#have him awkwardly go up to Danny and ask him how he handled having a clone and try to use that info to get along with Kon!

[stealingyourbones]

Gotta love when folks write Superman incredibly anti-clone even though he had good reason in the beginning to Not Like Superboy (HES A WINDOW INTO WHAT CLARK WOULD HAVE BEEN WITHOUT THE KENTS) and decide that forever on he’ll be spiteful towards clones even though he literally Does Not Care if you’re a clone unless you’re Superboy.

[diamond-rozie]

prompt 02: tim’s birthday present

Tim sat in his empty house at the empty dining table. The table was actually quite large; it had enough seats to sit at least 15 people. But there was just Tim there. 

His parents had promised and sworn up and down that they would come back in time for his birthday. He had everything planned out. He picked out the birthday cake, put on the candles, decorated, ordered his parents' favorite foods, his parents' favorite movie for movie night, popcorn the likes. But that morning, just when Tim was double checking to make sure everything was ready for the most perfect birthday ever, his parents had called to tell him that something really important had come up, and they wouldn’t be able to make it. Tim figured it was better than last year, at least they called this time. 

Tim stared down at the cake, the candles lit. He had heard online that people would make wishes on their birthday cake and blow it out. Tim thought that was a weird thing to do, but it wouldn’t hurt to try. 

What should he wish for? It would have to be something special that he doesn’t already have. Tim thought for a long moment, the candles bleeding into the frosting of the cake. 

A brother. 

Tim closed his eyes and put his hands together like he’s seen the other children to do in the cartoons. And Tim wished for a big brother. When he finally wished hard enough (whatever that meant) he opened his eyes and blew out what was left of the candles. 

Tim waited. What exactly was he supposed to do now? In the cartoons, everyone would celebrate and cheer and the birthday boy would open his presents. There wasn’t anyone to cheer for Tim, or any presents for him to open. 

Suddenly the house shook, and the loud sound of a crash sound came from the backyard. Quickly, Tim did the sensible thing and go check out what the noise was. That's what the characters always did in horror movies. 

In Tim’s backyard, there was what looked like a weird space ship that had crashed into his backyard. There wasn’t any fire or anything, but the spaceship looked pretty wrecked. Getting closer, Tim could vaguely make out that someone was inside the spaceship. Looking around, he saw what looked like maybe the handle. Tim couldn’t really tell. 

When Tim put his hand on it and tried to open it, something poked out mechanically and pricked his finger. He flinched back instinctively, caressing his finger tip.

“Recognized: Danny Fenton. System Override.” A robotic lady spoke. Who is Danny Fenton? As if to answer him, the space ship opened its hatch, and inside was an unconscious black haired teenager. “System Malfunctioning. Please Assis-” The robotic voice spoke again, before getting cut off as if the power had died. 

Suddenly, Tim remembered his wish. A big brother. 

This was Danny Fenton, and he was supposed to be Tim’s big brother

----

When Danny woke up, he found himself in a very soft plush something. Something that definitely wasn’t the Spector Speeder. Alarmed, he sat up quickly to find that he didn’t recognize where he was at all. He also didn’t recognize the weird kid that was staging at him from two feet away. 

“Hi, I’m Tim. Timothy Drake.” The boy introduced himself almost business like. 

“Uh, hi Tim.” Danny responded awkwardly. “You got any idea where I am?” Danny sat up properly, moving the blanket (?) off of him and turned to face the weird and kinda creepy kid. 

“You’re in Drake Manor. Which is where I live.” He answered again. 

“Ok…ay” Danny nodded thoughtfully. “Any idea how I got here?” Truthfully, Danny hadn’t really been expecting an answer, but he still got one. 

“Because I made a birthday wish to have a big brother.” He answered in the same way he had answered the other question, very matter-of-factly. 

“Ok- Wait. What?” Danny asked, doing a double take at Tim. 

“You’re supposed to be my big brother, right?” Tim was starting to look a little hesitant, and as weirded out as Danny felt he couldn’t help but feel bad about the whole situation. 

“Where are your parents, Tim?” 

“There not home, because they had really important things to do for work.” 

Danny nodded. “Do you know when they’ll be back?” 

Tim shook his head. “They were supposed to come back today, because it’s my birthday. But they said they couldn’t make it.” 

Well, shit. Didn’t that sound awfully like Danny’s birthdays before he had given up on his parents showing up. At least he had Jazz. This kid looked like he was alone. 

Not liking the silence, Tim started fidgeting again. “So, are you gonna be my brother, then?” 

And what was Danny supposed to say, No? Besides, if he was really causing problems being in this random universe, then Clockwork would figure it out. 

Bonus: 

Danny sat at Tim’s dinner table, the kid looking at him radiating in excitement, each with a plate of stupid expensive pasta in front of them. “You said your name was Tim, right?” Danny started thoughtfully. Tim nodded, drinking up everything Danny said. “Well, first course of action as you, big brother. I need to give you a nickname.” 

Tim’s eyes sparkled at the prospect. “Like what?”

Danny tapped his chin exaggeratedly, “Hm… Tim, Tim.” Turing the name around while he absentmindedly twirled his fork between his fingers, Danny wondered what he should come up with. Suddenly, in a misplaced strength, Danny’s fork flew out of his hand. 

Before Danny could even say anything, “I’ll get you a new one!” Tim offered quickly. Getting up from his chair, his foot got tangled behind the leg of the chair and Tim fell quietly on the floor with an oof. 

Danny laughed at him. “You okay, Timbers?” He asked, getting up to check on the boy. 

“Yeah, I like Timbers.” Tim said, a bright smile on his face despite the blossoming bruise on his arm.

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

table of contents

[lw77]

Diet Pepsi 💈 (LSxMV)

Chapter 3. - Sunburn

Sunscreen can be sexy

Author's note: This one is a little filthy, I'm sorry!

“Jeez, who ransacked your room, dude?” Oscar asks, letting out a whistle at the sight of Logan’s room.

“Oscar, please. The striped salmon top or my baby blue one? Or should I just wear a tank?” a harried Logan asks, shoving the two options into Oscar’s hands as he digs through a pile on his bed for his tank top.

“Uhhh, both?” Oscar answers unhelpfully, causing Logan to glare up at him. “I mean, if you’re wearing your white boardies, definitely salmon. It really brings out your… uh, nipples?” he finishes awkwardly.

“Seriously? You aren’t even trying. At least say eyes or tan, Oscar. Something normal. This is why people think we’re dating,” Logan says, shaking his head and abandoning his search for the tank to put on the shirt. Looking in the mirror, he begrudgingly accepts that Oscar is right—the salmon striped shirt does suit his tan (not his nipples).

Meanwhile, Oscar shudders, remembering the last time they were mistaken for a couple.

“Ugh, don’t remind me, Log. At least tonight you won’t cockblock me. I’m ready to be someone’s pillow princess,” Oscar says with an exaggerated, dreamy sigh for effect.

“Oh yeah? You’ve never seen them, have you?” Logan giggles. “Osc, you’re in for a treat—international ones at that.”

“I better be. It’s been so dry, and if tonight isn’t fruitful, I’m either going to be a born-again virgin or drown myself in that lake, I swear,” Oscar says, pointing at Logan in the mirror.

Swatting Oscar as he turns away from the mirror, Logan says, “Shut up. The only thing you’re going to drown in is your own saliva. Seriously, just wait until you see. Alex is so lucky he’s only bicurious for the homies when he’s sloshed. I don’t know how else he’d handle working around all of them all day.”

Snickering, Oscar replies, “He definitely can’t kiss you tonight, but I’m ready for some homie cuddles and kisses if tonight’s a fail.”

“Always here for some homie cuddles and kisses,” Alex says seriously, hand up in a mock salute as he walks into Logan’s room, mindful of the piles littering the floor.

“Can you please tell Oscar that you work with too many hot people for him to end up in your lap?” Logan pleads with Alex, dashing around as he fills his bag with a change of clothes, towel, and other necessities.

“While my lap is always open to the homies, Osc, there are a couple in there who are definitely your type. I’d be a little more excited,” Alex tells Oscar with a wiggle of his eyebrows.

“Fine, I’ll be realistically optimistic,” Oscar sighs.

“I—uh, I don’t think that’s quite how it works, but there you go,” Alex responds, a little baffled.

“Anyway, how much are we betting that Logan’s going to pop a boner when he sees big Max all wet? Ooo ahh ,” Oscar asks, pitching his voice high to imitate Logan, even pulling his hands together and making his eyes go wide and sparkly.

“Oh, I kind of bet with the boys on whether Max was going to, so Logan, I need you to really pull through for me. I have $100 riding on it,” Alex says, putting his hands up in a "what can you do" motion.

With his hands on his hips, Logan says, “I don’t know whether to be mad that you’re all betting on us, or happy that you have so much faith in my game.”

Twirling his car keys, Alex smiles cheekily and asks, “So, are we ready to go, guys? Your prince awaits, Angel .” Alex drops his tone in a poor imitation of Max.

Logan smacks his shoulder as he grumbles past him and Oscar with a poorly concealed, “traitors.”

Oscar and Alex laugh as they follow him out. “Wait, Angel , come on! Don’t be like that now,” Oscar yells after him.

—---------------- 

The drive to Danny’s lake house is filled with their endless chatter. Once they arrive, Danny walks out to greet them, arms wide open. “Welcome! Welcome! Mi casa es mi casa!” 

“It’s ‘mi casa es su casa,’ buddy,” Logan quickly quips as he gives Danny a hug.

“I know what I said, Logie-Boy. Oscar! Glad you made it. Ready to represent Australia, brother?” Danny enthusiastically jostles Oscar under his arm. Oscar just looks at Alex and Logan and replies, ���Err, sure?”

Danny delivers a warm slap to Oscar's back. “Good enough for me! And our man of the hour, Alex, are you excited for our day out on the water?”

“Yeah, Danny! And you promised me jet skis, remember?” Alex responds, his smile wide with excitement.

“Oh, don’t you worry, Alex. I’ve got you covered.” Danny flashes them all a bright smile. “Now, follow me. The boat’s docked out back; we’re just getting ready to pull out.” He leads them inside through the home’s large oak door.

“If you guys need anything from the fridge or the bathroom, feel free,” Danny says, vaguely gesturing as they walk through the kitchen and make their way to the deck outside.

They greet the other boys along the way, making introductions as they introduce Oscar as well. 

Once the trio reaches the dock, Alex promptly runs into Logan’s back, and Oscar collides with him. Their friend has come to a stop. “I think you should get your money back, Alex,” Logan whispers, eyes wide as he takes in Max in all his shirtless glory, untying one of the ropes. Muscles flexing, with a light sheen of sweat on his body, Max brushes his hair out of his eyes. And heavens above, his head is turning in their direction.

Max lowers his arm as he catches Logan’s gaze, sending a wave their way while his other hand remains occupied with the mooring line. 

Alex claps Logan on the shoulder. “It’s too late, Logie Bear. Just jump in the water when you feel your princess jump to attention. I have faith in you!” He gives Logan another reassuring clap and pushes him down the dock toward the boat.

The boys continue past Max after a brief hello, but Logan stays behind. “Hey, Angel, you ready for the boat today?”

“He-Hi Max, yeah, I uh, think so,” Logan replies, his nerves evident.

Max gives him a once-over, noting his unbuttoned shirt and his tiny white board shorts. His gaze flicks back to Logan’s face. “Did you bring sunscreen, sweetheart?” A trace of concern colouring his voice.

Logan digs through his tote bag until he triumphantly pulls out a bottle of Banana Boat, presenting it eagerly. “Yes! Did you need some?”

“No, Angel, just worried for your pretty little face.” With his free hand, Max’s thumb strokes Logan’s cheek. “Wouldn’t want your pretty face to burn out there.” He tilts his head, his thumb and index finger gently holding Logan’s chin, asking, “Now, would we?”

Logan shakes his head side to side, still holding Max’s gaze. “No.”

From inside the boat, they hear George shout for everyone to board now, directing Max to let the mooring line go. 

They head to its back, Logan looking at the slight jump to get on the cabin cruiser with trepidation. 

“Come on, Angel, I’ll help you up,” is all the warning Logan gets before Max’s hands are on his waist, lifting him from the dock and onto the boat.

“Max!” is all the protest Logan manages before he’s gently placed on the floor of the boat. Looking back, he sees Max's answering grin, followed by his hands on Logan’s shoulders, guiding him further inside.

They greet George at the helm, who stands with his white shirt unbuttoned, wearing navy boardies and a captain’s hat perched on his soft curls, which he tips at Logan in jest.

At Max’s side, Logan giggles at George’s antics.

Max’s hand travels from where it rests on Logan’s shoulder, leaving a trail of warmth as it reaches his waist with a squeeze. Pulling Logan into him, he asks, “Excited, Angel?” His lips brush Logan’s ear with every syllable.

Logan turns to him, their lips inches apart, eyes slightly looking up as he nods in affirmation before asking, “Mmhmm, you?”

Max answers with another squeeze to his waist as he leans against the cabin, pulling Logan between his legs. Both hands now resting lower on Logan’s waist, Max’s eyes locking onto his. “Of course. Are you swimming or just laying back and tanning, pretty?” His thumbs stroke Logan’s hip bones through his shorts.

Logan swallows as he feels Max’s hands overlap on his hips, large enough to wrap around him with ease. 

Logan brings his hands to Max’s bare chest, flattening his palms against the steady beat of his heart. Eyeing the golden brush of hair there, he grins. “Why are you trying to get me wet?” he teases, flicking his gaze back up to Max’s eyes to gauge his reaction.

Max simply squeezes Logan’s hips again, spreading his fingers as they brush the edge of Logan’s shorts. “I don’t know, Angel. Can you blame me?”

Logan’s breath hitches slightly as Max’s fingers toy with the hem of his shorts, their bodies pressed together in the gentle sway of the boat. The air between them feels thick, buzzing with the unspoken tension Logan's trying to ignore for Alex’s sake. But Max's eyes, dark with intent, make it nearly impossible.

"I’m starting to think you can’t help yourself," Logan quips softly, though the slight tremble in his voice betrays his composure. His fingers trace the cross dangling from Max’s neck, pressing it lightly into his chest.

Max chuckles low, the sound vibrating through Logan’s hands. "You might be right," he murmurs, leaning closer until their foreheads nearly touch, the teasing edge of his smile never quite leaving his face. “You’re irresistible, Angel. Wanted you for a while now, and now I can’t help myself.”

Logan’s face flushes, and he feels the warmth spread through him, almost drowning out the cool breeze coming off the water. He bites his bottom lip, his gaze darting away, unsure how much longer he can hold out before closing the distance between them.

Before he can think too much about it, Max’s hand slides up his back, fingers grazing his skin just under his shirt. Logan’s breath hitches again.

“Max,” Logan warns, his voice barely above a whisper.

Max smirks, eyes twinkling, his lips ghosting just shy of Logan’s. “You’re so wound up, Angel.” His hands are so big, Logan feels them branding his skin with their warmth.

Logan’s sharp inhale is cut short by a voice calling out from the helm.

“Oi! Lovebirds, we’re anchored!” George shouts, oblivious to the tension between them as he leans casually against the wheel. “I’m not watching this rom-com unfold all day. Get your butts in the water or I’m leaving without you!”

Logan pulls back quickly, startled, and laughs awkwardly as he breaks free from Max’s grasp. "Guess we should—"

But Max grabs his wrist, pulling him back for a brief moment, his eyes glinting mischievously. “Don’t forget your sunscreen, yeah? I’ll see you, Angel,” he says, voice low and promising, kissing the inside of Logan’s wrist before letting go with a smirk.

Logan swallows hard, feeling his heart race as he stumbles a bit toward the edge of the boat, taking the stairs two at a time.

“Logie bear, there you are!” Alex exclaims as he catches sight of him.

“We’re going on the jet skis first, Log, you wanna ride with one of us?” Oscar asks.

“No, I think I’ll just swim first, but you guys have fun,” Logan says, hoping the flush on his chest has subsided.

“Oh, swim , yes of course. I have faith in you, princess,” Alex teases, lifting a fist in solidarity as his eyes trail down to Logan’s shorts.

“You dic–” Logan isn’t even done swearing at his best friend before he turns swiftly to jump on one of the jet skis.

“It’s okay, Logan, I’ll splash him for you,” Oscar says, patting Logan’s shoulder consolingly. 

Logan spins on him with a grin. “Thanks, Osc. Anyway, wasn’t I right?”

“Yeah, who wa—” Oscar’s cut off as George puts a hand on his shoulder, asking, “Oscar, right? George. Your captain for all intents and purposes,” he introduces with a wink and a hat tilt identical to the one he gave Logan earlier.

Logan looks at his best friend, noticing how Oscar’s ears have gone bright red, cheeks slightly flushed—all tell-tale signs of his attraction.

“Uh, yeah. Th-thanks, Captain,” Oscar stammers. Logan snickers—it's always the British accents that get Oscar.

Not waiting around for George’s response, Logan unbuttons the remaining ones on his shirt and dives headfirst into the crystal-clear water, the coolness rushing over his heated skin.

As he surfaces, shaking the water from his hair, he looks up to see Max leaning over the edge of the boat, eyes fixed on him.

Charles whistles from the deck. “Think you’ve got a fan, little Logan.” His comment is followed by more catcalls from the other guys.

Logan ignores them, letting the water cool his flushed skin, though he can still feel Max’s gaze burning into him.

—--- 

Logan climbs back onto the boat, feeling the lingering coolness of the water and a soft fatigue setting in. Toweling off his hair and body, he spots all the boys whizzing across the horizon on their jet skis. Without much thought, Logan spreads his towel in the sunniest part of the deck and lays down on his stomach, ready for a nap.

He’s drifted off when he feels a gentle hand combing through his damp hair, followed by Max’s concerned voice. “Where’s your sunscreen, Angel? You’re already burning a little.”

Logan opens one eye, too tired from his swim to muster a proper response. He just shrugs and pushes his head deeper into Max’s hand, a silent invitation for him to keep playing with his hair.

Max chuckles softly. “Alright, Angel. You want me to put it on you?”

Logan gives a lazy nod, barely lifting his head. He feels Max’s thumb trace a slow line from the nape of his neck down to the base of his spine, sending a warm shiver through his body. The sensation of Max’s touch, combined with the heat of the sun, lulls him deeper into relaxation.

Max works the sunscreen down Logan’s back with smooth, steady movements, lingering at the base of his spine before moving up again to his neck. He pauses, then gently applies the lotion to the back of Logan’s ears, rubbing it into the soft skin. 

Logan shifts a little but doesn’t open his eyes, a contented sigh escaping him.

Max grins, squeezing more sunscreen onto his fingers. He traces a line down Logan’s nose, carefully smoothing it over the bridge and the tip. Then, he adds a generous amount to Logan’s cheeks, saying, “Can’t forget this,” with a soft chuckle. .

Logan scrunches his nose playfully in response, mumbling, “Tickles.”

Max laughs under his breath, finishing by running a thumb over the tips of Logan’s ears, leaving no spot unprotected. “All set Angel,” he whispers, as Logan drifts further into sleep, his face peaceful in the warm sunlight.

—---

When Logan comes to, there's a gentle hand threading through his hair, and his cheek rests against something solid and warm. Blinking against the sun, he gradually realises he's half-lying in Max’s lap. The steady rise and fall of Max’s breathing is comforting, and Logan can feel the warmth of his thigh beneath him, the rhythmic motion of Max's fingers softly caressing his scalp.

Groggy, Logan shifts slightly, turning his face up to meet Max’s gaze. “How long was I out?” he mumbles, still a bit disoriented.

Max smiles down at him, his other hand resting casually on Logan’s back. “Not too long, Angel. The others are still out on the jet skis.”

As Logan sits up and leans against Max, still in that sleepy haze, Max’s arm naturally slips around his waist, effortlessly guiding him onto his lap. Logan’s back rests comfortably against Max’s chest, and with a stifled yawn, he turns his face into the crook of Max’s neck, his breath warm against Max’s skin.

“Wait, Angel,” Max murmurs, his voice gentle but insistent. “–sunscreen on your front now.”

Logan, still half-asleep, grumbles into Max’s neck, “Who cares?”

Max’s grip tightens slightly around Logan’s waist as he chuckles softly. “I do, Angel. I love it when you flush red for me. How will I see your pretty little blush if you’re burnt?”

Logan, still foggy from his nap, only picks up on Max’s concern. With a sigh, he mutters, “Put it on me then.”

Max kisses his neck and grabs the sunscreen, smoothing it over Logan’s chest and shoulders, taking his time as his hands glide over the soft skin. Logan shivers slightly under the coolness of the lotion, feeling Max’s steady, deliberate touch as it spreads warmth in its wake.

The coolness wakes him up a little, and as he looks down, he sees Max’s long fingers and wide palm smoothing sunscreen over his lower stomach. The visual is enough to send arousal pooling in his navel, intensifying with each pass of Max’s fingers through his happy trail. Soon, Max bends his legs to apply sunscreen over them without needing to unplaster himself from Logan’s back.

Once he’s done, Logan realises just how compromising their position is if anyone were to climb back on board. With his thighs bent on either side of Max’s legs and his chest and head reclined against the older man’s body, it makes Logan’s breath hitch. He instinctively hides his face in Max’s neck.

Max picks up on it, dragging his hands from Logan’s thighs up his side before wrapping his arms around his chest, squeezing, grounding Logan briefly. “What’s wrong, Angel? Too much?” 

Still hiding his face, Logan manages a shake of his head, whispering, “No, m-more, p-please.” The request hangs in the air, making the atmosphere between them thick with unspoken tension.

Chapter 1 - Angel

Chapter 2 - Hunter?

[4townie]

Road to 4☆TOWN

part 41 | part 42 | part 43 | part 44 | part 45 | part 46 | part 47

Aaron Z rolled his eyes and picked up his phone. “What do you want?”

“Heyyyy, maaaaan.” Robaire said awkwardly. “I kinda need a huge favor right now, so if you’re not—MARCEL, DON’T EAT THAT—if you aren’t busy, could you just hightail it over to Jesse’s place?”

Z blinked. “What on earth is going on over there?”

“Oh, nothing.” Robaire rushed to grab Marcel in his free arm. “Just watching over Jesse’s mini me while he and Selina are at the hospital and, y’know, it might help to have a little backup.”

“What about his brothers?” Z asked.

“Ugh, please.” Robaire rolled his eyes. “They’re still trying to figure out how to put the highchair together so we can feed him.”

“And you figured it out?” Z smirked.

Robaire blushed. “Th…that’s not the point! I just need help, can you come or not?”

“Actually, I can’t make it. T and I have a Tae situation.” Z said as he examined the hammer he pulled out of a toolbox. “He’s got gum stuck in his hair and with the upcoming tour we can’t exactly cut it.”

Robaire groaned and plopped onto the couch. “What am I gonna do? I can’t handle this thing, I wasn’t cut out for—oh my god, where’d he go? I just had him.”

Z let out a heavy sigh. “Listen, I can’t get over there but I can send reinforcements.”

Robaire paused. “Who exactly do you have in mind?”

“Just trust me.” Z said and hung up the phone. “Just hang tight for 15 minutes.”

———

There was a knock at the apartment door.

“I’ll get the door, Danny keep working on the high chair, Sean, locate your nephew.” Robaire called as he headed to the door. He opened it and groaned. “You have got to be kidding me…”

“Bold words for someone who can’t handle a toddler.” Olivia glared as she walked in. “Where’s the kid?”

“There must be some mistake.” Robaire stepped in front of her. “I asked your brother for help, not another kid to babysit.”

“Says the guy who misplaced the baby he’s supposed to be watching.” Olivia smirked. “Watch and learn.” She walked into the kitchen. “Alright boys, I’m in charge now so listen up. First we—“

“You?” Sean crossed his arms. “You’re just a little kid, what’re you? Nine?”

“Eleven actually.” Olivia corrected him.

Danny snorted. “You’re even younger than me. What makes you think—“

Olivia grabbed the high chair tray and shoved it into place. Sean, Danny, and Robaire just stared at her in shock.

“Oh, Marcel, I have special gummy bears just for you.” Olivia called.

A few seconds later, Marcel came running, but he hesitated and clung to Robaire’s leg when he saw Olivia.

“Who dat, Uncle Bear?”

“Hi, sweetie,” Olivia knelt beside Marcel, “My name is Livvy, your uncles asked me to help take care of you. Is that okay?”

Marcel nodded hesitantly.

“Now how about we eat dinner and then I’ll give you those gummy bears I promised you.” Olivia offered.

Marcel nodded again and raised his arms to be picked up.

The boys all watched in awe.

Robaire turned to Sean and Danny. “Yeah, she’s in charge from now on.”

[justmanic03]

Amethyst - Chapter twenty-seven

"Zelda, use Hydro Cannon!" I commanded. Zelda proceeded to shoot a powerful stream of water at the door, to no avail.

"Haha, that's so stupid." Danny giggled. "See why it's always important to switch up your teams?"

I groaned in annoyance. "Don't patronise me, Danny. You were dumb enough to get yourself locked up in here too, in case you'd forgotten."

"I thought I could take down one of those Hitmonlees, yet THREE of them spawned out of nowhere! How was I supposed to see that coming?!" Danny protested.

"Danny, you're denser than a Geodude. Y/N is trying his/her best." Lisa spoke up in my defence.

"Uhhh... do you guys think this place is always as dark as this?" Mackenzie spoke up, visibly shaking. After all, we only had Chandelure to light up the dungeon. We looked up to see there were several spiders, both small and large, crawling and swinging between the webs on the ceiling and walls.

Mackenzie then proceeded to damage my ears beyond repair. "ARRRGGHH SPIDERSS!!! ARCEUS SAVE US!!!" He clutched his head in his hands and hunched over like a frightened hermit.

"Ugh, my EARDRUMS!" Danny complained.

Lisa walked towards the door and positioned herself in a boxing stance. "Stand back, kids! I'm about to transform into a steel type and bust this door open!"

"That's not a very good idea, Lisa," Mackenzie spoke up as he lifted his head slowly from his defensive position.

Danny then turned to him with a raised brow. "Oh, so you DO have a mind of your own?"

"It just seems illogical to try and cave in the door!"

Lisa spun around, crossing her arms in the process. "Okay then, nerd. What's your plan B?"

The room immediately fell silent as Mackenzie's shoulders slumped.

"Hmph. Thought as much." Danny interjected, tossing his stone in the air once more.

Lisa then sharply turned to face him. "Well, do YOU have any better suggestions, Orthworms-for-brains?"

"Wait, WHAT?!" Danny's eyes widened.

A low growl then followed from Mackenzie's direction.

"Hey, don't bring my Orthworm into this!" Mack protested.

Whilst the three of them were bickering, I had a lightbulb moment. "Guys, I think I know what to do! Come on out, Klefki!" I reached into my boxes, grabbing a Pokeball. I sent out Klefki, and he successfully picked the lock. The cell door swung open with a subtle creak.

"GENIUS!" Lisa cheered, jumping off the ground triumphantly.

"Breaking news, Lisa is capable of compliments!" Danny said sarcastically.

"Shhh! We don't want to draw attention to ourselves!" I hissed, as we began creeping along the darkened passageway. I led the way, followed by Lisa and Danny alongside one another, and Mackenzie cautiously trailed behind them. Unbeknownst to him, he had an unexpected guest atop his shoulder.

Without warning, we were faced with two of the Hitmonlees from before blocking the passage, their beady eyes boring into our soul. "Uh... guys? What do we do now?" I asked awkwardly.

"Ugh great, these ugly things again," Danny complained, earning a defensive growl from the insulted Pokemon.

"I don't think they appreciate that," I observed, as the two fighting-types inched closer towards us.

Danny pulled out an Ultra Ball. "Let's battle these things! I'm sure we can pummel them into the ground if we use our Ionisation chips!"

"No. Stand back." Lisa instructed. "Y/N and I will handle this!"

"Hey, where did Mack go?" Danny asked, as we all looked around. Mackenzie was nowhere to be seen, although we did not have much time to question it as the two Hitmonlees descended upon us. To my horror, I realised they were both level 90, much higher than any of mine or Lisa's Pokemon.

"We're not going to get out of this one," I trembled, and for once, Lisa was trembling too. We heard rapid footsteps coming from behind us as Mackenzie caught up to Danny. "Hey Mack? There's something on your shoulder there!"

However, just as we were about to accept our fate as doomed prisoners of Opaquia forever, our eardrums were once again blasted out by a piercing, shrill scream.

"AAAARRRRGGGHHH! SPPIIIIIDDDDEEERRRR!" Mackenzie cried out, as he ran around in a frenzy, trying to shake the arachnid off of his shoulder. It was as if he had taken leave of his senses, as he jolted his body violently. The three of us ducked as he hurtled the sizeable spider through the air, only for it to land right on one of the Hitmonlee's faces. The piercing screams of the two guard Pokemon then ensued, before both of them proceeded to turn around and run as fast as they could down the passageway, away from us and the spider.

The four of us panted in exhaustion, as our panicked brains began to acknowledge what had just happened. "Mackenzie, you're a hero!" Lisa proceeded to run up to him, grab him in a headlock, and rough up his spiky hair.

"Hey! Get off me!" He protested, trying to struggle free.

"I didn't know Pokemon were scared of spiders." Danny observed.

"Come on guys, we've got to get out of here." I encouraged.

****

As the three of us made our way out of the mansion, we dusted off our clothes that were covered in dirt and debris from the dungeon. Mackenzie also had to meticulously run his hands all across his body to ensure that no more of his worst nemeses were clinging to him. He ruffled the cobwebs out of his hair in disgust.

"Please tell the Elite Four to never send us back here again," he pleaded, as we walked back onto the dark streets of the ghost town that was Opaquia.

"We should probably head back to the flying taxi. I can't stand to spend another second in this creepy place." Danny commented. We all nodded in agreement, as we began walking down the streets. However, as the three of them were engaged in casual conversation, subtly roasting one another, a faint lilac light in the distance caught my attention. "Hey guys, do you see that?" I pointed towards the glow.

"Hmmm... what do you think it could be?" Lisa asked.

"Only one way to find out." Danny added.

"Please can we just get out of here. I am NOT going through another near death experience like that!" Mackenzie protested, causing Danny and Lisa to simultaneously roll their eyes.

"Well if you want to be boring then you can skidaddle, but I'm not going anywhere until I've defeated a bunch of Opaquia Pokemon." Danny firmly stated.

"No! We need him to do the navigation! The rest of us are hopeless!" I protested.

Mackenzie proceeded to whip out his map. "Well... uh... the way back to the flying taxi is in the same direction as that weird lilac light over there... so let's go," I could sense the hesitance in his voice as we began to track back in the south direction.

"Hey... isn't that purple light coming from around the same area as we felt that weird pressure earlier?" Lisa observed.

"You mean... the Opaquia gym?" I gasped. "No. There's no way. It's been completely uninhabited for years."

"There was definitely some kind of force there, though." Lisa continued. "It was almost like a storm, but in the mind, you know what I'm saying?"

"No, I don't. You're talking nonsense as usual." Danny interjected.

"Shut up." Lisa snapped. "You weren't there."

"Let's just keep going."

As we neared the lilac light, we noticed that it was, indeed, coming from the Opaquia gym. It appeared as though the lights were turned on, which was completely baffling, considering it was completely pitch black when we had previously stumbled across it.

"You feel anything?" I called back to the team. They all responded with a no. "Why are the lights in the gym on?"

"Maybe someone broke in?" Mackenzie suggested. I carefully edged closer, peering through the windows. The lights were, indeed, switched on, and the stadium of the gym was well and truly illuminated. I gasped in horror as I realised I was feet away from the very sight where Champion Kossi had lost his life.

"Y/N, are you coming back with us?" Lisa called from behind.

"No way." I retorted. "We've got to investigate this. Something is very, very wrong here."

"Well, I'm not going in there. I've seen enough spiders to last a lifetime." Mackenzie refused.

"Yeah, and I'm gonna hang back and catch some dark Pokemon." Danny interjected.

"And Crystal will be wondering where we are," Lisa added.

"Well fine, you guys go. But I'm going nowhere until I get to the bottom of this." I stood steadfast in my decision.

"Be careful, Y/N. I don't want you to get hurt." Lisa called back.

[skylarsblue]

Yo itz me again may I request the slashers with a yandere s/o that's like very loyal and very devoted to their slasher and then one day they are like chatting together and their s/o is like "I would do anything for you" and the slasher bf would be like "ok then stab this pencil in you eye " ofc they aren't serious they was just joking than their s /o was like " bet" straight up grabbing the pencil and almost stabbing in into their eye and then the slasher bf will stop them before it was too late

I've had this thought for a long time. Yandere Slashers are cool, but yandere reader? That's underrated. I know Danny is a DBD killer, but, he suits this concept so well that I had to add him. This took way too long and I apologize, writers block is a bitch.

(CONTENT WARNING: Unstable reader & attempted self-stabby. Some mild descriptions of what WOULD happen if Y/N wounded themselves)

Michael Myers (ANY)

He doesn’t believe you at first , he wholeheartedly doubts you’re as loyal as you say you are. Main reason being, humans have a natural want for self preservation. He is a threat to you. That’s just a fact, and he’s certain that when it comes down to it, you’ll choose your life over your loyalty to him.

So when you say “I’d do anything for you.”? He will question you, he won’t take it very seriously. Perhaps he’ll appreciate the sentiment but he’s not buying it. His doubt shows in his gaze. It’ll rise when you said you could prove it.

“Stab me.” You said clearly. And for the first time in awhile, the Shape was caught off guard. “Go on, stab me. I’ll stab myself if you want.” Michael nearly scoffs. But he humors you, certain you’d back down once you saw him encouraging it. Michael set his knife on the kitchen counter, waiting for your hesitance & anxious expression. He feels another wave of surprise when you waste no time to grab the knife. He goes rigid when you take hold of the handle and aim for your ribs, face showing nothing but determination and a strange calm. Before you can make the full motion, he catches your wrist, leaving the tip of the blade mere centimeters from your skin. Michael’s shock doesn’t show in his body, nor on his face behind his mask. But he’s astounded as you look up, doe eyed, head tilted. “Why’d you stop me?” You asked. Michael let out a breath from his nose and took the knife away. You blinked as he, awkwardly, patted your head. It was quick & unpracticed, despite the fact he’d done it before. He believed you now. Admittedly, now he was far more curious about just how far that loyalty went. For the sake of stress, however, he’d rather not find out.

Thomas Hewitt

While Thomas sometimes doubts your affections for him, it’s not the way Michael does. It’s because he’s insecure. He thinks you deserve better. But your admissions that you’re so dedicated to him, that you’d do anything for him? It makes his heart warm. He takes it seriously, but in a lighthearted way. A kind statement that you’d always be there for him.

The only people that may doubt just how dedicated you are would be his family. Charlie Hoyt in particularly. He will doubt every loving proclaim you make, assuming you just want to placate Thomas to keep your role in their house. A survival tactic. He’s taunting with it.

Hoyt chuckled at his end of the table then, looking at you sharply as you sat on the opposite end. “Aight then, why don’t’cha prove it?” He questions. You nodded. Luda Mae kept quiet but shook her head, Thomas frowned as he stood in the doorway of the dining room. Both he & Luda tensed slightly when Hoyt brought out a knife. He walked over and stopped a few few away, stabbing the blade into the table. “Take out ya eye, the left one.” Hoyt instructs, confident you’d back down. Thomas is tense but he doesn’t move. He’s come to trust your loyalty to him, but he’s certain in your natural instincts, you wouldn’t go that far. Luda sighs from her place at the table. “Cha-Hoyt, that’s really not necessary-“ The older woman is cut off as you reach for the knife’s handle. You are calm & composed as you flip it and aim the blade, taking only a second to properly align it with your left eye. Luda barely as time to gasp as the blade comes only a centimeter from your iris, but your hand is stopped by one you’d come to adore. You tilt your head back to look up at him. Thomas’s breathing is heavy as he feels adrenaline rush his veins, brown eyes wide in shock. He takes it away & places it on the table, before he narrows his gaze at Hoyt, frowning. Even Hoyt is shocked. Perhaps impressed. “I’ll be damned, maybe ya do mean it.”

Bubba Sawyer

Similar to Thomas, Bubba is more willing to believe you when you say you’d do anything for him. They’re overjoyed when you admit it. They assume the same thing as Thomas. You mean it in a sweet way, serious but not to the extent you truly mean. 

Bubba may not take it as heavily as you mean it. It’s not that he doubts you, just that he takes it like anyone else would. They believe you only mean it like “I’ll always be here for you.” Now, of course, that meaning certainly fits, but it’s not quite to the level of dedication you’re actually promising.

“I mean it Bubba, I mean anything.” You clarified again. Bubba nodded and gave a sweet pig-like squeal. Nodding innocently. You smiled softly, but shook your head. “Bubba, dear, I don’t think you understand. I mean I’d cut my own hand off for you.” Bubba stopped moving for a moment. His eyes were wide, blinking in astonishment. He tilted his head. “I mean it! Here.” You took the meat cleaver off the wooden countertop. Placing your nondominant hand on the surface, eyeing where to bring the blade down. The blade didn’t come into contact with the muscle & bone of your wrist, but it came close. Bubba held your weapon wielding arm in their large hands, squealing & whining in distress. They shook their head frantically as they took the cleaver. Your words were cut off when Bubba hugged you into the plushness of his stomach & chest, patting your head & petting your hair. “Okay, okay, breathe Bubs. I’m fine. I just needed you to understand just how far I’d go for you.” You reassured, patting his back. They whined and nuzzled their face into the top of your head. You continued gently hushing him until he calmed down.

Bo Sinclair

Bo’s probably more suspicious of you towards the beginning of your stay in Ambrose. Understandably, of course. You waltzed into a town where two twins turned people into wax statues. It’s not a common thing to accept. He wasn’t very trusting to begin with, even if those circumstances weren’t present. 

While he’s come to like you, he will still have a paranoia about you calling the police, or perhaps trying to hurt one of them. There’s a voice in his head that insists no one would love him that much. To ignore murder? He’s certain you’re just going with what he wants in order to stay alive. That thought often haunts him when he realizes how much he likes you. Bo’s not shy about telling you either.

Bo scoffed & shook his head. You’d been there about four months & he still didn’t believe you, no matter how many times you told him of your loyalty. You knew why. Bo was a guarded man, thanks to a shitty childhood, it was completely understandable that he’d doubt every person who he came across. It became clear that your words weren’t getting through. “I mean it, Bo. I told you! I don’t plan on leaving or ratting you out, I love it here! I’d do anything for you!” You insisted for the millionth time. He rolled his eyes. “Yeah? Fuckin’ prove it then.” He challenged. You stared at him. He watched your gaze narrow in determination, calm despite everything. He rose an eyebrow when you turned to the counter top. Reaching for a pair of kitchen sheers. Bo’s face turned to confusion when you grabbed it, holding it steady. “Pick a part.” You said. “What?” “Pick a part of me. Anything.” You clarified. Bo was beyond confused at this point. He shook his head as he thought of an answer, deciding to pick what he liked most about your face. “I dunno, your mouth?” “My lips or my tongue?” Bo huffed. “Fuckin’, tongue I guess? What does this have to do wit’ provin’ yourself?” His question became choked at the end when you grabbed the end of your tongue and opened the dirty blades. Adrenaline jolting his extremities as you went to place your tongue between the blades, only to have the hand holding the scissors to be pulled away. “The hell ya doin’?! Are you fuckin’ crazy?!” He insisted. Your other hand dropped as you stared at him calmly. “I told you. I’d do anything for you.” Bo’s was visibly taken aback. He let out a breath and took the scissors from your hand. “Do you believe me now?” Your question made him look over your face again, scanning the peace in your features. “Yeah...yeah I believe ya.” He muttered.

Vincent Sinclair

While Vincent’s not as hostile about his doubts in your loyalty as Bo, he still questions you. There’s a part of him more willing to believe you’ll stay, though there’s a bigger portion of their brain that insists you’re only trying to survive. They dread the day you’ll slip up and it will end up one of two ways. You’ll manage to successfully leave, tell everyone about what happens in Ambrose, and their brother & themselves will end up rotting in prison. Or perhaps die in a police shoot out. The second option is that they’ll catch you before you can, and Vincent will have to silence you in wax. 

Still, when you proclaim you’d do anything for them, they love to hear it. Even if it’s hard to believe you. Vincent wishes he could just take the declaration & be happy with it, not doubt your every move. The more you do to prove it to him, the more guilty he feels for doubting you. Perhaps that’s why you felt it was best to shock them into believing you.

Vincent leaned slightly to allow you to push his hair out out his masked face. “I’d do anything for you.” You whispered, you’d said the same thing at least six times a week. You could see their eye gaze at you past the socket in their mask. There was softness to his gaze but it was mixed with uncertainty. You sighed. “You still don’t believe me.” He almost flinches at it, you know he can’t help it though. “What can I do to make you believe me?” Vincent shook his head. There wasn’t anything more you could do, you did so much for them, it wasn’t you at all. He knew full well it was himself. You huffed a breath, looking around the basement. You caught sight of a knife on the table next to you. You reached for it, making him jolt. They watched you in confusion, the tip of the blade pointed at them. “I’ll prove it to you.” You stated. Vincent’s confusion turned to surprise when you flipped the blade towards you, aiming for the eye. Their breath caught in their throat and their hands rushed forward. Your gaze unfocused from the shiny blade only a millimeter from your cornea, looking at Vincent again. His chest rose and fell with quickened breaths. You allowed them to take the knife and place it on the table again, pulling you to his chest. They let out a shaky exhale. They rarely spoke, but when they did, it was deep, raspy, & unpracticed. “I believe you.”

Lester Sinclair

Lester’s probably the most willing to believe you when you say you’d do anything for him. He might even delusion himself in thinking you mean it more seriously than you do. Jokes on him though, he doesn’t need to convince himself of anything! Because you do mean it that seriously.

Lester’s not going to ask you to confirm or prove it. He’ll be grateful that you’re around to begin with. However, he may occasionally ask what it is about him that makes you want to stay. These are days where his insecurities weigh a bit heavier on his shoulders than usual. Lester was often ignored/emotionally neglected by his parents when he didn’t measure up, and while he’s become a bit better at coping, he still sometimes wonders if it’s something wrong with him. 

You frowned and turned around, drying your hands from the dishes you were doing. Bo & Vincent always used a massive amount of plates when they visited Lester. Who, currently, sat at the little table in the kitchen. Fiddling with the edge of his stained flannel. “What?” You asked. “Just like...why would ya choose me to stick with, that’s all. I mean, why me?” The man asked softly. Your chest clenched in sympathy. You set the dish towel down and turned to him fully, stepping over. “Lester, I’ve told you this before.” You replied. “No no, I know, I was just...wonderin’.” He shrugged, nervously tipping down his hat. You sighed. You turned and slid a knife from the knife block, freshly cleaned. Lester didn’t see it happen, he looked at the floor until you walked back towards him. “Do I need to prove how far I’d go for you?” You asked. Lester swallowed and shook his head, he looked up and jolted at the sight of the knife. “Well you don’t seem to believe me. I have no issue showing you.” You said as you set your hand on the table’s surface. “Hey now, what’re ya-” Lester cut himself off when you rose the blade. Nearly sending it through the back of your palm. That was, had he not stopped you. The chair slid loudly on the tile from the force of him getting up. “Whoa whoa! Don’t do that!” He insisted. You turned to look at him, setting the knife on the table as he looked over your face with wide eyes. He blinked in awe as your took his face in your hands. “Lester, when I said I’d do anything for you, I meant it. Now quit questioning yourself, okay?” You asked. The blue eyed man swallowed and nodded. “Alright, I believe ya. Just...please don’t go stabbin’ ya’self.” He said softly. You smiled and turned to peck his cheekbone. “Only cause you asked, sugar.” 

Jason Voorhees 

Jason values loyalty above a lot of things. Almost everything, really. He’s not likely to show you any doubt he may have, because once he trusts you enough not to kill you, he’ll feel guilty for when he doesn’t believe you. The more effort you make, the less & less he’ll wonder your sincerity.

Still, he’s been tricked before. There are times where he’ll recall these moments & wonder if you plan to do the same thing. That you’ll try to slip away from him when he’s distracted by trespassers. There’s a voice in the back of Jason’s head telling him that he’ll come back to an empty cabin, that it’s only a matter of time that he’ll need to do away with you. And he fears that day immensely. 

Jason stood in front of you in the cabin. He’d rushed home after taking care of some intruders, only to have a bit of a panic when he couldn’t immediately find you. You’d been taking a bath, but rushed out when you heard his boot steps turn into running. Hearing frantic searching in the rooms. You barely had time to dry your hair, an inconvenient time to try and have a wash day. Jason settled down a bit when he saw you. But you knew immediately what he had been thinking, the thought making you sad. “Jason, honey, I told you this. I’m not going to just up and leave you.” He looked to the floor, a bit ashamed, but you could still sense his uncertainty. You looked around and caught sight of his machete, stabbed into the floorboards, covered in blood. “I’ll prove it to you. I’ll prove to you that I’d do anything for you, okay?” You said as you went over to the blade, pulling it out of the floor. Jason tensed as he watched you wrap your hand around the handle. It looked so strange in your hands, so much smaller than his. He jolted visibly when you rested your hand on the small table in the room, trying to get a decent grip on the machete, a bit of an awkward angle. You set sights on the space where your fingers connected to your palm, spreading them out, gaging the position in which the blade would land. Wanting to make the cleanest sever possible. As you tensed your forearm, bringing the blade down, you expected to feel the searing pain and gush of blood from your digits. Instead, there was a dirtied glove stopping the weapon from falling. You looked up at him, seeing his one working eye wide and worried, blue irises staring down at you. He quickly took his machete back and set it down, pulling you tight to his chest. You looked up at him after settling your arms around his thick torso. “I mean it when I say it, baby. I’d do anything you want or need, okay? Stop worrying so much. I’m not going anywhere.” You said softly, smiling sweetly, as if you hadn’t just tried to cut off your fingers. Jason exhaled and nodded, petting your hair. 

Danny Johnson

If any of these slashers would work well with a yandere-esc partner, it’s Danny. While Jed is the suburban sweetheart, bringing you flowers & offering you coffee dates, Danny is willing to paint the town red for his lover. Both acts are genuine. They both express how he really feels for you, but one is more open, more honest to his true nature. If you know about his...”hobby”, then they’ll be more inclined to believe you. You’ve reached that point of trust with him. Now, if you say this around Jed, before you know about Ghostface? He’ll doubt you more.

That being said, they has every reason to doubt you. Not only does he have some major abandonment issues. You can thank their mother for that. On top of that, he has issues being vulnerable. That, you can thank his peers and father for. And lastly, he’s a murderer, one motivated only by his sick desire to hurt others. While he doesn’t have any desire to harm you (in a non-sexy way), they know that their temper can be frightening. And when at it’s worst, he knows it can seem directed at you. Deep down, Danny is certain you’ll leave him eventually, because he doesn’t deserve you. As narcissistic as they can be, they think you’re too good for him.

You frowned as you looked at Jed’s cheekbone, seeing a darkening bruise that laid there, splotchy broken blood capillaries adding to the few imperfections to his face. He spoke to you with his charming grin anyway, straight white teeth exposed as he chuckled while telling a story. He flinched slightly when you reached your hand out, tracing the mark gently. Jed blinked before he gave a little smile, standing up fully, rather than leaning against your kitchen counter top. He slid the coffee mug away from him. “Who hit you?” You asked, voice soft. He noted a strange glint in your gaze. “No one, just got smacked with a door.” He said. You shook your head, frowning. “Someone hit you, who?” “Why does it matter, doll?” Jed replied lightheartedly. You shifted your gaze to make eye contact. “You do remember the time I said I’d do anything for you, don’t you?” The brunet man tilted his head slightly, he nodded though. “Yeah, but I don’t see what that has to do with this.” He said. “You don’t think I’m being serious?” You asked. Jed chuckled again, rolling his shoulders. “You make it sound like you’re gonna find this person and kill them.” He fought the urge to laugh at his own little joke. Your face remained calm and determined. You lowered your hand and stepped away from him, reaching for something in the sink. Jed’s shoulders tensed when he saw the glint of a blade, watching you turn, peaceful and concise as you looked at him. “Clearly, you don’t believe me. So I’ll show you.” His brows furrowed as you flipped the handle of the blade, only to feel a shock of surprise when you aligned the tip of the knife to your cornea. It happened so fast he barely had time to reach over the island to grab your wrist, the edge of the knife only millimeters from blinding yourself. You looked up at him. Jed looked between you and the knife, before he let out a breathy chuckle, smile twitching onto his face. “Jeez doll. Alright, I believe you...no need to go stabbing yourself.” He said softly. You let yourself set the knife down. Unbeknownst to you, Jed concocted a plan in his mind, wondering if he could really let you in on his hobby. You seemed dedicated enough. He smiled at the thought.

Billy Lenz

Billy’s gonna love hearing it, that’s for sure. It’ll get excited when you say it, it’ll probably send a lotta blood below the belt. Billy loves hearing your dedication to him, though it doesn’t think too much of it.

Whenever you say that you’d do anything for him, he’ll take it at face value, even if it makes him rather giddy. Having you show it will make him feel rather clingy, he’s not sure what he did to deserve having you be so sure of your adoration for it. But Billy certainly isn’t complaining.

Billy hugged your waist tightly, burrowing his face into your chest. He’d been peppering you with questions after your proclamation that you’d do anything for it. A large grin across its face. “Yes, Billy, I’d give up my money for you.” You said fondly, petting his hair. Billy squirmed before looking up at you. “Would...would you, would you st-tab yourself for me?” He questioned. You tilted your head, knowing the question wasn’t really that serious, still, you smiled. “Why of course I would. Where would you want me too?” You asked, recalling the switch blade that always rested in your pillow case. Ironically to protect yourself from intruders like Billy itself. The brunet man hummed, giggling a bit, he hadn’t been completely lucid the past two days but you didn’t seem to mind much. “Your uh...your hand!” It slurred. You shifted and reached behind you, feeling around in the pillowcase of the pillow you rested on. Billy tensed a bit when you revealed the handle, pressing the switch to send the shiny & sharpened blade up. Green-hazel eyes watching the knife with cat-like curiosity, pupils wide. “Alright then. Hand it is.” You took your other hand off his shoulder and held it up, open palm, taking the other and gripping the knife. Before the blade could enter the center of your hand, Billy’s hand blocked your wrist. It looked at you owlishly, blinking in awe. You rose an eyebrow. “You don’t want me to?” It shook its head slowly. You put the knife on your bedside table, letting your hands fall back into Billy’s hair as he leaned against you again, looking up at you. “Believe me now?” You asked lightheartedly. Billy nodded, relaxing again when you began petting his hair. “Cutie...” You cooed softly.

Brahms Heelshire

Brahms expects this of you, but for some reason, he doubts you constantly. Believing you’ll eventually try to leave him, and to be fair, everyone else before you did. Brahms isn’t exactly used to people meaning what they say when it comes to loyalty. 

Most of the time, he’s grateful that you say it. It brings him some peace, makes him feel more content that you mean what you say, that you’ll stay with him. However, there are some days and some events that tend to make Brahms inconsolable. These tend to be things like phone calls from old friends/family or when the grocery boy shows up. (We’ll use Malcom for an example). It’s times like these where Brahms becomes certain that you’ll leave him for whatever reason. Maybe because you miss your old life or because Malcom managed to charm his way into your heart. Even when you reassure him, he doubts you. 

Brahms kept his arms crossed and his gaze at the floor as you both stood in the kitchen. “Brahms, I mean it, I promise Malcom is not going to steal me from you! He has to deliver the groceries and I have to be here to accept them. Even if he flirts with me, I swear to you, I don’t flirt back.” You said. You’d been trying to reassure him for the past twenty minutes, nothing seemed to be working. You sighed and approached him. He flinched away from your attempt to rest your hands on his cardigan-covered arms. “Brahmsy, I mean it. I’d do anything for you.” You whispered to him sweetly. Brahms turned his head to look at you, green eyes sharp as they looked past the sockets of his mask. “Prove it.” His voice wasn’t childlike this time, deep and demanding. You sighed again. “Alright, I will.” You said with a single nod, turning to walk away from him. He stared into your back as you grabbed a knife from the knife block. His face twitched in confusion for a moment as you turned to have him. His pupils shrank as you aimed it at your face. Brahms’ arms uncrossed and his hands twitched as you ensured it was lined up properly. He had to dive a few feet, moving quickly. He pulled your arm down, keeping the blade from coming anywhere near your face. You looked at him and heard him breathing shakily behind his mask, adrenaline lowering just as quickly as it had risen. You took a breath and set the knife on the kitchen table, turning to hold his face in your hands. “When I said I’d do anything for you, I mean it, Brahms. And I need you to stop doubting me on that. Okay, baby?” You asked. Brahms swallowed and slowly nodded, brown curls falling over his forehead. You gave a smile and pecked the porcelain cheek. “Good boy. Now, your lessons are supposed to be happening, so let’s get you to the piano.” 

[professionalranter31]

When Frostbite first meets The Bat it is after he and Danny have finished analyzing the Lazarus Pit samples, and it was when The Bat was dragging Agent K by the handcuffs from the Zeta Tube, “Diana, could you handle the interrogation for Agent K? I have a meeting I need to get to. Oracle will give you access to the file on them.” The Bat stood taller and Batman was back, handing off the GIW agent to Wonder Woman. Looking over at the lab where Danny and Frostbite were working he entered, “You must be Frostbite.”

“Indeed! Great One has spoken very highly of you, thank you for bringing our attention to these Lazarus Pits.” Frostbite took Batman’s hand and shook it. “You take good care of your own.” Batman didn’t know what Frostbite was referring to with that statement, but he wasn’t currently interested in asking.

“What can you tell me about the Lazarus Pits?” He got right to business.

“So,” Danny clapped his hands together and pulled up an image of the inner workings of Ecto and the inner workings of the Lazarus Pits, “The Lazarus Pits have similar properties to a type of ecto that we make in the Infinite Realms.”

“You make Ecto? Like farming?”

“More like wine making. The type of ecto that the Lazarus Pits is similar to is our version of brandy, although it’s become rancid from exposure to mortal elements.” Danny explain, scratching the back of his head awkwardly.

“The Lazarus Pits is expired Ecto Alcohol?” Batman asked incredulously.

“Indeed, and from what your files talked about them people have been using them as means of resurrection. That is extremely dangerous to the health of their body and spirit,” Frostbite took over while Danny went back to upgrading the blood taker so that it can be able to scans contaminated blood. “While being near these can cause one to become liminal, bathing in them could lead to madness, Ecto/flesh instability, and the high risk of the soul tearing itself apart before you completely depart from the mortal world. If enough are contaminated it could cause what the Great One called a zombie apocalypse.”

Batman processed what he could at that time, and made a note to get Talia as far away from the Lazarus Pits as possible as soon as he’s done with this meeting. “Can I assume that you saw my files on the Talons of the Court of Owls? They are created from an altered version of the Lazarus Pits, how might that be different?”

“The stuff they use is like an expired non-alcoholic drink. For us it doesn’t give as much sustenance but for mortals it doesn’t fully resurrect them. It’s the closest thing to zombies without them actually being zombies.” Danny explained before going back to finishing the upgrades.

“If you could bring some Talons to me to examine I may be able to help you find a way to release the bodies from the torment they are forced into.” Frostbite made his request.

“I’ll make sure to capture some soon. By the way, the notes on Ecto you put into the database helped me have a better understanding of it. Could you give an examination of one of our Dark heroes Deadman? I’m worried he may not be getting enough Ecto for himself.” Batman requested.

“Of course, I will remain here to examine any heroes who are liminal and have concerns about their health. It’s clear you were already focusing on that for yourself.” Batman chose to come back to that later.

“Are the upgrades complete?”

Danny closed up the panels and stepped back, “Yup, you can put Jay’s blood in now.” Danny grabbed the vial of blood that Jay gave him and put it in the newly upgraded analyzer.

The machine whirred to life and began its analysis of the blood. For a few minutes the machine processed the blood before it let out ding and pulled up a file of someone that Jay shared blood with. It pulled up the file of the second Robin, Jason.

Danny stared wide eyed at the result, before he noticed the look of fear on Batman’s face. For the first time Batman looked like he was hyperventilating, that he was afraid. “Jason.” He whispered hoarsely, “It really is him.” Batman stumbled back slightly would’ve fallen over if Frostbite didn’t catch him. His son was alive, his baby boy was alive. How? Who brought him back?

Batman straightened up and tried to get his emotions back under control, “Make a copy of the file and show it to Jaylad, see if it jogs his memories. I… I need to go handle something.” Batman walked quickly out of the lab, ignoring Superman who had rushed over when he heard Bruce’s heartbeat become irregular. Going through the Zeta Tube he returned to the Batcave and saw Alfred cleaning the display cases. “Alfred,” He spoke out, stumbling slightly.

“Master Bruce! Were you attacked? What’s happened?” Alfred rushed forward and grabbed Bruce by the shoulders and helped him sit down.

“Alfred, I need you to do something. Don’t ask questions, I just need you to do it, please. Jason, Jason’s alive, our suspicions about Jaylad Peter. Alfred, that dream you told me about, the one you have that always causes you to wake up smiling. Grab every gun that you’ll need and fulfill it. He’s at Arkham right now, don’t stop even if I change my mind. I can’t- I can’t let him hurt Jason again, I won’t let him.” Bruce was starting to cry, his brain was processing everything too fast, there was too much going through his head.

Alfred gently hugged Bruce before he stood up. He walked up the stairs back to the mansion, passing Dick and Tim who were coming down to the cave to get ready for patrol, “None of you are going on patrol tonight. Make sure Master Bruce doesn’t leave the cave until I get back.” Alfred stepped into the study and went over to one of the book cases and removed a row of books, behind which was a shotgun. He picked up it up and began to load it up with ammo. He grabbed a few more guns from some hiding places, then left the manor. Walking past a bewildered Stephanie, Cassandra, and Duke, he gave them a nod as he closed the door. It was time for him to go on a hunt.

Dead on Main AU Prompt Fic

Edit: i use @shewhowillrise

The Justice League was choosing their head engineer. They had a few contenders. One being the top student in engineering at Gotham University, even has a scholarship through Jason Wayne’s Scholarship for Underperforming Students. Bruce Wayne has started it after adopting Jason and seeing how smart he was but also how much he struggled in school.

Daniel Fenton lived on the same street as the Monarch Theatre, the same street he found Jason.

Batman couldn’t help but think Daniel was what Jason could have been if he was able to finish school and head off too college.

Batman knocked on the apartment door, not at all surprised at how fast it opened. When setting up the meeting, he could hear the excitement over the phone.

“Hello Batman Sir!” Daniel greeted, holding out a hand. He had a strong firm grip, reminded him of Clark’s. Possibly a meta, which is a plus. With what the kid might encounter while building or making repairs, a meta gene would be good to have, especially strength.

And over the meeting Batman fell more and more in love with the kid’s enthusiasm. Without the guarantee of the job, the kid was ready to give some ideas (that would amazing) incase the League would need them.

The meeting was supposed to be an hour but soon he noticed that the sun was low.

Batman sat up straighter upon hearing a key turn in the lock.

“Oh that’s my partner, sorry, I would I have warned you but I didn’t realize the meeting was going to be this long,” Danny (only creepy billionaires call me Daniel) said, which Batman also noted that he tried his best not to blame Batman for going over the allotted time. Kid’s respectful too.

“Hey Stardust how’d the meeting I’m not supposed to know about go? I’m sure whatever words you stumbled over the Bat didn’t hold it against you for being nerv-” the disembodied voice walks into the dining room, and freezes in surprise before collecting himself, an easy smile going on his face while wiping grease stained hands on his grease stained jeans and stuck one out to shake.

“Hi, I’m Jaylad Peters,” he says but Batman doesn’t take the hand offered. He doesn’t react at all.

In front of him is his baby boy, the one that died in his arms, the one he buried in Gotham Cemetery, near Thomas and Martha. His Jason.

[aceviscontiswife]

Killers catching you crying/upset

I’ve been wanting to do some comfort type stuff for a while, so this is what my poll was for! Hope y’all enjoy!

Gn! Reader. Pre established relationship! Killers included: Danny, Pyramid Head, Wesker.

• Danny is used to seeing people cry from fear. He isn’t one to comfort, if anything, Danny’s the reason someone’s crying in the first place. He’s a murderer, not a therapist.

• However, when Danny catches you crying, it’s a different story. Why? What happened? Who did this? How the actual hell does he help you? Long story short, Danny hates seeing you upset.

• You’ve never seen Danny this concerned, or this confused. It’s clear he has no clue how to comfort you, but he tries his best. He’ll kneel down beside you and stay with you until he was sure you were alright. It was a side of Danny you’ve never seen, but not one you didn’t like.

• If it’s a survivor who’s made you cry; don’t worry, Danny will handle it. Once you’re better, Danny will teach that survivor a lesson they’ll never forget.

You had tried to last the entire trial without breaking down, but eventually you couldn’t hold back your tears any longer. You slumped against a tree, hugged your knees to your chest, and began to sob quietly. Danny was the killer this trial, you could always just find him, but you didn’t want to ruin his trial with your problems. Danny must’ve heard you, for it wasn’t long after you started crying that he kneeled down next to you and quickly removed his mask so you could see his face. “Hey… what’s wrong?” Danny asks in a tone so… soft, so concerned. It was like nothing you’ve ever head from him.

“I… it’s Nea…” You answer as more tears well up in your red, puffy eyes. Danny nods, wiping away your tears and pulling you into a tight hug, mainly so you wouldn’t see the flash of anger in his eyes at the mention of your teammate. “I’ll handle them once you’re better, okay?” You nod, and while you knew Danny was being sincere, you couldn’t help but ask “Are you sure?” To which Danny simply replies, “It’s what boyfriends are for, dollface.”

(I have never wrote for Pyramid Head before so I apologize in advance lol 😅)

• You’re… crying? That’s not something Pyramid Head likes to see, not at all. His first instinct is to make you stop crying, whatever that might take.

• While he can’t speak, Pyramid is good at telling you things through his body language. He’ll set his weapon aside and open his arms slightly—his way of saying “Come here.”

• He’ll pull you into a bone-crushing hug, his hands awkwardly rubbing your back as you cry against his chest. Pyramid will hold you until you’re done crying, and listen to any word you had to say. For something that spoke in garbled nothingness, Pyramid Head was surprisingly very well at comforting you.

• You’d tell him what had upset you, and if it just so happened to be a survivor, Pyramid Head would leave your side in an instant to go deal with them. He would return covered in blood, set his weapon aside, and allow you to melt in his arms once more.

You were somewhere in the deep, desolate forest of the entity’s realm, tears streaming down your face as you cried. You hadn’t even heard him approaching, startled when Pyramid Head suddenly appears next to you. He had laid his large weapon against a tree, his arms slightly open and waiting for your embrace. You didn’t say anything, you simply took a small step forward and wrapped your arms around him, laying your head on his chest.

Pyramid Head held you for a while, and it was only when your sobs began to lessen did he finally pull away. You knew what he wanted now; Pyramid Head wanted an explanation. “Gabriel was-“ You cut yourself off as Pyramid Head suddenly turned away, grabbed his weapon, and began making his way towards the survivors’ campfire. Was he going to-? Would the entity even allow that?! Either way, once you realized what Pyramid Head was doing, you couldn’t help but smile and wait patiently for his return.

• Unlike most of the killers, Wesker at least knows what he should say to someone who’s upset. Does he? No. Crying is a weakness, and Wesker can’t have that.

• But, much like Danny, Wesker does a complete 180 when he finds you crying. He never wanted to find you like this, and now that he has, he wants nothing more than to bring an end to your tears.

• You never would have guessed Wesker was good at comforting, but he was. He knew exactly what to say, what to do, and had you feeling better again in no time.

• If it’s a survivor who’s made you cry, you best believe Wesker will handle things. He’ll wait until he’s in a trial with them, and once he is, he’ll make sure their time with him is absolutely miserable. Wesker will teach that survivor a lesson, and it’ll work so well they’ll probably never speak to you again; out of fear of what Wesker might do if they hurt you again.

“Dearest, why are you crying?” You heard a familiar voice speak from behind you. You turn around to spot Wesker, staring up at him through teary eyes. “It’s nothing…” You lie, quickly wiping away your tears and sniffling. Wesker obviously didn’t believe you, stepping up next to you and resting his hand on your shoulder. “Don’t lie to me, y/n. What’s upsetting you?” You knew there wasn’t a point in lying again, so you tell Wesker the truth.

“Laurie was being really rude to me in my trials…” You admit, sounding more childish than you had wanted to. Wesker simply hums in response, resting his free hand on your other shoulder and beginning to rub them, easing the tension you had gathered from your earlier trials. “I’ll handle it, sweetheart.” Wesker assures you, leaning down and pressing a soft kiss to the top of your head. “Don’t worry about a thing.”

[poke-me-with-a-stick]

Chapter two for the story started by this prompt:

If you haven't read chapter one, please do and come back to this. Enjoy!

---

He was in shock. That's what Danny tells himself as he's carried away from the park, the colorfully dressed teen's shoulder digging awkwardly into his stomach. Because what other reason would he have for not doing literally anything to get away? He had a large number of ghostly abilities at his disposal, it would have been laughably easy to escape the teen's grasp.

And yet, Danny found himself hanging limply, his only movement clutching the cape that kept whipping around and hitting his face. His mind was blank, stuck between panic and exasperation. The halfa didn't even really notice when his kidnapper switched from running to grappling, only vaguely aware of the fact that they were no longer on the ground.

'Why is my luck this bad?' Danny asked himself. He was still having a bit of a hard time registering the fact that not only had he just been kidnapped, but his only way home now lay in pieces, hidden in the bushes of a park he had no clue how to get back to.

Slowly, as time passed, Danny notices the teen slowing down, crouching slightly before jumping and landing lightly in a dingy alleyway. The boy peeked around the entrance before jiggling what sounded like a door handle, the latch making a click sound as it opened.

The door swung open silently, and a few dizzying seconds later Danny found himself right-side up again, the costumed teen placing him gently on a plain brown couch. He watched the teen close the door, before heading deeper into the… apartment? It had to be an apartment, right? Yeah, Danny was going with apartment.

Rummaging noises accompanied by the clinking of mugs and the whistle of a tea kettle snapped Danny out of his pointless pondering. The teen returned a moment later with two mugs, setting one down before handing one to him. He grabbed it automatically, but refrained from drinking it yet. Instead he took the moment to observe the teen who had just abducted him.

It was hard to tell much about his face, the domino mask hiding his eyes, but the midnight black hair was cut short, a slight undercut keeping it from looking wild. His outfit was odd, a material obviously made for protection against rough hits, (he totally wasn't the least bit jealous about that). Paired with the red, green and yellow coloring, Danny was now sure that he was staring at some type of superhero. But that didn't seem quite right. Vigilante, maybe? Yeah, let's go with vigilante.

The boy frowned at him. "You should drink that." He said, bringing his own mug up and taking a long sip from it. Danny copied the motion, the hot beverage sweet yet tangy on his tongue. Blinking in surprise, he pulled the mug away from his face and set it down on the coffee table in front of him.

They sat in silence again, Danny patting his knees as he fought not to stare at the teen again. He could feel the teen's eyes on him, though. Almost like a physical touch. He knew it was a ghost ability, one that stemmed from his growing power and connection with the 'zone, but a shiver still wound its way down his spine. Ability or not, that dude had one intense stare.

Fighting off the red dusting his face, Danny cleared his throat. "Well, as much fun as this has been, I really do need to get going." He said, standing and inching his way towards the door. The teen followed him up, frown carving little furrows at the edge of his lips.

He shook his head firmly at Danny. "No."

"N-no?" Danny questioned. The teen moved quickly, grabbing his hand and yanking him back to the couch.

"No." He said again, a touch more aggressively. He situated himself on Danny's other side, putting himself between Danny and the door. "I don't want you to go."

"Why not?" Danny asked.

The boy looked away for a second before turning back, the dopey expression from earlier at the park gone without a trace. "You said you weren't going to come back." He said.

Danny's brain stalled at that, before he remembered. A slight groan escaped him. "Of course, the potion." He mumbled to himself, slapping his opened palm against his forehead with a dull thwap. The teen scowled at him, grabbing his hand and pulling closer to him with a small huff. The slight blush Danny had willed away a few minutes ago returned, not that he could focus on it.

How could it have slipped his mind? 'A side effect of ingesting too large a dose can result in psychosis', that's what the book said. Only, instead of going crazy and, say, trying to kill him, the teen was infatuated to the point of not wanting to let him go. 'Jeeze, I really am an idiot.'

For the first time since he got to this dimension, Danny took stock of his situation. He was in an unknown place, taken hostage by a love-struck stranger in spandex, with no idea how this world functioned. He had no way of contacting his sister and friends, as he had 'conveniently' left his Fenton Phone at home, a choice he was very much regretting, and he was down four bottles of water, all of the love potion(not that it would do him any good to have it, seeing as it was what got him in this situation in the first place), and the portal gun.

On the bright side, he still had some snacks, a person who would probably be more than willing to fill him in on how this place worked, some birds that had been extremely well-behaved for the entirety of this unexpected wild ride his life had decided to take, the spellbook… wait.

"Of course!" Danny exclaimed suddenly as he whipped around to grab his bag, startling both the teenager and the birds that had just started preening his hair again.

"What are you looking for?" The teen asked warily, one hand twitching around his mug as he eyed Danny's bag suspiciously.

Danny didn't answer him, instead pulling the book free with a small sound of triumph, one of his fangs peeking out of his mouth as he began to flip through the pages. The boy set his mug down next to Danny's before smoothing closer, peering curiously over his shoulder as he glossed over the different sections the book held. All the while, he mumbled out the names of the chapters until he came across one in particular.

"Aha! Here it is!" He skimmed the page, reading over the potions ingredient list as the other boy frowned at the strange writing.

"What is it?" The teen asked.

Danny glanced over at him, letting out a small squeak at just how close their faces were, but chose not to bring it up. Clearing his throat, and desperately willing his blush away, Danny began to explain. "Back at the park, you landed in a bird fountain filled with glowing pink liquid, remember?" The boy nodded at him. "Well, that was a love potion. And I got the potion recipe from this book." Danny tilted the book upwards slightly as he spoke. "So, I figured that if this was a potions book, then there had to be a potion that would cancel the effects of the potion that's currently influencing you right now!"

The boy's eyebrows furrowed, his face scrunched up in concentration as he mulled over what Danny had just told him. Sitting back, he let Danny continue to read over the cure's ingredient list. Finally, he spoke again. "So you're saying that my actions aren't my own at the moment?" The boy asked.

Danny hummed, setting the book on the table as he turned towards him. "Yeah. You're under the influence of a love potion right now. You aren't actually in love with me." The boy scowled at the comment, but didn't interrupt as Danny continued on. "And the dose that you got dunked in was a pretty big one. So any emotions you feel towards me, your actual emotions or not, are going to feel… amplified for as long as the potion remains in effect."

The boy huffed, clearly not liking the implication that his feelings of love were fake, but seemed to get what Danny was saying. At least, Danny hoped he was.

They sat in silence for a while, the only noise being made coming from the birds as they continued to pluck and straighten Danny's hair.

The vigilante was the first to break the quiet. "I don't believe you." Well, so much for that hope. "While I do believe what you say about the 'love potion', I don't believe that all of my feelings are false."

Danny stared at him, confused. "What do you mean?" He asked.

"I mean, that I know myself." He answered the halfa. "While you may be telling me the truth about being 'under the influence', as you put it," He didn't say it like that, did he? "-I believe that I would know if something was tampering with my emotions."

"Alright?" What was Danny supposed to say to that? He had already explained it to the best of his ability, if he wasn't convincing enough then there wasn't much else he could do, right? "So what now?"

The boy lifted his hand to rub at his face. "Now, I will help you."

"Help me? With what?" Danny was still confused. Honestly, confusion should just be a personality trait at this point.

"With the antidote. I will help you get whatever you need." Well that was… actually pretty amazing, all things considered. "But, I won't stop trying to convince you that my feelings are real." That was less amazing. But at least it was better than nothing, right?

"Well," Danny started, "if we're going to be working together, what do I call you?"

The teen stood then, turning so that he was still blocking the escape, not that Danny was going to try again anyways, with how this was going so far. "In costume, you can call me Robin." He said. His hands began to move upward, towards his face. Towards his mask. "But my real name is-" Danny moved quickly, one hand slapping over the vigila- Robin's mouth, and the other one batting his hands away from the mask.

"No, don't just reveal your identity to me." Danny stated firmly. "No big reveal until after I get you the antidote. I would rather you be in your right mind if you do that." Robin huffed, but lowered his hands back down to his sides. After a moment, Danny did the same.

"Tt." Robin turned away from him, the scowl back on his face. "Fine," he said. "If it makes you feel better, my identity will stay secret. For now."

Danny breathed a sigh of relief and stuck out his hand. "It's nice to meet you, Robin. I'm Danny." Robin didn't hesitate to grab his hand in a firm handshake, making Danny smile slightly. This was better.

But when Danny loosened his hand, Robin quickly brought it up to his face, placing a kiss along his knuckles like he did at the park. Danny blushed again, pulling his hand back to himself with a squeak. He sighed as Robin smirked at him. This was going to be a long day, he could already tell.

Looking back at the book, he felt himself wilt slightly at the long list of ingredients and preparations he would need to get done. It might be more than just a long day.

He definitely wasn't getting home by tomorrow. Sorry Jazz.

—

Back at home, Jazz felt a fleeting shiver. Something in her gut told her that she might not see Danny the next day. With a sigh, she began prepping her emergency go bag. If he wasn't back by the start of the week, she was going after him.

—

On the other side of Gotham, three vigilantes began their search for their missing teammate.

"Anything on the comms?" Nightwing asked as he launched himself gracefully to the next roof.

"Nothing." Oracle reported. "I tried to hack it, but either he turned it off completely, or he isn't wearing it anymore." Behind her desk, she stared at the multitude of cameras that showed her the city. The last camera that had caught sight of him was the one outside the park. She was still working on which direction he could have gone, wondering what had happened to make him avoid the CCTV's.

"Hmm. That doesn't sound like our baby bat." Nightwing hummed worriedly. Pausing, he turned towards where he knew Batman was searching. Even if he were too far away to see him. "Anything over on your end, Batman?" He asked.

"Hnn." Batman grunted over the comm. "Nothing so far. Red Robin, report."

A gusty sigh was heard over the link. "Nothing here either. Honestly, it's almost like he's hiding from us." Red Robin hunched over the edge of one of the buildings, scanning the sidewalk below for any familiar shapes. "Batman, are you sure he landed in the park?"

He asked.

Before he could respond, Oracle piped up again. "Wait! I think I found something! CCTV footage caught a glimpse of him headed south about four hours ago." All three men straightened up. "No sign of injuries, I don't see any blood or limping, and he's grappling just fine." All of them relaxed slightly at the news. "Huh. That's weird." They tensed back up.

"What is it, Oracle?" Nightwing asked. "Is he okay?"

"Huh? Yeah, he's still okay. It's just that…" She trailed off, eyeing the camera feed closely. "It- it looks like he's carrying someone."

"Meet back at the cave." Batman ordered, grappling in the direction of their base. Night wind and Red Robin hesitated for a second before following.

When they entered the cave, Bruce had already taken his cowl off and was sitting at the bat computer. The footage was pulled up and playing as they approached. It wasn't much to go on, just a quick glimpse of Damian swinging between two buildings. Like Oracle said, he looked perfectly fine. No obvious injuries despite having been flung by Killer Croc just an hour or two prior. What was weird about the footage was the black haired figure slung over his shoulder.

The angle wasn't the best, the only thing they could make out was black hair and pale skin, and a very familiar looking canvas bag hanging from his shoulder. Nightwing was the first to point it out. "Hey, Tim. Doesn't that bag look familiar?" He asked, turning to look at the man.

Tim's eyes studied to bag for a second before he recognized it. "Yeah! Wasn't that the same bag that black haired kid at the park had? The one with the glowing pink birdseed?"

Nightwing nodded, pulling his domino mask off. "I thought so too. But why is he with Damian?" Both turned to look at the clip again, trying to puzzle it out in their heads.

They were brought out of their musings by Bruce. "What kid?" He asked them, looking between the two with an expression between demanding and curious.

Tim was the one who answered him. "Me and Dick were in the park earlier, before the Killer Croc attack, when we spotted this kid digging around in his bag. He pulled out a bag of glowing pink birdseed and set it out, before sitting a little ways away and watching it. It was a bit weird, but he didn't seem to be hurting anything, so we left him alone." Dick nodded along with Tim's explanation, not once looking away from the screen.

"We don't think he's a meta, there wasn't anything off about him from what we could tell." Dick added before Bruce could ask. Bruce hummed in response before turning back to the computer.

"Oracle, have you found anything else?" He asked, his tone all business.

"No sir. That was the only thing I've been able to find so far. I'll let you know if I find anything else, and I'll keep trying his com." Bruce grunted as she turned her com off. Sighing, he ran his hand down his face.

"Go change." He told the other two in the cave. "Until we have more leads, there isn't much we can do." Tim didn't need to be told twice, already halfway across the cave. Dick hung back, looking at Bruce intently.

"Don't worry too much, B." He said softly. "Damian can take care of himself." With that he followed Tim, albeit a bit slower.

"I know." Bruce sighed, looking at the floor a bit longer before turning back to the computer. There may not be a lot he could do at the moment, but that didn't mean he was going to sit there and do nothing.

---

There may be spelling mistakes in this, but its okay because I did my best.

To the people who wanted to be tagged for this chapter, as well as the lovely person who made thenprompt for this story: @im-totally-not-an-alien-2 @manapeer @halfblackwolfdemon @xxwintrynightzxx @treepainting

If I forgot anyone I'm sorry, and if you want to be tagged in the next chapter please let me know!

Edit: I forgot to add tags. They're there now.

Edit #2: Hey, this story is now on Ao3! To view, click here! We're up to 5 chapters now!

[casualpersonapersonpeach]

The slashers favourite way to greet you when you come home!

feel free to message or comment any request loves <3!

Michael Myers:

Michael is very stoic, so sometimes he is a little bit hard to read. Sometimes you think he doesn't miss you, on the contrary dear one. Michael misses you a lot. He just finds it so difficult to express that- especially early onto the relationship. These new feelings shock him so it takes him time to open up and show you.

Once michael feels comfortable enough to show you some vulnerability, he will wait by the door for you. Standing awkwardly. He will open his arms up to you slowly, waiting for you to initiate going into the hug. Michael will hug you tightly and rest his chin on your head. This is how he conveys that he missed you so much.

Don't be out for so long he thinks. Remember it is Michael- he's a little possessive. He wouldn't let you know for a long time, but Michael sometimes will wait hours for your return, he feels lost without you.

Thomas Hewitt:

You had gone out of town for a little, and Thomas had been anticipating your arrival home. He can't stand living with his family sometimes (apart from mama mae). They just don't understand him and love him like you do. You don't use him or berate him.

Thomas has been waiting in your room for you. He is sitting on the edge of the bed, fiddling with his fingers. He just wants you to be home, he misses you so much it causes an ache in his heart.

When you knock on the door and ask "Hey Tommy baby, are you in here?" He jumps up to get the door and immediately embraces you. His hand on the back of your head as you ease into his big strong arms. You knew he missed you. You give him a kiss on his masked cheek- you missed him too.

Jason Voorhees:

You had been out running errands. On this day in particular, there had been a lot of campers today at crystal lake. It had made Jason very afraid, and miss you all the more. He didn't want any harm coming your way, he couldn't handle anybody stealing you away from him.

Jason has been patrolling the camp grounds extra vigilantly. He had to keep campers away, and every minute he was waiting to see if you were home already. When you're gone, Jason becomes very anxious and extra protective.

As it approaches evening, you come to the cabin with some groceries. You see Jason open the door as you walk up the stairs. He puts the groceries in one hand, and he picks you up in his other arm, and carries you into your shared cabin. He sits you on his nap, his face nudging against yours to tell you how much he loves you and misses you.

Bubba Sawyer:

Like Thomas, Bubba doesn't always enjoy being around his family for the same reason. So when you leave, Bubba feels very low and is always anticipating your arrival back.

Bubba is not shy to show physical affection ! He will not hesitate to give you a big hug or a kiss. He's just so pure!!! Bubba is counting down the hours until you come back home.

When you walk into the yard you call out Bubba's name. This man has the ears of a hawk. He hears you and fumbles his way to you out of excitement. He squeals out- it resembles your name. Nothing could have warm your heart more. He scoops you up in his big arms, and presses millions of butterfly kisses all over your sweet face.

Daniel Robitaille:

You had been busy working and after a long day, you return home. Daniel also had a few insecurities about your relationship with him. He really felt like you deserved more than him. No matter how assertive he tried to be, he could never hide from these feelings.

Despite Daniel not really struggling as much with initiating physical touch and emotional vulnerability- he just couldn't shake the feeling that he felt guilty. All he wanted was for you to be happy. And he hated missing you, he's been alone for so long that it just reminds him of his devoid life before.

When you call out "Danny! I'm home!" His heart feels fixed again somehow. He just wanted to be reminded that you wanted to be with him, that he was the man you wanted to come home to. He will walk up to you, arms opened, saying "Well baby, I'm glad that it's you". Gently smirking, he'll carry you in his arms onto the couch. He wants to talk with you and have you fall asleep in his arms. He loves you so much.

Vincent Sinclair:

You went out to another town to get some supplies for the brothers. Vincent doesn't tend to worry too much if you'll leave him while you have the opportunity. It isn't to say he doesn't miss you though.

Vincent is also shy to initiate physical contact in the beginning of your relationship. When you come home at the start, he will wave to you and maybe hold your hand for a few seconds. He's trying his best for you. He just feels insecure. After a while though, once he knows you really love him, he will feel more confident touching you, and even feeling comfortable showing you his face.

When you come home, he would even take his mask off for you to he can kiss you. Vincent will hold you in a hug for a few minutes. Just so you can understand how much he really loves you.

Bo Sinclair:

Bo worries a lot that you'll escape from him when you go out for a while. He is just always worried that he isn't good enough for you, that you'll want more than a life in a small, wax filled town.

Bo has a lot of deeply rooted insecurities. He isn't shy to initiate physical contact- but sometimes he finds it hard to show his emotional vulnerability.

If you are at the stage in your relationship with him where he can open up. Then when you get home he will be so sappy and emotional with you- it's so beautiful to see him express his emotions so healthily. He'll say " aw hey darlin' i really did miss ya'". When he holds you in his arms, Bo will gently whisper "I really thought ya' might just leave me behind". His voice is shaky. Tonight you will need to reassure Bo's emotions. It helps encourage him to continue being open with you.

Lester Sinclair:

Lester will miss you regardless if it's for an hour or a two days. Lester always thinks of you and now that he's used to having you and your company, it's hard for him to go without. You had been gone for s few days visiting family.

Lester felt really lonely. He was never mad at you. Lester isn't that kind of man- he is not possessive and he just wants you to be able to have things for yourself.

When Lester hears you come to your shared bedroom, he immediately yells out " Well heya' baby!!!" He will have the biggest smile on his face. Lester is so excited to see you again. You hadn't left him, or forgotten about him, like the small voice in his mind sometimes tells him you would. He will kiss you on the cheek and shoulders. Lester definitely needs a hour long cuddling session to feel energized again.

Brahms Heelshire:

Brahms tends to get frustrated, or more often upset if you have to go out. He does have a worry about being abandoned. You haven't hurt him, it's just to do with his past.

He will walk around the house, pacing anxiously until you arrive home. Brahms knows you love and accept him. It's just there is a voice in the back of his mind telling him you'll never come back, and that you'll leave him for somebody better-. Those doubts wash away for now when he hears the door creak open.

Brahms is ready to greet you and give you a big passionate kiss, his hands roaming at the small of your back. He will press his forehead to yours and say "Thank you for coming home. I missed you". Your heart breaks for him.

Norman Bates (Psycho, 1960):

Norman is a bit shy, but it doesn't mean he doesn't get giddy when he sees you coming through the door! As soon as you step foot into your shared home, he scratches his head awkwardly and says "Hi honey! I'm really happy you're home!".

Please be patient with Norman! He's not used to having somebody around him that he gets really excited to see, so it will take him some time to feel more confident initiating more than conversation.

Once Norman is confident, he will wrap you tightly in a hug and kiss your hand. He'll tell you how dearly he missed you and how grateful he is that you're home. Even if you were only gone for 3 hours. Norman is very emotionally starved, he will always show his appreciation.

[diamond-rozie]

*standing menacingly at the door* i made u something

anyways lol. i had a lot of school work and was really busy freaking out and stress studying for a singular test that was 4 questions and would be over in like an hour and then i proceeded to cry about it in my car for various reasons.

but yk what that means!

time for our irregular and unscheduled update of

Gotham Academy's Mentorship Program

this episode featuring a fan favorite: Duke Thomas (aka The Signal - but thats kind of irrelevant for this)

you were supposed to read that like it was from a '90s sitcom and the off screen crowd cheers rly loudly.

some house keeping updates: this scene happens in the beginning of the school year (going by the american system should be september) danny meets damian (and upsurges tim on the same day) around midterm which is around october and then the stuff with jason and damian's drawing happens around december. i kinda accidentally burned the irl timeline for anything dc first scene so now im just gonna do whatever i want.

anyways with out further ado:

table of contents

scene 04: after school activities for normal kids

Duke stood around the corner of the classroom awkwardly, wondering if he had made the right call. Sure the bats and the birds had a plethora of hands on deck any time, but most of them specialized as night time heros. Not to say that they were incompetent or anything, they were some of the most skilled and innovative people Duke had ever had the pleasure of meeting. Sure if anything happened, they could handle it, at least until Duke could slip away and show up as the Signal- Alfred and Bruce had assured him so much. But Duke couldn’t slip the guilt of busying away more of his time to after school activities when he could be patrolling or studying instead, 

But Duke had wanted to do something outside of those things, which was specifically why he had made the difficult decision to join a few clubs and after school activities. He could use a break from being surrounded by people who worked the vigilante life-style just to remember how to be a normal civilian. Let himself take a break from constantly be consumed by one case or another, one disaster or another, not being able to do enough no matter how much he tried or how much time he spent patrolling. 

Duke needed to feel grounded, like his feet were on the ground and he could press the brakes and smell the fragrance of life. Even if the fragrance was a forgotten pile of dog s-

“Alright,” The instructor for their culinary club started with a weird German accent that sounded really fake. “I am Herman. You can call me Chef or Chef Herman or just Chef. I will not bore you all with the boring introductions, and let's head right into the cooking, yes. On this paper here I made the partners for all of you to cook with for the rest of the year. If you have problem with it then quit.” 

This Herman guy seemed like quite the character, and was definitely not helping any of Duke’s previous anxieties. Many of Duke’s clubmates seem to think so too, sending their friends various looks. But no one spoke out, and instead shuffled to the front to look at the singular sheet of paper that would assign them their partners. Duke finally made it to the front and saw that he was paired with a Daniel Fenton at Station 7. 

Crossing his fingers that Daniel had at least only a half-rotten personality, Duke made his way over to station 7. The station was already prepped with an assortment of ingredients and cooking equipment. Duke had already set his stuff down claiming the seat closer to the exit (in case) when a lanky kid comes over, “Uh, your Duke Thomas?” He asks hesitantly looking back at the front counter the partner assignment sheet was. 

It took Duke an awkward second longer to realize that this kid was probably his partner. “Oh yeah I am.” He laughed apologetically, “You must be Daniel.” 

“Danny’s fine.” The boy smiled, absentmindedly brushing his messy black hair out of his face, his glacier blue looking at the equipment. Duke couldn’t help but feel like there was something off about Danny. Not in Gotham’s usual psycho-maniac-out-to-terrorizer-the-city-and-kill-innocent-people kind of off, more in a he’s not in sync with the rest of the world off. While Chef Herman explained the general structure of various types of kitchen and kitchen hierarchy that Duke was already familiar with, Duke tried to get a read on him. 

Weird did not mean threat, after all many of the Justice League- heck even the local Wayne/Batclan were pretty weird- and they (usually) didn’t mean any harm. It wouldn’t be fair of Duke to jump the horse like that. 

Deciding he should try to be friendly with him, Duke leaned over, “Is it just me or is Chef Herman’s accent totally fake?” he whispered. 

“Oh, Ancients,” Anciets? “I thought I was just going insane.” Danny sighed in relief with a small chuckle. There was a moment of silence between the two of them where no one said anything for longer than socially acceptable and Duke debated using his powers to see if he could find a clue or something. That seemed kinda invasive, though. 

When the Chef had started instructions on making today's recipe, Chocolate Chip Cookies, Danny helped Duke measure out the ingredients. “So,” Danny tried again, “What are you in for?” 

“What am I…” Duke repeated confused, 

Danny chuckled awkwardly, “Like why you joined the club.” 

Duke seriously needed to get his head in the present; this was getting embarrassing. “Oh.” He nodded in understanding, “I’ve always liked cooking,” Duke shrugged, “When I was little my parents and I would always cook together, and it was always one of my favorite things to do. And I’ve kinda always liked it, but I fell off of it for a while with school and stuff,” emphasis on the stuff “I thought joining a club could help me get back into it and get away from… everything.” That was a little more candid than Duke had planned on being with someone he had met quite literally a few minutes ago, but it felt good to have that out of his chest. The pleasant memories of his parents swimming in his mind. Mixing the dry ingredients, “Sorry that was kind of a lot.” Duke laughed genuinely this time. 

“Dude, no it’s actually so cool that you like to cook.” Danny said admiration was easy on his face, and Duke couldn’t help but feel a little embarrassed. 

“What about you, then?” 

“Ugh,” He groaned jokingly, “You can’t seriously be asking for my lame ass reason after you pulled out the flashbacks.” Danny whined, letting the oven preheat like Chef told them to. 

“C’mon, it’s only fair.” Duke played along, already ahead of the other groups. 

Danny sighed, “Promise you won’t laugh.” 

“Okay, it can’t be that bad.” Duke could already feel the smile cracking on his face. 

“It is.” Danny drawlled, “So I live in the dorms right, and I got to pull some strings and room with one of my friends from back home this year. And well, let’s just say my family has a bit of a reputation for causing problems, and the kitchen definitely wasn’t an exception. One time my dad tried to make some soup for my mom because she got sick.” Duke nodded approvingly, that was a sweet gesture, “It was all fun and games until the bomb squad had to show up and long story short we had to move.” 

“You’re joking.” Duke gaped at the bizarre story, but at Danny’s solemn expression, Duke couldn’t help but be appalled, “A bomb squad over soup.”

“My parents were never really heavy on lab safety,” Danny added, as if that explained everything, “But I burn one pot of water and maybe make a few extra-crispy eggs, and suddenly its all ‘Danny you’re not allowed in the kitchen unless you start taking actual classes’ and ‘Danny that's a biohazard’.” 

“You burned a pot of water.” Duke echoed, Danny nodded innocently, “Water doesn’t burn.”

“Well, maybe you’re just not trying hard enough.” Danny sneered, trying to crack an egg on the corner of the bowl only for all the shell to fall in the bowl and the yolk on the counter. 

“Somehow, I don’t think that’s true.” Duke said, taking the bowl from him and expertly cracking an egg single handedly. Danny looked on in awe. “You said you live in the dorms?” Duke asked easily. 

“Oh yeah, all of the non-local scholarship kids have to.” 

Before Duke could respond, a girl from the station in front of them whips her head around, “You said you’re here on a scholarship?” She asked almost oppressively. 

Danny just as taken aback as Duke felt, “Uh, yeah.” 

“Me, too. Have you heard anything about the Mentorship Program here? Apparently we all have to join.” The girl’s partner was looking between Duke and Danny confused, but returned to their cooking uninterested. 

“Oh, yeah. They make us all join.” Danny nodded. 

“I heard from some of the older kids, that no one actually gets picked for that. It’s just like a weird formality thing.” The girl spoke animatedly, “What department are you in?” 

“Applied physics and engineering design.” The oven beeps that it was ready but no one moved. 

The girl seemed to deflate that answer, “Oh, I’m doing culinary science.” And with that solid conclusionary statement, she turned around and got back to her work station. 

Danny blinked, processing what just happened and slowly turning to look at Duke for proof that just happened. But the second the both of them met each other’s eyes, they burst into a fit of silent laughter. 

Bent vunuralably over the table, trying to catch their breath, they were accosted by Chef Hermon. “The two of you are having a comedy club, not a cooking club.” Chef crossed his arms at the edge of the table. Duke was pretty sure he was trying to sold them, but the fake accent was making it hard to tell. 

Danny cleared his throat and striated up, “Sorry, Sir.” He apologized quickly. 

“Chef.” Hermon peered at them, his hat looking comically large and lopsided on his head now that Duke was getting a closer look. 

“Sorry, Chef.” Duke amended, trying to keep his cool. 

“Yes, finish cooking your cookies.” He nodded satisfied, leaving their station. 

“Okay so,” Duke tried to recount what the last thing they did was, but one look at Danny trying desperately to hold in his laugh had ruined all of Duke’s efforts as well. Barely managing to get their cookies in the oven, over Chef’s fake german accent and floppy oversized chef’s hat. 

“So scholarship for applied physics and engineering design, huh.” Duke recounted from earlier, impressed. 

“Yeah…” Danny trailed off embarrassed, “It sounds kinda snotty.” 

“Dude. That’s literally one of the hardest departments to get into, and the scholarship is no sneeze either. There’s no doubt you worked your butt off to get that.” Duke assured Danny as they sat in their stools waiting for the cookies to finish. 

“Thanks,” Danny smiled sheepishly. They sat in a much more comfortable silence now before Danny spoke again, “What grade are you in by the way?” 

“I’m in 10th. General studies for now, but I was thinking of doing medicine. You?” 

“I could totally see you as a hot-shot doctor.” Danny nodded approvingly, “11th. Technically, I’m your upperclassman then.” 

“Technically?” Duke asked.

“I mean, how old are you?” 

“15.” Duke supplied confused. 

“Me too. I skipped a grade in elementary school, so we’re actually the same age.” Danny explained, sheepishly. 

“Dude, you're actually way smart.” Duke gaped in awe. 

“Hey medicine isn’t a day walk either.” Danny nudged his arm playfully, “I’m glad the mentorship thing is just for show, though. Now that we’re upperclassmen, y’know. I would not want my hands full with some random rich kid.” 

Duke laughed, “Yeah, that definitely sounds like a lot of work.” 

Easily unfolding the conversation into various topics and interests Duke found that he didn’t mind that the cookies were burnt. Or that Danny was definitely weird. But in a good way. Duke was glad they met and would get to hang out and cook with their weird not-German Chef every week. And if Danny and Duke exchanged numbers and planned to hangout outside of club activities, then well who was going to stop them.

[raaorqtpbpdy]

Ectober day three is here!

NOW I GET WHY IT’S CALLED THE SOUL SHREDDER

[Warnings for fear and loss and semi-graphic descriptions of death]

Somehow, no matter how many times Danny had fought Fright Knight, he'd always managed to avoid the sword. He had to, otherwise his terrifyingly mortal friends would have to fight the incarnation of fear without him, and he couldn't let that happen. To be hit by Fright Knight's sword simply wasn't an option.

Tucker had been cut by it once, and when he recounted it to Danny, the nightmares hadn't seemed all that bad, a hundred Paulinas in bathing suits running toward him on a beach turning into a hundred Dashes kicking sand in his face. Maybe it was just because Danny was bi, but given the horrors they faced on a daily basis, he felt like it could've been worse.

Two years later, on Halloween, Jazz and Sam were both nicked by the sword, and while Sam vocally and dramatically described the horrors of being forced to wear pastels and eat veal by her parents, Jazz was quiet. Danny was afraid to ask, but that night, Jazz knocked on his bedroom door, and as soon as he opened it, she wrapped him in a hug.

"I'm so sorry, Danny," she said, her voice choked with tears.

"Woah... what are you sorry for?" he asked, hugging her back, awkwardly stroking her hair. "Is this... about what the Soul Shredder made you see? It was only a nightmare; none of it was real."

"It wasn't real for me, but Danny," her voice cracked and the rest came out in a whisper, "my greatest fear was having to go through what you've gone through."

He blinked in surprise, pulling them both out of the doorway and pushing the door closed behind them. "What do you mean?"

"The Soul Shredder, it showed me  a life where, instead of you, it was me in the portal when it turned on," she explained. "In the fear dimension, I had to go through all the things you've gone through. Mom and Dad were shooting at me, threatening to dissect me. And you didn't know anything about it. Right before you beat Fright Knight and we all got let out of the fear dimension, I was fighting a nightmare version of Spectra. And she... she..."

"It was Spectra," Danny cut her off. "Enough said."

He'd never had to comfort his sister while she cried like that before. All his life, she'd been the protective older sister, the one who covered for him with their parents, the one who fought the Christmas turkey, the one who patched him up when he scraped his knees at school. She was his rock, whenever he was scared. He'd never had to do that for her before.

"I don't know how you do it," she said between sobs. "I don't know how you can walk a tightrope between life and death like it's nothing. I don't know how you haven't been traumatized a dozen times over just by the ongoing existential crisis of your nature."

"I don't think about it that much."

"No... you just don't talk about it," she disagreed, and she was right, although he wasn't going to admit that. He thought about it a lot more than he would like to.

"I have you," he said instead. "And I have Sam and Tucker, and the occasional ghost ally who help me out. I can handle it because I'm not alone." He ignored the little voice in his head that said, you are alone. That's what it means to be one-of-a-kind…

"I'm never gonna let you face anything alone," she told him. "Even if I die, I'm gonna become a ghost, and I'll always support you so you never have to be alone."

"Thanks, Jazz."

"I mean it."

"I know you do."

Before that night, Danny had never given much thought to what he himself might see in the fear dimension. As much as possible, he tried not to entertain his fears. He couldn't afford to.

Even so, he knew what he was afraid of, and his conversation with Jazz made it all the more real.

The next time he faced Fright Knight, the unthinkable happened.

The Soul Shredder plunged into Danny's abdomen and his world faded into darkness.

The next thing he knew, he was laying on his back on the sidewalk, surrounded by a hoard of people staring down at him with disgust. Jazz was there, backing away from him with wide eyes. Tucker's knees were shaking so badly they buckled under him, and he scrambled away through the crowd on his hands and knees. Sam was there, looking like she might throw up, her eyes looking at anything but him.

"He's a ghost and a boy?" Star's voice whispered. "What's with that? How creepy?"

"What a freak," Kwan said. "He shouldn't even be around us regular people."

I'm not! he tried to say, but when he opened his mouth, the words didn't come out.

"Isn't he, like, an abomination against nature or something?" asked Paulina.

"He looks human, now..."

"But then... most monsters do, don't they?"

"Everyone back up!" an authoritative voice cut through the crowd.

Mom! he realized. Dad! Please help me!

"Leave this to the professionals!" his dad's voice boomed. "We'll take care of this no-good, dirty, creepy, deranged little thing!"

"Now honey," his mother said, "don't forget that it's also an affront to human kind, and and blight on the earth, unfit to be seen by society, it's existence worth less to the world than gum on the sidewalk."

No...

On instinct, he transformed and flew away, dodging the net launchers and ecto-blasts that were shot after him. He flew home as fast as he could. If there was no place for him in the real world, at least he could escape to the Ghost Zone.

But when he got there, he was just as unwelcome by the dead.

"Get out of here, you wannabe!" Ember yelled at him. "You're not a real ghost, you're just a kid in a costume."

"Why would we want a creature like you here?" Frostbite sneered. "You're not one of us. You're not fit to reside with us."

"Human things don't belong in the Realms..." Walker drawled, his already towering form growing taller and taller until he looked about to squash Danny between his hands. "That's against the rules."

Danny dodge Walker's blow, leaving through the portal and crossing the Atlantic. Last he heard, Dani was in France. She'd sent him a postcard. Even if the whole world was against him, she was with him. She was like him. he wasn't one-of-a-kind, as long as she was around.

He found her below the Eiffel Tower, took her hands, and she smiled. She opened her mouth to speak. Her skin started to droop, green bubbles forming on her face, eyes melting into her skull as she destabilized where she stood, dissolved into a glowing green puddle without so much as a word.

Shaking, Danny floated up into the sky. Hated by his friends and family, rejected by the ghosts, having lost his clone, he turned to the very last person in the world he would ever turn to.

"Ha!" Vlad laughed in his face. "Foolish boy, you've missed your chance, hurled one too many insults. I'm not interested in you anymore. You're a weak, stupid little boy, full of hubris, and I want nothing more to do with you. How does it feel to have alienated the only other person on the planet who knows what you've gone through? Pretty wretched, I'd imagine. But unlike you, I don't need anyone. I’m strong on my own. I don't rely on the help of others.

"You? You're useless on your own. A freak. A loser!" Vlad laughed again, and Danny got the wind knocked out of him when he took a pink ghost ray to the chest. "Get out of my sight!"

Freak.

Loser.

Monster.

The words all echoed in his head, swirling around like a tornado of hatred.

Alone

Alone

Alone.

"Danny! Are you okay?!" Danny gasped, eyed flying open at the sound of Sam's voice.

"What happened?" he asked.

"You got hit by the Soul Shredder," Tucker explained. "Don't worry though. We took care of Fright Knight."

"He won't be bothering us again," Sam said, helping him sit up. "At least, not until next Halloween."

"Sorry it took us so long," Jazz apologized. "Are you alright? Do you wanna talk about it?"

"It was horrible!" Danny said. "Aliens finally made contact with Earth, but all they wanted was to buy bagpipe music CDs! They wouldn't even talk to us about anything else but bagpipe music. It was awful!"

"You've literally died before, and you greatest fear is that aliens will come to Earth and all they'll care about is bagpipes?" Sam asked, deadpan. 

"I've wanted to meet aliens my whole life! I don't want it to be disappointing!" he said. Tucker laughed, and Sam sighed, and Jazz shook her head in disbelief.

It was all right if they thought a little less of him for this. As long as they never found out what really scared him.

[starlitangels]

The Twins

Pups AU... from a different perspective ;) This one is not canon to the Pups AU!!!!! It’s just for fun 1.7k words (almost exactly!) (Please see this fic for some information about tokenrun, the magical sport I made up)

—

“Daaad! Xander is breaking the rules!” Rowan complained. Huxley laughed as he got up from the spot where he’d been sitting across from me and went to go scoop up either boy under each arm.

“Are you two getting under each other’s skin?” he teased, spinning in circles while the twins cried out with laughter. He laughed too, big and deep. I watched my family fondly. My parents didn’t even know about their grandsons—and I had no intention of telling them any time soon. Fourteen years ago, when I told them I was marrying Huxley, we’d gotten in another fight. I was marrying another “magic freak” and they wanted nothing to do with him. Huxley had been kind to them up until they insulted me, then he’d gone cold and protective and we’d left. We hadn’t spoken to my parents since. I was sure they’d love to be grandparents, but not to twin boys who would eventually also be magic freaks.

Huxley put Xander and Rowan back on the ground. “Alright. You two versus me,” he said.

They weren’t playing tokenrun anywhere near correctly—but when there were three people playing in a backyard and two of them didn’t have powers yet, it was allowed to be for fun without proper rules.

I watched Huxley fondly as he tackled both the boys to the ground—gently—and hoisted them back up to their feet. Giving them tips and pointers the entire time. Both Xander and Rowan cast occasional glances back at me, searching for approval. I smiled and nodded encouragingly each time.

After a few more plays—during which Huxley “very convincingly” pretended to lose—the three of them huddled together, speaking quietly. I raised a brow and sipped my lemonade.

“Ready? Break!” Xander and Rowan chorused.

All three of them ran at where I was sitting on my pillow in the grass. The boys tackled me while Huxley got behind to cushion my fall. “Rawr!” Rowan exclaimed, his arms around my waist, while all four of us laughed. I held onto my boys when they tried to break away and started to tickle them both. They shrieked.

Huxley’s laughter stopped, his head snapping toward the screen over the open back door. “Doorbell,” he said.

“That’s weird,” Xander said. “We’re not expecting anyone yet, are we?”

“DnD’s not for another hour,” Rowan confirmed.

I extricated myself out from under our boys, dropping them on his lap. “I’ll get it. You three keep playing tokenrun.”

Huxley looked concerned, but I waved him off and blew him a kiss. “I can handle myself,” I said. “Play with the boys while summer lasts.”

I pushed open the screen’s magnets, slipped inside, and crossed through the house to the front door. I tugged on my Threads, burning a bit of magic just in case. There was no aura on the other side of the door.

When I opened the door, a familiar head of brown hair stood there with a backpack I recognized. “Hi,” the visitor greeted.

“Well. Little Miss Natalie Shaw,” I replied.

“I’m sorry I’m so early. My uncle was gonna drop off his son and my brother at hockey while our parents are out for the afternoon and it was either be super early or miss DnD tonight,” Natalie said, picking at her nails awkwardly. Her big eyes were apologetic.

I opened the door wider. “Don’t be sorry, kiddo,” I said. “C’mon in. Rowan and Xander are out back with their dad playing tokenrun. They could probably use another teammate to stand a chance.”

She grinned. “Of course they could. They’re helpless,” she joked, already sliding her DnD backpack off her shoulders. She slipped into the house with the ethereal grace of a shifter—despite the fact that her powers hadn’t manifested yet—and set her backpack down next to the door as she toed out of her sneakers.

“So how come your brother and cousin play hockey instead of tokenrun?” I asked.

“Oh, Danny’s not my cousin,” she said. “We’re not actually related. I just call his dad my uncle. Because... y’know. Shifter packs. We’re all weirdly close, right?” She shrugged. “But, uh, they play hockey because tokenrun isn’t, like, super suited to shifting and if they’re gonna play a sport where they can’t use magic, they might as well play an unempowered sport. Plus—my other packmate, Micah—her parents and family are super into hockey, and Micah dared Danny to try it. My brother plays with him because they’re the only boys our age and Gabriel wanted to share something with Danny besides constant frustration at all the girls.”

I loved hearing her stories about her pack. She didn’t need to know that Caelum had already told me a lot about her and her brother and her dad—given David was Caelum’s very first charge, and he’d taken on Natalie not long after she was born too. I loved hearing her stories from her perspective.

“Are all you girls chaotic little gremlins?” I asked.

She nodded enthusiastically. “Uh-huh.”

“Well, no wonder you get along with my boys so well.”

She laughed. “Yeah. Makes sense.” She waved and ran through the house to the backyard. “Party’s here!” I heard her shout as I made my way back myself.

“Heeey! Natty!” Huxley greeted. “How you been, kiddo?”

“Good! Good to see you, Huxley,” she replied.

I made it to the backyard. Natalie had, apparently, jumped on Xander’s back for a piggyback ride upon leaving the backdoor. Both the boys took after Huxley when it came to build and strength, even for their age, so Natalie (who for now was about their same size) didn’t seem to be much of a burden for Xander to carry.

“Hux, babe,” I piped up. “Think her and the boys together could beat you?”

The fierce, determined smile that lit up Natalie’s face was so wolfish I was surprised her powers hadn’t manifested yet.

Huxley chuckled. “They can try,” he said.

Xander set Natalie down. She took up a position between Xander and Rowan. At her size, could she topple Huxley alone? Not a chance. Her dad could—I’d seen David, he was huge, even in human form—but she was too young and too small.

But she didn’t need to topple him. Xander passed her the token and she took off. Like a bullet. She dodged around Huxley’s long reach and ran for the other end of the backyard while Xander and Rowan slammed into their dad in an attempt to tackle him. I laughed and went back to my pillow next to the vegetable patch, pruning the sage bush.

“Since when are you so fast, Natty?” Huxley asked as she reached the spot where a beacon would be on a proper token run field and cheered.

She cackled. “You grow up with shifters, you learn to be fast,” she said. “My brother manifested his powers a few months ago and he’s been chasing me around the backyard when I annoy him ever since.” She threw the token at him. A child’s token. For high school, academy, and professional tokenrun, the token was a disc of heavy, dense metal. For playing at home, they were using a 3D-printed plastic one that Huxley had printed a while back, sized down for smaller hands.

Hux caught the token easily. “My turn on offense?” he asked.

Natalie put herself back between Xander and Rowan. The boys nodded.

“Alright.”

They counted down and all three kids rushed at him, tackling him around the middle.

—

“And then, just as you’re turning the corner—” Hayley gasped. “There it is! On a pedestal in the center of the chamber, a shaft of sunlight shining down upon it. The tome sits before you and—” I didn’t hear the Telepathic noise she used, but every kid in the room jolted. She was the oldest in the group and her Telepathy had manifested only a month ago, but she was already adept at using it to enhance her DMing. “I need everyone to roll initiative.”

Xander and Rowan scrambled for their dice—and promptly started shouting at each other upon finding both of their D20′s were missing.

I leaned over to Huxley. “Remember when we used to play with Lasko and Saul and Roxanne and them?”

He nodded. “Miss it?”

“Sometimes. This always reminds me of the good old times. I’m just glad the boys get to experience the same thing with their friends, like we did,” I said. “I’m glad they boys will never have to experience what I did when I was their age and my powers manifested.”

Huxley met my gaze, a soft look in those lush green eyes. “We’ll make sure they always know we’re behind them no matter what,” he promised.

“I know,” I said.

We went back to washing up some of the dishes from the kids all having pizza.

“Natalie Shaw!” Xander and Rowan shouted in unison. “Give us back our dice!”

I heard that familiar cackle as Natalie leapt to her feet and bolted, letting the boys chase in her circles around the rest of the group. They were stronger than her and nearly a year older, but couldn’t keep up with her faster pace.

Huxley and I chuckled. “Damn she’s a little troublemaker, isn’t she?” I said quietly.

“Yeah. But the boys love her,” Huxley replied. “Row says she’s the entertainment of the school friend group.”

Natalie whirled and slammed into both the boys head on. Letting them tackle her into the carpet. She had a D20 in each hand. Xander’s violet one and Rowan’s green. “Took you goofs long enough to notice,” she said. “I swiped those from your trays, like, an hour ago.” The twins snatched their dice and got off of her. “There’s a reason I play a rogue in my other group.”

“Yeah, because you’re a mischievous twerp,” Hayley joked.

Natalie got to her feet smoothly and snapped her fingers into finger guns at Hayley. “Exactly,” she replied with a laugh before going back to her seat next to Rowan and Xander. “Also I rolled a twenty-three on initiative,” she said.

Rowan rolled his eyes and Xander’s jaw dropped.

“Alright. Natalie’s at the top of the round. What do you do?”

[snackleggg]

City of splintering hopes: Chapter 2 "Cave of stars"

~~~

Ao3

~~~

Danny woke up Saturday morning feeling well rested and refreshed, so he was immediately suspicious about what the day would bring. The last time he had woken up feeling so well was before The accident so roughly 2 years of either nightmares, insomnia, or a ghost waking him had him jumpy at the prospect of a good night's sleep.

He did all his usual checks to make sure nothing was wrong but as he headed down for breakfast it seemed that everything was perfectly fine. Suspicious.

Danny just shrugged though as he ate his almost certainly ecto-contaminated cereal before leaving the house as quickly as possible to avoid helping his parents test any new inventions. Of course he always kept an eye on whatever they were creating, in case it was anything actually dangerous he would need to destroy but the day had started suspiciously well and he wanted to keep that good times streak going for as long as possible. Not getting hit in the head with the boo-merang was something he was eager to do.

He quickly met up with Tucker and Sam at the Nasty burger but as they talked about school and which ghosts they were betting on appearing today Danny felt weighed down as the events of yesterday found their way back to the forefront of his thoughts.

"Hey, earth to Danny" Sam said, snapping her fingers infront of his face. Oh, he must have spaced out.

"We know you wanna be an astronaut dude but don't you think it's a little early?" Tucker joked between stuffing his face full of fries.

Danny chuckled at his friends attempt at humor but it came out more forced than anything "Sorry, just thinking about some stuff. Can I get your guys opinion on something?" Danny asked and both Sam and Tucker gave him their full attention as he started explaining what had happened yesterday.

At the end of the recounting Tucker exclaimed "Yes! You should totally go!" Loud enough to get a few heads turned but he quieted himself down and soon everyone at the fast food joint was once again minding their own business.

"It does sound like a good opportunity. Plus it's not like anything bad is guaranteed to happen. My prediction is worst case scenario you come back with nothing new" Sam said with a shrug.

"Yeah, I guess your right. I mean it's just some old abandoned buildings and stuff they might've left behind, nothing that can hurt right?" Danny reasoned, finally he was starting to get over his slight paranoia.

"Exactly! But if you do find anything cool be sure to tell us about it" Tucker added and Danny nodded along. Of course he would tell his friends, they knew pretty much everything about eachother and would always come to eachother when they needed to talk to someone.

"Well if you want to go today then you should get going, the Far Frozen is a 2 hour flight and you don't know how long you'll need to travel from there to get to these ruins" Sam said. Danny had also explained to them his feelings on not wanting to wait too long if he did decide to go and she could tell that Danny's curiosity that he inherited from his parents wouldn't let him just walk away from this one.

"Oh, yeah you're right!" Danny shot up but before he could move he looked at his two friends with concern "You guys gonna be okay protecting Amity on your own?" Danny asked.

"It's all good. We have our thermos' and some Fenton anti-ghost weapons that actually work so we should be fine!" Tucker waved off Danny's concerns.

"But, if anything does happen that we can't handle well call you. That ease your worries?" Sam asked with a smirk and Danny rolled his eyes fondly before waving goodbye and heading home.

It was the same as what he did yesterday. Go through the portal invisibly, make the long fly to the Far Frozen and go see Frostbite. Of course now it was for different reasons than a check up or just the usual friendly visit.

Danny's thoughts had nearly spiralled three times on the flight over to the Far Frozen but he had been getting better at grounding himself so he managed to catch any worries or doubts that may have caused him to turn around.

Finally he landed in the freezing tundra and almost immediately was engulfed in a hug from the large Yeti. His white fur made him blend into the surroundings so well Danny hadn't spotted him initially.

"Great One!" Frostbite yelled happily as he put Danny back down. It didn't matter how many times or how often Danny visited Frostbite was always ecstatic to see him.

"Hey Frosty" Danny gave his old mentor a smile before awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck, a nervous habit he had for as long as he could remember.

"Have you... thought about what I suggested?" Frostbite asked, immediately understanding why Danny was here. It was always easy to forget that Frostbite was alot smarter than he seemed, he had given Danny wise words of advice on more than one occasion and it was obvious when he was around his tribe how great his leadership skills were.

"Yeah I have and... do you think you could? Take me to the ruins? I want to know more about people like me and this might be the only way..." Danny rambled a little. He didn't know why he felt like he needed to justify himself to Frostbite. Frostbite knew why he was here already, he had suggested it, so why did Danny feel like this was something he needed an excuse for?

"Of course. I can't show you to the ruins themselves unfortunately but I can show you how to get to them" Frostbite said as he turned around and started walking away from Danny, making a 'follow me' gesture.

Danny was as stiff as a board as he followed Frostbite. Hypervigilant and examining all his surroundings closely like he expected something to jump out and attack him.

They walked down a path Danny hadn't seen before, it lead away from where Danny knew the Yeti tribe to be living, leading further and further into the tundra and up the ice mountains.

After maybe around an hour of walking in silence, only the wind and crunch of snow under their feet filling it, they came to a stop on the mountain side. Infront of them stood a large entrance to a very dark cave.

"Through here, on the other side are the ruins" Frostbite gestured and seemed to wait for Danny to go in but Danny hesitated.

"Why can't you lead me the rest of the way?" He asked.

"This cave leads to the hidden lands, as some call them, it is where the Halfas once lived. Only a Halfa or those given special permission to pass can make it through the labyrinth of the cave, I have tried but I always end up coming back out this side despite never remembering turning around" Frostbite explained and Danny just gulped nervously.

"If only a Halfa could get through then how did Pariah Dark attack the Halfas, shouldn't they have been safe in these 'Hidden lands'?" Danny asked nervously.

"I... do not know. Many of the allies of the Halfas thought the same thing. There was a legend- no, a rumour that a ghost that had the ability to track Halfas helped Pariah Dark but that's all that was, a rumour" Frostbite shrugged, a thoughtful look on his face.

Danny nerves weren't calming down but something in his core urged him to go through the cave. He didn't know what it was but ever since The accident Danny's instincts had always been trustworthy so he took a steadying breath before walking forward into the cave.

He heard Frostbite wish him good luck as he entered.

The cave was alot warmer than he was expecting. Of course thanks to his ice core he couldn't get cold necessarily but the change in temperature didn't go unnoticed by him. The light from the snow white tundra quickly disappeared the further in he went until he was engulfed in complete darkness, apart from the soft glow he himself was giving off. The sounds of the howling winds had faded until they could barely be heard anymore and Danny was really considering turning around and leaving because the idea of stumbling around in a dark labyrinth cave wasn't exactly the most appealing.

Then he blinked as he noticed something, a light.

Not really it was more like a dot, a small dot of light in the dark.

He decided to continue walking and the longer he walked the more of these small dots of the light appeared until there were so many it lit up the icy cave in a pale glow, the lights all reflecting off of the ice.

Danny stopped as he stared in wonder at the sight.

The first thing that came to Danny's mind were the stars, the night sky. It was beautiful how the small points of light work together to illuminate the dark cave.

Then Danny noticed something as he continued walking. The dots were disappearing behind him but appearing infront of him as he walked. Then he took a turn and the dots stopped appearing.

"Huh..." Danny backtracked and took the other turn. The dots started appearing again, lighting the way for the young Halfa.

"Cool" Danny whispered into the silence of the cave was he followed the direction of the dots of light. Finally Danny turned a corner and he saw the end of the cave, an end that even from the distance Danny could tell didn't lead out into the cold tundra of the Far Frozen. As he closed the distance he could see the green swirling clouds of ectoplasm only they were lighter? A much lighter green than that of the normal sky of the Ghost Zone.

Finally Danny exited the cave and found his core humming nicely at the sight before him.

A city.

A large and grand one, made of a pale sandy coloured stone that reminded Danny of the housing they had in Egypt. The city was still a distance away so Danny couldn't see the architecture too closely but he could see a path leading down the no longer snowy mountain side to a bridge between the city and the cliff drop of the mountain.

A strange thing Danny noticed was the fact that the city didn't rest on an island that was floating, suspended in mid air. Instead the island stretched downwards into the dark abyss of the Ghost Zone, as if connected to solid ground all the way down in it's depths.

Danny was ecstatic.

He quickly flew down to the bridge, and walked it's length up to the gates of the city.

Standing at the city's ground level made it all the more grand and imposing.

But it also made Danny now notice the ruins part of it. The gate, that Danny had no doubt was once grand and tall standing, was nothing but rubble and fallen stone.

Danny took a fortifying breath.

Up until then Danny hadn't really thought about what he was truly walking into. This wasn't just a museum or some natural history tour. These were ruins, this was the home of a slaughter people. This place wasn't just their home, it was probably their grave as well.

He needed to be careful.

He couldn't go walking into this like a naive child, he came here to understand and to understand he needed to treat this place with the respect it deserved.

So he flew into the city, hopefully he could learn something from what was left behind.

~~~

First | Previous | Next

~~~

I'll be tagging all content do to with this story with the tag City of splintering hopes so if guys want to you can follow the story easier. You can also use that tag for any questions or content you guys make of the story!

[ecto-american]

The Half-Dead Kids Club

Phic Phight Oneshot for bibliophilea: (AU) Tucker Ghouly was looking for a relaxing weekend with his boyfriend. Too bad the halfa versions of his boyfriend, his boyfriend's sister, and their other best friend crashed the party. [Danny/Tucker]

Also if you've read my Tucker Ghouly AU fic, this is set in the same universe/using the same logic and same eventual ship, and there is a spoiler for things I have planned for that fic too.

On FFN and AO3

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

Tucker sighed, doing a cheesy yawn and stretch as he put his hand over his boyfriend's shoulder. Danny rolled his eyes.

"You don't have to do that every time," he told him. Tucker grinned.

"Yeah, but you're a sucker for it," he replied.

"Can't argue with that," Danny agreed, returning the smile. "Your parents are gonna be out for a while, right?"

"Yeah, and Olivia's sleeping over at her friend's," Tucker replied. Danny's smile widened.

"Sooo…" he said slowly. He leaned in to kiss Tucker instead of finishing his sentence. Tucker happily leaned in too, only to stop when he felt that familiar electrical tingling in his head. He suddenly stood up. Danny stared before snapping to his feet too. "Ghost?"

Tucker nodded as he looked around, going ghost. Danny reached into his pocket for a screwdriver sized-handle, pressing a button that made it spring out into the Fenton Anti-Creep Stick (Mobile Version).

"Can you tell where it-AH!" Danny screamed as a semi-familiar figure came out of seemingly nowhere and crashed into the coffee table. Tucker also screamed, turning on his heel.

The figure was a motionless girl with short black hair, one of the sides of her head shaved to expose an ear with multiple piercings. She wore a dark purple sleeveless shirt and a black skirt, with purple and black tennis shoes. The girl was laying on the wooden pile of the now broken coffee table.

"Aw, man! My mom's gonna kill me!" Tucker cried out.

Danny took a few deep breaths, clutching his chest before nudging the girl with his foot. She groaned in pain. He squinted his eyes at her voice.

"...Sam?" Danny asked. He clicked the button, and the weapon folded back together.

"...Danny?" she moaned softly.

The couple immediately reached down to help her up, setting her on the couch.

"Sam! What happened?" Danny asked. He cupped a bruised cheek, taking note of what injuries she had. "I thought you were going to Florida with your grandma." Sam stared at him, confused.

"What? N-no. No, I….I'm sorry, but are you wearing eyeliner? It looks rad."

"...Yeah? I always wear eyeliner?" Danny said slowly. "How badly did you hit your head? And how did you get here?"

Tucker had watched everything silently, but now he had to say something.

"...This isn't our Sam, dude," he told him. Danny gave him a weird look, and Sam did too, only for her face to drop in surprise upon truly looking at him. "Our Sam would never shave her head." Danny glanced back at Sam, and he had to nod.

"...Yeah, my Tucker's not...glowing," she stated hesitantly. Tucker saw his hand, and he remembered that he was, in fact, still in ghost mode.

"Sorry," he apologized, and the rings formed, but he stopped as his senses went wild once more. Black mist escaped Sam's nostrils as well. "...Hold that thought."

"There's more?" Danny asked, standing up again. Fenton Anti-Creep Stick (Mobile Version) was once again sprung out.

"Whoa, sick!" Sam grinned. She got to her feet too, wobbingly a bit.

"You should rest, you took a nasty fall," Tucker insisted. He took her hands, causing her to flush a light red. Slowly but gently, he made her sit back down. He looked to Danny, leaning in to give him a quick peck. "Make sure she's okay, I'm gonna go investigate."

"Gotcha," Danny confirmed. Tucker jumped up, flying straight into the ceiling and out. Sam rubbed her upper arm anxiously.

"So...you and Tucker, huh?" she asked slowly. Danny nodded.

"Yeah, for a while now," he replied. He raised an eyebrow. "Something wrong?"

"No!" she said quickly. "No! Uh, just kinda...weird to see, if I'm being honest. Um...So by now I'm pretty sure I fell into some kind of natural ghost portal to where Tucker's half ghost, and you two are dating….but um...where I'm from, I'm kinda half ghost, and I'm kind of dating Tucker. So! Uh!" She coughed nervously. "Just kinda...not something I'm used to seeing."

"Oh. Ah. Um...I see." Danny shifted from foot to foot before sitting down next to her. "Um. That's uh. Heh. Kinda funny."

"He also goes for the goth look," she continued. "Like, uh, like you. So. Um." She clasped her hands together, resting them on her knee as she crossed her leg. "Just uh...kinda weird." She paused. "Kinda really weird."

"Uh...yeah."

They sat in silence for a few seconds. Danny glanced over to her, clearing his throat.

"...Our Sam's dating Paulina," he suddenly blurted out. Sam choked on nothing.

"I'm WHAT?"

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

Tucker flew out of his house, and he immediately found what was looking for. Two figures, talking as they floated in the sky. A girl with bright blue hair, in blue and white, and a boy with white hair, in black and white.

"Hey," Tucker called out to them. They turned to him, and they stared.

"We're peaceful!" the girl called out. The boy elbowed her in the ribs, making her yelp.

"Who are you?" the boy asked.

"Tucker Ghouly, and you two?"

"Tucker Ghouly…" the boy repeated slowly. He glanced between himself and the girl. "...Wait. Tucker? Is that you? It's me, Danny."

Tucker blinked in confusion as he stared. He squinted, and he could finally sorta see it. If he dyed the hair black, made it a bit longer, added the signature eyeliner...this dude kinda looked like his boyfriend. Though of course, his boyfriend was of course much cuter.

"Danny...Fenton?" he asked slowly. The boy, Danny, quickly made a cut it out motion.

"It's Danny Phantom," he replied.

"And Jazz Phantom!" the girl pipped up. Danny put his hand on her face, pushing her back a bit.

"We're not related," he informed him.

"We kinda are!"

"Do you know where we can talk? Like in private?" the boy asked. Tucker gestured to his house below them.

"Come on, my house should be good."

The two followed him into the living room, and Tucker glanced between his boyfriend and the Not-Sam. His boyfriend had moved to sit in an armchair while Sam was whining and complaining about something he couldn't quite make out, sprawled out dramatically on the couch.

"What did you do?" Tucker asked. Danny shrugged.

"Told her she was dating Paulina here," Danny said, and Sam let out a dramatic shrieking noise. He nodded at the two ghosts. "So why aren't we kicking butt?"

"So, if I'm guessing right," Tucker said slowly, finally turning to the two ghosts that had been just standing there awkwardly. "Ghostly portal nonsense happened, and now we have a bunch of half ghosts here."

"Wait, what?" Danny spoke up.

"I think what Tucker's saying is that me, that Danny, and." Sam sat up, pausing as she stared curiously at the other girl. She cocked her head. "Jazz?" she guessed. Jazz nodded. "Okay, and Jazz, are all half ghosts from another timeline. We need to get back."

"Yeah, and like. Soon. My parents and little sister are gonna be back by Sunday night, and I'm already hiding one half ghost, me." Tucker gestured up and down at himself. "From a Guys in White agent."

"Whoa! Wait, hold up!" the Not-Danny said, holding his hands up. "Your dad's a GIW agent?" Tucker sighed.

"Yeah. He was a cop, but right around the time of the accident he got hired on with them," he replied. "Is your dad one too?"

"No! They're ghost hunters! They run and operate FentonWorks!" Not-Danny grumbled. Danny raised an eyebrow.

"Hey, my parents too," Danny spoke up. "Tucker got shocked when we were trying to troubleshoot it. We uh...we got it running."

Danny visibly sunk in his seat a bit. Tucker immediately turned human, walking over to the armchair. He sat on the arm, wrapping an arm around his shoulder and hugging him close. A reminder that it wasn't his fault.

"Yeah, I got shocked by Mom and Dad's portal too," Jazz finally spoke up. Since Tucker had gone human, she did too. She revealed herself to still be a redhead, wearing a light blue blouse and black jeans, with matching black flats. "My boyfriend, well at the time he was just my best friend, but Spike convinced me that I should check it out. So….I did."

"Spike?" Not-Danny echoed, staring at her weirdly. "Really?" Jazz nodded. "...Huh."

"Yeah, same," Sam nodded. She shifted to pull her legs to her chest. "I was trying to convince Danny to go into the portal, but he said if I was that curious, that I should just do it myself. So I got shocked to hell and back."

"Man, your dad's portal's really been fucking with us all," Tucker told Not-Danny. He made a bit of a face.

"Wait, are you two…?" Not-Danny finally asked. Tucker nodded, affectionately patting Danny's back.

"Yeah, for a bit now," he replied. Not-Danny stared for a moment, shaking his head.

"Kinda weird. I mean, just like, I'm dating Sam," he began, only for Sam to cut him off.

"God, I know right? I'm dating Tucker!" she exclaimed. "And he-"

"Sam looks a lot like me/him!" they somewhat finished the sentence together. Jazz snorted in amusement.

"Apparently halfas have a thing for goths," she joked. Everybody gave a small chuckle.

"But yeah, seriously, I need to get you all the hell out of here before my dad gets back," Tucker said. Sam frowned.

"How are we gonna do that?" she asked.

"Clockwork, duh," Jazz said, as if it was obvious. "We just go through the Fenton portal and find him. He'll put us back."

"Yeah, but um…" Danny paused. "My parents' portal is kinda...destroyed."

The other halfas immediately went into a frenzy of panic.

"WHAT?"

"How is that possible!?

"It's destroyed!? What!? How!?"

"Was it the ecto-filter? It was the ecto-filter wasn't it?

"What did you do!?"

"Hey, hey, hey! HEY!" Danny had to raise his voice to get everybody to settle down. "Look, they're still rebuilding from Uncle Nico destroying it. It's not going to be operational for another few months. I'm sorry."

"Uncle Nico?" Not-Danny echoed. "I don't have an Uncle Nico." Danny stared at him.

"Uh, you don't?" he questioned. "He works with Uncle Vlad?"

"Wait he's your Uncle Vlad!?" Not-Danny seemed to pale. Danny looked so confused.

"...Yeah? He's my godfather. My parents have known him since college, we have family vacations together. What's wrong with him?"

"He's a fruitloop!" Not-Danny nearly screamed, waving his arms dramatically. "He wants to marry my mom and kill my dad, and adopt me as his son!" He turned to Jazz. "Right?" She raised an eyebrow at him.

"I have...absolutely no clue what you're talking about," she said slowly. "Uncle Vlad's great. He bought my brother a car for his sweet sixteen."

"I don't even know a Vlad," Sam agreed. Not-Danny looked like he was going to have a stroke.

"Okay, okay then," Not-Danny scowled. "So who's the old half-ghost asshole that roams around trying to ruin your life?" The other three halfas all went "ohhhh."

"Oh, that's Spectra," Jazz replied, as if it was obvious. "She went to college with my parents. She got hit by the portal and became ugly as well as half ghost, so now she basically makes my life a living hell cause she's mad that I like? Have potential or something? She's my principal, Ms. Penelope Spencer."

"Mrs. Fenton," Sam nodded. "No ghost name. Cause, uh. Well. She got hit by the portal in college and hates herself for being a half ghost. Wants me for experiments so she can cure herself. Reaaal awkward to have dinner over there."

"Danny's Uncle Nico, or Technomancer." Tucker jerked a thumb at his Danny. "Vlad's business partner that got shocked while trying to fix their portal, is now pissy cause he thinks he's better than humans cause he's got ghosts powers. Wants me to join him and be my mentor."

"Okay, so." Not-Danny rubbed his temple. "This is really fucking weird and messing with my head. Can I just go home?"

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure my parents will start to worry about me soon," Sam agreed, looking at her watch.

"Does your Uncle Nico have a portal?" Jazz wondered. Danny shook his head no.

"He makes his own portals " he said, pointing to his wrist. "It's programmed into his watch."

"We need to take it," Not-Danny blurted out. Everybody stared at him. "What!? It's the only way to get home, I can't be crazy for suggesting that!"

"Uh, I think he might be right," Sam hesitated. "But I mean. This is your guys' world." She nodded to the couple. "Are there any other portals around?"

"Um. No? Not that I know of?" Danny admitted. Tucker thought hard.

"...Would Paulina have one?" Tucker asked. Sam visibly jerked in surprise.

"Paulina? Why Paulina?" she demanded to know. Tucker flinched.

"I uh...kinda ruined her life. So Uncle Nico...sorta...kinda...um...gave her weapons to use against me." He gave a sheepish grin. Sam gawked at him.

"...Paulina. Paulina is the Green Hunter. I don't get it, like. At all."

"Uh, Pink Huntress," Danny corrected. "But yeah."

"Wait, who the fuck could the Green Hunter be?" Not-Danny spoke up.

"Yeah, isn't it supposed to be the Blue Hunter?" Jazz seemed confused.

"No! Red Huntress!" Not-Danny scowled.

"Red?" Jazz raised an eyebrow. "Who's Red?"

"Valerie Gray?" Not-Danny stated as if it was obvious. Jazz had to think hard.

"You mean Danny's friend? Like my brother Danny? I barely know her." She shook her head. "No, the Blue Hunter's Mikey."

"Mikey!?" Sam snorted in amusement. "Oh my god, Mikey. He's seriously your hunter?"

"You never told us who the Green Hunter was!" Not-Danny pointed out.

"Oh! It's Kwan!"

"Kwan!?" Not-Danny was in disbelief. "But he's so sickeningly nice!"

"Oh my fucking god, we're going to be here all weekend if you guys don't stop comparing timelines!" Danny snapped. All the halfas stared at him, a bit guilty. They all murmured some sort of apology.

"So...should we try Paulina?" Tucker asked. Danny sighed.

"We know she has one, it's how she directly puts ghosts back into the Ghost Zone. So it's just a matter of if we wanna challenge Paulina or if we wanna challenge Uncle Nico."

Go up against a half-ghost billionaire tech genius or a weaponized high school cheerleader?

They all stared at each other.

The half-ghost billionaire tech genius was way easier.

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

Plan was in motion.

Danny glanced over his shoulder to look at all the halfas hiding (somewhat badly) in a bush outside of Nico's house. He had his messenger bag on his other shoulder, and a big tupperware container on his hip.

"So he's basically Technus?" Not-Danny whispered. Jazz elbowed him. "OW!"

"SHH!" she hissed back.

Danny rang the doorbell, and everybody waited. A minute passed before the door opened, and the familiar black man with long braids opened the door. He was wearing his dark green shirt, the sleeves pushed up to his elbows.

"Hey Uncle Nico!" Danny smiled. "Are you free? I've been really struggling with this robot." He used his free hand to pat the top of the tupperware container. "Can you help?"

Nico grinned warmly.

"Course kiddo!" he boomed excitedly. "Come on, come on!" He moved to the side to let the teenager in. Danny thanked him, and they both went inside. Even from the bushes, Tucker could hear the tech genius talking a mile a minute in his outside voice.

"Okay. Danny's gonna try and get Nico into a position where he'll take his watch off, and when that happens, I'll grab it," Tucker told the others. "You guys stay here, I'll go get it."

"We should come with you," Sam Specter replied, trying to take a step forward. Tucker put a hand out to stop her.

"No, you guys really need to stay out here. Nico's got one hell of a ghost system, and he's incredibly powerful to boot. I know how to slip around it, and it's a very delicate procedure," he explained.

"Shouldn't we stick together?" Jazz questioned. Tucker shook his head no.

"No, trust me on this."

"Are you sure?" Not-Danny asked. Tucker scowled.

"Just! Stay here!" he said. He floated towards the property, turning human on the front steps but phasing into the building.

The other three halfas stood around in a semi-circle, staring at each other. Sam broke the stare to look at the ground, lightly kicking at the dirt. Not-Danny sighed impatiently. Jazz looked up at the sky.

"It's just Technus," Sam spoke up.

"Yeah! He's so easy!" Not-Danny scoffed. "He literally shouts his plans all the time."

"I can beat him with one hand tied behind my back!" Jazz agreed.

"So we'll just go in and strongarm it from him, kick butt, and go!" Not-Danny reasoned. Sam smirked.

"Yeah, of course! We'll just speed up the ass-kicking!" she said, punching her fist into her palm confidently.

"Tucker doesn't know what he's talking about," Jazz smiled.

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

All four halfas were spread out in Tucker's living room. Tucker was on the couch, arm over his stomach as he stared blankly up at the ceiling. Sam was face first on the floor, grumbling in pain. Jazz was curled up next to the armchair, on and off grumbling about chest pains. Not-Danny was in said armchair, mirroring his not-sister by being curled up and holding his head.

Danny came into the living room, balancing three pizzas on one hand with four sodas underneath his other arm. He frowned at the three strange halfas.

"Tucker and I told you to stay outside," he rubbed it in. Not-Danny groaned.

"Man, we get it," he complained. Danny rolled his eyes, setting the food on the impromptu coffee table made up of Amazon boxes.

"Well I hope so, cause now we gotta go through Paulina," he replied. He glanced over to Sam. "So hope you're ready to go on a date, Sam."

"Wait, what?" Sam pulled her face up to look at him in disbelief. "You can't be serious."

"I am. It's the only way to get her guard down so that Tucker can get her watch so we can find Clockwork and send you guys home." Danny frowned at her. "I'm pretty sure I can make you look like our Sam. Olivia may have a cosplay wig you can borrow, so she won't question why her girlfriend suddenly shaved and somehow unshaved her head. You're going to be the only one who can convince her to take that watch off."

"How on Earth am I supposed to do that?" Sam frowned, rolling onto her back. Danny threw his hands up in the air.

"Figure it out," he scowled. "You guys got yourselves into this mess! We don't have to help you, you know." Sam made a face at him. Tucker reached up to grab Danny's hand.

"Babe, chill. They were just trying to help," Tucker sighed. Danny exhaled too, squeezing his hand.

"We warned them that Technomancer was dangerous," he frowned.

"What's done is done, let's just focus on Paulina."

"...You're right."

Tucker smiled at him, and Danny gave a half-smile back. He let go of Tucker's hand to open the top pizza box.

"Alright, who wanted what?"

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

That next morning, Tucker nearly forgot that he had three other random halfas crash that night in his living room. Jazz and Danny had decided that they could tolerate sleeping on the queen sized pull out sofa together with their not-sibling, leaving Sam free to have the twin air mattress to herself.

He didn't wake them up when he saw them though, instead silently making his way towards his kitchen to get himself a bowl of cereal. Not too long afterwards, he heard Danny come down the stairs and come into the kitchen too.

"Hey," he greeted warmly. Tucker smiled, feeling his stomach flutter a bit.

"Hey, morning," he replied. He held up his box of cereal. "Want some?" Danny shook his head no.

"Nah, I'm gonna raid your poptarts," he replied. He opened the cabinet for them, fishing a packet out to unwrap and toss into the toaster. "When Sam wakes up, we need her to call Paulina and invite her out somewhere."

"But we need to take her someplace where she'll not wear that watch," Tucker mused, opening his fridge for milk. He poured some into his bowl. "She wears it everywhere though. How's she going to get Paulina to take it off?"

"That's why we emphasised so fucking hard to them the other day that Uncle Nico was the better option," Danny grumbled.

"Hey, it's okay," Tucker tried to sooth.

"No it's not," Danny insisted. "They wouldn't listen to us!" Tucker put the milk away. "They said it ourselves, that this is our timeline, and we know our timeline, and we know our rivals. So why did they just ignore everything we said about how powerful and dangerous Technomancer is? It's frustrating, it kinda pisses me off still.

"It's okay," Tucker repeated. He took a step forward to be closer to his boyfriend. "They made a mistake. Our timelines are so similar that they probably just underestimated him. Especially if he's supposedly such a joke in theirs." Danny let out an annoyed huff. Tucker cupped his cheek. "We'll figure it out. We always do."

"...I know, just." He paused, sounding emotionally exhausted. "They should have listened."

"They'll listen now," Tucker smiled. Danny couldn't help but give a small smile back. "We'll likely be able to get them home by dinner at the latest, and we can go out."

"I guess…" Danny took a deep breath. Tucker leaned in and gave him a kiss, and he could feel Danny finally relax.

"Oh, whoa. Um. Sorry," Sam's voice made Danny tense up again, and the couple pulled away from each other. Sam was staring at them, standing awkwardly in the kitchen entrance, looking a bit flushed. "I was uh. Hungry. Um. Sorry, just that you look so much like my Danny and Tucker, and the whole um. Yeah. I'll just..." She reached for the sole remaining pizza box, quickly opening it and grabbing a leftover slice and hurrying out of the kitchen. Danny huffed again.

"This is our timeline," he grumbled, his frustrations turning into inaudible mutters. The toaster popped, making them both briefly jump. He grabbed his poptarts, and Tucker collected his bowl and a spoon. The couple went into the living room.

Not-Danny and Jazz were both awake by now, sitting cross legged on the pull out bed as Sam sat in the armchair.

"Okay," Danny began as he stepped into the living room. He pointed to Sam with his poptart. "You can use my phone to call Paulina and ask her to meet you today." Sam looked physically pained at the idea.

"Do I have to?" Sam whined. Danny frowned, taking a bite of his poptart.

"If, uh, other me, is right, you're the only one who's going to be able to convince her," Not-Danny spoke up. Jazz nodded in agreement. Sam dramatically slammed her head against the cushiony back of the armchair.

"...Fine." She held her hand out, and Danny pulled his cell phone out, pulling up Paulina's number. He put it in her hand, and Sam stared at the contact. She took a deep breath before pressing the call button. After a few rings, somebody picked the phone up.

"Um? Danny?" Paulina sounded confused. Sam gave a pained grimace.

"Hey...uh...baby?" Danny waved his poptart in the air in a what the fuck motion. Sam mirrored it back to him.

"...Sam? Is that you? I thought you were in Florida with your grandma this weekend? Why are you calling from Danny's phone."

"Um. No? I lost my phone," she awkwardly replied. Danny motioned for her to keep talking. "Uh, hey! Wanna meet up today?"

"Sure! Do you wanna go mall cruising?" Paulina asked.

"Uh yeah! Sounds fun! How about?" Sam paused to glance at the wall clock. "Say in an hour?"

"Sounds perfect! I can't wait to see you!"

"You...too." Everybody could tell that it took everything for Sam to force that sentence out. "Goodbye. I miss you."

"Byebye!"

Sam hung up the phone, handing it back to Danny. He was frowning at her.

"That was terrible," he told her. Sam scowled. "Come on. We need to get you looking like our Sam."

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

"Ugh, why is there so much hair?" Sam complained. She pulled on the wig to adjust it some. Apparently the Sam here had long hair, and it felt so heavy. And this outfit was so...nerdy. This was going to be a terrible day.

"Stop pulling on it!" Danny hissed. "We can't afford to blow this twice."

"Here," Tucker spoke up. He handed her a watch. "Just try and switch the watches if you can." Sam hesitantly took it. She turned it over in her hand.

"Once you switch, give us some kind of signal," Not-Danny added.

"And we'll make a distraction," Jazz chimed in.

"Won't she notice if I switch it then?" Sam asked. Danny shook his head no.

"No, her bracelet is her ghost hunting gear, the watch is just a portal device."

Sam glanced between all of them worriedly as she pocketed the device.

"You got this," Tucker smiled. She reluctantly nodded.

"Pink Huntress, coming right for us," Danny said, nodding ahead of them as he lightly slapped Tucker with the back of his hand. Not-Danny and Jazz immediately rushed away.

"Good luck!" Tucker whispered to her as he and Danny grabbed each other's hand, quickly walking off to pretend that they just happened to be having their own date out at the mall.

Sam smiled weakly as Paulina bounced up to her. She wasn't in the dark pink and black attire Sam was used to, but a long sleeved light pink shirt with white shorts, hair pulled back in a long french braid.

"Hey!" Paulina greeted her warmly. Sam forced a bigger smile.

"Hey!" she replied.

"Where do you wanna go first?" Paulina asked, immediately reaching to grab Sam's hand. The halfa flinched at first, jerking away before quickly remembering, and she took Paulina's hand. The huntress raised an eyebrow, but didn't comment on it.

"Uh, wherever you wanna go!" Sam replied lightly.

"Hmm," Paulina lightly mused. "How about Sephora?"

"Uh, sure," Sam agreed.

Thankfully Paulina was still chatty, and so Sam wasn't forced to make conversation, but simply just listen as Paulina talked on the walk towards the store. She mostly talked about her Starbucks job, since she had apparently come straight from there to the mall. Sam couldn't imagine her own Paulina actually working at all, but she guessed it seemed to make sense that this Paulina did. Sam kinda...fucked Kwan over, even though it was unintentional, and he had to take up a part time job at the Skulk N Lurk because of it.

The store came up, and Paulina broke away from Sam to excitedly hurry in.

"Ooo, Sam! Look!" She smiled, pointing out a display of bright pastels, primarily warm tones. "These are so pretty!" Paulina opened the display palette, looking at the colors. Sam came up next to her, studying the colors.

"Oh wow, those look so pretty," Sam had to admit.

"Yeah, but I don't know if they'd look too good on me," Paulina mused. She took the test brush, and she applied the color to her inner arm. Sam watched, and the idea hit her.

"...Hey, Paulina? Do you wanna take your watch off so you don't get makeup on it?" Sam questioned. Paulina glanced at it, thinking for a minute before nodding.

"Yeah, probably a good idea," she agreed. She slipped it off, handing it to Sam. "Can you hold it for a moment?"

"Of course!" Sam smiled. She accepted it.

Paulina returned her attention to the sample palette, and she began to swatch her arm with it. Heart pounding, Sam quickly made the exchange, putting the real one in her pocket and holding the fake one while Paulina was distracted. She glanced over to see Danny a few isles over, watching her from the corner of his eye as he looked at makeup. She gave a small nod. Danny gave a short nod back, and she saw him exit the store.

Sam returned her attention fully to her

A small beeping came from Paulina, and Sam raised an eyebrow at her. It was still...weird to think of her mortal enemy as being the hunter-er, huntress. Paulina glanced around worriedly.

"Uh, hey Sam? I totally forgot, my papa-," she began, pulling her phone out. Sam could see that obviously, nobody was calling, but she nodded anyway.

"Oh, don't worry! Go on, I understand!" she said. Paulina smiled in relief. Sam held up the fake watch. "Don't forget this!"

"Oh, right!" Paulina used one of the free wet wipes, quickly wiping the swatches off before putting the watch back on. "Thanks! You're the best!" she chirped. "Call me when you find your phone!"

Paulina exited the store in a hurry, and Sam followed. She saw her already near the exit of the mall, opening the door and leaving. The halfa jumped when a hand rested on her shoulder. She turned to see Danny.

"Hey, you get it?" he asked. She rolled her eyes.

"I gave you the signal, didn't I?" she said. She reached into her pocket to pull the watch out. Danny plucked it from her fingers, turning it over. He sighed in relief.

"This is it," he confirmed. "The other Danny and Jazz went to wait for us outside. Tucker's making a distraction, and once he's done, we'll finally get you guys home."

A rush of air blew hit them as Tucker Ghouly flew by. A feminine figure in pink, riding a skateboard style hoverboard, was close on his heels.

"...Assuming Paulina doesn't finally get him."

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

"I'm so glad that's over," Danny sighed as they plopped onto Tucker's couch. Tucker gave a small hum. Luckily it took no time to find Clockwork and send everybody home.

"Yeah. Just gotta figure out what to do about this," he mused, pushing the Amazon box coffee table with his food. Danny waved it off.

"We can go to Ikea tomorrow," he replied. He held his hand out for Tucker to take, and the halfa immediately did.

"We also need to call Sam and let her know what we did in case Paulina asks," Tucker said. Danny grumbled tiredly.

"...We'll call her in a bit," he promised him.

"At some point we need to find a way to slip that bracelet back to Paulina."

"Problem for another day."

They sat in silence for a bit. Just resting. Just chilling, until Danny finally spoke up again. "...you know what's kinda cool?" Tucker brushed his thumb over the back of Danny's hand, giving a curious hum in response. "...It's kinda nice to know that it's seemingly meant to be. You know. Us. Halfas and goths getting together." Tucker grinned.

"Yeah, that is kinda nice," he agreed. He let go of Danny hand to stand up. "Come on. I promised you some food."

"Finally."

[densi-mber]

Paramnesia, Part 3

A/N: The highly requested third chapter of Paramnesia. In our last chapter, Deeks was called into work and Kensi, still believing they are married, insists on coming with.

***

Deeks blew out a long breath as he and Kensi walked up to OPS together. He’d been hoping to catch Sam and Callen on their own to explain Kensi’s current “condition”. Unfortunately everyone was already upstairs.

Kensi had been slightly less affectionate in the car so he was hoping it was a sign her memory was starting straighten itself out.

“Kensi, what are you doing here?” Callen asked as they walked through the sliding doors. Nell immediately rushed over to give her a quick hug.

“Yeah, shouldn’t you be in bed with an ice pack and a dozen doughnuts?” Sam added.

“Guys, it was just a little bump on the head. There’s no reason for me to stay home and go stir crazy,” Kensi said, sounding reassuringly like herself. “My head barely even hurts anymore.”

“She had the doughnuts to go,” Deeks revealed, smirking at her. “And she didn’t even share.”

“You would take doughnuts from an injured woman?”

“Hold on a second, you told me you were perfectly fine.” Kensi shrugged unapologetically.

“That’s cause I knew you’d try to make me stay home,” she said, knocking his shoulder with hers. “And force more chicken soup on me.”

“Hey, I am an excellent cook. Unlike someone I know, at least I didn’t try and pass off Walmart cookies as my own,” he added.

“You two have obviously been spending way too much time together again,” Sam commented with a roll of his eyes.Deeks found himself grinning down at her and hastily straightened up. He was getting way too comfortable with this less inhibited version of Kensi.

“Um, I’m really glad you’re ok, Kensi, but is anybody even a little bit interested in hearing about the case?” Eric asked, pointing to the big screen.

“Go ahead, Eric.”

“Last night someone broke into the home of Marine Colonel Aaron Summers and attempted to steal his laptop which contains sensitive information. Colonel Summers walked in on the intruder, one Danny Werner, and successfully subdued him. Werner is currently in the hospital.”

“Although Werner didn’t have a chance to gain access to the laptop, the Colonel is very concerned about finding out how Werner was able to breach His elaborate security system,” Nell continued.

“Ok,” Callen said, nodding to Deeks. “Since you’re solo today, go to the hospital and find out what you can from David Werner. We’ll take the Colonel’s house.”

“And since you’re here, Kensi, Hetty said she wants a detailed report of the accident,” Nell said, turning to Kensi.

“Well, that’s going to be pretty short because I still don’t remember anything,” she sighed. Turning to Deeks, she grabbed his hand and added, “Be careful out there, baby.” Before he could say respond in any way, she leaned in, brushed her lips against his, and patted his his chest before she left the room.

The silence that followed her exit was nearly painful.

“Okaaay, what was that?” Nell asked, turning wide eyes on Deeks. He chuckled awkwardly, still feeling the pressure, however brief it had been, of Kensi’s lips.

“I can explain that.” He gestured vaguely to his lips and then the door.

“Really?” Sam said in a tone filled with disbelief. “I’d love to hear it.”

“Kensi is still experiencing some symptoms from her head injury,” Deeks told them reasonably.

“You said she had some mild surrounding the car crash amnesia,” Callen reminded him, sounding skeptical. “You didn’t say she’d lost her mind.”

“I feel like I should be offended by that.” Deeks paused and drew in a short breath. “Along with the amnesia, Kensi is also under the impression that we are, uh, married. Apparently it’s called paramnesia, or false memories.”

“And how did she come to that conclusion?”

“I have absolutely no idea. The nurse told me she was waking up and when I came in, she was acting a little strange and called me her husband. According to her doctor, it should resolve on its own in a few days,” Deeks continued, realizing how ridiculous it sounded. Especially since Kensi was acting perfectly normal in every other way.

“Deeks, you can’t let her believe this for that long,” Nell said. “Imagine how upset she’ll be when she finally does remember.”

“What do you want me to do? Her doctor said we should try to let it happen naturally,” Deeks said, starting to feel a little frustrated. It wasn’t like he’d planted the idea in Kensi’s head.

“So you’re prepared to pretend be her husband for the next however many days it takes her to realize what’s going on?” Deeks shrugged, not feeling confidant in his ability at all.

“I think I can handle it.”

“Oh yeah, you handled it really well,” Sam said sarcastically. “That explains the kissing and the “be careful, baby”.”

“It hasn’t gone any further than that,” Deeks insisted firmly. For his own physical safety, he would definitely not be mentioning this morning’s cuddle session.

“It better not.” Deeks felt his anger flare a little at Sam’s comment and crossed his arms, mirroring his position.

“Sam, do you honestly think I would take advantage of Kensi like that?” There was a tense moment as Sam stared him down and then he reluctantly nodded.

“No, I know you wouldn’t,” Sam admitted. “I’m just worried about the possible fall out once Kensi realizes the truth.”

“I won’t let it get to that point,” Deeks said, not sure who he was reassuring at this point.

***

“Hey Nell,” Kensi said a couple hours later. She was supposed to be “helping” with research, but all she’d managed to do so far was build the world’s longest paperclip chain. Unfortunately, it gave her uninterrupted time to think about her and Marty.

She had a few flashes on them together, weirdly enough in another house, but most of what she “remembered” was pure guess work.

Based on those snippets, she’d assumed their romantic relationship was as strong as their professional one. Now she wasn’t so sure.

“No, I don’t have anymore paperclips,” Nell answered without looking away from her computer.

“That’s not what I was going to ask. Actually, it’s kind of personal. Really personal.” She was glad that Eric had left to grab some coffee. This would be awkward enough with just Nell.

Nell finally turned around, her brows narrowed.

“The kind of personal where I’m going to want to wash my ears out when you’re done?” Kensi made a face at that, shaking her head.

“Ew, no. It’s about Marty,” she said, noticing Nell’s face shift suddenly.

“What about Deeks?” she asked slowly, almost cautiously.

“Is he-are we happy? I mean together. Are we happy with our marriage?”

“I don’t think that’s something I can answer for you Kensi.” Kensi made a frustrated sound and slammed her hand against the desk, making Nell jump slightly.

“Nell, Marty barely touches me. Every time I try to kiss him or hold his hand, he pulls away,” she said, glancing at Nell to gauge her reaction. It wasn’t promising and her stomach clenched painfully. “Nell, I can’t remember anything about us as a couple, please tell me what’s going on.”

“So you don’t remember anything?” Nell repeated.

“I mean, every so often I get these little flashes of memories, but they’re super fragmented...and I don’t even know if they’re real or if I’m making them up.” She felt tears springing to her eyes for the first time since waking up in the hospital and pressed her lips together trying to keep them back. “What do I do?”

Nell leaned forward and squeezed her hand, her expression sympathetic.

“Kensi, I think this is something you need to talk to Deeks about.” Kensi started to protest, but Nell held up a hand, cutting her off, and added, “Before you do that I want you to answer a question for me. How do you feel about Deeks?”

Kensi almost laughed at the ridiculousness of the question.

“I trust him. More than anyone,” she said simply. “When I’m with him I feel safe and loved.” Maybe she should have felt vulnerable or self-conscious being so open with Nell, but she didn’t. It was the truth.

Nell made a face, inclining her head.

“Ok, uh, not exactly what I was expecting. Follow up question. Do you feel...married to Deeks?” It was a strange way to phrase it and Kensi almost said “yes” without thinking. Instead she held back her reply, tilting her head as she really considered the question.

“I don’t know,” Kensi whispered numbly. Nell squeezed her hand again, pulling her in for a brief hug.

“Then I think you know what you need to ask Deeks,” she said.

***

A/N: I am well aware that no reasonable doctor would likely give this advice for dealing with amnesia. This is just for fun.

And, yes, there will be a part 4.