#...minus honey. he's still dead

[melomelomuskmelon]

sometimes i think about how shitfuck was the last of his litter and we ended up keeping him bc nobody else wanted him. meaning he speant a good ammount of his kittenhood trying to play with raven and maple.. who didn't want anything to do with him since they're older cats. and then when canary showed up he took to her immedeatly bc he had somebody around his age to be a playmate. he's litterally her big brother and i cry about it a lot

[rocksandrobots]

Phantoms of the Past: Chapter 57 -Blizzards, Blackbirds, and Bargains: Part 3

Hiro frantically scanned the horizon for another way home while he tried to keep from panicking. He knew it was a hopeless search but he wasn't ready to admit defeat just yet.

“Baymax, are you getting any readings?” “The storm is interfering with my scanners.” The faithful robot replied after a pause.

Hiro gulped down his fear. Baymax was still with him. He wasn't alone. His brothers would find him.

“Let's go back to the controls then.” Hiro uselessly fiddled with the backup panel while Baymax continued his lookout.

It was a fruitless exercise. The power had been cut by the closing portal, and most of the electromagnets had remained on the other side so he couldn't restart the connection.

“Sooo… I need a generator and more portal magnets…” he muttered. The wind blew particularly hard after he said this, reminding him where he still was. He could have built those things in a few hours easily back at his lab, but here in the middle of nowhere? It was impossible.

Baymax interrupted his thoughts. “We should seek shelter. My sensors indicate that the temperatures are falling and your suit only provides protection for minus 5 degrees Fahrenheit.”

Hiro involuntarily shivered. “Yeah, and I'm sure the icy wind isn't doing your circuits any favors either. But where?”

“My sensors also detect a heat signature coming from that way.” He pointed in the direction of where the rocks had come from. Hiro gulped again. The last thing he wanted was to find out what had caused those monstrosities. The freezing wind however was getting harder and harder to ignore.

“Okay, but we need to be able to find our way back here after the storm.” He turned and patted the now dead control panel. “This is where the portal will open back up when Varian gets it fixed on his end.”

Baymax pulled out a roll of colorful bandages used for wrapping sprained ankles and such. Hiro quickly unrolled it and tied it around the podium, while Baymax secured the knot with an adhesive. As they flew away Hiro could see the bright purple and orange ribbon waving in the wind like a flag.

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

"Oh,thisisbad.Thisisbad.Thidisbad.Thisisbad..."

Varian tried his best to ignore Honey Lemon's frantic muttering as he desperately worked the controls again. He was painfully aware that everyone's eyes were on him waiting for him to fix the portal. He was also even more aware that with every passing minute hope was slipping further and further away from ever finding Hiro again.

"It's no use." It was Sirque who finally stated the obvious as she laid a gentle hand on his shoulder. "We need a new power source to get it running again."

Varian drew a shaky breath as he reassessed the situation. "O-okay, then we'll need to head back to my lab and grab the generator. The coordinates should still be in this system, so once we power it back up it'll open right back to where we left Hiro."

"What about those rocks?" Wasabi asked, clutching his injured arm. "Won't they just come through again as well?"

"Hopefully the rocks will have moved on by now." Varian didn't sound hopeful.

"Where would they go?" Fred asked.

"I don't know, Fred. They just... They just keep going. They spread out everywhere, but they won't double back around to the same place."

"How do you know that?" Gogo asked. Her voice lacked the usual sarcasm. She sounded genuinely worried, which only put Varian more on edge. Perhaps that was why his reply came out harsher than intended.

"Because they never have before." He snapped.

He fished out the short range portal magnets from his pocket. But as soon as a window opened up upon his lab, he heard Tadashi finally speak.

"How long will it take?"

Varian looked over to where his brother stood. Tadashi still hadn't looked away from the spot where the inter-dimensional portal once stood.

"How much time will it take to hook up the generator?" Tadashi asked again, still not turning around.

"I... I don't know. A couple of hours, maybe?"

Tadashi finally turned to look at him. His jawline was set in a determined frown. "And how long does Hiro have?"

Varian didn't have an answer to that.

Gogo spoke up instead. "It doesn't matter. The more time we waste talking the more time Hiro has to wait on us."

"What if there's a faster way though?"

She paused midway through the portal, one foot in the lab and the other in the snow, at that question.

"What do you have in mind?" Fred asked.

"Cardinist's scroll."

"No." Varian was surprised by the firmness in his own voice.

"I know what I said earlier, but th-"

"No. You don't know if it'll actually be faster and you don't know if it'll even work."

"That's why we need to try both."

That answer took everyone by surprise, and Tadashi lost no time in explaining his plan.

"Listen, you don't need all of us here to fix the portal. Some of us could take the scroll while you stay and work on it."

Varian pinched the bridge of his nose. "And how does getting half of us lost in the void help?"

"Okay, first off you don't know that we'll get lost and second, once you get the portal fixed then you can pull us out, provided that we don't find Hiro before you do."

"That's not how any of this works!" Varian yelled. "I can barely get the portal to focus on Corona, let alone the void, which isn't even a physical place! And you don't know how to traverse the seemingly endless abyss of nothingness to get to Corona either!"

"We need to try everything available to us. The more options we take the better chance we have of getting Hiro back."

"I'm with Tadashi on this." Fred spoke up.

Gogo rolled her eyes. "Of course you agree with Tadashi. You'd probably jump at any opportunity to explore an alternate world."

"That doesn't mean it couldn't help get Hiro back!" Fred defended.

"But... What if you don't find him?" Honey Lemon wrung her hands. "What if you just wind up getting lost instead?"

Wasabi agreed. "Honey Lemon is right. It's too risky. I vote no."

"Gogo?" Tadashi looked at his girlfriend pleasingly.

Gogo sighed in defeat. "You know I'd do anything rescue Hiro. And if you two idiots insist on jumping through a magical void to who knows where, I guess I gotta come along to make sure you don't get hurt."

"So we're three to three." Tadashi looked to Sirque. "I guess that makes you the tie breaker."

Sirque threw up her hands and backed away, "Oh no, this is between you superheroes. I'll help fix the portal, but I'm not going in there myself. And if you want to try some other way, that's your decision."

"Fine." Tadashi sighed. "Then let those who voted yes go, and the rest can stay with Varian as backup."

"No, that's not 'fine.'" Varian pushed back. "I'm not agreeing to that."

"It doesn't matter. I'm going to go get that scroll and try for myself even if no one helps me."

Both brothers stood at a stand still. They glared at one another for several seconds before Varian finally caved.

"Fine." He snorted. "I'll help, but first we bring generator back here. You can fool with the scroll while I work on hooking it up."

"Okay." Tadashi nodded.

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

"A creepy fortress surrounded by a moat of lava... Okay, I think we've found the heat signature?" Despite the warmth resonating from below, Hiro shivered anyway.

The castle before them wasn't just overrun with the black rocks, it looked as if it was entirely made of the supernatural stalagmites. Hiro couldn't see where they began and where the regular stone walls stopped. But he did notice a door, a massive iron structure recessed under two crisscrossing black spikes.

"Well, maybe whoever lives here can give us shelter till the storm is over."

"I do not detect any life signs within the castle." Baymax stated plainly.

Hiro shrugged, resigned. "Then we know no one will will mind if we break in. Come on Baymax."

They flew across the chasm of lava and Baymax easily wedged the door open. Even though he knew it was abandoned, Hiro couldn't help shout out a timid "Hello?" as he stepped inside.

The ruined hall was as silent as the grave save for his echo. Lined along the walls were intricate tapestries, paintings, statues, and ancient artifacts like weapons and armor. Every now and then they would come across a door, but more often than not it only led to an empty room full of rotting furniture or rubble from caved-in walls. One or two even had massive holes in the roof and were completely filled with ice and snow. Finally the hall ended and they stood in a large high ceiling room full of shattered stone statues. Each ruined edifice was gigantic, as tall as two stories apiece, and not a single one was left intact.

Maneuvering around the massive dismembered stone limbs and eroded faceless heads, they discovered more doors leading to other parts of the castle. Most just opened up on to other hallways, but two proved interesting.

The first led to a seemingly empty chamber. The walkway fell away into a pit of black rocks and on the other side of that was a round black globe with holes all in it. Whatever it was meant to be, Hiro couldn't tell, but it looked as if it had been considered important by the people who had once lived there.

The second, and far more practical discovery, was the dinning hall. This room had remained nearly untouched by whatever disaster that had befell this place. There was a long wooden table with chairs in the center of the room. On the far end was a stone fire place surrounded by bookshelves and on the wall opposite from the entrance was a large glass window. It was by far the most structurally sound place that they had come across that day.

"I guess this is as good as any place to wait out the storm." Hiro said as he made his way to the fireplace. He was in luck. There were logs still left in the storage bin in the corner, along with a flint and knife. It took a few tries but he soon had a small fire going. Having accomplished this he noticed Baymax was reading something laid out on top of the table.

"What did you find, Baymax?"

"A letter."

Hiro curiously titled his head as he tried to read the faded writing. It might as well have been gibberish to him. "Can you read it?"

“Vsem, kto naydet eto proklyatoye mesto. Ostavlyat'. Seychas.”

"I meant in English."

"Translating." 'To anyone who finds this accursed place. Leave. Now. What you seek has already been stolen.'"

"Well that doesn't sound ominous at all." Hiro said with a strained laugh.

Baymax continued. "'I, myself, am finally abandoning my post and ancestral home. I have led this once prosperous land to ruin with my folly and have paid the dearest price. I have been granted a second chance however, and will be rejoining my long lost son shortly. Take what you want, but don't say that I didn't warn you. Sincerely, King Edmund of Umbra.'"

"Wait. Did the note say Umbra?"

"It did."

"That's where Varian's dad is from... but there's no telling how far we are from Corona itself." He then went quiet as he tried to think through the implications of this and what actions might be available to them with this newly obtained knowledge. 'Not much' he decided as his stomach began to growl.

"I am going to power down to conserve energy." Baymax stated, interrupting his thoughts.

"That's a good idea. Maybe we’ll get lucky and the sun will come out soon so that you can recharge." As the robot folded back into his charging mode in front of the window, Hiro was thankful that he and Tadashi had added the solar panels to his charger case a few weeks ago. They were going to need that if they found themselves trapped for longer than just a couple of days. And with that thought, he had suddenly lost his appetite.

How were they ever going to get out of here?

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

"We got the scroll", Tadashi announced as he and Fred arrived back at the park.

It had taken almost an hour and a half to move the generator, and other half hour to grab the scroll from HQ, as Varian couldn't spare any more portal magnets. Tadashi was trying not to panic even as time slipped away from him.

"How is it going?" He asked as he knelt beside Varian, as his little brother finished rewiring some cables.

"It's going fine, but it's still going to take time reboot everything. Plus Sirque still has to reprogram the replacement magnets."

"I've gotten three done." The acrobat thief said. "Six more to go."

"So we're looking at another hour and a half at least." Tadashi estimated. "Then what do we do activate the scroll."

Varian shrugged. "Read it."

"I can't read it. It's in another language."

"But you read the mind-trap."

"Yeah, and I still don't know how I did that. Also it doesn't work with paper. We already tried writing the last inscription down and I couldn't read it then. It's only when I'm holding that freaky paperweight."

Varian sighed, like he about to explain something very simple to a child. "You wrote the inscription down with just ordinary pencil and paper?"

"Yeeeah." Tadashi said slowly, unsure what Varian was getting at.

Varian tapped the scroll he was holding."That's not ordinary pencil and paper. It's magic. Possibly the same magic as Cardinist's paperweight."

Tadashi grimaced as he looked at the scroll in his hand. He had come to distrust magic in the last few months, and he really didn't want to experience that same 'out of body' mind trip that he'd been through with the previous talisman. But, if it was the only way to save Hiro...

"Okay, I'll give it a try." Tadashi stood up and faced where the portal had once stood. "Do we need anything else? Like candles, or a chalk circle, or some ominous chanting perhaps?"

Varian gave him an unamused look. "Just read the scroll. Or don't. I still think this is a bad idea anyway."

Tadashi rolled his eyes dismissively, but deep down he couldn't disagree. Had it been any other circumstance he'd be the first to condemn such a risk, but his brother...

He took a deep breath and unrolled the scroll.

Fred and Gogo walked over to stand behind him, both decked out in their now modified swimming armor, as he glanced over the strange symbols before him.

At first he couldn't make heads or tails of them. He was about to give up and complain when suddenly he recognized a word. It looked like "Open."

Then he noticed another word next to that. "Gate."

The symbols hadn't changed, and yet he suddenly understood them. But it wasn't anything like translating Japanese to English, or vice versa. That took a little effort. He had to stop and think about the right words, change the structure and stuff when doing that. This just popped into his brain, like it was data being downloaded to a computer.

" Open the Gate,

Oh Guardians of Mortality and Fate,

Unwind Time and Space Into the Great Abyss

Where Nothing Lingers Save Death's Sweet Kiss.

And Make a Road where Once There was None ."

Honey Lemon nervously bit her fingernail. Tadashi was in a trance and his voice sounded unnatural. She could have sworn that it was echoing, but then, they were outside.

As he spoke the space in front of him began to glow. First it was a bright swirling light about as big as a softball, but then it quickly grew until it was taller than a person and twice as wide

The inside of the glowing circle began to change color, a rainbow of iridescent light shimmered and then parted to reveal the void.

The same nothingness that had entrapped Abigail for a decade. Only it wasn't entirely nothing. There was also a stone road just floating in space. It seemed to have no end to it.

It was only after the road had appeared that Tadashi stopped chanting. He blinked, as if just awakening from a deep sleep, and then shook his head.

'It... It worked?" He have gasped in awe and half laughed in relief. Then he looked like was going to faint.

Gogo and Fred rushed to hold him up.

"Are you still sure about this?" Gogo asked, as Tadashi leaned on her shoulder.

"Sure I'm sure." Came his automatic response, but he didn't pull away from her support.

"Well then, what are we waiting for?" Fred sang with confidence and than strode over to the portal. Only to stop short when he hit an invisible barrier.

"Hey! What gives?" He pounded on the magical wall and light waves spread from his fists where they hit, but he couldn't get through.

Varian looked thoughtful as he picked up the fallen scroll. He gave a hum as he glanced over it's contents.

"It's possible that the incantation will only work for the person who spoke it."

"Then how did the stupid monkey go through?" Gogo asked.

"It must not count as a person." Wasabi shrugged and then winced at the motion.

Varian pocketed the scroll. "Well we tried. Just as agreed. Now help me finish rewiring the cont-"

"I can still go through." Tadashi interrupted. He steadied himself as Varian gave him a warning glare. Tadashi ignored it.

"If the spell only works on the one who cast it, then that's me. I can use the portal."

"That wasn't the plan." Varian snapped.

"So we adapt. I just go on my own, and-"

"And nothing." Gogo said. "You're not going in there by yourself. It's too dangerous."

"Yeah, I'm going to have to go with Gogo on this." Fred agreed. "I'm mean it was one thing when we're all going together, but I don't know about solo mission."

"Guys please." He tried to step towards the window hanging in the air but Gogo held him back.

Honey Lemon also stepped between him and the portal. "Listen, we're all worried about Hiro. But if you go in there, alone, with no plan of getting back. Then all that will accomplish is us worrying about you too."

"Honey's right." Varian added. "At least with Hiro we already have the coordinates. There's no way to find you again if you get lost in there. Just help me with the generator and we'll get the portal up and running faster."

Tadashi looked at Varian's pleading eyes and gave in. Varian was right. He knew deep down that Varian was right. He had let panic cloud his judgment... same as the night of the fire ...

Damn it. When was he going to stop making that mistake?

"Okay... Okay." He nodded in agreement and gave Gogo a reassuring hug.

"Now you're seeing sense." Varian said and walked back to the controls. "Help me double check my wiring. I could use someone behind me with a flashlight."

"Ummm ... What about the big hovering doorway leading to nothingness just hanging here?" Fred asked.

"Leave it for now." Varian dismissed. "We'll figure out how to close it after we've gotten Hiro back. Just no one go near it."

Tadashi unfurled the scroll to read it again. "Surely the spell to close it is on here as well."

No soon did he say these words than did the scroll begin to glow. He suddenly heard various shouts of alarm from all of his friends, but they sounded distant for some reason. Then he flat something tugging on his arm. And it was strong.

Tadashi was being pulled into the portal against his will. One minute he was standing there, the next a flash of light, and then suddenly he was standing on the floating road hovering in space.

"Oh no."

[scariusaquarius]

blood, guts, and transformers.

Chapter Sixteen: Honey and Vinegar

Winchester! Reader

Note: So, I know that Dark of the Moon takes place approximately three years after Revenge of the Fallen, but in order to keep the flow of the story coherent to the characters, I've decided to have the DOTM events happen one year after the events of ROTF.

A year. It had been a full year since the failure at Stonehenge. In the time of that year, I traveled the country, following any leads that I could. However, continuously, I came up empty. My dreams were scarce; Primus seemingly going quiet until I found what, and who, I was looking for. Uncle Sam and Cas continued their search as well, but also came up empty.

Everything had come to a complete dead end.

William had taken some well-needed time off to spend it with his family, and I had bought an apartment with Sam with the money I had earned from my shop in Chicago and some allowance from N.E.S.T. The apartment was grand and big enough to house Bumblebee and Baby.

However, they stayed inside of a small parking garage, awaiting their next orders and hanging out while staying low. I made this apartment my base, doing any research and keeping track of the Decepticon activity, trying to see if there were any patterns that would be significant to me.

In a way, I still worked for N.E.S.T. They had tried to keep me in Diego Garcia, but I refused to stay cooped up on the island. I loved the Autobots with all my heart, but I couldn't stay with them all the time. I couldn't handle being around such strong energies, especially Optimus'. However, Uncle Sam and Castiel didn't have an issue staying with them for a while.

For three whole months, they stayed until they realized that the trail had gone cold. Then, it was back to Kansas. Often, they called and gave me any information that might be useful to me, but most of it was null. The only sound pattern that I had found was that Decepticon activity had gone down tremendously after my outburst at Stonehenge.

The Cybertronian DNA in me continued to grow. CAT Scans done at Diego Garcia's infirmary had found that my bones had begun to fill up with a strange metal, causing my skeleton to become denser and stronger. I was practically a walking Wolverine just minus the claws.

Though, having claws would be a nice touch.

The smell of hot coffee and food invaded my senses as a cup and plate came from behind me to sit in front of me. I smiled softly as Sam greeted me with a small grin on his lips.

"One coffee and a McGriddle for the lady."

Sam's hand rest on my shoulders as he looked over my notes, asking.

"Did you find anything new?"

I sighed and ran a hand through my hair before taking a sip of the coffee. I blanched at the gross taste before shaking my head, taking another sip. I definitely needed the caffeine.

"Nothing. Though, I've been tracking any and all Decepticon activity. Ever since Stonehenge, they've really backed off. Either they're scared of me, or they're planning something. I've been monitoring it as closely as I can."

Sam sighed slightly before urging.

"You should take a break. You've been at it since four in the morning. Don't you have work today?"

I groaned, letting my head fall down as Sam reminded me. A new voice asked.

"Why the hell you working for those skinbags anyway? You're a warrior goddess! You should be kicking ass on the field!"

I turned to Wheelie, raising my eyebrow as I sipped my drink once more.

"Wheelie, I'm pretty sure N.E.S.T doesn't want me working after Stonehenge. You remember Stonehenge? You weren't there, but I ripped a Decepticon apart-"

I leaned closely, eyes wild as I pressed my finger to my temple, grinning widely.

"-with my mind! Like I’m freakin Scarlet Witch or some shit."

I leaned back, crossing my arms.

"I'm pretty sure they know it was me, and now I'm being tracked by every US Government facility. They could be watching us now."

Sam closed his eyes, shaking his head. Knowing that my antics were annoying him, I grinned. Brains got up onto the desk, saying.

"Well, I don't feel none of them in the cameras or the mics, so I think you're okay for now."

I shook my head before digging into my food. Sam asked me.

"When do you go in for work?"

"Around eleven."

I replied around a mouthful of food. Sam blinked before looking at his watch.

"(Y/n), that's in like...twenty minutes."

I froze before grabbing my food, running to my room.

"Save the files on the computer and shut it down! I'm gonna be late!"

-TIMESKIP-

Accurreta Systems of Hotchkiss Gould Investments. The best yet creepiest place in the world. How I managed to land a job here was beneath me, especially after somehow losing a job working at a different office doing administrative work for Toyota.

They should have just listened to me that nobody wanted a piece of shit electric car.

There were cars upon cars here, most of them classic, and it made my heart sputter each time I walked into this place. I couldn't help but think that Dad would love this place every time I walked in.

However, the creepy part about the job was Dylan Gould. While he had been kind enough to give me the job, his requirements for the job always made me squirm. Why did I always have to dress really classy? He wanted me to wear dresses, but I told him I wouldn't be caught dead or alive with one. He had compromised by allowing me to wear pantsuits and slacks with nice blouses.

My closet consisted of more slacks and pantsuits than it did my regular clothing, and it made me uncomfortable. I wasn't used to having such nice clothes, but Dylan was merciful with me. I could tell that he could see how unused I was to having such a classy job. As I sat in my office, Dylan popped in, flashing me a large smile.

"Well, if it isn't my favorite girl."

Internally, I cringed but spared him a glance nonetheless.

"Hello, Mr. Gould. How are you doing today?"

He scoffed, waving me off with a playful smile.

"Please, (Y/n). You don't have to call me Mr. Gould when it's just us."

I raised my eyebrow up at him, asking him as I typed away on my computer, logging and organizing all of the new orders that had come in.

"Wouldn't professionalism be compromised then?"

"Not if nobody knew, sweetheart."

He winked at me, and I internally grimaced. While Dylan Gould was as enthusiastic as his job allowed him to be, there was something about him that made my skin crawl. There was an aura around him that made me want to run, and from my past experiences, I knew my intuition was always right.

How would I figure out what was wrong with the man? I couldn't exactly just sneak into his office. I decided to play it cool and I turned, filing some of the files that had been placed on my desk for the day.

"For the sake of your reputation, I would advise to be careful...Dylan."

He smiled before winking, complimenting me before leaving.

"Of course. Might I say that you look absolutely gorgeous today?"

When he walked off, I muttered grumpily.

"Why does his tone imply that I'm not good-looking any other day?"

I huffed before texting Sam.

'Please save me from my job. I would love to go home and resume working on monitoring everything.'

Not even a second later, Sam texted back saying.

'Don’t you think that now would be a great time to take a break? You've been working really hard on monitoring Decepticon activity while trying to work your job.'

I paused. Sam had a point. I was working myself to the bone, practically obsessed with trying to find any information that would lead me to my father. Looking down at his reply, I sighed before replying back.

'Maybe you're right. I've been practically driving myself mad trying to find my father.'

'There'll be takeout waiting for you when you get home :) '

'I can't wait till the day you learn how to cook.'

'Hey! I can cook. I just don't feel like it.'

'Tell that to the pizza you burnt to a crisp the other night.'

'Goodbye, (Y/n)!'

I chuckled lightly before beginning to resume my work. I was definitely going to have a break from it all when I got home.

As I sat on the couch eating my takeout, Sam was glued to the couch while watching the TV, barely taking a bite of his food as John Wick slammed the bad guys head into a pencil. He grimaced before saying, sparing a glance at me as he took a bite of his food.

"Do you think you could pull off something like that?"

I shrugged, finishing off my second plate of takeout.

"Depends. I would much rather rip the guy apart with my mind than stab him with a pencil. What if I gotta use the pencil later?"

Sam gave me a look, and I simply smirked before shrugging again.

"Hey, I've got a magical brain now. Why not use it?"

Sam was quiet before asking me.

"Did it hurt?"

I looked at him, raising my eyebrow in interest.

"Did what hurt? When I fell from Heaven? Not as much as it did crawling up from Hell."

Sam gave me a dirty look, and I couldn't help but laugh.

"No, you jerk. I'm asking if it hurt to use such a power like that at Stonehenge?"

I bit my lip before looking down at my empty plate.

"I...I don't think so. All I felt was...power…just something filling up in me before it just exploded. It was startling more than anything."

Sam was quiet before he opened his mouth to say something. However, my computer began to beep rapidly, signaling that there had been an update in Decepticon activity. Sam and I shared a look before I jumped up from the couch, skidding to the computer.

However, instead of an update, it was a message from Lennox.

‘I need your assistance at N.E.S.T. Optimus found something. It’s highly important.’

Sam frowned deeply and murmured.

“Why couldn’t he just call you?”

I frowned as well and stated.

“It’s probably top secret. This computer is completely encrypted, and only Will has access. If Will tried to call me, whoever he doesn’t want to find out would probably…you know, find out.”

Sam nodded before he glanced at me.

“What about your job? You have a great thing going for you, and if you leave and somehow get stuck there, you’ll lose it.”

I bit my lip. Sam had a point. If I left and had to stay at N.E.S.T for a while, I would probably lose my job. Though, if I sweetened up to Dylan, maybe I could get on some sort of leave. Would it be too early?

“You’re right…I just…what if it’s super important? Will did say that Optimus found something…what if Optimus needs my help?”

Sam sat down next to me, placing his hand over mine.

“I know you care about them as much as I do…but we have a really good thing going for us. We can’t keep getting up and leaving what we know.”

I sighed and squeezed his hand gently.

“Sam, I know you come from a good place, but you’re not the one with their god speaking through them. They might actually need my help.”

Sam bit his lip and looked away, and I murmured.

“I’ll take a bit to think about it. I just…I don’t know if it’s the right choice to ignore it.”

Sam stood up and ran a hand through his hair. After a moment, he paused and whispered with his back turned to me.

“I just don’t want you to get hurt or worse, (Y/n).”

I was quiet, causing Sam to glance back at me, and I shook my head.

“I’m not going to get hurt, Sam. I’ve got a very good friend with a really cool autobot for a car and my very own Cybertronian guardian. I’m safest when I’m with you.”

Sam widened his eyes a bit, but before he could say anything, the sound of Careless Whisper began to play from the window. We both snapped our necks to the window where Bumblebee stood, his fingers in the air as it played. Sam stormed to the window and slammed it shut, snapping.

“Not cool, Bee! Not cool. You know, we really need to work on your privacy skills!”

As Sam and Bee argued, I couldn’t help but to sit back and chuckle, watching them. Truly, I would miss them if I had to leave. Up until this moment, I had done everything with Sam. I had gotten a job, helped him get a job, began to make a life for myself…it was everything I could have wanted despite not having all the answers and my dad.

Really, I did feel at home with Sam.

And that worried me.

Turning away from him, I looked at the computer screen where Will’s message continued to go ignored. Biting my lip, I sent a reply back.

‘I can’t up and leave, Will. I have a really good job that I will lose if I leave and get stuck in Diego Garcia for longer than the weekend. I’m sorry. Just keep me updated, and if I absolutely need to be there, then you’re going to have to get in touch with my job so I don’t lose it.’

After replying, I shut the computer screen and laid my head back against the headrest of the chair and sighed. Wheelie rolled up beside the computer, wringing his little hands together.

“I think you made the right choice. You’re too young to have to worry about us.”

Brains nodded as he hopped onto the desk as well.

“That’s true. You should focus on your life and Sam.”

I popped my eyes open, growling.

“Don’t you dare feed into Bee and Baby’s antics. I’ll put you in the box again.”

Brains threw his hands up in the air.

“Well, pardon me! I thought you two just had something good was all.”

I groaned and stood up, hands on my hips.

“The box, Brains! I’m warning you.”

Brains grumbled and turned away, and I glanced at Sam as he looked at me.

“It’s like children, really.”

Sam seemed to zone out for a moment, and though I was curious, I didn’t question it. Instead, I marched up the stairs, announcing.

“I’m taking a bath and opening wine. Don’t bother me.”

“Wine?! Where did you get wine?”

I glanced at Sam from over the railing, grinning.

“I didn’t. I’m only 18, and I don’t drink.”

Sam gawked and I laughed the whole way up the stairs.

-TIMESKIP-

When I had finished the bath and half of the bottle, I slipped into bed beside Sam, who was propped up and grimacing at his phone. Raising an eyebrow at him, I asked as he chucked the phone on the nightstand.

“What’s up with you?”

Sam groaned and slid down the bed to get comfortable, murmuring.

“My parents are gonna come to visit in a week. They’re going to come visit while I’m…I’m jobless!”

I sat up, speechless.

“You’re what? But you just got that job with Walmart!”

Sam winced and threw his hands up in the air.

“I know, but can you imagine?! I save the world twice, get a medal from the President, and I’m groveling for a job. I can’t let my parents visit and I don’t have a job, let alone be working for Walmart!”

I punched his arm, making Sam yelp and flinch.

“Firstly, you didn’t save the world twice on your own. You saved it once on your own. Secondly, what even happened at Walmart?”

Sam gave me a look.

“You really don’t want to know, and I’m not telling you because you’ll never let it go. Besides, I actually do have a few job interviews tomorrow morning. It’s gonna be a walk in the park, and I’m going to land one of them.”

I just stared at him before sighing and lying down on my back, shaking my head as Sam rolled over on his side to face me.

“Look, I don’t think your parents would demean you. I mean, not everyone knows that you’re a hero, Sam, and that you work with the coolest people and beings on the planet-“

“-that’s the thing. I should be working for them here, in D.C or even in Diego Garcia, but I’m stuck here being a wayward soul unable to find his place.”

I rolled my eyes and rolled over to face him, making Sam twitch his lips a little.

“Sam, you said it yourself earlier that we have a good thing going for us here, and that matters. Besides, I mean…you’re here with me, aren’t you? That’s still a place that you’re at.”

Sam’s eyes softened and he shook his head.

“What would I do without you, Satan?”

“Crash and burn, probably.”

Sam rolled his eyes and pushed me slightly, and I chuckled before turning back to lie on my back. Sam scooted closer and I murmured gently as he got comfortable.

“You’re going to be fine. You said you were going to get a good job, and I believe you. Besides, where I’m at, I can still cover the bills while you get back on your feet.”

“What am I, your boy toy or something? You know how demeaning that is?”

I snorted and murmured.

“There’s nothing demeaning about being a sugar baby.”

Sam groaned loudly and threw a pillow at me.

“That’s not-that’s even worse!”

I giggled and shrugged.

“What else would you call it? I am the breadwinner right now, so you can go ahead and be the cute housewife until you get the job and leave the kids all unattended to break and wreck everything we own.”

Sam perked up with a grin.

“You think I’m cute, huh?”

“You’re so fucking typical. The only thing you took from that was the ‘cute’ part? Statement redacted, you fucking lizard.”

Sam gasped and sat up, shoving a pillow in my face as I yelped and struggled against his weight.

“You take that back right now!”

My yells were muffled from the pillow, and when Sam pulled back and asked ‘what was that’, I pushed him off. Sam went crashing off the side of the bed, and I began to howl with laughter as his feet stayed raised in the air.

“You are terrible. You know what, I’m sleeping downstairs. See what you did? I’m taking my pillow and moving.”

I took his pillow and hugged it to my body, saying.

“You’ll never take this pillow back alive.”

Sam gave me an irritated look, hands on his hips.

“Really? This is what it’s come down to? My one pillow? This is a disgrace. Give it.”

“I’ll give it back if you don’t go downstairs.”

Sam huffed and slowly sat down beside me, muttering.

“This has to be some sort of abuse.”

“It’s Sam-buse.”

Sam gave me an exasperated look, and I chuckled before shoving his pillow back to him.

“Keep it up, Sparky.”

I rolled my eyes and Sam laid back down, shaking his head, and I chuckled again.

“Night, Sammy.”

“Whatever.”

…

“Goodnight, Satan.”

I immediately recognized the scenery to be D.C. The area had become desolated and familiar; like a war had taken place. Buildings were ruined, streets and dirt everywhere, and I could feel an intense energy pulsing all around me. As I looked around, I heard a voice speaking.

‘For the sake of our planet's survival, a deal had to be made... with Megatron.’

Sounds of fighting began, and I could hear the unmistakable voice of Ironhide, as if he was dying, and I became frantic as I began to run down the streets. However, no matter how fast I ran, the noises and the voices followed and became louder. Car alarms, sirens, explosions; it was deafening as I began to hyperventilate and covered my ears.

‘Just moments ago, legislation was passed to exile the Autobots from American shores-‘

Creaking metal sounded, and I glanced up at the sky to see some sort of structure coming into the atmosphere as more sounds of war sounded, the wind beginning to blow against me and keeping me from moving forward.

‘-No, I can’t leave you! I can’t!-‘

‘-Your father needs you. You have to go to him-‘

‘He’s here! He’s here! He’s here!’

Finally, another voice came in that I recognized, and I froze when I stumbled upon a large pile of metal, their forms coming together slowly to reveal the wavering image.

‘This is the victory I promised you so many years ago, where we rebuild Cybertron... together!’

All of the autobots, people that I loved, people that I came to know…all dead in a single pile as pieces of what looked to be a metal honeycomb came crashing down in front of me.

Covering the image of Sam’s dead and mutilated body just as his eyes turned a sickly black.

I became engulfed in the dust.

-MORNING-

In the morning, I awoke to feeling extremely hot. Sweat was running down my temple, and I glanced down to see Sam curled up into my side. His head was on my chest, arm wrapped around my torso, and his leg had come to rest on top of mine, caging me in with no hope of escape. However, for a moment, I did not mind.

Instead, I held him closer, bearing the heat as the image of his dead body came into my brain.

I was extremely unsettled.

For the most part, my dreams had been mild. I never had to experience or witness death in such a way, but what I had seen in my dream…it was alarming. Who had made a deal with Megatron? What did Megatron mean by ‘rebuilding Cybertron’? I wasn’t sure, but it made me think if it had something to do with Will’s message.

Looking at the alarm clock, I frowned when it read six am. I would have to go to work soon, and Sam needed to wake up to prepare for his interview. Glancing down, I sighed heavily, the movement making Sam hum and hold me tighter. Finally getting sick of the heat, I gently shook Sam.

“Sammy, it’s time to wake up.”

Sam grumbled, muttering as he nuzzled my chest.

“Five more minutes.”

“Five more minutes, and I’ll fucking melt. Sam, get up.”

Sam sat up stiffly, groaning as I sat up as well, wiping my forehead.

“What time is it?”

Sam slurred slightly, wiping the sleep from his eyes.

“It’s 6am. You gotta get ready for your interviews, and I need to get ready for work.”

Sam nodded before glancing at me before frowning.

“You’re not looking too good, are you alright?”

I hesitated, wondering if I should tell him the dream. When I looked at Sam, an image of his eyes going black made me falter, and I simply nodded.

“Yeah, you’re just a furnace and decided I was the next-best-thing to cuddle with in the middle of the night. I’ve been sweating for hours.”

Sam’s face went red, and I rolled my eyes.

“I call dibs on the shower since you decided to try to kill me in my sleep.”

“Hey, I tried to move to the couch, but you didn’t let me.”

I made a face at him, and Sam shrugged before jumping out of bed and walking to the drawers situated against the wall. As he dug through his clothes, I went to the closet, picking out a simple but cute pantsuit and shawl, grabbing my black flats and heels. As I got into the shower, I sighed and turned the water to cold.

What could that dream have meant? Should I tell him? Should I tell Will? My head was hurting, truthfully. I felt like I had gotten hit by a train, and when I went to wash my body, I found a strange spot of dirt on my arm. Frowning deeply, I picked the rubble off and became perturbed.

Slamming the shower off, I was quick to get out and get my routine done before walking down the stairs. Sam came out wearing a nice white button up, a suit jacket, and a nice pair of jeans that completed the look nicely. He seemed to be fumbling with his tie, and I rolled my eyes before walking to him. Sam froze as I tied his tie for him, and I patted his chest.

“Hopeless.”

“I can tie my own ties, thank you.”

His ears were pink, and I grinned.

“You know, blush any harder, and I might think you’re part cherry.”

Sam glared at me and hissed.

“Five minutes. Can’t be left alone for five minutes.”

“You earned it for trying to turn me into rotisserie chicken last night. Anyway, are you ready for your interviews?”

Sam hummed before shrugging.

“I don’t know. I really don’t. I just know I gotta go out there and get out with the job.”

I placed my hands on his shoulders, shaking my head.

“Don’t worry. Everything is going to work out, okay?”

Sam nodded before thanking me gently.

“Thank you. It means a lot to me.”

I nodded before ushering him out the door.

“Go. It’s better to be early. Makes you look eager…or desperate. Both work.”

Sam made a face at me and walked out the door, and I sighed. However, when I didn’t hear the car start, I frowned and glanced out the window to see his parents stepping out of the biggest RV I had ever seen. Walking downstairs, I could already hear his mother’s voice practically yelling through the doorway.

“Where’s my girl at?”

Sam ran a hand through his hair, exclaiming.

“She got a new job. You guys said you weren’t going to be here until next week! The 21st, not the 11th, Dad!”

His dad chuckled and shrugged.

“We hauled ass in this thing. We stopped for gas, and that was it.”

“-it’s great! The love tub, it flies!”

Sam looked stressed, and his mom hummed.

“Oh, I’m sorry, are we keeping you from something? Your job?”

His dad chuckled.

“It’s about time, you had us worried!”

Sam stuttered, and I sighed. Off to save the world three times, I guess. Stepping out, I exclaimed, making Sam whip his head around and his parents’ eyes light up.

“Hi, guys! I’m so surprised you guys are here so soon! Sam’s got to get to his job or he’s gonna be late!”

Judy gasped and rushed over to me, giving me a big hug and making me wince from how tight she was hugging me.

“Oh, there’s my girl! Sam, you were trying to keep her all to yourself! Shame on you!!”

Sam made an exasperated expression, and I chuckled gently.

“Well, to be fair, I’m supposed to be on the way to work, but I figured that I would give Sam a ride, you know? Quality bonding time.”

Judy cooed, giggling.

“You are just the cutest thing. See, Sam? This is how you know you have a good woman on your hands! If you mess this up, I’ll shove my foot up your ass.”

Sam’s ears turned red when Ron clapped him proudly on the back, and he shook them both away.

“Okay, that’s great. You guys are wonderful. We both need to get to work. Lay off the wine, and for gods sake, don’t do anything weird. Love you, bye!”

As Judy protested, Sam grabbed my hand and dragged me to the garage where Baby waited.

“Are you insane? Egging my mom on like that? She’s never gonna leave me alone!”

“I just saved your ass from some embarrassment. You think you would have survived?!”

Sam threw his hands up in the air.

“Alright, fine, fine. Can we go?”

I rolled my eyes as Baby’s engine cranked.

“We ready to go, bub?”

“Yeah, yeah, we’re ready.”

As I climbed into the drivers seat, Sam sat beside me, his knee bouncing as he anxiously rubbed his chin. Shaking my head, I glanced at him as Baby drove.

“You’re going to be fine, Sam. It’s all going to work out. You’re gonna go in there, you’re going to get this job, and your parents are going to be pleased. They’re here for a few days, so we’ll…entertain them if we can’t find them the earliest tickets for some weird thing old people would like.”

“Did you just call my parents old?”

The radio crackled, Baby’s voice piping in.

“You know, I think all that war made you deaf, kid.”

Sam smacked the radio off, and glared at me. I shrugged.

“What do you want me to say? I’m not good at this stuff.”

Sam groaned and laid his head back.

“I just need this to go right. Okay? I just need this one thing.”

“You’re going to be fine, Sam. I promise. Just go in there and tell them that you’re willing to work as soon as possible, that you’re very adaptable and willing to take on challenges, and I think you should be alright.”

Sam nodded and Baby pulled up to the building. I whistled lowly.

“Looks pretty serious. I think you’ll be okay. Just dial 911 if you think you’re about to get murdered or something.”

“That’s not funny.”

He made a face at me before opening the car door, and I leaned down to look at him through the window.

“You’re going to be fine, I promise. I believe in you, Sam. If you can save the world twice and get a medal from POTUS, you can ace a few job interviews.”

Sam glanced down at me before nodding and taking a deep breath.

“You’re right, you’re right. I got this. Okay. I’ll message you when I’m out.”

I nodded and Sam left. Baby sighed, switching the radio back on.

“He does know that turning the radio off doesn’t work, right?”

“Just let him live comfortably in his lie. Sam’ll start shitting a brick if he finds out, and then we’re gonna have a meltdown. Do we want a meltdown, Baby?”

Baby made a noise of disgust, the radio shifting channels for a moment.

“He’d be out of the car.”

“Exactly. Let’s go, I’m gonna be late…and I’ve got an idea on how to help Sam get a job.”

Baby revved his engine, and with tires squealing, we were gone. Going down the road, however, I got a call. Looking at my phone, it was Will. Immediately, I picked it up.

“Will, you have really shit timing.”

“You can’t seem to answer your messages.”

I groaned and replied.

“I’m sorry, I just have a lot on my plate right now. What do you need?”

Will sighed on the other side of the line, saying gently.

“I know that you do, and I’m sorry, but Optimus is requesting you here at N.E.S.T. I really meant it when I said it was important. I can’t relay the information over the phone, but it’s big and it’s gnarly and it’s getting dangerous. I need my favorite gal here for help.”

I rolled my eyes and muttered.

“Flattery gets you nothing but a swift kick in the ass. I really did mean that I can’t just up and leave my job, Will. I’m going to get fired, and I know I’m going to because this sounds so serious that it’s going to take longer than the weekend.”

Will sighed again and I winced, hating that I was stressing him out.

“Look, I’ll talk to my boss and see if I can cook up some sob story about a family member passing away, but you’re going to have to give me some really selling paperwork that I can use so I can get some sort of leave for work. Does that work?”

Will hummed.

“I’ll see what I can do. While I do that, go to work and talk to your boss, okay?”

“Alright, I will. I’ll see you when I get there. Don’t do anything stupid, and don’t touch a single thing.”

Will chuckled.

“Alright. Love you.”

“Yeah, whatever.”

I hung up and puffed my cheeks out, feeling embarrassed. Baby chuckled.

“Still not at the ‘love’ phase?”

I answered honestly as Baby pulled into the parking lot, parking and sitting idle as I sat still in the front seat.

“I do love him, don’t get me wrong. I just…it feels weird to say it because then I feel like I’m letting my dad go and replacing him. It isn’t right. Until I get some solid evidence that Dad is really gone, I’m not giving up hope. I don’t want to seem like a bad person, I just…I really need time.”

Baby hummed and the seatbelt tightened comfortingly before Baby unbuckled it.

“I get it, bub, just don’t shut the man out, alright? He’s doing his best with what he’s got.”

Without another word, I got out of the vehicle and walked into the building, showing my badge before bounding off towards my office. Getting inside, I sat down at the computer and sighed before rubbing my forehead. Just as I logged into the computer, a knock on the door sounded, making me glance to see Dylan.

“I was wondering when my Duchess was going to show up.”

“I’m sorry, your what?”

Dylan chuckled before saying with a smirk.

“Duchess. Lifesaver. Whatever fits.”

I had to refrain from rolling my eyes, but before I could retort, Dylan hummed in interest.

“You seem different today. Anything you wanna get off your chest? Judgment free.”

I guess this is where the waterworks come.

It was easy to let tears fill my eyes as I looked away. Memories of my father flashed in my head, and I shook my head slowly.

“To be truthful with you, not really. I…found out some very devastating news, and I’m not taking it very well.”

Dylan cooed, sitting down in front of me.

“Oh, that’s not good. I can’t have my best girl ruining her pretty face with tears. Talk to me, Duchess.”

Oh, god, kill me.

“Um, my dad…he passed away tragically. He’s the only parent I had left, so this loss is just hitting hard. Not to mention, my roommate is struggling too. Nobody wants to hire him, and I’m trying to help him the best I can, and I feel like I’m failing. He’s a really good guy and knows a lot about cars and I just feel like I’m not able to help. With Dad passing away, and my friend struggling, I just…I’m a terrible friend and daughter. I got into an argument with my dad before his death and I can’t take those words back!”

I covered my face as I cried, and Dylan wrapped his arms around me. My body immediately flinched with disgust, his cologne causing actual tears from the potency, and he cooed.

“I’m so sorry, Duchess. I wish I could take your pain away. You’re not a failure, and you shouldn’t shoulder others pain. I know what you’re feeling. Why don’t you take a vacation for a while? I can hold the fort down.”

I sniffled and pulled away, carefully wiping my eyes.

“I can’t do that. I have to work. I love this job so much and I don’t want to fail you too.”

Dylan shook his head, stating.

“Your father passed away in a terrible way. That’s something nobody should have to go through at your age so soon. Take a couple days off, and I’ll even consider getting the hiring manager to give your friend an interview. How does that sound?”

I internally cringed as I wrapped my arms around Dylan.

“You’re such a lifesaver and a good man. I’m lucky to have you as a boss and a friend! I’m going to have to go out-of-state for his funeral….Kansas, actually. I’ll keep you updated. Are you sure you don’t want me to stay for today?”

Dylan held me close, murmuring.

“I know. Stay until lunch, and you should be fine. If you want, I’ll even schedule his interview for today. Does that sound alright?”

I nodded and Dylan kissed my temple.

“I hope things look up for you soon, my Duchess. Stay strong.”

He walked out, and I immediately gagged, wiping my eyes and blowing my nose.

“God, that was painful.”

Grabbing my phone, I sent a text to Will.

‘You owe me fucking big time, I hope you know that. Big, big, time.’

‘I’ll remember that. Let me know when you can get here.’

Shaking my head, I switched to Sam’s contact.

‘You got another interview today around 1pm at Accurreta.’

‘Accurreta? Really? How’d you find that out?’

I bit my lip before smirking.

‘I had Baby hack your email. You should seriously change your email. Nobody is going to hire you if you have an email from 4th grade.’

‘Seriously? We really need to talk about privacy. And you leave my email alone, okay?!’

I snorted before shutting my phone down and getting to work, crunching down on as much as I could before I had to leave.

-TIMESKIP-

When I got out, I was thankful to throw the heels off and slip into my flats. While Dylan had been gracious and left me alone, I still had to run around the building delivering paperwork and participating in meetings that I swore were going to haunt my dreams instead of Primus. Baby revved his engine the second I got inside, and he murmured.

“That was fast. You get fired?”

“Ha-ha, no. I made up some sob-story about Dad and got some time off. I got Sam an interview too that he’s gotta get to once he’s done with this last one today.”

Baby whistled as he drove to the last location for Sam’s interview.

“Damn, you got to work today, didn’t you?”

I shrugged and placed my hands on the steering wheel when we got to a red light, holding my phone between my cheek and shoulder so it didn’t look like I was talking to myself nor not driving my definitely-not-a-transforming car.

“As much as I possibly could. I’m just trying to help Sam and get Will off of my back. I’m sure there’s been some sort of development…again.”

“Don’t you know it, bub.”

Once we got to the building, I noticed Sam outside looking irritated. When he heard the vehicle, he seemed surprised to see me.

“What are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be at work?”

“I’m here to pick you up for your next interview. It’s on the way. I’m taking a couple of days off because Will won’t leave me alone. I already talked to my boss, everything has been worked out.”

Sam seemed genuinely surprised before he got into the vehicle, and Baby drove us back to Accurreta. Sam immediately got out after a lot of ushering, and I texted Will as soon as Sam was inside.

‘Alright, got Sam into an interview and then I should be on the way. You know he’s gonna ask questions.’

‘I know, but I can’t tell you anything until you get here. Don’t tell Sam, just tell him that your Uncle asked to see you or something.’

I felt bad about having to lie, but if Will was making this visit as secretive as possible, something really serious must have happened. Biting my lip, I replied.

‘It feels wrong to lie like this to him after everything.’

‘It’s for the best.’

Easy for Will to say. He’s been doing this for so long that of course it doesn’t seem like an issue for him, but this was big. I didn’t like to lie to Sam. Our friendship had been built on the foundations of trust…what if this broke it? What if it caused a rift that we couldn’t repair? I sighed and let my head fall back onto the seat.

“It’s gonna be alright, bub.”

I stayed quiet, and instead, I dozed for a little while until the car door opening caught my attention. Sam got into the front seat, sighing and looking frustrated.

“So?”

Sam pursed his lips.

“I got the job.”

I smiled widely.

“That’s great! I’m happy for you, Sam.”

Sam shook his head gently.

“I got stuck in the mailroom. That’s like…the worst job I could have gotten. I thought maybe I would be working with the big guns, but I’m just a mailman!”

I bit my lip. I have heard many things about the mailroom, and most things were terrible. Instead of agreeing with him, however, I instead shook my head.

“It’s still an important job, though. You’re gonna be making sure that things get delivered on time to the right people so that the company can function smoothly. Don’t forget that you can always get promoted, too. It’s a job, and it pays well. You’re already doing a lot better than you were, and now you can tell your parents that you actually have a job.”

Sam just nodded before he glanced at me.

“Vacation, huh?”

I pursed my lips and murmured.

“Yeah…my uncles need me back home for a few days. Something came up with a family member…my Uncle Bobby. He’s not doing so well these days.”

My heart constricted at the thought of my Uncle Bobby. Ever since leaving Texas, I hadn’t heard or seen from him much. Bobby had always been a loner, and always extremely busy even though Dad used to tell me stories of the man.

Was he a hunter like him too?

Briefly, I wondered what Bobby had gotten up to these days and if Cas and Uncle Sam had told him the news about Dad’s disappearance. Sam’s voice broke my thoughts as he asked.

“Uncle Bobby?”

“Yeah. He’s not actually blood related, but he’s been a life-long friend of my Dad and Uncle. I think my Uncles broke the news to him about my Dad finally, and things aren’t going well. He’s taking it very hard since he practically raised my Dad and Uncle.”

Sam looked solemn, and I shook my head.

“But, let’s not worry about that. You finally got a job. We should celebrate! Why don’t we go to a nice place to eat? We’re already dressed up, so we might as well.”

The radio began to play Babe by Styx, and even though I glared at the radio, Baby just turned the radio down a little. Sam glanced at me, and he said.

“You really don’t have to do that.”

Shaking my head, I was stern.

“I want to. It’s something to celebrate, and besides, I’ve really wanted to try that one place in town. Tokyo’s? We pass it by all the time.”

Sam hummed and revealed.

“I didn’t take you for a sushi person.”

“They have hibachi. It looks fun.”

Sam simply shook his head.

“It’s too expensive.”

I growled and hissed.

“Would you just let me take you out on a date?”

Sam’s eyes widened, and the radio sputtered for a moment. I was frozen, embarrassed, and I immediately stated as Sam’s mouth hung open in shock.

“It’s not a date. Not a date. I meant like a…like a lunch date! Friendly lunch date. Nothing weird about that. Friend’s go out for dinner all the time, nothing special.”

I looked away from him, my face feeling hot, and Sam hummed from beside me.

“So, you say I’m cute, now you’re taking me on a date…I think I know what’s happening here.”

I looked at Sam with a horrified expression as he smirked.

“You’re trying to bribe me.”

“Bribe you?! For what? What do you have that I want?”

Sam snickered before saying, gesturing to himself.

“Saved the world twice, got friends from outer space that transform into pretty cool cars, a medal from the President. I’m a package deal.”

“A package that’s 90% air. I’m vetoing Tokyo’s.”

Sam sputtered.

“What?! That’s not fair, you can’t take the date back!”

“It’s not a date!”

Though, it did sound like a pretty fun time.

Chapter Seventeen

[hollowsart]

I had to make the Morbius variant of Acedia into its own post, but here's some funny concepts n stuff I came up with while working on her with a friend.

Warning for topics with slight discussion and mentions of blood and vampirism.. cuz this is about a vampire lol

enjoy my thought process minus my friend's input that helped with a little back-and-forth to come up with this stuff:

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

tfw you're just trying to get some fruit, but this weird ominous looking older man doesn't hesitate when he sees you holding the last perfect honey crisp apple in the whole store.

goth as a subculture apparently didn't exist until the 80s in the UK with the introduction of a specific genre of music. the subculture itself is just heavily music based. it's not fashion based, although most who listen to the music will end up wearing clothes that reflect the music or the styles of those who made the music.

But that's not to say Old Man Morbius couldn't dress very dated and have a more victorian style of dress. gives him that "gothic" look

he stands out from the rest of society at the time in the 50s and he doesn't do much outside of getting necessities and then going back to his penthouse.

there were rumors that he was a vampire, mostly from the younger crowds and some older folks who loved to gossip. Acedia didn't believe it, thought it was rude to spread such things about people without any real proof…. but it didn't stop her from feeling nervous.

boi howdy was she wrong to think he wasn't a vampire.

He followed her from the store and dragged her into an alley and attacked…. taking the dang apple she bought as he fled.

Acedia hating the taste of blood, but the vampire-ness is CRAVING IT.

I think we need a better explanation for "LIVING vampire" as currently, vampirism technically means you're kinda dead tbh. you're dead and you're reanimated differently than a zombie.

I did have a concept where vampires can still eat and drink other things besides JUST blood.

They can eat raw meats and possibly blood sausages, too. they lean a bit further into being carnivorous, but they're not cannibals (not to say there isn't at least one or two vampires who may or may not have gone cannibalistic due to some kind of trauma, but y'know--)

Vampires can go out during the day, but they require coverage from the sun. umbrellas, extra long gloves, big ole hats with massive brims. pants, long sleeves, long dress, etc.

most tend to be nocturnal, but will go diurnal if necessary or for any number of reasons they may have for being awake during the daytime. (like keeping up appearances and trying not to seem so out of place to the regular humans they live around)

AS IF I DIDN'T ALREADY HAVE A SUPER SENSITIVE NOSE AS IS

Morbius!Acedia is a silly fun "non villain" addition to this whole sinistersona concept.

she has no desire to cause harm and, much like Earth-4622's Morbius, she is more of a street-level hero. She uses this for good, not evil. and has her own issues to deal with outside of that world's "Spider-Man"

Acedia: (airhead extraordinaire)

you're not special, Morbius.

me, who knows I'm hungry and should get something to eat yet is still sitting there taking +1 damage every 3 minutes that I'm NOT getting up to get food: …….maybe.. I already AM a living vampire? ..just without the desire to drink blood?

me meeting Morbius and he's like "I haven't had blood in 3 days, I am going to kill someone--"

me: ? only 3 days? the last time I had blood was uhh… 4? 5? days ago?

Morbius: Morbius, now feeling terrified, knowing I'm a variant of him: ….How are you still speaking to me?

me: I have other means of food that tastes better than blood. smells better, too.

I get hungry fast, but I still sit there and tolerate the pain. sometimes I'll drink something to kill the hunger pains. that helps me pass the time.

[amandamgsblog]

Chapter 6 - It's not so easy to say - Part 2

This is my life real story. Hope you like it!

Amanda's POV

— I… need to have a word with you about two very serious matters…

— Sure, Amanda, but you're scaring me… - Alice speaks to me and holds my hand.

— So, I've been hiding these two things from you… I don't tell everyone, but you're important to me and my only friends here. - I say as we sit down at a table. The three of them nod their heads.

— We'll listen to every word, you can trust us. - Ross smiles and I'm reassured.

— You've already noticed that my voice is hoarse and lower, even Ariana's friends keep imitating it, making fun of me, and I get a lot of muscle spasms. You even helped me that day, Ross. - I smile as I remember and he takes my hand, which was on the table, and squeezes it a little.

These problems happened because my mother had a syndrome, several rare symptoms, in the fifth month of pregnancy. My delivery had to be brought forward by an emergency c-section, and I was born dead. - They widened their eyes.

— I don't… understand. - Jonathan said.

— The doctors, including my great-uncle, who is an amazing gynecologist and obstetrician, one of the best in Brazil, managed to resuscitate the tiny baby that I was, but my brain was still and this affected the motor area of the brain internally and externally.

I look at each of them and see tears in their eyes. — The left side is paralyzed, so my left vocal cord doesn't move properly.

I had several treatments to be able to walk, because I couldn't stand up. I've done years of speech therapy and this is the highest I can speak and my voice is really hoarse. And I hate my voice, because people always say: “Wow, are you sick? Is it the flu?”, and I'm ashamed to answer.

— Don't worry about it, gorgeous. Your voice is normal. - Alice speaks.

— For most people, it's “fuck you, you were born weighing 21.1 oz, we're going to make fun of you". And that's what happened in elementary school, high school and even now, in college, where I thought people wouldn't be animals.

— Those bastards, they'll see me later! - Jonathan says angrily.

— You? Look at how thin you are… - Alice says and we laugh.

—So, to continue, this insistent bullying over the years, my family background and the problems within my family made me develop depression at the age of eight and start psychiatric treatment at the age of ten. I went through several psychiatrists, medication, over time.

When you see me sleeping before class, it's the effect of the medication, which I've been taking for many years in a row, at a high dosage, which is no longer having any effect… I've already spoken to the new psychiatrist and changing this medication takes a long time, with supervision and control.

Many days you notice that I'm sad, but you cheer me up. And I love you for that. The only smiles I have are with the birds, with my mother and with you.

— But what do you feel, honey?

Ross asks.

— The most serious symptoms, unfortunately… It affects the neurotransmitters in the brain of every person who has depression, so the symptoms are well known. Persistent sadness, loss of interest, changes in sleep, appetite, low energy, low self-esteem. And I've always had terrible self-esteem and I'm very fearful. Isolation is common, but with you I don't feel the need for it. You do me good.

— And we're going to stick with you, even after you get the medication under control and get better, because you will. - Alice tells me.

— Yeah, we're not going to leave your side. Our friendship will last a lifetime. - The brunette says.

— The four of us are best friends and will continue to be. - The blonde says.

I smile at the group, happy that they've accepted everything so well, and tears fall.

— Who wants a snack?

My friends, minus Ross, head for the counter, leaving us alone.

I stand up, but he grabs my arm and pulls me slightly closer to him.

— I'm sorry if that was a lot to absorb…

I stroke his hair.

— Sit here. - He points to his lap and I do what he wants, wrapping my arms around his neck for balance. I hear a muffled cry, and it's only Jon, so I ignore it. — You're amazing, you know that? Look at your history… You always have to hold your head high and not let anyone humiliate you. I'm going to call you an angel, because there was a very strong possibility that you wouldn't be here today, and you are. What an honor to have met you and to be your best friend…

I listen to everything he says and we stare at each other, smiling. I feel the urge to kiss him, so I say it:

— I say the same about you: you're amazing, sweet, I won't let anyone mess with you and I love being your best friend too.

I stroke his cheek until our moment is interrupted by the rest of my friends. I pretend to them that I wasn't impacted by what had just happened and Alice asks me:

— If you were born at five months and weighed less than 22 oz, how much did you measure?

— 7.87 inches.

— You are our tiny baby!

[judyfromfinance]

This is me @ anyone who tells me how horrible Heimdall is. Lol.

Ok. Heartbreak city. Heartbreak central. This girl is being put through the ringer honey. Dear lord. 2 WEEKS?! DID WE REALLY ONLY KNOW HIM FOR TWO WEEKS!? Yo I’m such a simp omg. But I mean, it’s very accurate portrayal of me ngl. So if that’s what you’re going for, it’s spot on.

(I say as if everything’s about me lol.)

Anyways that talk with Atreus felt like a long time coming. A proper thank you. Very much appreciated little bro. But imma be honest… I forgave him within the first sentence. I missed the siblings 😭! I want them to be happy.

And not the dream sequence with Heimdall though! Got me flustered, minus the pics of dead dwarves. Like that’s not sexy at all. But other than that… perf.

And then we have Tyr…. What do I say about that? What can I say about that? Ok, speculation time, Tyr is Odin. We know that for a fact. The most simple answer I can think of is just plainly he doesn’t want Heimdall to die. He’s seen Kratos fight. He knows Kratos would wreck his ass. And Heimdall is still a very valuable asset to him. So not only does he probably not want Heimdall to die, but if he convinces the reader to go back to Asgard, he’ll have another playing chip to use against the rest of the Kill Odin Vanguard. That’s my best guess at least. But if that’s so then why did he tell Heimdall we left Asgard on our own. Because if we come back then we’d be able to confront Heimdall about “pushing us off the bifrost.” Unless he’s just panicking because shits about to go down. But then again the ring didn’t really work, right? Did Odin do something to it?

Also, was that our bestie… Aud? Or maybe little brother Skjoldr? Or is it someone totally different? I was gonna guess Jörgen but why would he be outside the wall and why would he sound so nice right now. I’m sure he pissed at us. I think I just want to see Jörgen all jealous and shit. Lol, he is a hottie and I do have a crush on him. That’s your fault btw. Making him do delectable despite this being a Heimdall fic. I can’t help it. I’m toxic and like my men possessive. (Only in the comforts of fanfiction of course)

Anyways this chapter was an absolute banger. You bring it to us every time. I need to stop being so surprised. The characters were flawless. The readers emotions were portrayed beautifully. And the suspenseful ending??? Can it get any better? You never disappoint. Truly.

The Pickpocket - Part 27

[Prev] [Next] [Masterlist]

Pairing: Heimdall x fem!Reader

Word count: 9.4k

Summary: You have some enlightening chats with two gods and then make the biggest mistake of your life (probably).

A/N: two weeks since the last update i'm so sry i hate this myself💀💀 i really struggled with where to end the chap this time, that's why it's rather long again bc i just couldn't decideeee!! but this also means we're making fast progress in the story hehe~🌼 maybe i'll be able to wrap it all up this year after all ajsjdk

***

Part 27

You wouldn't have been surprised if you hadn't slept a wink that night, with all that had happened and was still buzzing around in your head, but apparently even Freya's healing spell had its limits; you felt fine physically, but your mind was so tired that you fell into an exhausted deep sleep within seconds of your head touching the pillow...

The bedroom was bathed in the warm light of the setting sun. Small sparkling particles of dust danced lazily in the air, making the scene seem almost unreal. Like a dream. Out of time.

You certainly wouldn't have minded if this moment had lasted forever.

With a sigh of pleasure, you snuggled closer to the warm body at your side, enjoying the feeling of his fingers drawing circles on the bare skin of your shoulder. There was something hypnotic about it: The rhythmic movements of his fingers, the soft breathing, the steady beating of his heart... You heard him turn a page in the book he was reading and opened your eyes a crack.

They wandered along his chest until they finally landed on the book he was holding loosely in his left hand. What you saw in it was so incongruous with the peaceful atmosphere that you involuntarily grimaced.

Of course, he noticed.

You felt him turn his head in your direction and look down at you as he inquired: "Is something wrong?"

Not wanting to ruin the moment, you just shook your head against his chest. "No, everything's fine."

"Mmh..."

You had just closed your eyes again to lose yourself in his touch when it suddenly stopped and he removed his fingers from your arm. You frowned indignantly, which made him laugh softly. When you opened your eyes again and turned your head to look him in the face, pouting, he looked back at you with raised eyebrows.

"No answer, no cuddles."

You sighed and raised your eyes to the ceiling. "It's nothing, really!" You nodded towards the book. "I'm just… not that excited about the drawing, that's all."

"What about it?"

"Uuh, it's gruesome?"

"Gruesome?", he repeated, confused, "Gruesome how?"

You looked at him in disbelief before taking your head off his chest and sitting up, causing his hand to slide off your shoulder. "Oh, I don't know, maybe because it shows your family slaughtering some dwarves?"

Heimdall raised an eyebrow. "Those dwarves were a rebel pack that would stop at nothing to achieve their goals. They had practically declared war on the All-Father. Had he not intervened, they would have overturned their entire social order and thrown their realm into chaos. Hardly a sympathetic bunch", he finished with a sneer.

You certainly remembered this differently. And you knew which version to believe; blind loyalty did not make for a reliable narrator, after all.

But not wanting to start a fight, you just lay back down and snorted quietly: "Well... it's still a macabre drawing. All that death... I don't like it."

You felt him chuckle again. "Death is a natural part of this world. Nothing to be afraid of. In fact it's what we Aesir live for. To die in glorious battle, striking down the vile creatures that dare to desecrate all that is good and right... There is nothing that's more noble."

At first, you didn't respond and just dwelled on your thoughts. At his words, they had involuntarily wandered to the impending final battle, the battle of all battles... The end of the world as you knew it. You regularly avoided thinking about Ragnarök for too long, because it always brought a paralyzing fear to you. Now, however, with this newly added context, it made you downright panicky.

Instinctively, you moved closer to his warm body and wrapped your arm around his middle as you said: "But I don't want you to die. Not in battle or any other way."

For a moment, you thought you heard his breath catch. But maybe you were just imagining it, because when he spoke again, you could clearly hear the amusement in his voice.

"Well, that's awfully sweet of you, sunshine, but I'm afraid it doesn't work that way."

No reassurance, no words of comfort, nothing. His fingers had returned to your arm and resumed their hypnotic activity, but you were far too agitated by this point to be lulled again. For a while you just lay there in silence, staring into space and listening to your heartbeats, which couldn't be more out of sync.

Then you mumbled: "I don't want to die either..."

As soon as you finished speaking, the fingers on your arm stopped moving.

"You won't."

"But you just said-"

"You won't", he repeated with a firm voice and grabbed your shoulder to press you against him, "I will make sure of that."

You enjoyed the warm flutter in your chest that his words caused, until a thought suddenly struck you.

You bit your lower lip to hold back your grin before you said: "How? By haunting me?" You rested your chin on his chest as you looked up into his face again. "I mean... You can't really keep me alive when you're dead yourself, can you?"

At first he gave you a deadpan stare, then he exhaled loudly through his nose and rolled his eyes, which made you grin openly now.

"Oh no! What a bummer. I guess this means you have to stay alive after… all...", you trailed off as he suddenly removed his arm from your body and straightened up a bit. Then he closed the book and calmly placed it on the bedside table before grabbing your arm and pulling it away from his body.

For a moment, you wondered if you had said something wrong to upset him, but then you had to chuckle as he suddenly climbed on top of you, flipping you onto your back in the process. Hands on either side of your head, legs pinned between his own, he ultimately held you captive with his body as well as the intense gaze of his purple, starry eyes.

"You are ridiculous, you know that?"

You blinked up at him angelically. "What can I say, I learned from the best."

"Oh really?" The corner of his mouth twitched. "And what else did he teach you, huh?"

"'He'? Who says it's a guy-" The rest of your sentence turned into a gasp as he suddenly lowered his head and his lips kissed along your jaw line, instantly sending goosebumps all over your body.

"I just", he murmured against your skin, his voice deep and seductive, his breath as hot as your thoughts, "Have a feeling I might know him."

You managed a small chuckle. "Maybe. He is quite famous..." Then you drew your lower lip between your teeth and let your eyes flutter close.

When you opened them again, you could still feel his weight on you. The tickle of his hair and the way his stubble scratched your skin, his warmth.... It was as if it had seeped into every pore of your body and stayed there, even as the dream finally began to fade and you remembered reality.

Immediately, you felt like crying.

You turned around and pressed your face into the pillow beneath you to muffle your sobs. Against your better judgment, your thoughts reached for the last remnants of your dream, clutching them tightly to squeeze out the last bit of comfort before there would only be grief and heartbreak again.

Part of you still refused to acknowledge that it was all an act. Everything said, everything done... Even the smallest looks or touches. Just the thought of it made you want to curl up here and never get up again.

And so you didn't.

You didn't know how long you had been lying there, motionless, your face turned toward the wall, when you heard a knock and then someone calling your name. When you didn't answer, the door opened, only to close again not long after. Your visitor must have thought you were still asleep, which was just fine by you. Yesterday's efforts had given you a good excuse for today. Tomorrow would be another story, but you didn't want to worry about that now.

You wouldn't even have been able to; your mind was caught in an endless loop of false truths and deception. A reality that never existed.

Gods, your dream had been right, you were ridiculous. In fact, this whole thing was! Who even fell in love after only a few weeks? And with an enemy no less...? And then was surprised when said enemy shamelessly exploited those feelings for his own gains? Stupid, stupid, stupid. You really should have known better, especially as someone who had thought themselves oh so unmanipulable in regards to Odin and had instead blamed Atreus for the exact same thing...! It was ridiculous, really, to love someone who unquestioningly wasn't in love with you. You more than deserved this miserable outcome.

And yet, despite all the shame, the guilt, the regret, you still felt so much longing... and mourned for something that had never even existed. You hadn't learned a thing.

It made you angry. At yourself, of course, and at Heimdall. But also at Freya and the truth in her words, the pity in her eyes... Everyone's eyes. At Brok's harsh words, at Sindri's lack of understanding, at Týr and Mimir's disapproval. At Atreus, and that he had had the audacity to rat you out after basically abandoning you in Asgard. At Kratos and his dumb spear and that stupid prophecy...

And suddenly you were also angry at your grandmother, that she had sealed away your memories, just like that, and had thus taken away any reference to your own feelings. She may not have taken them away completely, but what difference did it make? You didn't know what it felt like to be a child, but you were convinced that it couldn't be much different. Everything was new. Every experience was your very first, whether it was a kiss or a heartbreak. You felt helpless, caught in a maelstrom of emotions, tossed back and forth like a snowflake in a winter wind.

So your mind automatically looked for stability where you had last lost it: In a faraway realm, on soft fur, under the brilliant gaze of a purple, starry sky…

After all that had happened, you still missed him. Missed being safe, loved...

What a cruel joke.

+++

You spent the rest of the day in bed, undisturbed. The next morning, you awoke to someone placing a plate of food and a pitcher of water in your room and then disappearing again. Though the hungry sounds of your stomach had grown to a rumbling that would have rivaled Krato's deepest growl, you still only picked at the food; your appetite was practically nonexistent.

At some point, it could have been hours or another day, Atreus poked his head into your room. You managed to fend him off with the excuse that you were still too exhausted from your long march through Midgard and just wanted to sleep. Which was the half-truth; you really just wanted to sleep, at least until the dull pain in your chest went away.

(Or another dream would make it a hundred times worse again.)

It took another day before it may not have been gone entirely, but became somewhat manageable; at least as long as you weren't constantly reminded of it. For instance by everyone treated you as if you were a raw egg, when you finally dared to leave your room again, and one wrong word away from bursting into tears. Sindri was by far the worst offender, but Brok was no slouch either (at least in his special Brok way). Even Týr and Mimir were more restrained than usual.

Only Kratos acted relatively normal towards you, and you were really grateful for that – but since you couldn't help but constantly think of that damn spear in his presence, you soon avoided him as much as your other roommates, after all.

Which was why Atreus eventually found you at the back of the house, leaning against the wall and watching the various critters as they frolicked on the branches of the World Tree. As soon as they noticed the young god, however, there was agitated chattering and screeching, and then they took off in a hurry.

"Handy alarm system..."

You blinked up at him. "Jealous?"

He laughed. "Why?"

"Because they always run away from you."

"Pssh, no, I'm not jealous", he claimed at first, but you knew him too well; and so you weren't surprised when a smile soon tucked at the corners of his mouth and he said: "...Well, okay, maybe a little. How did you get them to trust you?"

"I guess I'm just more lovable than you." You grinned as he stuck his tongue out at you. "And besides, I don't carry any dangerous weapons. I think they're so afraid of Kratos because they think he's a lumberjack or something."

He turned his head to take a quick look at his bow and then grimaced. "You may be right... I hadn't thought of that."

There was a short pause between you before he nodded towards the house and said: "I see you found a place to hide?"

Now it was your turn to make a face. "It's almost unbearable with them..." You paused and narrowed your eyes. "Wait. Did they tell you to check up on me?"

"...Maybeee..."

You sighed loudly and shook your head, but couldn't help smiling. "Wow, I never thought I would say this, but I miss Freya... At least she wouldn't have treated me like I was made of sugar."

The goddess had left for Vanaheim the day before to aid her brother and his band of rebels, you had been told. Kratos had offered to accompany her, but she had declined, saying she would contact them if they needed help.

Atreus looked at you with a wry smile. "If I promise to be brutally honest with you, will my company suffice?"

"Brutally honest? You?", you snorted, amused. "That I want to see."

"What, you don't think I'm capable of that? All right, watch this", he said as he sat down cross-legged next to you. Then he cleared his throat and opened his mouth...

Only to close it after a few seconds and look at you sheepishly.

You had to laugh. "I knew it!"

"Well, okay, I can't do it", he admitted, before his eyes turned a little mischievous, "...But I can be a supportive friend and a good listener."

"Oh, smooth."

"Thank you", he said smugly, eliciting an amused shake of your head, "But really now, all jokes aside. How are you feeling?"

You avoided his worried look and took a deep breath. "Uh, fine... Okay."

Okay. It felt appropriate and horribly inappropriate at the same time. Okay wasn't bad... but it was also far from good and even farther from happy. It just... was. A strange in-between state, as if your heart couldn't decide how you should really feel. You hated it, but you'd rather be okay than feel as lousy as you had the last few days... again.

You forced a smile at Atreus. "I guess I really needed that sleep."

"You mean in between your crying...?" As your smile crumpled, his eyes became even more sympathetic. "The walls aren't as soundproof as they look sadly..."

"So the whole house heard? Oh, that's just great", you groaned.

No wonder the men treated you like you were on the verge of a nervous breakdown. It could hardly be more embarrassing...

"Do... you want to talk about it?"

You snorted. "I thought we already did."

"Well, for real, I mean."

Not wanting to offend the young god, but also not feeling like pouring your entire heart out to him now, you just shrugged your shoulders, which he acknowledged with a small nod. Then you remained silent for a while, while Atreus leaned back and let his eyes roam around, and you slowly traced the crevices in the wood beside you with your finger.

"I'm sorry I've been such a butt to you these past few weeks."

You lifted your head and returned his guilty look.

"It was wrong of me to leave you in Asgard without a word of goodbye when this whole Garm thing happened", he continued in a hoarse voice, "It didn't even occur to me that I couldn't be sure if I would ever come back again, I just thought... Oh, I don't know what I thought. Though it was not any better than what I thought as I was abandoning you in the weeks prior, that's for sure. I mean, I know very well by now that you can't just ignore away problems like that and yet..."

He slumped his shoulders. "I guess everything just got to me. The whole pressure because of Odin and the mask and all the pretending... That I didn't sleep a wink for nights on end, out of worry and fear. And then there was also the thing with you suddenly spending so much time with Heimdall of all people, and I just didn't get it, but somehow it made me feel like... like you replaced me or something. I mean, we didn't even talk, let alone see each other anymore..."

Atreus paused for a bit and lowered his head before continuing quietly: "Still, none of this excuses how shitty I was to you, of course it doesn't. After all, I said really bad things that I shouldn't have. I also didn't really- I mean… what I said, that..." He looked at you ruefully again. "I'm sorry I told you that father wasn't your father, too."

You swallowed as the memories of your fight came back to you. How hurt you had felt afterwards. So much had happened since then... Of course it still hurt to think about it, but the new pain had made the old one fade a bit.

"...You never said it", you corrected him with a slight smile on your lips, "You just implied it."

"Yeah, well... Still. Even that I shouldn't have done, that was really..."

"Shitty?"

He returned your smile crookedly. "Very. Like I said, I'm really sorry about all that. I didn't mean it that way, of course, I-"

"Then why did you say it?"

"I..." Atreus struggled for words for a moment, then shook his head. "I guess I was just... scared."

You looked at him uncomprehendingly. "Scared? But why?"

He opened his mouth... only to close it again. Once again, you had that all-too-familiar feeling that he was hiding something from you. You remembered what he had told you then, that he had to "stop something bad from happening". Something he had called even worse than Ragnarök. Something that had caused your first big fight because he wouldn't tell you more about it... You just couldn't understand why, even now, when he was so eager to apologize and reconcile with you, he was still so adamant about keeping quiet about this. Did he really have so little trust in you? Could he really not even now-

"Do you remember what I told you once? About how I had to stop something bad from happening?"

You looked at him with wide eyes, almost forgetting to answer because of your surprise. "Uh... yes?"

Atreus took a deep breath. "I saw a prophecy in which... in which Father dies."

The silence that followed this revelation seemed as all-encompassing as if the entire Realm Between Realms had fallen silent.

What...?

Surely he had only misspoken. Or perhaps you had misunderstood him. Maybe it had just been a macabre joke...? After all, he couldn't have meant that…

You shook your head in disbelief. "D-Dies?"

He only nodded with a grim expression, but in his eyes you saw everything you felt and so much more… The ground was immediately pulled out from under your feet.

"But... Wh- How? When??"

"I don't know", he shrugged, "It just showed him lying there and me kneeling next to him and-"

"But that doesn't mean anything", you interrupted him immediately, "That doesn't have to mean that he's... that he's dead, I mean... that can have many different explanations, right? For example... For example..."

When Atreus shook his head, you suddenly had the urge to grab him and shake his entire body.

"I thought I was the only one who knew about it, but when we were in Helheim, father and I, he told me that he had seen it too, and... well. The training? All those years? He said he wanted to prepare me for the day when he..."

You didn't want to hear any more; your mind was already having trouble digesting the information he had already given you, so you stubbornly clung to the idea that this had to be a mistake. After all, this was Kratos. Kratos who could uproot trees with his bare hands. Kratos who could move entire mountains! He couldn't die just like that...!

"But prophecies don't have to come true, do they...?", you tried again, "I mean, those are Kratos' own words: 'We alone write our destiny and no one else.' Just because some shrine drawings said that-"

"Believe me", the young god interrupted you, "Ever since I found out about this, the same thing has been going through my head too, day in and day out. And I also want to believe it of course, but... You just can't be sure, you know? So... I couldn't just sit around and let it 'maybe' happen, so..."

"You went to Asgard."

It finally made sense.

Atreus nodded. "I just had to do something... So I thought if I knew Odin's plans, then... Well, maybe I could still avert the whole thing. Oh, I don't know." He hugged his legs and rested his chin on top. "I probably just ended up making things worse, like I always do."

Seeing him like that stung you, so the next moment you put your hand on his head and said: "Hey. That's not true. You didn't make anything worse, okay? On the contrary: While Odin is now as smart as ever about our group, we know a lot more about what he's up to. Besides, Garm is now history, too, without doing too much damage, and you've talked it out with Kratos! I wouldn't call that 'making things worse.'" You gave him a slight grin. "And from the looks of it, you've indirectly inspired Týr to take up arms again. Only in self-defense, but hey! That's still a win, I'd say."

Atreus gave you a grateful smile, but it faded as quickly as it had appeared before he blurted out: "I should have told you about it a lot sooner, but I just thought..." He swallowed. "I felt like talking about it would just make it more real...? Like I would somehow make it more true."

A small part of you actually was a little offended that he hadn't come clean sooner, but it was assuaged by the fact that Atreus had kept this news a secret not only from you but from everyone else too, and for weeks, if not months even... That fact made your empathy quickly take over.

You sighed and removed your hand from his head. "I mean, sure... I would have appreciated it if you had told me the truth about Asgard from the very beginning. It would have saved me some worries. But I understand why you didn't. And, well" You grimaced. "I also behaved far from ideally, after all. I should have cared more. Trusted you more."

Be a role model, as Freya put it…

"No", Atreus replied immediately, "No, you already put enough trust in me, I really couldn't have asked for more."

"...I guess you really want me to get mad at you, huh?"

That did the trick, turning the corners of his mouth upward. "Well, I would have deserved it, right?"

You snorted and shook your head.

Then you were silent for a while before you said: "So the Norns managed to get Kratos to believe in the prophecies, huh? I'd really like to know how that went down..."

Atreus stretched his legs. "He doesn't really believe in it, he just wants to play it safe, be prepared for anything, you know him." He gave you a sideways glance. "It's also true that he doesn't want war, you know? The Draupnir Spear is really just in case. He wants us to rewrite our destiny in a different way."

You nodded briefly and wordlessly. It was clear what he was alluding to, but you didn't really feel like digging into yet another heartache right now...

But the young god was undeterred. "And the Norns also said that Heimdall wanted to kill me in Asgard, so as long as I stay out of Asgard, then-"

"Can't we talk about something else?"

Atreus ducked his head a little. "Uh, sure, sorry. I just thought... Oh, never mind."

But now that he had broached the subject, there was no peace in the silence that followed. Instead, the emotions associated with it mingled with the ones his revelation of Kratos' death had stirred in you, filling you with a whirlwind that swelled and swelled...

Until it finally burst out of you: "I can't believe you snitched on me!"

"Wh- 'Snitched on you'?", he repeated, confused by your sudden outburst, until it dawned on him, "But I didn't even know there was anything to snitch on you for!"

"Well... There wasn't", you stubbornly (and somewhat lamely) denied.

This, of course, made him raise an eyebrow. "So I snitched on you for... nothing, then."

There was a beat of silence

Then you groaned in annoyance. "Oh, fine! Fine, okay, there was not nothing! But there was still no reason to rat me out like that. I would have told them about Heimdall myself" You paused briefly before clearing your throat and avoiding his gaze. "Eventually, anyway..."

Atreus sat up again and leaned towards you, his mouth slightly agape. "Wow, okay, so... Thrúd was right from the start. You really did hook up with him!"

The sudden change of subject between the whole Kratos prophecy story and your love life almost gave you whiplash for a moment.

Then you stuttered: "'H-Hook up'?? She said that...?"

"Everybody said that", he said matter-of-factly, "but Thrúd was pretty pissed about it. So was Jörgen, by the way. Which reminds me, I can't believe I misjudged you both so much...! I really thought you were into him."

"Yeah, well...", was all you could manage; your mind was still reeling from his confession that everyone should have known about you and Heimdall...

But was that so surprising? After all, he had let you live with him, something he had never allowed any partner to do before – at least if that hadn't been a lie, too...

"So Heimdall, huh? How did that go? How did that even happen?? I mean, he's-"

"An asshole? Yeah, well, for a while he wasn't, believe it or not..." You grimaced. "And then he tried to kill me by pushing me through the Bifröst into Midgard, so... Safe to say, the asshole's back. Or he never left, who knows."

Atreus was silent for a moment and then said slowly: "And you still defended him becauuuse...?"

"I... It's... It's more complicated than that...", you started, but quickly gave up and buried your face in your hands, "Ugh, I know, okay? He tried to kill me, yet I don't want Kratos to hurt him – I know how that sounds and that it doesn't make any sense. It's stupid. I'm stupid..."

"No, I don't think so. You just... That just means you have empathy. You want to see the good in people, that's not stupid."

"But it's not very smart either...", you grumbled.

"Oh, no, don't get me wrong, I don't think you're stupid. But it was pretty stupid to get involved with Heimdall in the first place."

You looked at him open-mouthed at first, but then had to laugh. "Ouch... That was almost brutally honest of you."

"Just telling it like it is", he replied, shrugging his shoulders coolly, before joining in your laughter.

When you had calmed down again, you gave him a cautious look. "So you're not mad?"

"Mad?", he repeated, frowning, "No, why would I be mad? But I definitely have questions. Like… What did you do to my overprotective big sister-"

"Oh, ha ha..."

"And what did Heimdall do to you to make you see him as anything other than a giant, arrogant jerk. Did he put a spell on you? You can't tell me there's a single charming bone in his entire body."

A spell...? Huh, you hadn't thought of that...

"Well, you see, he-"

"No, wait, you know what?" Atreus raised his hands. "I've changed my mind, I don't want to know."

"Then why did you even ask?", you chuckled.

"Because I just can't imagine that he... and you..." He gestured wildly in your direction. "It just doesn't add up!"

You ignored the small sting his words irrationally gave you, but couldn't help retorting: "You're acting like this is the craziest thing that's happened lately. Like you didn't just release a giant Hel Hound that almost gave us a premature Ragnarök."

He pretended to think hard before saying: "No. No, you and Heimdall is still crazier."

"Okay. Then… How about learning that you lost your memories because your grandmother cast a spell on you to give you a new life away from your tribe, and with two hermit gods?"

You greatly enjoyed seeing his eyes widen and his grin disappear the next moment.

"You're kidding."

"Nope. She and Freya were great friends, actually – according to the latter", you said, whereupon his jaw dropped and he demanded that you tell him the entire story.

You were only too happy to oblige, glad to finally be able to talk to someone about that – and even more glad that said someone was your much-missed little brother.

+++

"Child, would you like to join me?"

You turned your head in the direction of Freya's room, from where you had heard Týr's voice, and let your hand slip from the handle of the door to your room.

"Uh... I appreciate the offer, Týr. But I don't feel like talking right now, so-"

"Oh, no, you misunderstand", Týr interrupted, "I would like you to join me for a little... silent company. You see, this activity is all about quieting your mind. No talking – unless you insist, of course."

You were still hesitant since you just came back from your talk with Atreus that you had initially wanted to ponder on a little now… But you also didn't want to offend the gentle god, so sometime after you entered the light-flooded room where he was sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of the row of windows, after all.

Freya had certainly settled in by now; everywhere you looked, there was blooming and sprouting. Plants were twining along the ceiling and walls, hanging in bundles or baskets in front of the windows, and in pots covered the windowsills and the floor. In between were various decorations, wooden ornaments that were undoubtedly a piece of Vanir culture. Yes, Freya had essentially managed to turn the entire room into a small Vanaheim. It was breathtaking.

No wonder Týr had chosen this place to relax.

"Have a seat", he said in a soft voice, inviting you with a small gesture to sit down next to him on the blossom covered floor, "Freya has made her room so green and... calming. You won't find a better place to clear your head here, believe me."

"All right..."

You decided not to ask him why he thought you even wanted to clear your head. The question seemed to have been made redundant by the fact that the whole house had been listening to you cry your eyes out for the last few days. The thought still made your cheeks glow regularly. To distract yourself, you accepted Týr's invitation and sat down next to him, looking into his golden eyes right after.

"Now, close your eyes and think about your breathing." He demonstratively breathed in through his nose and exhaled through his mouth. "Try to find stillness in your mind. You will see that your mind will slowly relax and allow you to gain more clarity and foresight."

You turned your head forward again and did just that, inhaling deeply the scent of the plants, concentrating on keeping your mind focused on the way your chest rose and fell and-

"...For example, regarding your recent experiences in Asgard."

Your next exhale turned into a snort before you inquired: "I thought you said 'no talking'?"

"Ah, yes... Forgive me. I just wanted to express that this exercise can help you untangle your thoughts and better understand what is bothering you..."

You nodded as a sign that you had taken note of his words and continued with your breathing exercises.

"...and offer myself as a conversation partner if there is anything you would like to share with someone rather than trying to deal with it alone. I believe my ancestry predestines me to offer quite... unique insights into your situation."

Before he had finished, you already looked back at him, annoyed.

"...But I will be silent now", he stated, turning away again and closing his eyes.

You shook your head and laughed softly to yourself before doing the same. Then the room was silent for a while.

Still, the serenity of before just wouldn't return. No matter how hard you tried, you just couldn't get his words out of your head, so you soon found yourself chewing your lower lip in frustration.

Finally, you couldn't take it any longer and blurted out: "Týr...? Can I ask you a question?"

"Of course", he replied in a heartbeat.

You struggled with yourself for a moment, but then decided to go all the way. "Is... Is there a spell that can make a person fall in love with someone?"

You looked at him a little nervously, your heart beating loudly in the quiet room.

Soon he opened his right eye and gave you a questioning look in return. "Why do you ask?"

"Ah, I just...", you answered evasively, "I'm just... wondering. In general."

"Well, yes. Love spells do exist-"

"Are they permanent?", you wanted to know immediately, "If so, can they be broken? Maybe with a… a special counter spell? Or do they disappear of their own accord?"

"As I recall-"

"What if the two people are fundamentally different? In their opinions and views, I mean. What if they are incompatible in every way? Can that affect the effectiveness of such a spell?"

The god exhaled and turned his head to look directly at you. "Yes, I dare say it is a possibility. Although", he continued quickly when he saw you already open your mouth again, "I am not an expert in this field, so I cannot tell you with certainty how such a spell from Heimdall would affect you."

Immediately, embarrassment shot into your face and you closed your mouth again.

Týr chuckled. "Do not be embarrassed, child. We actually had a similar thought after Atreus and Freya informed us of your... interesting infatuation." (Your cheeks got even hotter.) "However, we came to the conclusion that it probably wasn't a spell. Freya, brilliant as ever, didn't detect any of the usual signs for it on you, and we Aesir aren't very fond of magic either – assuming that hasn't changed during my absence, which I doubt."

You nodded your head slowly and looked down at the ground.

"I would have expected these news to be met with more relief."

"Well...", you sighed, "No, not really. Because that basically means..."

"...That you have formed a true bond", Týr finished your sentence for you.

You grimaced. "You see my dilemma?"

You kept your head down, but you could feel the Aesir giving you a long look after that.

"Forgive me if I'm overstepping", he began slowly, "But... I may have been away from Asgard for some time, but I can remember its inhabitants all too well. And since the rather... rigid structures of my homeland do not allow much room for change, I believe we have actually kept the God of Foresight in a rather similar memory."

That made you raise your head. "Oh yeah?"

Týr nodded. "Heimdall is... a lost soul. Which makes him more devoted to our father than anyone else. Growing up without a childhood, without love... Without a mother and with a father who never saw anything in him but his abilities. Something to be used for his own ambitions, nothing but a tool... That's what made him the god he is today. Arrogant, cruel and narrow-minded. And loyal to a fault – Odin can do no wrong in his eyes. A... tragedy, really."

The perfect subordinate..., echoed in your head.

The Aesir laid his head back with a sigh. "You must be wondering why I did not do anything about it, if I was so aware of it. A valid question. The answer, however... May not satisfy you much, I am afraid: I simply preferred to concentrate on the numerous hurdles in my own life. Something that had already pulled me away from Asgard in my younger years, far away, because the arm of the All-Father had always reached even farther."

He paused for a moment before continuing: "Of course, this is not meant to justify my misbehavior – nor could it. Oh no, believe me, I still blame myself regularly for having been such a coward and not caring more..." His golden eyes met your gaze. "You are, after all, living proof that even centuries of manipulation cannot withstand honest compassion."

You snorted. "Yes, if only that were true..."

He looked at you for a long time before he turned his whole body in your direction so that he was sitting directly across from you. "I told you all this to make you understand that I believe I still know my half-brother. And unlike other people here, I don't think he's beyond redemption. Regarding all that Atreus told us about you two... I don't think it was just an act on his part."

You stared at him. "What... What are you saying...?"

"Heimdall is a very private person. He absolutely shuns company. In all my time in Asgard, I've never seen him make the effort to spend time with another person – even less so on a regular basis. Let alone in his own home. I can't imagine that he would have made all this effort just to... what, gain your trust? To what end? Forgive me for being so direct, but you are a mere mortal. Hardly of any importance, especially to someone of his standing."

"Then what about the ring? It makes sense that he only gave it to me to have a way into the Realm Between Realms."

"You're forgetting that it's also a door into Asgard. Of course, the others are right, it could just be a trap... Still, it seems extremely unlikely to me. The Heimdall I know would never have exposed Asgard for a mere probability like that. Especially since he would have known that Freya would recognize the ring immediately.

"But..." You shook your head. "Why would he have pushed me through the Bifröst then?"

"I would imagine that-" He stopped, blinking. "Oh, he did? Atreus didn't mention that."

"Because I just told him a little while ago", you explained, continuing your train of thought: "Heimdall is the guardian of the Bifröst, he knows it like no one else. He knew exactly that it would take me to Midgard. How do you explain that?"

He was silent for a while, thinking.

Then he asked: "Not that this in any way justifies his actions, but... Did something happen before? An argument perhaps?"

You shook your head. "No, not at all. He came back from a meeting with Odin and said he wanted to show me something, the Bifröst. Then", you furrowed your brows. "Then he said something that made no sense to me. That I had manipulated him and... played someone against him...? I don't know what he could have meant by that. It all happened so fast... One moment he was still the Heimdall I knew, the next he seemed like a completely different person."

"Hmm", the Aesir made, running a hand over his beard, "You said he was with Odin before this happened?"

You nodded.

"Then isn't it possible that there is a connection? That Odin was involved somehow? Maybe he managed to turned Heimdall against you."

"Well", you looked down at your hands, kneading your fingers, "It did feel like there was something more going on... Especially since he was so different all of a sudden. But..."

"Don't misunderstand me, child. Heimdall can be incredibly cruel, no doubt. Especially at the command of the All-Father. But his interference could also be a possible explanation for the sudden change in character you describe. You must remember that Odin loves to be in control. Anything he can't control is a thorn in his side. This may well include your rather… surprising relationship with his son."

You remained silent, pondering his words. They seemed plausible to you, but you could not say why that was exactly: Because of their actual logic or because how much you wished they were true.

Finally, you looked up into the tall god's golden eyes again. "Why are you doing this? Telling me all this... Why don't you condemn me like the others?"

His eyes softened. "Because I don't see why your bond should be so reprehensible. Of course I can understand their point of view, the danger they see in it... But in the end this is only because they don't see the whole picture. I, too, share a bond with Heimdall, just like you do. He is my family. And as I said before, he may have certainly done a lot of reprehensible things... But this does not mean that he deserves to die. No, Odin alone is responsible for all of this. Besides", he sighed, "I want this senseless violence to end. And wouldn't it be all too fitting if it was an act of love that could make Kratos change his mind?"

You frowned a little. "'Change his mind'? But... Atreus said that Kratos had no conflict in mind. That it was just a precaution that-"

"I fear", the god interrupted, sighing softly, "That Kratos has not been entirely honest with young Atreus about his plans in regards to Heimdall."

Your breath caught as silence fell over the room. It was broken only by the occasional sounds of the dwarves at work and the drumming of your heartbeat in your ears.

"Not been entirely- What do you mean by that?", you finally asked quietly.

Týr looked at you sympathetically and you felt your chest tighten again. "For Kratos, nothing is more important than keeping Atreus safe. His visit to the Norns has shaken him; since then, he's been... almost fixated on the idea that Heimdall wants to harm Atreus, and thinks that Atreus is only truly safe when Heimdall is dead. I told him that violence cannot prevent violence, but he wouldn't listen – and Freya only enabled him, I fear. In her eyes, Heimdall is not only a threat to Atreus, but to everyone. He is, after all, Odin's left hand and carries Gjallarhorn, the Herald of Ragnarök."

"So in truth… they think war is inevitable?", you asked in a voice that somehow didn't sound like your own.

Týr nodded, and that was all it took for your world to seem out of balance again. "And that is why they want to eliminate Heimdall before Ragnarök. His death is crucial to their plans, as it is inseparable from the beginning of the final battle."

"So it was all a lie?" You couldn't keep the tremor out of your voice. "That Kratos wants to defy the prophecy and rewrite his own destiny? They want to just… walk headlong into Ragnarök?"

The Aesir exhaled loudly. "I fear so, yes."

You shook your head in disbelief. "No... No, that can't be... Can't they- Can't they see..." You raised your head and looked pleadingly at Týr. "Can't we get them to change their minds somehow? Isn't there something we can say to change their minds??"

"I'm afraid, I've already tried everything I could think of," Týr replied resignedly.

"Then... we must do something else! Somehow prevent it from even getting that far...!" Your eyes darted feverishly around the room as your thoughts raced through your head. "Maybe- maybe we can warn Heimdall! Send him some kind of message, so that... Oh, I don't know, so that he…"

You trailed off as Týr suddenly chuckled and regarded you with amusement.

"I just informed you that Ragnarök may be inevitable", he explained himself, "And yet the first thing you do is worry about my brother's welfare? It's rather ironic, I suppose... That the man who pretends to hate the world the most is so loved by it."

His words brought another flush of heat to your face, but they did nothing to alleviate the horror in your mind; on the contrary, they only seemed to make you more frantic.

But before you could make any kind of reply, he added: "The others seem determined enough, and I may have already tried everything I could think of to change their minds... But rest assured, I don't intend to give up. I- We will keep looking for a peaceful solution", he said, placing a large hand on your shoulder, "Together."

You managed to give him a small, grateful smile.

+++

As happy as you were to have Týr on your side, it was only a little consolation; his revelation that Kratos still intended to kill Heimdall under any circumstances had thrown you completely off track again, and had destroyed any peace of mind Atreus had given you earlier in one fell swoop.

At the moment, you were pacing restlessly in your room, but you didn't even really notice it. Your thoughts kept circling around the conversation with Týr, or to be more precise, around a certain part of it...

It was almost embarrassing; he had told you that you were literally heading for the end of the world, and yet all you could think about now was your renewed hope that your relationship with Heimdall had been real after all. That he had returned your feelings. It was like a lifeline that kept you afloat amidst all the horrors that lurked below.

And you immediately took advantage of the fact that you could reminisce without feeling guilty or bad about it.

Thus, again and again, you pictured his handsome face. His piercing eyes, high cheekbones and irritatingly charming smile. His beautifully shaped neck and attractive, broad shoulders... You remembered the way he had looked at you every time he had caught you staring, so confident and proud, almost arrogantly so. And then his voice... All smooth and deep, inviting you to drown in it... in him.

...No.

No, you could not allow Kratos to succeed in his plan, you would prevent it, you had to prevent it. For his sake, too; you knew of his past as the "Godkiller". You knew that he had left all of that behind and that he only felt he had to return to it because he thought it would save Atreus' life. But if you could make it clear to him that there was no danger from Heimdall... That he had bettered himself-

And how are you going to do that? Even Týr couldn't convince him. Do you think he'll listen to his lovesick daughter then? What are you planning to say, that you've changed him?? Yeah, sure, he'll buy that...

You grimaced, before letting yourself fall backwards onto your bed. Staring at the ceiling, you thought about your alternatives, because no matter how you sliced it... Kratos would never listen to you. And Freya even less.

But you couldn't just rely on Týr to find a solution either, because you were basically running out of time.

Come on, think...!

But there wasn't much to think about. You were basically even more destitute than Atreus was back then; he had been invited to Asgard, after all, and had been able to travel by raven. Your only way to contact Heimdall now was in one of Freya's bags, or wherever they had hidden away your ring. And you couldn't ask anyone for help either, at least not if that someone wasn't Týr. After all, they would all think you were nuts...

You squeezed your eyes shut to hold back the tears of frustration.

+++

The candles had burned out when you opened them the next time; you must have fallen asleep despite your excitement. That would also explain why you thought you had heard wing-flapping just now...

As you sat up, you made a face and immediately massaged your stiff neck, while rubbing the sleep from your eyes with your other hand. Based on how much you had slept in the last few days, you wouldn't have expected to fall asleep as soon as you got back into bed... But yesterday seemed to have left you emotionally exhausted.

This thought suddenly reminded you again of the dilemma you were in, and you instantly got the urge to scream in frustration. Though instead, you just ended up burying your face in your hands with a groan, wishing yourself back to sleep, where you didn't have to worry about anything at all...

When you removed your hands from your face, you sat on the edge of the bed for a while, your shoulders slumped, staring into space. But even there you couldn't find the solution to your problems, so you finally sighed loudly and made to get up-

Only to pause as if struck by thunder, when your eyes fell on the barrel converted bedside table to your left.

And the object that was suddenly lying on top of it – and had definitely not been lying on top of it yesterday.

It was silly, but you couldn't help but look around your room the next moment. You even got up and looked out the window, but of course, you didn't see anyone there either; whoever had visited you must have come by while you were still fast asleep.

With a wildly beating heart, you slowly stepped in front of the barrel, where your fingers almost reverently grasped the ring that seemed to have suddenly materialized out of thin air.

Your ring.

At first, you just turned it over in your fingers again in amazement; in the dim, cold light of the room, it seemed to sparkle even more colorfully than usual, almost as if it were greeting you. Instead of returning the smile, however, you simply swallowed hard and then looked nervously at the door, half expecting Kratos and the others to rush in at any moment – but of course it remained silent.

It was beyond question that Týr was your nocturnal visitor, but if he had already been in possession of the ring, why the secrecy then? Why hadn't he given it to you, or at least mentioned it during your conversation? It seemed to be the most obvious solution to your problem.

Had... he maybe wanted to make sure that you were up for the task first? Had your conversation been a test in the end...? Or had he just thought it too risky, to give you the ring out in the open like that? How it should have been less risky to sneak into your room as someone of his stature was beyond you, however...

In the end though, you decided that there was no point in pondering Týr's motivation any further. All that mattered was that you had your ring back.

And with it a chance to avert all disaster before it would take its course.

With this thought in mind, you were about to slip the ring on, but then paused once more and bit your lip.

What if you were about to do something really stupid... just like Freya and the others had feared? What if it was a trap after all...? What if the ring didn't lead to Asgard at all? What if Odin had somehow reversed or otherwise altered its magic, and it was about to take you to a place of no return? What if the ring did lead to Asgard, but it would bring you before Odin himself, what then?

You didn't even know how to use the ring! What did Heimdall say again...?  

"...wherever you are, when you use it, it immediately connects to its counterpart."

Yes, but use it how? Was there a certain procedure? Something like turning the ring back and forth on your finger five times, while mumbling some kind of spell? Or was it already enough to simply just think of Heimdall so that-

Suddenly you thought you felt a gentle breeze on your face and a warm tickle on your skin... As if you were surrounded by a thick blanket all of a sudden. You looked down in surprise, but couldn't see anything. You frowned, half believing you had imagined it, and raised your head again-

Only to find that your room had suddenly disappeared.

And instead, you found yourself facing the vast plains of Asgard.

At first, all you could do was stare open-mouthed, like a fish out of water. The whole thing had happened so quickly that your mind still seemed to be in your room in the Realm Between Realms – at least until another breeze brushed past you and finally made you realize.

Immediately, your heart began to race, so fast that it almost made you dizzy; especially since you were suddenly overcome by a strong sense of déjà vu as you remembered your first unplanned trip to the plains... You felt sick at the thought and involuntarily tightened your grip on your ring – or at least wanted to.

For there was no ring.

You stared down at your empty hands with wide eyes and felt your heart drop. Oh no. No no no no no no no! This couldn't be true, had you lost it?? You thought you remembered loosening your grip for a second in your fright, but that had already happened here in Asgard, hadn't it? Hadn't it?!

In a panic you searched the ground around you, checking every tuft of grass, every crack in the stone, and finally spun around your own axis – only to stop again, for in that moment you were suddenly faced with Hrimthur's Wall.

This discovery should have elated you, as you had already feared that you were back in the wilderness of Asgard. However, your mind was so overwhelmed by everything that had happened in the last few minutes that you saw little positive in it. No, instead all you could think now was:

I'm on the wrong side.

Your eyes watered as you realized exactly what that meant. The ring had not brought you to the promised destination. Heimdall had lied. And if he had lied about this...

A sob crept up your throat as the first tears welled up in your eyes and dripped down your face.

Týr had been wrong, it had all been a lie. Everything.

Heimdall had never returned your feelings. It had all been an act, none of it real, just a ploy by Odin to get to your family through you. And you had willingly paved the way for him, had practically invited him in your overgrown, boundless stupidity and-

"Hey, you there, are you okay?"

You flinched and spun around.

***

who's that in the end, wrong answers only🎤

(i finished and translated this chapter all in one day, so pls forgive me any grammar or other such mistakes, my mind can't english well when it's tired ajdjdk i'll look over it tmw once more)

hope you enjoyed thiss<3 as always, feedback is welcome and very much appreciated!!

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[magicalbuffalotransformerman]

[hey. y'know that one 'status of the bots'-type post i made some time ago? here's a redux. enjoy.]

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[patchwork and groundrumbler are hard at work slicing a chunk of ice from the surface of antarctica, because (FOC!)megatron thought that it contained a weapon of mass destruction and couldn't ask anyone else to do it for him.]

[bonecrusher and rocketjumper are fucking again. this time they're in the shower, and they've used a lot of shampoo. very suds-y in there.]

[ground control is asleep. he's dreaming of electric sheep.]

[Mafia Soldier is juggling some wrenches in the kitchen. No particular reason.]

[General Canis Major is cuddling with Head Scientist Maxwell in bed, the two of them binging Markiplier's Try Not To Laugh videos.]

[Lizzie is dealing with that Blue stalker of hers. They're being surprisingly friendly at the moment.]

[patchwork is patching up some wounds that doomback acquired after being particularly careless at an autobot outpost.]

[The TYRANT is... well, he's somewhere. Not sure where, though. Same can be said for his similarly-designed pals as well.]

[The Machine is active in 2Fort again, slicing enemy mercenaries' heads off in his Demoknight form.]

[🍎🧃 anon is being toasted in the toaster for some godforsaken reason.]

[thunderstormer is at the bottom of the ocean, struggling to get himself back to the base. he's trying his best to leak as little energon as possible.]

[trackshredder is sleeping on the couch. been a long time since we last saw him.]

[bunkerbuster is playfighting with fortslammer. devastator's spectating with a XL cube of popcorn.]

[curbstomper's watching some television with airstrike and nebula in ekranotitan's room.]

[ekranotitan is staring at himself in the bathroom mirror... specifically, his erection.]

[overhaul is celebrating the new year by sittin' down on a cliff, jerking off and staring off into the horizon.]

[marrowbomber and flamewar are at a new year's party. they're both very uncomfortable, too many autobots around.]

[our offroad bois, hitchhiker, dirtbuster and terraterror, are drifting around in antarctica, generally just fuckin' around. they may do a couple of tricks, who knows.]

[The Phantom Soldier is taking some time to himself, trying to keep as calm as possible today. He misses his friends over in Steal Town, but this is Him Time. Besides, Bonecrusher won't let him leave.]

[roadravager is chugging energon in the kitchen. he's had a terrible nightmare, as is the norm in this hellhole.]

[overpower is busy hauling energon cubes to the base. somehow, someway, he's found a method of DRIVING. ON. WATER. goddamn.]

[vibemaster is mastering his vibes in virtual reality, by murdering robots in robo recall.]

[o'ovgednagh is asleep in bonecrusher's bed.]

[the other six crewmates are vibing with the Phantom Soldier to help him cool down. they're being very efficient.]

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[and that... is the post, over and done with. enjoy your new years, i guess. i'm not.]

[peterparkersnose]

“Will you stay with me?”

druig x eternal!reader

Part 1

Story 3

word count: 2.3k

a/n wow so i guess everyone loves druig? i mean, me too. the chokehold this man has on me right now is unhealthy.

warnings: violence, blood, fluff, y/n not taking any queues from druig

summary part 2/beginning of series for eternal!reader and Druig. A Deviant attacks the village and Druig helps Y/N with it. 

masterlist

series list

read time: 8 mins 33 seconds

It’s been two months since you were dropped here. Adjusting to life with the eternal’s wasn't the easiest. You learned a lot in the two months here. Sersi helped you become almost fluent in sign language, growing your relationship with Makkari. You have learned to tolerate Sprite and Kingo’s shenanigans, falling victim to their pranks one too many times. You took a liking to Phastos and what he does. You would help him with possible new ideas involving fire. Ajak would help you adjust to the world, teaching you along the way. She was the most patient with you, and that meant a lot to you. Thena had helped you learn to fight Deviants. You only ever watched her, but you learned a lot. You weren’t ready yet, according to Ajak. Thena could handel herself. You cooked with Gilgamesh and learned how to make delicious foods that you shared with Druig. 

Oh, Druig. 

He had become your best friend. Your safety, your person, your everything. 

He definitely was more weary at first. He had a hard time connecting with people minus Makkari. How could you not like Makkari? Everyone in the group was stunned by how fast he warmed up to you. They had never seen him act like this before. 

-

It was a quiet night. Makkari quietly snored in the bed adjacent to yours. She had offered to take you in while they built your hut. You and Makkari had grown close, almost as sisters. The window was open only slightly. You were tossing and turning in bed when you heard it- a low growl. 

Your heart seemed to stop. You recognized that growl. 

You tapped on Makkari’s shoulder, quietly waking her up. “There’s a growl coming from outside,” you signed to her. She froze. “Stay still,” she signed back. You froze, hearing the growel again. “Again,” you signed. Makkari nodded her head. “Stay here,” she signed, running off. You knew when she exited the hut, because the growel grew louder and you heard rustling. It was following her. 

You ran out into the village in search of Makkari and found nothing. Absolute darkness and silence. You were eager to find her, and quickly ran across the towns square. Your bare feet got dirty with mud and small rocks piercing into your foot. You were about to enter the other part of the village when you heard a screech behind you.

There stood a Deviant in the flesh, charging at you. Your heart seemed to jump out of your chest as you quickly conjured a fire ball, and threw it at the thing. It screeched again, badly burnt but not dead. Then, Thena came out of her hut. You threw another ball of fire at the thing. Thena sprung into action, shielding you from the Deviant. “Run!” she yelled, looking back at you for a quick moment. Just then, the Deviant extended one of it’s tentacles and came at Thena and in a quick move, you pushed her out of the way and took the blow of a scrape against your cheek. Thena, shocked by this, quickly beheaded the creature and ran to your side. The right side of your face was covered in blood, you were in shock. Your hand touched your face, shocked by the blood. This is the first time you had ever bled. 

“Thena w-what is this?” you asked, more scared than ever. “Oh honey, it’s just blood.” she sighed, taking you into her arms. You began to cry. Makkari returned with Sersi and Druig. 

They all became panicked at the sight of Thena covered in your blood, holding you. “Someone get Ajak!” Sersi yelled, rushing to the scene. Druig hesitated coming any closer, afraid he might not like the scene in front of him. 

Sersi had ripped a bit of her nightgown and placed it on your face, trying to scoop off as much blood as she could. You looked past Thena and saw Druig standing there. You broke out of Thena’s grasp and ran to the boy, almost knocking him over. 

“What happened?” he asked, holding your bloody face with his hands. “Deviant,” you cried, hugging him and hiding in the crook of his neck. He didn’t care he was being covered in blood. “It’s alright darling, your okay.” he said, patting the back of your hair to try to calm you. 

“Y/N,” you heard Ajak say. Her voice always calmed you. You looked up from your embrace with Druig and saw her waiting for you. “Come on now,” Druig whispered to you, grabbing your hand. Ajak used Sersi’s cloth to clean up the rest of the loose blood on your face and waved her hands over your cut. It stung. You grabbed Druig’s hand harder. “Is she gonna be alright Ajak?” he asked. “Of course she is. Her pretty face will heal in no time.” Ajak smiled, brushing a piece of hair out of your face. 

The bath after this incident didn’t feel real. The moon was still in it’s height, so about another five hours of darkness. You had lit the tiny torches in the bathroom. You brushed the knotted blood and dirt in your hair out. The water turned a light brown. 

Makkari had helped you get ready for bed once again. She combed your hair and braided it. “These braids are beautiful, thank you so much.” you signed. She smiled and gave you a re assuring hug. “Please try to get some sleep. Ajak said that would be best,” she signed back.

The thought of going back into that bedroom tonight scared you. It’s where you first heard the Deviant. You were afraid you would hear another, even though Sersi assured you that all the other ones in the pack were dead. 

You paced the kitchen in the hut once Makkari had gone to bed. Your nightgown still had blood stained on it. It would be a while before it would come out. All you could think of was Druig’s face when he saw you covered in blood. You wanted to apologize to him, but was worried he had already went back to bed. 

Following what you thought Druig was doing, you tried to sleep again. The bed was still warm and comfortable. You stared at the ceiling for what felt like an eternity. “Oh no,” you muttered to yourself, sleep deciding wasn’t going to be your friend tonight. 

You slipped out of bed once again and put on your shoes. You then checked on Makkari, sound asleep in bed. The door creaked open and you quietly slipped out, forgetting the fact that Makkari was deaf. 

Fear engulfed you as you ran past the scene of what just was about an hour ago. Your blood was still fresh in the dirt. You made your way to Druig’s hut. You were about to knock on his door when it swung open. 

“You scared me,” you said shocked. “Your thoughts are very loud sometimes,” Druig said. “I’m sorry,” you apologized. “Don’t. You’ve got a beautiful mind.” 

“What you need?” he asked. “I-I can’t sleep.” 

He led you into his hut, checking the outside before coming inside. “Just making sure,” he said, closing the door quietly behind him. “I don’t blame ya, I don’t think I could after that either. You get used to em. Less scary every time you kill one.” 

You looked around his hut. It was smaller than Makkari’s, more personalized to him. He had a wide variety of art on his walls, some painted, some printed. “Gorgeous,” you said, taking in the pieces. “You like them?” he asked. You nodded your head. “Where did you get this?” you asked, picking up a small ring that was on a shelf under the paintings. It was gold with inscriptures on it. “Egypt, about three hundred years ago. It’s yours if you’d like.” “Oh Druig, I couldn’t.”

He walked up and grabbed the ring from your hands. He remembered the day he got this. It was sold to him by a beautiful merchant whose father made rings. “Please, I’ve never wore it. It’s too small for my hands.” he insisted. He placed the ring on your pointer finger, it fit like a glove. “Gorgeous,” you said in awe, looking at how the ring looked on your finger. “Friendship ring,” you said, remembering watching the two small girls playing in the village the other day. They had made themselves friendship rings out of grass. “Yes, if you’d call it that.” Druig scoffed. 

“Your gown,” he noticed, the white fabric stained with deep red blood. “Oh. It’s dirty.” you explained, embarrassed. “Would you like something else?” he asked, opening his dresser and finding one of his larger sized shirts. “Really?” you smiled, taking it from him. You threw your gown to the floor, undressing in front of Druig. You didn’t understand that this wasn’t the most appropriate thing to do, but Druig was too much in awe to say anything. He was amazed by your perfect- everything. Everything about you was absolutely perfect. It almost made him angry how perfect you were without even knowing it. 

He gulped, watching you put his shirt on. It was long enough to fall just above your knees. He took a deep breathe, trying to burn that picture in his brain forever. 

“How do I look?” you asked him, noticing his strange stare. “Um,” he said, clicking back into reality. “Beautiful. My beautiful Y/N,” he smiled. 

You yawned. “Tired girl, eh?” Druig asked you. You nodded your head. “Will you stay with me?” 

Druig bit his lip and his eyes fell to the floor. “You take my bed, I’ll stay up and keep watch,” he said. “Why?” you asked, sitting on his bed. You grabbed his red knitted blanket, it smelled like him. “I figure you’ll be more comfortable. Don’t worry about it darling,” he said to you. “Druig, I want you near me. Like Makkari does sometimes when it’s raining and I don’t like the thunder.” 

Druig’s heart was warmed by the fact Makkari cuddled you when it stormed out. “Are you sure?” he asked. “Yes,” you smiled, laying back in his bed. He lifted up the covers and slid in next to you.

He stood stiff as a board, trying to give you as much room as possible. “That’s not how Makkari does it,” you whispered to him. “How does Makkari do it?” he asked, his breathe falling on your ear. It made you shutter. You turned over in the bed, and moved up close to Druig’s chest. Still not moving, you sighed. “Hand.” you requested. Druig put his hand in yours, and you moved it to your back. “Makkari isn't so- what’s the word. Straight.” 

Druig tried to relax, holding your frail scared body against his. After a few minutes, you two were comfortable. He was relieved when you finally fell asleep. He stared at your gorgeous face, comfortably sleeping in his arms. “My beautiful, beautiful Y/N.”

The next morning the village was alive. You could hear the field worker’s tools clanking early as they made their way out to the fields. Druig was still asleep, probably used to the noise by now. You studied his face. How the lines on his face fell around his forehead. How his hair was flat on his forehead in the morning. The tiny drabble of drool coming out of his mouth. You shuffled in bed, trying to fall back asleep. This only woke him up. 

He groaned, stretching his arms up in bed. You rolled over. “Hi,” you whispered. “Good morning, love. How did you sleep?” he whispered back. “Very good.” 

You two took a moment just enjoying each other's company. He nudged your foot with his, and you nudged his back. Your hands drifted together naturally as you laid your head back on his shoulder. “You know you talk when you sleep,” Druig said. “I do? I’m sorry. I don’t mean to,” you sighed. “I didn’t mind. Especially when you started talking about me,” he chuckled. “What? I did?” you asked, moving to see his face more clearly. “Yes, you kept saying my name.” 

Something in your gut seemed to twitch. “I’m sorry. It must have startled you,”

More workers moved past, reminding you that it was morning. “Makkari!” you yelped, sitting up in bed. “She’s probably panicked that I’m gone!” 

You jumped over Druig and ran to collect your shoes. “Thank you Druig. You are such a good friend,” you smiled, slipping them on one at a time. You ran out of his hut in a hurry. 

“Yeah, a good friend.” he scoffed. 

You ran into your hut, eager to see if Makkari had awoken yet. Luckily, she was in the bathroom and seemed like she hadn’t noticed you were gone yet. You slipped off your shoes and slid into your bed.

She came out, her hair in an uncombed mess. “Where have you been?” she asked you. “I’ve been sleeping,” you signed back, trying to hold up one of your very first lies. Makkari chuckled. “You’ve been sleeping?” “Yes,” “Do you realize you are wearing one of Druig’s tunics?” 

Panic rushed over you as you looked down, realizing you still were. You were unsure of what to say. “I still was sleeping,” you signed. Makkari laughed. “What happened?” she asked. “He gave me a ring,” you signed, pointing to the gold band on your finger. “He proposed?” she asked. “Propose? What is that?” “Where you ask someone to marry you. Like Ikaris and Sersi.” “No, it was a present. Friendship ring.” Makkari nodded. “So you two didnt do anything?” she asked. “He stayed with me like you do on rainy nights,” “How sweet,” she signed. “Very kind of him,” 

“No kissing?” she signed slyly. “Kissing?” 

Makkari kissed the back of her hand. “On the lips?” 

“No!” you signed back, smiling. “He is my friend.” you signed back to her. 

Makkari and most of the other eternals could see it, but it had totally flown over Y/N’s head. Druig already had it bad for her. 

-

Story 3

tag list @multiple-fandoms-girl​@howlerwolfmax @strawberriesandknives @jenobrien2411 @nerd-without-a-cause @imblueimeangay @eilselsessik @namelesslosers @hiraeth-maximoff @pipsqueakkitten @having-fun-is-what-i-do @ohhh-boo-tiful @johannelis2302nely @aaleksmorozova @georgia2607 @measure-in-pain @starjane312

if you guys want to be added/removed to the tag list, just comment below or message me

I will be tagging the same people who have asked in the other series posts, so if you want to be taken off/taken down from the posts just lmk

[jjtheresidentbaby]

Ok but think about how if after Emily comes back from the “dead” and sees how mean the team is treating JJ for keeping her secret (like Reid and Morgan) and blaming her, imagine how angry Emily would be to see her little one being treated like that and JJ just taking it all because she thinks she deserves it.

She can see how happy JJ is to have her best friend and mama back, but she also notices how nervous JJ is around the others when her and Hotch aren’t around, or how even in little space, the mere mention of seeing her uncles and aunt make her shake and anxious (minus Uncle Rossi, he does not partake in that kind of behavior, Prentiss is practically his daughter, he’s just happy she’s alive). And worst of all, she finds out Hotch failed to do much about it to protect their little one.

Have you noticed I love ✨ angst ✨ -⚽️

Mama’s Here | Emily Prentiss x Jennifer Jareau

read on ao3 here

a/n: oh oh the way I have hated how Reid acted when Emily came back since day one, that boy had no right blaming it all on Jj!!! (also rossi can do no wrong and is prentiss’ dad you can’t tell me otherwise,,, and I’m an avid lover of angst too dw)

warnings: reid being a lil meanie, crying, anxiety, kinda angry mama Prentiss but in a good protective way

───°˖✧✿✧˖° ───

-

Emily knows something has shifted since she’s been in London, that much is obvious and expected, but she didn’t think she’d be coming back to a divided team. It’s like the majority of the team are against Jj, Rossi being really the only one that the blonde still looks comfortable being around.

Prentiss has known that her leaving the way she did would cause issues, she can’t place why they seem to fall on Jj. That is- til she hears it.

“You should have told me! I came to you crying for weeks about losing a friend and you didn’t even tell me she wasn’t really gone!” Reid snaps in Jj’s face, in front of the whole team, Jj actually recoils from the words and stumbles back the smallest amount before Spencer’s storming away.

This is when Emily assumed Hotch would step in, go after Spencer to tell him off for being so rude, go comfort their little girl even if she’s not regressed, he does neither. Aaron simply turns back to his work with his lips twisted in unsaid words and gives a sigh like this has been going on for some time, it leaves Emily baffled.

Jj is standing there on the verge of tears and the only one who looks concerned is Rossi. Hotch is supposed to stick up for Jennifer, to be there for her no matter what, that was the deal he made with Prentiss before she left, apparently he’s forgotten it.

Emily can’t stand to see another second of this play out so she quickly struts her way over to where Jj stands, she’s looking down at some file, obviously not engaged in it as her eyes have a gloss of tears being un-shed.

“Honey?” Prentiss asks the softest way she can, no matter how her blood boils at Reid and Hotch right now.

“He- hey em, what’s up?” Jj’s voice cracks when she looks up towards the dark haired girl, a weary smile on Jj’s face that falls flat just as quick as it raises.

“Reid shouldn’t be talking to you like that, has that happened before?” Her mama bear instincts are getting the best of her, Emily is acutely aware of this, she does nothing to stop it.

“Wh- what? You don’t have to worry about it.” Jj quickly defends and sets her files down to wrap her arms around herself, a nervous habit Emily picked up on back when they first started working together.

“Baby girl, I need to know if Reid’s been talking to you like that, or if anyone has.” Emily places a tentative hand on Jj’s shoulder, they’re at work so she can’t do half the mothering she wants to but it’s enough to bring comfort to Jj’s chest.

“Yeah. Kinda. It’s not their fault, Reid’s just upset and he has a right to be. Really it’s no-.” No big deal, Prentiss has heard those words come out of Jj’s mouth far too many times and most times Hotch would be the one to jump in and correct her, but he seems to be preoccupied so Prentiss can take over.

“That doesn’t give Spencer the right to lash out, or anybody for that matter. Have you talked to Hotch?” A sad look crosses Jj’s face as she slumps a little closer to Emily.

“Can we not talk about this now? I don’t want to slip.” Prentiss can feel how her emotions swirl at the soft whisper Jj gives, her poor baby sounds so distraught, almost bordering on scared, Emily gives a nod and decides she can save this conversation for when they aren’t in the middle of prescient.

-

Thankfully Jj is still in charge of ordering the rooms even after moving up from her liaison job, so it gives Prentiss the perfect place to ask a few more questions while they get ready for bed.

“Is it just Reid that’s been saying things?” She’s awaiting Jj on the end of her bed, already changed out of work clothes and into pajamas while Jj finishes up brushing her teeth.

“I don’t know, I don’t see why it matters.” Prentiss huffs a little, the blonde has always been one to figure out things on her own and while Emily admires it, she can’t help but worry that the teams been more cruel than what’s being let on.

“Because he’s your friend and teammate and shouldn’t be saying those things. I know me coming back is hard and might not be all that accepted-.” She can’t finish her thought as the clatter of Jj setting her toothbrush rather harshly cuts through the air.

“I missed you, I accept you back, it’s not hard. It’s good. I really- really missed you.” A wet tone falls on Jj’s words, followed with a sniffle that makes Emily rush to the bathroom where Jj stands awkwardly hugging herself with her head ducked down, almost looking- shameful?

“Oh baby, Shh, mamas here, it’s okay.” Emily’s latched onto quickly, Jj stuffing her face against Prentiss’ neck, wrapping her arms tightly around Emily’s waist and letting out short cries.

“Sweetheart you need to talk to me, I need you to tell me what’s going on.” Emily pleads, she feels helpless holding her baby crying into her, she knows she can’t fix whatever happened over the months she was gone, but hearing Jj mumble out small things about Spencer and Hotch being cold and rude have her heart aching even worse.

They’re both supposed to be people that Jj can come to and trust, that will be there like a family should, only it sounds like they’ve been doing the exact opposite.

The words Jj’s using are ones she’d never dare to mutter out normally when she’s regressed, though she spits them out with a frustrated tone, not towards either man but at herself, Emily can tell.

She can feel how angry Jj is at herself as soon as they shuffle over to the bed and the blonde is withdrawing from Emily’s hold to instead rant. A shame filled rant, Prentiss is hit with the sick realization that Jj feels shameful for missing Emily, her best friend, her mama. And Jj keeps on talking while Emily sits helplessly across from her.

Jj’s eyes still flood down with tears, hands motioning around, words coming out fast and mumbled, all Emily does is watch.

Broken heartedly watching, also planning exactly what she’s going to say to Spencer and Hotch tomorrow, some exclusive words come to her mind when Jj stops talking to latch back onto Emily.

“I- I missed you so much- I can’t- they- can’t-!” It’s sobs with no real point to the words, Jj curling against Emily’s chest within seconds, her hands bawling up fists of Prentiss’ sleep shirt to try and bring them impossibly closer.

“I know baby, I know, I’m right here. I’m not going anywhere, Mamas right here.” Even if nobody else is, Emily will be there, she can guarantee it.

“Mama is right here.” She repeats against her blonde headed baby, even with the sobbing she knows Jj heard it, feels it, believes it, that’s all they need.

[mayfay]

Gladly! Always fun to see your thoughts

Aang would stay relatively unchanged, what with everything with him happening before Azula was even born. Even early iceberg release is the same, with Azula needing to cool down and Aang wanting to think about literally anything else than what’s happened. Azula is still Azula of course and is trying to figure out what’s happened but by this point shoot fire ask questions later version of her is dead and gone (burned away and lost if you will), so it’s more like trying to piece together if this random air bender is actually an air bender, some sort of spirit in disguise, or got cursed by a spirit and only just got released. Eventually I imagine she settles on cursed air bender cause everything matches very closely with the tribes story’s of the old air nomads that would visit before Sozin (at least what she’s heard, they probably keep the story’s to a minimum with her in the room), plus the kids story supported that’s what happened when she asked what he was doing out here (got lost in a storm and woke up here). She’s still a bit hesitant about letting a potential enemy/spirit into the village but Sokka/Katara get worried and come by.

Village’s a little concerned but after so many years with a fire nation kid an air nomad is par for the course. As for if Aang hangs around the village for a bit or Zuko shows up really depends on how things developed in the Fire Nation

Personally I see 3 possible routes

1. Things continue roughly on track but without Azula Zuko becomes heir. I don’t see Ozai seeing anyone succeeding him so Zuko gets treated similar to canon, minus old Azula trauma and plus new Azula trauma. Still gets burned and sent on his quest but he fast tracks for the South Pole in search of his missing sister. Naturally doesn’t find much (the South Pole is a big place and a metal ship can’t stay in arctic waters without supplies for so long). He leaves to go his old route, with a bigger focus on the temples, spiritual grounds, and ports to find spirits to help and ask questions in case she escaped and ran away (or even just confirmation she’s gone for the spirit route). Honestly he might end up knowing people all over the world, being a bit less obviously angsty after seeing his near perfect sister sent to her death for a minor slight (Iroh probably plays a key part in this as well, but the extra lessons he got without Azula taking the best tutors also helps). I imagine he still does an annual trip to the South during their summer. At first definitely hostile, seeing the people there as potential murderers (a sentiment easily returned), but after learning the whole honey gets more flies than wax thing he might be a bit more diplomatic, offering food and supplies the struggling villages can’t exactly pass up in exchange for help. South Pole is still a bit place though, and the tribes are unlikely to give info useful for an invasion like the locations of other villages so it takes a literal beacon to find the above average isolated village Azula is in. (For this route I definitely made Zuko a bit more like Azula than canon, but a version closer to canon is still possible with some adjustments)

2. Loosing such an amazing heir is a major blow to Ozai, so to avoid trouble he has to actually treat Zuko like a proper heir. He’s still got nothing on Azula but the kid’s definitely determined and after Azula has a fear of betrayal seared into his mind, securing his loyalty. This route leaves Zuko much more like Azula than even the first route, and he’s much more likely to show up later on when rumors of the Avatar crop up.

3. Azulon just has his two sons both lose their respective heirs, and then Ozai has the audacity to make a play for the throne. After seeing his treatment of Azula, Azulon’s much more wary of a potential assassination and has Ozai demoted and kept under secret watch. Iroh wants to go on his journey of course, but a direct order from Azulon keeps him in line. Now if he still ends up with the White Lotus or even anti-war is up for interpretation, but after a failed assassination from Ozai and Ursa they get killed/banished/jailed and Zuko ends up with Iroh.

Alternative routes where the assassination is successful and Iroh leaves with Zuko or rises to the throne shortly after Ozai and Ursa are gone, but those are likely to change the course of the war so drastically Hakoda might not leave and the Gaang wouldn’t have much reason to leave without a return of the raiders, though that has potential too.

In any of the routes Zuko’s search for the Avatar isn’t as big a thing, but when he finds out his sister is with them he starts chasing them down for kidnapping (and potentially “brainwashing” if he’s super patriotic).

Jumping back to Aangs first day if they get attacked by raiders I see him still leaving since a captured air benderis super valuable and they’re willing to not risk a fight in exchange for a guaranteed capture. Katara wants to go after him, Azula wants to stay back but with Katara leaving Sokka tags along (I imagine him a bit more protective of his sister and less of the tribe after seeing Azula’s treatment for so many years) and Azula can’t let them go get themselves killed like that (I imagine Azula has some fun PTSD regarding the fire nation after a couple years of distance to gain perspective). From there things continue as canon for a bit, minus Zuko tracking them until he hears rumors/orders.

If it’s Zuko that attacks he probably doesn’t even realize she’s there at first, what with the fire nation girl being kept far away from the fire nation ship and told to run back and hide till they leave. Things continue as above but when they rescue Aang, Zuko gets a glimpse of Azula and has a crisis on if that was her or not. Either way he has to find the avatar, since even if he wasn’t under orders and even if that’s not Azula he can still ask questions about how to find her (surely the avatar of all people will know something)

And finally if no one shows up to attack it’s honestly up in the air if Aang will leave or not, and if he does it’s not guaranteed the trio will leave with him. Personally imagine it as Aang hangs out for a bit, learns about the situation, has angst about it and after awhile decides to leave on his adventure. Their journey probably won’t be as fast as canon without Zuko lighting a fire under them at first, but they can be kept on track timeline wise by having Azula release Aang earlier in the year (especially going by my earlier idea of Aang’s iceberg seasonally freezing, indicating canon starts around spring but this would start closer to fall/winter)

Plenty of ideas past this as well I’d love to talk about but it’s already spiraling, love to hear your thoughts on how things might go!

AU - Azula is horribly burned by Ozai in the throat and loses her ability to speak. She’s not sent to capture the Avatar but, instead, sent to the Southern Raiders who regard her as nothing more than a discarded princess and treat her as much. During a raid on the South Pole, Azula is injured and unable to call to the raiders. She’s found by a familiar nonbender with a boomerang.

[laraleecupcake]

Al Pacino movies, ranked by queerness

Al Pacino movies recently watched by me, ranked on queerality. 

Serpico (1973) - Best outfits, hair and beard by far. Paco’s got a new pet every 30 minutes. (Sheepdog named Alfie, cockatoo, heroine mice, fishes.) Can’t hold down a relationship, except for Alfie, best $5 he ever spent. Gets accused of giving blow jobs in the bathroom by Principal Strickland from “Back To The Future” after joking around with a college and showing off his terrible ballet skills. Points for being cultured. Minus points for the soundtrack being a little all over the place. And Frank really could’ve used a therapist. Minus points for not crediting Judd Hirsh and F. Murray Abraham. Extra points for flirting with male co-workers. Extra points for exposing police corruption and getting shot. Extra EXTRA points for not only having a purse but wearing it and using it exactly like a purse. Also, the real Serpico is alive and well and does great grandpa tweets. Very gay. 8.5/10

Crusin’ (1980) - Terrible hair, let’s get that out of the way. Karen Allen’s apartment is impossibly huge or she’s made the best use out of space of anyone in New York ever. And she only has one fucking record. Otherwise good soundtrack. For a movie about the gay leather bar scene, he should at least get to kiss a man, but never does so minus points for that. Points for lots of men kissing and tons of butts. Minus points for some sus looking eagles on flags and hats... Points for Steve’s bff being a soft gay. Minus points for later on. :/ Big points for the bondage scene that Steve was clearly very disappointed backup interrupted. Minus points for that ONE fucking spotlight on Pacino like we didn’t know he was tracking his suspect or could pick him out on an empty sidewalk from behind. Points for questioning sexuality. Points for a tit grab. Points for surprise young Mr. Matthews from “Boy Meets World”. Minus points for that ending and implicating something that doesn’t fucking track. 6.5/10

The Hunters (2020) - Bonus points for lesbians of color in the 1970s. Bonus points for Murray and Mindy, they are my favorites and I love my fictional Jewish grandparents. Points for that major twist, though it hurt my heart. I like a twist you can suspect if you really pay attention. Major points for that BIG FUCKER of a twist at the very end and we better get a season two. Over all, for Pacino, not super gay, but Judd Hirsh gives him a kiss on the cheek after telling him to stop murdering Nazis and never visit him again. 2/10 for queerness, 9/10 for killing Nazis (minus one point for you know why at the end), 10/10 for being a fucking great show. 

Dog Day Afternoon (1975) - Based on a real story. Points for Sonny not letting his ex-wife body shame herself. Points for Chris Sarandon doing real research for his trans role, though it’s still 1970s cis male understanding of a trans woman. Points for this line: “To my darling wife Leon whom I love as no other man has loved another man in all eternity.” Points for Pacino being Pacino and Sidney Lumet for keeping an eye on the gay. It’s a literal queer film. 9/10

People I Know (2002) - Pacino dropping a bunch of hints first half hour of the film, checking out a hooka guy at a sex/drug den, later having a meeting with a buff male model to represent. Minus points for what happens to Tea Leoni’s character. Kim Bassinger tries to make out twice and fails, mostly because your his dead brother’s widow, honey. Points for the older male doctor calling Eli “sweetie” and “Sweetheart”. Points for the over abundance of the word “honey” from Eli. Points for declaring he moved to Hollywood because he wanted to suck cock too much. A literal bisexual short king. Unfortunately that ending was very unsexy and ungay of them. 4/10 overall, 6.5/10 for queerness.

[alrightberries]

coming back from the dead to say i forgot about half the stuff i wrote here and the good news is i can now read them from a reader's pov.

here are some thoughts:

you look so beautiful in white

little wordy, but ngl, p happy with how i wrote out the parallels between the wedding and the funeral. i can see why people were yelling at me over being blindsided by the plot twist bc ngl i laid it out so well even i had to read the exposing sentence twice. still proud of her. underrated queen. 7/10.

honey, honey (how you thrill me)

again, little too wordy but ngl at this point i think it's a common theme with me HAHAHA but yes. when i first came out with this i absolutely hated it and had no clue why it got such positive feedback, esp on ao3, but reading it now, i see it. it's cute, it's goofy, it's levi being a lovable ass to his nosey friends and a domestic acts of service honey to his honey. 8/10.

may i?

still in the wordy side but tbh?? minus that?? absolutely gorgeous. i was so proud of it when i wrote it, and it's still by far one of my fave pieces today. the ending sequence still has my heart soft, especially the way i wrote their first kiss and "home. it felt like home. because that's what you were to levi, and what levi was to you." still my favorite sentimental piece, still something i'm proud of. 10/10

the short end of the stick

it's crack. absolute crack. drew on too long with the intro there, and it's bad to say but i got no feelings for the banter lmAO but yes, comparing this with some of my other work, you can clearly tell i have a thing for matching rings. they're just so symbolic and it's so fun to write it in with all its implications. overall i have no feelings for this fic, pretty neutral about it. 6/10.

three weeks

back then i also had neutral feelings about this fic and feedback was lukewarm, but reading it now, AYO?? ICB EVEN I SLEPT ON THIS GEM OF A LINE "He curses at his hands for even having the audacity to reach for you when it was these same hands that signed your death certificate earlier in the day." Loved the descriptions, intro pacing was good, got kinda cut off short at the end there but overall not bad. 7/10.

like you mean it

plot had potential but i absolutely massacred it bc it was my first trek into smut territory without proper research (aka reading smut more) and i'm scared to read it again so i'm going to blind rank it. 3/10.

jaeger_bomb has uploaded a new video

literally everything like you mean it tried to be. embodiment of self indulgence. thinking about the huge difference between the way i wrote eren before (i.e. honey honey & short end of the stick) vs the way i wrote him in this one is kinda trippy bc they're the same character. hit almost all the right spots. 9/10.

[yubel198]

Headcanon ideas for Niles/Zero from SMG4

((yeah yeah, Niles is Zero, and that he’s only in Melony’s mind. but these are just stupid head canons I have for this asshole if he wasn’t just in Melony’s head, and how he’d act.))

** In this new form, Zero takes on the name Niles, so to not draw suspicion from the other SMG’s

** Niles starts attending Omnia Academy, as a student in the Meme Research Club and the Power Club

** As a college student, Niles causes a lot of trouble, often ending up in detention

**Niles has a thing for trying out ritual games, like Hide and Seek Alone. This has resulted in him getting possessed by a spirit once, scaring poor Melony.

** Because Niles is physically there, he befriends the rest of the SMG4 crew, using the term “Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer” as a result.

** seeing how Mario acts, including sticking his dick in spaghetti, Niles reconsiders having Mario as his avatar.

** Niles suffers from PTSD, anxiety, and depression regarding the loss of his avatar and his universe. This also results in night terrors, leaving him to wake up screaming.

** Niles does still train Melony, and trains alongside her in a similar manner to that of Pearl from Steven Universe.

** Niles pushes himself into training to help get over the loss of his avatar, and universe, becoming a bit of a workaholic.

** Niles helped raise the other SMG’s before any of them had avatars, himself included. As a result, he sees SMG’s 1, 2, 3, and 4 as his children. The others all used to address him as “Daddy”

** Niles has a bit of a “daddy kink” (got that idea from Hazbin Hotel)

** Sass him and he will sass you right back

** He’s essentially Angel Dust, minus the constant sex jokes and accent, but all the sass.

**Niles has a thing for very bad puns. (He and Alastor would have a field day)

**Because he raised the other SMG’s, Niles knows what they like and don’t like, example: Whenever SMG2 is having a freakout, Niles knows to get them (what is 2′s gender???) Funfetti hot chocolate with extra whipped cream and rainbow sprinkles, as that’s what calms them down.

** when upset himself, Niles usually drinks peach tea with honey to help calm his nerves.

** Upon coming back, Niles gains an ability to see, hear, and speak with the dead. Axol’s a frequent visitor and it drives him nuts.

**Niles goes by He/Him pronouns, and is bisexual, and polyamorous

** No matter who he’s with or how many, Niles wants to be in the middle, unless he’s with one person, in which case, he tops.

** Bob sends Niles a bunch of horror games, but they bore him fas, until he tries out Little Nightmares, Yume Nikki, and DDLC.

** Niles does gain a small crush on Monika

** Mario calls him a simp, only to get his ass beat by Saiko every time.

** Niles also has a bit of a temper, but tries to improve by either trying out the ritual games, or training.

** Luigi suggests he try meditation, that goes wrong faster than Hide and Seek Alone did.

** Because Niles can see spirits, he can also see Desti, Greg, and even Francis, who he avoids for... obvious reasons.

** Since Niles has one eye, and three fingers on each hand, he’s got some pretty bad depth perception, and can’t drive as a result.

** Despite everything he’s done both before and up to now, Niles longs to have a universe and avatar of his own again, but Axol always tells him that it’s impossible to obtain.

** Up until the events of “Absolute Betrayal” the only ones that knew that Niles was Zero, were Axol, Desti, Greg and Francis. Melony almost found out during the Hide and Seek Alone game, where Niles almost revealed his secret to her while under the spirits possession.

** Niles broke free before anything could be revealed.

[hey-there-love]

When I Get Home

Summary: Your number 2 pro hero boyfriend surprises you after work.

Content Warning: MATURE, 18+, Slight Adult Language, fem reader, penetrating sex, fingering

WC: 1.8K

The orange and pink hues of the sunset began to sink of the horizon. There was a slight chill in the air, signaling that autumn was around the corner. You sat quietly in a patio chair, curled up in a plush blanket and sipping on a warm mug of tea. You waited patiently for your lover to float onto the balcony and laid in front of you.

You began dating the number 2 pro hero two months ago. Hawks wandered into the flower shop you worked in part time. A relaxed conversation about tulips and roses blossomed into a coffee date. You discussed minor topics, mostly dealing with work. It felt like the date mostly reared towards listening to him go on about himself, until he asked about what your goal in life was. That was all she wrote. You spent hours bonding over your shared interests, music, movies, and books. One date turned into another and pretty soon it was clear that you two were together.

Chaste kisses and snuggles turned into the best sleep over of your life last week. A sleep over you were looking forward to again soon. The first time you were intimate with him it was passionate, slow, and sweet. Tonight, you were in for something else. Hawks had been texting you all day detailing the all the things he wanted to do with you and to you when he got off work. The particular message that sent a fire to your belly instructed you not to wear anything special because it’d be ruined.

You opted to wear a pair of grey, soft cotton shorts, a long-sleeved tee, and fuzzy socks. Underwear wasn’t in the equation for tonight. The familiar chime that Hawks had set for himself sounded. You grinned and checked your phone.

Hawks: Hey kid, i’ve got some extra paperwork at the agency. Don’t hate me.

You sighed and unraveled yourself from your cocoon and made your way inside, sliding the door behind you. It wasn’t the first time Hawks canceled on you and it definitely wouldn’t be the last. It was one of the things you had to adjust to dating a hero. His job was important, and you couldn’t let that bother you.

You washed the mug and decided for something stronger. Pulling down a glass you filled it up with a sweet wine you had been saving. You took a long sip, letting the liquid settle into your body.

You pondered on what to do with your new found time. Trailing off to the bathroom you began to fill up the bathtub. You poured the thick lavender scented soap into the water and swirled it around with your hand. Setting down two towels you stripped down and descended into the water.

You took a sip of your wine and closed your eyes, feeling your muscles relax. You loved the fresh scent of florals. You especially loved the way lavender bubble bath clung to your skin and remained as you slept through the night.

Lathering a wash cloth with your favorite soap, you washed your neck tenderly before moving down your shoulders, arms and breasts. You sank your head into the water, letting it wash you completely. You laid there for a few, feeling inner peace.

When you emerged you were met with piercing, golden eyes. You jumped before realizing who it was. “Hey kid.” Hawks purred and leaned against the doorway. He still adorned his hero costume, minus his shoes and coat. You grinned and slid futher into the bubbles, feeling bashful.

“I thought you were hung up at work?” You questioned with a raised eyebrow. Hawks flashed that beautiful smile you had come to love before unbuckling his belt. Letting his pants drop to the floor with a thud.

“What can I say? I work quick under certain circumstances.” Hawks replied, slipping his socks off his feet and pulling his shirt over his head, leaving a pile on his clothes on the floor infront of him.

“You know, you should really lock your doors, someone might break in.” He teased. He located your towel cabinet and set out a few fluffy towels for himself. One for his body and one for his wings.

You laughed and responded, “The doors are locked and I live on the third floor!” You drank in his frame. Hawks wasn’t a tall man, you both stood at even stance. What he lacked in his height his wings made up for.

The scarlet plumage was his signature. Hawks took excellent care of his wings, making sure every feather settled in place. He was downright beautiful in every single way. His golden eyes shone in every shade of light. The blonde style he sported was always windswept, but surprisingly neat.

Hawks was more god like than any other man you’ve come into contact with. “Can I join you or are you going to keep eyeballing me?” He remarked, sliding the final piece of clothing down his thighs. You swallowed at the sight. Well endowed was an understatement. The last time you engaged in extra curricular activities you were sore the next day.

You shifted forward in the tub and allowed him to sit down behind you. Hawks wrapped his arms around your waist and pulled your back towards his chest, holding you tight in place. He peppered light kisses across your neck. You smiled and relaxed into him. Brushing your hand through his hair gingerly, you enjoyed the moment.

He placed another kiss to your shoulder blade and inhaled the scent. “I got you some flowers. Coincidentally they smell like you.” He whispered to your skin.

“You didn’t have to do that.” You sighed, feeling touched by the simple gesture.

Hawks ran his hands against your stomach, stopping short of your mound. He repeated the action as he began to speak, “I just wanted to make sure you felt appreciated, babe.” His left hand kneeled across your breast tenderly, twisting and pinching the bud of your nipple. “Can’t have you feeling like I forgot about the things we talked about today.”

You moaned at his touch, endulging yourself in the words he spoke. His right hand began to roam across your stomach again, this time he didn’t stop, he explored more. “So open yourself up,” Hawks crooned and spread your legs with his hand, “and let me do all the things I’ve been thinking about.”

So you did, you gave yourself to him fully. You rested against him, laying your head down in the crook of his neck. You spread your legs futher allowing easier access to your core. Hawks began to rub your clit lazily. Small jolts of electricity shot through your lower half.

You hissed as the pace began to increase. You could feel the smirk plastered on his face. He was enjoying it as much as you were. He paid your breasts equal attention. The swirls he produced on your clit were mesmerizing. He applied just the right amount of pressure that it made your toes curl.

You were in pure ecstasy by the time he dipped a finger into your core. It was just the finger tip at first, teasing and stretching your opening. Then he sank into you, making your back arch. The water sloshed around you two carelessly as you bucked your hips. “God you look so cute when your face is curled up in pleasure kid.” Hawks praised.

He tenderly added a second finger to the mix. Finding your pleasure spot, he curled his fingers up and hit the spot several times. You felt his erection grow on your back. He groaned everytime you shifted against him. Pretty soon you felt that sweet knot tightening in your stomach. “I’m close!v” You cried out and grasped onto the side of the tub for support.

“That’s it baby, cum for me.” Hawks egged on. That was all it took. You fell over the edge into pleasure. Your breathing was ragged as you tried to calm yourself down. He chuckledt and rubbed your head. “Let’s get out. I’m not finished with you yet.”

You peaked over your shoulder to glance at him. The look on his face was dead serious. You shuddered at the threat before stepping out. He wasn’t far behind you, grabbing your towel and drapped it around your shoulders. You thanked him and wrapped the other around your hair.

The two of you dried off quickly, water droplets clung to your skin. You were quite the pair giggling and running to your bedroom like a couple of teenagers. Hawks shoved you back gently onto the comforter and disrobed you.

His mouth attached to yours, this kiss was different than the sweet ones before. It was deeper and filled with more fire. This was the first time he kissed you today and you could feel the desire behind it. He pushed the towel that was wrapped around your head so he could run his hand through your damp hair.

Your hand found it’s way to his cheek to hold him close, stroking his jaw in the process. You couldn’t get enough of each other. “I need you.” You breathed against him lips. Your arousal became evident as his erection pressed against your core.

“You’ve got me.” Hawks whispered into your ear. You were completely ready by the time he slipped into you. His moans melted into yours. His thrusts were deep, hitting every sweet spot inside of you. You relished in the closeness.

His wings shuddered with delight, some tickled your arms. He was quite a sight ontop of you. The golden pools of honey bore into your soul. You felt beautiful as he praised you each time he sank into you.

The sweet love making during into something primal when he threw your legs over his shoulders, crossing his arms against them to hold them to his chest. The sounds that streamed out of your mouth weren’t cute whines anymore. He was deeper than ever before. Your breasts bounced as he pounded harder.

Hawks increased his pace, making your orgasm rush towards you. You came quickly and chanted his name like it was your favorite song. Your back arched off the mattress, leaving a strain on your thighs. It didn’t matter. You could tell he was enjoying himself by the groans escaping him.

“Such. A. Good. Girl.” Hawks said in between thrusts. “Shit. I’m almost there.” He called, squeezing your legs for dear life. The strokes became sloppy and he pulled out to paint you with his load. His cum shot everywhere, landing on your stomach and breasts. His pride was set aside as he whined and panted, relishing in his release.

He collapsed ontop of you and peppered your face in sweet kisses. “Worth the wait?” He questioned into your shoulder.”

“Definitely.”

[buckyownsmylife]

daddy issues - chapter ix

The one where Ransom doesn’t feel ready to become a father, but he should have thought about it before sleeping with a complete stranger.

When Ransom’s latest one night stand lets him know that he’s going to become a father, he finds himself looking for the qualities he never believed to have so he can become the parent he never got to witness as a child.

for general warnings and author’s notes, please go to the fic’s masterlist.

Y/N’s P.O.V.

“Can’t believe you invited Ransom Drysdale to come to the bar with us.” I rolled my eyes, already used to Ana’s whining, and turned away from the bar to scoop my surroundings. Still no sign of him. But it was early, and he’d warned me he probably wouldn’t be able to get here until at least 8pm, so really, I shouldn’t be looking for him like some sort of lovesick teenager.

I didn’t even know why I was so eager to see him again.

“He’s the father of my child, what did you expect me to do?” That finally had Ana looking away from her shots to glance at my body, perfectly squeezed in one of my tightest dresses, showing just enough cleavage and legs to make it one of my favorite get-lucky items in my wardrobe.

“You’re right. I keep forgetting the reason he’s in your life is because you’re pregnant. Seriously, I was about to offer you a shot and everything!” I shook my head, chuckling to myself at her ways. “I mean, can you blame me? It’s not like you’ve started showing or anything!”

Well, she had a point there. It was also the reason why 1) I had agreed to come out with her tonight and 2) chose this dress to wear. I had to take advantage of this body while it was still like this. Soon enough, I’d be too heavy to handle high heels or crowded pubs, not to mention the fact that I would most definitely not fit into these already uncomfortably tight outfits.

“I’ll give you that,” I grinned, tapping her hand teasingly, like I was trying to calm her down. “Sometimes I forget it too. What the fuck is he doing here?” I added as a familiar man made his way into the bar, Ana’s head whipping around to look at where I was staring at a blond, well-built guy, grinning widely at me. 

“Who’s that?” I was too busy grinding my teeth together as I watched him approach, but as he came closer and closer to where we were standing, I knew it was better to let her know who he was right off the bat, so she could help me try to keep him away.

“Steven fucking Rogers.” Ana’s exclamation of surprise was cut short by his arrival, his stupidly handsome face going from me to her as if he waited for a formal introduction. “What are you doing here, Rogers?” My usual irritation at his presence was intensified by a thousand, and I had no idea why. Even he seemed surprised, if his eyebrows raised high were any indication.

As much as I made sure to avoid him, I’d never had any reason to be outwardly aggressive towards him before.

“Same as you, minus the dress.” He made a show out of undressing me with his eyes, and I rolled mine while fighting off the urge to dry heave. Why do men just assume our choice in clothing has anything to do with what we actually intend to do for the evening?

“You know, for someone who’s a university professor, you can be pretty daft.” Unfortunately for me, my comment only made the man towering over my smaller frame start to laugh. “Excuse me, I’m gonna see if Ransom texted me,” I told Ana, while giving Steve a side-eye as I made my way towards the back of the bar. 

There was a door to some sort of patio, and so that’s where I went, breathing in relief at the absence of loud music, as the walls made it pretty muted back here. The nice, cold air of the evening was also a blessing. 

I looked at the purse on my shoulder and considered if I actually wanted to reach out to Ransom. It was only half past seven, there was a lot of time for him to get here and absolutely no reason for me to make myself look like a clingy girlfriend. I just needed an excuse to put some distance between Steve and I.

But just as I thought that my mission had been accomplished, the sounds of the bar became louder, indicating someone had opened the door and joined me out here. Lucky as I was, I could imagine who that person might be.

“C’mon, honey…” Steve’s voice had me freezing every single one of my muscles, as I refused to turn around and look at him. “You can’t pretend to be some innocent little thing while you’re wearing a dress like that.”

God, I wish I could puke. It was times like these where my pregnancy sickness didn’t appear and for once, I wanted it to. So maybe then I could paint his pretty face or at the very least, his expensive shoes in a pale yellow color and erase that smug look on his face.

I didn’t even have to look to know it was there.

Ransom’s P.O.V.

“You know, I could get used to seeing your skin this exposed…” I stopped dead on my tracks behind the couple I’d followed into the back exit. I’d looked for her everywhere ever since I arrived, she had to be there or I would start to think she had been playing a prank on me.

But seeing Y/N didn’t bring the relief I was expecting, because there was a man with her. And I didn’t know why the sight made my blood boil, but it did. They hadn’t noticed me yet, and so I stayed back in the shadows, contemplating just turning around and going back to my car, but I wanted to be sure of what was actually going on.

“It makes me think about what you’d look like naked.” I saw her shook her head, back still turned to the man behind her (and to me), but then his hands reached out and captured her waist, and I saw her flinch. 

“You look so hot, I want to take you right here in this back alley…”

“Steve, let me go.” At the sound of the disgust in her voice, I sprung into action, barely processing my own feelings or noticing how she was squirming in his hands as I hauled his body from hers. 

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” I asked the guy, chest already heaving from anger. Beside me, Y/N looked scared, obviously startled at seeing me, and especially in this state. But I was too far gone to care.

“Who the fuck do you think you are?” If I wasn’t so angry, maybe I would have considered the next words that fell from my lips. But my track record wasn’t the best, even in a calm mindset, so not even I believed I would have been able to hold back.

“I’m her man. She’s mine and she’s having my baby, so how about you back off?” A cold hand wrapped around my wrist had me snapping back into reality, looking down to see her staring at me with wide eyes. Oh, shit.

“What is he on about?” The man yelled, this time directing his words to Y/N, who very patiently turned to look at him and say, “Would you care to shut up?” Finally, seeing as he truly wasn’t going to have a chance with her, he decided to leave, huffing to himself the entire time.

“Y/N…” I started trying to explain myself, but she cut me off with a simple shake of her head.

“Not here, Ransom. Can you drive me home?” I closed my mouth and stared back at her, a feeling of defeat filling my chest before I finally nodded. It was the least I could do, after all.

We walked back into the bar together, and together we went to say goodbye to her friend, to whom she very quickly introduced me to. I could barely find it in me to smile at the woman, too busy beating myself up for my behavior tonight.

The drive back to her place was silent. I was wrecking my brain for what I could say to justify my behavior, but couldn’t find anything. I’d failed. I’d apologized to her only this morning, and now I’d already screwed up again.

Why should she want me around? I wasn’t even capable of being a good friend, much less an actual co-parent with her. How could she rely on me if I kept letting my most immature instincts take over?

I stopped the car in front of her building, still struggling with what to say, but to my surprise, she didn’t make any immediate movements towards leaving. It seemed as if she was lost in her thoughts too, and the idea that I might have the chance to change this gave me just the push I needed to say something.

“I’m sorry,” I spilled out, and her eyes darted up to meet mine, slightly wider than usual. “For overstepping. I-I don’t know what happened. I just saw you with him and you looked scared and I… God, you must hate me right now.”

I had to cover my face so I could concentrate, I could feel a headache coming. But just when all seemed lost,  I felt a warm hand over my thigh, squeezing the muscle, calling for my attention.

“It’s alright, Ransom. This is new for me too.” I didn’t know relief could feel this relaxing. Finally finding the courage to look her in the eyes again, I chanced a small smile that she quickly reciprocated, her hand still connecting us.

“I- It was actually really nice to hear your voice when I thought I’d have to scream for help. You did good, you were… you were very good back there. Thank you.” Silence fell between us once again, but it wasn’t uncomfortable. For my part, I seemed to have forgotten how to speak. But she didn’t remain quiet for long.

“I just think we have to talk about what you said…” And that was all I needed to jump into explanation mode again.

“I know, I know. I don’t know why I said it. I didn’t mean it, obviously.” And to my surprise, she just smiled, not seeming bothered in the slightest by what I had done earlier that night.

“Believe it or not, I understand. I know I seem quick to jump into conclusions and that hasn’t been a good thing for our relationship so far… but this time I understand where you’re coming from.” It was a good thing that she did, I realized as she let go of my thigh to reach out for my hand instead. Because I had absolutely no idea why I’d said that she was mine. “But we do have to set some boundaries.”

I nodded, despite all of the confusing and conflicting emotions inside of me, starting with the feeling of warmth that appeared to be caused by her holding my hand. “You have to control yourself,” she continued, tone making it clear that she wanted me to give any sort of indication of my understanding of her words.

Deciding to hold back on the comment about how it was impossible, considering just the sight of her made me horny, I opted to go with a more mature, if slightly vulnerable response. “It’s not that easy… I don’t know how to keep those feelings in check. I’ve never felt them before.”

She nodded understandingly, and it didn’t seem patronizing. Before I could further clarify what I meant - or put my foot in my mouth, probably -  she filled in the blanks for me. “The feelings of protectiveness.” My mouth opened as I almost let the wrong thing escape, but I reeled it in at the last second.

“Yeah…” I trailed off. “Let’s go with that.” She frowned before her eyes widened in surprise, but then she started laughing, although shaking her head at my antics.

“You’re too much, Ransom Drysdale.” But instead of saying it in a disappointed tone, she just leaned over the console and hugged me, taking me by surprise. I didn’t even have the time to enjoy it, because in seconds she had leaned back and was unbuckling her seatbelt so she could leave.

“Hey,” I called out for her attention, wanting to get one last word in before she left. “You do look extremely hot in that little dress of yours. I didn’t have the opportunity to tell you before.” She narrowed her eyes at my words, but pursed her lips at the same time, like she was trying very hard not to laugh.

“As charming as that is, I think it’s a bit too late for you to try to flirt with me. I’m already carrying your child, aren’t I?” My smile dropped immediately, heart pounding in my chest with fear at her words.

“Shit, that’s not what I meant, I…” but she cleared all of my worries with a single cheeky wink, making me chuckle in relief as I slumped back against the driver’s seat.

“Thanks. I wanted to take advantage of my body while it’s still like this.” I watched as she gathered her stuff to leave, mind travelling to the future and imagining all of the changes she would go through because of this pregnancy.

I decided not to tell her that just the thought of her larger belly and heavier breasts was enough to get me hard. This version of her body, as hot as it was, wouldn’t be missed by me.

“Oh, hey,” she stopped just before closing the door, biting her lower lip as she pondered over something. “I have a doctor’s appointment scheduled for tomorrow. Would you like to come with me?”

The warm feeling that had appeared when she held my hand spread over my chest as I excitedly grinned at the woman before me, taking notice of the way she smiled back just as eagerly. I couldn’t help but notice there was a little bit of relief in the way she let her breathing escape after my affirmative answer, too.

“Text me the details?” She nodded.

“See you tomorrow, then.”

“See you tomorrow.”

I watched as she got safely inside her building, before finally allowing myself to think back on the events of the night - and particularly, on the way I felt seeing her in that dress, being touched by another man, and talking about the changes she feared she’d see in her body. One thing was perfectly clear to me then: being just friends with the mother of my child would be no easy task.

[ninjago-text-adventures]

So uhhhh Jay, honey, when you’re feeling up to it- you wanna explain? Or uh, just do a little flashback for us?

...

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

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

Lloyd was being helped wash up from his messing breakfast, splashing Jay with stray water droplets. The blue ninja laughed as he failed to shield from Lloyd's attack, and the smaller laughed a bit harder splashing him more-

When the monastery seemed to explode in sound.

S1 Nya: What the-?

The group quieted down, not too much. But they made sure not to alert anyone as they snuck near the kitchen door.

S1 Jay: What is going on?

S1 Kai: I don't know- looks like a fight or something.

OG Kai: Lloyd-!

There they saw older Lloyd.

And the older Ninja. Cole, Kai, and Zane each had an arm wrapped around the green ninja.

Lloyd looked too pale...

OG Zane: Lloyd, we're so sorry.

OG Kai: This is not your fault. I swear-

OG Cole: I-It's mine.

The trio (minus LL, who was still on the counter) leaned closer to the group in the hallway.

OG Cole: When the fire was still going- a building collapsed in the alleyways.

Jay's brow raised. He knew that the other him got hurt back in Jumanakai Village. But why was this so important?

Did he get worse? Maybe Wu should take Kai and him to the hospital.

OG Cole: He pushed me and Little you out of the way- I couldn't move in time and the debris fell. I'm sorry Lloyd but please-

OG Cole: Please listen, it's not your fault that this happened!

OG Zane: Cole is right.

Lloyd was still frozen in place, if he wasn't trying to pull out a reason to breath- he was solid as a rock. Unmoving till a breeze knocked him from his point.

The trio pulled back into the kitchen.

S1 Kai: Is it me or does this feel wrong?

S1 Nya: Like we missed something.

S1 Kai: But what?

S1 Jay: Guys, guys. Maybe I got a bit worse and Lloyd is feeling guilty. He didn't really mean to have the village get burned up.

S1 Jay: That kind of mess up is sure to wreck anybody's head.

S1 Kai: Yeah, but Jumanakai Village is gone, a fire monster is on the loose, and-

Lloyd: -JAY'S GONE! GONE!!!

He didn't hear the silence coming from the kitchen.

OG Kai: Lloyd please-

Lloyd: NO! JAY IS DEAD AND ALL YOU CAN DO IS BE CALM!? HOW!!??

OG Cole: We're not-!

They heard pleading coming from the older Ninja as again the hallways shook with fright.

When the trio looked behind them they saw Lloyd run past the kitchen, the only sounds besides his footsteps were the messy sobbing that had escaped from his mouth.

OG Zane: Lloyd! Come back!

They watched OG Zane run after the distressed boy and OG Kai breaking down, sobbing on the floor and OG Cole was trying to calm him down and-

▪ ▪ ▪

Jay... Jay grabbed his mask and got up.

S1 Jay: Okay I'm ready.

...

... .. . ....

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

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

S1 Jay: Y.... yeah..... That's what happened.... . ... ...

S1 Cole:

S1 Cole: What the fuck.

S1 Jay: L- LANGUAGE!