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allthenamesithinkofaretaken · 1 year

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Wally, Darling ♥

That's how you know

Wally Darling x F! Architect! Reader

[This is the best I could think of, I’m sorry T-T.

Wally’s proposal to MC after almost a year of dating. Warning, I switch to the MC and to Wally's POV a lot in this do I hope you don't mind. Plus it's long. ]

He’d been fiddling with the navy blue box for days now, and every time his fingers even grazed against it, it sent a flurry of excitement, nervousness, and fear in his heart that he never knew of until today. Always having to bear with hiding it somewhere she won’t see it because of the emotions that wracked through him at the thought of the proposal alone.

He couldn’t eat, he couldn’t sleep, hell, he couldn’t even draw or paint without the feeling of dread filling his stomach that no amount of existential dread could ever think of giving him.

It was worrying how this frightened him more than when he first stumbled upon the rift between their reality and the other side, but then again, he’d never have to risk losing the rift if he asks it to marry him, which would be a silly thing to do in the first place. But if he makes the wrong move, if he makes the wrong move, then he’d have to bear with losing one of the most important people in his life.

He clutched the box in his hand, letting out an exhausted sigh at the frustrating thoughts that ran rampant around his head as he presses that box against his unsteady heart, his back pressing against the harsh wood of the tree trunk he was currently sitting against. His sketchpad opened in an empty page he’d been fiddling around with for the past twenty minutes out of nervousness, unable to properly picture out a figure to draw because of the fear that muddled his brain. Usually painting helped him clear his mind, but because he was so stressed, he couldn’t think of anything to paint. It was the most frustrating thing he’s experienced in his life.

“Wally!” Julie’s excited screech makes him jump, the box stumbling out of his tight hold and he’d fumbled to catch it back in his hands, the box not going unnoticed by the blonde.

“You still haven’t asked her?” Her voice was dulled down to a harsh whisper, her hands gripping at the strands of hair on the sides of her face as she looked at her friend in a panic. “It’s been a week!”

Wally tucked the blue box somewhere inside his blue cardigan, pressing a hand against his still heavily beating heart to hopefully try and calm it down.

“I’m trying to find the perfect opportunity,” He replied, fiddling with the buttons of his shirt. “It’s just… I don’t think she deserves a simple proposal. I want to make it special… but all the things I think of are too dull, or boring, or not enough…”

He itched to tug at his hair, but seeing that he put so much work into it earlier today with (Y/n) helping him in brushing it into its usual style, he settled on pulling the grass beneath them instead, the nervousness building up into that imperfection frustration he’s always seemed to have. Although he’s never seen it aimed at any other subject other than his paintings and art.

“Wally,” Julie’s voice was reprimanding, slightly upset, but there was a familiar softness tinged at the way she spoke his name that he could tell that it was bordering on pity. “I’m not telling you how to propose, and you should do it how you want to do it, but I’m sure that (Y/n) will love whatever you come up with!”

And yet here he was, still unable to think of a proper way to pop the question. His hands tucked underneath his cardigan to feel for the box that pressed against his chest, wondering if he would ever work up the courage to finally ask.

He had thought about the question so many times, so much so that he basically had it imprinted in his brain. But still, that important question didn’t come alone when it came to plaguing his brain.

The 'will you marry me?' was always being followed by the what ifs that echoed in the back of his brain. 'what if she says no?', 'what if she's not actually ready?', 'what if she leaves and doesn't come back?'. Stupid question, he knew that much. After all, they’ve already talked about this once or twice recently—The topic always being brought up everytime by either one of the neighbors or their families whenever they called, and they’ve both always come to the same conclusion. They are ready. None of them knew just when it was going to happen. Or if it was even going to happen.

And so here he was.

But despite that, no matter how many times he’s thought back to the times they’ve talked, the times where he’s heard her affirmations of the idea, it always brought that sense of doubt, dread, and especially fear in his stomach.

And all those questions, he's realized, were all coming from the same fear. The fear of possibly losing her. Losing the one thing that's kept him grounded all his life would drag him into a deeper void he knows he wouldn't be able to climb out of, bury him in his sorrows and dig its way into his darkest urges. Not that he thinks he has any.

The sound of Julie's sigh brings him back to their reality, and he realizes he's been fiddling with the wedding band in between his fingers, the box long forgotten on the grass. He carefully puts it back in its place, cradling the thing as if it were a small child.

“Well, I can’t force ya to do it now,” she shrugged. “But I think the perfect way to propose to someone is to just do it how you want to do it. No thinking of wanting things to be too perfect, or too special— because I’m sure it already is,” she places her hand on Wally’s shoulder, and he looks up at her, taking her words into consideration.

He searched for the box in the pocket of his cardigan, eyes looking down at the grass as he clutched it in his palm.

In a way, Julie was right.

Seeing the newfound determination set in his eyes, Julie grinned, an idea already forming in her head.

“If you’re thinking of doing it today, I think Sally would love to assist you with her play tonight.”

She was helping Howdy in organizing some of the new wares he has for his store— a 'thank you' for the bags of apples he had given her yesterday that she had made into delicious caramel apples and caramel apple cookies that Wally was more than delighted to eat up, while the rest were given away to the neighborhood because she knows that Wally would get a stomach ache if he ate all those sweets. And he would've, had she not managed to try and pry him away from all the apple flavored sweets she had made that day.

"How time surely does fly, doesn't it?" Howdy brings her out of her train of thought as he comes walking back inside his store with a sack full of pears thrown over his shoulder, carefully setting it down beside one of the stalls as he pats four of his hands together. "I can't believe it's already been a year and a half since you moved here!"

Oh, wow. Has time really moved that fast?

"Even I'm a bit surprised at the news, Howdy." She places a hand on her forehead, brows raised as she goes to count the months for confirmation. And, lo and behold, it has been a year and a half! "Gee, that long huh?"

"It must feel like yesterday when Wally first asked you out, if you’re that surprised!" Howdy teased, grinning from ear to ear as he carefully stacks the pears in a neat pile on one of the boxes outside, and she goes to help him with the rest.

"It does, if I'm being honest," she chuckled. "I still can't believe it. That would mean that it's also been 11 months since our first date!" She brushes her thumb against the surface of the pear, getting lost in thought as she stares at its shiny surface. "Almost a year now, huh."

She wondered…

"You stare at that pear any longer then I might just tell Wally to marry you then and there!" Howdy joked, and it brought a warmth to her cheeks as she goes to swat his hand away that threatened to ruffle her hair. "You two have a knack for staring at fruit."

"I just zoned out," she rolled her eyes playfully at the caterpillar, who snickered as she finally placed the pear where it should be. "But anyways, is there anything left to arrange?" She pushes herself up to her feet, careful as to not put her weight on the box of pears in fear that it would tumble over and ruin her and Howdy's good work.

"Afraid not! That's all I have left for the day." Howdy wipes his hands on a towel, grinning as he eyes the organization they've done for the bodega. "I say, you do have an eye for arrangement! The bodega hasn't looked this organized in years!"

She gave him a playful wink, "Well, it's kind of my job to organize and design, so…" she crossed her arms over her chest. "But honestly, I've never organized a shop before." The laugh that escaped her was light, and Howdy gave her a pat on the back.

"Well you did a great job! The neighborhood is lucky to have you here!." He gave a wink and a gentle nudge, and she couldn't help but feel warm and giddy at the compliment, muttering a small goodbye and a wave to Howdy as he entered the shop once again and she went to leave to find Sally. Hopefully, she could help out with the stage the star was fussing to her about, only to bump into an overly excited Julie who tugged her into her home instead.

"Julie!" She gasped in shock, dizzied by the excitement of the blonde. “What’s going on?”

“I have a new makeup kit!” Julie practically screamed in excitement, and Frank (has he always been there?) shakes his head with a small sigh, grabbing (Y/n) by the shoulders and then nudging her to the sofa. “Oh! And Frank wants to talk to you about a beautiful arch with flowers and vines that’ll surely attract a lot of butterflies!”

“Really?” She arched a brow. The idea didn’t sound too bad, but then… “Where will you put it?”

“Oh that doesn’t matter right now!” Frank waves his hand dismissively, holding out a book in his hands. They were filled with colorful flowers, most of which were unfamiliar to her, but they all looked very pretty and vibrant. “There are plenty of beautiful flowers to put into the arch, but I can’t decide which ones!”

“Firstly, we need to know how big the arch is going to be,” she tilted her head to the side, her hands already itching for a pencil and paper so she could draft the ideas she was already thinking of. There were so many possibilities!

She turned to Frank at the question, awaiting his answer.

“Hm, I suppose something a little over my height. It should also fit about two people in the middle.”

“Oh! Is this a surprise for Eddie?” The grin on her lips were from ear to ear, and the thought made Frank’s cheeks darken while Julie simply snickered at her obliviousness.

“It could be,” Frank scoffed, trying to wave his flustered demeanor away from all the attention she was currently giving it, “Back to the arch.”

She had to struggle to look back at the book that Frank was telling her all about, all while Julie happily put makeup on her, the blonde oftentimes butting in their conversation to give ideas of her own. Which gave both (Y/n)’s brain and neck a break from all the strain at going back and forth with these two.

And after what felt like a whole day of having to design this beautiful garden arch she didn’t even know what Frank was going to use for, Julie finally finished, ending with an excited squeal as she handed over a round mirror for (Y/n) to hold.

(Y/n) fathomed at the face that looked back at her in the mirror, unable to help the grin that tugged at her lips as she stared at the wonderful work Julie had done.

“I look amazing!”

“Of course you do, girl!” Julie grinned, giving her a wink as she pointed at her with finger guns, before remembering something with an excited gasp, eyes basically filling with stars as she grinned. “Oh! I also have the perfect dress for you to wear!”

(Y/n) doesn't even get to protest as Julie drags her up the stairs and into her room, the doorbell echoing just behind them as Julie basically shoves her into her wardrobe.

“Frank can go get the door, for now though…” Julie grins, eyes basically sparkling with both mischief and excitement as she wracks through her own wardrobe. “We have to get you all dolled up for tonight!”

She would’ve laughed at the unintentional joke if she wasn’t so confused as to why Julie was suddenly making her do this.

Apparently, all that makeover was for Sally’s play tonight. And Julie wanted her to look her best for some reason. However, she wasn’t one to turn down a free makeover, and she was sure Wally would love to see her in a new getup than she was normally in. It had been a while since she’d dressed and prepared like this.

Julie pushes her towards the front row seats, a light laugh escaping her lips as the blonde seemed to drag her all the way over there with an unmistakable skip in her steps.

“Come on! Before it starts!”

She didn’t even know why Julie was rushing. It wasn’t like anyone was going to steal any of the seats! There are only 8 residents (not counting her) in Home! And it seemed that most of them were already on their seats— just behind the ones Julie was dragging her to.

Weird.

And where’s Wally? He wasn’t usually one to skip Sally’s plays…

“Oh! It’s starting!” Julie’s playful smack on her arm brings her attention back to the stage, the dimming of the stage lights rendering their surroundings in darkness until a spotlight shines on the usual star of the show. Sally Starlet.

Usually, when Sally does a play, she enters the stage with her costume already worn on her person, this time however, she was wearing her usual clothes, her hands clutching a microphone which she so happily grins upon as she scans the neighborhood, eyes ultimately landing on her.

“Welcome, everyone!” Sally greets, “A lot of you have come here to see the finale of the romantic play I’ve written— and you will! I promise you that!” (Y/n) couldn’t help but snicker at the star’s usual showmanship, eyes following her as the sun seemed to pace from one end of the stage to the other as she spoke, hands moving with every rise of her tone. “But tonight, I want to use this chance to help our dear friend in making this night very special for both of them, as some of you may already know.” The star gave a wink to one of the people in the crowd and (Y/n) couldn’t help but laugh as Julie gave an excited scream. Other than that though, she was also more than intrigued at where this was going.

“And so! I am giving up the stage for the night to our neighborhood’s absolute most! Wally Darling!”

Her breath hitched as her brows raised in surprise, watching as the red curtains unveiled to reveal her darling clutching a different microphone in his hand. She was a few feet away from the stage, but she didn’t need to be within 2 feet of Wally to notice just how nervous he looked as he stood in the middle of the spotlights, watching him tug at the collar of his suit as he clears his throat on the mic.

“Hello…” he starts, and when his eyes meet hers, she gave a small and reassuring smile. She didn’t know why he was up there, or what his plan was, but the smile she gave him seemed more than enough to wipe all the nervousness from his face away as his hunched shoulders slightly squared as he fixed his posture, hearing him let out a breath to let the nervousness out of his body as he continued. “So… I’m not the best when it comes to expressing myself… but, tonight is very special, so I’ll try my absolute best.”

His eyes meet hers once again, and her heart jumped.

Special? Was it their anniversary?

No… it couldn’t be, she had that marked next next week! She was already planning on taking Wally out to a date at a nearby observatorium!

“(Y/n),” the sound of her name echoing through the speakers makes her turn her attention back to Wally. “Do you remember what you said to me the first time we met?”

She gave a slow nod.

“You offered to help me fix a hinge I accidentally broke,” He chuckled. “After that, I was sure Home already liked you more than they liked me.”

A cacophony of silent chuckles comes from behind her, and she couldn’t help but join in.

“Then that night, we had a sleepover because it rained, and you couldn’t go home.”

She snickered, looking up at Wally with a brow arched, her hand moving in a rolling motion as if telling him to go on, and he huffed.

“... and also because Home locked you in.”

“And ever since then we’ve been by each other’s side until tonight,” He continued, and she could feel someone nudging her shoulder. When she turned around to see the culprit, she saw Poppy, waving at her and ushering her to go up the stage, her brows rising in surprise as she points at the stage behind her, and the bird nods her head in response.

She turned back to face Wally, who seemed to be looking at her expectantly, and that was enough to get her to stand, slowly walking over to the side and then up the stage where she could properly be by his side, his attention fully turned towards her as he takes her hand into his own and giving it a gentle squeeze.

“(Y/n),” she looked at him expectantly, unable to hide the worry in her eyes as he looks up at her, more nervous than she’d ever seen him be. “We have a lot in common, a lot more than what others know about.”

She knows what he was referring to. What he could see, what she could feel, what the other side of the line could offer them.

“We love art, though we both practice two different kinds of it. We love sitting quietly near the fireplace, eating or sketching, because it’s one of the most calming experiences a person could have. And we love doing a lot of things together.” He paused, scratching the back of his neck as a light pink dusted his cheeks. “And there are a lot more things we could love to do together.”

“And we also have our differences,” He cups her cheek, and she could already feel the tears swelling in her eyes at the way he just lovingly looks up at her, her heart pounding so much against her chest that she could feel it as if it were about to explode. “I love all of you, each and every part, but I’m afraid there’s one difference we have that’s bothered me for quite some time now.”

Her brows creased together, worry evident in her eyes as she looked at him in confusion.

“Your last name,”

He dropped down on one knee, and she could feel the world around her as if it were spinning and her knees threatened to buckle under her.

“But I intend on changing that soon,” He shyly looks away as he holds out the blue box towards him, the golden band shining underneath the spotlight. “If you’ll have me.”

“Of course I will!” She would’ve screamed louder than she already did if she could, jumping into Wally’s arms and sending them both tumbling down the stage as she peppers his face with kisses, a harmonious cheer echoing from past the stage as she pulls away from her bo— fiance, pulling him up off the floor as they giggled under their breaths.

Wally takes her hand in his own, giving her knuckles a gentle kiss before slowly sliding the golden ring on her finger, another sob escaping (Y/n) as she just stares at it in disbelief.

“My future Mrs. Darling,” Wally’s confirmation only made the news all the more exciting, her heart jumping in joy at the thought. “I like that a lot.”

“Me too,” Her voice almost cracked as she spoke, a hand coming up to wipe at her cheeks. Wally reached up to hold her head in between his hands, and she leaned into his touch as he smiled.

Could life get any better?

#fanfic #fanfiction #welcome home wally darling #welcome home wally darling x reader #wally darling brainrot #wally darling #wally darling x reader #welcome home fanfic #welcome home x reader #welcome home arg #welcome home #barnaby b beagle #frank frankly #julie joyful #sally starlet #howdy pillar #poppy partridge #eddie dear

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nexttrickanvils · 2 years

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Beware of Karen Ch. 3

Hey the fic’s not dead! Guess Return kicked me back into overdrive on this. Originally this was gonna be the final chapter but instead there’s gonna be one more after this. But for now, hope this was worth the... year long wait.

Summary: After experiencing the true awfulness of Stan’s ex-wife, Karen, Elaine, Guybrush, and Stan put their heads together and figure out a way to get rid of her.

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Man, Guybrush hadn’t seen Elaine this annoyed since that incident with the seagull and the sandwich.

“So what’s the plan?” asked Elaine

“We need to give her a reason to leave the island or else she’ll just call the authorities on Stan.” Guybrush replied

“Hm… that’s going to be a tough one. Once Karen finds a good spot with plenty of suckers, she’s not going to let go of it. Unless enough of those suckers finally catch wind but she’s good at leaving without a trace or refunds before that happens.”

“So I suppose we can’t just tell everyone about the monkey incident?”

Guybrush and Stan looked at Elaine curiously, “The monkey incident?”

“On my way back, I saw a woman that Karen sold some products to, trying to get a pair of monkeys off of her. Apparently they were attracted to the make-up she used.”

“It’s because of her monkey testers.” Stan stated matter of factly

Now it was Elaine’s turn to stare confusedly with Guybrush.

“I told you before, Karen tests all her cosmetics on monkeys. Not that she’d ever admit it.”

“Why monkeys?” asked Guybrush

“She doesn’t need to pay them and she figures they’re close enough to people. But it turns out when you spend your time making monkeys attractive, you attract monkeys.”

There was a brief moment of silence before everyone decided to move on. After a few more minutes of thinking, Guybrush spoke up again.

“So I guess telling people about the monkeys isn’t going to work because…”

“Because she’ll accuse us, SPECIFICALLY ME, of lying and pull that “Woe is me” routine. She’s practically perfected that over the years.”

”Well… if we can’t convince people to stop buying from her, what if we give Karen a reason to leave? Like make it so that she can’t stand being here to do business?”

Stan thought about it and almost immediately gave that familiar shark-ish smile.

“That sounds just crazy enough to work! After all I’ve known Karen for years so I know what makes that woman tick AND what grinds her gears.”

With that, Stan grabs one of the maps that Guybrush had laying around (he really hoped they already used that one, if not, Wally’s gonna kil-… be very very upset) along with a quill and some ink, slams all three onto the table, and quickly begins writing.

Before long, Stan held up a freshly written list of:

THINGS THAT ANNOY KAREN

1. Me

2. Animals

“But the monkeys…”

“She doesn’t use them cause she likes them. Anyway…”

3. Messes

4. Hagglers

5. Her make-up getting ruined

6. Competition

Guybrush and Elaine looked at the list and then at each other.

“Okay so… how do we put all this together?” Guybrush asked as he put his hand to his chin

Suddenly he stood up straight and looked over to Elaine.

“Oh! Plunderbunny, what if you go back to Karen’s stall and pretend that she’s changed your mind and…”

Elaine would be the first to admit that sometimes she doesn’t quite follow her husband’s logic but this time she knew exactly where he was going…

“...Keep her occupied by constant haggling!”

“Exactly! Stan, Karen doesn’t stay at her stall all night does she?”

“Of course not, she’s always been obsessed with luxury. She’s likely staying at the island’s hotel. I hear their top rooms are swaaaan-key.”

Guybrush went back to his thinking pose, “Now the question is, how do we get into her hotel room?”

“Maybe this could help, sweetie.”

That was when Elaine dug through her pockets, pulled out a card, and handed it to Guybrush.

Guybrush looked over the card:

Balle & Chayne

Family Law

For when your honeymoon turns into vinegar

“Wow, it’s even got a watermark. But where and why did you…”

“Karen slipped it into my pocket thinking I’d want it. Now I know I won’t be needing their services but cards can also be a handy way to do what you do best.”

“Breaking and entering and grabbing everything not nailed down?”

“I was going to put it in a more polite way but… yes.”

Guybrush just gives Elaine a smile.

Elaine also then pulled out a couple cosmetics and placed them on the table.

“I also grabbed these after that woman dumped out what she bought. Don’t know if they’ll help but maybe you’ll think of something.”

“Thanks Lainey-kins. Oh actually that reminds me…”

Guybrush then dug through his own pockets (how he could find anything in there was a mystery that Elaine has not and will never figure out) until he pulled out a tube of lipstick.

“Karen “offered” this as a free sample. Maybe having it will convince her more that she’s got you on her side. Just… maybe don’t put it on.”

At that point, the two heard a certain someone clearing their throat and suddenly remembered WHY they were scheming like this.

“It all sounds like a good plan. Excellent plan even! But I think you’re forgetting one tiny little thing. Uh… what am I gonna do?”

That… was a good question.

Guybrush thought real hard and snapped his fingers when he believed he had an idea.

“Well I will need some help figuring out where Karen’s room is. Elaine, get some clothes and give them to Stan. He’ll pretend to be Karen and say that he lost the room key and needs a replacement, he then gives me the key, and I find a way to sneak in and-”

“Now hold up, Threepwood. While I can’t deny that I would look stunning if your wife’s fashion sense is any indication, this plan feels a little… oh what’s the word I’m looking for? Ah, right, needlessly overcomplicated.”

“...That was two words.”

Guybrush looked over to Elaine for some support but instead she gave her husband a sympathetic look.

“I’m sorry but I’m inclined to agree with Stan, Guybrush. I’m certain the hotel clerk would recognize Karen and realize quickly that Stan isn’t her. And do you even have a plan for how to sneak in? Or were you planning to make it up as you go along? Plus I don’t think any of my clothes would fit his figure anyway.”

Guybrush couldn’t deny that Elaine made some pretty good points.

He then turned to Stan and pouted, “Alright then, do you have any “simple” plans, Stan?”

“Easy, ask the hotel clerk for the sales pitch!”

“...What?”

“Trust me! Just ask the guy where the fanciest shamciest rooms are and figure it out from there. Like I said, Karen looooves the fancy stuff so it should be easy to go from there.”

Guybrush’s pout then turned into a full on frown as he stared at Stan.

Seriously?

That was his idea?

Just… ask?

“...That is never going to work.”

—

“Greetings, I’m Guybrush Threepwood, Mighty Tourist! And in my travels, I’ve been told many wonderful things about your luxury suites!”

To Guybrush’s surprise, the squirrely looking hotel clerk’s eyes immediately lit up and gave a salesman smile that Stan would be proud of.

“Of course, sir! Our Governor Suites have been declared the finest in the Caribbean! Our pillows are filled to the brim with European goose down and our sheets are made from real imported Asian silk!”

Guybrush nodded, barely listening as the guy continued on and on.

“-And of course each Governor Suite has a balcony so you can view the island high from our top floor! So how many nights do you plan on staying?”

Finally getting the information he needed, Guybrush immediately snapped back to attention.

“Oh, I’ll need to speak with my wife and see what she thinks. Thank you for the information.”

The blonde pirate quickly turned around before the clerk could say anything else and headed straight for the exit. Standing right next to the door was Stan, a smug look on his face.

“...Top floor.”

“Sounds about right, I guess. Alright, time for me to work my magic and for you to do your pirate-y thing!”

“Wait what?”

Without further explanation, Stan went inside with Guybrush quickly following. He watched as the plaid-clad con man approached the clerk and cleared his throat.

“Yes?” asked the clerk

“Gooood afternoon, sir. My name is Stan S. Stanman, your local friendly supplier for hotels throughout the Caribbean!”

The clerk sighed and rolled his eyes.

“I apologize sir but I do not think we have need for your servi-”

“Oh ho ho, that is what they all say! Then the next day they find out they don’t have enough fluffy white towels to make those charming towel roses and by that time I am long gone and that hotel is getting some nasty reviews from the Town Square. As they say friend, better to have something and not need it than to need it and not have it! Now come on, you can be honest with Ol’ Stan here. Isn’t there anything you guys could use more of?”

For a moment, the clerk looked around as if to see if anyone was listening and quickly faced Stan.

“Well… between you and me, we are having bit of a crisis with the chocolate mints we put on the pillows…”

It was at that point that Stan wrapped his arm around the poor clerk’s shoulder and pulled him facing away from the stairs entrance. It didn’t take long for Guybrush to realize just what Stan was doing and rushed over to the door and went through without anyone noticing.

#Monkey Island #Anvil Writings #fanfiction

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river-bottom-nightmare · 3 years

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"you were missed, you know.” the voice is light, balancing on the edge of airy like a coin on its rim, in a way only careful practice yielded. so jason whirls around, faster than he normally would in a neatly-pressed suit and loose dress shoes.

there’s a woman, close cropped red hair swinging into her face and pulling at the corners of her mouth until her expression is as severe as her form. there’s a scar on her jaw and, oh, the memory tumbles into his head as if pushed. kate kane, proof that vigilantism is genetic, once tugged jason into into her side and pulled him away from a particularly leering investor at function. the bite of her nails on his skin was a thousand times sweeter than the man’s smile.

she smirks. “hi.”

“haven’t seen you in a while,” jason responds, attempting casual and instead tripping, falling into his crime lord persona, since he doesn’t know how else to interact with people when he’s jason peter todd-wayne.

“not since you died,” kate remarks and damn, right for the gullet. “you’ve grown up.”

jason shrugs, suddenly feeling thirteen years old again, suddenly feeling all of four feet, eight inches in the face of her candidness. “time’s funny like that.”

she eyes him carefully, trying to fish for the truth in what she believes is a lie wrapped in a careful quip. jason doesn’t blame her: he’s cultivated quite a reputation for himself. but he stripped the sarcasm from his words before he spoke them, and their rawness is shrouded in the bubbling champagne and crystal chandelier around them, but it’s no less present for anyone who knows how to peel the veil back.

“you were missed,” she repeats, satisfied with his answer. “not sure anyone’s told you that since you’ve come back. your family’s a stubborn bunch. i just wanted to make sure.”

“make sure i knew i was missed?” jason clarifies, feeling a little foolish, because dick wouldn’t beg to save his life but there were a few times that his words came close to pleas, and tim had made it clear how much he’d upheld the pedestal he’d put jason on, and alfred had actually told him that to his face.

but this was the first time he found himself truly believing those familiar words. he hadn’t known kate, not at all. and yet, she nodded, clapped him on the shoulder once, twice, then left, completely unaware of the pit of resentment she’d carved out of jason’s stomach and thrown on the ground until jason felt like he’d slip on it if he moved, if he breathed.

she didn’t look back, but jason’s eyes didn’t stop following her until she was out of sight.

"you were missed, you know.” jason doesn’t startle, his training is etched into every scar decorating his skin, and there are times that he grips and holds onto those scars like a lifeline. he’s far too practiced to flinch, but he’d be lying to himself if his heart didn’t skip a beat.

he forgave himself in the next second, though. cassandra cain could make men much more experienced than him recoil. she appeared soundlessly, and folded down beside him with a grace that jason hadn’t seen anywhere outside his family. the amount of space she left between them, the relaxed posture that left visible tension cording through her arms like pulling steel taffy, the tilt to her body that made jason automatically want to open his mouth and let his tumultuous thoughts come out as an oil spill: right now, cass had dick grayson’s brushtrokes all over her.

“dick put you up to this?”

cass shook her head, then bit her lip in a considering movement. jason wondered if he’d practiced, because bruce had long since broken that dangerous habit out of his children.

“i am still working on comfort. assurance,” she said, rifling through the words like flash cards, picking the most accurate ones. “i thought i’d practice.”

“oh? and why exactly do you think i need comfort.”

“i overheard your argument,” she admitted, “with bruce.”

“i didn’t think anyone was there.”

“i didn’t mean to,” she said. “sorry. but i heard what you said.”

jason scoffed. “prove me wrong. one step forward, two steps back with that dense motherfucker.”

“sign of protection,” cass said. “not distrust.”

out of everyone to say that to him, cass was probably the least likely. jason had thought she, of all people, would be on his side after he found the microchip in his helmet. she, of all people, would value independence after being owned for so long.

“by the time he found you, you were dead. and he missed you more than anything. he will never let that happen again.”

“oh yeah? privacy mean nothing to him? i know he’s crazy about this stuff but come on. there’s a limit.”

“you are not relying on him because of this.” cass stood up, stretching her back, though jason was sure she really didn’t have to. “he is relying on you. let him.”

“you were missed, you know.”

“what, speaking from personal experience? i ain’t you, west.” jason could feel the gentle thrum of electricity behind him, making his hair stand on edge. two steps backward, and he’d be pulled into that void, that black hole of energy, that swirling vortex of pure power condensed into something human-shaped.

except he wouldn’t. it was just wally. just dick’s best friend joining him outside on the balcony. jason didn’t know how dick and tim could stand to be around speedsters willingly, for fun.

“i mean, sort of,” wally shrugged. “but me and you had very different experiences.”

“yeah, west, i’m not sure who else has been stuck in the fucking speedforce.”

wally snorted, an if only you knew hidden in plain sight. jason decided he really didn’t want to know. “i mean there’s that,” the speedster concedes, “but also, everyone forgot i existed. that didn’t happen with you.”

“you sure about that?”

“hey,” wally eyed him, his eyes suddenly sharp. “don’t start that shit. i was erased from the memories of everyone i loved. you did nothing but stay in the memories of your family.”

“now i know we’re talking about two different things.”

“jason,” wally sighed, and the sheer exasperation pouring off him made jason want curl his fingers, bring them up for a swing, taste the bite of pain that would prick at his knuckles, nevermind the fact that wally would dodge anyway. “don’t do that.”

he turned to face the speedster, arms crossed deliberately over his chest. “where the hell do you get off acting like dick?”

“you’re more like dick than you realize,” wally said, “and i spent half my childhood dealing with his moods. actually, i still do.”

“do you have a point?” jason snapped, starting to get irritated. he wasn’t sure why. he’d spent his entire life one one end of a scale, dick grayson on the other. he’d always tipped his end down. this was the first time someone was telling him the scale was even.

“just because your family didn’t mourn the way you wanted them to,” wally said, “doesn’t mean they didn’t mourn you.”

“fuck you.”

“they loved you. and they missed you,” wally continues, steamrolling right over jason in a way most speedsters were prone to do. “there’s no minimum requirement for loss. no ‘if you didn’t do this, then you didn’t grieve me.’ that’s not even a situation, ever.”

“so that makes everything bruce did okay?” jason sputtered

“not at all. god knows i disagree with bruce on more things than i tolerate. but this is one thing you can’t fault him on.”

it wasn’t that easy, though. jason wanted to scream it at wally’s face, it wasn’t that easy. it wasn’t about whether bruce loved him enough,,,,except maybe it was. jason wanted bruce to have loved him enough to make a difference in gotham. jason wanted bruce to have missed him enough to change things, because change meant that bruce had been so hurt by his death that he refused to let it happen to anyone else again.

bruce had made a vow after his parents died. the fifteen year old inside jason was begging bruce why he hadn’t been afforded the same devotion. jason was his son.

“just something to think about,” wally said, then stepped backward, making to go inside where dick was calling him. “you were afforded the luxury of coming back with a place left empty in your family for you. you didn’t have to make it, like i did.”

“being dead, then coming back wrong isn’t a fucking luxury,” jason snarled.

with a shrug, wally turned, a little faster than the average human, lightning sparking at his heels as he left jason alone on the balcony. “depends on your definition of wrong.”

jason get therapy. please. also happy deathday

honestly i couldn’t decide whose side of the argument i was on, jason’s or wally’s.

tag list: @woahjaybird @birdy-bat-writes @anothertimdrakestan @screennamealreadyused @subtleappreciation @pricetagofficial @catxsnow @bikoncon @bonkybearjpeg @maplumebleue-blog-blog @sundownridge @thatsthewhump @xatanna-troy @red-hood-redemption

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anjuschiffer · 3 years

Text

Amira Wayne - Chapter 18

Chapter 18 is finally here! Damn this was one hard chapter for me...enjoy!

Chapter 18: Heroes

P.Tag: @theatreandcomicfreak @damianette-is-life @toodaloo-kangaroo @elijahcrevan @vixen-uchiha @nathleigh

Tag: @we-want-mini-mini @ramos123 @bluesimani @redscarlet95 @greatcatblaze @promiswords @fantasiame @corabeth11 @anonymously-odd @alexandriamw @officiallydarkgeek @galla02006 @maleive07

MASTERLIST | FIRST | PREV | AO3

Gris sighed as she watched her various clones run off to different directions, slumping against an empty can of cat food.

It’s been two hours since Marinette became Banshee.

There was no sign of Ladybird and with Queen Bee out of commission, Gris wondered if they were even able to take this Victim down.

While Master Fu assured her that things will work out, Gris couldn’t help but feel-

“Mice have been deployed. How are things on your side?” Gris said into her comms, waiting for her partners' updates. She let out a deep breath, watching it merge with the fog.

She can’t let herself lose hope...not yet.

“It’s difficult to ensure that no one will get swept up by my plan.” Ryuuko spoke. “Because I have thought of one.”

“There aren’t any civilians in the streets in our area at the moment. Carapace and I just confirmed that.” Chat managed to answer. “So if you have a plan, go ahead and try what you have in mind.”

“On it.” Ryuuko said, the girl looking at the fog covering all of Paris. “Wind Dragon!”

She watched herself turn into the wind, flying up until she bursted through the layer of fog. Returning half of her body into her original state, Ryuuko summoned her katana, only to find out it had turned into an epee.

It reminded her of the one she often carried in her civilian form, a fencing sword that had been passed on from her grandfather to her mother, and then to her. The only difference between the two were the colors. While the family heirloom was red in color, the one in her hands is black.

Only the handle and button were two other colors. The tip was now white while the handle was decorated in gold and white.

Realizing she was distracted by her epee’s elegance, Ryuuko meditated for a while before her eyes shot open.

Letting out a battle cry, Ryuuko let out an attack, the slash not making a single effect at the dense fog beneath her.

Returning to her wind form, Ryuuko decided to move on to Plan B.

Stretching out her hands, she focused her strength and summoned gusts of winds, the streams of wind circling around all of Paris.

“Ryuuko! What are you doing?” She heard Chat yell at her through the comms. “If you continue to do that, you’ll-”

“Do not worry Chat. I’ll make sure to not exert myself.” Ryuuko promised. With an ‘alright, be safe’ and a click, Ryuuko went back to work.

—

Wally didn’t know how long he was sitting on the cold ground, still trying to process what the hell happened to him.

“-y! Wally! Can you hear me?” Wally managed to recognize Barry’s concern, pulling his hands out of his hair and instead wrapped them around himself.

He was still shaking.

He can’t give them a reason to barge in...even if he -and possibly the Miraculous Team- were in dire need of help. “Wally.” He heard him say again.

Tiredly, Wally chose to finally answer him.

“I’m alright.” Wally tried to assure. He hated how he was able to hear his own scattered heartbeat despite talking through the comms.

“Wally. We know-”

“No, you don’t know what’s going on here.” Wally growled, trembling as he attempted to get up, only for his legs to give in.

“Wally, we do.”

“No, you don’t.”

“A miraculous wielder going out of control is not something to be trifled with.” He heard Diana say in the background along with what seemed to be chairs slightly scraping the floor.

“Do...do you have me on speaker?” Wally asked, his anger slipping out.

“Wally. It’s all over international news.” He heard Barry say, Wally feeling his heart stop and anger dissipate.

Was it always on the news? He was pretty sure Amira-

“She’s the one who was in charge of blocking the media.” Wally muttered, getting up from his spot on the ground. “Amira was doing damage control all this time and-“ Wally let out a groan and a huff. “Barry, I need to go.”

“Wally. Don’t you-“

“Amira is in trouble and you guys aren’t allowed to help because some people decided it was a good idea to force her to join the Justice league…” Silence came from the other end of the comms. “But even if you guys aren’t allowed in Paris, I know of a few who are.”

“Wally, please-”

“I know what I’m doing. They’re the only ones who can help Amira right now.” With that, Wally turned off the comms and took a deep breath. “Forgive me, Amira.”

—

Barbara dropped the cup of coffee in her hand, the chair she was in toppling over when she quickly got up. She listened as fine china got crushed with each hesitant step she took towards Tim.

“Amira...Amira got what?”

“Babs, listen. Amira-” Tim started, only to be grabbed and made to face Barbara.

“Isn’t that bad? To be akumatized? At least that’s what B’s reports say-what exactly-”

“What happened to Amira is none of your business.” Dick replied for Tim, Selina following right behind him. Judging from their getup and the duffel bags slung on their arms, they were heading somewhere...but she knew where.

Paris.

“Let me go with you.” Barbara demanded, setting Tim down. “Please, Richard. Let me help you. Let me help Amira. She’s-”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Selina cut off.

“Please!” Barbara begged. “Amira is my friend, we need to-”

“We,” Dick said, gesturing to himself and Selina, “will be the only ones who will be going. You and Tim are to remain-”

“No.” Barbara said, taking in a deep breath. “I’m going with you.”

“Barbara. You and Amira didn’t exactly end on good terms. If you go and she sees that you’re-”

“So that’s why you don’t want me to go.” Barbara stated, curling her hands. “You think I might agitate her more and cause her to cause more damage if she sees me.” She took his silence as a yes. “Then at least...at least let me help you through the comms. After all, you’re going to need as many eyes as you can in this mission.”

Richard looked over his shoulder, Selina’s huff and smirk being enough to let him know her opinion.

“Alright. But you are to listen to all my instructions to a ‘t,’ understood?” Dick commanded, Barbara wanting to grin at her small victory.

“Yes!”

Tim watched as the trio walked to the zeta beam, Selina graciously setting the coordinates to the one in Paris.

Within a few seconds, they were on their way to rescuing Amira.

Carapace hit the back of his head against the brick wall as he leaned back to take a rest.

“Where the hell can she be?” He asked himself, wondering where Banshee hid Lila.

He had already checked all the possible places she would have hidden her, but didn’t find the missing girls.

The school was empty.

The bakery was empty.

The park was empty.

The zoo also held no clues.

All of the museums had no sign of Lila being there nor Banshee.

Not even Grévin Museum, Marinette’s favorite place to go during her free time.

He had looked at every possible place Marinette had gone or visited in Paris and he hadn’t found Lila, not even a single clue that could lead to finding her.

Carapace went to reach his comm to update the team about his dilemma, only to find his hand simply hovering over it.

“Why exactly did you choose me, Ladybird?” Nino asked her one night, Ladybird looking at him in curiosity. “Why me when there are so many other people who are more well equipped for this?”

He watched as Ladybird hummed, her eyes seeing something he could not.

“Not every person who I saw as a candidate was as loyal and protective as you were. Half tried to stand their ground, only to give up. Some quickly backed down when they realized the possible consequences if they kept trying to defend their beliefs or friends. But you,” Ladybird smiled at him. “You stood your ground while doubt circled around you. You remained undeterred and firm when others criticized your choices. That’s why I picked you.”

“Because you had the courage to protect what was important to you.” Carapace reminded himself, frowning at himself.

He couldn’t just give up...he had to keep looking.

Surging with new confidence, Carapace decided to update the others. “Still got nothing on Lila or Banshee. I’m going to start checking other locations, but if anyone else has any ideas on what other places-”

“What places have you checked? Perhaps we can help.” A new voice said within their comms, startling the team. For Chat, it sounded oddly familiar.

“Chat, what’s going on?” Ryuuko asked, Chat realizing that she asked him through her miraculous’ comm.

Who was this? And...English? Chat thought as he went back to answer the newcomer.

“Identify yourself.” Cat Noir demanded, wondering how this person got into their system.

“Who we are doesn’t matter. We came to help you.” Another voice joined, Chat wondering how many had hacked into their system.

“How do we know you aren’t on Hawkmoth’s side? How can we trust you if you-”

“Marinette is my friend. I can’t just sit by and do nothing while I know there is something I can do.” The second voice said, Gris being able to hear the frustration in her voice.

“Chat, it seems like they actually want to help us.” Chat heard Gris tell him through her miraculous.

“That isn’t enough to convince me that you’re on our side.” Chat told the newcomers.

“We know how her powers work.” Another voice joined in, this time, male. He sounded as if he was around their age. Perhaps a year or two older than them.

“So do we.”

“We also have an idea of the item where the akuma is hidden.” Another male voice said, caused Chat’s mind to come to a halt. Why did it sound familiar? “Adding on to the akuma power, those are the two main facts we have to help bring Marinette back.”

Carapace waited with baited breath as he awaited for Chat’s response, wondering what exactly was going through his mind.

“Seems like you’re on our side. But even if you don’t want to drop your names, at least give us some code names we can refer to each of you.” Ryuuko heard Chat say, letting out a breath she didn’t know she was holding.

So they’re allies.

“Alright. I’m Corvus.” The familiar male voice replied.

“Osprey.” The first female voice said.

“Oriole.” The other male responded.

“Felis.”

“Alright then.” Chat replied, quickly changing over to the miraculous comms. “Team, we have new allies. We’ll be using our translators while using the regular comms to ensure our communications go smoothly and prevent confusion.”

“How exactly do we-”

“Don’t worry. I’ll explain it right now.”

“Do you think we got through to them?” Wally asked, watching Barbara not lift her eyes for a second from the monitors in front of her.

Her hands moved quickly across the keyboard, not leaving a single room for error as she hooked up a program to hack into the Parisian street cameras and home security cameras.

Wally had hesitantly agreed to letting Barbara use Amira’s computer to hack into the team’s comms and then this.

Hope Amira didn’t mind.

“I hope we did.” Dick confessed. “Also, why Oriole?”

“Well, you started with Corvus and then Barbara said Osprey so I said Oriole to keep with the bird theme.” Wally replies, hearing Selina’s chuckle through the comm. “Of course, I should’ve known-”

“Corvus.” Dick heard Chat say, Wally annoyed that he was interrupted..

“Still here.”

“Welcome to the team...now, let’s review what each of us know about the situation while Carapace and Gris continue to search for Banshee.”

“Alright.”

—

It was cold.

It was dark.

She hated it...and that’s saying something from a Gothamite who’s used to the dark.

Amira lifted her eyelids, watching as she climbed stairs she never once climbed. After all, she always used to just zip to the top. She tried to stop herself, but could barely control her own body.

“Banshee.” A voice whispered to her. She’d recognize that voice anywhere.

“Hawkmoth.” She acknowledged, stopping mid flight.

“How are things going?”

“Wonderfully.” She answered back...but she knew it wasn’t her... “Lila is getting what she deserves just as we speak. That harlot will pay for-“

“As wonderful as that sounds, there is still one part of the deal that is yet to be completed.”

“Don’t worry. I’m working on it. Just be pa-” She heard herself snarl when she felt a ring pang through her head, causing her to fold over.

She clutched her head between her forearms, wanting the pain to go away as it intensified with each passing second.

“Were you just about to say patient? Must I remind you who the one in charge here is?”

Banshee let out a whimper as she felt her body stiffen. “I suggest you hurry up and keep your end of the deal. After all, I kept mine.”

Banshee growled as Hawkmoth released his control over her, allowing her to relax. But just as she had been let go, she could feel something whirl within her. It was frustrated, annoyed, pissed...hurt.

In that split second, Amira could actually see what was in front of her.

She was able to feel the vile power running within her.

Looking down at the pitch black dress on her, Amira let out a horrified gasp, feeling all the memories surge up into her mind at once. She didn’t register the tears that ran down her face nor her raspy breaths as she brought her black laced hands closer to face.

She could feel the rapid rises and falls of her chest as she slowly observed how vile the black felt on her. How disgusted she was in herself.

She finally let out a scream, wrapping her arms around her, not thinking about anything else but the consequences of having shown her emotions earlier that day.

How naive she was to believe she could handle being a vigilante…

How wrong she was…

No wonder…

No wonder her father said those things to her...because he saw...

He saw how flawed she was…

How immature she had grown to be...

How stupid she was to think she was in the right all these years when in reality...he was the one who was right…

Who is right...

She really wasn’t prepared…

Not prepared at all…

She was no hero, not even a vigilante…

She was a damn failure from the very start...

“-also check places where- what the hell is going on?” Corvus whispered into the comms as he stopped himself from jumping onto the next building. As much as he feared the shaking ground, there was something else that he feared.

The fog beneath him was starting to thicken even more, spots that were lights were now dimmer, almost invisible. He couldn’t move any further with all of this!

“Everyone! It seems like-” Ryuuko was about to speak, only to be cut off by a shriek in the comms.

“Oriole!” Osprey yelled, Gris hearing screams and things being thrashed around heard in the background through Oriole’s side. “Oriole! What’s going on!”

“Osprey! What’s-” Dick could feel his panic rising.

“Oriole -he just - he just collapsed and started screaming, calling for...Mimi. He won’t stop-” She was cut off by some static, the team wondering what the hell was going on.

‘Mimi? Must be some dear to him.’ Gris thought to herself, but she couldn’t help but notice how quiet the Birds and Cat Team got, wondering why they weren’t worrying over their teammate.

That made her wonder...

Why were they willing to help them to try and help Marinette so badly? What exactly is their relationship with her? Because as far as Gris knew, Marinette didn’t have many friends.

But then again, even with the friends she did have, Marinette wasn’t exactly open with them either. Yes, they’ve known her for roughly four months, but even then, they didn’t know much about their beloved friend.

“It’s Banshee.” Gris heard Ryuuko said shakily. “She’s enhancing her strength by using her own powers against herself!”

“We have to stop her!”

“But how?”

“Leave that to us.” Ryuuko heard Felis say.

“Is Oriole-” Chat started, only to get cut off.

“He’s alright. But he also confirmed one of our theories that would help us to counter Banshee’s power.” Chat heard Felis say.

“Counter? How exactly-”

“Don’t worry about the how. Worry about the when.” Chat heard Corvus say.

“When? Don’t tell me you plan on going right now?”

“Of course not. If my team heads now, then we won't be able to know where Rossi is hidden.” Chat listened as a glass clinked together on Corvus’ side. “We’ll wait for Carapace, Gris or Oriole to locate the girl first. When we know she’s safe, that’s when my team will strike.

We need to make sure that Rossi is safe or else our entire plan will fail.”

Lila clawed at her throat, trying to scrape away the itchiness within her. To try and get rid of the dry lumps that were growing by the minute.

She couldn’t breath. It hurt. It burned.

Her eyes continued to sting, Lila feeling the tears continuing to pool beneath her. They hurt even with the low amount of light around her.

The only thing that had managed to ground her a bit was the cold ground her body was so desperately against.

A cold embrace that gave her a break from the endless insults thrown her way for the past...hours? Days?

Lila froze when she heard a sound in the distance, curling into herself. She covered her face with her arms, trying her best to not let out a single whimper.

She bit her tongue as she heard the sound get closer to her, daring herself to sit upwards.

She listened as the sound began to become clearer...listening as footsteps drew near to her.

Lila didn’t dare to lift her head to see whether it really was someone coming or not. She wasn’t going to risk to keep seeing the illusions, the hallucinations she’s been hearing all this time.

After all, compared to all that she had been going through, this was a nice change of pace.

She listened as the footsteps grew louder, each step echoing throughout the dim place she was in.

She listened and listened, each passing second causing her heartbeat to quicken.

Then they stopped.

Stopping right in front of her.

They placed a hand on her shoulder.

So it wasn’t just another nightmare. This was real.

Slowly lifting her head, Lila had wished this was just another nightmare because the minute she saw that needle in the man’s hand, she felt her heart stop.

Letting out a piercing scream, Lila tried to get away from the person in front of her, but her legs gave in.

Lila screamed and tried to claw herself away from the person who pulled her closer to them, but all that she managed to grasp was the gravel that dug into her palms, blood seeping from the wounds.

She continued to scream even as she was then pinned down beneath the man, feeling something stab her arm.

As soon as the needle pierced her skin, Lila felt a wave of relief. A peace so needed, Lila relished in the ecstasy, feeling herself drift to sleep.

Bruce looked at the girl beneath him and then at the syringe in his hand.

To think that Amira was the one who caused all this. And to think that worked perfectly against Banshee’s powers…

He had to report back. Taking out a phone, Bruce quickly typed into it and then tucked it away.

He looked at the girl who was now peacefully sleeping on the ground, knowing that he had to leave soon despite wanting to take the girl to a safer location.

Squeaks started to become audible, Bruce taking that as his cue to leave.

“Gris! We have a possible clue to where Rossi might be!” Carapace heard Osprey exclaim.

“Where?” And how? She wanted to ask.

Carapace and her had tried every possible way to track Lila, Carapace having checked different surveillance cameras while Gris deployed all of her clones to search for her, only for their efforts to be in vain.

How did they easily find her within an hour?

“She’s in the catacombs.” Gris sucked in a breath. The catacombs? As in-

“Are you sure that’s where she’s at?” Gris managed to calm herself, sending a signal to the closest clone to check it out. Why the catacombs of all places?

“Yes. Some home security cameras managed to capture when Banshee took Lila there through one of the many entrances scattered throughout Paris.”

“I’m on my way!” Gris reported, switching perspectives from her original form and the one closest to the catacombs.

She ran down the dusty steps, running past the narrow tunnel that felt like it could come crumbling down at any moment. But when got to the end of that tunnel, Gris froze.

Is this why?

Is this why Banshee kept Lila down here?

Gris stood face to face with a wall of human skulls and bones, arranged in symmetrical patterns. Skull, bone, bone, bone, skull. Each skull was placed equally away from each other, the bones in between neatly arranged to be pointed in the same direction.

The musty air and debris free floor kept Gris from moving forward, but she knew she couldn’t just stand there. She had to find Lila and now.

Taking a step forward, Gris let out a wail as she mustered the courage to take the other.

But the stare of the eight foot wall of skulls looking back at her…

Prying her eyes from it, Gris ran past the wall, turning corners only to face another structure with the soulless remains of those before her.

Columns, archs, pillars and even crosses appeared before her, causing Gris to feel goosebumps emerge on her skin.

If that wasn’t enough, every corner that Gris took, she just couldn’t seem to get out of the loop she placed herself in. She even tried to stop and recollect herself only to realize that each fork in the path looked the same. Each corner and pillar she passed looked just like the one before.

Was…

Was she lost?

“-is! Gris! What’s going on? You haven’t talked to us in the past half hour. Gris!” She finally heard Chat saying, Gris coming to a halt.

Half an hour? She had been running around this maze...for half an hour?

Dropping her transformation, Sabrina slumped to the ground and brought her knees to her chest, letting out a shuddering breath out.

“Sabrina.” Mullo coaxed. “Are you alright?”

“Gris. Are you still there?”

“I...I can’t…” Sabrina sniffled out, digging her head further into her knees. She held back a wail, biting her tongue in hopes to shift her attention from her thoughts. But it failed. “I can’t…” A hiccup escaped her as she hovered her hand over her comms.

“Gris...where are you?” She heard Carapace ask her a second before she turned off her comm, not wanting to hear anyone at the moment. “I don’t know about you, but I asked Ladybird why she chose me.” Sabrina jumped when her burner phone talked, Sabrina taking it out to see the message flashing across the screen.

Chat said Ladybird had planned on giving it to her the next time they met, but Chat saw it just to give it to her now.

A phone especially created by civilian Ladybird just for those that were part of the team.

Team...like if she even belonged in it.

“Sabrina, we have to keep-”

“What’s the point Mullo?” Sabrina wiped off her tears, letting out another sniffle. “I’m useless. Worthless. I should’ve been able to track down Lila’s location, but I couldn’t. Osprey, on the other hand, was able to locate her in less than an hour! Don’t you see Mullo? I’m supposed to be the brains of the team like Osprey, but I messed up! I messed up even more when I got lost, mocking Osprey’s hard work of finding Lila’s location. What’s the point of continuing if I’m just going to keep holding everyone ba-”

“Snap out of it!” Mullo yelled, Sabrina feeling paws rest against her hand. “This isn’t like you Sabrina! Not one bit!” Sabrina pursed her lips, throwing her head back into her knees. “Sabrina! Don’t you remember why Ladybird chose you? You, the girl that no one sees?”

“Well, thank you for the-ow!” Sabrina yelped, retracting her hand from Mullo’s mouth. “Why did you bite-”

“Ladybird didn’t choose the quitter sitting in front of me! She chose the girl who’s ambition to make friends through kindness caught not only her attention, but heart as well. The girl who’s info gathering and intelligence flourished and allowed her to achieve the goal she wanted. A selfless girl disguised as a selfish, ambitious one.” Mullo nuzzled against Sabrina’s cheek. “Ladybird needs you to help the team and keep them moving, we need you to make this fight a victory and as for Marinette,” Mullo looked straight into Sabrina’s eyes, “Marinette needs you -her friend- to save her.”

Sabrina watched as Mullo smiled at her. “So then Sabrina...what’s your decision? Will you continue to mope around here or continue to fight alongside your friends to save a friend? Which will it be?”

Sabrina looked down at the mouse miraculous around her neck, placing the pendant in the palm of her hand. The silver locket was opened with ease, displaying Sabrina and her father on the left side while a picture of her, Chloe and Marinette were on the other.

“Isn’t it obvious, Mullo?” Sabrina got up shakily. “Mullo, get squeaky!”

“-not picking up.” Osprey heard Chat say through the comms, wanting to say something to comfort them, but what can she say?

She didn’t know them, neither as the vigilantes they were now nor their civilian forms. What can she say to comfort them in a time like this? When a friend is the force they’re up against?

“Sorry everyone. Had to replenish for a bit. But I found Lila! The target has been secured! Quickly transporting to the designated destination.”

Felis heard an audible sigh of relief echoing within the comms, letting herself smile at this tiny victory. After all, this was just one step towards the big one.

“Phase one has been completed. You know what this means.” Corvus relayed.

“Ryuuko, you’re up.” Chat cleared up.

“On it.”

It was cold. Colder than usual.

Heavy fog was sitting all around her, but Banshee didn’t care.

Banshee looked at her hands, finding them covered in tears. Frowning at them, she shook them off before continuing her ascendance up the stairs, smiling at the fact that she was able to make Lila feel the same pain as she did.

But her victory was short lived.

The high whistling of wind snapped her attention, her eyes narrowing when she watched the fog starting to gather near the UNESCO World Heritage Centre, watching as the accumulated fog swirled in circles.

She snarled when a large hole in the cloudy sky appeared, allowing that morning’s sunlight to pierce through, dispersing the fog into nothing.

The city of Paris is now clear of her terror.

Now there, hovering in the air, was a single hero.

A hero...a ray of hope.

Banshee gritted her teeth together, feeling her annoyance starting to spike.

“Banshee. It seems as if they’re onto you. But this is it. Takes this chance to engage them and take their-”

“Banshee!” A voice called out, a voice that sounded...familiar…

Banshee remained still while her eyes darted around to see who dared to face her. As she scanned the area, she found them. Standing a flight above her was a man cladded in black, the only color on him was the blue domino mask across his face. Escrima sticks were prying from behind him.

“Who are you?” Banshee asked, not moving a step.

“Who I am shouldn’t matter. What should matter is the fight that is about to happen!”

Banshee scowled as the man charged at her, Banshee managing to dodge all of his attacks. But she wondered, why didn’t she want to touch him? Why did she hesitate to place a hand on him?

In that self monologue, she must’ve gotten distracted, feeling a hand connect with her stomach, causing her to stumble, her side hitting the railing beside them. She felt bile daring to rise to the surface.

“Mi!” The man yelled, grabbing Banshee by her wrist, his hand over-

“You let your guard down!” Banshee grinned, clasping her hand over his wrist, causing the man to let go of her and slump. She watched as the man cowered away from her, murmuring incoherent sentences.

“Corvus!” A voice yelled, a woman now appearing, wearing a skin-tight unitard, Banshee feeling something in her head begin to ring. She watched as the woman took out a needle with what seemed to be clear blue substance. She began to inject it into the man, something clicking inside Banshee.

“Dad. What’s that?” Amira asked her father, watching as he packed away some vials into his utility belt. It was another day of keeping Gotham safe, Amira already planning on bringing some homework to keep her company while she awaited for her father’s return.

“Antidotes that work against Scarecrow’s Fear Toxin.” She heard her father say, watching as he double checked his equipment.

“Have...have you ever been...hit by it?” Amira dared to ask, already knowing the answer to that.

“I have...it’s one of the worst feelings in the world.” Bruce said, placing his belt back into its case.

Amira watched as her father ran a hand over the case before turning his attention back to Amira. “Why don’t the two of us go see if Alfred needs any help in the kitchen? How does that sound?”

“He’ll probably kick us out. Remember what happened last time?” Amira referred to the last time her father tried to help Alfred make pasta. She watched as her father let out a laugh, a laugh that made her follow along and laugh as well.

Banshee was snapped from her thoughts when she felt something mere inches away from her face.

She tried to avoid the incoming fist coming at her but noticed a whip constricting her movements. So instead of taking a step back, she took a step to the side, connecting her heel with the back of Corvus’ head and twirled her way towards the woman.

Making it seem as if she was about to use her leg again to attack, Banshee let out a laugh when the woman prepared to block her kick only for the two to connect foreheads. With the slight release of hold, Banshee freed herself and held the woman’s hand between her hands, grinning as the woman looked at her with tears pooling in her eyes.

“Mi!” Banshee clicked her tongue as she watched Corvus come for her again, the two exchanging blows, Banshee dodging all of the blows her way but not being able to land one herself. “Mi! You have to stop this! Fight it back!” Corvus yelled, Banshee noticing that he was by the woman’s side, administering the same needle she had seen just moments ago.

“My name’s Banshee. I’m not this Mi you speak of.”

“Mi, try to remember! Remember!” Corvus yelled, this time taking out his escrima sticks, Banshee taking a step back when she saw the tips of them spark. “Mi, I don’t-”

“I’m not Mi! I’m Banshee!” Banshee yelled, charging once more, feeling her mind muddle even more.

She kept fighting, exchanging blows with Corvus and avoiding the woman. She often got close to landing a blow on either of them before someone in the distance would interfere.

Glaring at the hero in the distance, Banshee knew she wasn’t going to be able to win this fight unless she thought of something...and fast!

When Corvus once more charged towards her, she tried to grab him again, only to be grabbed by her wrist and pinned down.

Banshee squirmed as the woman approached Corvus, Banshee glaring at her as she did.

“Felis. Give the signal.” Corvus told Felis, Banshee remaining still as she watched Felis talk with someone else on the other end of their comms. “Banshee. No...Mi. Just wait a little longer. We’ll get you out of this-”

“Fools, the lot of you.” Banshee said, grinning. “You two were so worried about being touched by me that you forgot one thing.”

Corvus let those words sink in as he watched Banshee look down to her hands that were-

“Don’t do it!” Corvus yelled, watching as Banshee clasped her hands together, letting out a shriek so deafening, it caused both Corvus and Felis to collapse, their screams scattering into the wind.

Just when things were turning for the better, it went back to square one.

Seconds after Corvus and Felis had managed to take down Banshee and gave orders to commence the next phase, Chat watched as fog started to pour down from the top of the Eiffel Tower followed by a piercing screech.

“Corvus, what the hell is going on?” He demanded, but got nothing on his end. “Corvus! Give me a-“

“He’s down!” Osprey replied, Chat hearing rustling in the background. He could also hear clicking and glass clink against one another.

“What’s going-”

“Banshee used her power against herself, meaning she revitalized her control on those she’s touched. In other words-“

“She managed to escape our hold.” Chat gritted his teeth.

Just when they were so close! “We need to hurry and-“

“Don’t you dare go after her right now.” Osprey threatened.

“You can’t-“

“If I remember correctly, Lila wasn’t the only one affect by Banshee’s power. Wasn’t there someone else?”

Chat froze.

How did he forget about Chloé? And not only once, but twice! “Guessing by your silence, there is. I’ll be going to your location to drop off an antidote that’s been confirmed to work against Banshee’s power.”

“Antidote? Confirmed?” Chat whispered.

“Remember how we told you that Oriole was touched and had relapsed? Well, back where we come from, we face a villain with similar powers, but without the magic. When Oriole told us how Banshee’s power worked, we wondered if the antidote we made would work in this case. Corvus managed to prove our theory correct. They do indeed work the same way.”

Chat remained stunned, soaking in the new information.

They weren’t Parisians? They fought against people who were just as powerful as Banshee...but without magic? “Oh! Carapace is right here! I’ll just send Carapace your wa-”

“No. He’ll be giving the straight to both Lila and the other victim.” Chat found himself saying, crouching towards the floor.

He couldn’t face Chloe right now...he just couldn’t.

“Sure?” He heard Carapace asking him.

“Yea.”

“With that settled, I’m going to be moving to Plan B. Meet you at the rendezvous!”

With that last order from Osprey, Chat got back up and let a single tear fall down his face.

He’s supposed to be the one in command and yet here he was, just sitting at the sidelines, doing nothing.

“Just what kind of leader am I?”

“Amira.” A voice whispered to her, Amira wondering who was calling her. “Amira.” There it was again, and as much as Amira wanted to know who it was, she couldn’t open her eyes to see who it was. She couldn’t move a single muscle, not being able to respond to the voice that kept calling her. A voice that begged her to wake up.

A voice that she’s never heard before but for some reason, she felt as if she’s heard it once before...many, many years ago.

Banshee felt heavy, exhausted, watching another tear drip off of the tip of her nose and join the pool of tears by her hands.

She never registered the yells and shouts of Ryuuko attempting to get rid of the new fog surrounding the Eiffel Tower.

“Amira.” A voice called out, causing Banshee to look up, noticing the lack of a neon purple mask around her face.

Was it not Hawkmoth who called out to her? “Amira.”

There it was again. “Amira.”

“Who’s talking?” Banshee yelled out, getting up to see no one in front of her nor behind her. She walked up the stairs, hearing the metal creak beneath her feet.

“Amira, did you forget me already?” The voice called out, Banshee turning to see who spoke to her.

“Ja...son?” Amira could feel herself losing herself when she saw him in front of her. “Jason...what are you doing here, in Paris?”

“Amira...why are you doing this?” Jason asked her, stepping closer to her, causing Amira to step back.

“Sta-stay back! I might hurt you!”

“You say that and yet there’s already so many you’ve already hurt before me.” Jason told her, causing her to freeze. “Or am I wrong?”

Amira felt her voice stuck in her throat. “N-No! I didn’t-”

“Are you really going to deny hurting Selina? Dick? Are you?”

“N-no! I-I! It wasn’t me! It was Hawkmoth! He-”

“He may have given you the power, but in the end, it was your decision on whether or not to use it. And you decided to use it against not only your family, but on friends as well...like Chloe...and Wally.”

Amira hung her head, feeling the tears spilling without her permission. “I didn’t-”

“Stop making excuses, Amira! Open your damn eyes!” Jason yelled at her, shaking her shoulders. “Are you even Amira? The Bat’s daughter, my sister?” Jason asked. “What happened to the Amira I knew? Where did she go?”

“I-I!” Amira tried to find the words, but none came out. “Jason, listen, I- Jason?” She called out when she saw no one in front of her. All she saw was her akumatized bracelet on the floor in front of her.

“-chance Banshee! Use this to get Chat Noir’s mira-”

Had she been hallucinating this entire time? Didn’t matter, she had something far more important to think about.

“NO!” Amira yelled, disgusted by the neon purple mask hovering against her face. “There’s no way in hell I’m going to help-”

She collapsed to the floor once again, her head on the verge of exploding.

“Banshee! I am the one who gave you your powers so you are to do-”

“Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!” Banshee screamed as her head began to ache, a ringing that wouldn’t dare stop.

“How dare you defile me! I’m the one who gave you power, I’m the one who is allowing you to-“

“You...gave me...nothing.” Amira snarled between waves of pain. “All you’ve done is manipulate me. Nothing more, nothing less. You took advantage of my anger and rage, took it and made it into a weapon.

A weapon you had planned to use against Ladybird and Chat Noir. Using me to gain some measly-“

“Oh dear child. That’s where you’re wrong.” The neon purple mask hovering over Banshee’s face flowed even brighter, allowing Banshee to see in front of her. “Ladybird and Chat Noir’s miraculouses are more than just magical pieces of jewelry.

When placed together, they grant a single wish. As for what wish, you will know it once I get-”

“Get your hands on? As, in on the miraculouses?” Amira chuckled. “Well, guess what? I won’t let you.” Amira declared, getting up. “I won’t let you hurt my friends anymore for your own goal, I won’t let you get your hands on those miraculouses! I won’t let you win, Hawkmoth! I wo-!”

Amira screamed as she fell to the floor once again, resisting the urge to clutch her head to soothe the pain.

“Foolish girl! You don’t-”

“It’s you who is the fool!” Amira reminded, sitting up, almost falling back down as her arm almost gave in. She watched as the neon purple light around her face flickered. “You may think you are the one in charge, but you aren’t. I am!” Amira yelled, grasping the neon light mask hovering above her face, causing the mask to shatter to tiny pieces of glass and for her to writhe in pain.

She continued to kick around as her heart was being wrung, silent screaming escaping her as she gasped for air.

She watched as she continued to flail, wondering if anyone would get to her in time.

She wonder if this is how-

“Amira!” She heard someone yell, but she couldn’t turn to see who it was. Didn’t matter as Wally’s face soon made it to her vision, Amira feeling her chest hurt even more when she saw how red his eyes were. “Amira, don’t worry! We’ll-”

“Smash it.” Amira found herself saying, looking over to where Wally had barely missed stepping on the akumatized bracelet.

“What?”

“Step...on..it…” Amira said again. “Then take my earrings.” A wince. “Tikki will help from there.” She managed to say in two breaths.

“But what-”

“Hurry!” Amira wheezed out, hating how her vision kept swinging between pitch blackness and her tunneled vision.

At least she was able to hear Wally crush her bracelet and Tikki’s voice before finally succumbing to the darkness.

“Amira!”

“Don’t be bemused! It’s just the news!

After seven grueling hours, our heroes have finally done it!” The news channel showed off the Eiffel Tower, free of fog and a swarm of ladybugs gathering at the top. “They’ve placed evil back into its place!” Then, the ladybugs dispersed, many Parisians watching how little there was this time around compared to other fights. ”They’ve once more proven to be a team to be reckoned with.

Thank you. Thank you for keeping us safe, Miracle Team. You guys are truly Paris’ pride and joy...our heroes!”

#maribat #amira wayne

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harveywritings92 · 4 years

Text

DMC BOYS: They find out you're an assassin [Assassin's creed crossover.]

Dante: It was supposed to be a simple bodyguard job, a bunch of old dudes were having some super villain-ish meeting and one of them hired Dante to guard him, the devil was a little vague on the details all he remembered was the guy saying he'll pay upfront! And like that Dante blocked whatever else was said...

to sum it up someone wants the old guy dead and Dante just there to make sure he doesn't croak, simple enough he can do that... what he couldn't do was kill the assassin who just killed his client...

She was his girlfriend.

Dante's mind replayed the scene over again: one second the old fat geezer is drinking whiskey and being chatted up by a call-girl, Dante gets distracted by one of the strippers, next thing he knows there's a shriek! the half-devil whipped his head in the direction of the commotion and saw his client looking at another old man in a dark suit in shock, his hand was clamp securely around his neck all in a vain attempt to stop the blood from seeping from his slashed throat he fell forwards and his assailant was revealed standing behind him.

They were a woman in a fav/c hooded jacket with some sort of retractable blade attached to her wrist, he could see tiny smirk grace the woman's lips as she stared across the club room at same old man who Dante assumed was the big boss behind this meeting, and another target on this won's list...

Dante grimaced and took a step forwards only to freeze when the familiar scent of his girlfriend's perfume caught his nose through the blood and booze, then he saw those eyes the half-devil knew them well the second they looked through the crowd at him, he was soon snapped out of his shock by the big boss boss bellowing "Get her! tear that dog apart!?" soon the y/ht woman was surrounded by armed men; Y/n took them down like they were nothing and seemed to be having fun with it before making a quick get away, he last saw her run out through one the exits.

He chased her just in time to see her jump off the roof and land in the back of a dump truck filled with leaves waiting in the street before the truck drove off into the night, needless to say Y/n was in for a major what the hell fest when she got home.

--------------------------

Nero: Anger was the first thing that crossed his mind, then betrayal he thought he knew you and that you could trust him with anything, but him finding out you were a killer? that's been fighting a goddam centuries old war, he didn't know what to think! how he found out in the first place was that you had gotten hurt and he was contacted against your wishes.

He demanded to know what happened? you had lied claiming you fell down some stair. "Stairs don't stab peopl-" Nero too a breath "Y/n you better tell me what's going on, or I'm walking out that door and I'm not coming back." you looked at him stunned hoping this was an empty threat but he was dead serious.

You kept your mouth shut but the second he took a step towards the door you sighed "Wait." Nero turned to look at you gestured for him sit down, and like that it was like dam had opened Nero sat and he listened, you told him of the creed, the artifacts of Eden, Abstergo and your involvement the more upset he looked, he silently left you alone claiming he couldn't be here. he had to think, after few hours he came back and paused when he heard a male voice talking to you...

Nero swallowed his inner demon growled hearing an unknown male in your room. "I don't think it's a good idea to be using the animus in your condition." You snapped at the guy the shut up you're gonna be stuck here for a week might as well do something other than mope about destroying the best relationship you've ever had in a while. "okay, your good go."

Nero silently walked in without either of you noticing him and saw you hooked up to some oculus looking thing and this surfer looking guy looking over a screen, suddenly he jumped back at the sound of a pot shattering. "What the hell?!" you exclaimed as the guy chuckled. " I think ..uh-oh think Amir's wife Esha just found out he's an assassin she not taking it to well" he laughed nervously keeping a hand on his chest as Nero came up behind him to watch the scene, You grumbled something under your breath as a woman angrily shouting in Hindi filled the hospital room as more pottery in thrown.

"Esha, please calm down, mera Pyaar!*my love*" a man pleaded as the woman snarled.

"Don't you Mera Pyaar me! Five years we've been married and you kept this from me, How dare you?!"

"Look I didn't want to keep you - [dodges a vase.] please stop throwing things at me!"

"I should've listened to my brother when he said there was off about you! kameene!*Bastard*" *About to throw another vase*

Amir catches her arms pushes her toward a wall "I was just trying to protect you dammit!" he snapped Esha tried to say she didn't need to be protected because her father but Amir cuts her off. "Can do nothing, these men and their order have been on earth as long as my creed has, they have more power then your family combined and they to destroy free will as we know it..." the door behind them sudden broke down to reveal a British man and few heavily armed guards.

Esha who was still enraged shoved Amir aside, demanding they leave their house did they know who her father was? he'll hear about this- she was cut off by the men laughing at her before dropping the bomb. "On her who do you think told us where to find your husband?" the Indian woman's fell in shock and started shaking her head in disbelief next thing that happened, a cloth was tied around her mouth as the smoke quickly filled the room the sounds of fighting started Amir quickly started dragging his shell shock wife out of their home …

The sequence ended as you sighed waiting for the next one to load "that is exactly why I didn't want to tell Nero, one slip up, one loose end and the Templars could find him, Kyrie or the kids and use them to hurt me." The y/ht huffed wincing as she tried to pull herself up, and failed nearly falling off the bed luckily a pair a arms caught her and sat her up right.

"urg... Thanks Wally." Y/n's heart sank into her feet when she heard Wally voice on the other side of her room. "uh.. That not me N/n." the ginger man said sheepishly while adjusting his glasses as the familiar scent of Nero's cologne caught her nose, Y/n cautiously lifted up the Animus visor off her eyes to find Nero staring at her.

the y/nat woman's stomach tightened and her face felt hot as a tense silence filled the air, before Nero spoke up pretty saying that her reasons for hiding this life from him were the exact same reasons he keeps her away from Devil hunting to protect her.

He sighed knowing there was no way talking her out of the creed like he had planned, but Nero urged her not to get killed and not to hide things from him anymore... Y/n promised then Nero sheepishly asked if she'd put the Animus back on? because he kind of wants to see what will happen to Amir and Esha.

-----------------

Vergil: Like Dante he was hired by a shady old man to protect him, what he didn't expect was to be thrown into a special security called alpha squad filled with a bunch of arrogant humans who pointed a laughed at the white haired weirdo and using a sword in this day and age! Vergil ignored them seeing as this was just a temporary gig, and he'll never see them again.

Of course nothing would prepare him for what happened next, alarms were blaring and the were bodies littering the hallways, Vergil examined as he went along noting that they alpha squad members and they'd been stabbed or had their throats slashed...

It was Ironic that they died this way the more he thought about it, he snapped out of his thoughts when he heard his employer yelling at someone to back off.

Vergil looked around the corner to see his employer and a hooded man with a strange blade on his wrist the two were engaged within a conversation while Vergil silently approached.

"I had dream about you Mr. Vesta."

"aww...how sweet, too bad you're not my type!"

"In my dream you never made it out the Paris Catacombs alive..."

"What can I say? I too stubborn to die!"

Vergil was just about to strike when the three were interrupted by an explosion, "Why Hello, Partner!" Vesta happily greeted the woman cautiously walked into the courtyard, Vergil felt a chill go down his spine as a familiar shouted at the man. "Jason, we have to go!" Vesta shook his head keeping eyes on the old man. "We can't let them find the box."

The woman took a an aggressive stance not liking that answer "Screw that, I killed half of Alpha squad and destroyed the map, let's get out while we can!" footsteps were heard rushing down the alley, her partner growled in frustration finally complied with her. "See ya in your dreams old man.." Vesta jeered then threw a smoke bomb he and his partner ran from the scene being chased by Vergil.

Who caught up to them fairly quickly he knocked out the man and got a hold of the woman pulling her hood off confirming his suspicions. "Y/n what's meaning of this?" he hissed coming face to face with his gobsmacked girlfriend. "Only to be interrupted by remnants of Alpha squad, who ordered him to hold her down! Without a word Vergil used summoned swords on the men causing them to scatter.

before using the Yamato to open a portal; he threw Vesta over his shoulder and he and Y/n rushed through it landing in Nero's garage, the portal closed as Vergil dropped the passed out man none too gently onto the floor then turned his girlfriend who had a lot of explaining to do.

#devil may cry #dmc x reader #Vergil sparda #Dante Sparda #Nero Sparda #Nero x reader #dante x reader #vergil x reader #devil may cry fanfiction #Assassin's Creed #crossover fanfiction

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hello-im-not-a-possum · 3 years

Note

Can we get a fic of Everyone's first reaction to snowflake?

“Everyone was used to supernatural bullshit and as the toons already existed for several years now, they already knew that the Ink could create life. So while there was a bit of shock for some at the thought of the Janitor being the new father of a toon of his own, they mostly congratulated Wally on his new son and/or gave him parenting advice.”

...Sorry, this feels like a cop out, so we just gotta throw a child into a different dimension for kicks and giggles and character development.

Knowing the magic user's history with this kind of thing, Snowflake couldn't help but feel nervous when he saw Joey painting a large circle on the wall and intricate symbols within the said circle.

"G-grandpa Joey, what are you doing?"

"Opening a portal to a different dimension." The animator replied nonchalantly. "An important key ingredient for several reversal spells no longer seems to exist in this one, so I'm getting more from the closest one that has a lot of it before the Ink starts acting up again."

"Oh?" The little devil looked intrigued, the last time a visitor from another dimension came to their own, he was strange, but friendly! And wondered what the rest of that dimension, or other ones like it were like. "Can I come? I-I'll be good I promise!"

"Well..." Joey brushed his mustache in thought as the portal started to open. "Other dimensions can be quite unpredictable, especially ones where magic is much more secretive than it is in our own, I don't think the studio on the other side even has living toons yet!" The animator fidgeted with his collar. "And given the track record other Joeys have with their own studios and magic, I don't think it's smart for me to take you..."

"Pleeeeeaaaaasse!" the imp begged. "I promise that I'll stay close and not run off! ...unless it's an emergency."

"Hmm..."

The magic user narrowed his eyebrows and continued to stroke his mustache as he thought about the potential consequences for bringing Snowflake along. The thought of a distraught Wally discovering that he had taken his son somewhere dangerous and the kid got hurt as a result had made the man immune to the imp's otherwise irresistible puppy eyes, but the Ink behind the imp slowly rising from a puddle to a featureless figure that was making threatening gestures made him quickly realize that the consequences for NOT bringing Snowflake along might be even worse than taking him.

"Okay."

"Yay!" the little devil cheered, taking Joey by the hand and pulling him through the portal. "C'mon! Let's go see what other dad's like!"

"Wait, wait, wait, wait," the old man gave a sharp tug on the speckled imp as he tried to run off and knelt down to be closer to his eye level. "This is *just* a last-resort errand run, nothing more, nothing less. Now that we're here, we are going to find the ingredient, get it and get out. Ideally, we won't even come across our alternate selves, let alone speak to them!"

"Why?"

Joey looked around nervously before bringing his voice down to a whisper and gestured for Snowflake to do the same.

"Because of the butterfly effect we'll bring here! How do you think the Wally on this side will react when you tell him you're his son from a different dimension when where he's from, magic is genuinely not real for him?"

"...He'll freak out?"

"Yes! Not only will he freak out but he'll probably tell everyone he knows! Including this world's Joey, who judging by his nickname; "That shi- shoot heel puppeteer", is the last person who needs to know about magic, let alone how to use it..."

"Oh. Yeah, that doesn't sound good..." the imp agreed as he suddenly regretted his decision. "Do you think it's too late to throw me back-"

The pair gazed at the now blank spot on the wall where they came from.

"...Unfortunately yes, so stay close and put on a disguise."

"I-I didn't bring one..." the imp sheepishly responded. "...Sorry, I got too caught up in the excitement."

Joey sighed deeply as he took off his glasses and sweater vest, putting them on the kid toon instead.

"It's not the best, but it'll do for now as long as we don't stick around long enough for them to see past it, so let's hurry out of here!"

Snowflake nodded and guided Joey as he tried to navigate the similar-yet different studio. (The man did not wear glasses for the sake of aesthetic.)

The layout seemed similar enough, but there were less pipes running through the building, the colors were duller, the stale smell of tobacco, old coffee, sweat, and a coppery-earthy scent that reminded Joey of blood but wasn't quite similar enough for him to call it that lingered in every single room they entered, the employees that they passed might as well have been reanimated corpses with how drained of energy they looked, all of them didn't even so much as acknowledge the pair's presence.

That was, until, an unfamiliar-looking yet familiar sounding janitor took notice. The man didn't look like Snowflake's dad, he was a lanky fellow and wore the same hat that his own father wore to work, but the similarities in appearance stopped right there. This world's Wally had shaggy, dark brown hair, eyes so dark that they looked black, a crooked nose, and when he smiled at them, Snowflake could clearly see that the man was missing a tooth.

"Hey, how'd you two get in 'ere?"

Joey cursed under his breath before answering the other Wally.

"Well, I was just-"

The dimension-traveling duo suddenly felt dozens of angry eyes on them, which had melted into confusion and mild intriguement as they realized that the man who spoke looked more like a kindly grandpa with an odd-looking Bendy doll with him instead of their sleazy boss. The pair of outsiders were afraid they fucked everything up before to the relief of the pair and the horror to everybody else, they heard the voice of Sammy in the other room shouting "God dammit Joey! I told you time and time again to stay out of the music department!" followed by the revving of a chainsaw.

The animator was quick to realize his mistake as he cleared his throat and did his best 'sounds like a normal voice but isn't MY normal voice' voice.

"-I was just looking for a herbal shop nearby but got turned around. If one of you fine folks could give my grandson and I directions, we'll happily get out of your hair."

Wally frowned in confusion as he looked at the very obviously not-human creature who smiled meekly at him and waved. He shrugged off the mild weirdness as he remembered that he did know where an herbal shop was.

"Dat's all? No problem! Herbal shop's right next to a really good burgah joint, has a statue of a knight wranglin' a unicorn right outside da place, ya can't miss it, an' by extension, ya can't miss da herbal shop eithah."

"Why thank you, you're too kind..."

"Oh and uh, Sorry if da musicians 'ere freaked ya out." The janitor adjusted his hat, it now covered the man's eyes. "Our music director recently got re-hirahed but nobody's willin' ta forgive da boss ova what he put him through, not dat I blame 'em, I get jitteahs every time I think about it happenin' ta me too!"

Joey nodded sympathetically as he reached for his companion's hand and internally panicked as he couldn't find it.

---

Snowflake ran off, the eyes on his back and by proxy, the pressure of knowing that the fate of this world and his own was on his back was far too intense. In his mad rush, he had only made his situation worse with everywhere he ran as he had lost Joey's glasses on accident, which was a vital part of the disguise.

"Holy sheit! is that a bloody livin' toy?!"

"What in the goddamn... Bertrum! Come look! You gotta see this!"

"My word! What has Drew done?"

"Okay, this time I'm finally going to quit for real! I swear, these hallucinations are just getting worse every time I come into work!"

"It... it worked! Tom, look!"

"Or at least, this one looks better than the first model- Hey! Get back here!"

It was terrifying thinking about how these alternate versions of the people he knew and grew to love, ones who shared their voices and careers, but not appearances, memories, and experiences could very well be his enemies. Most chilling of all, he heard Joey's voice in the crowd.

"Well done Tommy! At least this one looked halfway presentable!"

He shuddered at the thought of that Joey getting his hands on him. He didn't even know where he ran off to, only that he had to escape from them, he then squeezed himself into a small crack in the wall, an easy feat for a boneless ink creature, not so much for anything else.

His heart pounded loudly against his chest, the little imp tried to hush it, and prayed that the noise wouldn’t give him away he just needed to calm down. But his prayers went unanswered as the 'click-clack' of a pair of high heels passed by, and a woman crouched down, possibly hearing him.

“Now how on earth did you manage to wedge yourself in there, little guy?”

He recognized that voice all right, he scooched deeper into his hiding spot, hoping she’d leave him alone. The woman, the Susie Campbell of this world judging by her voice, might’ve looked at him with concern, but something about her just felt… wrong to him. He knew of alternate realities, good ones, bad ones, and downright weird ones, but this one felt uncanny to him and he just wanted to go home, it wasn't outright worse than most dimensions, but it seemed so bleak and miserable.

Hopefully he was wrong, but as of right now, it felt like this was a world that wouldn't even so much as bat an eye at its own destruction.

"I-I shouldn't have asked in the f-first place..." he muttered to himself. "I s-should've j-just left Joey to do his errand and s-stayed out of it..."

"Hey," the woman gently knocked on the wall, all the imp could see of her was her face, a face that looked mostly normal except for her left eye, which looked glassy and didn't look at him like her right eye did. "Are you okay in there?"

Snowflake stayed quiet.

"Oh no..." the woman muttered to herself. "Don't panic, I'll go get help!"

She said as she left, but her words didn't make the little guy feel any better.

He slowly crawled out of his hiding spot, ready to hunt down another one while fighting off the guilt that came with making the other Susie worry about him, while her eye was weird, she seemed just as nice as the one from his own dimension.

What seemed less nice however, was the sudden cold, yet firm grip on his shoulder.

"You know, it's very rude ta ignore folks who's just tryin' ta help you."

"Eep!"

The imp spun around to face a man with a familiar voice, he was a tall, dark-skinned, older man with an eye patch on his right eye, had a thin frame, and attire that vaguely reminded Snowflake of a comic about a western vampire hunter that Buddy showed him.

"Awfully jumpy, aren't ya, kiddo?" Norman chuckled as he knelt down to his eye level. "I get that a lot from people. But in all seriousness, we can't just have yous wanderin' around wherever you please, this here studio's a dang deathtrap, even on the best of days."

"S-sorry Norman..." Snowflake adjusted Joey's sweater vest as a realization dawned on him: judging by the studio workers' lack of a surprised reaction to him, this world might be more magical than his own world's Joey assumed. "Hey, wait a minute, are toons real h-here too? Can I find Bendy, Alice and Boris around here?"

Norman raised an eyebrow in confusion, but thankfully for the imp's sake, he stayed calm.

"Mr. Drew's tryin' but he ain't got a dang thing ta show for it. Although, I'm kinda hoping he can't, it doesn't sit too right with me. Just call it a gut feelin', but I don't trust that anythin' good will come from him messing with things like that."

"Y-yeah..." Snowflake nodded. "I've been here for less than f-fifteen minutes and I think I can see exactly what you mean. This place's Joey seems so much worse than my Joey."

"Sorry ta hear that little guy..." Norman knelt down to the little demon. "So, would ya mind ta tell me about this 'other Joey?"

"Oh, sure thing!"

---

True to her word, when Susie returned, she brought over three people; Wally, Joey who was now wearing his slightly broken glasses (Who Snowflake was relieved to see), and a shirtless, long-haired man with a chainsaw in his hands.

He was tall and broad, had dark brown hair and tan skin, his eyes were a stormy gray, and they were sharp with a steadfast determination that made Snowflake feel nervous, the little imp felt like there was something deeply terrifying about this man, and not just because he was currently carrying a dangerous weapon. Although, he couldn't deny that he felt a sense of familiarity with this man that he had not felt with the others in this dimension.

Snowflake felt like he's met this man before.

"Alright, and he should be right here..." The voice actress trailed off as she saw the timid devil shyly wave at her, very much freed from his wall prison and seemed to be chatting with her favorite projectionist. "Oh! Hi Norman! Thanks for getting him out for us and keeping him company!"

"It was no problem, the kid wasn't half bad company."

"Ya know kid, we're glad ta see ya okay, but your grandpops and I was lookin' everywhere for you! Not gonna lie, ya gave us both a scare when ya ran off alone like dat."

"The fuck is that thing?"

"Sammy!" The woman elbowed the shirtless man in the ribs. "Be nice!"

"Alright..." The man rolled his eyes and gave a forced smile that showed off black gums and yellowish-grayish teeth that creeped Snowflake out (the smile itself, not the man's gums or teeth, judging by his smell, he was an avid smoker and it was at least normal for him to have a mouth like that, the smile however... he doesn't think a man's smile should be that wide.). As he lifted the little devil up by the shirt like a scruffed kitten, he presented him to Joey. "Now then, is this your lost little lamb?"

"Yes." Joey reached for the imp. "Please don't hold him like that."

"Nearest exit is down the hall, take a right turn when you reach the giant broken pipe that's leaking everywhere and hasn't been touched for at least a week." The man gestured fluidly as he still held up that creepy smile. "As... lovely as it was for you two to visit us and our little studio, we really should be getting back to work before Joey decides to fire and blacklist everyone in this room for loitering or something."

"Uh... thanks?" Joey suddenly snapped upright. "Wait, how are you all so calm about this?! All of you are barely even reacting over a living cartoon character right there!"

"Speaking of which do you know who doesn't need to know about that? Our boss. You claim you're not here for a meet and greet and I don't think this should turn into one. You got the information you came here for, now get what you needed from here and get out."

"Wow, you're a rather blunt fellow, aren't you?"

"You could say so."

"W-well, I-it was scary, but it was also nice meeting all of you! Maybe we should visit again later so we can know each other better!"

"Oooh! I'll look forward to it!" Susie smiled warmly. "Good luck with your ingredient hunt, boys!"

Sammy started to shove the pair down the hall as he felt they wouldn't leave otherwise.

"Yeah, yeah, goodbye and all that, see you soon, I won't forget to write... Have yourselves some happy travels! Goodbye again."

The musician led them out of the building and dusted off his hands as he returned to the others who did not look happy with him.

"That was very rude, Lawrence..." Susie scolded. "They just wanted our help!"

Wally shook his head but didn't add anything.

"And we gave it!” He hissed. “Do you really think it would be safe for them to stay and talk with the shitheel around? Especially after what he just did to us?! Do you want HIM to know that there's a different version of him who got everything he's wanted and more? What do you think he'll do to them when he finds them? Do you want to find out?"

Susie's face scrunched up in realization as the other two men uncomfortably shuffled in their spots.

"I thought so..."

"...Think they'll come back?" Norman piped up. "I kinda wanted to talk with that other Joey."

The musician shrugged.

"Do ya at least think we'll find a way ta get ta 'em ourselves?"

"Maybe? If they would a way here, I wouldn't be surprised if we could get there."

"Wanna look for a way there? Ya gotta admit you're curious what the other us are like too!"

"Hmm... Well, maybe after hours."

#Bendy and the Ink Machine #Hell's Studio AU #joey drew #snowflake the demon #wally franks #norman polk #susie campbell #sammy lawrence #fanfic

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flawnle · 3 years

Text

My brain decided to have angst for my weird au thing. Feel free to ignore if you want nothing to do with it.

-[START]-

Dmitri spotted the fucker, the one who’s been messing up his prison. He gives chase, just barely keeping the person in sight as he followed. They make a right turn. He knew this would lead to a dead end. Dmitri slides into the hallway ready to confront them but instead sees someone a bit more familiar.

Wallace, his son, was standing around where the person he was chasing should be. He seemed unbothered. Like someone hadn’t just ran by. He noticed Dmitri and greeted him with a wave.

“Uh, hey kid. Did you happen to see a person run past here? I’ve been chasing them down and I’m sure I saw them run in here!”

Dmitri says quickly. Not wanting to risk the person who’s been running his place to the ground getting away. Wallace just looked confused.

“I didn’t see anyone sorry.. maybe they went the other way?”

“Im sure I saw them run in here kid. My eyesight is perfectly fine.”

“Well I honestly saw nobody.”

Dmitri groaned in annoyance. Looking down the other hallway.

“Maybe they went the other way... I can still catch them!”

He was about to go off again but Wallace stoped him.

“Actually I wanted to talk to you for a second.”

“Wallace. I really got to go after this guy..”

“They are probably gone by now, they’ll be back eventually. Next time you can get all of us to help conner them property.”

Dmitri thought for a second. The guy will indeed come back, he doesn’t seem to have finished his job.

“.. fine. What did you want to talk about kid?”

“Well it’s just I’ve realized I haven’t exactly been completely honest with you about some things..”

He said nervously. Wallace figgeted with his bracelet. Dmitri raised his eyebrows in a bit of surprise. Out of all the topics he thought Wallace was going to go to he never expected that.

“Well whatever it is I won’t be mad at you. Just explain alright? How many things are we talking about here?”

“O-only two..”

“What’s the first thing?”

“... it’s about my nightmares.”

Dmitri sighed. He knew how bad Wallace’s nightmares were, plus the fact he’s been dealing them them for about 20 years. He didn’t know much about them asside from the one time he found Wallace crying when he woke up. That was also the time he found out he had nightmares to begin with.

“What about them? Have they gotten worse or something?”

“Not exactly..”

Wallace looked Dmitri in the eyes as two lengthy looking figures rose from his shadow. Their faces looked the same, eyes not seemed to exist. They scared down at Dmitri. He took a step back.

“These... are my nightmares..”

“Kid I don’t know what to tell you but, nightmares are dreams. They don’t come out like that physically! It’s like some sort of cryptid shit!”

“I can’t expect you to believe me.. but I’m telling the truth, these things are the stuff that make my nightmares what they are.”

“May we speak now..? Speak now..?”

Wallace shot the two a look after one of them spoke. Their echoing voices seemed to bounce off walls that didn’t exist.

“Not yet.”

“... did that thing just ask you permission to speak??”

“Y-yeah... one day they just decided to leave me a alone and start listening to what I tell them too. They said I wasn’t worth the trouble if I was already this far gone.”

Wallace’s words confused Dmitri. What does he mean by ‘this far gone’? As far as he knew Wallace was the same as he has been since the day he came to the wall.

“Kid.. what are you talking about?”

“You wouldn’t notice the difference... it’s been like this for awhile...”

He gave a small nod to the creatures. They move forward a bit to speak.

“About 3-4 years to be exact~ be exact~”

“What..?”

Dmitri was stunned. How could this be happening for years when he’s seen how these very nightmares effected Wallace first hand. Then a new thought crossed his mind. Could Wallace had faked that? Pretended the nightmares effected him the way it did when that wasn’t the case? He shook his head slightly, getting rid of the thought. Wallace wouldn’t fake something like that, he had no reason to. He trusts his son.

“Is something wrong? Something wrong?”

“Yeah, your fuckin voices.”

“That’s enough guys..”

The two returned back to Wallace’s side after he spoke.

“I’m sorry for not mentioning them before, there never really was a good time for me to tell you..”

“It’s fine kid. That was then, this is now.”

“Thanks.. there still the other thing though..”

Dmitri almost forgot about that. Seeing the two creatures made him lose track of the fact wallce said there was two things, not just one.

“We’ll go ahead. Surely it can’t get weirder then you having cryptids at your command.”

“If your sure..”

Those words from Wallace made Dmitri nervous. The figures seemed to smirk, as if they knew what was to come.

“... I’m still a tophat.”

He said simply. After he spoke his posture changed. Dmitri couldn’t tell how though, he was more focused on his words.

“You.. WHAT?! Your still a tophat? Why didn’t you tell me sooner!”

“I didn’t think it was necessary. I’m still actively working here. It just made it easier to say I didn’t work with them anymore. But I feel the need to come clean about it.”

“Kid, you really should have told me. We have an alliance with them, it doesn’t matter if you are or aren’t one.”

“... I know.”

“He just didn’t want to~ want to~”

Wallace nodded at what the figure said. Dmitri finally figured out what was different. Wallacw was standing more straight, as if more professional. He didn’t like the implications of that.

“Didn’t want to..?”

“Exactly! Like Wally boy said, it was unnecessary, so why bother? Besides, he didn’t want to ruin what you thought of him. Of him.”

“Is this true?”

Dmitri asked. Now more on edge, there’s something off about all this. Wallace was still hiding something, he just knew it. And god be dammed if he didn’t find out what.

“Of course it is. They wouldn’t lie, at lest not to you. They’d only really try to lie to me.”

“I wouldn’t have thought any less of you if I knew Wallace..”

“I know, I know. I didn’t know then but I do now. That’s why I’m telling you.”

“And that’s it? That’s all you wanted to tell me?”

“Pretty much, yeah..”

Wallace started acting a bit more like one he knew. But Dmitri planned on finding out more.

“.. who exactly were you chasing just now..?”

The question caught him off guard, he was about to say something before Wallace did. But Dmitri composed himself, trying not to let Wallace know he knew something was up.

“Just the fucker that decided they could march on in here and try to sabotage my complex..”

He says with a growl. Wallace seemed to think for a second.

“Oooohhhh THATS who you were after! I know who that is.”

“Wh-what!? Yow KNOW!? Why didn’t you tell me!”

“Why wouldn’t I know who I am?”

“Wha- that’s not what I-“

Dmitri’s voice trails off his gaze matched Wallace’s as realization sank in. He smirked as he saw Dmitri’s expression.

“You.. you..”

“Come on now Dmitri. You can say it.”

“Your the one who’s been sabotaging the wall..”

His voice was shaky. Dmitri couldn’t believe it. How could he? His own son, the one who he was thinking of possibly handing the wall over to, is the one who’s been setting it up to fail. A look of satisfaction rested on Wallace’s face.

“There you go. I’m surprised it look having to say it outright for you to realize~”

Everything about Wallace changed. How he stood, how he spoke, it was startling. It was like someone flipped a switch in him. But for some reason, Dmitri got the feeling he was finally meeting the real Wallace Pemberton.

“Why..? Why would you..?”

“Sabotage the wall? It was my duty. I wasn’t just a spy, my job was to break everyone out, and I was going so slowly but surely, by taking the wall down completely..”

“But there’s a-“

“An alliance, I know. The reason’s quite simple. You were too late. The plan was too far into motion. I can’t reverse it now, so why should I stop? Might as well go all in.”

Wallace smirked once again, the nightmares behind him smirked as well. He was scary. Dmitri backed up, wanting to try to run. He couldn’t kill Wallace, he’s his son for gods sake! So his only option was to get out of there.

“And where do you think YOUR going? Your going?”

Wallaces voice mixed with the nightmares. It startled Dmitri so much he froze in place. The one of the nightmares take the opportunity to come up behind him. Stoping his attempt of escape. Wallace’s a kind of “tsk tsk tsk” sound, like he was about to scold a child.

“What made you think I’d just let you leave? There’s still some stuff I want to say~ don’t you know it’s rude to leave a conversation early?”

“...”

“Good to know your smart enough to know when to shut up.”

The nightmares laughed a bit at that. The echoing laughter made Dmitri’s head hurt.

“You know, I was planning on waiting until you give me the wall before I revealed myself. But I’ll admit, I made an amateur mistake, I fumbled. You caught on end it was either I show myself willingly, or you find out in... a situation I wouldn’t find favorable.”

“You didn’t want to be ambushed..”

“Exactly! I’m glad you understand. I always knew there was some kind of brain in that hollow skull of yours~”

“...”

Wallace looked at Dmitri. Raising an eyebrow in amusement at his expression of confusion and betrayal.

“I get why your so quiet now. Your betrayed, backstabbed, by the man you concidered your son. Confused as to why, how, I could possibly do such a thing.”

“I thought you cared..”

Wallace freezes at that. Maybe he’s feeling some form of remorse? Gult? He knew the answer almost immediately after those thoughts, because Wallace started laughing. Similar to the laugh of the nightmares. He was laughing at him, absolutely losing it. It seemed like Wallace tried to compose himself after his laughing fit.

“You.. you really thought-“

It’s hard for him to speak through his giggles.

“You really thought I cared! Haha! That’s the funniest thing I’ve heard! YOU THOUGHT I CARED ABOUT YOU!”

Dmitri flinched. This was his son, his son who never cared.

“I CANT BELIEVE IT! Why would I care for a sorry old man like you!? Your a useless waist of a man who can’t even lay a finger on the person who betrayed you. All because I’m your ‘son’ “

He put son in air quotes. Cackling here and there.

“Oh Dmitri how far you’ve fallen. You’ve made my job so much easier! I was going to kill you here and now but now I don’t want to anymore.”

“Wh-what..?”

“I think I’d rather see you SUFFER. I want to watch the pain in your face as you watch your son ruin the one place you call home. The place you’ve spent your life keeping together. IM GOING TO RIP IT TO SHREADS! And you won’t do anything about it.”

Dmitri started to shake, he was actually scared of Wallace. And he knew he wouldn’t do anything to him. He couldn’t, it’d break him to put Wallace in harms way, even if he’s betrayed him.

“Your.. your a monster..”

“Oh how you flatter me. Monster is such a tame word to call me.”

He chuckled, his eyes glancing to a clock on the wall. Wallace’s expression turned into a sickly sweet smile. The nightmares disappearing.

“Sorry to cut this short.. but I have a very appointment to get to. I’ll see you again I’m sure of it.”

“...”

Dmitri watched Wallace walk away cheerfully, like nothing ever happened. He was at a loss for words. He collapsed on the ground, taking a few deep breaths, as it felt like he wasn’t breathing.

He couldn’t believe what just happened, but he had to. Dmitri couldn’t do anything but prepare for his pain. As much as he wanted to stop Wallace, he couldn’t do it. And so Dmitri walks somberly back to his office.

-[End]-

#angst #the henry stickmin collection #evil wallace fic

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cavanaghcharactersxreaderfics · 3 years

Link

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: The Flash (TV 2014) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: HR Wells/Reader, Earth-19 Harrison Wells/You, Earth-19 Harrison Wells/Reader, HR Wells/You Characters: HR Wells, Earth-19 Harrison Wells, Reader, Caitlin Snow (mentioned), Cisco Ramon (mentioned), Barry Allen (mentioned), Harry Wells (mentioned) Additional Tags: Metahuman Reader, Telekinetic Reader, HR needs more love and so do I so guess what folks here have this, earth two reader Summary:

You'd been working with Team Flash for a while now, but since Barry had started training two new speedsters you hadn't been needed in the field until now. Your skills are a little rusty, you make a mistake, and you're left paying for it. HR decides to lend a helping hand and really, who are you to refuse?

With your ears muffled by the headphones that Cisco had designed for you, you couldn’t hear anyone approach. The padding surrounding your ears made it difficult to hear but they served a greater purpose than just shutting out the sound around you. They’d been designed to help muffle your powers. You could control your metahuman telekinetic abilities now that it had been years with your abilities, but sometimes when you didn’t pay attention things still rose around you, floated up off of the ground or phased into it. Your emotions couldn’t get ahead of you and send expensive equipment (or people) across the room.

You had a smaller pair of the headphones for the field or when you were out in public, less dampening but still effective. A pair of ear buds that had been modified from the anti-Grodd tech that the team had made the year before. They were uncomfortable though, and not meant for long term use. The older pair that you wore now, while a prototype, were more comfortable despite the fact that they were bulky and kept you from hearing things.

Things like the other occupant of STAR Labs’ basement approaching your room and knocking at the arch of the doorway.

You only saw HR standing there when you were half stripped out of your hero costume. Thankfully you wore a tank top under the suit so you weren’t caught indecent, but you still gasped and reflectively pulled the leather jacket back over your shoulders.

“Wait!” HR spoke loud enough for you to hear, which meant he was probably yelling and just maybe the others upstairs could hear him too. “Hold on I’m sorry-“ he turned his back to you, his eyes shutting tight. It was even harder for you to hear him when his voice was pointed the other way, but he kept going. “I came to see if you needed anything after the fight!”

Cooling off after being thoroughly spooked by his arrival, you puled the headphones carefully from your head. HR was a good man, you knew he hadn’t been peeping on your purposefully. He had been a strange addition after the gruff nature of the Harrison Wells from your earth, but you were glad he was there, even if no one else was. Having someone so gentle on the team was refreshing.

“It’s okay, HR, I’m decent,” you laughed, pulling the jacket off again. You were covered, at least. You turned to the table that you set your gear out on, taking your gloves off and setting down the jacket now that you could hear better while turned away from him, you added: “What’s up?”

“I just thought that since you took one heck of an – oh! Y/N!” HR’s gasp caught your attention and you turned to face him, frowning when you saw his pained expression. The panic he set off made you a little nervous, and your gloves rattled on the table behind you, threatening to lift off into the air. You raised an eyebrow at the novelist but he said nothing more, only darting to your side, his fingers fluttering nervously around you.

“Y/N,” HR said, softer than you had ever heard him speak before. His hands reached out for you, and you managed not to flinch when they danced over your shoulder. “You’re hurt.”

You frowned again, looking back as best as you could at where his fingers touched your skin. Spanning across your back was a large, purpling blood bruise, bringing back vague memories from a fight not two hours ago when a sign post came flying at you and caught your shoulder just before Barry Allen could zip in and move you out of the way.

“Oh,” you muttered, the pain catching up to you with the memory of it. You tried to roll your shoulder to assess the damage but had to stop when the ache pulsed across your back and radiated through your entire body. You shivered with the pain and your gloves stopped rattling on the table and you balled your hand into a fist against the pain. “Ow.”

You could see the worry spread across HR’s face like the pain spread across your back and you tried to smile at him in an effort to dispel it, but he wasn’t having any of it. HR was more of a caretaker than that, and he huffed at you, taking you gently by the arm and guiding you to the edge of your bed. You still wore your suit pants and boots, muddy from the fight in Central City Park and the creak of leather would have been amusing if you hadn’t wanted to get out of it as quickly as possible once you got home. You offered HR a smile, exasperated though it was.

“I just want to get to bed, HR, it’s really no big deal, I’ve had worse.” That was a lie, and you knew it. HR hadn’t seen you out in the field before. He was new to the team and you hadn’t really been given the opportunity to work alongside the Flash in a while, now that Barry was training Wally (and Jesse) on top of hero work. You normally weren’t so careless. You normally had a shield, a barrier of telekinetic energy surrounding you that kept you from being badly damaged. Your slip up tonight looked like it was costing you your privacy, but with HR?

You didn’t really mind. He was sweet, much more so than any other Harrison Wells you had met – though your experience was severely limited to the Harrison Wells of Earth-2, who had been pleasant enough to work with but a pain in your ass when it came to personal matters. HR was good, a ray of sunshine that you hadn’t expected you’d get when you stayed on this Earth instead of going back with Harry and his daughter to your own.

You would have been lying to yourself if you said that you weren’t even at least mildly attracted to him.

“Y/N, you have to – just – sit there,” He nodded his head, turning back to the door and striding there confidently. You watched him pause in the archway and turn back to you. “Stay.” Before he was off again.

You would have listened, too, if you weren’t so hasty to get back into comfortable clothes before something else happened to the city. You moved as quick as possible, waiting only a moment after he left to make sure that HR was truly gone before you went about getting your pajamas, struggling out of your boots and suit pants so that you could slip the flannel bottoms on. You would live with the tank top for now. Something told you that you wouldn’t be able to lift your arms out of it and into another shirt. Just changing your pants had hurt enough to leave you gasping, falling back onto the bed just in time for HR to come back in, holding something in his hand that you couldn’t quite see from your angle.

“Hey!” He gasped, and though he sounded affronted you could see the forgiving smile on his face. “I told you not to move.”

“I’m sorry,” You managed, laying down on your bed with your face in the pillow. Your body ached with every movement, but laying like that meant you didn’t have to move much further. “I had to get out of those pants.”

“I get that,” HR nodded, sitting down on the bed beside you and held his hand in your field of vision. He held an ice-pack and a bottle, one that you were familiar with. Arnica gel. Barry didn’t have much use for it because his bruises were gone in minutes, depending on how bad they were. You and Cisco? Neither of you had the same privilege, but normally you at least had a shield and Cisco had his quick reactions and portals. “So I got you this.”

You smiled, your cheeks flushing just a little bit at the gesture. Being a part of the team, you’d come to expect little gestures like that but this had a personal touch that you hadn’t considered before.

“Thank you, HR,” you moved to sit up and take the tube from him but HR was faster than your bruised body could ever dream of being. He placed his hand on the small of your back, pressing you down gently into the mattress of the cot, tutting as he did so.

“I don’t think so, Y/N.” He objected, and you could just barely see him shake his head. “You’re not going to be able to cover the span of the bruise, you can barely move yourself, let alone lift your arms to do it. Come on,” he tugged at the end of your tank top in question and your entire body lit up warm with a flush when you realized what he was asking. “Let me help.”

Panic passed through you for a moment. You were skipping a number of steps here, jumping straight to taking your shirt off in front of the man that you had harbored a crush for since he stepped through the interdimensional breach. But you knew that your back was in no state for you to be lifting your arms over your head and you were already laying down and the most logical course of action was for HR to take your shirt off for you, and you were positive you knew why your heart started racing at the thought.

“Yeah,” you whispered, nodding your head in assent. “I do. I, um… I need your help, HR.”

There was a moment’s pause before he was moving again, wordlessly, his fingers – and you’d always admired Harrison Wells’ fingers, no matter what Earth they came from – dancing along the hem of your shirt once more before he lifted it up, gently and slowly. You shivered when the cold air of the converted storage room hit the heated bruise on your back, distracted by the sensation only when HR’s breath caught in an audible intake.

“Y/N,” He breathed your name and the frantic beating of your heart stuttered. “Your back…” Those fingers, again, traced a pattern along your skin and from the tingle, the slightly uncomfortable pressure they caused, you could tell he was outlining the bruise that was already formed. From the way it felt, it extended across most of your back and you wondered only briefly what would have happened if Barry hadn’t gotten you out of there when he did. “Don’t worry,” HR continued, reaching up to set the cold pack down on the bed beside you as you pulled the tank top over your head so he’d be able access the whole of the bruise. “I’ll take care of this.”

“Thank you, HR,” you muttered, your face buried in the pillow to save yourself from the embarrassment that would inevitably occur when he saw how much redder than your bruise your cheeks were. “You don’t have to do this.”

There was a moment of silence as you felt HR’s fingers across the span of your back again, cool against the warm of the bruise. When he didn’t speak you started to worry, but after his voice finally hit you there was nothing you could do to hide the shiver that passed down your spine.

“I want to,” he whispered, voice huskier than you could remember hearing it from him, more similar to Harry’s gruff tones than anything else. And when he spoke again he cleared his throat and added the humorous note that you were more familiar with despite the fact that he still sounded breathless. “After all, I can’t leave a pretty lady in pain.”

You swallowed once, nervous for whatever was happening when HR pulled his hands away. You could hear him pop open the cap to the Arnica ointment and after a much longer period of quiet in which the only available sound was of HR warming the liquid between his hands you felt them press gently against your back. You tensed, your muscles screaming in objection to the sensation of cool ointment against them, and you hissed into the pillow, stilling HR’s movements.

You felt his hands against your back, warm now through the gel, and couldn’t help the tiny noise of contentment from leaving you immediately after your hiss of pain. Long, expert fingers moved gently across your back after his moment of hesitation. The fingers of a writer, a musician. They weren’t calloused in the same way you knew Harry’s were and they touched you with the softness of… of a lover. You knew it was because HR didn’t want to cause you pain but at the same time, the intimacy of it had you shivering for a completely different reason than the chill. HR traced along the edges of your bruises again, rubbing carefully into the skin. Any discomfort the ministrations caused you was mitigated by the softness of his touch as he traveled further up your back, towards the spot on your shoulder that had you flinching when he made contact. Once more, he stilled, hands hovering just above your skin. Another shiver, only this time you were desperate for the contact to resume.

“Are you okay?” HR asked, voice back down to that quiet, discerning whisper. “I’m not hurting you, am I?”

“No,” you replied, afraid to break the quiet intimacy of the moment with anything louder than a whisper. You tried to ignore how breathy you sounded, but it was hard to avoid. “No, please continue.”

After only a moment more of hesitation HR’s hands were on your back again, kneading gently over the purple bruise. “You know,” he whispered. “You should really talk to Caitlin about this.”

“She’s got plenty to worry about,” you muttered, burying your face into the pillow and speaking just barely loud enough for him to hear through the fabric. Cait was the last thing that you wanted to talk about while HR’s hands rubbed your back so tenderly. You knew this was just a one-time thing, a strange, unrepeatable moment. Still, you’d rather have it to yourself, unmarred by talk of your coworkers. “Speedsters take more care than I do.”

HR laughed softly, and you felt his fingers press into the muscles of your back that were tense but not covered in bruise. You couldn’t help the noise of appreciation that bubbles from the back of your throat.

“I think that’s objectively wrong,” HR replied, fingers faltering a moment before they continued. This was beyond personal care now, and you hummed as he pressed into the unbruised skin of your back. “Speedsters require significantly less care than someone who can’t heal at light speeds.” He was right. But there were three of them now and Cait had her hands full with broken limbs and fractures. She couldn’t be bothered with your bumps and bruises. As he spoke, HR massaged into your muscles, but you could tell he was slowing down.

You sighed, nuzzling into the pillow. You didn’t want this to be over. Most of the time after a fight like that, everyone was focused on the speedsters. Or Cisco. You didn’t really take offense to it, after all you had protections and well, you weren’t the Flash. And you weren’t the one that could open up interdimensional breaches to travel to and from worlds. You were a team member, and they worried, but you weren’t someone’s kid, either. Barry and Wally were both Joe’s kids, which made them something to lose. Jesse’s dad was a powerhouse of a helicopter parent, and even though Cisco wasn’t… okay with his family, they were still, at least a little bit, a part of his life. You? Your family was on Earth-Two, and even then, most of them were gone. Having HR come to you at all was… a gesture that you weren’t used to receiving. A kindness that you didn’t expect.

“You okay down there?” HR’s voice was stronger now, up where it normally was. The magic that had been there before had seeped out of it, and you felt his hands still on your back. You allowed him to reach up carefully and pull the tank top back over your skin, managing to only make a face when the fabric hit your sticky, bruised back.

“Yeah, HR, I’m fine,” you replied, turning your head as much as you could against the pillow to offer him a smile. “Thank you. That was… that was nice.”

“I aim to please.” He was reaching forward to grab the discarded ice pack. You followed the length of his arm, admiring the muscle that pulled taut just below the sleeve line of his t-shirt. That was another thing you enjoyed about Harrison Wells. On any Earth you had seen him thus far, he was cut. HR just had the additional benefit of always wearing t-shirts. You weren’t able to think about that long, however, before the cold sting of the ice-pack was seeping through your shirt. You hissed at the sensation and HR chuckled. “Relax, Y/N,” he remarked, rolling his eyes. “You’ll only feel better for it later.”

“Yeah, well it sucks now,” you huffed, looking away from him. You didn’t want to have him think that his efforts were meaningless. You didn’t want him to think that you weren’t grateful for it. The rest of the team did that to him often enough that it left you feeling sick. When you weren’t embarrassed as bad as you had been before you lifted your head up, casting your smile at him, apologetic and grateful. “But thank you again, HR, for all your help.”

“Ah, don’t mention it.” HR waved it away like it was a nonissue, but you could see the sparkle in his eyes. There was something different about this. Something different than him getting coffee for everyone or talking the team through some issue they could solve on their own.

Before you knew what was happening, HR was leaning down again, but this time he didn’t stop just to pick something up. His lips were on your cheek in a display of affection that you were sure he hadn’t used on the team before you. When he pulled away, HR was smirking.

“After all,” he said, rising from the place he’d taken at the edge of your cot. He winked at you, leaving you breathless, as he moved to the door. “It’s what I’m here for.”

#hr wells x reader #Magic Touch #toliveforwells #The Flash #general #fluff #hurt/comfort #injury #HR Wells

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marueonmain · 4 years

Text

WINDFLOWER

part three ~ without the dolphin ~

(part one) (part two) (part three)

A/N: Thank you all so so much for reading! I never thought people would care about my writing and I am so appreciative. I’ve got messages/asks open for comments or questions.

Summary: Y/N warms up to Alex. George advises him to not be an idiot.

Pairing: imallexx x reader

Warning: Secondhand Embarrassment. Mild Language.

Word Count: 2.3k

There was no music in the lift. There was no music to interrupt Alex's music blaring into his ears. If there were someone around, they would have heard his questionable song choice for the four-minute trip from his apartment to meet the deliveryman and back again. Not that that trip required music.

However, consider that the brain could think thousands of thoughts in four minutes, and the chances of those all being pleasant thoughts are minuscule. Why take that chance? Why not drown them all out?

DING the sliding doors opened. Alex stepped out with a bounce in his step set in-time with the backbeat of the chorus playing in his ears.

Coming from around the corner where the mailroom was, Y/N brushed past him in a flash of blue clothing. She did not seem to see him.

But he saw her, like a Where's Wally game he was not aware he was playing. He took out one of his earbuds, slipping it in his pocket. Alex was determined to be normal: to make up for the initial awkwardness of their first meeting.

Y/N walked past the lift and started for the stairs. She was on the fifth or sixth step.

"Red!" called Alex.

"Hmm? Oh, hello," she said, smiling.

"How are you doing?" It was uncomfortable for him to be on a lower plane than to whom he was speaking, but Y/N was not moving, so neither was he.

"Tired."

"For tired, you don't look too bad. No I didn’t—you don't look bad. You look good!" Amidst recovering from his slip, Alex noticed how different Y/N was then last time. Different in appearance, with her softer expression and relaxed shoulders, and in her aurora. It was calmer, more open.

"You look good too. That shade of yellow—" she pointed to his sweatshirt, "—compliments your hair."

"Really? You think?" He thought he might just melt or spill open in front of her.

"I'm not a liar. What are you up to?" Y/N looked around, keeping her head on a slight swivel. She returned to meet Alex's gaze with something like concern shining, hiding behind her animated expression.

"I'm meeting a deliveryman. If you want, you could come and eat pizza with George and me." After a short beat, he added, "Invite Sammy too."

"Is George your flatmate or..." Y/N intentionally trailed off.

"Flatmate." Alex thought he might have seen Y/N's smile widen more so for a second at his answer. But he could not be sure what he saw was real or just a manifestation of what he wished to see.

"He sounds nice."

"George? Yeah, he's lovely. Not as lovely as me, of course."

Nodding in mock seriousness, Y/N confirmed, "Of course."

It was a simple conversation, but it felt so alive: so real: so this is happening right now and Alex felt so present. Like looking at himself in the mirror late at night and being hit with the conscious recognition of I am a person. Here I am this corporeal being. Not made of words or thoughts, what I find funny or opinions I like, my mental state or view count.

Alex was real talking to Y/N. Words were free-flowing out of him as he processed and reacted simultaneously. Such an understanding – if harnessable – could lead to solutions for world hunger or maybe even get him to three million subscribers within the year.

"So, you'll come along?"

"I can't." Y/N frowned a slight frown. Her nervous nature returned as she cleared her throat and began to fiddle with her fingers.

"Come on, Red," his voice whined with the plea before stabilizing, "It'll be fun. It's not just pizza. I was planning on throwing together a salad as well to go with it."

"How healthy."

"Oh? Do you not know?" Alex paused so Y/N could shake her head. "I'm only buying a pizza to support local businesses; I'm really an expert in the kitchen."

"Is that right?" She raised an eyebrow.

"World-renowned."

"You know what? I see it now. Better than Ramsey, aren't you?"

"Leagues better. I'd challenge any chef to rival my bagged salad mix. It's spectacular – delicious."

Y/N giggled, and Alex joined.

Music had continued to blare from the earbud he left in, but he had been able to ignore it during the conversation. Until a particular song came on – one he downloaded as a joke – and he heard the line: got our song...up and ready

Did Alex wish Y/N and he had a song? No, that was dumb. An unrealistic expectation the romance genre shoved upon its (generally) female audience. But did he? Kind of. It would be cute. Men can want to be cute, too, right?

"So, you'll come?" he asked...again.

Y/N fiddled with the collar of her chin-hugging top. "I would, but I can't. Sam would—don't you think you've made your deliveryman wait long enough?"

"Probably. You have some time to change your mind; just ring me if you do."

"I don't have your number."

"Alright," he made a give it here gesture, "I'll plug it in."

Y/N's bright expression faltered a smidge as she relinquished her phone to him. It was an older model but still a smartphone: no passcode: no apps other than those built-in. Her wallpaper was a picture of Sammy and her on a nature walk.

Alex’s prominent adam's apple jumped. A pain like indigestion or like guilt stabbed him in the stomach. After plugging in his number, he took an extra second to double-check it and add some personal flair.

Y/N took her phone back. "Why the emoji? I think I'll know who you are without the..." Y/N squinted at the screen. "...without the dolphin."

"Never know. It could be a good reminder."

"I suppose, it does match your eyes," she muttered, still focused on the phone. Y/N froze for a second, clearly not having meant to say that out loud.

"There you go, it's perfect. Don't be afraid to call or text me; I'm on that thing 24/7, and I promise to reply in at least one-to-two business days. Guaranteed."

She scoffed, "You should go get your pizza."

It would not be the first or fifth time Alex had forgotten about a deliveryman, and – while he would let his extra-large go stone-cold before willingly break off a conversation with her – it was apparent Y/N was itching to get somewhere.

"True." Alex gave a short wave, maintaining his distance. "I'll see you later."

"Bye.” Y/N disappeared up the stairs.

~LATER~

Alex balanced the extra-large pizza box in one hand. Never having worked in food service, his confidence in doing so was even lower than his regular self-confidence. With his other hand, he patted himself down, looking for the key to his apartment. He cursed at himself for having locked it out of habit when he left.

There was muffled shouting coming from inside – sounding both playful and angry. It took a single step through the door for Alex to recognize the source of the shouting.

George was in his bedroom watching a video back without his headphones on.

A great grief. A true unseen struggle for all youtubers – headphones were uncomfortable. Constant low-pressure squeezing developed into the biggest hazard of the job: chronic headaches. Both flatmates had expressed how they sometimes woke up to the feeling like they needed to relieve a phantom pressure and take off their headphones despite not wearing them to bed.

"Take high ground," a familiar voice commanded. "You have to down this guy."

Pre-recorded George asked, "Where is he?"

"Left. LEFT! Your left! Goddammit George, you dyslexic bitch."

It was with bitch that Alex recognized the other voice in the recording– it was Joshy, and it was a fortnite video from the sound of it.

"This gun is so weak it's hitting nine damage," pre-recorded George complained.

Joshy screamed, "Let's go; we got to go!"

"You do your thing. I'll be over there in a bit."

Their bickering continued sounding identical in tone to that of a couple outside divorce court. Viewers loved how shit George was at fortnite and how increasingly frustrated that made Joshy: the shouting, the swearing, the idle threats and name-calling. Pairing up together for these types of gameplay videos would often have them banging out a quarter to half a million views per video.

Meanwhile. Alex placed the pizza box on the coffee table and fell onto the sofa with an exhausted sigh. Sitting up, he grabbed at the box lid and started claiming the best-looking slices in his head.

Eyes flickered to the closed-door: George had not heard him come in – surely not. And he would not be mad if Alex started in on devouring the pizza without him – surely not. Right?

Stacking two slices on top of one another, Alex crammed them into his mouth quick, as if scared they would be taken away from him, and burned his tongue.

"Help me," pleaded the pre-recorded George, "Help me. Help me."

"Nah. Don't think I will."

"Josh, if you don't revive me right now. I swear to god, I will piss in your mouth while you sleep."

Alex snorted, choking on the third slice of pizza he had fit in his big mouth; he had been on the receiving end of that piss threat before, several times. Most recently because he left a plate in the sink and George swore if Alex did not clean it that second, he would...well...piss in his mouth.

"That's not very nice." Joshy mimicked genuine sadness. "I got you."

1/3 of the pizza was gone, and Alex decided it fair to call George in before he scranned it all himself. "George! Pizza's here!"

"Alright!" George (the real not the pre-recorded) shouted back. There was the sound of his door closing and the padding of his socked feet down the short hall before he appeared around the corner. Met with Alex and the 2/3 of a room temperature pizza, he asked the appropriate, "What the fuck?"

"I was starved."

"And here I was thinking the one excuse I would accept for taking twenty years to get the pizza was that you'd run into the street and got hit.”

Alex spoke around his mouth being full, "Sorry."

"Whatever." He snuck in a quick smack against the side of Alex's head as he joined him on the sofa.

Both men sat in silence, shoving slices of pizza into their mouth like it was a competition. Like there was no other food in their apartment. Like they could not order another pizza. Like it proved something.

Breaking the silence, Alex swiped the sleeve of his sweatshirt across his mouth and asked, "Are we still filming that opening pokemon cards video tomorrow?"

"Yes. Just need someone to film the over-the-shoulder angle. Lewis is sick."

"Sick with what?"

"Not the bug." George rolled his eyes mockingly. His eating had slowed down after hitting the wall, half-way through his fifth slice. "It's like a cold or something. Could you ask your new mate Sammy to do it?"

"Why not ask Will to come down?"

"Don't trust him," he said, shrugging.

"Fair enough. I'll ask him when we hit the pub later." Alex stood and walked to the kitchen. At the sink, he washed his hands with dish detergent and, cupping his hands into a bowl, washed around his mouth with the soapy water. Satisfied, he took a towel to his hands and face before returning to see George shutting the lid on the pizza box. "What do you think of Sammy?"

"How do you mean?"

"Just in general."

George shrugged. "He's cool."

"Yeah," Alex agreed – because he did agree with the statement; he liked Sammy.

There was a pause, and, in the interlude, George stood and grabbed the pizza box. He brought it to the kitchen bin; balancing it on top the overflowing rubbish. Curious and perhaps thinking he heard a tonal shift in their dialogue, George settled himself to be pressing his shoulder against the wall nearest where Alex stood. Leaning like he was in a how do you do fellow kids meme.

Alex felt very much 'squared up' to. He turned to be met with a quick tilt of the head and a scrutinizing near-glare from his flatmate. It was not unlike George to stick his nose in where it does not belong; could this be considered that type of situation? Alex did ask for his opinion.

Clearing his throat, George asked, "Is this about Y/N?"

"I was talking to her earlier and—"

"Why were you talking to her?"

"—and I got the sense that Sammy might be like a tad controlling. I don't know."

"Are you serious?" George asked harshly before continuing in a softer voice – with a hint of hesitation, of caution, "You know what happens when you jump to conclusions like that. You shouldn't be chatting up Y/N behind Sammy's back."

"It wasn't like I cornered her. We ran into each other." Alex tugged on his sleeves, pulling them past his shaking fingers – seconds away from crawling into himself.

It was not playful bullying between friends anymore; it was a telling off. And neither was comfortable. George's eyes pleaded for Alex to look up and meet them, and for Alex to understand. Alex held no negative feelings toward George. But Alex hated himself for reacting as he was; he hated being human and having sensitive moments. Though he could not stop it.

"You have got to back off. Ok?" George confirmed, "If it means we can't have Sammy in the friend group, then that's what it means. We'll find someone else to film for us tomorrow."

"No, it's fine. I'll ask him," Alex said as he pulled up and straightened his posture. He smiled at George's concerned expression and added, "I'm not interested in Y/N."

#imallexx #imallexx imagine #imallexx x reader #alex elmslie #alex elmslie imagine #alex elmslie x reader #internet sensation #commentary crew #eboys #memeulous

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what-if-i-imagine · 4 years

Note

Can you write a fic about the bay us going on a quadruple date? Dick with Wally, Jason with Roy, Tim with Kon, and Dami with Jon. I just think that would be chaotic and amazing

I’m so sorry about how long this took to write but I finally got the boost of motivation combined with a free schedule to finish it!

Ao3 Link

“This is so boring,” Superboy I complained in a mumble beside Red Robin. They were watching the empty warehouse from the rafters laying on their stomachs, waiting like they had for three nights now. The fresh Sicilan air was something more similar to Gotham’s in the warehouse bogged down by the deaths that had happened in its walls as well as the unkempt state of it all.

“It’s a stakeout, what did you expect?” Red Robin asked his partner, glancing down at the watch he had brought. “If what we heard is true, they should be on their way here with the hostages. A family of three with links to a powerful crime family in Gotham.”

“It still doesn’t make sense,” Superboy I said, shaking his head. “Why did they go after this family? From the intel you gathered, they’re from either an Australian or Puerto Rican crime family with no links to the Sicialian Mafia or any of its criminal organizations. What would our guys want with them?”

“That’s what we are here to find out,” Red Robin replied before pressing his index and middle finger to the com by his ear. “Are any of you there?”

“Orical patched us in, we’re here,” Nightwing replied in his left ear. “Flash and I are in place.”

“Superboy II and I are also in place,” Robin said.

“Are you two sure you don’t want to go back to Red Robin and my hotel?” Superboy I asked, clearly worried for the two teenage boys. “We can handle this without you.”

“I can assure you Superboy, we have fought much worse than Siciilian crime lords without backup,” Robin assured without being reassuring. The boy had definitely softened in his older teenage years, but was still as prickly as ever when his skills were hinted at being doubted. If the job weren’t so dangerous, Red Robin and Nightwing might consider their brother’s behavior adorable.

“I told you to leave this case to me but you never listen,” Red Robin mumbled.

“And I believed Superboy and I were picking a different case. It’s not my fault we didn’t realize they were connected,” Robin huffed. “Let’s just get this over with.”

“That won't be a problem,” Nightwing chimed in. “They’re here.”

“Just like you said Red Robin. There’s a family of three in the truck,” Flash said through the coms after a short whoosh of air. “Two fathers and a teenage girl. They all have bags over their head with their wrists and ankles bound, wrists in front of them.”

“Thanks Flash,” Superboy I said. “What else did you see?”

“There are four henchemn in the back of the truck guarding them. The crime lord we’ve been after is in the front with his second in command and the driver. They’re saying something about teaching them a lesson.”

“Probably referring to their family,” Red Robin explained. “We know these three are only pawns in their family's game. I doubt they would get the desired effect by killing them.”

“If they’re so important, they wouldn’t have been kidnapped at all,” Nightwing agreed. “But we could be wrong. These men could be more dangerous than we thought. We didn’t even notice all of this was the same case until we ran into each other in town.”

That was true, and Red Robin let himself consider it a moment.

He and Superboy had arrived in Palermo as Tim Drake and Conner Luther-Kent, under the guise of a vacationing billionaire couple. In reality, they had gone to Sicily chasing a case as their alter egos.

The case had seemed cut and dry enough. A small offshoot of the Sicilian Mafia had been creating drugs in a factory not far from Palermo and dealing them in Gotham. It was a next level drug that the Gotham civilians had taken to calling The Dust of Rome, as lame as it sounded, misdirecting the partners at first before Red Robin figured out the factory’s true location.

While outside of costume in town, they had run into Nightwing and Flash as Dick and Wally Grayson-West. Once in the safe confines of their hotel room, Nightwing had explained they had chased a gang of arms dealers from Gotham to Italy, and now to Sicily. It didn’t take long for them to realize they were chasing the same guy and team up.

That night while on their way to stalk the warehouse the second time for Red Robin and Superboy I, they ran into Robin and Superboy II who were the only ones there not working undercover. They had explained that they arrived in Sicily that day for the case Robin had chosen in place of the one Red Robin had taken. It was a case much simpler than the one the other four were following, just a gang stirring up too much trouble in Gotham that needed stopping, but none of them were blinded to the truth. Despite Batman and Oracle's careful checks of all three cases, they hadn’t realized they were all the same group.

There could have been more to it than they were seeing judging by the confusion it was able to cause among the three detectives, two kryptonian hybrids and speedster. Red Robin didn't pay it much thought though. As their brother said, they would burn that bridge when they crossed it (definitely not the best advice, but that was to be expected from the person who gave it).

Cutting off Red Robin’s thoughts was the opening of the warehouse doors. The comms went silent as everyone froze in their positions to listen in on the scene about to unfold.

The guards were half carrying half pushing the family of three into the middle of the wearhouse before they were roughly shoved to sit on their knees side by side. The guards each put a gun to the back of one of their heads with the last one standing at the end. The crime lord they had been chasing circled to stand in front of the family with his right hand man by his side typing away at his phone.

“Remove the hoods,” the crime lord instructed. The guards obeyed and pulled them off, tossing them to the side at the exact same time like a choreographed song and dance.

From where he sat, Red Robin couldn’t see the faces of the family. He didn’t think it was really important, but Nightwing’s sharp intake of breath told him otherwise.

“What is it,” Robin hissed in a whisper.

Before Nightwing could answer, the teenage girl threw herself into one of her father’s lap. Her sobbing voice echoed through the warehouse as she spoke in rapid, pleading spanish, too fast for Red Robin to properly translate.

The guard who had been holding a gun to her head roughly grabbed her by her red hair and pulled her back into a sitting position, shouting for her not to move. The girl continued to cry and plead, and her father who she had thrown herself over’s voice joined the rapid spanish. He wasn’t crying or pleading, instead yelling something to the guard. Red Robin was able to pick out enough to know he was yelling for the guard not to touch his daughter.

Something about the man’s voice sent off alarms in Red Robin’s head. It was familiar. Too familiar, especially when mixed with that fast paced spanish and biting tone.

“Papi,” the girl cried as she tried to go back to hiding in the safety of her father’s lap. The gun pushed against her head stopped her from moving, along with her father’s quick order.

“Mija don’t.”

“Papi, Papa, tengo miedo,” the girl blubbered through her tears, Her accent was off to Red Robin’s ears, raising another red flag. It seemed too forced, with a completely different accent being carefully covered up underneath.

“Let my husband and daughter go,” the man snapped, his accent purposely laid on thick. But Red Robin could recognize the hidden lower Gotham from a mile away in his sleep, even if these men couldn’t. “It is me you want, they have done nothing wrong!”

“You are not really in a place to be making demands Mr. Gunn,” the boss tisked.

“Pero, it’s time,” the man’s husband spoke softly. He had no thick hispanic accent like his husband and daughter, instead opting to take on an upper Gotham accent that almost reminded Red Robin of the people he worked with at galas during his daylife.

“Not like this,” Pero shook his head, chin meeting his chest.

“Papi,” the daughter whispered one last time.

Tim recognized the way the three had set it up. A question by one, followed by confermassion by the others through simply speaking in succession down the line. It wasn’t clever by any means, but for its purpose it was more than effective.

With what would be no warning from the gang member’s point of view, the three family members, who were in fact a real family but not the one they claimed to be, snapped quickly into action. Their bonds were gone in the blink of an eye with three of the gaurds’s guns now their own and said guards lying unconscious on the ground.

The husband, who was unnamed in the gangs' eyes, didn’t hesitate a second to disarm the last guard and shoot him in the knee while Pero and the daughter held the crime boss and his right hand man at gunpoint.

“This has been fun while it lasted Mr. La Rosa, but I’m afraid it ends here,” Pero said, now without the fake accent. “On your knees, now.”

The crime boss and right hand man obeyed the order and got down on their knees while the husband walked over with four pairs of cuffs of which each guard wore a matching pair on their wrists and ankles. The crime boss and right hand man were effortlessly stuck into them in the same fashion.

“In this folder is all of the proof of your trafficking that we need for you to go to prison for life,” the daughter explained, pulling out a manila folder she had pre stashed behind one of the crates close by. Her accent, just as her father’s, had slipped away into her real one. Instead of the masked lower Gotham of her father’s voice, she carried a mixture of lower Gotham and Russian that never failed to chill Red Robin with how empty and deeply emotional it managed to sound at the same time.

“When you wake up, you’ll already be behind bars for your crimes, and all those people will be free,” Pero said, before he and his daughter turned their guns around at the same time to harshly hit the men in the temple, rendering them completely unconscious.

As soon as they were under the belief that they were alone, the first father dropped his gun and cupped his daughter’s face, checking her for injuries.

“Where does it hurt?” he asked softly. His husband came over to stand beside them, gently stroking a hand through their daughter's hair.

“If doesn’t,” she reassured. “It was only a light tug, I’ve had worse.”

“It doesn’t matter if you’ve had worse,” the husband said in his original Star City dialect. “It shouldn’t have gotten that far. Next time we go undercover, try and use some of the self preservation skills we’ve taught you, yeah?”

“Yes dad,” she said, a smile clear in her voice.

“I’m impressed you didn’t shoot that guy for touching her,” Nightwing’s voice came as he dropped down from his hiding spot. The other five who had been hiding did the same, causing the family to whip around in shock.

“What are you all doing here?” Jason asked, not harsh but almost scolding.

“We should be asking you the same thing,” Red Robin said.

“We were closing a human trafficking case,” Roy explained. “Taking Scarlet on her first undercover mission.”

Nightwing looked over at Red Robin and he could practically hear the ‘I told you so’ regarding there having been more to the case.

“We have a lot to catch up on then,” Red Robin said, handing over a thick manila folder filled with all of the other six’s evidence they had collected. “Turn this in with your evidence. Not even the best lawyer money could buy can fight this. Meet us at the Rocco Forte Villa Igiea near the Permo bay when you’re done.”

~~~

“Of course you would go with the fanciest hotel you could,” Jason snorted, causing everyone to turn around. They stood in the lobby of the famous five star hotel, all now dressed in their everyday civilian clothing.

“We are a billionaire power couple, it’s what’s expected of us,” Conner shrugged, arm around Tim’s shoulders.

“So that was your cover story?” Jason asked, though it wasn’t a real question.

“It’s kind of hard to do undercover work when you’re famous,” Tim said. “I honestly expected better than Pero Gunn from you.”

“Flashing around my grandma’s name gets the job done quicker when I need to be kidnapped,” a grin tugged at Jason’s lips. “The Peter equivalent was just all Roy could pull out on the time crunch.”

“Speaking of, where is your handsome husband?” Dick asked with a slightly teasing tone.

“Dropping Sasha off at the airport. Oliver offered to babysit her, Duela, Biz and Lian while we were out of the country. We figured I could just text him the name of the restaurant when we got there,” Jason paused. “You are treating us to dinner, aren’t you? We did do your job for you after all.”

“I hate that you’re right,” Tim said with no real heat and a smile. “There's a great restaurant down the road I went to last time I was here, tell him to meet us there.”

“Great, I’m starving and all we’ve had to eat today was a salad and chicken nuggets from McDonalds.”

On the way to the restaurant and inside the waiting room, the four brothers and their partners caught up on life events they had missed out on, joking and chatting endlessly until they were seated.

“Sorry I’m late,” Roy said as he stepped up to the table. He was in his civics, in one of those trucker hats they all knew Jason barely tolerated. Dick had often joked about being surprised Jason didn’t try to go full Donna and burn all of them, but Jason always mumbled his reply that he married the man which meant he married the hats too.

“Sasha didn’t give you too much trouble at the airport?” Jason asked, leaning over to kiss him.

“Our little girl? Trouble? Never,” Roy grinned.

“Got it, so you both caused trouble together.”

“Speaking of, how have the kids been?” Dick asked. “Star City treating you nicely?”

“Weekly family hunts for corrupt capitalists and crooked businessmen that I’m free to shoot as much as I please,” Jason shrugged. “Yeah, I guess living in Green Arrow’s city has been nice so far.”

“Oh shut up you love it,” Roy said before turning to Dick, “It is nice being back in Star. The kids are loving getting to spend some quality time with my side of the family too, and Artemis has found some good work in the area. I can tell Jason, Ella and Sasha are itching for the Gotham streets though.”

“You can take the Gothemite out of Gotham but you can’t take the Gotham out of the Gothamite,” Tim nodded. “All three of them were born and bred.”

“Well Sasha was born in Russia, but basically,” Jason nodded. “I’m sure she was happy to see her favorite uncles, even if her actual favorite uncle and aunt weren’t there.”

“It would be insane if Duke and Cass ended up with the same case too,” Tim said. “It’s crazy enough all of us were working the same group without knowing it. Throw them, Steph and Chris into the mix and that would just be blatantly bad detective work on our parts.”

“Still would have been fun to have them here too though,” Jason shrugged.

“Wait a minute!” Jon’s face lit up. “Are we on a quadruple date right now?”

“Absolutely not,” Damian cut in. “I refuse to ever go on any sort of couple outing where I have to witness my brothers being disgusting with their partners.”

“No way Gremlin, this is totally a quadruple date,” Tim said. “You hating it cements that.”

“No, this is not a date, it is just a family dinner after an idiotically tangled mission,” Damian insisted.

“If it were a family dinner then Bruce, Cass, Duke and their significant other would be here too,” Dick said. “Sorry Little D, you need to face the facts. This is a quadruple date.”

“That’s an event to go in the scrap books,” Wally snorted. “Quadruple date with our out of six Wayne kids. It’d be a spectacle.”

“An event worthy of the circus,” Dick was smiling so wide his face was sure to split.

“I regret agreeing to this,” Jason said in a stage whisper to his husband. Roy chuckled while Dick squacked about Jason being on Damian’s side.

“Never a dull moment with these four,” Kon commented aside to Roy.

“Even two of them in a room is an event,” Roy agreed.

A pinched off piece of bread was tossed in Roy’s direction and he just laughed. They were surely disrupting the upper class dinners around them, but they couldn’t care less and they continued their impromptu date night.

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nexttrickanvils · 2 years

Note

👀💖🤲🏻🧐

👀 Tell me about an up and coming wip please!: Bit by bit, I am working on the 3rd chapter of Beware of Karen, it's slow going but I'll get there.

💖 What made you start writing?: I originally started writing Yu-Gi-Oh fanfic when I was a preteen. I dunno what sparked the interest but I decided after reading a bunch of fics, "I wanna make a fic too!" I still did a little writing after I left the YGO fandom but was kind of insecure about it. Then I played P5 and seeing the lack of works for Shuharu inspired me to do something about it.

🤲 Would you please share a snippet of a wip?:

From Beware of Karen Chapter 3:

There was a brief moment of silence before everyone decided to move on. After a few more minutes of thinking, Guybrush spoke up again.

“What if we give her a reason to leave? Like make it so that she can’t stand being here to do business?”

Stan thought about it and almost immediately gave that familiar shark-ish smile.

“That sounds just crazy enough to work! After all I’ve known Karen for years so I know what makes that woman tick AND what grinds her gears.”

With that, Stan grabs one of the maps that Guybrush had laying around (he really hoped they already used that one, if not, Wally’s gonna ki-… be very very upset) along with a quill and some ink, slams all three onto the table, and quickly begins writing.

🧐 Do you spend much time researching for your stories?: It depends like I need to write in a certain time period (and it's not an anachronism stew like MI) or another country (like with Persona), I'll research what I need to.

#meme answers #captmickey

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theplexure · 3 years

Photo

Best Part

“Our time together is just never quite enough.”

- Anonymous

Best Part is a story made by Micaela Lansangan. The story is about a girl who has this phobia called ‘Philophobia’. This Phobia is the fear of falling in love or becoming emotionally attracted with another person. A person who has this phobia always thought that they will never had this so called “greatest love”. This phobia is a hindrance to her and is so intense that it interferes with her life. Until she met this guy who helped her to cope up this phobia.

Celeste’s POV

Today’s the first day at my university. As usual, you can see around a bunch of students with their friends, some are sipping on their coffees and most of them are walking towards the university’s ground while here I am holding my shoulder bag and books. When suddenly someone bumped into me almost making me stumble. I breathed out while gripping my books in front of my chest. I looked back at the student and he just winked at me. This is one of the reasons why I hate boys.

Time flew so fast that it’s already lunch. I went to a café near the university and felt lucky that I have found a seat since most of the seats are taken except this one. I ordered a Tenderloin Steak and a cheeseburger with cola. I prefer to eat a heavy lunch, since I only ate a piece of bread this morning. I was excited when my food already arrived but that weavers when someone disrupted my inner peace.

“Excuse me miss, can I seat here? As you can see this is the only pair of seats that are available, and I could not eat outside since I chose to dine in instead of taking out?” The person in front of me said. I looked at him carefully because he seems so familiar. I then remembered that he was the same guy who bumped into me.

“You bumped into me earlier and left without saying sorry and now you dare to come here and asked me to let you sit with me? The audacity!” I rolled my eyes.

“Look, I’m sorry about earlier I was in a rush because I had to get my things in my car and classes were already starting, right? Who would want to be late on their first day?” he explained again.

“Could you please just shut your mouth and sit? I don't have any time for your explanation."

His order already arrived, and we were silently eating. I could feel him stealing glances at me every now and then while I was busy munching my food like a caveman. I was so hungry. I was about to ask what his problem was but then he stood up and disappeared in front of me. I shrugged my shoulders and continued eating. Well, I don’t care where he is heading up to because it feels weird breathing the same air with him. I was wiping my mouth when he suddenly appeared again.

"By the way, I’m Akio Hiro Martinez, I’m taking up BS Psychologist, I’m a fourth-year student, and how about you?” He flashed his gorgeous smile and lend out his hand for me to shake.

“You can just call me Celeste, a third-year student, taking up BS Civil Engineering” I lazily replied and shook my hands with his own.

“So, you want to be a civil engineer?” He propped again.

“Are you this talkative? Does it seem like I wanted to be close to you? I won't take that if I don't want to be an engineer. Common sense, Dude!"

“Just making sure. You might want to end up with a different career”

"And what is that?" I asked while I was looking at him sharply.

He leaned forward and I almost stumbled back from my seat because of our proximity. I instantly blushed from the gesture.

"A wife of a therapist," He whispered and chuckled.

My jaw dropped and I quickly averted my gaze from him while picking up my belongings.

“See you again, Celeste. I have fun dining with you."

“No problem. Anyt—" I stopped when I realized how foolish I am if I'll say anytime because he might get the wrong idea. I just smiled at him and turned my back.

“Anytime? Great!" I heard him chuckling again. I felt my cheeks burning and so I ran away from him.

Lunch’s over but my next class will be at 6 pm. Since it’s the first day of class I don’t think we have any important thing to do because our professors are still busy working on students who just enrolled. Since it’s a bit early I just drove away to sleep in my condo while waiting. My condo was given by my father when I was 18 to give me the freedom of living independently. My Dad is a Civil Engineer as well and that is why I took this course because I was inspired by him. I stood up waiting for the elevator door to open. While I was scrolling down my phone, I heard the ping of the elevator. I looked up and was about to enter when someone rushed inside almost bumping me.

I gasped when I saw the guy I met earlier. He was busy tapping his phone and groaning that's why he didn't notice me entering the elevator. I stood up beside him.

"It's you again! Do you live here?" Oh, now he knew I was with him.

"Yes, I do. What about you, Hiro?"

“Because you're here,” He said while smirking.

I snickered at him and slapped his shoulders.

“Just kidding, I wanted to rest because I don’t have any classes this afternoon. And what about you?”

“Taking a nap as well. The class will start at 6 and it's just noon” The elevator door opened. I walked out and was about to bid him goodbye when I saw him standing behind me. I realized that he also lives on the same floor in the condominium. We never spoke to each other until I reached my room. I placed my things in the living room and walked inside my bedroom. I took off my I.D and jump towards my bed. I groaned softly because of how comfy it was.

Time passed by and it’s already in the middle of November, and I gained few friends at my school and you won’t believe who it wa—. My inner thoughts were interrupted because of the loud knocking.

I frowned and lazily drag myself up. I shook my head because of my annoyance. Here he goes again.

“Let me in Celeste!” he shouted “Can you just wait and stop shouting! The neighbors might get mad” I shouted back and opened the door. So as usual, he’s bringing some food from the subway and milk teas. He raised the food and playfully walked inside. We became close because he would always pester me until I gave up and became friends with him. We always talk about the things that would bother us and some personal stuff. Yup, we’re that close, that we share every little thing about ourselves. Lol.

“What are you up to these days, Celeste? Finals will be up soon. So, what are your plans after?” He asked while looking for a movie to watch on Netflix.

“I don’t know, maybe I’ll just go shopping and reward myself. That’ll be better” I said as I took a bite of the sandwich

“That sounds great maybe I can come with you?” Oh, there he goes again with his puppy eyes.

“Sure. If you’re going to treat me.” I teased him. He nodded his head and pats my head.

Finals were over and here we are shopping. He bought me clothes because that's what we had agreed upon. I stared at him while he was busy trying out some clothes. I then began to realize that Hiro was different from the guys that I met back then. He was the guy that every girl would want to be with because of how nice and charming he is.

“Stop looking, Celeste. I would assume you have a crush on me,” he said while walking towards me. He flicked my forehead and smirked.

“Let’s go I’m hungry, I have a reservation at a restaurant. You would definitely love it” he said and pulled me

We entered the restaurant, and I was confused when someone assisted us towards the VIP room. When we stepped inside the room. I was shocked because it was a candlelight dinner.

While I was busy placing my utensils in the right place. I heard him clearing his throat. I looked at him and gave him the confused look.

“What?” I asked because he’s so quiet and looks so serious.

“Celeste, the first time I saw you I knew that I was beginning to like you." He sincerely confessed and reached for my hand that was placed on the table.

"I never knew I would like someone who is a brat” He laughed and stared at me lovingly. I began to tear up, but I'll make him pay later for calling me a brat.

"But you would always be an exemption. Can I court you?"

“You should've told me that this was a date! I don't look presentable at all” I rolled my eyes at him.

"It wouldn't be a surprise if I did. So, can I court you?” he asked

"Of course, you could, Hiro!" I replied and he instantly went to me while holding a box. I was about to ask what it was but then he took off the cover and reached for the necklace that was placed inside. I gasped when I saw the necklace, I told him before that I loved. He gently placed it on my neck and kissed the top of my head. I smiled because of contentment. It was the best day of my life because I overcome my fear of being in love with the man I would love for the entire lifetime.

THE END.

Credits: DiegoPH “Soulmate” from Walli - 4K, HD Wallpapers & Background.”

#short story #creativewriting

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scourgewins · 4 years

Text

Hats Off

(Drawing Entity and I did a roleplay that delved a bit into Jack’s backstory, so of course I had to write it. This has a different format than I usually do- a lot of jumping through time. We’ll see how it turned out. Jack fans, prepare for some angst, but with a happy ending because I can’t hurt my sewer boy too much.)

(Warnings: crying, fainting, parental neglect but it’s not intentional, Jack gets a bit careless about his own personal safety, Sammy is a jerk but what else is new?)

Up here on the roof of the studio, it was cold and windy. Jack kept a hand on the brim of his hat to ensure it didn’t fly off and squinted at the city below him, using his other hand to shade his eyes from the setting Sun. The whole scene looked like a poem waiting to be written, and already he began to construct a verse.

Beneath the fire a city lies,

Shaded by unknowing skies-

“What are you doing up here?”

Jack bit his lip and glared into the distance, “Getting some peace and quiet.”

“That so?” Sammy moved over to him and leaned over the side of the building, resting his elbows on the parapet. The wind whipped the long hair his ponytail hadn’t contained, so much so that the musician had to tuck it firmly behind his ears.

Sammy glanced at him, “Don’t let me disturb you, then.”

“I shall try.” the lyricist replied through gritted teeth.

Sammy was quiet but Jack knew that wouldn’t last long.

“Come up here often?” the musician said at last.

Jack sighed, “When I so please. You?”

“When I feel like it.”

Sammy considered a nearby building and said absently, “Sure is windy.”

Jack glanced at him and narrowed his eyes, “Yes.”

“Aren’t you afraid you’ll lose your hat?”

“I would never let it fall.”

“Sure about that?”

“Why would-”

With a quick swipe, Sammy batted the hat right from Jack’s grip. The lyricist stared in horror as it sailed over the edge of the roof, buffeted by the wind. Without pausing to think, he made a wild grab for it, almost throwing himself over the parapet.

“Woah, Jack!” Sammy gripped him by the collar of his jacket and yanked him back to safety. Jack staggered but regained his footing immediately and dashed toward the stairwell. No! No! No! He couldn’t let anything happen to his hat.

He sprinted down the narrow, dark staircase that smelled of dust and mold and canned food…

Normally, Jack would have found the scent unpleasant, but his nose was so stuffed up and wet right now that it didn’t bother him. There was plenty else to bother him.

The 10-year old sniffed and wiped his dripping nose on the sleeve of his shirt. Mom hated it when he and his siblings did that. Jack couldn’t find it in him to care at the moment. His sleeve moved up past his nose to his eyes, rubbing them in an effort to clear the tears away. It worked for about three seconds before the tears came back in greater number.

Bringing his knees up, Jack buried his face in them. His breath came in small hiccups, deliberately quietened so no one would know he was in here, beneath the lowest shelf in the pantry, hidden behind bags of flour.

Two of his siblings ran by, laughing and yelling, outside the door. Someone else was crying in the distance, and Jack could hear his mother rush to comfort them. It was always loud in this house. Always.

There was never time for any one of the many children in this household. Just when his mother or father gave attention to one, another would rush to claim it. And Jack, smaller than the others, one of the many middle children, never one to speak up, tended to be the most pushed aside. Even on his birthday.

The boy clapped his hands over his ears to block out the constant noise. His small fingers clenched in his curly black hair, longer than he wanted it because his parents never seemed to have time to give him a haircut.

Distantly, he heard the front door open and close. His father’s voice spoke and his mother responded, though Jack couldn’t tell what it was they said. Then loud footsteps made their way to the kitchen, becoming clearer as they approached. The pantry door was flung open and the light switch flipped on. Jack stared at the faded brown of his father’s shoes, the only part of him visible from the shelf he was under. A knee knelt down to the floor and began selecting canned food from the opposite shelf.

He must have heard Jack’s breathing, for he suddenly stopped and turned, lowering his head. Blue eyes met blue eyes as Jack’s father’s lined, mustached face came to level with his. It was clear he’d just come home from work, since he still wore his coat and hat.

“Jack?” his father asked, “What are you doing in here?”

Jack felt his face flush with shame. He hadn’t wanted anyone to see him crying like this. Now his dad would force him to come out and all his siblings would tease him.

In answer to his dad’s question, Jack just shook his head, not trusting his voice. His father sighed and got back to his feet with a groan. He’s leaving. That was something Jack should be grateful for, but instead he just felt hurt because he’d just banged his hand on the railing of the staircase as he reached ground level…

Jack’s feet skidded against the hardwood floor as he turned abruptly toward the animation department, shoving past a very stunned Wally. He could hear Sammy sprinting down the stairs after him. Panting, the lyricist bolted through the animation department and down the hallway to the exit.

“Jack, what happened?” It was Henry’s voice calling after him. Jack didn’t break stride and reached his hand out to open the front door.

His hat lay in the middle of the street. Without pausing, he put on a burst of speed and made for it. A car drove past and just barely missed the hat, making Jack’s heart flutter in panic. Another car came around the bend and sped toward it.

“Stop!” he screamed, waving his hands as he leaped forward.

“Jack!” Sammy’s breathless voice shouted in his ear and grasped his arm tightly, jarring him in place. The car slowed down slightly after seeing Jack about to rush into the road, but not enough to avoid the hat. Jack watched as the hat he’d worn since he was a child disappeared under one of the tires.

“No!” He stumbled forward and fell to his knees, forcing himself from Sammy’s grip. It hadn’t happened! It couldn’t have!

The grass rose to claim him as Jack hit the ground, his mind winding down and shutting off with a-

Click went the door to the pantry as it shut, but Jack’s dad hadn’t left. The tired man instead settled onto the floor in front of Jack. The boy’s heart beat faster as he came to the sudden realization that they were alone, no siblings to interrupt.

His father again fixed his eyes on Jack, a knowing look in them, “Is this about your birthday?”

Yes, it was, but it was also about a whole lot of other things. Jack nodded.

Another sigh, “We didn’t forget Jack, it’s just… well… I’ve got work. Your mother has to take care of you and your brothers and sisters and the house. We’re always so busy that it’s hard to focus on just one kid. And yeah, we mess up. A lot. But we’re trying, okay?”

Jack nodded again. His dad’s face wrinkled in thought, eyes fixed on the ragged lace of his left shoe.

“We couldn’t afford to buy you anything, you know.”

Jack lowered his gaze. He knew. It had always been that way and there was nothing anyone could do about it.

“But we hoped maybe… something of mine might suffice.”

That brought his attention back up. His dad’s gaze was back on him as he reached up and took the hat from his head.

“I think you said you liked this hat once. I don’t know, might have been one of your siblings.”

“No, it was me.” Jack said quickly, his voice sounding strange after crying so long.

His father nodded, “That’s good.”

He scooted back a foot, “Come out of there.”

Jack complied, crawling out from his hiding place to kneel in front of his dad. His father considered him for a few moments and Jack held his breath. Then the weary man gripped the hat by the brim and placed it firmly on his son’s head. It immediately slipped down to the boy’s nose, and Jack tilted the brim back to see his father smiling at him.

“You look good.” he said, “It’ll fit you just right in a few years. Every young man should go into life with a nice hat.”

Jack smiled slowly, feeling warm and safe, even on the hardwood floor of the studio...

“Hey, I think he’s coming round!”

“Ah! He’s alive!”

“He wasn’t dead, Wally.”

“Everybody back up, okay? Jack, can you hear me?”

“Are you dead?”

“Wally, I swear to goodness-!”

Everyone quieted down as Jack slowly opened his eyes, seeing first Henry, who was bending over him, then Wally, and…

Sammy.

Jack scrambled to a sitting position as memories of recent events returned to him.

“My hat…” His voice broke.

“Your hat is fine, Jack.” Henry said reassuringly. Jack blinked at him, unwilling to accept false hope.

“Look!” Wally pointed over at Sammy. Sammy sighed and moved more into Jack’s line of sight, holding something out to him.

It was his hat. Jack seized it quickly and inspected it. Part of one side had been crushed by the car, resulting in a noticeable dent.

“It’s fixable.” Henry said, “I can take it to the hat shop for you, if you like.”

Jack couldn’t speak. He turned his hat over with shaky fingers, feeling its familiar curve and texture. It was damaged, but not beyond repair. As that realization sank in, Jack started to cry.

Henry was surprised but quick to hide it, “It’s alright now, Jack. Everything’s alright.”

Wally, ever the sensitive one, started to sniffle, and was pretty soon sobbing beside the lyricist.

Sammy stood slightly apart, not meeting Jack’s gaze. Henry was the first to address him.

“Sammy, what do you have to say for yourself?” His voice was strict.

The musician looked at him, at the ceiling, at the floor, then finally at Jack.

“Sorry for tossing your hat off the roof. Won’t happen again.” he muttered, and for some reason the apology sounded genuine, though maybe Jack couldn’t hear right through his sobs.

A part of Jack felt he should yell at Sammy for what he did, but the rest of him couldn’t muster the energy. Instead, he hugged his hat to him, careful not to dent it even more, and continued to cry.

“Thanks.” Jack said quietly, looking up at his dad. His father chuckled and patted him gently on the shoulder.

“Don’t mention it.”

Then he regathered up the cans and stood up.

“Happy birthday, Jack.” He said, then walked out and shut the door. Jack stared after him, already wishing he’d come back.

The weight of the hat on his head came to mind as he sat there, and Jack reached a hand up to feel its smooth, curved surface. The smile that had faded from his face returned as his tears dried up, and he adjusted the hat so it sat better on his head. At that moment, he knew he would wear it forever.

#Bendy and the Ink Machine #BATIM #Jack Fain #Sammy Lawrence #Henry Stein #Wally Franks #Writing Entity #TW Crying #TW Fainting #TW Neglect

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