#better go fetch my plushies

[a-hermit-pining]

A Reflection of Him

AN: Plot bunny bunny comes to life! Warning- I bawled my eyes writing this.

Pairing: Sylus x fem reader

Genre: fluff and so much comfort

Summary: "Is that not the best thing to wish for? That the people you care for were loved, even before you came into their life?"

(I do not own these characters)

"Happy Father's Day, Dada!" Raul shrieks, launching himself into Sylus' lap.

Your husband barely has time to react before he’s tackled—first by the dogs, then by Mephisto, and finally by the twins, who have long since lost any fear of rebuke. Not after witnessing their fearsome boss being carried out of the delivery room at the mere sight of birth.

A flurry of limbs, paws, and claws moves before your eyes, a chaotic mess of yips, shrieks, and laughter. And your heart blooms at the sight.

Some pluck love like petals. Some treasure it like pearls. And some...some deserve to be smothered by it.

Then, your eldest walks in.

She stands beside you, clutching your hand, trepidation flickering in her eyes. For a moment, she is once again the little girl you let go of at the kindergarten gates.

With a gentle pat on her head, you smile, then lovingly shove her into the crowd of limbs.

He had hit his head when he first found himself on your couch. He didn’t remember much...just funny colors, static noises... Probably a concussion.

How embarrassing.

Sylus lay there, eyes rolling back as he groaned at the thrumming pain in his skull.

"Say aaa," a small voice rang in his ear before something plastic was shoved into his mouth.

Squinting his eyes open, he found a pair of familiar eyes staring back at him.

Yours, only on a smaller, plumper face.

"You have a fever," the little voice chirped, inspecting the plastic thermometer now thoroughly drenched in his saliva. "200 degrees. Don't worry, I’ll make you better." Small hands patted his head with absolute confidence.

"Lilia!" You scooped your daughter up with a sigh. "Didn't I put you to bed already?"

"But the doctor says it’s serious," Sylus croaked dramatically. "Who will treat me now?"

"Rein in your horses, mister. Lay down and do not strain yourself," you scolded, shooting him a glare as you set down the glass of water you'd gone to fetch.

"Come, Lilia. Time for bed. Playtime is over." You carried your daughter toward her room, but not before she twisted around to make the most ridiculous faces at Sylus over your shoulder.

That was how he met her.

Your daughter, who, at age four, was the only doctor bold enough to diagnose him with a 200-degree fever.

"He was a… we were in college. It was all so new… we were from the same town," you say, staring at the hazy photos of your college dorm.

"It was easier to tackle Linkon with him. And then he was gone... he couldn't bear it. People weren’t kind to him. He…" You sigh, clutching the photo tighter. "He is no more. You don’t have to seek anyone for vengeance or revenge. But if you ever hurt Lilia, I will kill you."

And Sylus knows, that is the truth.

You would kill him.

But for the first time, he does not wish for it. Not if it means leaving you alone. Not if it means becoming nothing more than a painful photograph in your hands.

"She is all I have, and I am all she has," you murmur, looking up at him. The house stands still, the only sound the slow, rhythmic tick of the clock.

Sylus flips through the album, stopping at a photo where you cradle an infant in your arms.

"I’m glad," he says finally, voice quiet. "Whoever he was, he left you with Lilia. I’m glad you were loved. And that Lilia grew up being loved by you."

He exhales, eyes lingering on the photo.

"Is that not the best thing to wish for? That the people you care for were loved, even before you came into their life?" He smiles taking your hand in his, next to a mountain of toys that Lilia had insisted on showing to him before leaving for school.

Luke and Kieran sit on tiny chairs, sipping water from plastic cups. Seated beside them is the esteemed council of plushies.

"Mr. Luke, do you like the tea?" Lilia beams, dressed in a princess gown and tiara.

Luke nods, his mask off, before turning to his twin, only to find Kieran’s face covered in stickers.

"Yes, Princess Lilia," Kieran says solemnly. "The tea is excellent. You should serve this to Boss once he returns."

It is simply delightful to witness the head of Onichynus joining the council of plushies for an exquisite tea party.

Makes for an excellent photo, too, one they manage to sneak in with Mephisto’s help.

Lilia grins, "Yes! We must! And I will ask, mommy and Mephisto to join. We can have a ball."

"Boss!" Lilia tugs at Sylus' sleeve as he carefully straightens her bow.

"Hm?" he hums, though his heart is beating wildly. Just a few rooms away, you were waiting for him, ready to walk down the aisle.

"Do you want me to sneak photos of Mommy?" Lilia asks, her eyes glimmering with mischief. "Am I not your best woman? I should do it, right?"

Standing tall on the stool, his best man is doing an excellent job of keeping his nerves in check.

Sylus exhales a laugh, shaking his head. "How much did your mother bribe you to sneak a photo of me to her?"

Distantly, he makes a note to have a word with the twins, after the wedding. They were definitely behind this. He and you had worked way too hard to get Lilia to stop calling him Boss, only for it to come right back at the worst possible time.

The room stills when your daughter hands him the papers.

You quietly pull Raul into your lap as Sylus takes them, his hands trembling.

"Happy Father's Day," your daughter says, standing before him as he reads frantically.

"People say we're both equally stubborn," she continues, her voice steady but thick with emotion. She clutches his hand. "That we're both sore losers. That we both love anything shiny..."

Sylus looks up at her, his tears unrelenting, just like hers.

"But they don’t know," she says, voice breaking, "that all of this comes from you. From the years, the months, the weeks, the days, the hours, the minutes, down to the very seconds, you have spent looking after me."

She swallows.

"It’s because... how could I not want to be like you?"

Sylus' breath catches.

"From four to sixteen, you've been here for so long... and I don’t want to call you Sylus. I want to call you Dad. I want you to be my dad"

Beside them, you sniff quietly, pressing a kiss to the top of Raul’s head as he watches, wide-eyed and troubled by the sight of both his sister and his Dada in tears.

"Will you be my dad?" she asks, sinking to her knees.

And Sylus, your husband, your love—falls.

He pulls her into his arms, holding her as if letting go would break the world.

"A thousand times over," he whispers. "In every lifetime, in every form. I hope to have you as my daughter."

Tags

@perla-drg, @codedove, @crazy-ink-artist, @desiree-archive @softiepeachess @otome-addictionproblem

[theoryofthemultiverse]

How likely the Fatui harbingers are to cuddle you

(as their fellow harbinger)

When you are sick 🛌

An: I am sick so we have to make the best of it :( also included wanderer before his glow up and la signora because I like my harbingers all together, but since I feel like I cannot say anything about Pulcinella, Columbina and Sandrone I left them out, I still hope you’ll like it!

Pierro:

1/10

I feel like he would look at you and tell you to go and rest, but that’s about it. Maybe you get a pat on your head or shoulder in sympathy.

Il Dottore:

3.5-4?/10

When you’re like, nearly dead? and come to him into his lab in the hopes he can give you medicine. He thinks the sight is pathetic :(

Would help you though and tell you to sit down while gets you some poisonous looking medicine (it probably unfairly works tho). But you’re still burning up so you crave a bit more of a hug. It annoys him (but if you persist in staying annoying to him) he might give you a segment of him that you can use as a plushie for your own comfort if not himself.

Arlecchino:

7/10

I mean hello? Father?

This woman would take her time for you. If you tell her you really need someone to cuddle you, she will agree, why not after all?

Only one condition, she might want to do some work in the meantime which could be anything from reading, to writing and commanding fatui agents, as well as her children around.

But if you commit to laying on the couch next to her not bothering her too much, mommy/father is gonna take care of you while laying by the fireplace. :>

Scaramouche:

5/10

Would also be annoyed.

„Why don’t you get lost in your room and rest there? You’re a drag when you’re sick.“ But you don’t want to go to your room you want affection.

So after long minutes of persuading, he might give in, depending on if he likes you or not.

If he gives in and lets you cuddle him, he’s going to make comments about being annoyed, (all while that man‘s got the joker, puppets surely won’t catch a cold) Yet you don’t care and let him talk because you know that behind all the complaints, he likes it a bit.

La signora:

5/10

This one is tricky, I feel like she would be a little like Scaramouche, also saying she doesn’t want to, but should she give in she might find it slightly pleasant and let’s it play a bit into her Ego, other than Scara who would feel it in affection mostly.

Pantalone:

7/10

If you ask him and he is not out for business, I wouldn’t see what keeps him from it. Especially if you’d be at home with him in that luxurious house. He’d at least stay with you until you’re asleep before heading back to his desk to deal with some contracts. Maybe he’ll send someone to fetch him a soup or anything he would know makes you feel better so when you wake up and want to cuddle again, he could also give you something he knows you like to make you feel better.

Tartaglia:

10/10

This man…, you want cuddles, you’re sick? He’s got your back. Just call him up and he’ll try to finish business as fast as possible to come over and help you get better again. Honestly a sweetheart :(

Il Capitano:

2/10

I believe he wouldn’t cuddle you because he is more into battling something somewhere (maybe Natlan). But on the other hand he wouldn’t be too opposed to making you feel a bit better and comforting you so he would ask you if you wanna come along to Natlan and watch him there!

I mean might not be what you asked for but at least it’s gonna be warmer than Snezhnaya. :)

[foundmars]

Alright time for another dca theory rant at early am... bc im tired of the community sleeping on the dca lore implications and not talking about it.

So today I was playing Security Breach, I recently finished my first run and working on getting afton ending and/princess ending. And being the completionist as i am, i go to all the areas to get all the gifts and bags with notes. But some caught my interest.

I was going underneath the backstage tunnels (the ones where you see the "Freddy you're supposed to be on lockdown" scene with Vanessa) and i found a little ally you need Montys claws for, as i do, i open them and to find a small room filled with twisted looking trees and branches with a projector in the middle of the room to a large screen upon orange tarp covering circular objects. I find it more strange because it first reminded me of the Dredbear games in Help Wanted vr games, then it reminded me of Fall Fest but also of the theater room in the pizzaplex. Weird right? Well the present on top of the projector was a Sun figurine.

Does that count as Sun being more connected with Fall Fest? Far fetch for something of a vague room but it was just odd to put something like that in there.

Then as I got lost adventured along the hallways, I found the area were you get chased by Monty, Chica, and Roxy in those misty hallways near those same tunnels. Well. I found another Monty claw access room where it looked familiar. It was the same or VERY similar layout as the frankinstine mini game in Help Wanted VR where you put the bot pieces together. It was literally the same room. tvs, conveyerbelts and all. And thats where I found the Moon figurine.

And typically you find these character figurines in related areas, like alot of chica stuff will be in the kitchen or her bakery, Roxy stuff in raceway or near any chase sequences. Stuff like that, its relevant, it makes sense. So why put Sun and Moon, one of the most vaguest characters (that has collectable items mind you, i dont see any vanny or music man plushies anywhere) in spots that reference completely something else but also familiar to the player/fanbase?

Also, now knowing what we know now about fall fest? We have seen a lot of references to it at this point and who is the recurring character to show for it? Sun and Moon.

Moon (physically) in carousel games in Help Wanted 2

Sun (as a voice) in first carousel game as announcer in Help Wanted 2

Jack-o-moon in carousel on fire in Help Wanted 2

Jack-o-moon in secret level of Foxy's ride in Help Wanted 2 (and i point this out as like a maybe thing, I know this was in the Plex but i can also see this as a carnival game, but also, why Jack-o-moon? his clothing and look is so vintage, it would be more accurate if it was just moon because he was chasing us through the plex, not this jack-o character)

BB World arcade. It takes place in a carnival as well. And as one of the few playable minigames thats even tucked away and hidden that takes alot of effort to get to, has to mean something. You have the Sun and Moon in the background starting with Sun happy, then goes to Moon whos mischievous and evil looking, then back to Sun who looks mad and so on. Thats also where we make our first impression on Eclipse. Well maybe not so much its Eclipse...

When you follow the glitch line in the BB world minigame, what happens at the end? We found that the creepy looking sun/moon replacement covers the screen and prompts in purple "good night". We deemed this sprite Eclipse. Which fair. Thats what we knew at the time. Look at it again. Please. It does not look like Eclipse. It looks like Jack-o-Moon better. It has the correct coloring compared and even has an odd mouth coloring like who we see in Help Wanted 2 than to the Eclipse we see in Ruined. So the "Eclipse" we see in not Eclipse, it is Jack-o-Moon. Which makes sense because that may the dca was at the time of Fall Fest was.

Everytime we see Fall Fest, its Jack-o-Moon (vise versa).

I hope this made some slight sense or you saw where I was going with this because Im actually loosing my mind.

[emmawithtwoms]

Cold

@wolfstarmicrofic December 16th -775 words

Remus was slowly waking up. The familiar ache in his joints was duller today, but still present. The moon hadn’t been bad at all, he didn’t feel excruciating pain anywhere in his body, he felt like none of his bones broke and didn’t register any open wounds. Overall, a nice moon. 

The strange thing about that morning was the warm, plushy and furry cushion his head was on. It was so comfortable, Remus didn’t open his eyes, he just snaked his hand through all that good smelling fur, snuggling his face in it as well. 

Around him he could hear some muffled giggles, and he furrowed his brows, but still didn’t feel like opening his eyes: he was too comfortable. 

Then, something wet was lapping at his face, and he opened his eyes just to stare into Padfoot’s big black snout.

“Ew, Padfoot, why would you do that? That’s disgusting!”

Finally he registered where he was: the Shrieking Shack was enlightened by the first sunrays, and he was snuggled up on Padfoot’s gigantic form, using him as a pillow on the floor. His body was covered by a heavy blanket, and Prongs and Wormtail were looking at him from the bed. 

“Good morning sleeping beauty! How are you feeling?” 

James was energetic as always, but Remus noticed that he stifled his enthusiasm for his sake, he mentally thanked him. “I’m fine, nothing broken and no open wounds, so…” 

He was still petting Padfoot, who hadn’t transformed back, choosing to accept the cuddles given by his boyfriend. 

“Sorry you had to sleep on the floor, mate. We tried to get you on the bed, but… hum…” 

Wormtail was trailing off, and decidedly not looking at him in the eyes. 

“What? What did I do? Did I hurt any of you?” 

Remus was starting to get paranoid, but James calmed him.

“None of that, Moony, calm down. You just didn’t want to leave Padfoot’s side, that’s all. When you transformed back, we put a blanket on you and let you sleep for a bit.” Prongs’ grin never left his face, and Remus felt like there was something they were not telling him.

He looked at his boyfriend, who responded with a friendly bark and a lick on the tip of Remus’ nose, before turning back into Sirius and enveloping him in a hug.

“Good morning, darling. Merlin, it’s bloody cold in here! How did you make it all these past winters without us to keep you warm?” 

Remus just shrugged, ignoring the snicker coming from the bed behind him. What the hell were they not telling him?

“I managed.”

 “Well, lads, me and Wormy are off. We’ll leave you two lovebirds alone, so that Remus can have some privacy. Speaking of: you might wanna pick that blanket up, mate.” 

Remus scrambled to pick his blanket up and cover himself better, he hadn’t noticed it slipping off that much, while James and Peter fled from the shack, still bloody laughing. 

“Ok. What happened? Why are they laughing like maniacs?” 

Moony asked his boyfriend, who was passing him his clean clothes that he placed in a drawer the night prior. 

“Ah, that. It’s nothing, don’t worry. Moony was just a bit… affectionate, last night.”

Remus picked up what Sirius was implying, and felt the urge to bury himself. Instead, he just buried his face in his hands, hiding his embarrassment.

“Oh Merlin, please tell me I didn’t.” 

Sirius laughed at his boyfriend, and just hugged him, forgetting the clothes for a moment. 

“It’s nothing, Moony. I found ìt quite flattering, actually. Even in wolf shape, you still can’t resist my charm. It’s admirable, truly.” 

“Fuck off.” 

Sirius barked a laugh and just started leaving kisses all over Remus’ face, trying to cheer him up. 

“Oh, come on. Don’t kill yourself over it. Dress up instead, you’re gonna get frostbites in this bloody cold.” 

Remus shoved him away, still too embarrassed, and started dressing up (he was actually very cold). Once he was done, he laid down on the bed, and Sirius joined him. Remus would have had to wait for Madame Pomfrey to come fetch him. 

“Sirius, you should go, Madame Pomfrey will be here any minute now.” 

“I’ll just turn into Padfoot, she’ll figure a big black dog broke inside this morning, don’t worry about it.” 

“Mh, if you say so…” 

But Remus couldn’t really put two coherent thoughts together: he was already drifting back off to sleep. Sirius looked lovingly at him, kissed him on the tip of his nose, and turned back into a dog, curling up beside him, offering a soft pillow to rest on. 

[fickleminder]

bound by blood (12)

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"—utterly reckless, even for you! I expected better of—"

"Shut up! I get it, I fucked up, okay?" Satan snapped, planting himself between Kirana and his older brother. "Now will you quit nagging and let us go clean up?"

But Lucifer wasn't finished. "You put the entire exchange program at risk! If anything had happened to Lilith—"

Kirana, who had been keeping her head down since they entered the house, glanced up with furrowed brows.

Lucifer quickly caught himself and cleared his throat, giving her a nod. "You may leave. Get some rest and I'll see you in the morning."

Kirana didn't need to be told twice. She scurried out from behind Satan and disappeared upstairs. The demons heard several doors opening, and they knew their brothers would tend to her shortly.

"…What does Kirana have to do with Lilith?" Satan sneered. "You need to get your eyes checked, you old coot."

"I'm not done with you yet," Lucifer growled before doubling down on him.

Meanwhile, Kirana found herself intercepted and ushered to Asmo's room, where Mammon, Levi and Beelzebub were already waiting for her.

"I oughta kick Satan's ass," Mammon grumbled as he plucked the vegetables from a cheeseburger. Once all the pickles and greens were gone, he handed it to Kirana. "Ain't no way I'm ever leaving you alone with him again!"

"No crumbs on my bed please," Asmo reminded them as he applied an assortment of ointments onto Kirana's skin. By the time he was done, there wouldn't even be a blemish left. "Don't you worry, nurse Asmo will make it allll better~"

"You can hug my special Azuki-tan plushie, if you want…" Levi fidgeted with the stuffed toy, not quite sure how to contribute to the TLC session. What would the Lord of Shadows do if Henry had been in Kirana's position? "But maybe after you've finished eating…"

"Yeah, you gotta regain your strength." Beelzebub pushed a big bowl of fries towards Kirana, snacking on whatever Mammon had plucked out in return. "I almost ate Mammon for stealing one of my burgers, but since it's for you, it's okay."

It was nice to be fussed over like this once in a while. Kirana was touched that even Beelzebub came to see her when he had heard that she'd been attacked. There was just one other thing… "Who's Lilith?" She asked softly.

Everyone froze.

"W-where did you hear that name?" Levi stammered.

"Lucifer mentioned it earlier." Kirana hunched into herself as the mood turned somber. "Sorry, should I not have asked?"

Beelzebub set his plate down and sighed. "…Lilith was our little sister. But she's gone now. She died during the Great Celestial War."

"All of us — minus Satan — were originally angels. That was back before the war, before we were cast out." Mammon explained, a faraway look on his face. "Lucifer incited a revolution against our father, and we aligned ourselves with him."

"Obviously we lost, but we couldn't just sit back and let Lilith be wiped from existence!" Azuki-tan was squished beyond recognition in Levi's arms.

"She fell in love with a human," Asmo added, already anticipating what Kirana was going to ask next. "But he became sick, so she gave him forbidden food from the Celestial Realm, hoping it would save his life."

"And that was punishable by death?" Kirana couldn't imagine Simeon and Luke hailing from such a place. Not to mention, some dots were starting to connect… "Did Belphegor blame that man for her death?"

"He blamed the entire human race. But more than that, I think he blamed himself," Beelzebub admitted quietly. "Belphie was the one who had influenced Lilith into taking an interest in humans. He used to love them too, you know?"

"I couldn't tell. But I think I understand him a little better now." Kirana gave a weak smile. "So where was Satan back then?"

Asmo raised his hands and backed out of the room, claiming he needed to fetch more supplies. Levi was fumbling like he couldn't decide which dialogue option to pick, but Mammon had no such qualms.

"He was born from Lucifer's wrath after we fell, so he's a full-fledged demon unlike us fallen angels." The second-born rolled his eyes. "But somehow he has it in his head that he's gotta keep proving himself different from Lucifer. Hence all the pranks and general resentment, ya know?"

"Any comparison will set him off for sure." Levi grimaced. "Pact or no pact, nobody's safe."

Beelzebub perked up. "Speaking of, I can't make a pact with you since Belphie will be upset—"

"I wasn't even asking for—"

"—but I can take you to the gym with me!" His sounded both serious and genuine. "I can show you how to work out and get stronger so you can protect yourself better."

This cinnamon roll was too pure for this world. Despite the exhaustion from the harrowing events of the day, Kirana smiled easily. "I'd like that."

.

.

.

Satan caught Asmo on the way back to his room. "Well? How's Kirana?"

"She'll be fine, no thanks to you!" Asmo rounded on him and poked him in the sternum. Hard. "We all know it was a stunt, Satan. How careless of you! I'm glad you managed to salvage the situation in the end, but what if you'd been too late?"

Satan winced. He could feel Asmo's sharp nail digging into his skin, along with something almost akin to genuine regret. His plan was supposed to be foolproof; how could it have backfired so badly? "I know I screwed up. Can you tell her I'm sorry—"

"See, you're not even apologizing in person!" Asmo wanted to throttle his brother. "I could, but I won't be surprised if she doesn't believe you. It's obvious you're just trying to stay in her good books. If you really want to make it up to her, you'll have to do better than that!"

With a slam of the door, Satan was left alone in the hallway.

[summerlycoris]

Is It Really A Birthday Party If You Wake Up In A Hospital Bed?

Chapter 3- Hey, this could be the worst day of my life.

Previous chapter- tumblr link

AO3 link-

She could see her plushies panicking around her, trying to ask her questions. "What's your name? Can you squeeze my hands" And she tried to answer them. She told them she was okay, she just needed some more blankets. It must've been edging into winter- Mom had some spare blankets in the linen closet that she could go fetch.

But when she tried to get up, she just couldn't. The plushies- multiples of Roxy, of Chica, of Bonnie, of Circus Baby, even an old Rockstar Freddy she'd got off Gregory when she turned nine- were on top of her weighing her down. She couldn't move an inch. She tried to push them off, but even her arms were heavy. She could feel someone trying to push… a tube? Into her mouth- wait, what?- but it was just Roxy trying to shush her. "We need to be quiet, it could come back any minute."

________

They were on a picnic blanket, on a hillside under a tree. Roxy looked so much like her old self- and it was Cassie's birthday! It must have been, because there was carrot cake and carrot sandwiches and carrotdrop candy and carrot jelly and-

Wait, carrot jelly? Carrot sandwiches?

"Roxy, I like carrots- but not this much!"

"Yeah, I agree. It tastes better in small doses." She said, before passing her a piece of carrotdrop candy.

________

Then she was sitting just in front of Candy Cadet at the daycare. Sun was… where is he?

Anyway! Candy Cadet was gonna tell her a story! "Once upon a time…"

"She was found at the pizzaplex!? I… I was at work until 12am. Who would have taken her there?"

________

"Mom? Please come get me." She was standing at a public telephone just outside the pizzaplex. She'd gone there after school, hoping to catch a ride home with her dad. But he… didn't work there anymore. And mom didn't go there anymore. Nobody worked there anymore. There were newspapers covering up where the main entrance would've been. It was raining so hard- she was soaked through to the bone. She wanted to cry.

________

"Back at my old place, the pizzaplex there was… different" Gregory said. They were at the Fazpad. Gregory was drawing in a journal while talking to her. She was gonna be nine soon. He had just turned eleven, though you wouldn't be able to tell- he was about Cassie's height.

He and Aunt Miskovsky had just moved here. His Mom and her Mom were catching up nearby. Andy was trying to ask questions to his Mom about… well something dumb. Cassie guessed.

But none of that mattered, because she could really make a new friend. She just needed not to blow it. Gregory continued- "They had a Freddy themed disco, and a Bonnie themed bounce castle. It was really fun… Do they have those here too?"

"Umm, they have some cool attractions, but not those ones." She admitted. And saw his shoulders sink down. Is he homesick too? I was, when I first moved here… "But Fazerblast is super cool- it's a Freddy themed laser tag game! I'm sure you'll love it!" And there's Roxy Racers- it's a go-kart track based on Roxy. I've been on it before- it's the best!"

"Wait, Fazerblast, that sounds cool. Do you think our Mom's will let us play in it?" He said, putting down his pencil. He'd been sketching some strange mecha- Freddy, defending the city from mecha- Monty.

"We can ask- Dad got me a play pass when we moved here- it's still valid for a few months."

"I still have mine from home, I bet it could be used here…"

"Then let's go ask! I've got some money in my purse, in case we want any snacks."

They got permission, and ran off towards the Atrium, straight to Fazerblast.

________

Cassie sat down besides her dad, as he fiddled with an animatronic. Perks of having a technician for a dad- daddy daughter days were super cool! He was working on Chica, who stared at her with big, purple eyes. Gregory was on the floor nearby, drawing on some old construction paper. Aunt Miskovsky, a pale lady with wrinkles and dark black hair, watched over him from where she was fixing up Monty.

"Could you give this to Chica? I think she'll need it." Dad said, with a smile in his voice. So she did- lifting up the moldy cheese with one hand, while the other hand put Chica's voice box back in.

Gross gross gross-

________

She was at home, laying on her bed reading a magazine. She could hear Andy in the next bedroom listening to… something? It sounded more like beeping than music, honestly. But then, most of Andy's musical tastes were… experimental.

"Anddyyyy" She whined, and kicked at the wall next to the dining table. "I'm trying to study! Can you quit it?!"

Cassie could hear the guest room door open. Then she saw Andy in the archway, with her beaded braids and thick rimmed glasses, looking like she'd throw her cd player at Cassie's head. But instead, she asked. "Hey Cassie, did you want to hear a story?"

________

"...Roxy said 'But I've always wanted to be the best at racing. If I can't be first, does it even matter?' Foxy looked at her, then laughed. 'Of course it matters, Roxy- not everyone can be first! Most people don't even get second place! You should be proud of yourself. Now go up there and give their hand a shake!' " Mom read from a familiar book.

Cassie knew this story. It was from one of the first books released that had Roxy in it. Dad brought it for her years ago. And now mom was reading it to her. It was like she was six again.

________

Her Mom was mad. Cassie had gotten into trouble at school. She'd bitten Gregory because he'd been cheeky and pressed all the buttons in the elevator, trapping them inside. The principal didn't think ‘but he started it!’ Justified it and had called mom in for a discussion.

Mom walked out of the principal's office, and sat next to Cassie, holding her hand. "They think you got a bacterial infection in your blood first, then it became stepsister…"

"Mom? She's not my stepsister, she's my half sister? Of all people, you should know that…?" Cassie was really confused.

________

She was laying down in a casket. She looked down at herself. Wearing her old Roxy dress that she had to throw away when she was ten, holding hibiscus flowers in her hands clasped to her chest. Red, of course. They were such pretty flowers. There was someone saying the last rites nearby- no, her Mom, Dad, Andy, and the old priest from Salvador were saying it. And Gregory. And Aunt Miskovsky. But they weren't saying it right- wait no, it was in spanish? She laughed- well this was clearly a dream! I know for a fact Gregory can't speak a word of spanish! He'd always come to me for "help" with his homework, even though I know portuguese!

________

She was no longer in a casket. But instead a… hospital bed? Mom and Andy were sitting down next to her. Mom held her hand, stroking her dark-brown fingers across Cassie's right palm. It looked like they had been crying. Cassie squeezed her fingers around her Mom's, and Mom gave her a weary smile. She tried to speak. But still couldn't. Everything around her was so blurry. She could only see Mom, and Andy. Next to her, Cassie could feel something soft- her oldest Roxy plushie, from when she'd first been revealed. The prize of her collection. She wanted to grab it and drag it closer. But her left arm felt weird still. She could feel a cast on her forearm, and see a tube running into her upper arm. She just kept squeezing her Mom's fingers.

"Do you think they'll be weaning her off it soon?" Asked Andy.

"...She'll need to go to surgery first." Mom replied.

________

She was at their old house, in Salvador. It was so beautiful. With two floors, and wild, beautiful hibiscus growing outside. Red, of course. Cassie knocked on the door, and her dad opened it, a big smile on his sun-damaged, tanned face. "Oh, I knew you would find me." He said, as she flung herself at him for a hug.

"What happened to you?" She wanted to ask. But she didn't. He stared at her through the AR Bonnie mask.

________

He wasn't there. Not in the Superstar-Cade. Not at Bonnie Bowl. Not even waiting in line at that awful Roller Coaster.

And she'd been everywhere. She'd double checked and triple checked- looked everywhere for that Freddy hoodie.

She didn't want to think it-

But what else am I supposed to think?!

He'd abandoned her. Made off with her playpass while she was getting her stupid shoes. And now she couldn't find him anywhere.

She was left there, on the third floor balcony. Sitting down out of the way of everyone, near the exit to Bonnie Bowl. Those shoes still held in her hands.

Cassie was just a little girl, in a huge Pizzaplex. Nobody seemed to notice her. Even when her eyes started watering again.

She dropped the shoes to the side, so she could rub her eyes desperately. She didn't want to cry again.

(Maybe that's why he'd gotten sick of me.)

… Or maybe something had happened to him? Maybe he'd gotten lost looking for a bathroom? Maybe he'd seen Freddy and tried to follow him?

Maybe someone had taken him?

That thought sent a shiver up her spine. But nobody could do that, right? There's cameras everywhere- security staff wandering the building…

Someone would've noticed a kid getting spirited away, right?

(... They didn't in those video games.)

Now the self pity left her, to be replaced by dread. She might be the only thing between her new friend's life, and death.

(She wasn't even nine yet.)

She stood up, grabbed her shoes quickly, and looked around. Trying to figure out what to do.

Mom and Dad said, if I'm ever worried about something dangerous, to tell them immediately.

But if she did, Andy would punish her.

“If you go back to Mom or Dad without me, Cassie, I'll give you a haircut. Again. Understood?"

…

What if I'm overreacting?

…

What if I'm underreacting?!

She didn't know what to do.

Everyone entering or exiting Bonnie Bowl was so much taller than her. It was a common teen hangout, after all. It felt like all she could do was hold herself close, and try not to be swept away in the crowd.

Who could she ask for help? Roxy? Bonnie? She didn't know where they were…

Sun. I know where he is.

So she ran off through the crowd, with ‘excuse me’s, and ‘sorry!’s whenever she needed to push her way through a crowd. Down the escalators two steps at a time. She wish she was wearing her new shoes, instead of carrying them- they'd be better for running that her ratty old sandals.

It felt like it took forever to make her way over to the daycare, through the open doorway in Kids Cove. Sun would know what to do. Because he always did. Whenever she ran into an issue at the daycare, Sun would help fix it. Or Moon, both were so nice-

She got up to the slide, with its ‘slide into fun’ sign. There was a barricade in front of it, and a sign at the empty service desk.

The daycare is closed, for… she couldn't read that last word yet, it was too long.

Cassie panted from running so far, hands on her knees. Her mind whirred- she couldn't believe it.

I just need to yell. Even if it's closed, he'll still come out and help me, right?

So she did- “Sun? Moon? Hello? I need help- Can you come out please?”

But nobody came.

She bit her lip, and went to look over the railings, and through the netting.

There was no one there. The cheerful music of the daycare seemed designed to taunt her.

Nobody was gonna help her. She’d picked wrong.

She crumpled to the floor. A lost little girl, in a huge world.

There was the distant sound of a bunch of little feet, racing behind her back to the lobby. Cheering, and laughter that contrasted awfully with how she felt right now. It was like they were making fun of her.

Now she really did cry, loudly, as she threw her shoes at the service desk in frustration.

She couldn't do anything-

There were noises of heavy footsteps behind her, but she barely noticed over her wails.

“Good morning Cassie, you look a little lost today. Are you okay?” she started, and spun around while seated. Her dress getting caught around her feet. Bonnie had leaned down to her level. Besides him, stood Freddy. Had they been at a birthday party?

“I…” What should she say? “I… got seperated from my friend earlier. And now I can't find him anywhere- his name’s Gregory Miskovsky. He could be anywhere by now- Could you… please help me?” she sobbed out, tears still streaming down her cheeks. She tried standing up, but got tangled in her dress. She would’ve fallen over if Bonnie hadn’t caught her. He grabbed her under her arms, and set her upright.

Bonnie and Freddy looked at each other, then back to Cassie. ���Of course we can help you. It will be our pleasure.” Said Freddy. He reached out a big hand to her, which she grabbed thankfully. Only being able to hold one of his fingers in her palm.

“Now Cassie, are those your shoes by the desk?” Bonnie asked. She nodded, and he went to retrieve them. “Make sure not to lose them- they are limited edition. You must have worked hard to save for them.”

She nodded again, thanking him. She didn't think they were important right now- but she had worked hard to save up for them.

“How about you come with me? I will take you to the stage- it is a good place to spot people from- while Bonnie and my friends go looking elsewhere for Gregory.” She nodded, then he led her away, back the way she came.

She could see Bonnie heading out, towards the lobby. And could feel the sensation of someone staring at her. But she was too focused and upset to turn around and find out who.

She wiped at her eyes with her free arm, trying not to get her tears on those shoes.

________

Cassie didn't like it when people stared at her. She didn't like it at school, she didn't like it at the shops. And she especially did not like it here. She was in a hospital? She couldn't move an inch. Her legs were propped up on… pillows? So it was hard to see over the blanket. Her left wrist had a tight bandage on it now. A man was staring at her. That tube was still in her throat. She could feel something in her nose, too. He just keeps staring.

She wanted to slap him. Throw some words at him that mom would skin her for using. But she couldn't move and she couldn't speak. How can an open room feel so claustrophobic anyway?

________

Now he was on the other side of the bed. Just great.

Bad news! The tube was still in her throat!

Worse news! This jerk is stealing my blood! She could see it coming away from her in tubes that fed into a strange box that was full of her blood. He was fiddling with the box. She tried to protest, but he was on the left side of the bed. When she went to hit him, she missed miserably. She tried to pull out the tube down her throat, to give him a piece of her mind-

________

Next thing she knew, she was watching an old movie with Gregory. Brazil- her favorite.

His Mom was busy- night shift. Cons of having a technician for a mom- they're not always home... So he was staying the night with them, as usual. It was the weekend, so Cassie had managed to convince her parents to let them stay up late and to have the family room to themselves! Perfect! Add some microwave popcorn, and a soft blanket to wrap around themselves, and it really was perfect. Her hand was intertwined with his, as they leaned into each other's shoulders.

Cassie was eleven. She was watching a dumb old dystopia flick right next to her best friend, and she wasn't scared of anything.

________

She went from being so happy, to feeling miserable so quickly that it was like she'd been slapped.

Cassie was alone. It was her twelfth birthday party. And nobody had bothered to show up. She could feel tears welling in her eyes as she slumped down near the bathrooms at the Glamrock Beauty Salon.

She'd invited some of her ‘friends’ from school. But I knew they only kept me around as a backup friend, someone to laugh at behind my back… just didn't want to admit it…

What really hurt was that Gregory hadn't turned up. Because she trusted him to be there. Because he'd said he would be. But the party had started an hour ago. He wasn't coming. Nobody was. She'd got all made-up for nothing.

Mom and Dad tried to keep her spirits up, until she excused herself to the restrooms so she could cry in peace.

She sat there, curled up for a while. Hoping Roxy would hear her and come back for her. Hoping no one would see her. Until she heard footsteps. She looked up- and there was Gregory! He was holding a tissue out to her, knelt beside her. "Sorry I'm late. You know I wouldn't miss it for the world."

(No, no, no, that's not how it went-)

She reached out to grab it, only to grab her Dad's worn old hand instead. She could see the veins through his knuckles.

He was kneeling beside her. "Hey, Cass? We just got a phone call off Jemima…"

She sniffled. "Aunt Miskovsky? Does she know where Gregory is?"

He just looked at her. Her heart sank. Something's really wrong.

"How about you come back with us? We'll have some carrot cake and… we'll talk there, okay?

(Not okay not okay not okay-)

________

She could feel Roxy threading her fingers through her hair again. She did it! She got Eclipse! She came back for me. Cassie opened her eyes, and saw Andy beside her instead, singing a little song in Portuguese under her breath. One of those nursery rhymes you'd sing for a little kid. But Cassie was thirteen now! I'm not a baby anymore, jeez!

…

As much as she hated to admit it though, it was comforting.

Andy kept running her dark-brown fingers through Cassie's hair. This time. This time, Cassie didn't miss, placing her hand on top of Andy's. Andy's eyes widened, then she asked- "You're really waking up this time?"

She tried to speak. She wasn't surprised to find out that stupid tube was still there. She squeezed Andy's hand instead.

"She's tolerating the awakening trial so far. If she keeps stable, we may be able to run a spontaneous breathing trial today. '' Said a man's voice. Cassie looked to her other side- and there was the blood thief! Writing some notes into a clipboard, and chatting quietly to a lady beside him.

I thought he was just a bad dream?!

Cassie could feel her eyes widen as she tried to get away. She couldn't sit up, or move her legs, so it didn't work. But she still tried. And Andy seemed to understand she was upset, because she started to try and sooth her "Hey, it's okay. Mom will be back soon- she just needed a coffee. She's coming back, Cassie, you're gonna be okay." She turned to the man. "She's so confused-looking. Is this normal?"

"Yes, it's normal to be confused after sedation." He looked up from his clipboard, straight at Cassie. Cassie couldn't help shivering. He must be a vampire or something. He's ashen enough for it- I bet he's hiding fangs too! He looked up at the monitors. "Maybe I remind her of someone? She's getting upset again- could you take over for a few?" The nurse nodded, and he stood up to leave.

Everything was so confusing for Cassie. Breathing trials? Awakening trials?! She'd been expecting to wake up in the tunnel, when Roxy brought Eclipse back-

Instead she was hooked up to some weird machines- the kinds you'd see in some medical drama on tv. She had the tube in her arm, what felt like a smaller tube up her nose, and the most annoying one down her throat. She could also feel some sticky things stuck to her chest- with more wires coming away from them through the neck of her gown. And there was a doctor-thingy (She… couldn’t remember the name?) Stuck around her left thumb. It was also attached to a wire, leading to the monitor. Her bed was tilted slightly, but straight. So that her feet were down, but her head was up. She could barely move- just being able to wiggle her fingers on her left hand at the moment. It felt like there was something around her right leg. And honestly? She felt sick. It'd be a miracle if she didn't throw up. She didn't want this weird vampire anywhere near her- thank goodness he was leaving! He went left, behind the curtains.

Andy reached over and grabbed the Roxy plush from the left side of the bed, and passed it to Cassie. She nearly forgot it was there. She clutched it to her chest for a bit and her breathing leveled off, until she heard a door open- and Mom was there, walking in from the right. Andy withdrew and stood back, as Mom rushed over to Cassie's side, filling the chair Andy had been in. She put her coffee down quickly, on a little side table, then grabbed Cassie's right hand and held it tight with both of her hands.

"Oh my goodness…my baby girl…" Mom choked out. Cassie's heart hurt, seeing her Mom cry. Because Mom never cried. Not even when…

She wanted to ask so many questions. Needed to know so much.

"Mom, don't overwhelm her. She's probably got a lot going through her head right now."

Her Mom nodded, and just kept clenching Cassie's hand, as Cassie slowly calmed down again taking deep breaths. Andy excused herself for a moment. "Just gonna grab something, be right back." And for a while, everything was still.

The nurse stopped standing and checking monitors, and sat down instead, looking at Cassie expectantly. "Good morning Cassiopeia, my name is Nurse Harris, and I'll be helping you today."

Cassie frowned. Don’t call me Cassiopeia- especially if you can't pronounce it right! But she couldn't say that yet. Mom stepped in, though- "She prefers to be called 'Cassie'."

The nurse let out a small laugh. "Well, that's good to know- Cassie, we're going to have to run a few little tests on you, okay? It shouldn't be hard- it's just to check whether you can stay awake, or if you need a little more sleep."

Cassie nodded slightly. She couldn’t move her head much, due to the tube.

The nurse quickly checked her clipboard. "I'd ask you to open your eyes, and to look at me, but you've already done that- you're ahead of the curve!" This is a little patronizing… Cassie thought. "Could I ask you to squeeze your Mom's hand? Big squeeze now."

Mom stopped clenching her hand so tightly, so that Cassie could grip it. And she did. She swore Mom stopped crying when she did. Nurse Harris made another mark on the clipboard, and rechecked the charts. "You're doing well, Cassie. We may be able to get you off the ventilator today. But we'll have to see if you can breathe without much help first. Would you like to give it a go? If you do, give Mom's hand a squeeze."

She did want to give it a go. So much. Anything to get that dumb tube out of my throat. She squeezed her Mom's hand super tight, letting go when she saw Mom wince.

She wished she could say sorry. She wished she could say a lot of things.

Like a knight in varsity-jacket-wearing armor, Andy returned. And she returned with a glittery purple notebook and pen. Holding it above her head like she'd just caught a huge fish, instead of a small book. "Ta-da- this'll make things easier!" She passed the notebook to Mom, and the pen to Cassie. "You can't use words right now- but your arms aren't painted on- use them to talk to us!"

"Andromeda, could you please behave? There are other patients resting nearby." Mom scolded.

Andy just shrugged, and sat down at the foot of Cassie's bed. "Well, they weren't bothering to be quiet last week..."

Mom just tutted, and opened up the journal, holding it out in front of Cassie. They were all on the same page, figuratively and literally.

It's kinda like writing on a whiteboard, but with more give, thought Cassie, as she tried writing on the page. "I'm Sorry."

"'I'm-' What? Cassie, you don't need to apologize. I'm just glad you're safe. It's whoever took you there that needs to apologize." Mom said, sweeping some loose hair away from Cassie's eyes. Cassie felt her eyes get watery, and tried to blink it away.

She asked for the book back by tapping it, and added a question below- "Where am I?"

While she was writing, Nurse Harris was changing some stuff about the throat tube. Disconnecting it in one place, and attaching a different piece. "Make sure to stay calm, and breathe, okay? It might feel a little weird at first."

Cassie nodded, then wrote another question on the page- "Where's Roxy?" She tapped the book to get Mom's attention. Mom started, then turned the book to read it.

"Cassie, you're at the children's hospital in St George. You've been here for about two weeks now… and Roxy?" Mom looked up at Cassie disappointedly. "Did you go to the Pizzaplex by yourself? For that robot?"

Cassie shook her head, as much as the tubes and cords allowed it. She felt strange, as her lungs had to work harder now. The nurse was right- it did feel weird. She gestured for the book back.

"No. Went to find Gregory. Roxy SAVED me." She wrote.

"... She saved you? Starbright, the firefighters and paramedics did. They got an anonymous tip that a young girl was trapped under the pizzaplex. They searched and searched, and found you."

"Though, Mom, they did find her with Wolfie and Flatface. If they hadn't been making such a ruckus, they could have missed her. Maybe she remembers that?" Andy chimed in.

Cassie frowned. Don't call them that! She wished she could yell at Andy.

Andy at least had the decency to look sheepish. "Fine- fine! Roxy and Sun. Don't look at me like that."

"...You went there for Gregory? But he's been missing for so long now. Did you see him anywhere?" Mom asked, eyes wide.

Cassie gestured for the book back, and had to think about how she'd answer this. She didn't want to lie, but the answer was… complicated. Too complicated for right now. So she wrote back "No."

The nurse kept looking at her, it was getting a little much, honestly. Cassie really didn't get all of this- sure, she broke some bones. But two weeks? Stuck asleep? It didn't make sense to her. Couldn't they have just put her in a few casts and sent her home?

"What happened to me? Why was I sleeping?" Then tapped the book again.

Mom read the page, and Andy read over her shoulder. "Oh, that's a long story, Cassie." Said Andy. And then Mom started explaining.

________

So, from what Mom could understand and explain, Cassie caught an infection during her misadventures. They didn't know when or how, only that she caught something. (I can guess a few places…) It got into her blood, probably through one of the many cuts and grazes she'd picked up falling out of vents, being forced through sewage, scrambling around the catwalks. So on, so on. And then her body decided to be a drama queen and majorly overreacted.

("So you know colds?" Andy remarked "They make you sneeze and cough and everything's awful? But it's not really the cold doing that- it's your body reacting to the cold. That's how sepsis is- except it can shut down your organs if it gets bad enough. Fun, huh?")

The rescuers found Cassie in the Atrium, being fussed over by "two robots" (Eclipse and Roxy- so they did find me!) But she hadn't been breathing right, and had been really loopy, giving them nonsense answers. (I can't remember any of that…) she wasn't really conscious, so they intubated her so she could breath, sedated her when she started to wake up, and brought her here. At first they hadn't realized she had sepsis- thinking this was due to her concussion. Her heart and lungs had started to give up before they realized what was going on.

She was asleep so long because her body needed to get better, and give her heart, and lungs a chance to heal. "They even had you on an ECMO machine for a while." Mom said. Cassie wanted to ask what that was, but didn't want to interrupt the story.

Because it wasn't over yet! She'd broken four bones between two legs, one bone in her wrist, and they needed to be managed. Once she was stable, she'd been sent in for surgery to fix the fractures, and for spinal fusion surgery.

This time, Cassie did need to interrupt the story. She gestured frantically for the book, then scrawled "spinal fusion?" Into it. Then she let Mom read it.

Mom and Andy looked at each other for a second, and Cassie started to worry. It couldn't have been that bad, right? My arm hurt worse…

But she wasn't silly. She knew she'd been lying to herself about it. And now she'd just have to deal with it. Even if the worry was now a pit weighing her heart down.

"Well… no one knows how you did it. But you got really hurt at the pizzaplex. They think you must've fallen… did you try to climb through the roof to get in?" Mom asked.

"Or did someone push you?" Asked Andy.

Cassie shook her head to both questions. How can I tell them what happened to me? They'll think I'm crazy…

Mom sighed, and continued. "You damaged your spine, around�� L-1?" She looked to the nurse, who took over.

"You had a burst fracture at the first lumbar vertebrae and the twelfth thoracic vertebrae. This has done some damage to your spinal cord- but now you're awake, we can find out just how it'll impact you. It's not a complete break- so you may be able to feel your legs, or even move them again. We'll have to check if you're out of spinal shock first."

Cassie looked at her in confusion, luckily, the nurse explained quickly. "Spinal shock can happen when you first get injured- it makes you feel like you can't move- or can't feel anything- below the break. Did you feel like that after your accident?" Cassie nodded. The nurse nodded back. "It usually goes away a few days or a week after the injury. Spinal fusion is just how we fix your spinal column- by fusing the vertebrae to one another."

Cassie spent some time thinking about it. It was a lot to take in, and she didn't know how to feel about it. Worried? Sad? Angry? I mean- at least I'm alive… it could be worse… that wasn't a very reassuring thought. Would she have to use a wheelchair forever? What would that mean for her? Would people make fun of her for it? She didn't really do sports, so that was one less thing to worry about. But she had other things she wanted to do in life! One job that wasn't a pipe dream- that she really could be good at! She needed to know!

She gestured for the book back, scrawled her question, then let Mom and the nurse read it. The nurse struggled to keep a straight face, while Mom just sighed. Andy started reading over their shoulders.

"If I can't walk, can I still be a cosmetologist?"

Everything was still for a second, then Andy burst out laughing. Despite Mom asking her to shush angrily. Cassie felt a wave of embarrassment course down her back.

Shut up Andy! You just don't get it… whenever there's big time cosmetologists on tv- they're always walking around doing things. They're never stuck in a wheelchair! This was really frustrating her. And she hated how everyone was acting like she was silly. This is my future… It matters to me!

"Cassie, you dope- of course you can! The models are gonna be sitting down anyway, right?" Andy wheezed out.

Cassie glared at her, until the nurse stepped in verbally. "Even if you can't walk again- and we don't know that you won't be able to yet- there should be accommodations that can be made for you. Maybe you should ask your case manager about this, when you meet them?"

Cassie nodded. She really wanted to change the subject. She tested out her left hand. She couldn't feel any pain in her wrist anymore- but they had said she'd had surgery on it, so that made sense. Her fingers clenched around nothing, and she could slowly lift her arm

Perfect.

She got it out from the covers, and grabbed the book from Mom, who was telling off Andy. ("Cassie! Don't snatch- Andy, I'm not done with you….") She couldn't hold it for long- even a small book was too heavy for her- so she dropped it on the bed, just in front of her. The first page was pretty full, so she flipped the page. An empty canvas.

Turning the book sideways, she wrote in big letters "Can I please get the tube out please?" She looked at it for a second, then added some lines underneath for emphasis. And quickly drew some stars in the blank space, she didn't want it to look too pushy. Afterwards she handed it to the nurse with her right hand.

The nurse read it over. "It's been over two hours now, and you're feeling okay?" Cassie nodded. "Your breathing looks fine- but I'll need to talk to the respiratory therapist first, okay?" She got up, passed the book back to Cassie, and walked left past the curtains.

A few moments went past, and then she came back with Cassie's new best friend, Mr Vampire. Cassie clutched the notebook to her chest, then remembered- I can say things now, and wrote a message to him. Flipping around the book so he could read it.

And he did. " 'What did you do with my blood?'... What blood?"

Mom had now stopped arguing with Andy, and started paying attention to this. "Cassie, please don't be rude to the doctor."

I'm not being rude! I'm just asking… He's probably not a real doctor anyway.

She wrote another message, and showed it to him. "I saw you with that weird machine, taking my blood. What did you do with it?"

Did you drink it? You drank it, huh?

The nurse answered. "Oh, I think I understand- she was only mildly sedated for a bit, didn't she see you at the ECMO machine?" She said to the doctor.

He laughed lightly, then said to Cassie: "I didn't think you'd remember that." He explained what an ECMO machine did, then clarified- "Trust me- we made sure to put your blood back when we were done with it!" He smiled. He didn't have any fangs in his mouth.

Cassie let her shoulders relax. "And don't worry, Mrs Oliveira-Mathers, I've heard worse from other patients after coming out of sedation." He followed up, to Cassie's Mom.

Turning back to Cassie, he introduced himself, then started talking over how the extubation would go. (Including explaining what an ‘extubation’ was to Cassie.) Basically, they were going to take out the tube to replace it with a mask over her face. And if she could still breath well afterwards, they wouldn't have to put it back in. They used what looked like a little vacuum first (and said it was to help keep her airway clear), and tested to see if she could cough.

"It might feel uncomfortable. And you may have a sore throat afterwards. You'll need to take a deep breath, and then cough as it's removed, okay?" She nodded, and he started to remove the tube. She took a deep breath- and was glad, because it took a bit for the tube to start moving. It really did feel weird- too weird. Mom ran her fingers over Cassie's palm again, to help keep her calm. She shut her eyes and coughed a few times- honestly less because she'd been asked to, and more because her body was screaming at her to get it out.

And then it was out, and she gulped in some quick breaths before he secured the mask to her face and helped her settle back into the bed. All of it. The writing. Getting that tube out. Dealing with emotions. It was all so much.

Mom clenched her hand again, and asked "How do you feel?"

Cassie nearly went for the pen and book again, laying next to her. Until she remembered- she (hopefully) didn't need it anymore. It took a few tries, but she was able to squeak out " 'M okay." It came out in a whisper. Her throat felt sore and dry, like her voice didn't want to work yet. She coughed again. Her left hand found the Roxy plushie again, and pulled it close.

She took a few minutes just to breathe and calm down again. Then she said to the man " 'M sorry for tryna hit you. A few days go."

He smiled at her, then kept taking notes. "I hadn't even realized, don't worry about it, Cassie."

She nodded, then asked a question. "Can I gona sleep now please? 'M tired."

"That should be okay. We'll keep an eye on you, okay?" The nurse said.

Mom let go of her right hand and leaned in to kiss her forehead. "When you're less tired, we'll do something special." Which Cassie didn't really get- what kinds of special things could be done in an ICU?

Cassie closed her eyes, and pulled the plushie up over her eyes to keep the bright lights out. "G'night."

It didn't take long for her to have her first real sleep in a while. And this time, there were no weird dreams to confuse her.

________

When she woke, it was just after 6pm. She still had the nose tube in and the face mask on, and all the various cables and tubes that connected her to machines. But all in all, she was going okay. The respiratory therapist and the nurse were there, and told her she'd done well while she was sleeping- She'd been breathing okay, and it didn't look like she would need to be reintubated.

"Oh, good." Her voice was still croaky, and throat was still sore. But talking came a bit easier now, and they were able to give her some water.

("You can swallow around your nasogastric tube. So feel free to try eating and drinking. Remember to have small bites if you eat, and small portions in general. Small sips of liquid as well.")

She could really get a feel for where she was now- a hospital (duh), but in a little section of the PICU. There was a clock on the far wall that Cassie could read if she focused. There were curtains drawn to her sides, to give privacy to the other patients. But she could hear what sounded like a dad and their kid talking to her left.

She could also hear the muffled sounds of a tv. But she couldn't see it yet. Maybe she'd be able to later, if they moved the curtains? Besides her head, on both sides, were machines that were making little noises and beeps. The Roxy plushie had been moved down to her side while she slept.

Mom and Andy were not there. Something which made Cassie feel a little uneasy. "Where's Mom?" She asked the nurse.

"Your mother and sister went out a little earlier, they said that they needed to grab a few things. But they also said they'd be back soon." She thought for a bit. "They left some magazines and books under the chair, did you want something to read? Until they get back?"

Cassie nodded, and was given a magazine. It was hard to read it laying down, but she could hold it resting against her chest with both hands. The magazine was her copy of her favorite magazine- Girl Guide. She’d brought it just before… but she hadn’t had much of a chance to read it.

It, as always for the August edition, had a section for back-to-school outfit ideas. Which Cassie beelined towards. Also, there were puzzles throughout, some confessions, and movie previews.

She was slowly working through a crossword puzzle (well, more like stuck on a crossword puzzle) when a nearby door opened, with Mom and Andy coming over to her bed. They'd been away for a while- the clock read 7:30 now.

"Sorry for being late back. Traffic was awful." Andy said. She was holding two wrapped gifts in her arms. There was a foil balloon with ‘13’ written on it tied around her wrist. Cassie slunk back in embarrassment. Oh no…

Mom was holding a box, with a smaller box on top. She put the small box at the foot of Cassies bed, then gave the bigger box to the nurse and doctor. "Thank you for looking after her so well." From the look of the packaging, it was a box of carrot cake. They thanked her, and the nurse took it away from view. Then Mom grabbed the small box, and came around to sit next to Cassie again.

Cassie didn't want to be rude, or ungrateful. But it wasn't her birthday anymore, and she didn't understand why this was happening now. Or here.

It's a bad place for a party.

Andy tied the balloon to the foot of her bed, as Mom said "Happy birthday, Starbright." And leaned in to give her a hug.

Andy sat on the left side of the foot of her bed, next to the balloon, and passed one of the gifts to Mom. "It's a little late, but better late than never right?"

Before she went to the pizzaplex, Cassie hadn't bothered planning a party for her birthday. She'd just asked Mom if they could have dinner at home- maybe order a pizza in- and if Mom could take a night off work to spend with Cassie. To watch dumb old movies with her.

Mom had agreed to it, and if Cassie hadn't gone to the pizzaplex the evening prior… Well, she probably could've had a nice night, watching Blade Runner or something with Mom on the couch. Scoffing down popcorn and pizza. And, of course, some carrot cake.

"Oh! Should we sing 'Happy Birthday?'" Asked Andy, to break the silence.

Cassie shook her head. "Please don't." She whispered. Andy didn't start singing to mess with her, which Cassie appreciated.

The doctor said he'd leave for a little "To give you some privacy."

Mom ran her fingers through Cassie's hair. "I guess this is a bit… different than what you'd asked for." She looked so disappointed. Cassie felt guilty, seeing that face.

Cassie forced a smile to her face. "No, Mom… I was just surprised! This is great, thank you."

Mom's face lightened up a bit, and she gave Cassie another kiss on the forehead. "We'll start with gifts first, this one's for you." She handed Cassie a small box.

Cassie started ripping the paper off, but needed a bit of help with the more stuck down sections. She got it open, and it was a box for a phone. Not a smartphone- Mom didn't believe in giving kids too many gadgets. Oh yeah, wasn't Mom saying she'd give me a phone when I turned thirteen? Previously, she'd been relying on using the landline phone for calls. And sending messages to Gregory over the FazFans forum on her laptop for school. "Thank you, Mom. I forgot about this."

Mom grinned. "If you don't break it, I'll get you a smartphone when you're sixteen, okay?" Cassie nodded.

Afterwards, Andy handed Cassie her gift. It was wider, and skinny. Cassie wondered what it could be- she hadn't been expecting more than a phone call off Andy for her birthday, and a card in the mail.

She got it open, and it was a set of makeup. Including some nail polish, some blush, some lipstick, all in the coolest colors. "Thank you, Andy. This looks so cool."

"This isn't kiddy makeup Cassie- smudge proof- least that's what the sales lady said. So don't waste it!"

"I won't." She put it next to the phone box. Then Mom opened up the small cake box. Inside was a small piece of carrot cake. Just a little rectangle really. With two more pieces left in the box for Mom and Andy.

She grabbed her square while still laying down, as Mom and Andy said "Happy birthday" together. She thanked them again, took the mask off and took a small bite out of her piece. It tasted wrong, mixing with the residual flavor of the tube that had been in her mouth earlier.

Roxy's wrong- it's worse in small doses. She could feel her eyes getting watery.

Mom gave her another hug, and kept her pressed close, trying to console her. She could feel Andy move up the bed, and place a hand on her shoulder as Cassie sobbed weakly. Her thoughts ran in circles- Was it worse than last year's birthday party? Her birthday this year had already been a wash- being betrayed by her bestie was worse than him going missing last year had been- but this party. Did it even count? It didn't feel like it should. Any party where you're at a hospital shouldn't count.

With that, Cassie came to a resolution.

This year doesn't count. Next year… next year I'll do it right. I'll have a party, and have friends to invite, and have fun, and the carrot cake won't taste bad! She rubbed at her eyes, and clung to Mom.

All she'd have to do was make some new friends.

It shouldn't be too hard. Right?

~~~~~~~~

Author's note- yeah, I know St George doesn't have a children's hospital. In our universe. But in the fnaf universe… children seem to have an absolutely abysmal time and you would NEED a children's hospital near Hurricane, at least. (Really, you'd want a children's hospital anywhere a Freddy's location opened.)

Cassie's dreams are a mix of dreams, distorted memories, accurate memories, and delusions brought on by seeing or hearing things she can't understand while sedated. Most of the distorted memories are hopefully obvious enough.

Also, I needed to try and keep canon compliant with GGY. When introducing Gregory's past in this chapter. Which is harder than you would expect. Because GGY shouldn't be possible with the school system Washington county has (I checked)- they have intermediate school for grades 6-7, and middle school for grade 8-9. Gregory, Tony, and Ellis are in year 7. But pass a year 8 kid in the hallway. That shouldn't be possible. Or fictional!Hurricane just has a combined middle school. Or the story of steel wool era fnaf doesn't even take place in washington county, in which case my story is just. Immediately wrong on a fundamental scale. Oops!

My brain hurts. This franchise man... Oh well, I cannot control the hyperfixation. It controls the me.

[cconfusedkat]

What do the Former bishops (and Narinder) do to pass the time? do they work or do they get to do.. whatever they want to do (within reason)?

Writer of Joomer

This has been in my asks for four days and i didnt see it bc i had to uninstall the tumblr app SKSDKSKDS

Lets see lets see

Shamura��aside from being an undertaker and mortician—they find any studies related to the dead along with sitting at cemeteries to read at in their freetime. C: !!! They have a spinterest in the medical field actually,, so youd typically find them at the cult cemetery sitting down on the grass, cleaning graves, putting bouqets of flowers, etc etc,, they have Major Respect to the dead. Will actually put their claw to your face if you dare speak ill of the dead or if you walk past the cemetery and speak (because to them its disrespectful to speak near any graves, youre not letting the souls rest by your voice)

Kallamar! Organizer! He organizes rituals and any other events, his favorite one is setting up the ones relating to not doing any cult work or how fun the rite of lust ritual is to organize :-3 but aside from that? He doesn't spend too much time Within the cult,, not really surprising to hear,, he really likes architecture AND archeology :> so he spends more time in anchordeep (with the exception of knowing theres no rituals or sermons he needs to organize ofc,, he may be a Piece Of Shit (/aff) but he at least cares about the cult's scheduling-)

LESHYYYYY Leshy leshy leshy.... he is the second missionary team leader, and spends his time outside the cult every other day. Its like,,, a cycle day Type Deal. On three weekdays he spends the whole day with a missionary party to recruit new members and/or fetch new resources!!! (with sister heket too :-33) but when he has those two days off ? He spends it farming and resting with Yara (his yellow cat !!!) ,,, hes not a big fan of religious stuff So. Hes probably the most annoyed looking disciple at sermons + rituals-

HEKET !!!!!!!! Strong lady she is THE missionary leader.... shes the one who organizes who to take in her parties.... her party focuses more on fighting heretics and fetching bones + meat !!! When she has her two weekday breaks she spends it taking care of her pets and sewing stuff 🫶🫶 she has a pet tarantula and a froggie just like her :-3c ,, she has a spinterest in bugs AND she really likes to help people with broken plushies/bags/etc (a lil side hustle >:-Dc,, she sews up anything for people who need it- shes your go to for sewing up clothes and plushies!!) Otherwise she also likes to spend some time sparring on her weekends,,, she spars with narinder,,, as much as hates him she thinks its fun to spend time with leshy & narinder & shamura all sparring!!! Kallamar has ZERO interest. 😭😭😭

Narinder,, he absolutely HATES anything related to death,, it sickens him now despite being in a ,, Yk,,, death cult 🧍 but anyways- narinder spends his time as a 'gladiator' so in simple terms just training people to get better in battle :-] he trains people all week and then takes weekends to catch up with lamb on how theyre doing mentally and helps them with anything,,, but if they tell him they dont need anything then hejust . herm . He just really likes to fish and gets competitve over it- goat and Narinder typically fish together so theres always BOUND to be a problem but thats what makes it rlly funny,, sometimes he finds time to mainly spend with heket ? His relationship with shamura is complicated so ,,, outside of being a gladiator hes a Regular Guy who fishes and sits at the beach for hours and goes like "nice." 💀

[superman--yoosung]

Hello, are Mystic Messenger matchups still open? If they are, can I request one?

My gender preference is male (for preferred age, they should be an adult.)

I go by she/her pronouns.

Likes - books, music, plushies, nature, animals, writing, art

Dislikes - being interrupted, unsolicited advice, impatience

Personality + Beliefs:

I'd describe myself as reserved, patient, humorous.

Also, quiet, sensitive and a hopeless romantic.

To strangers, I seem shy or aloof.

My friends would describe me as trustworthy, kind, smart.

For my beliefs, I believe that dreams can come true if much effort is put into them.

Flaw:

Occasionally, I overthink or feel insecure. I'm also a bit forgetful.

Additional info:

• There's a mole (birthmark) on both of my legs.

• My love language is acts of service.

Thanks!

You got yours in on time, don't worry!

Your Mystic Messenger matchup is...........................

V !!

"They say a picture is worth a thousand words, old friend... But it's quite clear what three you meant for her with this painting, V."

The RFA and you went through a lot during your time as a 'game tester,' to put it mildly. But what the other members are certain of is the impression you left upon them all, and how you managed to pry open the heart of their most elusive member: V.

And to that member in question, it is clear that you are the better person. Had you never shown up in his life, he might never have had the opportunity to grow and heal.

Fun details:

You and V will often spend weekends quietly enjoying the things you love in each other's company. That means snuggling on the couch together while reading books, or listening to your favorite songs while impromptu painting together. Sometimes you'll be writing late into the night, and V will lovingly tuck a blanket over your shoulders and fetch you a drink of your choosing to make sure you're hydrated.

You are both highly sensitive souls, and very attuned to those around you and their emotions. Because of this, you two rarely fight - you're just too good at reading each other that you'll address any issues almost immediately as they appear. You (moreso than V, though he does as well) recognize the value in being honest about how you both feel, so you'll always be willing and able to find a happy medium.

On that note, your fellow RFA members will love that sensitive quality about you. Yoosung and Zen will often seek you out for solace, while Jumin and Jaehee will appreciate your tact and patience. Even Seven will feel comfortable bringing his more serious thoughts to you because you genuinely listen and empathize.

You and V are both hopeless romantics. Once you understand each other's love languages, you will enjoy showering your partner with love in that manner. For V, this means doing lots of little and large things for you in your day-to-day lives: he'll do whatever household chore you like least, he'll always make sure you have enough spare change before leaving the house, he'll fluff your favorite pillow/plushie, and he'll always make sure your bookshelves are kept tidy and you have a bookmark where you last left off reading. He is prone to showering you in praise, too, though if that isn't to your liking he will learn to tone it down with time.

You are not a muse to him as Rika once was, but V nonetheless draws great inspiration from you. Expect many paintings to be inspired by interactions you've had, or for portraits of you to be made depicting moments of your existence that struck him as particularly breathtaking. The fact that you ever doubt yourself breaks his heart; in moments where he notices your insecurities rising up, he will gently remind you of how courageous and kind and stunningly beautiful you are.

Since you tend to forget things from time to time, V will make a habit of leaving notes around the house for you, and messaging you throughout the day to remind you. This is a thoughtful gesture done with only the best of intentions in mind. If you tend to find the notes too clutter-ey, he'll make do with the messenger app. Sometimes he won't DM you and will accidentally post a reminder in the groupchat, which will lead to one of two things: 1) the other RFA members remarking at what a caring couple you two make, or 2) Yoosung or Zen bemoaning their single status, leading inevitably to group teasing of them.

V truly treasures every second he can get with you. Once his healing journey is done and he returns to your side, expect him to not waste a single moment of it from thereon out. He will enjoy being in your presence, even if there's no benefit to his being there besides being able to bask in you. But just as frequently, you two will have pleasant, wonderfully thoughtful conversations - about anything and everything and nothing. You've both been through a lot, so now you get to take things at a slower pace.

Jihyun is forever grateful that you stood by him through this ordeal - from Magenta to his recovery. With your support, he found a new meaning to life for himself, and a reason to look forward to hopeful tomorrows. He'd rather not pick one feature about you to love above the others. After all, he's only going to find something else to love about you tomorrow, and who's to say that new concept or iteration of you won't become his favorite next? From the smallest things - how you bite your lower lip, the curve of your lips as you smile - to the grand scope - your quiet determination, the way you managed to hold the RFA and him together during crisis - are all things he treasures deeply; and he looks forward to the new discoveries waiting around the bend of your shared journey together.

~~I hope you liked this! I also considered Saeran for you, but I thought V might resonate more with your interests. They're bith sensitive individuals, so you could honestly work well with either of them!

[cartoonus-maximus]

It's been 84 years, but we're back now with my notes, thoughts, and theory noodles about "Fazbear Frights #12: Felix the Shark."

I don't have as many theory noodles about this volume as I've had about others, in large part because of this volume's status as "noncanon." But I have a few comments and connections sprinkled throughout my notes.

I actually think the stories in this volume were really well written. Easily better written than several other stories/volumes of this series I could name but won't.

*coughcough* TheFriendlyFace *coughcough* TheBlackbird *coughcough* Fetch *coughcough* ThePuppetCarver *coughcough*

Sorry about that... just had something in my throat.

Anyway, it's nice to finally finish the series. I want to comb through it again sometime in the future, as a "I now know the ending, so let's see if all those clues and moments of foreshadowing really point to the ending properly" retrospective thing. I also want to move on to the "Tales From the Pizzaplex" series, since I see lots of theory fodder come out of those books.

As always, spoilers under the cut.

Reader beware, you're in for a scare!

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

(picture of the Blåhaj shark plushie from Ikea)

"Felix the Shark"

- The story opens on a young man named Dirk, who is playing chess against his friend, Jenny. Jenny's twin brother, Gordon, watches on. The three of them plus two others, Leo and Wyatt, have been friends since junior high, and all five of them have known each other and been close for over a decade, even though they have very strong, very different personalities; it's stated that the five are largely friends because no one else will hang out with them.

- Dirk has a crush on Jenny, Jenny loves him like a brother, and Gordon cares too much about chess.

- Gordon is a mechanic, who has auburn hair and wears grey shirts; he's constantly covered in grease stains. He's very aggressive when annoyed. He and Dirk don't get along well at all, and keep getting on each other's nerves.

- Leo is a D&D nerd and active grammarian, and Wyatt is a cheerful computer whizz.

- 'Caverns & Crocodiles' is a game Dirk and Leo created, based off of a book called 'the Dogged Dogmatist.'

- People outside of his friend group tend to ignore Dirk when he talks, which he attributes to his 'chipmunk looks.'

- The five of them share pizza together in a room with a black-and-white checkered floor, which is the basement of Jenny and Gorgon's parents house. Not unusual, but the image of the floor, the pizza, and the group of 1 gal and 4 guys makes me think of FNAF1 (where there are five animations, with Chica being the only lady).

- Leo is a comic artist! (I'm jealous)

- Dirk is a book reviewer. He spent his teen years in a foster home, after the deaths of his parents and aunt. He did not have a good time.

- Jenny teaches gymnastics at a local school. She has green eyes and masculine features that resemble her brother's; Gordon is very handsome, but Jenny is considered 'unattractive' to most. She's unbothered by this.

- Gordon is a conspiracy theorist.

- All five of them have weird interests and behaviors, which have always prevented them from having very active social lives.

- The five adults reminisce about going to Freddy Fazbear's as kids. Wyatt cites Chica as his favorite character, saying that his mom made him a birthday cake that looked like Chica's cupcake one year.

- Leo mentions the coloring books at the restaurants, saying that they inspired him to start drawing himself, and cites Foxy as the inspiration of a "purple-clad superhero" character of his own comic series. The character has a scythe attached to his arm in place of a hand.

- Jenny and Gordon mention that the Freddy's they went to most as a kid had an indoor jungle gym that they always climbed on. Jenny liked dancing the music played at the restaurant, and Gordon liked watching the animatronics; he now has the conspiracy theory that the robot apocalypse will start at a Freddy's, if it hasn't secretly started already.

- Gordon: "Clearly the guy who created the Freddy's animatronics was way ahead of his time. … He had to keep [the animatronics] rudimentary for the public, but what if he had an underground laboratory? What if he created the first wave of the android army?"

- Dirk recently unearthed his old plushie from Freddy's of a shark character called Felix, and admits that he's also been having dreams about the shark. His friends don't recognize the character, and are confused when he mentions it. Dirk talks about his memories of Felix, saying that he went to a Freddy's that had a moat feature, and a massive water tank that customers could dive into to swim alongside an animatronic shark; Felix was 6 ft long, could swim freely through the water tank, and could open and close his mouth.

- The more Dirk describes the shark animatronic, the more the others ask about the safety of allowing children to climb into an enclosed tank with a toothy robot. Dirk says that, as a child, he felt a connection to Felix, saying he felt the robotic shark was the only one that understood him. Jenny suggests that Felix was an imaginary friend of some sort.

- Since Dirk's family traveled a lot when he was a child, Wyatt suggests that there was a unique Freddy's location somewhere that Dirk went to and saw Felix.

- Dirk's parents were performers of a magic act, who traveled everywhere and used Dirk as a child-sized prop in their show. They died in a car wreck. Dirk was then cared for by his aunt, but she didn't know what to do with a child, and mostly got angry at him for getting her house dirty. She later died of cancer, and Dirk no longer has any family.

- Getting angry with his friends for not believing him, Dirk sets out to travel, deciding that he's going to find Felix. He takes a list of places his parents performed in and a list of places where Freddy's used to have a building, and starts checking out all the places that overlap.

- He finds one midwestern town called Forkstop that used to be a big, bustling region before the local manufacturing plant closed down. Now the town is scrounging for money, and tries to capitalize off of the urban legends of a long-dead criminal to attract tourists. (Sounds like what happens in my neck of the woods.)

- In Forkstop, he goes for food at a diner, where he meets three local ladies named Wendy, Agnes, and Dawn. Agnes and Dawn admit to remembering a Freddy Fazbear's location that used to be in the area (Dawn says that Bonnie was her favorite, and Agnes complains about a boy animatronic having a girl's name), and give him directions to the general part of town where the Freddy's used to be, but warn him that the building isn't there anymore.

- To Dirk's surprise and relief, Agnes and Dawn remember Felix, meaning that he's in the right place. But, unlike him, they don't have fond memories of Felix - they were both terrified of Felix as little girls, and Agnes had to go to therapy to deal with the nightmares she had after swimming in the tank. In her nightmares, she got trapped in the tank with the shark and drowned.

- Dirk is confused by this, and insists that Felix was "friendly," and "wished he could leave the tank and play with the kids like the other animatronics." Dawn tells him that, if anything, the robot looked hungry. Everything they tell him about Felix is radically different from his own knowledge of the shark.

- Wendy tells him that her late husband was working as a contractor when the Freddy's closed down. She says it closed because a little boy almost drowned in the tank, and that, when the owner was forced to sell the land the Freddy's was on to a real estate developer, it was under the condition that the developer build around Freddy's, and leave the Freddy's building intact. She apologetically tells him that she's not sure what building is there now, since several new buildings were being built at the time (including a big mall, which I thought was worth noting), but gives him some general ideas.

- Wendy also tells him the rumors about the Freddy's owner. The man has since died, but, while he was alive, people thought he had a weird relationship with the shark animatronic, and it was rumored that he continued to visit Felix even long after the place was closed down.

- Dirk has to ask several people around the town, and even go to the county clerk, to figure out where Freddy's used to be. He eventually learns that a tourist-attraction waterpark was built over/around it (and that the park failed as a tourist attraction, and sits empty and dry most of the time).

- Dirk thinks the unopened waterpark looks creepy, comparing it to "a serial killer hangout, a place where zombies would march en masse, or the start of Gordon's andriod army." Because of its intention as a tourist destination, the place is decorated based on the crimes and weaponry of the infamous outlaw the town tried to capitalize off of, and the front doors to the park look like gravestones and the outlaw's murder weapons. It's been a gloomy day, and it starts to rain and thunder just as Dirk gets in under a gap in the fence.

- Dirk wanders around the park for quite while, "scouring every inch" of the place, but doesn't find the Freddy's building anywhere. Dejected, he returns to the motel room he's staying in. That night he has a dream wherein Felix visits him, begging Dirk to come back and find him, and to keep him company.

- While at the county clerk's office, Dirk got the name of the late owner of the Freddy's building, Aaron Sanders. He decides to try hunting down the man's heirs. From the woman who runs the motel he's staying in, he learns that Aaron grew up in the area, and liked to design mazes as a kid; he married his high school sweetheart, and, by the time he was 20, he was running a local sandwich shop and had a son.

- Aaron was looking into buying the local Freddy's location at around the same time he took his family (his wife, their son, and their daughter) on a vacation to the coast. Sadly, his son drowned on that vacation, and Aaron was never the same again. Aaron said that his son's body should have been washed out to sea, but a shark came along and bumped into the boy's body, sending it back to shore. The motel owner (Maud) tells Dirk that most people don't believe that part of the story but that she personally does, as she thinks it explains a lot about Aaron's later behavior.

- After the loss of their son, Aaron's wife withdraw in on herself and became depressed, dying soon after, while Aaron become obsessed with sharks and butterflies. (His son was chasing a butterfly at the beach, which lead to him falling into the water and drowning.) Aaron pushed hard to include an animatronic shark at his Freddy's establishment, to which the owners of other Freddy's franchises argued that "Freddy's doesn't have a shark character" and "including one would make [Aaron's location] inauthentic."

- Aaron's daughter, Louisa Sanders, is still alive but is a ward of the state. She's mentally not present, and is completely detached from her reality and surroundings. The motel owner explains that Louisa wrote a book once, at the behest of Aaron, and that the book was published shortly after Aaron's passing; since then, Louisa has locked herself inside her own head, and doesn't engage with the world.

- To Dirk's surprise, he realizes that Louisa Sanders wrote 'the Dogged Dogmatist' under a pseudonym, and that he knows her book inside and out. The cover of the book depicts a creature that seems like a combination of a shark and a crocodile, and the story is about a man going on a journey to find this sharkodile creature, led by a "voice of intuition he heard in his head." There are strange, disjointed phrases and words scattered throughout the book, as well as illustrations of butterflies and flowers that don't relate to anything. The book tells a story that actively encourages its readers to pick it apart and theorize about it, and Dirk has had a lot of fun in the past with his friend Leo dissecting the story and arguing for or against different interpretations. (Sounds a little like a franchise I know…)

- Contemplating the book's illustration of flowers and butterflies, Dirk starts to wonder if it's a map of some sort, relating the shapes to the layout of the waterpark.

- Dirk goes to visit Louisa, now knowing that she is both related to the Felix mystery as well as his favorite author. She's a patient in a hospital, where she has full-time caregivers. She's wearing a necklace with a pendant shaped like a zebra longwing butterfly.

- Louisa doesn't talk, but listens to him tell her his story. When he says he wants to find Felix, she smiles, takes off her necklace, and hands it to him, looking pointedly at a copy of her book. She then closes her eyes and turns away from him, signaling that she's done with him, and that he has everything he needs.

- Dirk returns to his motel room, where he has a phone conversation with his friend Leo. He asks Leo to pull out the list they made once of all the points in 'the Dogged Dogmatist' that felt unusual or too pointed. Leo reads them out loud to Dirk while Dirk writes them down for himself, thinking that they could be clues to where the Freddy's building is.

- Dirk returns to the waterpark the next day. The waterpark feels "dinghy and dark," even though it's a clear day out today.

- Now that he knows an illustration in Louisa's book is a map of the park, and that there are clues and directions hidden within the text of her book, Dirk has a pretty good idea of how and where to start looking.

- He gets startled by a rustling in one of the decorative bushes in the park, and sees two "yellow orbs" look at him for a moment, before turning away. He realized he's just spooked an animal of some sort (an opossum, he thinks), and calms down. (I like to think he's being followed by Fetch or the Friendly Face, just because I miss them.) He also hears crickets, frogs, owls, coyotes, and other small animals. (Really painting a picture of nighttime in the Southwest/Midwest region of the U.S., huh, Scott?)

- One of the clues relates to something special happening at 3:33 (whether AM or PM is not specified), so Dirk waits around for the hour to reach. (It's also an important time in numerology thought, but we're outright told that's not what's important right now.) At 3:33 PM, Dirk spots a shadow from one of the waterslides that's now shaped like an arrow, pointing at a spot in the pool. The tiles on the inside of the pool right where the arrow is pointing are shaped like a zebra longwing butterfly. Putting his ear to pool floor, Dirk can hear running water somewhere nearby. Following the sound, he finds a handle at the bottom of the pool, with a strange keyhole next to it.

- Louisa's pendant fits into this keyhole, and a hidden compartment opens. The compartment holds a key, and Dirk uses the key to open the door to the pumphouse, which he hadn't been able to get into before. A door inside the pumphouse leads him to a maze of tunnels beneath the park.

- Eventually, after searching through the tunnel maze, Dirk finds the front door of 'Freddy Fazbear's Pizza,' along with the rest of the restaurant. He enters the place, and can see Felix's tank, which is full of murky water. He doesn't see Felix, but he sees that the water in his tank is moving. He can hear the water pumps for the tank humming nearby, noting that the water is being both filtered and heated, and that the machines are still running and fully operational. He approaches the opening to the tank, idly recalling that the type of handle used on the opening is called a 'dog' (explaining Louisa's book title).

- Satisfied with this knowledge, Dirk decides to swim with Felix. He undresses and puts on the diving equipment, complete with a breathing apparatus that still works. He climbs right into the tank, and the tank hatch closes behind him. (… I know exactly what's about to happen, and you probably do, too.)

- Felix appears to join Dirk for a swim, and Dirk freaks out, terrified by his former friend. Time has not been kind to the underwater animatronic, and parts of him are missing, rotted away. Dirk doesn't believe this terrifying monstrosity could have ever been his beloved Felix.

- Felix swims in circles around Dirk, and Dirk panics and screams, feeling distraught.

- "Felix's stare was empty and dead."

- Dirk rushes back to the entrance hatch of the tank, only to belatedly realize that there's no way to open the hatch from inside the tank. Trapped in the water tank, Dirk becomes stuck in the current of the water, with Felix literally nipping at his heels. Dirk realizes that he got what he wanted, he found Felix and proved that he didn't make the shark up, but that his victory is meaningless since he's going to die here and no one will even know what happened to him. . . . … That was kind of an abrupt let down of an ending, tbh. I dunno, I was expecting more fanfare rejoicing over the rediscovery of Felix, or some drama of some kind. Like Felix was possessed by Aaron Sander's dead son, or Dirk climbed into the tank and found Aaron's corpse in there or something.

… I was going to say "if this story had been used for the 'Pizzaplex' books, the title would be 'Submechaniphobia' or something," as a smarmy comment about all the '-phobia' titles in those books, but then I remembered that that literally is the title of a story in that series.

But maybe it could have been 'Galeophobia' (fear of sharks) or 'Thalassophobia' (fear of drowning) or something, idk.

Anyway.. I don't really have much in the ways of theory fodder for this one. Partially since it's """""not canon""""" and I don't know whether to try taking anything out of it or not, and partially just because everything in it seems very straight-forward, or at least compounding things we already know. Sure, I could draw parallels between different points (relating Foxy to a purple superhero = Michael being a purple character who draws himself as a superhero and is related to Foxy) (Dirk and his friends being arranged in the opening scene = the animatronic lineup in FNAF1) but like…. I don't know that those are consequential or meaningful.

During the story, I kept trying to relate Felix to Golden Freddy. Which is ridiculous, but here's my chain of thoughts: -- Dirk and his friends reminded me of the FNAF1 animatronics in the opening scene, with Jenny and Chica being the only female characters in their respective groups of five. And of the males, Dirk feels like an outsider, even among his own friends. In FNAF1, Golden Freddy is a wildcard, and feels very separate from the others: an outsider among his own group. -- A popular conception about Golden Freddy is that he represents the younger Afton boy, being both his favorite character and the cause of his death, and possibly where his spirit ended up. Felix clearly represents Aaron's son, on some level, and is specifically described as old, withered, falling apart, lifeless, and having only one eye. These are words that could also be used to describe Golden Freddy.

But ultimately, I don't think there's anything here. I don't think the characters are really connected at all. I think it's just an example of story points and imagery being reused in the franchise.

And speaking of reused imagery.. This is not the first time we've seen evidence of a father sneaking into underground tunnels to observe an animatronic that represents his dead child (William keeping tabs on Circus Baby in Sister Location), nor the first time we've seen a Freddy's building built over/around by another business (the mall in 'the Silver Eyes,' another restaurant in 'Find Player 2,' and even the Mega Pizzaplex itself in the Security Breach game).

It's possible that the idea of a Freddy's franchisee building a special robot after the death of his child, burying the Freddy's building with another business but keeping Freddy's intact, and leaving the special robot to rot hidden beneath the new place… and the robot calling someone to it with promises of friendship, saying that it's sad and lonely… It could connect to the Mimic. I don't have much to go on, but… there's a skeleton of a connection there.

(Side note: I just want to tell you that every single time I tried to write Gordon's name, I wrote 'Gorgon' instead. XD )

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

"The Scoop"

- Mandy Mason is our hero of the story, a young woman with heterochromia (one brown eye and one green eye), who dyes her hair fun colors (this week it's cotton candy pink) and wears it in space buns, skateboards, and writes FNAF fanfic. She has a habit of bouncing and fidgeting, and crosses her ankles when she's nervous. She goes to a fancy prep school for girls, where she gets bullied, both for her appearance and for her hobbies and interests.

- It's specified that FNAF is a game series, seemingly without any books as part of the franchise.

- Mandy runs a blog called "the M&M Scoop."

- Mandy's parents both work, with her mom's job often taking her out of town; despite all the travel she does, Mandy's mom still makes time to video chat with her teen daughter almost every day, and fusses over Mandy's school grades and hair colors.

- Mandy has a stuffed blue elephant called "Mr. Happy," who used to belong to her brother, Bobby, who died as a baby. Picking this little friend up, Mandy settles into her bedroom, pulling up FNAF3 to play and forget her real-life problems. She also has a framed photo of her brother as a baby, which she talks to as if he's present and is her friend.

- (I'm listening to the audiobook, and the narrator insists on spelling out "FNAF" every time she says it. I'm used to hearing people say it as a single word, "fuh-naff," and hearing "Eff-en-eh-eff" throws me for a loop every time.)

- Mandy's been getting involved in the FNAF theorist community, and has been exploring the lore of the game series by herself. Right now, she's scouring the game code of FNAF3, wanting to see if she can find anything interesting in it herself. This version of the game code includes picture files of an old rundown building (which to my knowledge don't exist in the irl game code) with titles like "looks_haunted_now.jpg."

- A real life missing child's report gets posted to a FNAF theorist subreddit Mandy is a part of, detailing a 5-year-old boy who went missing 17 years ago, supposedly being taken by a man in purple. Mandy connects the mental image to fictional purple guy William Afton.

- Mandy posts the image of the house to the FNAF subreddit, asking if anyone has any ideas for what it could mean. She doesn't get any responses until the next day, and the responses she finally gets are mostly rude; no one else can find the image when they scour the game files, so they assume she's making it up for clout.

- When heading to bed, Mandy sees something red dart through her room out of the corner of her eye. When she looks for it, she doesn't see anything.

- Mandy has breakfast with her dad the next morning. Her dad calls her "cupcake" and "Mandy-bear," and teases her about staying in bed late. When she tells him about her findings in the FNAF3 code, her dad warns her that sometimes programmers leave junk files in code, placeholder words and random images, and sometimes they don't really mean anything. He suggests that the picture of a building was something the game developer used as inspiration for the in-game building design or for the story or something, which Mandy admits is a possibility. Her dad then heads to work, telling her to have a good day at school and jokes "Don't get arrested!"

- At school, Mandy gets green slime thrown over her by Melissa, the primary bully she deals with. Melissa is pretty but also on the shorter side, and Mandy thinks the mean girl looks like an evil doll. Melissa also steals Mandy's skateboard, and Mandy has to walk home.

- After scrubbing the green gunk off of her face, Mandy realizes that whatever was in it has stained her hair and her school uniform and backpack. She decides to deal with it by re-dying her hair, deciding to go with purple this time.

- Mandy doesn't want to tell her parents about the bullying, because she knows they'll take time off from their jobs to try to help her, and she would feel guilty about taking them away from their work. (Oh the emotional struggles of an only/oldest daughter…)

- Mandy's friend Lindy (a bespectacled black girl who lives in Utah, and who also hangs out on FNAF forums and writes fic) video chats with her. Lindy listens to Mandy complain about the mean comments about the picture she found. She suggests Mandy try reverse image searching the picture, to see if that tells her anything about the photo itself, or the building in it.

- The two girls talk for awhile, and play 20 Questions with each other. Lindy mentions that she's a middle-child who has one older brother and one younger brother, and she complains about her brothers being annoying, wrestling constantly, and smelling bad, and that her older brother once stole her diary and read it out loud to the whole family; they fought for a week after. Mandy listens and wishes her brother had survived, or that she had other siblings.

- While longing for her deceased brother, Mandy is startled to see a blue child-sized shoe appear at the top of the stairs in her home. The shoe promptly vanishes. She is currently home alone. The teenager picks up a baseball bat and goes to investigate, but doesn't find anything unusual in the house.

- Mandy goes back to scouring the FNAF3 game files. To her surprise and confusion, the strange picture file of the building is no longer there.

- Running the picture through an image search is helpful, pulling up many possible places for where the photo could have originated. While she looks through them, she gets suddenly cold - she turns around to get a sweater, and comes face to face with a small, 5-year-old ghost boy, wearing blue shoes, blue jeans, and a red shirt. He has messy brown hair. He looks at her from her bedroom door, then disappears when she blinks.

- Thoroughly spooked, Mandy closes and locks her bedroom door.

- Mandy has a dream during the night. In the dream, she "wakes up" to find herself lying on the floor of a warehouse of some kind, with "a dim, yellow light," "grimy walls," "a box of animatronic parts," and "a black and white checkered floor." She recognizes it as the FNAF3 location. She's visited by the ghost boy, who stands over her and stares at her "despondently."

- When Mandy tries to talk to the ghost boy, he turns and runs away. She chases after him, and he leads her through the building. She follows him into a storage room, where she finds him against the back wall, curled into the fetal position. He looks up at her, and there are no eyes in his eye sockets. When Mandy tries to talk to him again, the boy lunges at her, his mouth growing and filling with huge, sharp teeth.

- The jumpscare makes Mandy wake up from the nightmare, and she sits up in her bed, clutching her elephant friend. Her bedroom door is still closed and locked, but it doesn't make her feel better.

- Going to school with her purple hair and lack of sleep the next day, Mandy feels like a zombie of some sort, or a "bruised and beat-up punching bag." The bullies airdrop a video of herself getting slimed from the previous day, forcing her to relive the event, and joke about "breaking" her. Trying to ignore them, Mandy tries to research about ghosts and hauntings.

- Returning to her image search, Mandy finds the building on Google Maps. It's a movie theater in Peace Valley, Utah.

- Mandy mother comes home, and mentions that the next place she has to travel to is Cedar City, Utah. Mandy gets excited, because that's where her friend Lindy lives, and works to convince her mother to take her with her. She lies, telling her mother that she has a homework assignment that involves writing about the history of a small town in Utah near Cedar City.

- Mandy, about something that inconveniences her: "But that's not important." Her mother: "Don't say that. Everything about you is important!" (Finally… some good f*cking parenting.)

- After talking for a bit, her mother agrees to take Mandy with her, looking forward to spending a few extra hours with her daughter and happy that Mandy will get to spend time with her friend.

- On the plane ride to Utah, Mandy thinks she sees the ghost boy run toward the aisle of the plane. It turns out to be a normal child, flying with his family, who just happens to look similar. She relaxes again, but continues to see strange flashes of red in the corner of her vision.

- Once in Cedar Point, Mandy's mother sets her up in their hotel room. Mandy pulls out the picture of her brother from her luggage, setting him up at the window so he can see the view. (The moments with the picture of her deceased brother are sad, but also extremely sweet.) She then calls Lindy, and they arrange to meet up the following day.

- Mandy gets on a bus and goes to the Cedar Point city hall, where she learns about the mysterious old theater in Peace Valley (which she's learned is only 20 minutes away from Cedar Point, and seems to act like a suburb of the larger city). She learns that the theater used to be "Sideshow's Snack Shack," which was a family diner that was only open for 3 years; it closed 17 years ago, when a boy was kidnapped at the diner.

- Mandy sees a police composite sketch of the assumed kidnapper, but all she sees are "dark eyes and hair, straight nose, flat mouth. … The man was just so… ordinary." The sketch was printed in purple ink, for some reason, and people involved in the case referred to the kidnapper as "the purple man." Alarmed, Mandy connects this information to that post she saw on the FNAF subreddit. She feels like she's stepped into a FNAF fanfic.

- Later that night, Mandy has another strange dream. This time, she's in the FNAF1 location, and she's dressed "like a security guard from one of the games," which includes a long-sleeved button up shirt, slacks, and boots. (This is just mildly interesting, because saying "like from the games" implies that Mandy can see the security guard character/s when she plays FNAF, something that we definitely can't do in the games irl.)

- She feels like she's being watched, and soon runs into the ghost boy. She gets a better look at him, and can see the picture of a bear character on his red shirt (she doesn't recognize the bear, so probably not Freddy), and she can see how thin and sad the boy looks. She feels bad for him and tries to talk to him, but the boy hisses and growls and bites at her with razor-sharp teeth. He chases her through the restaurant, eventually chasing her into a room marked 'employee's only.'

- "She had a feeling [the ghost boy] was there. He was always there."

- Entering the 'employee's only' room, security guard!Mandy finds herself trapped with the boy, who attacks her. She feels "corroded flesh" when he touches her.

- Mandy screams in her sleep, and her mother is quick to wake her up. Mandy tells her mother a little about the nightmare, and her mother is quick to blame it on the horror games Mandy plays so much. When Mandy's feeling better, her mother leaves the room, and Mandy is horrified to see the ghost boy standing in the open doorway behind her, just watching Mandy. Once again, the boy vanishes when she blinks again.

- Now very scared, Mandy climbs into her mother's bed, sleeping with her mother the rest of the night.

- The next day, Mandy and Lindy meet up, and are happy to see each other in person for the first time. The girls decide to go to Peace Valley themselves, and take a look around the small town, then go to the mysterious old theater.

- The theater is still operational, and the girls buy tickets for today's matinee. They overhear a maintenance worker complain to the woman at the ticket booth about flickering light system in the building, specifically stating that it "hasn't been reliable in 20 years." Mandy realizes that, if the man has worked here for 20 years, he must have worked for the previous business as well, and decides to question him about it. The maintenance man, Jim, tells her that there was a kidnapping incident at the place, and that they were forced to close due to most customers shying away from the area after the incident. He tells her that he was among the search group who looked for the missing boy, but they never found him. Jim agrees to talk more if the girls buy him a soda.

- Jim tells the girls about Stevie, the boy that went missing, citing that the kid always came in with his mother and spent hours playing pinball. Whenever his mother collected him to go home, Stevie would hide from her, wanting to stay and play more; on the day he went missing, it took the adults a bit to realize that the boy wasn't just hiding look usual.

- Mandy asks "What about 'the purple man?'" and Jim answers "You mean the stranger?"

- Jim tells them that the police were called, alerted to the boy going missing, possibly in trouble or taken. When the police questioned the bystanders from the restaurant, several people claimed to have seen Stevie talking with a strange man, and they all described the man in the same way. Jim admits that he never saw the man, even though he was working in the building that day, and doesn't know what any of the witnesses were talking about.

- Mandy wonders if the FNAF game developer (who isn't Scott in this universe) hid the photo of the theater building in the game files as a way of getting someone, anyone, to look into this missing child case.

- Mandy returns to the theater the next day, and asks Jim about the building layout, and how much it changed between business owners. He tells her that a few of the original rooms have been closed off since then, and aren't used anymore. She convinces him to show her these rooms.

- While they're talking, Jim greets a woman that enters the theater. After she passes through to the next room, he tells Mandy that the woman was Mrs. Robbins, the mother of the missing boy.

- Jim takes Mandy to a storage room, where everything from "Sideshow's Snack Shack" was stored; apparently the owner didn't know what to do with the stuff, so he just had it shoved into storage. Jim has to leave, but lets Mandy look through everything.

- The "Sideshow's" business had a brown bear mascot, called "Sideshow." She finds what appears to be an animatronic of the bear, and notes that its mouth has been sewn shut; it gives her an uneasy feeling to be near, and it smells terrible.

- Mandy is intrigued by the idea that FNAF could be based on a real world tragedy, but she also feels terrible for the real world victims. She talks to the picture of her deceased brother that she carries around, talking through her conflicting feelings about this development.

- The ghost boy appears in the storage room next to her, now resembling a "hungry" corpse more than anything else. Mandy panics and tries to run from him, but he follows her, chasing her around the storage space. He disappears near the bear animatronic, and a newspaper clipping is left in his place.

- Her curiosity getting the best of her, Mandy looks at the newspaper clipping. It's an article about Stevie Robbins' disappearance, and includes a photo of him; Mandy realizes that the ghost boy is the missing Stevie Robbins. She wonders why he's haunting her.

- Mandy feels like Stevie is trying to lure her somewhere, like he often does in her dreams.

- Stevie's ghost shows her how to open the bear animatronic, then vanishes inside it. Mandy mimics his actions, turning the bear's head to the side, and the head pops right off. Inside the bear's torso, Mandy sees Stevie's corpse. She panics and runs away.

- Mandy tells Jim, who calls the police. Jim sits with her while the police scour the building, and thanks her for finding the boy's body, so that they can put Stevie to rest and so his mother can have some closure. Jim assumes that Stevie must have climbed into the bear animatronic himself, playing his hiding game with his mother, but couldn't get back out; the coroner later says that he thinks the boy must have broke his neck when he climbed into the bear. Jim also seems to feel bad that he never thought to look inside the animatronic, and that he's been working in the same building as the corpse of his friend's son all these years.

- Mandy's mother comes to get her, very frantic and concerned. As they talk, they're approached by Mrs. Robbins, who thanks Mandy for giving her the peace she needed. Mandy's mother comforts the woman, then takes Mandy back to their hotel room, comforting her daughter as well.

- Mandy, who hasn't cried since she was a toddler, and is a pro at hiding her negative feelings from others, cries on the entire ride back to the hotel. She doesn't stop crying, even when her mother arranges for them to fly home early. She just sits around, clutching her stuffed elephant and crying, unable to stop. At home, she cries so much, her parents become extremely worried about her, and do what they can to comfort her.

- Unable to hide her feelings anymore, Mandy tells her parents how lonely she is, and how sad she feels so much of the time. She tells them all about the bullying at school, and how much she misses her brother, and how much of a freak she feels she is. Her parents listen and hug her. It takes a few hours, but Mandy finally cries all her tears, and falls into a dreamless sleep.

- Days later, Mandy wonders if Stevie's ghost came to her because he was incredibly lonely, like she often is.

- She chooses not to talk about Stevie, or the building, or anything related to it on her blog, or on the FNAF subreddit. She cites "I think if the creator wanted us to know, he would tell us." She drops the subject online, and starts talking more with Lindy.

- The girls wonder how the picture got into the game files, and what the real life missing child case has to do with FNAF anyway, but they decide they don't need to know.

- Mandy's parents keep her out of school for a week, giving her some time to decompress. They talk with her, and, since she's already a junior, Mandy chooses to finish at the prep school.

- On her first day back at school, Mandy puts the mean girl Melissa in her place, towering over the other girl and telling her that she isn't allowed to speak to Mandy anymore. Many of the other students watch on and applaud her. Later that day, her skateboard mysteriously reappears at Mandy's locker. She also makes a new friend in a classmate named Theresa, who shyly admits that she skateboards, too.

- Stevie Robbins visits Mandy's home one last time. He no longer looks like a scary corpse, and instead looks like a happy, healthy little boy. He smiles and thanks her for finding him. As he turns to leave, he adds "Bobby says 'hello.'" He vanishes after this, never to be seen again.

.

. I don't really have much to say about this story. There doesn't seem to be much to question or theorize about - it all seems pretty straightforward. Mostly I'm just disappointed that a story called "the Scoop" didn't have a S.C.U.P.R. machine in it.

That "if the creator wanted us to know, he'd tell us" line is such a bold-faced lie! Like... Scott. My guy. You can't even be bothered to tell us character names, or who we're playing as! You tell us jack all!

I don't live in or near the state of Utah, so I pulled up Google Maps out of curiosity, and there is no Peace Valley, Utah. However, Cedar City is a real city, and New Harmony and Hurricane (the two primary locations of the "Silver Eyes" trilogy) are within about a 30~ miles radius of it, which I thought was interesting. There are other small towns in the area with names similar to Peace Valley, so I think this was a made up location. Strange when all the other Utah locations in this series are real, but this one isn't.

Back to the story, I found Mandy's nightmares interesting. In the first one, she's in the FNAF3 building, being led from room to room by a little boy with brown hair and red and blue clothing. The image made me think of how, in the game, you use Balloon Boy's voice box to lead Springtrap around the building; Balloon Boy is meant to look like a little boy with brown hair, and, while the outfit doesn't match, he does wear red and blue clothing. In FNAF3, we also see versions of Balloon Boy with no eyes (his head sitting in the box of spare parts) and with a wide, gaping mouth (during his jumpscare). I made this connection while listening to her dream, but I honestly don't know if the similarities mean anything.

Plus, if Stevie is Balloon Boy in this situation, Mandy is Springtrap, which doesn't seem to fit right.

Her other nightmare features her as a security guard in the FNAF1 location, with the little boy running from her. Since I'd already thought Mandy was being put into Springtrap's position, at this point I wondered if she was being literally put into the position of William Afton, and that's part of the reason why the boy is running from her and hiding from her. Ultimately, I don't think so -- I think Stevie is just giving her dreams where she's in situations she's already familiar with. But it was a thought that crossed my mind.

.

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

"You're the Band"

- This story opens on Sylvia Collins, a woman who is waiting for her son at a therapist's office. Her son, Timmy, has been behaving strangely lately, and she's been forced to take him to a child psychologist to figure out what's going on with the boy.

- The psychologist, Dr. Munroe, shows Sylvia a drawing that Timmy made. The drawing depicts the animatronic characters from the Freddy Fazbear's line, characters he can name easily; Timmy insists that he saw them perform as a band "when he went to Freddy's." This is troubling to Sylvia, since Freddy Fazbear's closed 30 years ago, and her 8-year-old son has never seen it. But Timmy's been drawing them a lot recently.

- Sylvia says that Timmy's been acting strange lately, referring to memories that he couldn't possibly have, acting like he's living in a past time period. "He seems like a different person … It's like he's two different people. The Timmy I've always known, and then some kid [Sylvia doesn't] know."

- Sylvia feels like a strange child has taken over her son, and that her son is slowly disappearing, being replaced by a stranger. (Honestly, sounds like she and my mother could commiserate together. 🙄 )

- We learn that Sylvia was a kid when the incident happened at Freddy's, and it sent her mother into a panic at the time. Child!Sylvia wasn't allowed to go anywhere but school and church for awhile, where she was accompanied by an adult.

- She worries about this Freddy's phase her son is in. Timmy keeps watching videos online about Freddy's, but most of them are conspiracy theories about the murders and the killer, which Sylvia thinks her son (age 7-8) is too young to hear about.

- Sylvia tells Dr. Munroe about the past week with Timmy. We learn that, the week prior, Timmy's 8th birthday came, and he expressed interest in having a Freddy Fazbear's themed birthday party. Unsure of how to create one, since the place closed 30 years ago, Sylvia went online and bought a few Freddy's themed items off of Ebay.

- One item she bought was a Freddy Halloween mask, sold by someone with the username "Retro Merch." It's a full Freddy head, which fits over a person's entire head. Impulsively, she buys it as a birthday present for Timmy.

- Timmy sits at the breakfast table, wearing a Freddy shirt that Sylvia found at a thrift store. He asks his mother who her favorite character was at Freddy's, and Sylvia, not having thought about the place very much in years, cites "the bird?" as her favorite. Timmy tells her that the bird is named Chica, and then rambles about how much he loves Freddy.

- Sylvia thinks about Timmy's father, James, who died in a construction accident only a month before Timmy was born.

- "Sometimes I feel like, as a single parent, I work twice as hard and do only half as good a job."

- She goes online to see if "Retro Merch" has other Freddy's items for sale, only to find that the seller doesn't exist. The mask she bought from them arrives a few days later anyway. When she opens the box, Sylvia notes that the mask smells like mothballs.

- The day of Timmy's birthday party comes, and Sylvia has their house decorated as much like Freddy's as she could make it. Timmy opens his mother's gift to him and excitedly puts on the Freddy mask, noting how heavy it is. He and his friends (Miles and Isabella) put on a singing show, pretending to be Freddy, Bonnie, and Chica.

- Sylvia, to her son and his friends: "Look at you! You're the band!" (Insert audio of James A. Janise saying "Title card!" here.)

- The rest of the birthday party goes without a hitch.

- That night, Sylvia puts Timmy to bed, only to hear him screaming before long. Timmy says there was something in his room. Sylvia looks under his bed and in his closet, but finds nothing unusual. She talks him down, then gets him settled back into bed. She feels like the Freddy mask is watching her.

- The next morning, Sylvia hears rustling in the backyard while she's making breakfast. When she looks outside, she sees a strange man looking through her window from outside. The man in young, in his early 20s, and apologizes for scaring her. Deciding that the man "didn't look like a serial killer," "dressed in shorts and a t-shirt and [looking] like a college kid," she opens the door to see what he wants.

- The young man claims to be looking for his dog that got off its leash on their walk. Sylvia immediately notes that the man isn't holding a leash, and grows rightfully suspicious. The man comments on the remnants of birthday party decorations around her backyard, noting that they're Freddy Fazbear themed. He seems weirdly excited that some kids still have an interest in Freddy's. Deciding their conversation is over, Sylvia wishes him good luck in finding his alleged dog and closes the door on him.

- Timmy comes in for breakfast. He mentions that the murdered children at Freddy's were there for a birthday party, then says that their bodies were found lined up against the wall. When Sylvia assumes he learned about this on the internet, Timmy tells her he "was there." His voice sounds different from normal when he talks about it.

- (Remember, we're dealing with a different timeline of events in this series. In this timeline, William Afton killed 6 kids at Freddy's one night, but didn't hide their bodies. The kids were found the next day, and, while we don't know if Afton was caught or went to jail or anything, everyone knew he did it and discuss this information openly.)

- Timmy to his mother, in the strange voice: "Don't worry. You're nice, so there's no reason to hurt you." ( 0_o !!)

- Timmy goes to a friend's for a sleepover that night, leaving Sylvia with the house to herself. She doesn't feel like she's alone, though; she expects something to jump out at her from an air vent. She then hears scraping in the ceiling above her; fearful that she has racoons or something, she gets a stepladder and takes a look in the attic, where the sound was coming from.

- While standing on the ladder, she feels something grab her ankle. Thankfully, it's only Timmy, who tells her that his friend fell asleep early, so the other boy's mom brought Timmy home early. The mom also calls Sylvia on the phone to let her know that Timmy was behaving oddly at the sleepover, acting like he'd never seen a game console or a tablet before, and how he kept talking about the murders that happened at Freddy's. Timmy's behavior was so strange, it upset his friend, so the other boy's mother sent her son to bed early and took Timmy home.

- While grocery shopping the next day, Timmy speaks in a different voice, requesting foods that he claims he loves, but foods that Sylvia knows for sure that he hates. When she questions his food choices, not-Timmy yells and throws a temper tantrum. His manner of speech and movements are so odd, Sylvia becomes very scared, and she decides then and there to take him to a psychologist.

- "Why was [Sylvia] so nervous? A person's child should not make them this nervous!"

- (While not directly addressed by this story's narrative, I like that Timmy and not-Timmy have different speaking patterns. Not-Timmy sounds older than Timmy, and seems to have a broader vocabulary.)

- Sylvia does the dishes after dinner, and screams when she sees a strange face looking in through the kitchen window. She dials 9-1-1, telling them that someone is stalking her home. After hanging up the phone, she hears movement in Timmy's room, and she runs to see if her son is okay.

- Timmy is sitting on his bed, talking to an adult-sized shadow. When Sylvia enters the room, the shadow turns to look at her with beady eyes, then slinks up the wall and into an air vent.

- Before Sylvia can process what she just saw, two police officers arrive. She tells that she saw a "young, Caucasian man" peering into her house through a window, and the officers go to check out the area outside.

- "Sylvia had lied. It was not okay. In fact, nothing was okay." (Mood, tbh.)

- This brings us back to Dr. Munroe's office, as Sylvia finishes telling the doctor the whole story. The child psychologist thinks Timmy is upset about something, possibly missing the dad he never knew, and is dissociating. She wants to keep seeing him, so she can help figure out what specifically is bothering Timmy, and then help him work through it.

- Sylvia takes Timmy to stay at her parents house for a few days, not feeling safe in her own house.

- At dinner, Sylvia's father makes steak for the family to eat. When he sees Timmy is unable to cut his piece of meat, the older man picks up his own large, sharp knife and approaches the boy to help him. Timmy sees the knife and flies into a rage, attacking his grandfather and tackling the man to the floor, yelling at him "Don't hurt Timmy!"

- "'I just saw the knife,' Timmy said, 'and I had to protect the others.'" He doesn't tell his mother or grandparents who 'the others' are.

- That night, after Timmy is sent to bed, Sylvia's parents talk to her about her and Timmy's problems, expressing concern for their daughter and grandson.

- Going to bed herself, Sylvia hears a chorus of dogs barking outside. Her parents' dog, Boo, is on alert, barking and growling at something. When Sylvia goes to check if the barking has woken Timmy up, she finds his bed empty, and the window beside it wide open. She looks out the window, and sees Timmy walking across the yard, holding hands with a tall shadow.

- Panicking, Sylvia runs out of her parents' house, chasing after her son. Timmy doesn't hear her call his name after him, or at least seems to ignore her.

- Sylvia is grabbed by a man, who she recognizes as the young man who showed up 'searching for his dog,' and also as the face that peered in through the window at her home. She yells at him, wanting to know why he's followed her and her son to her parent's house.

- The man answers her screamed questions with gentle tones, telling her he just needs her to listen to him for a minute. He introduces himself as Mike, the security guard at the old Freddy Fazbear's Pizza building. (M… Michael?!) He tells her someone broke into the building a few weeks ago and stole the head off of Freddy. He thinks that Timmy's Freddy mask may not be a mask, but rather the real Freddy's stolen head, and expresses concern for what Freddy's head could do to Timmy.

- Sylvia: "How do I know I can trust you?" Mike, nonplussed: "You don't."

- Smiling sheepishly, Mike admits that he broke into Sylvia's house while she and Timmy were out earlier today, and that he stole the Freddy mask from them. Sylvia is angry, but is more concerned about her son being taken by a shadow creature. Mike implies that he know who or what the shadow is, and tells her that he knows where they're going. Mike convinces her to come with him, and to get in his car, where he drives her to an abandoned part of town, parking the car outside of Freddy's.

- Sylvia is constantly aware that Mike may very well be a serial killer leading her to her doom. She becomes especially on edge when he stops outside the old Freddy's building.

- When she asks about it, Mike admits that this building is the very place where children were murdered. Taking the Freddy head, Mike leads Sylvia into the building. Inside, they see Timmy standing on the stage, right between Bonnie and Chica, singing alongside them.

- Sylvie rushes toward her son, intending to grab him right off the stage. She's stopped by "black and white striped tentacles" that shoot out of the walls and wrap around her arms, legs, and waist, stopping her in her tracks. Another tentacle wraps around her neck, almost strangling her. (*opens mouth* … *closes mouth* Nope. I'm not going to say anything. I'm just going to leave that image where it is.)

- Mike yells at the tentacles in surprise, seemingly not knowing what they even are. Sylvie begs him to save her son, and Mike tells her that he has to wait a minute first, strangely knowledgeable about dealing with a child possessed by another child.

- During a certain point of the song, Mike climbs onto the stage with Timmy and the animatronics, depositing the Freddy head over Timmy. After the bear's eyes start glowing (I assume this means the spirit of Gabriel returns to Freddy, and separates from Timmy), Mike pulls the bear head back off the boy, then removes Timmy from the stage.

- The Puppet lowers from the ceiling, and Mike cries out in panicked fear. Simultaneously, the Freddy animatronic, sans head, walks across the room; he climbs up on the stage, puts his head back on, and joins Bonnie and Chica in song. (I love everything about this scene.) The Puppet looks at Freddy and the others, then releases Sylvia from its tentacles, its entire body retreating back into the walls and ceiling of the building.

- Mike runs out of the building with Sylvia and Timmy. They all climb into Mike's car, and he offers to drive them home.

- On the ride home, Sylvia asks Mike for more information about what happened, and Mike tells her that "something was alive in that Freddy Fazbear head, and when Timmy put it on, that something alive went inside him." Timmy pipes up, saying that he was aware that something was in his head with him. Mike also says that he thinks the shadow was helping, and trying to "get [Gabriel's spirit] out of Timmy." Mike swears both Sylvia and Timmy to secrecy about the whole incident.

- Sylvia and Timmy go home and crash, sleeping soundly all night. They get up the next morning and have chocolate chip pancakes. Both are very happy to have their week of horror behind them, and look forward to never engaging with Freddy's ever again.

.

. Me, during the second half of this story: "Finally… Canon Mike content."

Mike introduces himself as the security guard for Freddy's, and takes Syvlia to the FNAF1 location, confirming himself as Mike Schmidt. We're told a lot of specific things about him: He's very young, only in his early 20s, and seems to just wear casual clothing all the time. He's bad at acting and lying, and comes off as creepy when he doesn't mean to. He solves a problem by stalking a stranger and breaking into her house. He's very knowledgeable about the ghosts, understanding that they exist and how to contain them to their animatronic bodies when they get out, and doesn't seem to be scared of most of them. He's terrified of the Puppet though, and there's a point where the Puppet approaches him and he's so scared he can't speak.

(And I'm one of those people who thinks Mike Schmidt is Mike Afton under a different name, so I appreciated all of the joking comments about Mike looking/not looking like a serial killer.)

Speaking of… canon content depicting the Puppet in the FNAF1 location? Very interesting…

(But I keep saying "canon content" like this story wasn't scrapped, thereby confirming it as """"""noncanon.""""""")

I actually wonder if it was scrapped because of the Puppet's presence and behavior, because it's described in very similar ways to how Eleanor is described in many of the epilogues, and it would have made it sound like Eleanor and the Puppet were the same entity when they aren't and confused people.

I think the tall shadow thing that Sylvia sees her son with is meant to be Jake, a spirit who goes around helping Fazbear's victims in this series, but it could also be a spiritual projection of the Puppet. I'm basing this off of its appearance (tall and thin, shaped like something akin to a human, with beady eyes) and its behavior (it's very gentle with Timmy, and fiercely protective of both the boy and the spirit within him).

This story also shows us a version of the FNAF1 building where the Puppet is present, haunting the very building itself. The Puppet hasn't shown itself to the security guard yet, since Mike is terrified of the thing and has no idea what it is, but is able to manipulate the walls, ceilings, and other items attached to the building. It reminded me of how the various wall decorations in FNAF1 constantly change by themselves; possibly, this story was meant to retcon that, suggesting that the Puppet is in the FNAF1 building and constantly changing the wall decorations.

Since Eleanor is the main problem throughout the majority of this series, it's possible that she was the one who broke into Freddy's and stole Freddy's head to sell on Ebay… Which is a hilarious concept, ngl. Can you imagine a scaryass robot doll with claws and Agony tentacles, breaking into an old pizzeria and just… walking out with Freddy's head? And then setting up an Ebay account to make money off of it? Ridiculously funny.

And Mike... sir, you literally have one (1) job! You're supposed to keep people from breaking in and stealing anything! You failed at the one thing you're supposed to do! My man, you are going to get fiiiirred!

[whumpy-wyrms]

Hello hi! Just read the newest chapter and I am Insane

I saw the update and I was so excited I nearly dropped my phone, I was almost normal enough to read it when I saw the wing whump tag, the crowd went insane and it ended up taking nearly 15 minutes for me to start actually reading.

I am insane, your writing is so beautiful.

(This is just me reacting to the entire fic I'm sorry (no I'm not), you don't have to respond to this one)

Anton, the wet cat of a man, watching the trees for an hour each day and counting that as touching grass enough.

He deserves immortality, I think he should get it, he can be trusted yes.

Hjshjshsjsgsjhsjshjshj he's being accommodating with the lights and the textures my heart- (we stan the tisms supporting the tisms)

"But hey, it's for science!" My Absolute Beloved, Anton can do whatever he wants to do he deserves it.

When the when the when the when the autistic wet cats of men communication (Anton and Dew talking at any given time)

The flinch going to the table >>>>>>>

THE LYING ON THE FRONT >>>>>>>>>>>> OHOHOHO YES

GLOWING GREEN LIQUID IN A COMICALLY LARGE SYRINGE YESSSSSSSSSSSSDHSHSFFHSDHHSHKDJFHSHDSJJ i am so normal about this i swear

The descriptions are so beautiful and vivid, have I mentioned I love your writing?

The Cloth Gag Yes

I just had to put my phone down for a second at that line woa I'm not usually one for duct tape gags, but this may have changed my mind on that front

When the man is in Pain and the other man is sat Criss-Cross Apple Sauce

He is in pain for weeks oh my with only Anton for company oh my he is going as insane as I am

He is Breaking someone get him a plushie this is beautiful I am handing him a chicken plushie because he is

the wings The Wings THE WINGS THE WINGS THE WINGS THE WINGS THE WINGS THE WINGS THE

YIPPEE YIPPEE YIPPEE YIPPEE YIPPEE YIPPEE YIPPEE

HE IS IN SO MUCH PAIN HE DESERVES A COOKIE

He is Breaking poor guy ohno

""I'm tired of being scared of you,"" I Am On My Knees Good Sir I Didn't Need My Heart Anyways It's Okay

I am holding him so gentle

A lil kiss on the forehead if he's okay with that

Hold lab birb gentle like hamburger

I am giving him a week's paid holiday somewhere maybe just home for a bit (oh wait that's the lab now isn't it :3 )

What's the Anton doin

A COOKIE

YEASSSS

THE BOI GOT ONE YIPPEE

I was going to say give Dew a weighted blanket but I guess he has one already huh

"maybe four weeks? Fuck, that was insane." I'LL TELL YOU WHO ELSE IS INSANE OVER THIS

"keeping Dew from moving an inch away from his captor?"

Damn that line. Someone fetch me my fainting couch. I must be dramatic and think of this line often.

Anton you're not the birb here why are you cooing

"excusing Dew's mention of his old life just this once" Dew should slip up :3 as a treat :333

Anton is but a silly guy. A harmless, silly guy.

He has never done anything wrong ever. I support Anton's rights and wrongs. But he has not done wrongs. He is so. He is a little guy, ur honour. He should be allowed to do whatever he wants in life.

Birb instincts *sounds of wait hold on wait I need a minute wait*

Dew's got wings now yay :3

Also his clone doing his own top surgery is even better.

Have a good 24 hours!!!! I'm going to go try to be a little less insane about this I swear (difficulty impossible)

Also I wrote the live react thing in a word doc and it ended up 661 words long! Sorry for so much!

AHHH KJDFGSJGF TYSM I LOVE GETTING ASKS LIKE THESE!!!

A CHICKEN PLUSHIE FOR DEW OMG im definitely gonna draw that now :))

Anton and Dew are both silly little guys living in our silly minds rent free

us when Anton does Anything: its okay he was just feeling silly :3

anyway i was giggling kicking my feet the whole time reading this,, these asks make me so happy :) its still such a surreal feeling having people react to my writing and ocs this way AHHHAJSKDGAKJ this means So Much to me you don’t understand. thanks so much again for the support it makes me so happy people like my writing and characters!!!!! :)

[grrrrrarro]

Hi uh feel free to ignore this if you want, I’m really upset and have been crying on and off for the past hour because my older brother is an asshole. I won’t go into details but can you do a male Yautja x reader (she/her pronouns please) like being protective of the reader and defending her because her brother is being mean to her? If that makes sense?

But please don’t feel pressured to do this! I just have a huge Yautja brain rot at the moment lol anyway have a lovely day or night or whatever it is where you are!

My queen i hope u are better now. I really relate man, i did my best to do it good

She/her request open

Yautja with upset s/o

He didnt quite understood, her own Brother? Saying stuff like that? Like yeah yautjas arent really family lovers but they dont ususally argue with their siblings

Yautja will make sure to let her brother know that he is there and he doesnt apriesiate this attitude

He is going to pay more attention to his behiviours and use deadly stare. Hopefully her brother gets the point and stops (yknow 3meter murder Alinen isnt something that average person wants to fight yknow)

But its not about her bother, its abour her. If shes uncomfotable and upset all his focus will go on her. He will deal with the problem later

Will hug her and keep her close. Probably purr and comb her hair

He will try avoid family meetings especially if others dont do anything about it. If she is one of those people Who dont need/want to talk to her family members, he wont mind just yeeting her to ship and leaving this silly planet

If she has any comfort foods/pet/plushie he will litteraly fetch it for her. U sad? Uhhh wheres ur fav *insert whatever u rly want idk*?!?! He will speedrun finding it

If her bro wont stop acting like thet he might have little talk with out alien boo🥰 very close one with hissing and threatning (dont worry he wont kill him or anything, mostly show off)

Overall 9/10 more focused on her and comforting her than the idea of revange or anger.

I never responded to ask so fast, ily u man i rly relate i hope it will get better(it will)

[mooodyblue]

What about cg!aus dealing with a sick you who had a cold but just wants to sleep all day?

finally getting a request out!!! hope you enjoy <3

wc: 718

masterlist

it was quiet. unusually quiet. austin had returned home after you had suddenly stopped texting him, worried that something happened. he went straight to the bedroom, frowning at the sight of you asleep in bed with a box of tissues on the bedside table and a trashcan full of them next to it. he noticed you woke up nasally but shook it off as allergies. “hey baby,” he crouched down next to the bed, placing a hand softly on your side. “you alright?”

you peeked over your shoulder and turned to face austin, tucking your hand under the pillow. “don’ feel good.” you mumbled sleepily.

“what's not feelin’ good? everything?” he asked, gently rubbing your arm. 

you closed your eyes again, letting out an incoherent mumble. 

he placed a hand against your forehead and then your cheek. “damn, you're warm. why didn't you tell me?”

“bad word.” you muttered.

he rolled his eyes and chuckled softly, “is my baby feelin’ tiny right now?”

eyes still closed, you nodded and pulled the cover over more of your body, hugging yourself for warmth. he pressed a kiss to your forehead and stood up, making his way to the bathroom to fetch you the nasty, cold medicine that you hated so much. you hated grape flavor, why did austin keep buying grape flavor? why not cherry? 

in an effort to make you more comfortable, he dimmed the lights in your bedroom and brought out an extra blanket in case you got cold. austin sat on the edge of the bed with the cold medicine in hand, placing the other on top of you. “i know you wanna sleep, but i need you to take this.” 

“no.” you shook your head. “it's gross. wanna sleep.”

“i know it's gross, but it makes you feel better. don't you wanna feel better? it'll even help you sleep.” you responded with silence, refusing to look at him. you'd left him no choice. he reached over the abandoned plushie on his side of the bed, putting it in front of his face, and walking back over to your side, “don't ya wanna feel better? c'mon, y/n! i miss playin’ with you!” he mimicked in a higher voice, wiggling the plushie in front of his face. 

you squinted your tired eyes at him and then back at the plushie. “daddy-”

“‘m not daddy! i am-” he gulped, forgetting the name of the plushie in his hand. “um…” there was a look of confusion on austin’s face as he got a closer look at the bear. “what's your name…” 

“it's fuzzy.” you replied, hoarsely.

“i know you're feelin’ little baby, hold on…” he muttered. 

“no, daddy. his name is fuzzy.” you giggled.

he mentally cursed at himself for forgetting a simple name like that, but that wasn't the point here. “oh.” the bear was pushed back to his face, mimicking a voice once again. “c'mon, y/n, take your medicine ‘n make ol’ fuzzy happy!” 

honestly, you just wanted to go back to sleep and cuddle with fuzzy. austin too, maybe. the sneeze that came from you was enough for austin to put down the plushie and poured the liquid, purple medicine in the small cup, handing it to you with eyes that said ‘please?’. 

you sniffled and wiped your nose as you sat up, angrily taking the cup from him and quickly downing it. you scrunched your nose and shook your head as the taste lingered in your mouth. “it's yucky, daddy!” you winced. 

“wait,” he rushed out of the room once again to fix your sippy cup, filling it with orange juice and quickly bringing it to you. “here, this should help with the taste.” 

the orange juice definitely helped. you let out a sigh of relief after the taste finally went away. “can i sleep now?” 

“mhm. thank you. such a good baby.” he smiled, pressing a kiss to the top of your head. “you want daddy to join you?” 

you nodded shyly, hugging the bear to your chest. “fuzzy wants to cuddle too, can he join?”

austin sighed dramatically, “i gueesss……” he huffed. “lemme change and i’ll come join you, sound good?” 

you giggled and nodded, getting yourself more comfortable in bed again and excitingly waiting to be held for the rest of the day.

[genshingarbage]

hi i was wondering if you could do the comforting a depressed s/o for thoma and ayato mayhaps?

Ofc lovely! I hope the boys efforts make you feel better even if only a little! - Mod Diluc

Ayato & Thoma Comforting Depressed S/O

||Head cannons||

Ayato

Mmh, bothersome indeed.

Not because you are a bother mind you, more so because he cannot figure the best remedy to make you feel better.

Doesn't mean he will not try though.

"My dear Y/N, Would you like to go for a stroll in Chinju Forest?"

"Here dear, have this- what is it? My boba tea- hm? No I do not mind giving it to you, why did that even cross your mind?"

He will make it habit to bring home small things as hopeful brightening gestures just to see your smile; Dango Milk, A plushie from one of the tourist souvenir shops, maybe he'll even brave face at Yoimiya's firework shop just to get his hands on some of those special dazzling ones that erupt into hearts; he could've swore he remembered hearing you say they're your favourite.

Suddenly you'll find him working at the estate more than normal, wonder why that could be; definitely not so he can keep tabs on you closer and encourage you to keep him company.

He won't mind your idle chatter and jump at unloading your stressed thoughts onto him while he works; a distraction he values to much higher regard than the boredom of his own work.

Vent away reader, hearing your struggles and offering advice or simple silence and playing the doting role of a shoulder to cry on is fine to this young Lord.

If it means helping you smile and sigh a relief then it is all surely worth it.

You do mean so much to him, he hopes you're aware of this.

How easy it is for you to lose yourself in your own self sorrow, letting the facts fly by in a gloomed daze.

But he will remind you, always.

His jokes, albeit sometimes far fetched and rather... highbrow manage to get at least a little huff and smile from you, and that is great! It means it isn't all doom and gloom for his beloved.

He knows mora doesn't fix everything, but he'll be damned if he doesn't exploit his abundance of it to take you to fancy restaurants and in his spare days off; vacations to settlements all around Inazuma, hell- he'll even take you abroad to other nations!

Warming and love filled kisses to the lips, stolen at the most abrupt of times, stealing your breath away mind you.

Gentle cuddles and soft caresses whenever you sit together, lie together too.

What would be better? Is it emotional support that will help? Or would physical affection yield better results, infuriating for him to not know which way is most effective for the love of his love; ah well, he'll just do every darn thing under the sun that let's you see he is deeply and forever in love with you, no matter how sad you become or depressed you feel, he will be there to keep you company through it all and cut through it like he does with so many of his enemies.

After all there is no bigger enemy to him than that of a plague that harms his sweet dear beloved, you reader.

Thoma

"Wanna grab a bite to eat?- Oh! or I could cook for you! What?- waste of time? Nonsense Y/N! Sit down and let me get prepared, tell me, what do you desire; I'll do my best to make it perfect just for you."

No, why are you depressed reader-chan? he hates seeing you so down in the dumps like this.

Stupid depression, he can't kick that away with force as much as he would love too.

He will constantly shower you with kisses, praise and cuddles, anything to put that smile back on your beautiful face.

He will let you do as you please too, twiddle with his dog tag? Play with his head piece for all he cares, he knows how much you love his attire and take joy in sticking close by.

It becomes a rather difficult task when he needs to finish his chores for the Kamisato twins at the estate, but to hell with it, sharing jokes with you, tickling you with the duster mid clean session; "Stop? Why would I do that when I get to keep hearing your cute giggles Y/N? Come here!"

He may even get in trouble a few times, being distracted by you, but there is no better distraction than you, so it's a price he'll gladly pay. At least you laugh again in those times.

He will pop out in any free times he gets to grab some of your favourite snacks, maybe a new blanket for you to cuddle at night with him?

He is nothing but a hopeless romantic, so you can sure bet that he will drag you out even if you refuse at first, to take you to beautiful places you hadn't even realised existed, just to show you the beautiful landscapes and dazzling night sky painted with stars.

Except some cheesy one liners too; "Beautiful isn't it? But not as much as you Y/N."

"I will never get tired of seeing that smile Y/N."

He will remind you all the time of how beautiful you are, and funny too, how much he couldn't ever live without you, how lucky he is to have you be his, how proud he is to know he is yours too.

Depressed or not, he loves you, oh so so so much, and even if he had to remind you every single day that you are perfect and he couldn't prey for a better partner that wouldn't change a single thing.

Because he thought he would never find a family again once he was left adrift at sea that faithful day, but it was you who anchored him back to something warm, something he thought he wouldn't have again, love and companionship.

So he will sooner rather die than not return those feelings tenfold, now, and forever.

[deadpuppetboi]

Fetch (but my Au in 5 sentences or less)

Fetch: Greg doesn't feel like he's comfortable with the way he looks. He feels much more comfortable dressing up as freely as his uncle rather than normally like his father. As Connie, they feel as if nothing could stop them from being them! So when they ultimately face an animatronic activated by their actions, they try their best to keep it under wraps.

Lonely Freddy: Alec is a child in a teenager’s body, or that's what Hazel’s parents tell her whenever he does something out of the ordinary. He's quiet, he hardly does his schoolwork, and he hates it whenever things don't go his way. But there was one thing Hazel would consider to be the only thing that could make up their relationship for the better. That big Foxy plushie in Freddy’s! Alec always looked at it so clearly Hazel should do everything in her power to get it for him!

Out of Stock: Oscar doesn't get anything in his life other than hand-me-downs, used items, or even day-old food. He hates it and he hates how much his mother spends more on herself than on his needs. So when the opportunity arises, he grabs the seemingly broken Plushtrap Chaser and runs off despite everyone telling him not to. He's tired of being told that he's selfish, for once, he wants something to himself that can last more than a week. He just didn't expect Plushtrap to feel the same.

Stitchraith: Detective Larson is at a loss. It seems that the Stitchraith seems to be in one town after another. He thinks that it's all mass hysteria made of rumors made by parents to scare their kids to stop being little brats. Then again, these gruesome murders don't seem to be going away anytime soon. Luckily, Ryan had been enjoying his stay but he cries whenever he goes back to his mom not because he doesn't like her but because he’ll be leaving his friend, Ryan. Honestly, Larson prays that his son would get some real kids to talk to and not just space...

[seacottons]

—ateez as boyfriends [ domestic au ]

notes: swearing. suggestive dialogue. fluff. i blame a certain someone for this, not gonna say who. @kireiwoo

— hongjoong

very caring and attentive towards you

so much so, that even his friends have complained how it isn't fair he doesn't scold you like the way he does to them

he enjoys many activities with you, such as

helping him dye his hair an ungodly color every other month

he'll insist you try experimenting with your own tresses

but you only have the courage to dye the very ends of your strands

"i don't think i can pull off that color as well as you do," you'd say.

"that's a load of bull. you'll suit every hair color."

you'll just roll your eyes playfully at his biased behavior.

other activities include getting tiny matching tattoos together.

the tiny flower and butterfly on your wrists was most likely your favorite due to its simplicity in design and the meaning behind it as well.

spontaneous dates are his favorite.

behind closed doors, he loves to constantly shower you with pecks and smooches.

often gets teased by his friends from how whipped he is for you.

randomly books vacations for you two to relax and unwind every so often.

although he enjoys it, he is a big, tired baby when it comes to traveling

always wanting to lean his head against your shoulder

or cuddling you close for warmth due to the airport's air conditioners blasting frigid air.

has written many songs about you

and when he's finally ready, he'll not only ask you to listen to them, but to also spend the rest of your life with him and share his last name as well.

— seonghwa

constant pet names

"darling."

"the sun to my stars."

"the moon to my sun."

"love of my life."

you like to call him mars, mostly.

but he revels when you call him 'twinkle eyes' for some reason.

has a habit of pulling you into his lap.

you'll subconsciously play with the strands of his hair as he does so, him being too distracted bickering with his friends to realize sometimes.

will always give you pleading looks whenever wooyoung or san tease him.

sometimes, you walk in to find wooyoung settling onto your boyfriend's back while he greedily devours the bowl of popcorn entirely by himself.

or other times when both wooyoung and san constrict his limbs with their arms whenever you're near.

"y/n can't save you now, so cut the whining."

you'll only sigh and shake your head in amusement.

"what are you guys doing to my poor boyfriend?"

"he changed the movie we were watching without our permission!"

"because i have no damn clue what's going on, and harry potter is too confusing!"

coffee dates.

loves to sleep with you tucked against his chest.

always has an arm draped around your frame.

butterfly kisses on your neck.

soft touches against the small of your back and waist.

his favorite pastime with you would be stargazing.

"baby, look. it's me, mars-io," he'd say whilst pointing up to the large, bright star in the night sky.

when it's too cloudy outside, or when the weather isn't forgiving, he'll turn on the indoor star projector he bought so the two of you can stargaze in the comfort of your own bed.

— yunho

is the epitome of romantic.

is constantly smothering you in love and affection.

always has heart eyes and admiration in his eyes at whatever small task you do or say.

rant about an ancient dynasty?

heart eyes.

bombard him with useless information about a certain abandoned island.

heart eyes.

gush about the new cute bakery that recently opened up?

heart eyes.

if you had a money jar for every time he says 'i love you', you'd have enough money to buy a plane ticket or two.

always willing to drop everything to help you with whatever it is you need.

will wake up in the middle of the night when you text him to ask if he's awake or not.

willingly stays up to keep you company.

but sometimes, when he's too tired, he'll knock out accidentally and profusely apologize to you in the morning.

very supportive of your life choices.

hates seeing you cry because it makes him want to bawl his eyes out as well.

his hugs are bone-crushing.

but he is a gentle giant nonetheless.

likes to attempt to bake pastries with you.

half of the time, the goods either turn out undercooked or burnt.

"they have love in them, that's all that matters."

will always insist that you can rant to him about anything and everything.

you've never felt so valued in your life before meeting him.

is the most understanding human being you've ever gotten the pleasure of knowing.

"i wish we were vampires," he says one day.

you give him an amused look, lips outstretched into a smile, "why, silly?"

"so we can spend an eternity together."

— yeosang

his heart flutters when you notice the smallest things he does.

it makes him feel appreciated and acknowledged.

like when he changes up his hairstyle or earrings.

or when he wears a new sweater.

a big, big softie when it comes to you.

can and will want to spend all day in your arms on his days off.

quick witted and has a knack for noticing the tiniest detail.

very shy and awkward at first.

but when he gets more comfortable as time passes on, you won't be safe from his snarky little comments anymore.

will constantly bring up the thing you said or did months ago to prove a point.

"oh, you like this flavor? three months ago you told me it tasted like vomit."

"remember that time you woke up in a rush to get to work thinking you were late, only for me to drag you back inside because it was three in the fucking morning?"

you stop mid-chew and peer up from your plate of rice.

"your point, yeosang?"

"oh, nothing this time. i just wanted to tease you."

is the type to have a mid-life crisis when you can't decide on a restaurant.

"but i don't want to eat at the chicken place again," you'll whine.

"it's been thirty minutes, and you still haven't decided what you want!"

"you're rushing me!"

"y/n! just pick!"

loves to cuddle with you, especially in the colder months.

wraps a blanket around your frame and tugs you in closer against his chest.

pretends not to understand your jokes just to spite and tease you.

loves when you cling onto him.

his favorite pastime with you would be just walking around together at night and trying out different types of street food.

or even visiting any of the local beaches for a relaxing walk together.

— san

persistently keen about whenever you feel upset or down.

he reads you better than any open book.

sometimes, it scares you, but you appreciate how he's always so eagle-eyed about your behavior.

loves to hug your head.

you allow wooyoung to crash some of your dates with san sometimes.

other times, san will whine and tell him to go find his own date.

"if y/n accepted you as a boyfriend, then you should've disclosed that i'm part of the deal as well. buy one get one free."

"as what exactly?"

"the hot, clingy best friend."

will take numerous duck-faced selfies of himself because you think they're cute.

often times, he'll ask you to mirror his expression, only for him to press his lips against yours a second before his phone snaps the picture.

likes when you kiss his dimple.

"y/n! it looks like a crater from the amount of times you've kissed it."

he likes to tease you.

a lot.

touchy.

very touchy.

always has an arm around you.

rests his chin against your shoulders.

playfully smacks your rear when you're sassy with him.

or leans in to hold your jaw whilst whispering teasing words into your ear that has you becoming docile and bothered in mere seconds.

has you wrapped around his finger as much as you have him wrapped around your own.

likes to have weekly picnics with you at the park and admires all the dogs running about.

"i should bring byeol next week. maybe she'll like to play fetch too."

"i don't think that's a good idea.."

you often find him fast asleep holding onto a plushie for dear life whenever you're away.

you'll pull it away from his arms, causing him to stir awake groggily.

he'll stare in confusion as you throw the plushie aside, before pulling you in tighter as you wriggle into his arms.

"you're softer than shiber," he'll mumble sleepily against the crown of your head.

— mingi

mingi is sometimes self-conscious around the public eye and others, but when it comes to you, those layers of fear and insecurity get stripped away instantly.

doesn't mind being vulnerable with you.

he craves affection, adores it even, but is insecure about not being able to return it well enough for his liking.

likes when you give him attention.

easily gets jealous when someone else grabs your interest.

reassuring him 24/7.

"yes, mingi. you're the love of my life."

kissing his pouting lips for good measure.

the smallest of gestures has him a blushing mess.

even holding hands in public.

when he's not being a sentimental sap, he'll like teasing you lovingly.

"wow, you have this many photos of me in your phone?"

you'll scrutinize him in confusion.

"are you that obsessed with me, y/n?"

"mingi! you told me to take half of those photos of you!"

"oh, right. i forgot."

a silence weighs down onto the two of you.

"but would you have taken them if i never asked you to?"

constantly laughs about the things you say, although you don't think you're that funny.

always seeks your approval subconsciously.

will always shield you from the rain, playfully yelling at the droplets sometimes.

"you can't make y/n wet! only i can!"

"mingi! we are in public!"

wanted to go strawberry picking because he saw a celebrity try it out on instagram live.

accidentally steps on many berries though.

"it's okay, they'll just make another plant. i did them a favor."

brags about you like no tomorrow.

even for the tiniest, minuscule thing.

"oh, i've already tried the brand of ice cream. y/n always buys that for me."

"i don't need to pay all this money for a measly slice of cake. y/n's cakes are much better."

"no, wooyoung. i'm not jealous of your new shoes." he'll lightly pinch the boy's side, "y/n and i have already bought ourselves matching pairs."

"you two are so fucking cheesy, it hurts."

when he's not bragging about you, he's boasting about himself.

but if that's what helps him raise his confidence levels up, you'll gladly sit down hours on end listening to how he has more 'swag' and 'charisma' than all of his older friends combined.

— wooyoung

teases you like his life depends on it.

says you can't get enough of him, when in reality it's the other way around.

but you let him believe whatever he wants.

but deep down he just really gets satisfied with himself if he raises your mood and makes you smile.

especially when you're not having a great day.

uses way too many emojis when texting you.

"wooyoung, why am i saved as as 'clingy bug' on your contacts?"

he'll squawk indignantly and laugh awkwardly for a second.

"who told you this lie!?"

"seonghwa?"

always wants to show off your love in front of his friends.

"no, i don't want my early birthday gift now. wait until the others show up, and do it front of them."

"but why?"

"so everyone can see how much you love me. can you also cry for good measure?"

"absolutely not."

he enjoys the dates you have in his apartment the most.

the ones where he cooks for you and asks for your help, only for him to pester you about over-seasoning or undersalting something.

"okay, fine! we'll just order take out if it tastes that bad," you pout, flinging a small piece of onion on his face.

his head instantly snaps back to eye you judgingly, fist gripping the poor spatula.

"over my dead body."

"so, y/n. how does my plating look?"

"it's beautiful, wooyoung. you've outdone y-"

"what else is beautiful?" he demands, face leaning over the table to give you a knowing grin.

you shove a piece of meat and rice into his mouth, shrugging nonchalantly.

"me."

he deflates at your answer, spluttering pieces of rice onto your face.

"jung wooyoung, you slob!"

— jongho

is the type of boyfriend to stop you in the middle of the road to tie your shoe for you.

very charming and goofy in his own way.

takes pride in himself and his abilities to cater to your every whim and need.

even when you don't ask for his help.

aggressively opens jars for you when you struggle to pry them open.

"no one messes with my y/n."

"you're fussing at a jar of pickled radish, baby."

the type to cling close to you in public in fear of any of the bicyclists or pedestrians bumping into you and harming you in any way.

sometimes acts like you're made of glass.

while it's endearing occasionally, it is a bit suffocating at other times.

doesn't believe you when you say you're tough and don't need protection.

very selfless and willing to help you with anything you need.

never one to shy away from social gatherings with his friends, always pulling you along with him despite you being shy and clingy most of the night.

also a big tease.

when you help him hold down his legs for sit ups, he asks for a smooch.

pulls away from you when you try to kiss him.

and will laugh at your pouting face as he urges you to try once more.

"stop moving, i just want to kiss you!"

after numerous tries, he finally allows you ( you truly think you over-powered him though ) to kiss his cheeks or lips.

he then proceeds to squawk loudly in retaliation and playful disgust.

although he loves teasing you, when the game is flipped the other way, he'll be a shy mess of embarrassment.

"i don't mumble your name in my sleep."

"you always do, silly."

tucked underneath his macho exterior, you know he's prone to criticism and takes it to heart much more than he likes to show and admit.

so, whenever you get the chance, you always fulfill his need to be appreciated, loved, and taken care of.

is utterly and extremely protective of you.

"who just whistled at you?" he grumbles, "i'll break their jaw like an apple, you know i will."

[bestiesenpai]

youtuber Sukuna

I beg you to read the shitposts I made about this, they are delicious. You don’t have to of course but...if you loved me you would :) s/n = screen name, and I hope you chuckle at Sukunas screen name

Content warning: uhmhm lowkey incel shit(mean internet comments and whatnot)

part two --- part 3

Name: Sukuna. Age: 25. Height: 6 foot 5 inches. Occupation: toxic Youtuber, fitness trainer and hot guy.

Sukuna wasn’t exactly known for being kind. He wasn’t nice to others, rarely having anything good to say about anyone, and he’d made a successful Youtube career out of it. First starting as a fitness trainer at his gym, through encouragement from his clients and the notion of a quick cash grab, he started Youtube.

He didn’t care about it and that reflected in the quality of his videos and editing. He didn’t have consistent uploads, just filming and posting videos whenever he wanted, analytics be fucked. But somehow, that worked out for him, and he quickly found himself with over two million subscribers just frothing at the mouth for his next video.

And those subscribers were some of the worst people. Sukuna didn’t care about fostering a safe space online for others, not in the slightest. His comment sections were atrocious, both on his Youtube and his Instagram. It was full of toxic men one-upping each other constantly and dragging on each other for not being able to work out as much as Sukuna did.

Sukuna was a large part of why his fanbase were so toxic. He himself often made bad comments about others, whether fellow creators or people that happened to appear in the backgrounds of his videos, and on more than one occasion he’d been ‘cancelled’. None of that mattered though, all he cared about was shitting on other people and making money.

Sometimes he played video games and posted it, but not too often. Sukuna often stated he wasn’t so much of a fucking lonely loser that he’d play video games all the time, and so the gaming videos he did post were few and far between. He played angry shooter games and GTA, mindless button clicking he could get lost in for a few hours for a video.

Laying in bed one night after uploading his most recent video, one where he rages at 12 year olds on GTA online, Sukuna was just scrolling through his phone mindlessly. After he uploads video game content, like clockwork, he gets recommendations for gaming channels. He only watches a few of them, mostly leaving mean comments saying what losers they are, but one catches his eye.

He’s never been recommended this kind of video before. The thumbnail is light and bright with some pink aesthetic lights in the back. But the most enticing thing is the person in the middle, cute pink cat ear headphones on and a bright smile.

“Let’s see…” Sukuna mumbles to himself, mindlessly clicking the video. He hasn’t even read the title, he only clicked it because they were cute, and here he is nearly blinded by the bright setup they have.

“Hi everyone, it’s (Y/N) here and I’m really excited today! We’re going to be playing this new game I found!” Sukuna is immediately enraptured by the sound of your voice, watching how your face changes as you talk. His eyes drift off to the decor behind you, cute plushies and healthy plants, and some twinkling fairy lights. There’s books as well, and your chair is one of those ergonomic gamer chairs he has as well but in pink.

Sukuna watches the video dumbly, totally in the dark about whatever you’re doing, but loving it all the same. All he knows is that he likes the sound of your voice, and when you laugh and smile at a funny part in the game, it makes a light flush come to his cheeks.

It only takes one video for Sukuna to spiral into more of your content. He watches a video on your gaming setup, and he’s surprised that so much technology can come in pink. He watches a video on how you edit, a few of you cooking in your kitchen, and even a few vlog videos.

He quickly subscribes to your channel, and when you plug your social media, he immediately goes there. Pulling up your Instagram, he stares at your profile picture and almost audibly coos at you for being cute.

Your profile is just as cute as your videos are and Sukuna barely remembers to follow you before he’s going through your whole feed, liking every picture he sees. Sometimes he leaves comments, only one word though, ‘cute’. He’s never liked something so outright cute before, it wasn’t who he was and it definitely didn’t fit with his brand.

Falling asleep after following you on every platform, Sukuna wakes up thinking about you as well. And he also wakes up to hundreds of comments from all his accounts, bombarding him with questions and screenshots from last night.

‘SUKUNA WHY WOULD YOU LIKE THIS SHIT?!’

‘OMG Sukuna liked (Y/N)s posts!!’

‘Sukuna is so gross and toxic, you better stay away from (Y/N)!’

‘SUKUNA YOU GAY NOW’

‘EW why the fuck do you like this bitch?’

There were hundreds of comments that he waded through. Most were from his fans, expressing disgust at how many photos of yours he’d liked and wondering why he, Sukuna, most heterosexual alpha male on the planet, would like a pretty in pink Youtuber who had bubbly intros and whined when their animal crossing villagers wanted to move away.

Other comments were from your fans, some in awe that he would like you considering how much he said he hated overly cute things. Other fans expressed concern, worried what this might mean for their favorite Youtuber. Did Sukuna want to cause problems, potentially hurting you? He did have a reputation of bullying others, so this wasn’t far fetched.

Checking your Instagram, you didn’t make any comment about it. There wasn’t any update or anything, but on his end he was being tagged in endless Twitter threads with screenshots of him liking your posts and commenting under them.

“For fucks sake.” He grunted, clenching his phone in his hands. The amount of notifications he was getting were starting to upset him and he nearly threw his phone to get them to stop.

Ignoring his phone for the rest of the day, Sukuna went to the gym like he always did and trained with his clients. Some of them brought it up to him, asking him if he had a mind break last night and forgot what he was doing. Sending them harsh glares, Sukuna refused to talk about it.

“Oh my fucking god.” Sukuna nearly wailed when he got home, finally checking his phone. His name and yours had begun trending, and the hashtag #protect(Y/N) was also. Muttering angrily under his breath, Sukuna turned on Instagram live.

“Okay what the fuck!” He shouted, seeing the live become instantly flooded with people all screaming about you and him. “You’re all fucking annoying, you know that?” Glaring harshly at the camera, he read some of the comments that went by.

‘WHY’D YOU LIKE (Y/N)S POSTS FROM 2017’

‘Are you two secretly dating??’

‘COLLAB!’

“Who gives a shit why I liked their stuff, you’re a fucking weirdo for keeping track of me. And we aren’t secretly dating, dipshits.” Rolling his eyes, Sukuna scoffed as more comments came in begging for a collaboration. “And think about it you morons, why would we collab? Our shit is too fucking different, what would we even film about?”

Sukuna stayed on Instagram live for nearly an hour answering questions asking about you. Every time he had to answer that you weren’t secretly dating, he got a little more annoyed. Not at the comments themselves but at the fact that it was true; you didn’t even know he existed.

Ending the live in a huff, Sukuna didn’t feel any better than before, and it was made even worse by the fact that everything he said was being relayed to Twitter, and you were tagged in every tweet.

“These idiots!” Staring at his phone, Sukuna couldn’t believe what he was seeing. On your Instagram stories, you’d posted a q&a for your followers, and nearly all of the comments were about Sukuna.

“Hi everyone! No, me and Sukuna aren’t dating!” You said, laughing a little to ease how uncomfortable you were. “To be honest, I’ve never even heard of him before! As you know, my content is very...different from his, so our circles don’t exactly intersect. But I’m always happy to have new followers and potential friends!”

“Fuck me.” Sukuna groaned, cringing at how uncomfortable you looked having to address the sudden onslaught of questions. For once he wished he’d actually given a shit about his online presence, so that maybe one day your circles could intersect. He knew he scared you, he scared a lot of people, and this was just proof.

“Uh, Sukuna if you see this, hi it’s nice to meet you!” You said in the next slide, puffing out your cheeks and waving cutely at the camera. It made Sukuna blush, and he hated it. “Thank you for following me and liking my content! I was very surprised that you found me!”

“Of course I did, idiot, you’re fucking cute.” He muttered under his breath.

“I know a lot of people are asking for us to do a video together and I know our content is really different, so don’t feel pressured to respond or anything, but the offer is open! If you’d like, we can collab on something.”

“On what?” He asked like you were there.

“I cook sometimes, and I know you cook too! Maybe we can make a cooking video? You can teach me how to make healthy food or something!” Sukuna could tell a fake laugh when he heard one, and you definitely had one right now. “Anyways, thank you! Bye Sukuna!” But hearing you say his name cutely like that made him not care.

He nearly responded right away, accepting the collab offer now that you’d spoken about it, but he didn’t want to seem desperate. He watched through the rest of your Instagram stories, going back and replaying the parts where you talked about him over and over and his heart clenched every time when you said his name.

In the dead of night, Sukuna DM’s you after watching your latest video and leaving the simple comment ‘check your DM’s’.

“Fuck, what should I say?” He’s suddenly stumped as he looks at the keyboard. Typing and retyping a message, in the end all he can say is hi. He doesn’t expect a reply, ever, but when he gets a vibration on his phone two seconds later he jumps to read it.

(S/N): hi Sukuna! :)

(cursedgod): hey

Real fucking smart, repeating what he just said.

(S/N): is there something you wanted to talk to me about?

(S/N): I hope you haven’t been annoyed at all the notifications you’ve been getting!

(cursedgod): No it’s okay

(cursedgod): we can collab if you want

Good Sukuna, good. Play it cool, don’t let them know that your fingers are actually trembling because you’re nervous.

(S/N): do you want to?? I don’t want to pressure you! I know we’re pretty different haha

(cursedgod): yeah, let's do it. Cooking?

(S/N): sure!

Looking around his home, he was suddenly assaulted with the fact that he didn’t have any furniture. He barely had a proper bedroom, just a mattress on a bare frame and a dresser. His lounge room was the same with his computer setup in one corner and then nothing else. There was only a couch, a mounted TV and a fold out table and chairs for his dining room.

(cursedgod): I know a studio kitchen we can use, I’ll send you the address

Thank god he’d done promo work for a brand in a studio one day, otherwise he’d be fucked.

(S/N): awesome! I’m free next Saturday!

And just like that, it was a date. Well, a meeting. Sukuna knew it wasn’t a date, but his heart still thumped like it was one. Confirming the time, he ended the conversation with a curt goodbye and obsessed about it throughout the night.

When the day to meet you came, Sukuna nearly ran late trying to pick out his clothes. He’d never cared about looking good or presenting himself well in front of others, whatever version of him he turned up in was what they got. But for you, he wanted to try a little harder.

Waiting outside the studio space, Sukuna rubbed his hands together nervously. You’d messaged a day or two ago offering to put the video on your channel since it probably wouldn’t fit his aesthetic, so he didn’t have to bring his shitty camera equipment.

“S-sukuna?” Snapping his head up, Sukunas mouth fell open looking at your curious face a few feet away, an Uber driving off behind you. You were even cuter in person, just his fucking luck. How was he expected to act like a normal person when his recent obsession was here looking better than he could have imagined.

“Hi.” What comes out is a grunt, not the smooth word he’d hoped. He can see you eyeing him up, taking in all the thick and corded muscles of his body. It made his chest puff out a little, he worked hard for this physique and to have you so openly looking at him made him happy.

“It’s nice to meet you!” Sticking your hand out, you smiled politely at him.

“Same.” Shaking your hand with a firm grip, Sukuna could feel the difference in your palms. Yours was soft and nicely moisturized and he had callouses everywhere and a few cuts and scrapes.

Opening the door for you, Sukuna led you to the studio space he’d rented out. It was a clean and modern kitchen, not unlike his own, but it had appliances and looked actually lived in. Helping you set up a few camera angles, Sukuna felt a pang of nerves hit him in the stomach.

“Sukuna, can we take a picture together?” You asked before starting, and Sukunas brow furrowed deeply. Why would you want to take a picture with him? His expression must have scared you, because you quickly backtracked. “F-for promo for this video, on Instagram and stuff!”

“Sure.” God, did he feel bad or what. He shouldn’t have made that face at you, now you wouldn’t look him in the eye. Crouching down to get the right angle for you, Sukuna watched you pick a cute animal filter.

“Just do what I do.” Throwing up a peace sign, you cutely tilted your head from side to side and smiled. Sukuna tried to do the same but he looked awkward, and most of all he was blushing pretty bad.

You snapped a multitude of pictures, some at different angles and some with different filters, and in all of them Sukuna was blushing at least a little. He managed to smile more as it went on, even laughing at one of the filters.

“Thanks! I’m going to post these really quick and then we can get started!” Giving him a brief smile, you turned back to your phone and set about editing some of the pictures. Looking over your shoulder, Sukuna could see that he looked like a blushing high schooler meeting their idol for the first time and not a grown man.

Once the photos were posted and you tagged him in everything, it was time to start. Setting up your marks on the floor, you took a generous drink of water and cleared your throat.

“Are you ready for the intro? I’ll start it and introduce you, okay?” You’d actually prepared a script for yourself, and showed Sukuna as well.

“Okay.” Stepping in front of the camera, Sukuna bristled at feeling you so close to him. Your arm brushed his casually as you were fixing your shirt, and Sukuna was glad he’d worn his most expensive cologne for this.

“Hi everyone, welcome to today's video! As you know, I’m (Y/N), and today we have a special guest today!” Throwing your arms in the air, you motioned to Sukuna.

“Hi.” He nodded, barely cracking a smile. He could feel you looking at him like you wanted to say something, but he didn’t look.

“So, many people have been asking for us to do a collaboration and it’s finally here!” Clapping your hands lightly, you rocked on your heels and nudged his shoulder with yours. “Do you want to tell them what we’ll be doing today?”

“Uh-” The playful nudge you’d given him was enough to make Sukuna short circuit. “I-I-” He suddenly couldn’t remember how to speak. “Rice?”

“Let’s try that again.” You laughed. “Do you want to tell them what we’ll be doing today?” This time, you didn’t nudge him with your shoulder.

“We’re gonna…” the words were on the tip of his tongue, they wanted to come out and be spoken but he couldn’t do it.

“It’s okay, it’s okay!” Nodding reassuringly, you took a deep breath in and out, and Sukuna shakily copied. “One more try?” When he looked at you, Sukuna expected to see a hint of annoyance in your face, but there was none. You were just smiling softly at him, waiting for his answer.

“Yeah. I’ll uh, I’ll get it next time.” Stepping away from the camera, Sukuna took a drink of water and cleared his throat. Cracking the bones in his neck, he took a deep breath and came back. “Let’s do it.” No more fucking embarrassments.

“Do you want to tell them what we’ll be doing today?” You asked for the third time, slightly swaying your body side to side this time.

“We’re gonna make katsudon today.” Finally, the words he wanted to say came out.

“That’s right! As you can see, Sukuna is really fit!” You immediately hopped in, giving his arm a brief squeeze. “And he knows how to make a ton of healthy meals!”

“Mhmm.”

“So I asked if he could help teach me, and all of you at home, how to make it!” Smiling at the camera, you waited a few seconds before relaxing and turning it off. “Did you like that? We can refilm it if you want.”

“No, it’s okay.” Running a hand through his hair, he pointed to the bag of rice he’d brought. “Let’s get started on this shit.”

Taking fifteen minutes to film the two of you filling up the rice cooker, when it was over, you set about getting aesthetic shots of the other ingredients. Sukuna tried to seem casual off to the side on his phone, but he was really watching you.

Getting started on chopping the ingredients, Sukuna somehow managed to say the things he was supposed to without stuttering too badly. He was amazed that you could make the things he was doing sound so interesting, your narration as you held the camera and tried to do things yourself was impressive to the man that barely knew anything about cameras.

“Sukuna, I need help cutting the meat.” You whined, tapping the meat on the cutting board with a knife. “I don’t remember how you showed me.”

“Here.” Without thinking, Sukuan grabbed your hand with the knife in it and moved it for you. “You just have to move your wrist more, it’s not that hard.” Doing it a few times, when Sukuna felt your chest expand with air against his, that’s when he realized how close the two of you were. “S-sorry.” Immediately jumping back, he stared at the floor.

“Thanks!” Giving him a smile, you kept at it.

“I’ll fry the meat.” Stepping in as soon as you were done, Sukuna already had the hot oil ready. He was eager to cook and do something with his hands instead of - what he felt like - was awkwardly watching you off to the side.

“Okay!” Grabbing the camera, you focused on the pan. “You’re really good at this, Sukuna!”

“T-thanks.” Staring directly at the pan, Sukuna didn’t look away. Even with the hot oil popping up from the pan a few times and burning his fingers, he didn’t flinch at all.

“Ow!” But you did. Your hand had gotten too close, and when Sukuna flipped the meat, some of the oil had gotten on your hand.

“Shit.” Abandoning the pan, Sukuna was ready to drag you over to the sink for some cool water.

“I-it’s okay, it was only a little.” Shaking your stinging hand, you point to the food. “But I think the meat might burn.”

“Shit!”

Narrowly avoiding disaster with the meat, when it came time to cook the eggs, you made a joke about how you liked your eggs in the morning and Sukuna burnt them almost immediately. While not an overtly sexual comment, the implications of the words still affected him.

Somehow, he managed to make the dish come together and while his plated dish didn’t come out the best, yours looked at least halfway decent with overcooked meat and burnt eggs. The only things not messed up were the rice and vegetables, and even then Sukuna was surprised.

“We did it everyone, we made katsudon!” Holding up the bowls, you smiled big and nudged Sukunas shoulder again. “You saw we had a few mishaps along the way, but that’s okay, that’s what made it fun.”

“Yeah, it was fun.” Sukuna chuckled. Despite him being more nervous than he’d ever thought possible, he had fun cooking alongside you.

“Sukuna, will you try mine? I made it super pretty and everything.” Holding your dish up to him, Sukuna wasn’t expecting you to do that. Now he felt bad that his looked so ugly and like a teenaged boy made it; he almost said no.

Eating yours though, somehow it tasted better than he was expecting. It must have been how you prepared it, and the fact that you cared so much about the presentation. Eating it in silence, he let you eat in peace as well for a few minutes and compliment the food to the camera.

“Alright, that’s the end of the video!” Putting your bowl down, you turned to Sukuna. “I had so much fun today, thanks for filming this with me.” Now was his chance to make everything better. Putting his bowl down and bolstering himself with confidence, Sukuna threw his arm over your shoulder and pulled you close to him.

“Thank you (Y/N), I really did enjoy today. I hope we can film again soon!” He squeezed your shoulder and smiled really big at not only you but the camera as well. He knew he was blushing, he knew that even the tip of his nose was a nice rosy shade, but he didn’t care. If people teased him for it, then so be it. But he wanted you to know how he truly felt.

“R-really? You want to?” You asked, looking up at Sukuna from your place smooshed against his body.

“Really.”

“Aww, well you heard it here first everyone! Sukuna wants to shoot another video with me!” Clapping your hands a few times, you waved at the camera. “Okay, bye everyone!”

“Bye.” Sukuna waved too, waiting a few seconds before letting you go and turning off the camera.

“Sukuna, did you really mean it? You want to film another video with me?” You were in utter disbelief. All this time, he’d just seemed very standoffish, if not a little awkward around you. You were happy to film this video with him, he had way more followers than you and it would help boost both your channels, and to hear him say that just made it even better.

“Yeah, I was serious.” Sukuna spoke around stuffing his mouth with the food he still had left. He was more hungry than he thought, the nerves doing a good job of twisting his stomach during the video. Now that it’s over, he can finally relax.

“That makes me really happy.” Eating the rest of your food as well, you leant against the counter. “This is gonna sound kind of mean, but I was really scared to film with you today. I thought you were going to be really mean.”

“Shit, you did?” He grimaced, letting out a sigh. “Sorry I had you worried.” He could already imagine the comments you would get from his fans.

“It’s okay! You’re actually way nicer in person, I was surprised!”

“That’s good.”

“And you’re really buff, you have muscles in places I didn’t even know were possible!” You laughed bashfully at that comment, and avoided looking at him when he stared at you in shock. “I couldn’t help but notice…”

Were you checking him out? Had you been checking him out this whole time and he didn’t even realize? He had seen you eyeing him up when you first met, but were you looking at him like that at other times as well? Now he’d really have to watch your video to see if it was true.

“Thanks, it’s my job.” Could he have said that any lamer? “My job outside of all this, I mean. I’m a trainer at this fancy gym downtown.”

“Oh, I’ve seen some of your videos at your gym! I know which one you’re talking about.”

“You do? You’ve seen my videos?” If he wasn’t surprised before, he was now.

“Yeah, you know I had to do a little research beforehand.” You nodded, beginning to clean up the dishes around you. “And I know you’ve already watched almost all of my videos, so it only seemed fair.”

Did you have to bring that up? Now Sukuna was embarrassed again.

“Y-yeah, I did.” Clearing his throat, Sukuna helped gather the dishes. He took up washing them, another task he could do to get his mind off you. As you took down the camera equipment, he nearly broke several dishes and utensils from scrubbing too hard.

“I’ll call you an Uber.” He said when all was said and done and you were back at the front of the building.

“You don’t have to, it’s okay.”

“No, I want to.” Quickly calling you a ride, Sukuna fiddled with his phone a little more. “Uh, could I- could I-” His voice kept leaving him, and he had to cough a few times. “Can I get your number? I really liked your camera shit and I want to improve mine.” Okay, it wasn’t a total lie. He did like your setup and wanted to make his just as good, but he really wanted your number to potentially talk to you more about things outside of Youtube.

“Sure! Go ahead and type it in.” You were quick to give him your phone, a cute pink phone case on the back of it. Typing it in, he can’t help but notice the little devil emoji you add by his name. He wants to ask, but your ride is already pulling up.

“Bye!” Setting all your camera gear inside the car, you turn and wave goodbye.

“See ya.” Just as you’re about to close the car door, Sukuna gets a burst of confidence. “Text me when you get home, okay?”

“Okay!” And off you go. Sukuna watches the car drive off until he can’t see it anymore. He takes his time getting to his own place, eagerly awaiting your message with every step. But even when you do message him, all he can do is send a thumbs up back and nothing else.

It’s about two and a half days after that that you text him again, letting him know you’re done editing and that you’re going to post the video soon. It wasn’t a very long video to begin with, so the editing was simple enough. Sukuna replied with what appeared to be a lackluster ‘can’t wait’, but on the inside he was shaking. He’d already screenshot all the pictures the two of you took together and added them to a folder.

“Here we go.” As soon as the video went live, Sukuna watched it. He was mortified as soon as it started at the blush so evident on his cheeks, and how it stayed throughout the whole thing. He groaned at the part where he helped you cut up the meat, he almost wishes you’d cut it out. Every little detail that made him embarrassed was there, every little nuance of his actions you’d managed to capture and make it cute.

(Y/N): How do you like it??

You texted him after twenty minutes, eager to hear his thoughts.

(Sukuna): it’s good, good editing and stuff

(Y/N): yay! I’m going to read comments in a few hours, you should too! I bet people will be really shocked!

(Sukuna): yeah no doubt

Oh, he was definitely going to read the comments. Whereas you were going to wait for a fair few to come in before commenting, Sukuna frequently refreshed the page and read the new ones as they came in. You were right, a lot of people were surprised, but he also saw a lot of his fans as well.

‘Ew Sukuna really cooked for that bitch? They can’t do it themselves?’

‘Yeah, why do they have to rely on him? Useless as fuck lol’

‘Sukuna only did this to get laid, (Y/N) looks like an easy fuck’

All of those comments, and many more, made his blood boil. Usually, he wouldn’t care at all about the comments, letting them fester in his comment section and spiral out of control. But for you, it was different.

‘Fuck off and die you pieces of shit. Leave (Y/N) alone or say it to my fucking face’

Sukuna sent that message, along with a variety of other threats, to all the people that insulted you. He didn’t care that this wasn’t his channel and that you would deal with it in whatever way you wanted to. He needed to defend you against the unwanted audience he’d brought you.

Luckily, after seeing Sukunas messages, all of his fans backed off. They knew how serious he was about his threats and there were many rumors that he actually did go and beat people up who said things he didn’t like. No one wanted to be on the receiving end of his torment.

With Sukunas name attached to the video and his heavy presence in the comment section, the video easily went viral. It was easily the most viewed video on your channel, getting on the trending pages of several different platforms.

(Sukuna): hey

It’s nearly a week after the first video that Sukuna messages you, and the hype is still going strong, and your follower count grows greatly from it.

(Y/N): hi! What’s up?

(Sukuna): do you want to film a video for my channel now? We can play a game, I have a few

(Y/N): sure that sounds fun!

Oh how wrong you were. The game Sukuna chose was a scary game, a shooter game with scary zombies and a lot of possible jumpscares. He doesn’t tell you either, so on the night of filming - he insisted on it being nighttime to get the full scary effect - you were caught off guard.

“I don’t know about this.” You whined once you saw the title. The two of you were video calling alongside playing the game together, and Sukuna’s eyes flicked to your figure on the screen.

“It’ll be okay, I’ll carry you, don’t worry.” He had started filming as soon as he’d set up the game, and you were filming yourself as well for him.

“You promise it won’t be too scary?”

“If it’s too scary just close your eyes and I’ll protect you.” Smiling softly at you, he started up the game. The beginning was fine, just a quick introduction to the game, but as soon as things started to get moving, you were scared.

“Sukuna a zombie is eating me!” You screamed, frantically pushing buttons in an attempt to get it off.

“It’s okay!” He quickly got rid of it, and made sure to stay close to your character as the story progressed.

“(Y/N) stay by me, there’s about to be a whole lot of them.”

“Close your eyes there’s about to be a jump scare here.”

“Don’t worry about getting that item, I’ll grab it for you!”

Sukuna nearly forgot he was being filmed, saying sweet things to you to help encourage you and make sure you weren’t overwhelmed. There were many parts where you screamed in fright and Sukuna was there to coo at you and tell you it was okay. He made sure that your character never died, making sure to keep you close until the end of the game.

“Sukuna, that was so hard!” Squishing your cheeks in your hands, you looked at him through your phone.

“It was fun though, wasn’t it? I had fun with you.” Completely abandoning the game, he stared down at his phone with a soft smile on his face.

“Yeah, when there weren’t so many zombies.” You stuck your tongue out at him, and it made him laugh. Leaning his head into his hand, Sukuna grinned when you yawned.

“Aw, are you tired? Better go to sleep soon.” His voice dropped to a lower volume, like you were right next to him.

“I will.” You yawned again and it made Sukuna yawn as well.

“Get off the phone and go to bed, you’re making me tired too.”

“Fine.” Whining out the word, you waved sleepily. “Goodnight Sukuna, I’ll send you the video files in the morning, okay?”

“Night.” Waving back, Sukuna waited until you hung up to turn his stuff off as well.

In the morning, Sukuna was ready to edit. What usually took him a week to edit out of laziness, he took only a day to edit this video with you together. Rewatching the footage, he nearly gagged at seeing how soft his face got when he looked at you, and most of those parts were left in because he couldn’t stand to watch them and fix them.

(Sukuna): videos up

The next day, he messaged you. Once again Sukuna patrolled the comments, swiftly deleting any that said even a hint of a bad thing about you. There was less this time, what with Sukuna adding a warning at the beginning of the video threatening anyone that talked down at you.

This video, like the first, went viral. But for a much different reason. Since Sukuna was emotionally unable to deal with how sappy he was and edit those parts out, everyone got to see how soft he was for you. If the comments weren’t mean, they were screaming about how you and Sukuna must be dating now, because why else would he look at you and talk to you like that?

And much to Sukuna’s dismay, there were also fancam edits of you two together. Any clippable moment of him being sweet on you in the videos you’d made together along with the photos you’d posted on Instagram were edited together and posted on Twitter. You both were tagged in every single one, making sure Sukuna saw all the videos of you and him together. He saved all of them too, delighting in the way you looked with him with all those pretty filters.

By the end of the day, people were trying to put a ship name together for the two of you and he’s seen you repost a few fancams with cute messages of thanks as well. Seeing you receptive to the fans screaming about the two of you made him happy, even if he was still too nervous to text you about anything outside of Youtube.

As more comments came in, people on Twitter were begging him to do a vlog with you. You had quite a few on your channel, going to cafes or filming what your day or week was like. Sukuna had watched them all and was jealous of every single person that appeared alongside you.

(Y/N): hey I’m doing a live on Instagram if you want to join me! I know people really like us together lol it’ll be great for views

(Sukuna): sure

Did you want him to join now? He’d just gotten out of the shower and thrown on a pair of sweats, he wasn’t exactly decent. But he didn’t want to waste time getting ready only for you to end the live.

“Hi Sukuna!” You smiled and waved when he appeared on the screen.

“Hey.” He waved back, not caring about the angle he was holding the camera in. He saw hearts begin to fill up the screen and comments started to fly by, almost all in caps about the fact he was shirtless talking to you.

“Guys, don’t be weird! Who cares that Sukuna is shirtless?” You tried to stop them, but it was clear you were flustered as well. You weren’t looking at him, peeking at him through the screen a few times.

“God you’re all thirsty as fuck.” Sukuna finally looked at himself on the screen. He was shirtless and in bed, hair slightly damp and tousled on his pillow. Reading a few comments, he shot up. “Of course I’m wearing pants, you nasty fuck!” Storming out of bed, he stood in front of the only mirror in his house that wasn’t in the bathroom and turned the camera around. “See, look!”

“Oh.” Gasping softly, you were glad Sukuna didn’t notice you screenshot the live. Clad in only gray sweatpants, Sukuna’s freshly cleaned skin gleamed in the light of his bedroom and every single muscle and edge of his body was on display.

“There, told you I wasn’t fucking naked.” Rolling his eyes, he flopped back down on the bed. None of the comments had gotten any better, all of them talking about how hot he was and how you were so lucky to know him in real life.

“L-let's talk about something else.” You stammered, not showing your face on camera for a few minutes. Sukuna laughed at the comments teasing you for being embarrassed, agreeing with some of them under his breath.

“So, what the fuck are you all doing here?” Sukuna posed the question at the chat, but at you as well.

“Well before you came everyone was talking about you...and you know how everyone has been begging for us to vlog?” You started off slowly, peeking an eye at his face.

“Yeah?”

“I wanted to call you to ask how you felt about that?” How he felt? Why did you want to know?

“You couldn’t have texted me that?” That wasn’t necessarily what he wanted to say, but it made you chuckle, so it was okay.

“No! I wanted to ask so everyone could know!”

“I don’t mind it.” If you wanted to vlog with him, he would do it in a heartbeat.

“So…” Worrying your lip, you looked off camera for a few seconds before looking directly at Sukuna. “Would you like to be in a vlog with me, at a cafe? It’s outside the city, kind of far, but we can rent a car or-”

“Yes.” Sukuna interrupted, nodding his head quickly. “I’ll come. We don’t have to rent a car, I’ll drive.”

“Really?” The comments were just as shocked as you were. Sukuna never filmed anywhere but his home and the gym, this would be a monumental occasion.

“Did you want me to say no?”

“No!” You screamed immediately, nearly dropping your phone. “I just- I wasn’t expecting you to say yes!”

“Well I did.” Sukuna bit his lip, running a hand through his hair and flexing his arm. “So I guess it’s a date, huh?” His normal asshole confidence was back now that you were appearing through a screen and not right next to him. A surprised sound came from the back of your throat, and you nearly dropped the phone again.

“Y-yeah! A date!” It felt good to have you flustered for once and not Sukuna. Laughing heartily at you, Sukuna smirked at the comments.

“Was that all you wanted to ask me or was there something more?”

“No, that was it!”

“Alright.” Licking his lip and letting his tongue hang out of his mouth a little, Sukuna watched you bite your lip as well. “Well I’m gonna go, I got stuff to do, but I’ll text you later (Y/N).” Dropping his voice as he said goodbye, Sukuna left the livestream.

“Holy fuck.” As soon as his phone was off, Sukuna let out a breath he’d been holding in. His heart was pounding hard despite how confident he was in his actions. Flirting was nothing new to him, but with you it felt different and like he’d never done it before in his life.

He watched the rest of your livestream while he finished getting ready for bed, laughing at the comments still teasing you about getting flustered with him. The notifications for Twitter were going off as well, and he knew for sure that there were new fancams for him to check out later.

(Y/N): Sukuna!! You’re so embarrassing!

Texting him after your stream, your cheeks were still burning at the memory.

(Sukuna): hey, you said it would be good for views and it was

(Y/N): I know…

(Y/N): did you really mean it, about coming with me?

(Sukuna): of course. If I didn’t want to I would have said no

(Y/N): that’s good lol!

There was a lull in conversation, and Sukuna nearly fell asleep waiting for you to either text him again or for him to figure out what to say next.

(Y/N): so, a date huh? Are you going to bring me flowers?

Now he was awake. He didn’t expect you to bring that up again, and his eyes flew open. Sukuna’s fingers hovered over the keyboard, mind going blank on what to say.

(Y/N): lol just kidding! I know you only said that for the stream! I’ll text you later about the details, I’m about to knock out

(Y/N): goodnight :)

Well shit. Now he definitely wanted it to be a date.