just sat next to you.
“_______,” his smooth voice swept across your mind like rain.
Twisting in your seat and narrowing your eyes, you flattened your ears and looked at him through pierced eyes.
“Namjoon,” you said with a snarl.
“You’re cute when you’re pissed.” You knew he was messing with you, egging you on and trying to get a rise from you.
Your ears perked back up and your tail wrapped around your midriff as you turned back towards the windows.
“Hey, come on, it was just a joke. How about we try getting along for once?”
He reached out to touch your arm and you immediately withdrew and snarled at him.
“Not likely, Namjoon.”
His eyebrows rose in curiosity, but he didn’t seem deterred by your behavior.
“You don’t scare me.”
“What?”
“Everyone is afraid of you. You keep up this façade,” he said gesturing towards you, “but you’re not as scary as you look or Haeun wouldn’t be friends with you.”
“What do you know?”
“I’ve known Haeun for years and she’s not friends with just anyone.”
“You don’t know me.”
“I’d like to.”
“No thanks.”
“Suit yourself,” he said as he settled back into his seat, tail swishing lazily across the floor.
The rest of the weeks were pure torture as the election went on. Polls were not in your favor and you were trying your hardest to at least win something over Namjoon for once. No matter how much you smiled, talked to people, or tried your best to win them over, your numbers were not going up. Wholesome, all-around Namjoon was stealing your votes and you couldn’t understand how.
One day, you decided to approach him as he walked to his car.
“Hey, Namjoon!”
He turned in surprise at the sound of your voice and smiled widely.
“Is the pretty panther talking to me for once?”
“Cut the shit. How are you doing it?”
“Doing what?”
“Getting all of the votes.”
“Uh, well, same as you, talking to people and working events.”
“But you’re winning.”
“Look, ______,” he said with a sigh, “I’m going to break it to you, you’re not the nicest person.”
You looked at him, affronted.
“Okay, fuck you.” You turned to walk away, but he quickly grabbed your wrist and you felt the goosebumps rise on your skin.
Turning back, he was looking at you seriously.
“I’m trying to help you.”
“Forget I asked,” you said walking away. Namjoon didn’t call out, nor did he follow you.
Your forehead hit your desk with a thud as the results were announced over the intercom. Namjoon had gotten president and you had gotten vice. Yet again, Namjoon had beaten you. Haeun chewed on her bottom lip but didn’t say a word because she knew better than to try to comfort you. You were short-tempered and your feline instincts were to act in disdain and anger.
“This isn’t going to affect me,” you said as you rose from your desk.
“Wait, you’re not mad?” Haeun was quickly following behind as you made your way to first period.
“I’m fuming.”
Haeun stopped in her tracks and didn’t follow you further as you walked to chem. What sucked about all of this was that you had first period with him, and he was your lab partner. The universe was a cruel mistress when it came to your fate. You slid onto your stool next to him without a sideways glance as you dropped your bag on the floor.
“Congratulations.” His deep voice resounded in your ears.
“Same to you,” you said still looking ahead to the front of the class.
“Going to the dance this weekend?”
You shrugged, not really wanting to have casual conversation with him right now.
“Maybe I’ll see you there?”
“Maybe.”
“Absolutely not,” you said as Haeun held the black dress out to you.
“It’s hot.”
“It’s egregious.”
“You’ll make Namjoon look twice.”
You did a double take as you stared at her with wide eyes.
“Excuse me?”
“Oh, come on, _______,” she said flopping down on your bed, “I’ve seen the way you look at him.”
You sputtered as you tried to quickly defend yourself, not making it look better.
“I do not like him. We hate each other, why would you say that?” You were pacing around your room, flailing your arms and all Haeun could do was smirk and lie back on the bed, watching you flounder.
“Look at yourself, you’re so flustered you can barely talk.”
“Okay, he’s cute, but that’s it.”
“Suit yourself, but you should really wear that dress.”
Haeun gave you a smug look as you resigned and walked to the bathroom, dress slung over your shoulder.
“I feel ridiculous,” you said as you walked into the crowded gym. You pulled at the hem of the dress, willing it to magically become longer as you slouched.
“Stand up straight, you look like a sick giraffe.” Haeun wore a cute pink dress that accented her equally cute personality. Her soft, furry ears glistened in the low lights of the gym and her nose twitched excitedly.
You stood to full height, a good foot over Haeun, and glanced around the gym. You spotted Namjoon right away with a pretty junior you recognized but couldn’t bother to remember her name. You felt a flush course through you that felt oddly like jealously, but you quickly dampened it.
“Let’s get a drink,” you said pulling Haeun along behind you.
The crowd parted as you made your way through, receiving ogling looks from both boys and girls alike.
“Told you that dress was a good idea,” you heard behind you.
“Shut up, Haeun.”
You heard her laugh as you reached the table, grabbing two cups and handing one to her.
“Prince charming is coming this way.”
Before you could turn around you heard his low voice behind you.
“Well, hello, Miss Vice President.”
His eyes raked from the tips of your toes to the tips of your ears.
“Can we help you?”
“I was just coming to say hi.” The small cat hybrid beside looked at you with disgust, but he wasn’t looking at her.
“Hello and goodbye. Looks like your date is pissed.”
Namjoon looked at the girl beside him like he had just remembered she was there. “Ah, well, enjoy your evening ladies.” Haeun nodded and raised her cup as he walked away.
“He just eye fucked you hard.”
Your drink almost came out of your nose. “God you’re crude.”
She shrugged before continuing to drink and scanned the dance floor.
“I’m gonna go see if Yoongi wants to dance,” she said setting her cup down.
“The fox hybrid? That’s, like, a natural enemy to you.”
“Oh my God, I can’t with you, bye.” And she was off before you could protest, basically hopping as he sidled up next to Yoongi.
This night couldn’t get any worse for you. You quickly dipped into the shadows of the perimeter of the gym and snuck out the doors leading to the empty corridors of your school. Why you had agreed to come to this stupid dance was beyond you, but it was expected of the class vice president after all. You ducked into the all too familiar chemistry classroom you had every first period. Sighing, you walked to your normal table, sitting down to breathe. That was when you heard the door click shut softly behind you. Hair raised, you turned in the direct of the sound only to find Namjoon looking at you curiously.
“Are you following my every move now?” you asked him, annoyance evident in your voice.
He held his hands out defensively as his ears laid back.
“Whoa, no, I was coming to check on you.”
“I don’t need saving.”
“I’m not saving you.”
You both stared each other down for a few seconds too long.
“Why are you here then?”
He rubbed the back of his neck nervously. “Like I said, I was checking on you.”
“Thanks, now you can go,” you said turning back around in the stool.
A few seconds later and you felt the ghost of his breath against your neck, causing every hair on your body to stand on end.
“You look really good in that dress,” he whispered.
You gulped audibly as his fingers ghosted up your arm and came to rest on your shoulder. You couldn’t help the shiver that ran through your body and he noticed right away.
“Am I reading the signs wrong or are just as into me as I am into you?”
Your mouth felt parched, as if you hadn’t had water in years. Was this really happening right now? You were supposed to hate Namjoon. Your hands gripped the edge of the table nervously as you laughed; the sound coming from your mouth very unconvincing.
“I-I don’t know what you’re talking about,” you stammered. Your tail flicked nervously behind you, brushing against his legs.
His hand came around to cup your jaw so that he could turn your face towards him.
“I think you know exactly what I’m talking about,” he said as he placed a small kiss to the corner of your mouth.
Involuntarily, your mouth fell open and he turned his head to fully envelop yours with his, tongue immediately moving against yours. He moaned as he got the first taste and he was not disappointed; the sweet, tangy flavor of the punch was still on your tongue as he flicked against it. You turned in the stool and grasped the lapels of his blazer as you pulled him closer to you, spreading your legs as much as you could in the dress and pressing him against you.
“Feisty, huh?” he laughed against your lips.
“Just shut up,” you said kissing him once more. His hand traveled the length of your thigh but stopped at the hem of your dress. Throwing all caution to the wind you spread your legs further, causing the dress to ride up as well. He squeezed your inner thigh as his lips moved to your neck, your head moved to the side to give him more area. Brushing his fingers lightly against the fabric of your panties, he sucked and bit into the skin below your ear.
“God, I want to fuck you,” he moaned.
“Then do it.”
He seemed surprised as he pulled back to look at you.
“Don’t act like there hasn’t been sexual tension between us.”
He looked at you as if to say you weren’t wrong. Maintaining eye contact and quicker than you were able to notice, he had two fingers shoved into the side of your panties and into your awaiting cunt. You had already started to get wet, but this sealed the deal as he pushed his fingers in further, watching your reaction as you gripped the table with one hand while the other was still buried in the fabric of his blazer.
“Fuck, Namjoon, warn a girl.”
“I wanted to see your face.”
“What…w-what about y-your date?” You were finding it hard to form words as he pumped his fingers in you as he lazily brushed his thumb over your clit.
“Oh, her? She’ll be okay.”
Only the after hour emergency lights lit the room and Namjoon loved the way he could see your face half-shrouded in darkness, almost as if he were watching a noir film play out in front of him. Your eyelashes fluttered against your cheeks and casted soft shadows.
“God, you’re beautiful,” he said as his lips brushed along your cheekbone.
Your ears twitched in embarrassment as your tail came up to wrap around your waist. His other hand grabbed it softly and pushed it away as you relaxed.
“Don’t be so tense.”
You sighed as his lips came to yours, fingers still working you open slowly. His lips were gentle, soft against yours and you wanted to fall into the feeling forever. In the back of your mind you wondered why you hadn’t given in to this type of pleasure sooner.
“How do you want me to fuck you?” he whispered.
Your eyes rolled back, and your cunt clenched down around his fingers as he asked you the question.
“I don’t care,” you said breathlessly.
“Oh, come on,” he tutted, “use your words.”
He curled his fingers upwards against your g-spot and you gasped loudly; the sound seemed to echo in the empty room. Your palms began to sweat as you grasped at the slick surface of the lab table, thighs quivering, and your feet slipped off the rung of the stool.
“I want you to bend me over this table so that every time we have class, I think about it.”
Namjoon groaned and you felt his cock, hard in his pants, brush past your knee.
“Fuck, if I knew you had such a dirty mouth on you, I would have tried to fuck you sooner.”
He pulled his fingers out of you, grabbed your wrist, and jerked you upwards into a standing position. His lips were on yours once more as he pulled your tight dress up past your hips as you shimmied your underwear off yourself. You fumbled with his belt for a few seconds before you were pushing his pants down.
“Wow, no underwear?” you asked as his cock sprung free immediately.
“Didn’t feel the need,” he purred.
You grabbed his cock in your hand and reveled in the growl burning at the back of his throat. Just as languid as he, you worked your hand over his cock until he pushed into you. His hand came up to your throat as kissed you in a rush, tongue exploring as he pushed you against the lab table.
“Turn around,” he demanded while grabbing your hips, helping you along.
He pushed, hard, into the middle of your back, forcing your upper half onto the table as he spread your legs for a wider stance. Holding the base of his cock, he rubbed it between your folds, gathering the wetness that was now threatening to drip down your thighs. You moaned at the feeling of him rubbing against you and you wiggled your ass to hurry him up.
“I can’t wait to be inside of this pretty pussy,” he said bending over you, hand on the table beside your head, and slowly thrusting against you. “You know how many times I’ve thought of taking you in various places around school?”
Every inch of your skin was aflame as if a fire had been lit from within. A mix of embarrassment and arousal rushed through you like a wave; he was being so open with you and you weren’t sure how to respond.
“Dogs aren’t supposed to like cats,” you said looking at him through your peripheral.
He laughed as he bent down some more, nose in your hair, sniffing lightly before rubbing his face against yours.
“Well, I like this particular kitten.”
You both groaned in unison as he entered you. The stretch was far from uncomfortable; this was the best you had felt in ages. His hand was still planted firmly on the table as he began to fuck you with purpose. You felt his tail twitch and brush against your calves at each thrust. His face was in your hair once more, inhaling deeply as he moaned.
“You smell so fucking good. I’ve always wanted to be this close to you. Did you know you give off the most intoxicating pheromones?” His thrusts slowed but hit deep. Your eyes rolled back as he brushed against your g-spot.
Your hands slid across the smooth tabletop as you tried to hold yourself; your palms leaving sweaty prints in their wake. Namjoon lifted your right leg up behind your knee to deepen his already dangerous thrusts; it was almost like he had known your body forever.
“I need you to fuck me harder,” you begged.
Namjoon looked around him and to one of the lower tables that was wheelchair accessible.
“Move,” he demanded as he slipped out of you and pushed you towards the table. He guided you to lay flat on your back, legs hanging from the table. He positioned himself between your legs, grabbed your ankles and pushed until the heels of your feet were on the edge. He wasted no time before he was sliding back inside of you once more, hands back on your ankles as he pulled your legs to his shoulders. You cried out as he thrust faster, balls slapping against you.
“Is this what you wanted?” he asked through gritted teeth.
You tried to grab onto something, anything, but all you were hitting was a discarded textbook and the knobs of the built-in sink.
“Fuck.” You felt as if you were gasping for air, your body trying desperately to keep up with what was happening.
“Touch yourself.”
You popped three fingers into your mouth before bringing them down to your clit and rubbed fast circles. Your back arched off the cool tabletop as he gripped tighter to your legs and buried his cock as far as it could go.
“I’m gonna come.” You were practically in tears. Namjoon was watching you in such sharp focus that everything else around him seemed to fall away. In that moment, neither of you were enemies nor being two different species of hybrid mattered. Your ears were flat against your dark hair and you were the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. You clenched down hard around him as you came, mouth falling open and then closed again as you ground your teeth together to stay quiet. He fucked you through your orgasm and slowly pulled out of you.
“Look at that, you creamed all over my cock, baby,” he said as he started to pump himself, using your cum as lube.
You sat up on your elbows to witness the mess you had made before looking at Namjoon who was completely fucked out and fucking himself into this own hand. You reached forward, grabbed him behind his head and brought his mouth down to yours in a hard kiss that was less methodical and more chaos. Your post orgasm high had you moaning into the kiss as Namjoon’s hand worked over himself faster and faster. Images of you coming around him spurred his orgasm to a quick peak as he came, hot, on your cunt and thighs. His moans came out almost as a deep growl as his cum leaked down your skin and he backed up; steps almost faltering.
“Fuck,” he laughed. “I never thought this would happen.”
You sat up, reaching into a drawer on the table that you knew held paper towels. “Yea, well, neither did I.”
Namjoon grabbed the roll from you, pulling several off before wiping you down.
“So where do we go from here?” he asked.
“Back to the gym?”
He laughed once more as he gathered your belongings. “You know what I mean.”
“Oh, back to being mortal enemies I guess.” You pulled your underwear back on as he did up his belt.
“_______,” he said, exasperated, “I’m being serious.”
“I like you, okay? As much as I hate to fucking admit it, I like you.” A triumphant grin spread across his face at your admission. “But I’m not jumping into this.”
“Uh…I don’t know what you call this,” he said gesturing between the both of you, “but I think we already did.”
“Relationship wise, you goose.”
“You know, I’ve never met a goose hybrid.”
You slapped his shoulder as you pushed your way past him and to the door. You pulled it open and turned to look at him, hand grasping the wood. You made direct eye contact with him and then looked over towards the table before looking at him once more.
“See you in chemistry on Monday?” you asked rhetorically as you walked out, leaving a smiling Namjoon behind.
#BSCproject#btssmutclub#BTS smut#bts au#bts scenarios#bts imagines#hybrid!namjoon#namjoon x reader#nonidol!au#namjoon#bts#drabble exchange#BSC 1st anniversary drabble request exhange#hybrid!au#bts hybrid
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Worm Liveblog #108
UPDATE 108: Coil Reaches Endgame
Last time Skitter was going to spend time with Dad Hebert, a very long overdue decision. They decided to go to the town hall. Unfortunately for her day off, Coil is about to make his move, his major move, haha! Get it? Because of the mayoral—oh forget it. Anyway, this is happening now.
Since technology has been set back to levels not seen since the 1850s, everyone who wants to find out what the candidates say actually have to come here. Director Piggot is in front, alive and kicking, and presumably trying to leave behind the fact she most likely was left to wander around the city for hours with handcuffs and a gag made with a sock, given how communications were very restricted. Hmmm...if the director is here, then some PRT agents must be nearby too, I imagine. That should be good but I’m not sure they’ll hold their own against Coil’s troops.
Not too far away Taylor can feel Coil and his troops are getting ready. Circus is here, so that means there will be superpowered antics today. Say, I wonder if part of the reason why Coil told everyone to not go out costumed is to prevent any kind of intervention. The odds were low, but he’s not the kind of man who’d take a chance needlessly.
Let me introduce your candidates, starting with Mr. Roy Christner, our mayor incumbent. We also have Mrs. Carlene Padillo, city councilor of communications; and Mr. Keith Grove, C.E.O. of Eaststar Financial.
Huh, those jobs are...much more prominent than I expected, honestly. I thought they’d be two civilians indistinguishable from everyone else, but it turns out they’re notorious. I wonder what he offered to convince them to play along, or what kind of threats he issued.
Tonight’s subjects are crime, public safety and the state of the city. Would you start us off, Mayor Christner? What sets you apart from the other candidates in your views?
What a question! I’m half-expecting one of the other candidates to slyly point the current mayor caved under villainous threats and therefore would be a weak leader in these times of turmoil. Politics are a dirty game, and all that matters is which of the puppets wins, no? So one of them can afford to be confrontational and smear the mayor’s good name. Coil’s plans will go well as long as the mayor doesn’t win again.
The mayor talks about how tough the situation is, and then mentions something that gets my attention:
I’ve discussed the subject with Legend, with Dragon and with Chief Director Costa-Brown of the PRT.
We know Chief Director Costa-Brown is Alexandria and is currently in Cauldron’s side. Given how Coil is one of Cauldron’s customer, given how expensive his power was, I imagine Cauldron would try to protect Coil the best they could. Could it be Brockton Bay being under Coil’s control is a part of Cauldron’s plans?
As I expected, one of the puppet candidates doesn’t waste any time and attacks the mayor’s work, saying the promises to return Brockton Bay to what it used to be are impossible. In the meantime, Taylor tries to stop Coil from acting by telling him to stop. Being a reasonable man and deciding things were going well, Coil paid attention and left the place, taking his soldiers with him.
As if.
Of course that didn’t happen, he completely ignored the request. He’s in the pivotal point that’ll mark the start of his endgame, he’s not going to quit no matter what.
What puppet candidate Grove is proposing actually sounds quite reasonable – starting over and making use of funds given by international entities – and he even mentions the ferry, which I’m sure will convince some of those here to vote for him. What I’m not sold on is the part about promoting Brockton Bay as a symbol of perseverance and human spirit so new residents and tourism activates. Thaaat isn’t really going to happen at all during the next mayor’s tenure, that much I can tell you. Nobody will come live here or make tourism unless the renovations are finished at lightning speed.
I fidgeted. Could I attack? Should I attack? If I left now, maybe stepped into the side hallway, I could maybe avoid the soldiers, get to a vantage point where I could mount a counterattack against Coil.
Coil must know Skitter’s civilian identity, so that would put not only herself, but Dad Hebert in danger too. Acting will make her his prime target, on the off-chance she isn’t already. Personally I think it’d be better to wait and see what happens. Nothing says Coil can’t be defeated after he establishes his mayoral reign of terror, Taylor doesn’t have to act today.
Don’t mention the possibility of Dad Hebert dying, Taylor, you’ll jinx it!
The puppet candidates are relentless, they’re hitting the mayor with everything they have, saying he has part of the blame for the heroes’ failures, all the way back to Leviathan’s attack. I disagree, if only because how do you prepare for an Endbringer? I’m sure no matter who the mayor is, even if it’s the most beloved and adored person ever, they’d have to carry part of the blame because preparing adequately is impossible.
Taylor considers her course of action and reasonable concludes Coil most likely has ways to counter any attack from her, so perhaps waiting and seeing what he’d do would be better? Would he place innocent civilians in danger? Oh, no doubt he would! But hurting people randomly may be bad for long-term plans, no?
No, the blame lies with the PRT and the mayor’s administration, which he admits was heavily involved in the decisions made. Highly questionable decisions: Holding back when they could have intervened. Forcing confrontations when our heroes were gravely outmatched.
In their defense, I’ll say so many suits made by Dragon versus the Travelers and Undersiders wasn’t really gravely outmatched. How could the mayor and others know the villains were too clever and strong to be defeated by this? Heck, Piggot was oozing confidence while she was caught. I doubt anyone thought the villains would win.
The debate barely lasted five minutes before Coil makes his move, bursting into the auditorium with Circus, Uber and Leet with him. Speaking of the city’s threats, eh, civilians? Panic ensues, the soldiers block the exits. I imagine that means the civilians will either be used as leverage, or Coil wants them to listen to him.
I was wondering why there had been no mention of heroes being around, given there were important people in this town hall. Turns out Coil set fires on many places to keep them busy and away from this building, and even says he did the same on the Undersiders and Travelers’ territories to keep them busy as well. I’m sure that’s a bluff – the part about fires on their territories, I mean. It would kind of ruin the progress made, what after recovering those places from Dragon just the day before.
“You bastard,” the Mayor growled. “First my niece, now this?”
Niece?
Of course. I’d heard Dinah was niece to one of the mayoral candidates. I hadn’t realized she was the niece to the mayor.
So it turns out Skitter was unknowingly causing trouble to the mayor since longer than she thought. Goodness, that must have been a bitter realization.
Coil promises any civilian in the audience will be safe. Anyone who has a title or an important role, though, aren’t so safe. To demonstrate, he orders Circus to throw knives at the candidates. Well then! Pretty clear his intention here isn’t to create goodwill, haha, not that he’d have been very successful at that anyway.
I wonder if the two puppet candidates, currently with knives sticking out of them, are regretting accepting to do what Coil says. I’m sure he never mentioned they’d be stabbed. The mayor doesn’t seem to be dead, this must have been a demonstration that Coil can kill someone if he wants to, a warning to everyone. After all, if his parahuman accomplice can hit points without killing, surely hitting the right points would be easy.
That doesn’t deter Piggot, though. She confronts Coil, saying his actions here will make so many heroes come and try to crush him. That’d spell a lot of trouble for the Undersiders and Travelers, then, but I’m sure Coil already has some way to fight that. He tells Piggot he has it under control, pretty much, and commands Circus to stab her.
“The bitch is too fat. Thinking I didn’t hit anything vital,” Circus said.
“See it through,” Coil ordered, turning to leave with Über and Leet accompanying him. Circus turned to follow, flicking her wrist hard over her shoulder. Three knives traveled through the air, their paths eerily in sync as they nearly touched the ceiling, converging together as they dropped towards Piggot.
Well, dang, after everything that had happened I didn’t think she’d die. I really thought she’d be somewhat of a recurring character, but no, here she died. Dragon and Defiant will hear about this, that I’m certain.
Oh, nevermind, the Wards are here! Weld saved Piggot’s life, stopping the knives right away, and the rest of the Wards manage to stop Coil’s trained mercenaries without much trouble. Vista cut off any escape route, Kid Win is firing some non-lethal projectiles around, Chariot is attacking the soldiers – I suppose since he is Coil’s spy he already knew this all was going to happen – and Clockblocker is giving support- All in all, they’re turning things against the soldiers, no problem here!
Now, the parahuman villains. I’m not worried about Uber and Leet, they have never been what you’d call ‘a threat’. Circus may be one, if only for versatility. The Wards have advantage if numbers, anyway, once the soldiers are taken out. Coil is not a fighter, but at this point I refuse to believe he didn’t think something like this could happen, so it’s possible he has something up his sleeve. Heck, maybe he has the Travelers stashed not far away for all I know.
I just realized that, with all this happening, Dad Hebert will take it as confirmation of what he had said: it’s all just matter of time before a stronger villain comes to take everything, and here’s a stronger villain – possibly.
Everybody is being evacuated through the back of the stage, and Taylor considers helping. She decides against it on that she’d be in a bad situation no matter what. If Coil wins, he’ll know Skitter helped the heroes and he’d retaliate so hard Skitter wouldn’t have time to think of a way to protect her dad and herself. If the heroes win, then they’ll try to find out who Skitter is, and they already have enough information to make a pretty good guess. What else can she do but leave? Leave everything to the heroes.
All but the mayor were apparently alive. The only one I could wonder about was the mayor. He was lying prone, receiving CPR at the hands of two people.
The mayor just couldn’t catch a break at Coil’s hands, huh. Ever since this story started, Coil has been beating down this man, all because the mayor was, well, the mayor. I’m pretty convinced having a position of power in this world makes you a prime target for the villains.
Since this all is Coil making his move, the Wards seem to have decided they don’t need to keep Chariot around anymore, they turn onto Chariot and freeze him. Now he can’t do anything Coil may have asked him to do here. Coil, Uber, Leet and Circus arrive again, followed with soldiers, intending to fight the Wards. Why is Coil here? Wouldn’t it have been better for him to go away and leave everything to his parahumans and soldiers? He already said his piece and made people be stabbed, may as well go away now!
For some reason Coil dropped to one knee and activated something in Kid Win’s armor, something that starts to whine. Can’t be good! Uber and Leet shoot, Vista is done for and Clockblocker freezes himself, pretty much meaning he won’t intervene anymore either. Kid Win managed to fight back at them, all the villains turn to leave.
So, the plan is to teleport the whining device – an energy cell, it seems – away, up in the sky, where it won’t hurt anyone when it explodes. The fact it’ll explode wasn’t lost to anyone, everyone keeps trying to flee but all the panic is making that difficult, so Kid Win and Weld move quickly to complete this plan.
Or that had been their plan. It didn’t work out that way. I saw a flicker of light from the lobby, the glow of the device, and Coil wheeling around to face us, his screaming lost in the midst of the shrill whine and the shouts of the others.
Wait, what happened? How did their plan fail? It’s clear they managed to teleport the bomb, that much was clear, but how was it into the lobby instead of, well, up in the sky? Okay, it’s true that the part about it being teleported up into the sky was Taylor’s deduction, but somehow I can’t imagine the Wards teleporting a bomb in the middle of the villains, especially when there still are civilians around. What I do can kind of accept is that they would be a tad less stringent about not hurting the villains, though, seeing how they came here explicitly to stab four people.
--Coil’s body coming apart in pieces—
Okay! I call shenanigans. There’s absolutely no way in hell Coil will die at such point. There’s no way things can be so convenient for Taylor, which is also why earlier I was sure the heroes weren’t going to defeat Coil. Something’s up. Either Taylor was wrong about what she was seeing, or this isn’t the real Coil. I’m leaning towards the second because really, I’m still baffled Coil would return here after making his point. That can’t have been the real Coil at any point.
No more to think about now, because the blast reaches Taylor and Dad Hebert. Welp. So much for spending time with Dad Hebert. If there’s two people I feel bad for in this entire story, it’s Panacea and Dad Hebert. They both deserve better than what they got, geez.
Next chapter, since this is not a good stopping point.
Don’t talk about the weight of a body on top of you! Freaks me out about Dad Hebert’s state. I hope he’s just unconscious – and he is, thankfully. Taylor herself seems to be blinded, whether it’s temporary or permanent is yet to be seen, pun not intended. She’s forced to use her bugs to look around, or at least have an idea of what’s going on, carefully since she doesn’t want a swarm that could alert anyone Skitter was in the area.
The first responders are already in the area, thank goodness. I imagine Taylor will try to take her dad to one of the ambulances as soon as possible. There are fatal victims, they seem to be some of the press. Well dang, this really should bring other cities’ heroes down onto Brockton Bay, outsiders died. Chariot is gone, whether he was disintegrated or not is not clear. Clockblocker is the only Ward who was hurt in the explosion. This is all Taylor can determine right now, and one of Dad Hebert’s friends talks to her. They’re all hurt. Crap, it’s always tragic to see civilians getting hurt. Always hits me in the feelings.
Even in this situation, Taylor wants to stand up and go check on people, see if anyone is hurt. She gets away from Dad Hebert’s friend and approaches the mayor, who is still alive, thankfully. On the verge of death, but he’s hanging there. Right now he’s in danger of bleeding out. I remember Taylor has first-aid training, but if she does something wrong here she’d be liable for the mayor’s death, no? Besides, she can’t see a thing. So she calls for help, and nobody comes.
Say, now that I think about it, I’m surprised she left Dad Hebert behind. I’m not saying she should have carried his prone body around, buuuut I did think she’d stick with him no matter what.
Damn Coil. I would make him answer for this.
Yes, I had seen ‘Coil’ die. I had little doubt others had as well, even news cameras would have had eyes on the scene. Especially news cameras. Coil had staged this, taken advantage of the reporters’ cameras, the fact that there were no working communications, and all the important figures would be attending. He was too savvy, too invested in his plan to not have taken all the variables into account. Just the fact that I knew about his power turned this whole scenario on its head. He wouldn’t have charged in like this without a backup, without a version of himself staying safe and secure in his underground base, just in case things went awry.
No. I might have seen the man die, but the more I thought about it, the less I could believe that man was Coil.
Yes! Yes, exactly. Thanks, Taylor, you’re saying right what I had thought before. There’s just no way Coil died here, not after everything. He’ll control everything from the shadows. Given the situation, I guess that means the mayoral puppet stuff won’t be happening anymore? Either way, Coil must be alive, most likely in his hideout, waiting to hear everything went according to his plan.
A paramedic comes, and Dad Hebert is starting to wake up. Taylor tells the paramedic how injured she is, and even downplays how she can’t see. Instead, she urges them to help Dad Hebert, his friends, and the wounded mayoral candidates and Piggot. The paramedic listens, sending others to take care of them, and this is the extent of what Taylor can do.
It’s a bit of a miracle there aren’t that many people with serious injuries. Explosions are rather indiscriminate when it’s about hurting people, after all. Taylor herself may be the proof of that, all she got was general soreness and a burn on her face. The blindness is because she was looking directly at the explosion, not many must have been doing that. Taylor is calm, seething in her hatred for Coil, already planning to make him pay. Well I guess her course of action is clear: she’ll make sure Dad Hebert and his friend are safe, and then she’ll call Coil to demand an explanation as to what happened. Coil will once again have to deal with her ever-constant morality, he won’t enjoy it at all, hah.
Sort of like how I was looking at the potential end of the world. I wouldn’t worry about it until we’d exhausted every resource available and verified that in this era where countless people had the ability to break the fundamental rules of reality, someone couldn’t stop it from happening.
Well, she’s right about that, at least. Given how there were a lot of people who could do amazing and senseless things, someone may be able to do something about the end of the world. The problem is that Dinah sounded so certain of that, and so far I have no reason to believe she’d be wrong about something. Maybe Taylor should focus not on stopping the end of the world, but on what could be done with the people. Maybe everyone can be transported somewhere else away from the planet while it’s falling under Jack Slash’s horrors, like the moon. Or to an alternate dimension, since the Cauldron interludes showed making portals is possible. The problem is making it all be in a global scale and make it so the cause of the end of the world – whether it’s Jack Slash or something he makes happen – can’t come along.
Pretty awful thought: doing all that will be much easier the more people die. Geez, that’s negative.
Dad Hebert is already getting attention, so now the paramedic insists on taking a good look at Taylor, to make sure she doesn’t have internal injuries or anything like that. Remembering that’s indeed a possibility, Taylor accepts, getting carried around on a stretcher. Thank goodness, she’ll let herself rest a little. I was half-expecting her to leave right away to confront Coil, with a burn on her face and disheveled from being near an explosion.
Since she can’t move and she’s waiting on the stretcher, Taylor uses this time to think about Coil’s plan.
That was what got me. This whole thing bordered on senselessness. Hurting these people, putting me in the line of fire. Why attack the event? It would draw attention from heroes across the nation and it would make holding the city that much harder. Had he abandoned the plan? Or were there nuances I wasn’t aware of?
It is odd. At first I thought it may have been that he was trying to fake his death, by making a body double die in his place, but if the press died then their equipment must have been damaged too. There’d be no footage of Coil dying, nor there would be any proof of that, given how Taylor said he was pretty much torn to pieces. Besides, even if cameras and stuff had survived, what guarantee was there it was all looking at the maybe false Coil when he died? The only conclusion I can get to is that there must be some sort of plan or idea I can’t deduce yet.
That aside, if Coil was thought dead, it’d leave things go smoothly for a while. There was no reason to think the Undersiders or the Travelers had anything to do with this attack, so the heroes from everywhere else wouldn’t have a reason to come crush them. The teams should be fine.
What was deliberate, in how this had unfolded? He’d wanted to take out the mayor. But the candidates? Hadn’t they been his?
Oh, I don’t doubt they were his. Maybe Coil just didn’t have any more use for them, they may have been like a backup plan. What’s for sure is that I doubt they’ll want to work with him again, what with the freaking knives now stuck in their flesh.
I was looking at it the wrong way. Circus. She had been part of the plan from the beginning, and he’d hired her for an explicit reason. Her powers included her personal pocket dimension for storing items. I couldn’t think of how that might be used. She had minor pyrokinesis, but that didn’t apply here, either. She also had an enhanced sense of balance and enhanced coordination.
The balance wasn’t a major thing here. But the coordination? The way she’d been able to casually target Piggot as she tossed the throwing knives over one shoulder? If I had to guess, Circus’ knives had only killed the people Coil wanted dead. The others would have been hit in nonvital areas. Her enhanced hand-eye coordination would have given her the accuracy needed to ensure the knives hit where she wanted them to hit.
Well, he sure would need the knives to successfully hit the targets, so there’s that. I’d even think that was the only reason to take her along.
Über, then? Leet? What was the rationale for them?
Those two are baffling me, I admit. Neither of them seem like the kind of expert attackers I’d have thought Coil would prefer. Could there just have been no other option? I don’t know, maybe he could have recruited someone else in some other city. No, there must have been a reason to want those two around. I just can’t think what made it have to be them instead of anyone else.
Maybe he used his power and brought a different person, more effectively villainous, to help him and it went wrong, and that’s why they’re staying in this timeline where he recruited Uber and Leet.
Taylor just can’t figure out what the end goal is, and at this point I think it’s likely it won’t be revealed until it’s too late, just like it happened with the attack to the dinner gala that ended in Dinah’s kidnapping. Something else must be going on behind scenes.
Enough time has passed, Taylor’s stretcher is lifted so she’s carried out. Soon she’s at the hospital, where she’s placed in an arrangement similar to how it was like after Leviathan’s attack, just that this time she’s a civilian. Once she’s carefully checked to make sure she’ll be okay, someone enters the enclosure. It’s Lisa.
Dad Hebert is okay, thank goodness. He’s more worried for Taylor than for himself, bless him. I suppose it’ll be quite a while before anyone tells him Taylor’s state, if he hears Taylor may have gone blind he’ll blame himself so much, even if nothing at all was his fault.
Lisa sure is treating the blindness as if it’s something potentially permanent. I sure hope it isn’t! She’s even suggesting kidnapping or hiring someone to come heal her. Would Mr. Wildbow dare to make Taylor be permanently blind, especially on such a critical juncture as the few days when Dinah isn’t available for predictions and number crunching? I was thinking not, but the way Lisa is behaving is making me fear he will. I respect Taylor a lot, but I’m not sure she can defeat Coil if she’s blind.
Turns out Coil did set fires in the territories, none of them on the real lairs. I imagine those fires were just to make sure nobody can think he was lying when he said he had made fires to keep the Undersiders and Travelers busy and unable to meddle with him. The problem is that I’m sure the heroes already know Coil is bankrolling those two groups, so the distancing is pointless.
There’s the confirmation Coil is very alive right now. Not only he’s alive, he’s happy because everything is going like he had planned. This is the best time to ask him for favors, such as releasing Dinah. Hmmm...well, since he’s so close to seeing his plan completed, there’s a tiny chance he will? I’m still not convinced he will, even if he told Taylor he would. Even if he does it, I bet it’ll be after he gets one last consultation.
“So we just ask, and hope he’s feeling good enough to say yes?” Which means biting my tongue when it comes to the accusations, calling him on what he did at the debate.
Hmmm...I’m not sure everyone else would be on board on attacking Coil for what he did at the town hall, honestly. If they do, then it’d be because Coil torched a tiny part of the territories. I guess Taylor’s desire to avenge today’s tragedy will have to stay unresolved.
After some hesitation, Taylor decides to leave Dad Hebert behind. He’s going to be so disappointed when he wakes up. Even if he was told she’d be taken to Lisa’s father’s clinic – a lie, of course – I’m sure he’ll wish he could see Taylor and know she’ll be okay. Damn, their day together sure was awful. It barely lasted like one hour or so.
“Are we to blame for this?”
“No. Don’t set yourself on this path. We didn’t know, we couldn’t know, and we weren’t complicit in any way.”
Thank you, Lisa. Unlike many other times, Taylor nor any other of the Undersiders had anything to do with this. Blaming themselves for this would be senseless, and completely in-character for Taylor, unfortunately. As if she doesn’t have enough heavy things on her shoulders.
Lisa is trying to look at the silver linings, hah! She comments this is a good chance for Taylor to train herself not to rely on her eyes, and then she comments how with everything that has happened parking spots are easy to get. She must be trying to cheer Taylor up, make her feel a little better. It just is kind of callous in some way, but she’s trying.
So, the plan right now is to meet Coil. He has completely discarded his superpowered alter ego, now he’s sticking to his civilian identity. It must be one he can stay under the radar with, then.
I paused. I’d been thinking over the scenario, calculating Coil’s overarching goal. “Is he Keith Grove?”
Hah! No, absolutely not. I can’t imagine Coil sacrificing any part of himself for the sake of his plan. I really doubt he’s that guy, he wouldn’t arrange himself to get stabbed at all. Although...if he told Circus to make sure she doesn’t hit any vital parts...no, no way. He needs to stay healthy and uninjured. He can’t be Keith Grove, right?
I was right. Point for me!
Lisa has a recording that will reveal Coil’s civilian identity. When she turns it on, this recording turns out to be a news report about the tragedy at the town hall. I notice they mention it was a superhero-made piece of technology, I’d have thought they’d try to cover for the heroes’ role in the tragedy, even if it was an accident or sabotage.
When local heroes intervened, however, a device owned by local Wards member ‘Kid Win’ malfunctioned, ultimately exploding in the lobby of the building.
I pretty much feel Kid Win’s role in the story is be the Wards’ weakest link. He gets taken hostage, his stuff malfunctions, and now something he made is directly responsible for the deaths of a few people, even though it was Coil who made it malfunction. Kid Win’s hero career is so full of bumps. He could do better if the story didn’t insist on beating him down every time he appears, hah
First reports from the site report allegations of sabotage on the part of a known double agent within the group of junior heroes. No members of the Brockton Bay PRT, Protectorate or Wards teams were available for comment, but sources inside the organization report that Director Emily Piggot, manager of the city’s PRT and government sponsored hero teams, is being put on leave pending a full investigation.
Do they fear Piggot may have been complicit and let the mole stick around because she’s part of Coil’s group? She really is not having a good week at all. Being Director Piggot is suffering.
Since Piggot is currently not able to fulfill duties as a director, a replacement has been named: Thomas Calvert, a consultant that used to be an agent. It takes me a moment to realize this was the other man who survived the attack onto Nilbog’s city, the guy who shot his captain just so he could have better odds of surviving.
And turns out he’s Coil. And now he’s in charge of both the villains and the heroes.
Well doesn’t this look grim for everyone.
Good stopping point, here. I’ll continue next time!
Next time: in five updates
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Logs from the Railroad’s Leaders
After completing the main storyline with the Railroad ending, the PAM mainframe terminal will allow you to access terminal entries from the Railroad’s past leaders, revealing some more backstory. Wyatt was leader from 2266-2273, Pinky was leader from 2273-2277, Desdemona has been leader since 2277. Desdemona claims Wyatt’s reports are the ‘earliest surviving records of the Railroad's history.’
Wyatt (66-73)
2266 Nov
Gathered surviving runners, held an election. I lost, or won, depending on how you look at it. After the HQ massacre, most people simply left the Railroad. Only one person survived HQ, a runner named John D. He called out for volunteers to get some of the old files. No one stepped forward.
My job is to rebuild the Railroad from scratch. I think where Agamemnon went wrong, is that HQ was known by too many people. I'm theorizing here, but once the Institute hit a safehouse and leaned on anyone the HQ would be easy to find. But how could Agamemnon know just how deadly those damned Coursers are?
Current count: 13. 0 synths.
How the hell do we rebuild from here?
2267 Feb
Got our first synth out of the Commonwealth last month. Threw one Hell of a party.
What people don't know is another runaway was recaptured by the Coursers before we even got to them.
John D has been finding tourists at a pretty good clip. But he keeps their identities to himself. Operational security he calls it. It makes me grind my teeth, but he's probably right. I think our whole organization needs to be more like a pyramid. A broad base of tourists that help out, mainly with information. Then the runners and safehouse owners in the middle. Then agents. Then HQ on top of that.
2273 Mar
A whole work crew of synths escaped together. Five synths at once. We're scrambling to keep them hidden. Coursers have been spotted looking for them. They found one of our safehouses, but no one there knew where our HQ is. John developed a dead drop system we've been using.
Some vocal elements (Toby) say we should shut down. But that's a year and a half worth of synths.
Pinky (73-77)
2273 Dec
I just found Wyatt's journal. For whoever runs this outfit in the future, I figure you should know how we messed up.
We were running the Workgroup Five out of the CW when Coursers found our HQ. Total shitstorm. Deacon (that's what he's calling himself now) had an escape route planned, and most of the survivors owe him their life. Wyatt didn't make it past the first hail of bullets.
Something everyone should know: if one safehouse goes down assume that all Hell's coming for your ass, because it probably is. Always, always, ALWAYS assume the Institute has resources beyond what we can imagine.
From now on only the heavies leave HQ. And we got to move our packages fast. This slow crap hurts more than it helps.
2275 Jun
Damn it. We got two synths, or packages as we're calling them now, out of the CW. Running the 3rd and a Raider gang caught them. Total blood bath.
P.K. almost lost his package near Danvers, too. I kicked Deacon out of HQ, got sick of the lying, face-changing son of a bitch. That month he spent as a Ghoul freaked a lot of people out.
Going to keep running hard.
2276 Jan
Lesson: move all packages outside the Commonwealth.
Lamda 8 homesteaded off Parsons. She got married to a farmer. Coursers found her and it got bloody. Lost Lamda 8. Her wife almost bit the bucket, too.
Courser spotted heading south (with company). Watts volunteered to track them.
2276 Sep
Desdemona is a real pain in the ass. Keeps harping on every little damned thing. Worse than Deacon and Carrington combined.
We lost a safehouse and went to ground. SOP. Desdemona says I'm being sloppy. I'm getting sick and tired of leading these misfits.
Desdemona (77-)
2277 Dec
After we lost Trinity, Pinky Thompson stepped down. It took some persuasion. We held a vote on who should run the Railroad. It came down to me and Carrington. Might be a problem there.
The doctor, Deacon, and I have been analyzing the many, many mistakes of Pinky. Our "batting average" is roughly 50/50. Only a few synths a year make it out. It's hard to keep motivated when failure is so epidemic.
We're going to hit the fundamentals: operational security. Look outs, counter-intelligence, and compartmentalization. We need to reduce the response time to find a new synth runner.
2279
2 escapees. 1 loss. 2 reclaimed before interception.
Added a new member to core HQ. Thomas Weatherby. An Institute grenade did a number on his family farm. He's rattled but very, very smart. Hoping he can arm us with something better than pipe pistols.
Organization grown. Devised rail signs and improvements to dead drops. No Coursers spotted all year. Merry Christmas.
2280
One of our rescues, G7-81, took a strange turn. Most synths are traumatized and go through the procedure with Doc A. G7 opted out. Begged to join. Did some crazy stunts with High Rise at Ticon.
Called her into the HQ. Promoted "Glory" to heavy. She's well suited for the role (perhaps too much so).
Been working with Tom. Brilliant, but he's getting increasingly eccentric. Carrington says the stress is causing severe psychological problems. But he's too damned essential. God help me, I'm keeping him on.
2 escapes. No losses. 1 reclaimed. Quiet year.
Less chrome domes in the field than the last two years. No idea why.
2281
Where to begin?
Year started like shit. Coursers came out of nowhere. They found the Farm, lookouts only gave us 30 seconds of warning. Torched what we could, casualties light.
Relocated to the Beast. Then one of the B team scouts, Tommy Whispers, made the find of the century. An old DIA facility, "Switchboard." Called him up to HQ (overdue), Glory's taken him under his wing (God help him). Tom relocated to the Switchboard or Facility X as he calls it. Then he sent an urgent message.
My first meeting with P.A.M... Can't describe. She made some predictions, frighteningly accurate.
Asked for data. Started feeding it to her. Very reluctant to help the cause. But after a long talk with Glory she's on board. No one knows what Glory said to PAM. Deacon jokes that PAM has a crush on Glory. Certainly PAM acts different when she's around. But there's nothing emotional about PAM.
With PAM's prediction managed to anticipate a run-away.
Year ended badly. We had a synth infiltrator at Mercer. Deacon caught her before P.A.M. But damage done. Blew the Beast and moved to Bolthole. Only an hour to spare before the coursers came.
2 escapees, 1 loss, 0 reclaims.
2282
Promoted Tommy to be our second heavy. Tom made him a custom pistol, the kid's frightening with it. P.A.M. has us running strange ops for data. She's not always right, but right enough to be a trap. Too tempting to rely on her predictions. One day Deacon recommended moth-balling her. Took an hour to talk him down.
2 escapees. Not many runners this year.
2283
One word: PATRIOT.
Our second package of the year was different from the start. Didn't behave lost. Ran in a straight line to Diamond City. Old Man Stockton caught her before she caused too many waves. She wasn't supposed to be on the work detail and had a care package: a map, instructions, and a coded holotape. Tom's been useless all year trying to decode the damned thing.
Third package sent straight to Diamond City again. Set up Old Man Stockton as the gatekeeper. Then a fourth came in after a week. All with care packages. All with more codes. Someone on the inside is helping us. Code-name PATRIOT.
All told 5 escapees this year.
2284
An incredible year. Everything's coming together. Tom broke PATRIOT's code, said it was designed to be broken (whatever that means). Just two words, "Mass Fusion." Sent some recon there and found nothing. Found out later why.
PAM's been trying to find the location of the Institute in earnest. Failing. Deacon's convinced the solution lies in the past, not future. Deacon already knows the big secret - we know nothing about the Railroad before Wyatt was in charge (or is Deacon Johnny D???).
Deacon's been digging into Institute sightings from years, even decades before. Or at least, that's what he says. Getting really tired of all his lies.
Coursers caught Package 7. Almost nailed Old Man Stockton, too. One of our scouts found Package 8 heading to Mass Fusion. The coded message he carried was another location, Prospect Hill.
8 escapees this year, 1 loss, 1 reclaimed.
2285
Busy. We're in Switchboard now. Bolthole went down on fire. Coursers getting very active. But, by God, we're rescuing synths. 9-2-1. Both of those 2 were from goddamned lynch mobs.
2286
A dry year. Coursers, work crews, and synths vanished for three months. No idea why. Worked on fortifying Switchboard. Deacon was barely here all year. Chasing ghosts.
4-1-0.
2287
PAM's errored out on trying to find the Institute. Took a good month to get her to run without crashing. Her being down hurt the numbers.
We now have 12 safehouses and I don't even know how many people. Carrington worries we're getting too big. But in order to move all the synths PATRIOT's sending us we need places to hide them.
Deacon working on secret project. Code-name Wanderer. Deacon has a wild theory and an even wilder plan (Tea Party). I agree there's something strange there, but I'm withholding judgment.
9-1-1.
#i love that they all log differently#fallout#fallout 4#the railroad#desdemona#tinker tom#deacon#fallout 4 pinky#fallout 3 pinky#pinky
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Why Are Men Still Voting Republican?
In the month or so that's led up to the midterm elections, here's a snapshot of just a few things that made headlines: The President of the United States called Stormy Daniels “horseface.” An ex–Trump campaign staffer slammed Beto O’Rourke, the Democratic candidate for Senate in Texas, as a “beta male." Almost the entire Republican establishment banded together to nominate a man accused of sexual assault to the highest court in the land. After that, the President publicly mocked the woman who testified under oath against him. That man was confirmed, by the way.
And an NPR-Ipsos poll released this week showed that over 40 percent of Americans believe the Me Too movement has "gone too far," with a full 77 percent of Republicans responding that false accusations are "common." (Not true.) Which of course comes after the President of the United States came out with this gem: “It’s a very scary time for young men,” Trump said in an address to reporters on the White House lawn earlier this month.
Taken together, the moments suggest a unified approach, and one that others have noticed too. The GOP’s strategy leading up to the midterms is not their usual proposal for jobs, national security, or even small government; their sales pitch is toxic masculinity. Some suspect that this could cost them valuable female voters at the polls. And the numbers suggest a modest exodus of women from the GOP is happening. Over the summer support for Republican candidates from Republican women plummeted by 11 points.
As we’ve gotten closer to this election, the gender gap has widened. Still, in all the examination over whether conservative women will or will not elect Republican candidates, there's been less vocal concern that Republicans could lose the support of men. We expect that men will stick with a power structure and a raft of terrible ideologies that serve them. That's sad.
The GOP’s strategy leading up to the midterms is not their usual proposal for jobs, national security, or even small government; their sales pitch is toxic masculinity.
And it's not the first time I've witnessed it. Just before the 2016 election, I was reporting from one of Donald Trump’s last campaign rallies in Berwyn, Pennsylvania. An infamous Gallup poll that showed seven out of 10 women had an unfavorable view of Trump had been cited ad nauseam in the national media for months. I went to Pennsylvania to speak to women who did support Trump. Almost 24 months later, one white middle-aged woman's comments have stuck with me. I raised the poll, and she paused and said, “I think seven out of 10 women probably have an unfavorable view of a lot of men.” The implication? That hasn’t stopped them from associating with terrible men before.
In that moment, I felt bad for women. But I felt sadder for men. This woman wasn’t supporting Donald Trump because she had a high opinion of him; she was supporting him because she had such a low opinion of men.
Ever since, Donald Trump has become the ultimate poster boy for toxic masculinity. And all the while, his fellow Republicans have proudly followed his lead. The case of now Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation to the bench is a perfect example. At the time Representative Steve King (R–Iowa) said that if the “new standard” for nominees is to never have been accused of sexual assault, “no man [would] ever qualify” for the Supreme Court of the United States again. Rep. Kevin Cramer (R–N.D.), a current Senate candidate, took it one step further, telling reporters, “Even if it's all true, does it disqualify him?” And Joe Walsh, a former Republican congressman, tweeted, “If stupid, bad, or drunken behavior as a minor back in high school were the standard, every male politician in Washington, D.C., would fail.”
Are all men really comfortable with this characterization of their entire gender? And if it's not this, then what it would take for them to abandon the GOP? Because as it stands now, the GOP isn’t just sending a message to girls that their pain is no match for a man’s ambitions. It’s also sending an insidious signal to boys—you're hardwired to be bad, so why bother trying to be good?
So far conservative men have stayed loyal to the Republican Party. In fact, the 2018 midterm election is expected to have a record-breaking gender gap. While Democrats hold a massive 30-point lead over Republicans in terms of female voters, the Republicans have an eight point advantage with male voters.
Is there even some fraction of Republican men who wants to raise the bar of expectations for what it means to be a man in 2018?
But some men are starting to leave the party over its establishment's relentless misogyny. Cameron, a 26-year-old investment banker and registered Republican, said that the message that men "can't help themselves" or that all men mistreat women is "ridiculous."
“That's absurd," he said. "Whoever believes that wasn’t raised properly. [Saying] ‘Boys will be boys’ about things like assault is, frankly, genuinely insulting.” He added that it promoted “abuse toward women” and said he felt “sad that the people who represent my party grew up like that.”
Although he hasn’t decided how he’ll vote in the midterms, he said he's unlikely to vote for a Republican. “I wouldn’t feel comfortable with myself knowing that I supported a candidate with those kinds of values,” he explained. “You don’t have my vote.”
I heard similar frustrations from Emerson, a 32-year-old registered Republican who lives in Georgia. While he said he tends to be politically active, he hasn’t decided whether he’ll vote Republican next week. When I asked him about the Kavanaugh hearings, he said he’d been “very uncomfortable with the entire experience.” The confirmation process, he said, undid what progress Republicans and the nation writ large had made when it comes to gender equality. “We have had a huge national discussion about how common [it is that] women are victimized. The #MeToo movement was all about that,” he said. “Everyone learned that every woman they know has been a victim.” When I asked him how he felt in the last few weeks, he exhaled. “Existentially sad,” he said. “It’s been soul-crushing to watch this happen.”
Quardricos Driskell, who teaches legislative affairs at George Washington University and is also a registered Republican, believes that the Kavanaugh hearings are a sign of a deeply rooted and systemic problem for the Republican Party that will only continue to grow. “The senators are protecting him because in many ways they are just like him; he is apart of the same or similar [ilk],” he wrote over email. “The entire hearing is symptomatic of larger issues in America—race, patriarchy, and class.”
“Men don’t need to be afraid, especially white men,” Driskell said, responding to Trump’s cautioning. “Cynically, this notion of men being afraid of women accusing them and being scared for their boys is the genesis of a future Gilead…. Patriarchy is the issue here. And a complete disregard for women and victims.”
Millennial women are leaving the GOP in droves, and there’s even some indication that married (white) women, a usual stronghold for Republicans, are backing away. A million headlines have told us in no uncertain terms that women are powering the resistance, that suburban white women could cost the Republicans their congressional muscle, that more women than ever are running and winning.
But what about the men? Is there even some fraction of Republican men who want to raise the bar of expectations for what it means to be a man in 2018? (We know some Democratic men are out there. “I have been troubled by the excuse offered by too many that this was a high school incident and ‘boys will be boys,’” said Senator Chris Coons, a Democrat from Connecticut, when Ford testified in the Senate. “To me that’s just far too low a standard for the conduct of boys and men in our country.”)
The 2016 presidential race produced the largest electoral gender gap of all time, and experts have predicted even that spread will be topped in the 2018 midterm elections. White women may at last start to leave the Republican Party in consequential numbers, recognizing that proximity to power (their husbands, their fathers) is not the same as genuine equality. Women may reject the GOP’s toxic masculinity platform. When, if ever, will men?
Liz Plank is an award-winning journalist and the executive producer of Divided States of Women at Vox Media
In a pivotal election year, Glamour is keeping track of the historic number of women running (and voting) in the midterm elections. For more on our latest midterm coverage, visit glamour.com/midterms.
Source: https://www.glamour.com/story/why-are-men-still-voting-republican
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Why Did Hillary “Lose”?
The most important, and the ugliest, thing to happen in 2016 was the decision of 46 percent of the American electorate to vote for the worst major party presidential candidate in American history. The second most important was the decision of 48 percent to vote for Hillary Clinton. So why did Hillary “lose”?
It is “arguable”—I know it is, because I have argued it many times myself—that the Democrats have no one to blame but themselves. Though they constantly proclaim how much they love America’s “great” middle class, they don’t. Democrats want to help people they feel sorry for, and they don’t feel sorry for the middle class. They want to help people they perceive as belonging to “out groups”—the poor, and particularly blacks and Hispanics, not to mention homosexuals and the current “it” group, transexuals.1 ObamaCare epitomized Democratic “values”—cutting middle-class Medicare benefits and taxing “Cadillac” health care plans enjoyed by many union members and other better off than average folks, in order to subsidize the poor.
At the same time, Democrats want to please the folks who pay the bills—the rich, which can include themselves, since the Democratic elite is about 90% 10%—upper middle class and above. The Clinton years convinced them that capitalism “works”—they made money too—and also convinced them that a Democrat with Wall Street cash couldn’t lose. To please his Wall Street buddies, Obama labored endlessly to “rein in” future Social Security and Medicare costs, to promote business “confidence”—confidence among billionaires that their precious billions wouldn’t be taxed to finance ordinary folks’ retirements.
Yes, but Obama did all of that in his first term, and still beat poor old Mitt Romney like a drum in 2012. And four years later, the economy was in much better shape than in 2012. Yet in 2016, supposedly “racist” whites in the big Rust Belt swing states, who voted for Obama in appreciable numbers, declined to vote for Hillary, costing her Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. And in Florida, the biggest swing state of them all, which seemed to be “tending” Democratic, Hillary lost by 100,000 votes—less than 2% of Florida’s massive total, but still pretty embarrassing, since Obama had won by over 70,000 in 2012.
Since the election was so close in the big four Rust Belt states—a shift of about 100,000 votes would have put Hillary in—there are any number of factors that could “explain” Hillary’s defeat. Jim Comey’s disgustingly corrupt behavior; Hillary Clinton’s endless, and endlessly stupid, mishandling of the email server “issue”, which she both created and bungled in classic Clintonian style; beyond all that was her mega- mega-blunder of pushing for our disastrous, “smart power” invasion of Libya—ultimately Obama’s responsibility, of course, but it’s very unlikely that it would have happened without Clinton’s aggressive sponsorship. One thing Hillary has never outgrown is her unceasing appetite for virtuous intervention. She’s going to keep on killing innocent people until she gets it right.
Well, the purpose of this post was not to vent on Hillary, but to figure out why she lost. My favorite of the many “in-depth” takes floating around the internet is “How Trump Won: The South” by Sean Trende and David Byler over at RealClearPolitics, the first of a four-part, near book length series, with the “lessons” encapsulated here.
Briefly, Democrats are getting killed in rural areas, and beaten in semi-rural areas, while crushing it in the big cities. Since rural populations are shrinking, and urban ones are expanding, that sounds like good news for the Democrats. The problem is, as Trende and Byler point out, the urban mega-populations are concentrated in a few big states, so that in the presidential elections, Democrats roll up “useless” majorities in California, New York, and Illinois (and DC) and lose everywhere else. It’s even worse in both the Senate, because 18 states have virtually no “big city” vote, and in the House of Representatives, because in most states the Democratic vote is crammed into a handful of counties that 1) invite gerrymandering and 2) even make it hard to draw “balanced” districts in the first place.
To my mind, Democrats’ problems really started with Obama’s huge win in 2008, which terrified a lot of seriously rich folks, like the Koch boys. For whatever reason, the thought that universal health care, proposed by Harry Truman way back in 19482, might become a reality terrified the big money folks in the flyover states.3 Obama, of course, played right into their hands, as I’ve endlessly complained, by passing the Affordable Care Act, pushing through a national health insurance program that would take benefits away from people who had them—the folks on Medicare, primarily—and force many people to pay for health insurance that they did not want—or at least did not want to pay for—to help a relatively small population of poor people who did not vote that often and who, when they did vote, voted Democratic already. When you’ve got both the money and the masses against you, you’re going to take a beating, and the Democrats did, suffering horrible losses at the state level almost across the board.
All across the “capitalist” world, the parties in power during the Great Recession paid the price of incumbency. The massive countercyclical payments to the jobless, which were both necessary and effective in preventing the crisis from unraveling the world economy completely, infuriated the “good people” and precipitated a bitter reaction against “government”. Democrats were on the receiving end of this in Congress, but they were also vulnerable at the state level, because in virtually every state the Democratic Party is very closely linked to public employee unions. When times are hard, people don’t resist the urge to take out their frustrations on lazy, overpaid bureaucrats.4 Perhaps worst of all, an ever-increasing number of bureaucrats were retiring, on frequently over-generous pensions all pushed through by Democratic politicians in years past.
An increasingly “urban” party, tied to a hated bureaucracy, often given a racial, if not racist, tinge in northern states like Wisconsin and Michigan and southern states like North Carolina? Sounds like a recipe for disaster to me, and so it proved. At the same time, this is a movie we Democrats have seen before: in 1978 and 1994: a young Democrat comes into office, a “post-partisan problem-solver” who bases all his decisions on fact rather than fancy, only to discover that his generous gestures—pardoning Vietnam War draft dodgers, allowing gays in the military, and “bringing us all together” with the gift of universal health insurance—prove stunningly divisive.
Yet Obama won going away against Romney in 2012, despite a full four years of the harshest economy that 90% of the population could remember, an economy that was still only slowly improving when the votes were counted. But, in retrospect, we can see that plant-closin’, dollar bill-wearin’ Mitt, the businessman’s friend, and sworn enemy of the 47%, was exactly the wrong choice to pull away angry working class whites from Obama, as Trump would do to stunning effect to Hillary four years later.
Obama followed his easy win over Mitt with a tougher victory, triumphing in yet another budget shut down with hysterical House Republicans. It looked like Democrats were on a roll, but then the wheels came off, repeatedly. ObamaCare had a disastrous rollout, a disgraceful failure on the part of the administration and the president personally. The big bets the administration had placed on the “Arab Spring” led to one Mid East disaster after another, Benghazi being the most spectacular, and most awkward, particularly for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, although almost no one blamed for her real sin of pushing for the Libyan invasion in the first place. ISIS appeared out of nowhere and nothing to demolish Obama’s proud claim to have brought peace in Iraq. Putin claimed the Crimea and began “destabilization” in eastern Ukraine, and suddenly it was manly versus metrosexual. The Ebola virus scare was the last nail in the Democrats’ coffin, an “everything go wrong” touch reminiscent to George Bush’s 2006 nightmare election. But probably the real story for the Democrats was the continued shrinkage of the rural and semi-rural vote, which gave the Republicans a stunning advantage in state legislatures and governorships.
The steady decline of the Democratic Party in Congress and at the state level helps explain why there was no real alternative to the drearily battle-scarred Hillary Clinton in 2016, although at the start of the primary season no one would have guessed how “anti-globalist” the country had become. Ever since Vietnam and Watergate, American voters, when they aren’t re-electing a president, are looking for an “outsider”, and never was that mood so strong as in 2016.
So how can the Democrats come back? The notion that there is a natural Democratic majority—that we just have to invigorate the base (by adopting the policies of whoever is making the argument) is tempting. After all, Hillary “won” by almost three million votes. But as the county maps show, the Democratic base isn’t deployed strategically. We have millions of “extra” Democrats in states like New York and California, where we don’t need them, and millions more in solidly “anti-liberal” (i.e., anti-black) states like Mississippi and Alabama, where it’s impossible for the “black party” to win a state-wide election. Hillary worked hard to ramp up the base, and didn’t do too badly, except that, as Trende and Byler point out, the Democrats continue to spiral downwardly in the rural vote (the rural white vote), which is deployed strategically, in a majority of the states, all across the country, except the coastal areas. Furthermore, I suspect that the “turncoat” states of Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, the more we Democrats ramp up our base, the more we ramp up the Republican base of “excluded” whites, as has long been the case in the South.
Democrats need to study how and why we lost Florida, and North Carolina, two states that would have given Hillary a victory. Florida is almost the ballgame for the Democrats, and at the state level the party is painfully weak there, despite Obama’s two wins. I am, by temperament, an “Above all, no zeal” kind of guy, but if you got no zeal, you got no politics. Money may be the mother’s milk of politics5, but emotion is its life’s blood. Channeling Democratic emotion, and outrage, over Donald Trump’s constant grossness, in a manner that will restore the Democratic Party’s level of acceptance in rural areas to possibly pre-Al Gore levels is the task before us.6
Yeah, so how do we do that? First of all, forget about gun control, easy to say but hard to do, because millions of party loyalists/activists feel “passionate” about this issue, given added salience, in liberal minds, by the terrorist attacks in San Bernardino and Orlando, which quite possibly cost Clinton the election. Eliminate the guns, eliminate the attacks. Simple, right?
I’m sorry, but gun control has never worked. It failed, and is failing, to stop violence in inner city neighborhoods, and it won’t stop terrorist attacks. There are virtually no legal guns in France, and the attacks there probably cost Clinton almost as many votes as the attacks here. And back in the seventies and eighties, European “no gun” policies didn’t prevent significant terrorist attacks throughout those decades. Liberals shouldn’t let their personal revulsion at the idea of owning a deadly weapon, and their disgust those who delight in them,7 from making the smart choice and dropping gun control.
Liberals should also, as I’ve said perhaps a million times before, detune their enthusiasm for the environment. If Elon Musk is going to save us all, well, fine. We’ll be saved. Otherwise, let’s let the 22nd century do most of the heavy lifting on this one. We don’t have to solve their problems.8
Liberals should not let Trump’s success in obtaining the support of working class whites convince them that they can appeal to these voters by outbidding Trump with an expanded welfare state. These people do not want welfare, of any kind. They want “good jobs”, which frankly they are more likely to get by moving. However, Democrats do have a real opportunity to hammer Trump to make good on his “trillion dollar infrastructure plan”, insisting that he put infrastructure before tax cuts for the rich, which of course no living Republican wants to do. If Republicans are so passionate for the middle class, let them do something for them other than reducing their bosses’ taxes.9
It’s also becoming more and more likely that ObamaCare will prove to be as tough a nut for Republicans as it was for Democrats—Obama’s last laugh, one might say. How’s that ‘repeal and replace’ thing workin’ out for you, Paulie? Instead of bold action, we’re getting an orgy of Republican foot shifting.
There are plenty of Democrats, who, I’m sure, can name every county that Hillary carried in 2016. Here’s hoping that they can direct the party to go beyond them.
Afterwords
Dream on, neoliberal, one might say, while looking at my recommendations. The two great pillars of the Democratic Party today are California and New York, where environmentally correct and politically correct liberals are firmly in command. Their own success teaches them that their brand of liberalism works, and there’s no need to change, so nags like me can just go blow.10 Well, the 2018 elections may teach a needed lesson, and may not. The Republicans may blow themselves up, and they may not. We’ve never had such an unstable president. Trump, obviously, is a gambler, but he’s a gambler who can clean himself up when he has to, or at least when he wants to. He’s now swinging rather desperately at Obama to distract attention from the “Russian Connection,” which may have legs—in particular, the extent to which Trump, Inc. has been dependent on Russian money. We'll just have to wait and see.
The acceptance of homosexuality as “normal”, which it has always been, has been one of the few great accomplishments of the modern era. However, I don’t think the Supreme Court should have been the institution making all these decisions, though, in an eat your cake and have it too way, I don’t object to them too much either. Politicians very often like courts to make the tough decisions for them. The fact that there’s been little kickback against the Court’s actions suggest that the ancient prejudice against homosexuals has declined significantly. On the other hand, I think that the “old-fashioned Catholics” on the Supreme Court, particularly the late Justice Scalia and Justice Alioto, were embittered by the decisions and felt emboldened to make “political” decisions on their own as payback, for example in the Citizens United “corporations are people too” decision, which could have been decided much more narrowly, as discussed in Justice Stevens’ dissent, and District of Columbia v. Heller, Justice Scalia’s gift to the NRA (see Stevens’ dissent in that one as well), along with a host of fake “voting fraud” cases. Has the Court ever wondered if making policy via 5-4 decisions is a bad idea? Apparently, the answer to that question is "no". ↩︎
“With both a Democratic president and a Democratic Congress, we’ll get national health insurance for sure!” exulted an exultant Ronald Reagan after the election results were in to a fellow “hemophiliac” liberal (Ronnie’s self-description in his 1966 autobiography Where’s the Rest of Me?, which he did not have reprinted in 1980). In 1961, of course, Ronnie recorded an hilarious “warning” about the evils of socialized medicine. In 1983, Reagan joined with Democratic House Speaker Tip O’Neill to “save” both Medicare and Social Security, which he also hated. ↩︎
The Kochs actually do live in Manhattan and lead outwardly Upper East Side lives, despite their Midwest attitudes. The famous New Yorker article denouncing the Kochs seemed intended more to get them ousted from New York’s stratospheric upper, upper class, “on the board of the Met” society than to produce revelations of substance. “They should go back to Kansas where they belong!” ↩︎
One of the first things FDR did in 1933 was to cut the salaries of federal employees. If I’m suffering, other people have to suffer too! After the 2010 Democratic “shellacking”, Obama started talking about how it was time for government to “tighten the belt,” when precisely the opposite was the case. ↩︎
Attributed to Jesse “Big Daddy” Unruh, speaker of the California House of Representatives back in the day. Jesse used to say things like “If you can’t take their money, drink their booze, sleep with their women, and then look them in the eye and vote the other way, you don’t belong up here” (“here” being Sacramento). ↩︎
In 1996 Clinton carried Arkansas, Louisiana, and West Virginia, three “never again” states for the Democrats. ↩︎
Chris Kyle wannabes who fantasize about “pink mist”, aka blowing someone’s head off, are pathetic/repulsive, but they very seldom kill anyone. Let them masturbate in peace. ↩︎
More obsessive bitching about the “environment” from Alan Vanneman here. ↩︎
More “big picture” economic growth thoughts here ↩︎
In a classic instance of blue state arrogance/stupidity, both states have banned fracking, which has pushed natural gas prices so low that, in most parts of the country, it is cheaper than coal, while producing about half as much CO2. The Bernieites want to ban fracking nationwide because corporations=evil. ↩︎
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