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decks-writing-blog · 1 year ago

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Whatever the Fuck Benrey Is: Chapter One: Never Stayed Dead

Summary: Following the events at Black Mesa, Gordon ends up learning more about Benrey. He might even end up liking him eventually.

[A/N] This was supposed to be a one shot about Gordon and Benrey starting to get along; the start of a slow burn that still feels complete as a stand alone. And then I was gonna do more one shots along their relationship journey, each feeling complete on its own. I've done this with ships before to great success but uh... that didn't happen here. It just kept going until I had to start splitting it into chapters at which point I was invested in it. I have nothing planned so it might end up meandering at some point but that's okay, I'm working on chapter 7 now and still going strong and still enjoying writing it so the journey will take us wherever it ends up taking us.

Also, I know that Benrey seems to most often be portrayed as basically not taking damage from things but like, in the series because of how G-mod works, blood still sprays from him sometimes so I have chosen to interpret that as he takes the damage but then heals from it really quick. Which lead to other ideas that end up being rather important to how I write Benrey.

Upon getting hired at Black Mesa, Gordon hadn’t thought too much about the housing provided to the employees. It was a top secret research facility out in the middle of the New Mexico dessert, mostly buried under it, and a long multi-hour drive from the next nearest bit of civilization. Said bit of civilization being nothing but a small town that didn’t even have an airport. So of course the job had come with a place to live, anything else would’ve caused getting to and from work to take longer than actual work or require him and everyone else to camp out in the dessert above the facility. Now though, upon fast walking away from the Chuck E. Cheese – with Tommy’s birthday party over, capping the nightmare at last, he was finally free – he really wished he had a place to stay in Tuefort too.

Whether the living area in Black Mesa was still intact or not was hard to say for sure. But even if it was, based off the state the rest of the facility he’d seen had been in, likely it had been overrun with aliens and military goons, leaving it a horrid mess. One he wouldn’t want to clean up or just live next to even if the option had been available to him. Which it wasn’t thanks to how long the drive down there was when he didn’t even have a car currently.

Did he even have a job at Black Mesa anymore? If so did he want to keep it after all that? Even if the answer to either of those was ‘yes’ he didn’t want go back right now for sure. Not until someone else cleaned up the mess. Which should take a while, meaning he had plenty of time to think about it for now.

Instead he kept walking, trying not to think about anything other than finding Tuefort’s one hotel, if he could just remember where it was. He should still have his wallet on him under the HEV suit and thus some money, hopefully enough to rent a room long enough to figure things out.

Dressed in a blood splattered suit of what was essentially orange armor and with a hand that was hopefully not too obviously a gun at first glance, he got curious looks from passersby as he made his way down the sidewalk. There were quite a few people about too; the town was abuzz. Likely that had something to do with the military flying over to get to Black Mesa. Luckily, despite their intrigue, no one stopped him to ask questions about who he was or what he thought about the military. Tuefort’s one claim to fame was being a weird place filled with weird people so he could hopefully continue to pass as a normal type of weird person that had nothing to do with anything important. So he avoided eye contact as much as possible and held his gun hand close to try to disguise it as such.

He’d have to do something about it eventually though. Walking around with a gun for an hand might not be illegal – this was America after all, gun laws were way more lax than was probably wise – but it sure was weird. People would ask about it for sure and he didn’t want to talk about it. Could anything be done about it though? Was taking it off and replacing it with proper prosthetic an option? … If not then he would have to…

“Hey.”

He jumped, snapping to face the ally he was passing by, pointing said gun arm at the figure leaning against the wall within. Quickly, he lowered it; he couldn’t just go around pointing his gun at anyone who startled him even if the voice had sounded uncomfortably familiar. Except well, it wasn’t just the voice that was familiar.

“Benrey!” Gordon snapped the gun back up. “Why aren’t you dead? You’re supposed to be dead.” It was a struggle to keep his voice down but he didn’t want to call undue attention.

“What? Who told you I was dead?” It sounded like a genuine question but with Benrey who could possibly tell if he was genuine about anything?

“No one. We killed you or… or I thought we did.” He should’ve known better though, huh? Benrey never stayed dead.

“Yeah, ‘cause you’re a cheater but I’m better now. So where you headed? Off to steal something?”

If Gordon shot him, how much trouble would he get in? … Probably more than was worth it considering Benrey couldn’t die, not permanently anyway. “No. I’m looking for a hotel ‘cause I need a place to sleep for a while before I try to find out if any part of Black Mesa’s still operational and if I also still have a job there if so. I don’t have time for you so I’m just gonna leave now.”

Maybe it was a mistake to turn his back on whatever the fuck Benrey was but Gordon didn’t really care anymore and did it anyway, resuming heading down the sidewalk. If Benrey wanted to kill him, he would do it and Gordon couldn’t do a single thing to stop him apparently. So he was just going to do his best to not let Benrey bother him and hope that would convince him to finally leave.

“You’re headed the wrong direction.”

Gordon skid to a halt, turning to look back at Benrey as he stepped out of the ally. “What?”

“Hotel’s down that way, on the other side of town.” Benrey pointed in the opposite direction Gordon had been heading.

“Are you sending me in that direction so I’ll walk all the way to that side of town, find no hotel, forcing me to walk all the way back to this side of town again before I finally find it?”

“No. Why would I do that?”

“Because you want to make my life a living hell.”

Benrey stared at him in silence for a several seconds. Had his eyes always been that yellow and Gordon was just now noticing or was it a new thing? “Whatever, I don’t care if you believe me or not. I’m just trying to help an old pal out. Which I didn’t have to do after you cheated to beat me up. Uncool, man, uncool.” Well at least he wasn’t unphased by his defeat. Not that him being bitter about it really helped Gordon much. If anything that was bad as it gave Benrey all the more reason to target him.

“You know what? Fine. If you know where the hotel is, take me there, lead the way.” Gordon flourished his good arm in the direction Benrey had said the hotel lay in.

“Why? You planning to steal something once you’re there?”

Far too tired to play this game, Gordon didn’t take the bait. In hindsight, he should’ve never responded to such nonsense, it’s clearly what Benrey wanted. Well, with defeating Benrey for good off the table, Gordon was done playing his games. He wasn’t going to be a fun target anymore. “If you don’t know the way, that’s fine. I’m fully capable of finding it on my own.” Though he would really rather just have someone bring him there, even if it was Benrey, so he could finally get a shower and a full night’s sleep that much sooner.

More of that silent thoughtful stare, his pupils narrowing to slits. How Gordon had ever missed the fact that Benrey wasn’t human was a mystery. What was he though? Gordon would love to know but at the same time it was Benrey. No doubt he’d make any attempt to study or experiment on him a massive pain in the ass.

“I’m waiting. You gonna lead the way or no.”

“Well uh… I don’t know where it is exactly,only that it’s on the side of town closest to Black Mesa, which is over that way.” He pointed again and it was indeed the direction Black Mesa lay in.

“Great, awesome, thanks for the help.” Gordon started in that direction. If it was a trick, he’d already been walking so long already it hardly mattered. And if not, it’d get him to a place he could rest that much sooner. So it was probably worth the risk.

“You’re welcome,” Benrey said as he fell in step with Gordon, sounding as if he hadn’t picked up on the frustration and sarcasm at all.

Gordon turned his head to look at him, intending to tell him to leave but bit back on it. It wouldn’t make him leave and might give him opening to be more annoying. So instead he clamped his mouth shut, turned to look solely where he was going and kept walking. His only hope of escaping Benrey was no longer being a fun thing to play with and that meant he had to do his best to ignore Benrey and all his attempts to be a nuisance.

The silence between them held for maybe a grand total of two whole minutes before Benrey broke it. “So when’s your hand gonna grow back?”

Gordon took a breath to respond but again bit back on it. He wasn’t raising to the bait. Benrey was trying to make him angry by bringing up his missing hand again.

“I mean I know humans heal slower and stuff, it’s why everyone’s always taking my juice, ‘cause they’re impatient and don’t wanna wait, but it’s been days now so it should be starting to come back, right? Unless it can’t ‘cause the gun’s there now. I could cut that off for you if you want. Unless you wanna keep the gun, it is pretty cool. You have to promise not to steal anything with it though.”

Gordon should stay quiet, really he should, Benrey was talking nonsense, again. But even with how exhausted he was by the events of the last week, or however long that nightmare had lasted, he couldn’t just not be curious. “What do you mean ‘everyone’s always taking your… juice’?”

“I mean they’re always taking my juice. What else could that sentence mean?”

“What are they taking your juice for?” And what did he even mean by ‘juice’? But one question at a time.

“To put in health packs and stuff so they can heal up real fast when they get a boo-boo. You should really pay better attention when people are talking.”

Gordon skidded to a halt, too shocked to be annoyed by the implication he hadn’t been paying attention. “You mean the healing stuff in the health stations and health packs that Black Mesa makes are filled with your… juice?”

Benrey continued on for a couple more steps before realizing Gordon had stopped. He turned back to face him. Before he could get a word out though, Gordon interrupted.

“And before you accuse me of not paying attention again, I am paying complete and total attention. I just want clarification because I was told it was just a compound one of the teams in Black Mesa invented in a lab. There was never any mention of any juice from any… whatever the fuck you are.”

Benrey frowned, smacking his lips a couple times in seeming thought. “I told them to tell people. But yeah, they take my juice, mix it from something to make it go further and last longer, then put it in the medkits and stuff.”

He could still be lying, trying to mess with Gordon through making him believe he’d injected himself with Benrey’s ‘juice’ a fuckton of times over the years and especially in the last week. But on the other hand, he did undoubtedly have some crazy regenerative properties, healing from gunshot wounds like it was no problem, so of course someone in Black Mesa would try to harness and use that if they could. And from what he knew, a not insubstantial amount of Black Mesa’s funding had come from selling those medkits, often through shady channels if the rumors were to believed.

The realization that Benrey had been at Black Mesa as far more than a security guard wasn’t surprising as he was the exact kind of thing many of the scientists there liked to poke, study, and use. What was surprising though was that they’d managed to contain him. Congrats to them, if only they’d managed to keep him locked up.

Shaking off the shock, Gordon resumed walking. Though he moved slower than before; he was tired and not done with this conversation. So this time, Benrey falling in step next to him was exactly what he wanted. “Okay, knowing I’ve been injected with your… juice is kinda gross. I guess how gross depends on what exactly you mean by ‘juice’. Is it your blood or… or… where do they draw it from?”

Benrey shrugged. “Why do you wanna know? Gonna try to steal some to grow your hand back faster?”

Would straight from the source be enough for such a thing? The medkits and health stations could do a lot, up to and including healing bullets wounds as he’d learned the hard way, but they couldn’t grow back lost limbs. That had been stressed pretty hard in training to prevent people from getting too reckless. But even straight from the source could… “No. I may not like you but stealing your blood or… whatever you mean by ‘juice’ wouldn’t be something I want to stoop to.” Even if he did have some right to because it was Benrey who had caused his arm to get chopped off in the first place. “Gotta try to return to having some sense of morality now that I’m outta that nightmare. Besides, I doubt it would work. Unlike whatever you are, human limbs don’t grow back once they’re cut off. If you’re quick and the cut is clean enough it can sometimes be reattached but that’s the most anyone’s ever been able to do even with the medkit goo.”

“Wait, what do you mean? Of course it’s gonna grow back, it just takes longer ‘cause all your healing stuff takes longer for some reason.” Did he really not know or was he messing with Gordon, trying to get an angry raise out of him? Either way the only thing making it easy to resist the temptation to shoot him in the face was the fact so many other people were around and would see.

“No. It’s never growing back. It physically can’t grow back. My hand’s gone for good and there’s nothing I do can do to change that.” It was old news by now but saying it out loud made it more real somehow. A tinge of panic threatened to crawl up his throat and take his breath and thought away. A part of his body was gone, chopped off and replaced with a gun of all things. A tool good only for hurting and killing.

He had to stop walking and step to the side to lean against a nearby building so he could focus on just breathing. In and out… in and out… he wasn’t having a panic attack today. He was far too exhausted to put up with that. He’d freak out about it again later! Right now he just needed a place to rest and relax and that was the only thing he was going to be thinking about until he got there. Nothing else in the world existed but that goal.

It took a couple minutes but he eventually steadied himself. Full blown panic attacked averted – for the moment at least – he took one last deep breath before looking up again. Benrey stood before him, his expression unreadable as the watched Gordon. “You for real? It ain’t gonna grow back?”

Gordon was tempted to resume walking and hopefully leave him behind but… “You seriously thought it would?”

“Yep. But… I guess that explains why it’s been taking so long, huh? Humans are even weaker than I thought. Oops.” There was an emotion in his voice that his natural monotone made hard to place. “Guess you’re just gonna have to be Gordon Gunhandman now, huh?”

“Yeah, I guess so.” Don’t think about it too much! Gordon pushed off the building and resumed walking towards hopefully the hotel. He could be angry at Benrey for thinking the whole thing was just a prank, causing nothing but mild inconvenience, later when he had more energy. The sun was starting to dip towards the horizon, the sky darkening. In another couple hours it would set and the cold would creep in. Hopefully he’d be clean and in a real bed by then. While they were still walking though and to change the subject… “Do you give them your… juice,” gosh, he couldn’t believe they were still calling it that, “willingly? Like do they pay you?”

Benrey was quiet for a few seconds before replying. “They let me go wherever I want in the facility ‘long as as I cooperate.” Implying they’d otherwise force him to and then keep him locked up in whatever kind of cage they’d invented that could hold him. So no, he didn’t do it willingly, he just didn’t want to say that right now. And honestly, Gordon couldn’t blame him. Who would want to admit that kind of thing to their enemy?

Silence settled between them after that. Gordon still had questions but was too tired to try to find a way to ask them that might actually get him some sort of answer from Benrey. And perhaps, maybe, just maybe, Benrey was finally feeling guilty enough about the hand thing to make him uncomfortable enough to want to stop talking for once. That sure would be nice. Either way they didn’t exchange another word until Benrey pointed out the hotel up ahead. Thank all that was still good in the world, he hadn’t been lying about the direction.

It was old and visibly rundown on the outside. The inside though looked more modern and even if the carpeted floor looked like it could do with a deep clean, it wasn’t bad. In all it was all exactly what one should expect from cheap hotel in a small town in the middle of nowhere. To Gordon though, it might as well be the gates of heaven.

He beelined for the receptionist’s desk, before he got there though…

“Hello Gordon!”

He stopped, turning to see Dr. Coomer, Bubby, and Tommy, seemingly waiting for him as they stood from the plush chairs set off to the side.

“What took you so long?” Bubby said before turning his glare onto Benrey. “And aren’t supposed to be dead.”

“He doesn’t stay dead, remember?” Gordon interrupted before Benrey could reply and probably start something. “It’s annoying but there’s nothing we can do about it so try not let it bother you and maybe eventually he’ll get bored and go away. But why are you guys here?”

It was Tommy who answered. “Because Mr. Freeman, Black Mesa, isn’t exactly a cozy place to live anymore right now so um… we came here, looking for rooms. We wanted to invite you too but um… you ran off so fast we didn’t even know which direction you went in. But uh… it makes sense you’d come here, right? ‘Cause it’s uh… the only hotel in town. So we were waiting for you.”

“We weren’t sure if you had money to pay for your own room,” Dr. Coomer added. “So we discussed it and decided we would wait for you here to ask if you need the financial assistance. So Gordon, do you have need for us to pay for a room for you? We haven’t paid for our own rooms yet because we thought you might want to be our neighbor after all we’ve been through together.”

Gordon wouldn’t have thought they’d take the time to think he might need help affording a place to sleep for the night. They’d even sat here and waited for him after he’d rushed off and left them behind at Chuck E. Cheese. People going so far out of their way for him wasn’t something he’d ever experienced before. It was almost enough to bring tears to his eyes.

“They waited,” Bubby cut in before Gordon could do more than take a deep breath to hold back the tears, “I wanted to hurry up and get a move on.”

“He was about to get up and go looking for you,” Tommy said in an almost whisper that Bubby had to have heard though he seemed to be set on pretending he hadn’t.

“Thanks. I…I appreciate it a lot, like… yeah. But um… I should still have my wallet on me and its got my debit card in it so I should be fine. It’s uh… under the suit though. Which, I’m probably gonna need help taking off since there’s not a thingy to take it off anywhere here for obvious reasons. So uh, actually…”

“I’ll pay for your room tonight,” Tommy cut in as he trailed off.

“Thanks, I owe you one.” A big one because gosh, Gordon would just about kill for a real bed right now.

“What ‘bout me?” Benrey of course hadn’t left. “Do I get a room too?”

“Of course, I’ll pay for a room for you too.” Tommy didn’t sound at all bothered by Benrey’s presence. Not too surprising, they’d seemed to have been friends before the resonance cascade. Apparently things hadn’t changed too much.

“Well, let’s hop to it.” Dr. Coomer didn’t seem bothered either as he started for the receptionist’s desk. “Daylight’s wasting, as they say.”

Welp, seems Gordon’s time with the Science Team wasn’t done yet. He… didn’t mind though. Despite everything, he had grown fond of them and they’d been through a lot together. And they were willing to wait for him and help him out and willing to talk to the receptionist to sort out the room situation, meaning he didn’t have to. What more could he possibly ask for in friends?

“We’re currently in the middle of a big renovation project,” the receptionist was saying as Gordon, trailing along at the back of the group, caught up. “Between that and everyone here to attend the Cacti Enthusiasts Conference, there are currently only three rooms available. So, um, some of you are going to have share for at least tonight. Sorry for the inconvenience.”

“I’m sure we’ll figure it out.” Dr. Coomer was apparently in charge of the transaction. Maybe not the wisest but it was probably fine. He turned to look at Gordon. “Hello Gordon! It turns out, some of us are going to have to share a room.”

“That’s fine. I don’t care.” They’d all been sleeping in the same room since they’d met anyway. Sharing space for a little while longer wasn’t going to hurt any of them. Just as long as Gordon didn’t end up rooming with Benrey anyway.

“Dibs on bunking with Feetman.” It was almost as if Benrey had just read that thought and decided to ruin the mostly good vibes Gordon had just been feeling because of it. “Gotta make sure he don’t steal nothing.”

Gordon lifted his gun arm, pointing it at Benrey’s face. He held it there for a grand total of two seconds before lowering it though. “Fine. I don’t care.” Getting upset was what Benrey wanted from him and he wasn’t giving him that. Never again. … And besides, revealing he had a gun for an arm and Benrey was some kind of something that wasn’t human would call attention to them from the authorities. Bad in general but after how many US soldiers they’d killed, lying super low for probably the rest of their lives was wise. So he wasn’t going to cause a scene. Even if that meant putting up with god damn Benrey. If Benrey killed him in his sleep then so be it, he barely cared anymore as long as he got to sleep properly in a real bed for several hours beforehand.

After some discussion it was decided Dr. Coomer and Bubby would share a room too and Tommy would get one to himself because he was paying for two of them and, “Sunkist will want to share with me when she catches up.” They weren’t neighbors but they did luck into all being in the same hallway even if one of them was way at the end of it while the others two were closer to the opposite side.

They all gathered in the far room first, ostensibly to help Gordon take the HEV suit off. The only one really helping though was Tommy, though Bubby did talk through what he knew of the suit’s built in fail-safes should it need to be taken off manually which helped a lot. Dr. Coomer offered to take it off for three Play Coinstm but not wanting to go into debt in a currency he had no idea the rules of, Gordon had declined.

Partway through the process he regretted declining that offer. The suit was designed to be taken off by a machine, the means to take it off manually had been an afterthought. A just in case the world ended and thus said machine had no power and/or had been destroyed. Not exactly something anyone thought was likely to happen given Black Mesa largely being underground, making it suitable as an impromptu bomb shelter, complete with a host of backup generators not connected to the main power grid. His strong hand being replaced with a gun made it even more difficult, resulting in Tommy doing most of the work of taking it off. Making it a mortifying ordeal; he needed help getting undressed like some kind of giant toddler.

But finally after way too long, the suit was off and in a pile on the floor next to him. He suddenly felt much lighter and less sturdy, like a slight breeze could blow him over. His clothes were a rumbled, horrid, sweat stained mess but he was free at long, long last. “Thanks Tommy, I owe you big time.”

“Don’t… don’t worry about it Mr. Freeman. But, um, maybe you should take a shower before going to bed. Not that um… just, you know… a thought.”

“You stink,” Bubby said.

“I’m afraid he’s right, Gordon,” Coomer said, putting a hand on Gordon’s shoulder, “you smell like you’ve bathed in the concentrated stench of all the locker rooms in the world combined.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know.” Gordon could tell them that they all stank too because they did but sans the suit, he did smell substantially worse. Other than the part at the waist that could be moved aside to allow the wearer to use the toilet, his body had been encased in metal for days with no break. During which he’d been running around and getting his literal hand cut off and having the single most stressful experience of his life, resulting in quite a lot of sweat that had had nowhere to go. So he did indeed reek to high heaven and as hard the bed had called to him earlier, it was now nothing compared to his need for a shower.

“I’ll uh, go do that now. Thanks again Tommy for paying for the room tonight and uh, helping get the armor off. We’ll talk more tomorrow morning, I guess. Goodnight.” With a chorus of good night from the three of them, Gordon stepped into the bathroom.

Hot showers were always nice but this one was downright magical. Even the hotel’s cheap soap and shampoo felt luxurious and smelled divine. It was awkward using his left hand but he was getting used it to and thus fairly quickly got some sort of a hang on it. He could adapt, he could make it through this. The nightmare was over, he’d survived it, everything was going to be okay now.

He washed himself multiple times, trying to get rid of every bit of dirt and grim that had stuck to his skin. Rinsing and repeating until he felt rubbed raw, then he just stood there under the hot water. It would’ve been easy to stay like that for hours and hours if not for the way the hot water easing his sore muscles also reminded him of his exhaustion. If it were the kind of shower that doubled as a tub, he’d likely have just lain down in it and gone to sleep. So it was probably for the best that it was just a stand up shower as that would’ve been dangerous and awful once the water ran cold.

Instead, with a longing sigh, he turned the water off and stepped out. The provided towels were scratchy but clean so he barely cared. Once he was about as dry as he cared to bother making himself, he took one look at his discarded clothing before putting on one of the hotel’s bathrobes instead. It was also stiff and scratchy but it was be better than going nude because he’d rather burn his old clothes than put them back on. Tomorrow he’d coordinate with the others to get them all clean clothing.

Upon stepping out of the bathroom after brushing his teeth with just his finger – the hotel had toothpaste but no toothbrushes so that was another thing he needed – he took two steps towards the bed before stopping. Somehow he’d forgotten Benrey had called dibs on bunking with him.

“You steal that?” He asked as he looked up from where he sat on one of the room’s two chair’s next to the room’s one bed. It was a big bed but still… oh no. Maybe, hopefully, he didn’t need to sleep though.

“No, it comes with the room. You can and should go take a shower now too.” Gordon gestured towards it.

Benrey lowered the remote he’d been presumably flipping through channels with based off the fact that the TV was and playing what looked to be a infomercial. “Huh? Why?”

To get him out of Gordon’s hair long enough for him to fall asleep but also…“’Cause you’re nasty.” Even if whatever he was didn’t sweat and thus body order wouldn’t be as much of an issue, he’d been through some pretty disgusting places in Black Mesa and thus needed cleansing regardless. “And don’t put those clothes back on either also because they’re nasty. There’s another couple bathrobes in there instead. We’ll get clean ones tomorrow sometime. And when you’re done, if you’re gonna kill me in my sleep, please do me a favor and at least wait until I’ve slept for like… five hours before you do it, okay?”

Benrey opened his mouth to respond but before he could get a single word out, Gordon snatched the remote from him, earning a, “Hey, rude,” instead of whatever he’d been going to say. He then turned off TV before flipping off the light and crawling into bed, keeping the remote with him to make it harder for Benrey to steal it back. Benrey said something else, his voice a protest, but as soon as Gordon’s head hit the pillow he was already starting to drift off, making his exact words indecipherable. He’d deal with Benrey tomorrow, right now he really, truly didn’t care anymore.

Chapter 2: But You Owe Me

#hlvrai #frenrey #benrey #gordon freeman hlvrai #half life vr but the ai is self aware

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argetcross · 2 years ago

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Astarion looks over Wyll's contract, a missing BG3 scene

[The camp in Baldur's Gate. Nighttime has fallen and everyone is in their tents. To Wyll's surprise, Astarion saunters over.]

Astarion: The Blade of Frontiers. Come on already. Hand it over.

Wyll: Hello to you too, Astarion. I assume you don't mean hand over this bowl of stew because, as you can see, Gale outdid himself and it's quite gone.

Astarion: Not the stew, your contract. Since it's clear from that escapade in the towers that someone should take a look at that Infernal scrap of paper.

Wyll: Oh. Oh!

Astarion: It wasn't my idea, you know. Our fearless leader wants me to take a look, since, for some reason, being raised on the suckling tit of Baldur's Gate high society has made you both terrible at reading basic contract law. And if that gods-damned cambion shows her face again demanding more addendums, you ought to be prepared.

Wyll: Yes, well. You make a fair point. Mizora's been getting the drop on me for a long time now. Once, just once, I'd like to turn the tables on her.

Narrator: Normally infernal contracts are hard to get a hold of. What devil would allow you to look twice at your soul signed away? But a tip from Karlach and a sizable donation to a local diabolist wins you a plain text copy of what signed away your soul seven long years ago.

Astarion: ...and you'll want to be careful of this clause in particular. There's two ways to interpret the word and I trust you know devils well enough now to always pick the disagreeable version.

Narrator: The parchment containing a version of your infernal contract is now dripping with so much red ink that it looks as if it was bleeding. Seems like the vampire was as good at understanding law as he was breaking it.

Wyll: Color me impressed, Astarion. And here I thought you got your magisterial position the way most do in this city, through bribery.

Astarion: Oh, I most certainly did. And infernal law is hardly my expertise, but you don't have to be an expert to see how this contract was a terrible idea. Really, what were you thinking, agreeing to this?

Wyll: You heard the story. Tiamat, the Cult of the Dragon, no matter what else came after, that, I won't regret that.

Astarion: Oh yes, you saved the city from Keres's loony cousins. Raising the god of dragons from the Hells, just so they could juice up their magical bloodline in eternal draconic servitude. Pfah, and I thought vampires were obsessed with blood.

Wyll: Wait. What? Those cultists were part of her family?

Astarion: Ah. She didn't tell you, did she? ...Well, before you start begging for her forgiveness, I have it on good authority they were quite evil and corrupt. So really, you probably did her a favor! Saved her some trouble of pruning her own family tree. She probably would have cried the whole way though and honestly, that takes all the fun out of killing your own family members.

Wyll: ...I see. That's quite a lot to take in. I suppose I ought to talk to her later about it. But you know, Astarion, I was wrong about you.

Astarion: Hmm? Are you going to tell me you're just now realizing how smart and handsome I am?

Wyll: You're a good man. I know you were worried for me in your own way. Even if, for some reason, it galls you to admit it.

Astarion: And I told you, I was simply sent by my meddlesome darling. Practically ordered. You know how high handed she can get sometimes. All my bad influence, I'm sure, ha-ha!

Wyll: Alright, I won't push the point. But you know, you needn't hide behind the others. After all, Keres had already told me to seek you out myself and I quote, "I can tell he wants to help, but he'll be happier if you ask him yourself, instead of me butting my nose in again."

Astarion: Ah, well, that is— You know, we'll make a liar of you yet. Because I do believe that counts as "pushing the point".

Wyll: Fair enough. But truly. Thank you, Astarion.

#bg3 #wyll ravengard #astarion #baldur's gate 3 #wyll #mizora #with a sprinkle of keres's backstory #she never told wyll it was her shitty extended family he killed because a) she knew he would feel bad #and b) she doesn't like thinking about them #this however backfired #if you think this is wyllastarion flavored you are right #keres #hello i am wielding my one scrap of dnd lore with impunity #my fic #sorta

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sunny6677 · 10 months ago

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So decided I'll make an oc instead of a S/I for Inside Out! Jensns

She's sort of based off of my minds slightly unhealthy way of thinking from time to time. And since she's just a way of thinking, she doesn't exactly stay in Headquarters, but she shows up when necessary or if Riley needs her.

By her coming prepared—I mean to basically ensure nothing like Inside Out 2 happens, Logic quite literally invented a jar with a copy/mimic aura of each emotion just incase they get thrown out again—and anytime someone tries to bring it close to the window, the jar will start to let out a comically loud alarm sound. Logic is very protective of it though since she isn't sure which one of them might decide to throw it out next, so as a 'reasonable' way of a solution, she decides to not allow them to use it unless she seems it necessary—and this is sort of meant to be kind of like when you force yourself to feel things?? Sometimes I have a bad habit of forcing myself to feel happy even though I'm not or angry even though I'm not. It's kinda like that jdndnd. And because of the events of Inside Out, Logic keeps a bit of an eye on Sadness anytime she gets close to the memories. And she wants to ensure that no emotion is ever suppressed since they're all very much needed. So she makes absolutely sure each emotion gets a turn, and will harshly get onto one of them if they try keeping one of them from taking a turn—however, she sort of ends up doing this without realizing when it comes to Anxiety. Because irrational thinking and rational thinking don't exactly go that well together lmao. She always shuts down Anxieties fears or predictions with logical solutions or kind of just calling out how ridiculous it is and how this would have happened if that were true or blah blah blah. And she also sort of keeps Anxiety away from the panel anytime she starts to overthink—because if Riley is supposed to be hiking in a literal forest where she probably needs to know what to do in order to even be camping at all, she probably can't think irrationally. At least that's what Logic thinks—sort of commiting the same mistake Joy did in the first movie in the process.

Immmmm—kind of unsure if she should be an antagonist at all since this is just the way my own brain treats my Anxiety sometimes, and I don't know if it's normal. Sooooo—

#inside out 2 #inside out oc

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pbandjesse · 2 years ago

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Today was a really good day honestly. It was entirely too hot but I had a nice day. I felt a lot better. The self-consciousness is still there but it wasn't as bad. And I just had a good time.

I was up too late last night but I slept pretty good once I did fall asleep. I woke up at 8:00 and actually heard fly happening which was interesting. And then I cleaned myself up because I felt very sticky. Like I said it was a very hot today and it started very early with being very warm. We were under an excessive heat warning basically all day.

So after I got washed up and dressed I went for my little walk and I could not really find any mushrooms. I found a couple that were on fallen trees but nothing great. When I made my way to the office Chris told me that I should just start taking pictures of the moths because he found a beautiful Luna moth but I don't see them as often. Still fun to get to see the one he found though.

He also told me that we were going to be having an extended free swim this afternoon which would mess up on my last program for the day. Normally wouldn't have messed it up but they changed my schedule this week to make space for a group that replaced my YLP group yesterday. So I suggested that we just pushed their program back to five so that they could enjoy the full free swim and I could go swimming and get a shower before their group came and we hung out until dinner and he said that was totally fine and to just let the counselor know so I sent them a message and they said that that was great.

So I continued on my walk but I was already pretty hot so I came back out to arts and crafts to get ready for the day.

I didn't have a ton that I need to do. I checked all the paint and that was all good and I started cleaning two of them that were a little too dried out to salvage. And then I had my yogurt and pretzel for breakfast. I honestly did not enjoy the pretzel but it was fine. I knew that my group would be late because it's woodlands and they're always late. And Celia came over to get tissues and we chatted for a minute before she headed off to the frog pond.

All of my groups today were excellent. My first two groups did a really good job and we're fun to hang out with. Everyone really loves the drawing game and that makes me feel so good. And a few of them even wanted to play it multiple times! I'm still annoyed that horse camp has not come back to get their art but everyone else took theirs with them and it was much better. Having that art on the picture table is stressing me out so bad. Like it's supposed to rain your art will be ruined if you do not pick it up. So I put plastic box lids on top of the art but they're not going to come back for it no one ever comes back for the art. Makes me so annoyed. This is the first time this summer I have let people leave their stuff and top bar has actually come back for it every time because those counselors are good counselors who listen to me. And are not being lazy.

Lunch was actually pretty good today. It was this very thinly sliced eggplant that was fried and then it was like a sandwich on a sweet roll and I really liked it. The salad bar only had cabbage instead of lettuce and I did not like that but I enjoyed my little sandwich and then I was eating pez candy and the other specialty staff were giggling at me about that I was eating it without a dispenser and I'm like just really like pez and it turns out all of them agreed with me. And I ate four of them and folded up and made a big show the house saving the rest for later. Just being very silly.

My afternoon groups did a good job. I've decided that the drawing game is a little too much to explain to Day Camp one two and three so I skipped that part and just had them paint rocks and honestly that was the best choice. They really seem to enjoy it and it was a good time. I did have a CIT come to help me out today. Apparently there was some drama with the group so Kieran requested that I help give some structure and I was like all right and then it was like CIT I already liked so no big thing and I had her sort string for me and fold paper. And then she had to leave for a meeting during my break so I got to just chill and that was excellent.

Once tipis got here I was happy to see some campers from last year that I haven't seen yet and a bunch of them got to try the cuttlefish casting and Aubrey specifically, Chris's daughter, really liked it and thought it was very cool and I was really happy about that. And Quinn, I think is their name, made a pendant but it didn't work quite well and so I said I would use a hammer and nail to try to chisel out the middle of the pendant so that it could be worn on a chain but later in the day when I try again I accidentally broke it and I was able to sand it down and fix it in a different way and I went and gave it to them and they were like almost in tears they were like that was so nice of you you didn't have to do that. And I was like of course I did! I broke it of course I should fix it. And I hope that all of the people in earshot heard that and kind of internalized to that as a lesson for their lives. I want to be a good role model.

After my last day camp group I got to walk with them to the trail my CIT walked with us and I dropped her off at the 5th tent And I went to the pool.

And it was excellent. I wore my stripey bathing suit from last year which is a little more skin than I remember everything. Like it's not particularly tight but it is like high cut on the sides and it's lower in the front that I remember but I got a lot of compliments on it. That was cool. And then I jumped in the pool and I actually went all the way under and it felt so nice. Got mascara all over my face. But I don't even care because I was having a great time. And I ended up talking to a couple of the other counselors and some of the kids and I was just really in a great mood.

Celia finally remembered her bathing suit! She did not remember a towel but she did her bathing suit so that was exciting. And she got in the water with me but I had been in there for about a half an hour already and so we hung out and splashed around and talked for a bit but then I was like I got to get out cuz I got to get showered before my 5:00 class.

And I ended up timing it so well because I went and got my shower and it wasn't the best shower I've ever taken mostly because I couldn't get the water to not be very very hot but at least I was clean and then as I was getting out and drying off the lifeguards blew the whistle and so then it was about to be a swarm of children and so as I was coming out Celia was running into the bathroom because she was like I have to get changed and leave because I have an appointment at 6:00 and I cannot get blocked out by these children! I thought that was very funny. But I was clean and dressed and headed back to arts and crafts.

Ollie, the counselor for my 5:00 group yelled down to me and said that they were going to go get changed and then we'll be back. I told him no rush at all. They ended up coming up at 5:15. Which I was perfectly fine with. I was dressed and clean and just chill and read in my book. And when they got up they really liked the drawing game and some of them did the rock painting afterwards and two of them made shields for awards. And it was a really good time.

I was sitting outside with them and brought up something that happened earlier in the day when Leon and Billy discovered that almost always in America scones are shaped like triangles. And I showed them a picture of an American biscuit and they're like no that's a scone and I was like no no it is different. And so then we were looking at pictures and they were horrified that's scones are always triangular. So then of course when Ollie was up there, who is also from the UK, I was like you need to look at these scones! And you should have seen his face his eyes were so big when I showed them the pictures. And the kids were like they're not always triangles and I was like yeah but most of the time they are. Which makes me want to make James make scones for me to bring to camp next week. Just for the internationals and my friends. Cuz I think it would be so funny.

All the kids are having a really good time and some kids came up from the field to borrow string and beads and thankfully they all asked so I didn't feel I had to kick anybody out. And then I started getting a really bad upset stomach because I was just hungry I guess So I asked Ollie if he could just make sure that the kids put the paint back in the building and then I would just head down to dinner. I was fine with them continue to sit up there because he's a pretty competent counselor and there was only six kids. So he had them say thank you and I said goodbye. And I went down to dinner.

Dinner was fine. It was not exactly great. The vegetarian option was quinoa and I don't like quinoa. There was an option of having a veggie burger but then Charlotte said that I had to wait until a couple of the soy free kids got a chance to get them. Which is fair I don't even like veggie burgers. I did appreciate that she came over to me later to tell me I could have one but I did not really want it.

Instead I had what I am now calling base dinner. I had mashed potatoes which CJ scooped absolutely perfectly. And then I had pasta salad. And then I had bread with a kind of hard boiled egg on it. It wasn't a bad dinner per se but it was not very good. I'm probably going to have a snack soon.

I chilled in the dining hall for a little while but I didn't really want to be in there when it got loud so once the last groups were coming in around 6:30 I headed to the office. I stopped at the nurses building to use the bathroom and then as I was coming out I saw that the snowball truck was driving up. And I was like I'm going to get a snowball very very quickly.

It wasn't our normal snowball man though it was a nice lady. And I told her that I'm always trying to be the very first one and so she gave me it right away and she was very kind. She asked me if we were doing snowballs for everyone so I told her I would go check with the office and it turns out we were because it was so hot out. 200 snowballs! So she had to get all of the flavors refilled. Which makes sense. But I was getting out of there.

Honestly I was getting very hot and sweaty again and so I was like I need to go sit down. So I came up here and I sat in front of my fan in my inside hammock and had my snowball which melted almost immediately. And I read more of my book.

This one's about a family moving to Santa Fe on like a trail ride. It's not the first one I read like this but so far so good. She seems like a nice character. You know it's going to be bad though. Something terrible's going to happen to her because it's always like that. I'm trying to guess who's going to die. But it's nice to have something to read.

I did work on my painting a little bit more and brush my teeth very early. I just really wanted to lay down. And I've been laying here and texting with James and watching TikToks. And I'm tired but I don't feel as horrible that's like something to do. Sleepy. Hopefully that just means I can fall asleep easier tonight. I don't even think I'm going to put my blanket under me because it's so warm in here. It's not uncomfortable but I don't think I'm going to have the problem where I'm cold underneath so that's nice. Because sometimes it's hard to have a blanket after you get all tangled.

I hear a lot of kids outside right now so I'm assuming a prank is about to happen. Let's hope that there's not as much screaming as there has been in weeks past.

I hope tomorrow is a good day. Me and James are sort of planning on going to the movies but I don't know if I'm going to feel too disgusting after camp to meet them at Hunt valley and we might have to change the plan a little bit. But either way I'm excited to go home and see my James and I hope that all the kids tomorrow are just a lot of fun because this project did really good and that was a lot of fun for me. Next week is going to be a little more complex but I'm still looking forward to it and honestly I hope I have a CIT or a YLP to help with the hot glue again. Maybe I'll even request if someone could just come and do that for me but either way it's all good I'm excited. It's going to be a good day.

I hope you guys will sleep good tonight. I love you. Until next time. Wash your hands

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sohannabarberaesque · 2 years ago

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Postcards from Snagglepuss

Taking the S'more to a new sensation

The scene: Over the fire pit at Crazy Claws' Artificial Lake Delton retreat, on a rather cool and misty, though not obnoxiously rainy, evening autumnal. And not just for the sake of talking things around same: Huckleberry Hound, yours truly, and the Hair Bear Bunch have been invited over to join Crazy Claws in what could be some rather interesting S'mores.

"And making them interesting," Crazy Claws explained, "was my choosing perhaps the most intense sort of dark chocolate available ... as in 90% cocoa solids. Can you believe it--a full NINETY PERCENT cocoa? And that's taking dark chocolate to new heights, even if they say dark chocolate is supposed to be good for you, to begin with!"

And never mind that the marshmallows and Graham crackers are your basic supermarket such, fixing s'mores with ultra-dark chocolate was going to be something of an experience, as if chatting up a storm in the night ahead wasn't exactly going to be fascinating enough ... what with Huck and I bound to share some fascinating points about camping beside some lake near Estes Park (especially taking in the view towards the mountains from said lake in the mornings ahead of breakfast), the Hair Bears about their highlights (and possible low lights) of the bear mating season with them, and the Braham Pie Day Character Convocation as much as the Minnesota State Fair previously!

Mind you, dark chocolate--especially of such an intensity as 90% cocoa solids, bound to have its share of bitterness--was a little unique for a s'more party such as ours, yet even then, for such bears with appetites rivalling Yogi's as the Hair Bear Bunch, having dark chocolate instead of the traditional milk chocolate bar was bound to be something different, and I MEAN different!! Bubi, whippersnapper as he can get, couldn't get too ahead of himself in noting just how different dark chocolate tasted for a s'more ... and Hair Bear "himself" was bound to get fascinated in his own way at the experience of dark chocolate for a s'more, "though the melt wasn't as obvious as it would be normally ... You ever try that white chocolate?"

Huck explained that "white chocolate" was actually cocoa butter solids extracted during chocolate processing, prompting Hair Bear to remark "I have to admit once, during an orgy session, we tried using white chocolate for the s'mores, and believe you me, such were quite a different sensation in the taste arena!"

"Let me guess," Crazy Claws asked, "the vanilla sort of flavour endemic to white chocolate?"

"That could be a possibility," Square Bear was quick to explain between bites of what must have seemed like his third s'more, and it was hard not to notice dark chocolate stains around his mouth.

Oh--what else could we have been talking about?

*************

@warnerbrosentertainment @funtasticworld @jellystone-enjoyer @iheartgod175 @railguner34 @archive-archives @thylordshipofbutts @screamingtoosoftly @princessgalaxy505 @themineralyoucrave @thebigdingle @warnerbros-blog1 @indigo-corvus @restroom @theweekenddigest @a-gang-of-silly-bananas @warnerbrosent-blog

#hanna barbera #fanfic #fanfiction #postcards from snagglepuss #road trip experience #wisconsin dells #lovethedells #crazy claws #huckleberry hound and snagglepuss #hair bear bunch #s'mores party #dark chocolate #sitting by the fire #hannabarberaforever

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kagaintheskywithdiamonds · 2 months ago

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OKAY SO my parents divorced when I was like 7, so my mom was raising me as a single parent for quite a few years before she got remarried

so during those years, my mom enrolled me in a lot of like... day-long child care program things. basically "we'll watch your kids while you're at work all day". your school-age kids, because normally "day care" implies like, below kindergarten level, and once you start school you have that to keep you in a supervised environment for most of the day.

but sometimes mom would have to work later than when school would get out and, I dunno, she didn't want me to be a latchkey kid I guess, so there was usually some program I was sent to after-school until she could pick me up after work. also, summer is a thing, so most years I was enrolled in a "summer camp" which really barely counted as a camp apart from being mainly outdoors. same idea though, it was basically just a place for me to be other than at home unsupervised while my mom was at work.

I did not enjoy these programs for a number of reasons. firstly, I had some behavioral problems as a small child, so I did not get along well with other kids. it was not uncommon for me to be in tears by the time my mom picked me up as a result of some conflict with another child (that was probably at least partially my own fault). I remember days where I would wail dramatically to my mom about how much I HATED it at those places because the other kids would make me so MISERABLE (again, in hindsight, the other kids were not as evil as I made them out to be. regardless, interacting with them often led to an upset babykag)

and as I got older I found the fact that I was even being sent to these programs increasingly ridiculous. like, ok, I understand if you have like a 6 or 7 year old, you probably don't want them at home unsupervised while their primary (and really only) caretaker is at work. I get that. but by the time I was 10, 11, 12, I was probably old enough to take care of myself for a few hours after school.

and don't think I didn't notice the herd thinning out when it got to the older years. often these programs had large groups of kids that were divided by age group, but sometimes there were activities that involved all the age groups coming together to do something, and I did in fact notice that the younger age groups were much larger in terms of the total number of kids than the older ones. probably because, once you're in the older age bracket, most parents have decided there's no need to send their kid to a place like this anymore

and throughout all those years there was the frustration that came with the lack of freedom. even after school got out I was supposed to go to a place that was run by adults and do structured activities. I just want to go home and play video games or something. summer was especially frustrating because I essentially still had to stick to a school-like schedule of getting up fairly early on weekday mornings to go to a place instead of just being able to chill and do whatever at home (like I was led to believe summer is supposed to be for)

by now you might have guessed where this story is going. most of these programs were run by the real-life organization called the YMCA. most of you probably also know that the song was more-or-less written as a commercial for that very real organization.

so imagine you're me, and THIS is your experience with the YMCA. this is what you've come to associate the YMCA with. and all the negative experiences I have described

and yet at every party ever, a song is played that describes the YMCA as the best fucking place on earth

a place with so much freedom

"you can do whatever you feel", the song says?

BULL

FUCKING

SHIT

Child me would not have hesitated to tell you, it is NOT in fact fun to stay at the YMCA

Now in hindsight, I realize that the whole lack-of-freedom thing likely contributed to the fact that I was a child (even if, by like age 12, I was getting real tired of being treated like one). if I was an adult who wanted to partake in YMCA's services, I would probably not have felt so restricted. even for adults though, my understanding was that what the YMCA offered was like... a fitness center, basically. there's a pool. and a gym. and people that will watch your kids while you're at work. but the song seemed to suggest services much more grandiose than that

WHICH, to be fair, they used to. originally the YMCA was very much a community outreach center. it was a place where drug-addicted homeless people could seek help, and find support in the community, and "get a good meal" as the song does point out. they wrote a song to advertise these services to the people who would need them. I'm fairly certain however that by the time I was being enrolled in their childcare programs, most of those services no longer existed. they were mainly, as mentioned, a fitness center/daycare.

and even in the organization's heyday, I feel like it was never the PARTY that the song makes it out to be. sure, they might've offered some very helpful services, but the song makes it out like you're gonna have a banger of a time. as good as I'm sure it would feel to have a roof over your head and food to eat and support for your drug problem when you really need all of those things, I think even the people taking advantage of those services would not have described it as "a banger of a time", even if that slang was used back then

and like, I get it, it's effectively an advertisement. advertisements of course embellish the truth to make the product/service they're offering sound more appealing. but even viewing it as an ad, it sounds crazy overblown to me. like it's hard to take it seriously because the song makes the YMCA sound fucking AWESOME when, even at its best and most helpful, it probably wasn't

so even putting the song in its historical context, its claims are a bit grandiose

but from the perspective of my child self, who did not know the historical context, and had not considered the fact that the song was aimed more towards adults (they said "young man", so child me thought that meant a kid! not like, a 20 something, like they probably meant), and whose personal experience with the YMCA was often far from pleasant,

that song was a

FAT SACK OF UTTER GODDAMN LIES

and I would tell people that whenever they played the song at a party

speaking of traditional party dances does anyone wanna hear about my really particular beef with the YMCA song

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threspressodepresso · 3 years ago

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Okay okay so-

This is my first time writing this and I only know common slashers like Michael Myers, Jason Voorhees, Bubba Sawyer etc... I might even made them a little ooc but I would still try to do my best. This might be cringe and stupid so.. Ye-

Summary: Slashers and Gn!Reader but instead, they swapped places. Basically the Slashers are normal peeps and the Reader is some kind of sick mfker who kills or have some unhealthy shits

Tw: cannibalism, murders, possibly possessive behavior, unhealthy shets

Michael Myers -

• he's probably some college student or whatever but he'll be living normally in Haddonfield if his family wasn't shitty

• and you're basically in the role of being The Shape in Haddonfield

• you stalked Michael ofc

• you were supposed to kill him but you still let him go, and you somehow developed something obsessive with him

• he's a normal person now. Of course, he'll be anxious and scared with you sometimes. But then things go by he unconditionally falls in love with you

• and ye, you're stoic and emotionless, especially wearing the mask(you're a shorter person wearing og Michael Myer's mask while wearing a High School uniform with your jacket). But he still can see your love for him with your little body language

• of course, you do love him, it's just you're too inexpressive.

• when you finally take off your mask for him. You're unbelievably beautiful and it just makes Michael fall more deeply in love with you.

• you know Michael can defend himself sometimes but still, if anyone dares to mess with him you just straight appeared standing behind those jerks and then *stab* *stab*

• you don't sleep, but there was one time you tried to cuddle with Michael and you did have a little nap in his arms. But soon when he wakes up you're out for a killing spree already

• bonus: you're abnormally stronger than him

Jason Voorhees -

• you're the one who's in the role of clearing some mfkers who dare to trespass into the Crystal Lake Camp

• there was another bunch of counselor steps into the Crystal Lake Camp. Boi as you thought it was another casual day of cleaning those bitches off your lake. There's a shy yet surprisingly buff boi who wears a bag over his head

• and your frustrations grew more when you sees the others treats the boy harshly, gossiping and make fun of him behind his back

• and you killed them all, expect the boy.

• he was more bigger and bigger than you. But of course a normal person would still get paralyzed by fear whenever they encountered someone killed someone in their eyes

• you spare the boy and you were trying to calm him down. But he ended up panicked more when you reaches your hand out to him

• you took the bag off his head, you saw his deformed figure and his teary fear-filled eyes. Instead of being disgusted, you fall in love with him instead so you decided to keep him a while

• He was a shy yet surprisingly gentle and soft boi. Which you grew protective with him more and you snapped someone's neck if they dare to touch him

• And of course you wears a mask too, and you were beautiful as always compared to Jason's deformed face. Which he would grew insecure sometimes and then there's you who gave him bunch of affectionate physical touches like hugs and cuddles as a form of telling and signing to him that he's beautiful in every way in your eyes

• and he's also someone who loves nature, you two would walk around the forest in the Crystal Lake Camp together while also have some adorable interactions with small animals like squirrel and rabbits. But you're more into bears

• Jason would mostly stays in your cabin a lot when you're hunting. And then when you're back despite you're bloody. Jason is still willing to relaxed your tired body with his cuddles after a killing spree at the Crystal Lake Camp with the trespassers.

Brahms Heelshire -

• if his parents was not shitty af and gives him an actually good and normal childhood then I think he'll be someone who's shy but also seeks for some time to spend with some people

• so he was hired by your older brother who's shitty like og Brahms' parents

• first he was kinda confused when he sees that he had to take care of a doll with 10 rules. But he still do all the chores and didn't do anything against the rules

• he was kinda lonely especially after his parents passed away and he has to depends on himself now. He treats the doll as a real person, and little do he know the real 'Y/n' was watching him all alone

• at first when he heard your child-like noises or seeing his things being gone, he thought it was a ghost

• and Greta had replaced Malcolm to be the one who gives groceries to Brahms. And you would grew jealousy towards Greta and you would make a small ruckus around the mansion

• and he discovered you when he heard noises in the middle of the night. He was tired already but still follows the noise to the kitchen and then he saw you, who's dirty af and you also wears a porcelain mask on your faces with your arms filled with the snacks you were trying to stole from the refrigerator

• Brahms panicked and almost run as if he thought you're an intruder. But you managed to stop him from running away. And soon he knew that you, 'Y/n' was alive all alone. And it kinda creeps him up when he know the fact you were watching him doing everything when you're in the wall

• but since he's very lonely, so did you. You two actually gets attached to each other for a while.

• when he bathed you while washing your hair with you playing on the squeaky duck toy. And since you're bathing, you have your mask off(and you actually throw a tantrum when Brahms tried to take your mask off) despite your burn mark, you're beautiful in his eyes. And he's also handsome too in your eyes.

• and of course you're in Brahms' roles now, you're kinda bratty sometimes and gets jealous easily. Even if he interacts with a little bird that flies around the window, he would ended up seeing a bird corpse in his room

• and you would always throw a huge tantrum whenever Greta comes to give Brahms the groceries. But after that Brahms will give you the cuddles and affections to calms you down, convincing you that he would never leaves you

• if an intruder broke into the mansion to steal some things and even HURT Brahms. Boi they crossed the line. You ended up beating the intruder to death as you punches their faces repeatedly until they're piles of meat.

• and yes, you're also have abnormal strength

• but you would also try to learn whenever you notices that you made Brahms uncomfortable. You tried to reduced your possessive behavior for him.

• but it doesn't matter, you both still loves each other a lot

Bubba Sawyer -

• In his normal AU, his name was supposed to be a little nornal like Bob Sawyer. 'Bubba' will be most likely his nickname

• You are in between the roles of Drayton and Bubba. You're the bait and also the butcher of your victims

• You met Bubba when him, his family and some other strangers who has their wheel blew because of the heat in Texas. You killed the unimportant strangers expect the Sawyer family

• you had opened a Gas Station and you were the boss of it. So you had actually interacted with the Sawyers before and you get a little attached to the youngest, Bob Sawyer, but you prefer to call him with his nickname 'Bubba'.

• you spare the Sawyer family. Not only because for Bubba, you're someone who were alone since childhood so you actually desires for interacting with a family

• since you have abnormal strength and speed especially when you have your hands on chainsaw. Drayton, for the safety of his younger brothers he accepted to stay in your house.

• you're a cannibal of course. But you wouldn't force the Sawyer brothers to be cannibalism with you. You would also get some animals like rabbits or deers while hunting down some victims.

• Bubba was so TERRIFIED of you at first. He was almost at the urge of crying whenever you try to going near him. Which somehow caused you a lot of headaches whenever you tried to interact with him.

• they're normal peeps now, of course the Sawyer brothers would try to escape in the first place. But they ended up gets caught by you and then casually picks them up and walks back to your house despite them struggling to get out of your grip

• there was one time Bubba tried to escape and then he ended up stepping on a bear trap. Boi your heart almost sinks when you heard his terrified and pained squeaks and whimpers.

• you opens the bear trap off his ankles easily and then you carries him in a bridal style and takes him back to your house.

• his brothers were worried and almost close to attacking you when they sees Bubba hurts. But Bubba managed to explain to them that he just accidentally steps on a bear trap.

• you're surprisingly gentle and good when cleaning his wounds. Bubba could also take a closer look at your beautiful face

• so Bubba has finally decided to give you a chance. Even him and his family would still be anxious living in your house. But after a while they can see that you're no more harm to them

• Bubba actually felt bad when he finally knew that you just wanted to fit into a family. Even though the Sawyers was unsure, they still stay in your family. Plus they know that you might get frustrated and snapped one day if they keep trying to escape from you

• you would still try to change the habit of being cannibalism. But boi you can't, the animal fleshes feels weird when you're chewing them in your mouth. So you immediately give up and continues to being a cannibal

• but of course you would tell the Sawyers to stay in their room while you took care of the victims

• and sometimes you would drop yourself into Bubba's chubby form if you're very tired from all the work. Even though you're bloody, Bubba would still try to make you comfortable while he was horrified at the same time when the blood stained on him

• and don't worry you helped him to clean up after that.

This is actually stupid like wtf, what am I even writing I felt like writing shits now. This is stupid and cringe please criticizes me.

#Michael Myers x reader #jason voorhees x reader #brahms heelsire x reader #bubba sawyer x reader #x reader #roles swapped #this is stupid #end me now pls #slashers x reader #slashers imagine #alternative universe

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flareish · 4 years ago

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Anxiety

kuroo x reader

summary: you hide your anxiety from basically everyone including your boyfriend, until he finds out for himself

genre: hurt/comfort

warnings: Emetophobia Warning! description of nausea/vomit, anxiety, bit of angst but ends in fluff

word count: 2.0k

a/n: I tried to make this as close to my anxiety since I hadn’t known anyone with my kind of anxiety(symptom wise) until I was seventeen, which was a good ways into when I realized I had anxiety. So here is some nausea anxiety representation!

masterlist

You tap your fingers in a mindless rhythm. Alternating the fingers and repeating them back and forth, trying to make it a game, a challenge. You did this over and over again to distract yourself from that all too familiar sinking feeling. That feeling like your stomach has managed to twist and knot itself a million times. Each bump of the bus made acid crawl up your throat. You crunched a mint in your mouth hoping the peppermint would soothe some of the nausea. It didn’t, but the thought was there. You just will yourself not to throw up on the bus, anything but that. The thought in itself makes you even more nervous, and in turn even sicker.

You don’t even know why you are anxious. Today is Kuroo’s big game, but it isn’t yours. You’ve been to a hundred of his games before but never before did you feel like this. Normally you get cute little butterflies, not an angry swarm of bees. The worst part is, there is Kuroo sat next to you happy as can be, completely oblivious. He keeps trying to drag you into conversations but you fear if you open your mouth for too long, all that will come up is vomit. So you keep your mouth firmly closed only smiling tightly or shaking your head at his prompts.

It's not exactly his fault though. He doesn’t actually know you have anxiety. It’s not something you really like to talk about. You are all for promoting the acceptance of mental health but you just find every time you tell someone the dynamic changes. Either they flat out don’t believe you since you “don’t seem like the type with anxiety”. Well duh, I don’t have social anxiety, I have situational anxiety. Like here in this situation. That or they suddenly treat me like I am incapable of handling myself. That whenever a slightly stressful event comes up, I am going to melt into a puddle of pure anxiety. Sorry but I’ve made it this far, I may have to throw up a few times on the way but I am still making it.

So you just haven’t told Kuroo. You're just nervous that it will change the dynamic. You also don’t want to steal his spotlight. Today is supposed to be all about him. It's his big game. To suddenly speak up and tell him that his game is giving you anxiety would be selfish. So like you always have, you put a brave face on and face it head-on.

“Hey, are you okay?” Kuroo asks you, now facing you, “You look a little pale.”

“Hmm?,” You also turn to look at him, “Oh I am just a bit tired that’s all. I will be fine in an hour or so.” You hope at least. He nods relieved it's not something worse.

You finally pull into the stadium and everyone is pushing their way off the bus. Luckily Kuroo is right by you to make sure you don't get accidentally pushed down the bus stairs and trampled. The team makes it’s to the bulletin board where they are given their matchups. Nekoma is paired with a pretty hard team. Suddenly, out of nowhere, you dry heave. You knew at the point you were going to throw up and within the next few minutes.

“Hey I think I left something in the bus I’ll be right back.” You say to Kuroo before dashing off. He goes to reply but you are already gone.

You make it around the back of the building before you throw up. At this point you’re kinda out of it, your mind is occupied on emptying your already empty stomach. Then you feel someone pull your hair back and gently rub your back. You don’t even have to look up to know it’s Kuroo. When you finish he hands you his water bottle. You waterfall it and rinse your mouth out of that acidic taste.

“What’s going on are you okay?” Kuroo asks full of concern. You hesitate for a moment, thinking of telling the truth. Then you remember this is supposed to be his day.

“Sorry I must have caught a stomach bug.” He doesn’t completely buy it so you quickly add to it.

“I didn't feel great on the bus but I just thought it was because I was tired.” You feel bad lying, “I also don’t want to distract you before your game.” At that Kuroo quickly pulls you into a hug, “Your not a distraction, I just want to make sure you’re okay.” Your cheek is pressed against his chest and your hands grip the front of his shirt.

“We should probably head back.” You mumble.

“Yeah.” He leans down to kiss you but you duck away. He looks incredibly offended and hurt at this.

“Dude I just threw up I don’t know if you want to do that.”

“…Point.”

The two of you head back inside to the team, you feeling much better after throwing up. Before you know it, the competition has begun and Nekoma has won. You run down and celebrate with the team and it’s a happy day.

On the bus ride home Kuroo has a strange energy about him. Not like he’s mad more just like he’s just realized something. You nudge him and smile hoping to break him out of his little funk. He immediately smiles back and goes back to celebrating with the team. His reaction was almost like putting a mask on. You watch him for a moment before slipping into a conversation of your own.

When you make it back to school you go your separate ways. Him going to shower, and you to get home before it gets too late. A big hug before pushing away. You still refusing to kiss him after throwing up earlier in the day.

You are laying on your bed, exhausted. Anxiety really takes a toll on your energy. Your thoughts are broken when your phone chimes with a text. Leaning over to grab your phone off your bedside table you see it is from Kuroo.

“Can you come over? I want to talk.”

No cute pet names. No slowly easing into it. Actually using proper grammar. Nothing in that message was a good sign. Just “I want to talk” was enough to make the acid begin to crawl again. You knew it had to be about today. Especially after you saw him zoning out on the bus. It had to be your anxiety episode. You knew he wouldn’t be happy you lied but going to this extent. Like he just found out you have anxiety and this is what he hits you with? The world’s most nerve-wracking text message. The only worse place than this would be “we need to talk”. That’s when you have really screwed up. So maybe you’ve only minorly screwed up since he said want not need. Does that mean you have the choice to say no? That was kind of tempting but you knew you would be tossing and turning all night thinking about what might be wrong.

“Okay.” You reply to the text. Short and sweet. Putting on some shoes and grabbing a hoodie, you quietly slip out of your house. Kuroo’s house wasn’t too far but it was far enough. Enough to continue to stir in your intrusive and unstoppable thoughts. You eventually make it to his house and head in going straight for his room. Before you reach the door you hesitate and gather yourself. Preparing for whatever was about to come.

When you go in you find Kuroo sat on the floor of his bedroom, back pressed against the bed. He jerkily looks up and you and gives you a tight smile. None of this is giving good signs. Something is very heavy on his mind. You sit down across from him, your back against the wall your feet almost touching.

“So what was it you wanting to talk about.” You break the silence. He doesn’t respond for a moment. Just as you are about to try again he speaks up.

“Do you still love me?” Your face drops into confusion.

“Why wouldn’t I love you anymore?” You ask, suddenly realizing this wasn’t the conversation you were prepping yourself for.

“You’ve been distant lately. You don’t tell me things like when you don’t feel good. I thought about it when I got home and I was wondering if you weren’t actually sick but just making the excuse because you got caught.” He’s very serious at the moment and his words hold a cold edge.

“What do you mean get caught?” You match his tone. You weren’t planning on fighting but something about how he said it just set something off in you.

“You didn’t want to be there. Ever since this morning you were quiet and reserved. Even after the game, you wouldn’t even kiss me-”

“Yeah, cause I threw up! And how could I be faking it when I literally threw up.” You snap.

“You’ve been like this before though! Like last year’s big tournament you would barely talk to me.”

“That’s not true!” Although it kind of was just not the reason he thought.

“Oh yeah? What about at training camp you wouldn’t talk to me then either, you didn’t even eat with us you just sat on your own.” He threw back.

“Yeah, cause I have anxiety!” The words left your mouth before you knew it. Kuroo looked taken back.

“What?” His brow furrows, “Since when?” He’s not sure what to believe. You’re not surprised since you have worked very hard to hide it from everyone, accidentally sabotaging your own relationship without even knowing it.

“Since forever. I just never told anyone.” You quietly say, ducking your head down.

“Why didn’t you say anything?” You didn’t even need to look up to see the hurt on his face, it was apparent in his voice. You start playing with your finger, tapping them in rhythms.

“I wanted to,” You mumble, “But whenever I do stuff changes and I didn’t want anything to change.” He shifts forward and you think he’s going to leave. Instead, he grabs your hands, stopping the pattern you had going. You look up.

“Did you think I would judge you?” He was staring straight into you, willing the truth to come out.

“Whenever I tell people they either don’t believe me and brush it off or treat me like I’m incapable of handling any amount of stress. I’ve never seen anyone react any differently so I was scared you would fall into one of those reactions and I didn’t know how I could handle that. I didn’t want my anxiety to be the thing to tear us apart. But I guess it still was.” By the end of your speech, your gaze has returned back to the floor, unable to hold eye contact for that long with him staring at you so strongly. You hear him sigh then you are pulled forward and into his arms.

“I want to be your pillar of support. I want to be that third reaction that is one of acceptance, one that doesn’t drive you crazy.” He strokes your hair soothingly, his words making you tear up, “When you are ready I want you to tell me everything. From when you first noticed it, to where it is now, to how you deal with it, everything.” By now you are fully crying, absolutely collapsed into his chest. “I love you so much.” It gets muffled in his shirt but he hears it.

“I know, and I love you.”

It would take some time for Kuroo to get used to this change but slowly but surely he will be different from the rest and he will support you no matter what. Although he also respects your strength and knows you can handle your anxiety on your own, he is always there when you need it. He becomes the third unexpected and unheard-of reaction; acceptance.

#haikyuu imagines #haikyuu oneshot #haikyuu #haikyuu fluff #haikyuu x reader #nekoma #kuroo #kuroo fluff #kuroo tetsuro imagine #kuroo tetsuro oneshot #kuroo scenarios #kuroo hurt/comfort #kuroo x reader #hq kuroo

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spurgie-cousin · 1 year ago

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I can't speak for the original creator obviously, but here are a few reasons it gives me the ick personally:

This insinuation that "normal" people are so different and separated from those living in poverty that the normal people need to take a boot camp before interacting with the Poors just immediately rubs me the wrong way. It's one thing to learn about different cultural customs before traveling abroad and I think people should do that, but this place had an Appalachian-themed camp for crying out loud. I live on the border of Appalachia and if I were Appalachian, I'd probably be more than a bit insulted that I was seen as so alien and different from people in my own country that they needed a week's worth of practice just to prepare to visit my town. In my experience, that's not necessary at all.

The other thing that really rubs me the wrong way is this insinuation that the conditions of poverty can be replicated in a way that could actually make someone understand the experience of being poor in a few days. I just don't think that's true. Like you mentioned in your response, the likelihood that this camp is an accurate representation of poor people's real lives is probably low, so it's not really even preparing them in a meaningful way. Sure there are basic expectations people need to be aware of when visiting a poverty-stricken place for the first time, but that information can 100% be communicated without cosplaying poor people.

As for the camp experience weeding out missionaries who would react badly in a real life poverty setting, I don't have much sympathy for those people. I guess I don't understand why someone would volunteer for such a thing not expecting it to be hard and uncomfortable........like you're really going to get there and be like "wow this sucks"? Of course it does lol. Again I don't think this camp can accurately depict poverty, so there's still a big possibility that missionaries will have to adjust to situations they weren't prepared for anyway.......I mean they should be uncomfortable. Poverty IS uncomfortable. It's what these people they're "helping" live day in and day out, so if you want to make a difference you might as well experience the real thing instead of some church leader's idea of what they think poverty is.

Idk I definitely feel like I'm leaving out something that I just can't put my finger on but that's the jist I suppose. I did some missions and community outreach with Christian organizations even after I left my home church, and a lot of it had a very voyeuristic feel, like we were going on safari to a poor area and bringing them gifts to make that ok. I just get a similar vibe from this.

Edit: because I didn't even mention the names......Chong Chang and Stinkin Creek?? To me, that's pretty good evidence that they are not taking the experience of people living in poverty seriously.....

..interesting

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bitsandbobsofwriting · 4 years ago

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Leon brings Merlin and Lancelot in on his underground enterprise;

Turns out, Leon is the biggest Magic Ally out there. Confusion, bonding, and sneaky hijinks ensue.

I imagine it starts fairly normally.

The Gang (King Arthur, Merlin, and the five knights) have literally just arrived back at the castle after a fairly uneventful hunt (I mean... nowadays, getting attacked by bandits only once in three days counts as uneventful).

Merlin is left behind to help the stablehands untack the horses, like usual, except he leaves the stables half a candle mark later to find Leon awkwardly loitering around outside, the evening dimming around him.

He thinks maybe the First Knight had gotten injured, and was too embarrassed to ask for help in front of everyone (something that is common in all of the knights. Merlin thinks it’s very stupid, and has told all of them this at least once), so doesn’t question it when Leon asks Merlin for a quick word, and leads him back to his quarters.

Leon locks the door behind him. Not unusual, the man was very private. It’s when he puts a chair in front of the door and draws the curtains, that Merlin starts to get a little nervous. He’d cast a small enchantment on one of the bandits, to make him confused enough to trip over his own feet (as opposed to skewering Elyan, which is what he’d been about to do) but Merlin was certain that no one had seen him. He was certain.

And... Leon was a knight. He’d been a knight for longer than Arthur had been King, longer than he’d even known Merlin. Surely if he saw... he would've said something, accused him or just killed him.

(He has to remind himself to have a little faith in his friends. But also: “This might be completely unrelated, so just act natural.”)

Leon turns around to look at Merlin, and instantly recognises how nervous the younger man is, despite his poor attempt to hide it. The knight keeps his distance, and gives him a slow nod:

“I just wanted to let you know, Merlin, if you ever need... ah, a way out of the city, unseen, at short notice, then I can sort something for you.”

At that, all of Merlin’s racing, terrifying thoughts, stutter to a stop, and he looks at Leon with nothing but confusion on his face. He tilts his head slightly, asking, ever so eloquently:

“...What?”

Leon sends a soft smile and a knowing wink his way:

“Or, you know, the back up of a noble in court, or an alibi, I can do that to. I have a feeling that, considering you haven’t done a runner yet, you’re planning on sticking around.”

Merlin just furrows his eyebrows, shaking his head slightly in bewilderment:

“I... Leon I have no idea what you’re talking about. What do you mean, done a runner? Why would I need your help in court or... or an alibi??”

Leon just raises an eyebrow, and tilts his head.

Merlin copies him.

A look of realisation crosses the blonde’s face, and he lifts his hands in surrender:

“Ah. Ok, before I say anything else, I promise Merlin, you are entirely safe. I would protect you with my life if I had to-”

Merlin slowly nods, still confused:

“-I know about your magic.”

Merlin gasps and steps back, but Leon just smiles at him again, nodding his head slightly; it does nothing to relax the servant, and his breathing continues to get deeper as he backs himself against the wall, tears filling his eyes.

Leon frowns, his heart cracking slightly, but resists the protective urge to walk towards Merlin to comfort him. Instead he takes a step back, not lowering his hands. Before he can open his mouth to utter more reassurances, a tirade of broken, cracking apologies fall from Merlin’s lips:

“I... Leon I swear I’m not evil, I... I don’t hurt people, I promise. Please, you... please believe me, I would NEVER-”

Leon interrupts him, shaking his head rapidly, and forcing a reassuring smile on his face:

“I know. Merlin, I know that. I know you’re not evil, I know that you use it to protect us, I know. It’s ok, I won’t tell anyone, you’re not in danger, I would NEVER hurt you, or tell anyone, ok? I swear it. You’re safe with me.”

Merlin gulps, but relaxes (only slightly, but it’s a start. Leon doesn’t know why he’s so surprised at Merlin’s reaction, I suppose he thought he had been clear in his brotherly affection and protectiveness towards the younger man. Apparently not; he would have to fix that). He gives Leon an assessing once over, and it strikes the knight how efficient he is. He wonders how many times Merlin’s eyes have flicked over someone: checking their face for any sign of deception, checking how close their hands are to a weapon, checking their stance to see if they’re preparing for a fight.

Leon stays in place, forcing himself to untense, and giving Merlin a weak smile, hoping that the servant doesn’t mistake his slight heartbreak for fear or anger.

After a few moments, Merlin relaxes even further (though is still understandably ready to bolt at a moment’s notice), and steps away from the wall, Leon’s smile widens, and he nods once again, patiently waiting for Merlin to say something:

“You... you offered to smuggle me out of the city?”

Leon nods, glancing to the door behind him before gesturing Merlin to keep his voice down as he replies cryptically:

“You wouldn’t be the first.”

The servant gulps, giving the knight an assessing gaze, magic buzzing under his skin, alert and frightened at the idea of a Red Knight other than Lancelot knowing the truth:

“You’ve smuggled others out?”

Leon nods and moves ever so slowly to sit on the edge of his bed, still holding his hands up placatingly. He doesn’t gesture for Merlin to join him, understanding the other man’s remaining jumpiness, but leaves space next to him, just in case.

Merlin hesitates for only a second before settling on the bed next to him, forcing himself to relax. The knight wasn’t currently armed, and anyway, if Leon had been planning on accusing him or attacking him, then he wouldn’t be doing this. None of what he said could, in any way, make sense as some sort of trick.

Once Merlin settles, still a little uneasy, Leon begins his explanation in a quiet voice, obviously still worried about startling Merlin (and obviously not wanting to risk someone overhearing him):

“It started when I was fifteen. One of the serving girls in my father’s household was born with magic, though it didn’t manifest until years after the purge started. She was my age, sweet, kind, I couldn’t possibly believe her to be evil or corrupt, but under The King’s law, she would’ve been burned. Poor girl was terrified of being found out, but Uther was so paranoid, they were basically interrogating anyone who entered or exited the city; she had nowhere to go. I had already started my training at this point, so I used my knowledge of guard rotations and shift changes to sneak her out. I left her with some family in a village nearer the border, snuck back in a few days later. From then on it just... kept happening. I suppose I got good at recognising the specific brand of fear that magic-users in Camelot suffer from, and I’ve got a good eye; I know magic when I see it-”

He gives Merlin a knowing look, but the servant just turns indignant and says:

“Well, I was also born with magic, and it took you ten years to figure it out, so-”

He sticks his tongue out at the knight, and Leon raises his eyebrow at him, before laughing and nodding, thankful for Merlin’s lessening fear:

“-yeah, I suppose. But still. It started off with just the occasional person; one or two a month. And then it was whole families or groups of people who either had magic, or were scared of being accused and wanted out. It became a bit of a side-career, though I always refused any payment they offered.”

Merlin stares at him, thoughtful and in awe, before yet another look of realisation crosses his face:

“Is this why the Druids are so fond of you?”

Finally, it’s Leon’s turn to look confused, and Merlin continues:

“Whenever we come across them, they always seem less wary of you than the other knights, like they know what you’ve done.”

Leon takes in slow breath, quirking his eyebrows slightly and shrugging:

“I’ve never really noticed, maybe. I’ve never been into a camp, but when someone I was sneaking out had nowhere to go, I’d take them as close to a Druid settlement as I dared, and pointed them in the right direction; I suppose word might’ve spread.”

Merlin nods, looking to his lap, thinking. Leon stays silent, understanding that this is probably a lot to take in, and not wanting to interrupt Merlin’s processing time.

After a few moments, Merlin, still staring into his lap, reaches across to Leon and takes the knight’s hand in a shaking one of his own. It’s then that Leon notices the slow tears on the other man’s face, but before he can say anything, Merlin looks up at him, his voice shaking as he whispers a rough:

“Thank you.”

Leon smiles, squeezing his hand and bumping their shoulders together:

“Anytime. Like I said Merlin, I would protect you with my life. If you ever need anything...”

Merlin takes a deep breath, standing and wiping the tears from his face quickly before dragging Leon to the door:

“There is one thing. Come on.”

Leon allows himself to be dragged, and Merlin moves the chair to the side before stepping out of the way, allowing Leon to unlock the door with the key hanging around his neck. He doesn’t question where they’re going, though he is slightly confused when he notices that they’re heading deeper into the castle, as opposed to outside or to Merlin’s chambers like he was expecting.

They finally come to a stop outside Lancelot’s door, and Leon nods to himself in realisation. He had suspected that the other knight had known the truth, but hadn’t wanted to ask or push it in case he was wrong.

Merlin knocks rapidly after checking the corridor for other people, and the door had barely been opened before he’s pushing his way through, still dragging Leon behind him. The two men move to stand by the opposite wall, Lancelot still by the door looking increasingly confused:

“Merlin, Leon, is... is everything alright?”

Merlin waves his hand casually, not even needing an incantation as his eyes flash briefly gold and the door shuts of it’s own accord (... or Merlin’s accord).

Lancelot immediately gasps and makes a jump for the sword sat on the table, but Leon holds his hands up in surrender as Merlin rushes to speak:

“Lance it’s fine!! Leon knows about my magic, and he’s been smuggling people out of Camelot for decades, he’s safe.”

Lancelot looks to Leon with a mix of suspicion and relief, still picking the sword up and holding it loosely in one hand, but the older knight is too distracted staring at Merlin in mild outrage:

“Dec- How old do you think I am, Merlin?!”

Merlin looks up at him guiltily, and Lancelot lets go of his suspicion, instead clamping his free hand over his mouth to stop himself from laughing at Merlin’s squeaked reply:

“Uh... there’s no safe way to answer that, is there? You said you were fifteen when you started, and I know you’re older than Arthur, so...”

Leon scoffs, rolling his eyes as Lancelot snorts:

“I’m only five years older than him, Merlin. I’m thirty-one, you can say “decades” plural when I hit thirty-five, and not a day sooner.”

Merlin holds in a smirk, and nods. Lancelot clears his throat, dropping the sword back on the table and asking the obvious question:

“So... how much does he know?”

Merlin spends the rest of the night explaining everything, from Kilgharrah calling to him when he first arrived, (”You mean that thing was under the castle the whole time?!”) to just last week, when he had to sneak out of the city to deal with a particularly insatiable Succubus that was causing problems with the border patrols (”Huh. I wondered why the men had just... stopped disappearing. I’m not complaining though, thank you.”).

He included all the information about the prophecies and being Emrys and how Arthur was the Once and Future King and the coming (potential) Golden Age. Leon was especially curious about that, and interrupted often to ask questions.

Lancelot also interrupted rather often, but only to correct Merlin when he underappreciated his own genius or power or selflessness, much to Merlin’s embarrassment and annoyance.

Merlin also tried to miss out as much of his own suffering as he could, but Lancelot wasn’t having it, and Leon was horrified to learn of the Serket sting, the countless, almost fatal fights he’d had with various people (Nimueh, The Cailleach (”I did also wonder how the veil just... repaired itself. Nice one.”), Morgause, Agravaine, etc (Morgana is good in this, though her magic is still hidden)), and all the other terrible things that had happened.

When he finally finishes, Leon is speechless.

The knight had just thought that Merlin had learned a few tricks to keep himself and Arthur safe when they went out and about, but he was actually, apparently, the most powerful Warlock ever, and had a whole series of prophecies and battle scars to back it up. Lancelot’s face was an odd mix of prideful and mournful, and that only drove home to Leon how much Merlin had suffered over the years.

After a few minutes of silence, Merlin awkwardly waiting, as if for judgement, Lancelot pipes up, his voice oddly cheery:

“So, Sir Leon, fancy two extra sets of hands in the little smuggling ring you’ve got going?”

And that is essentially... exactly what happens.

It’s usually Leon who discovers the sorcerers, being the most observant of the three, but it’s Merlin they send on the first approach more often than not. Leon had always been painfully aware of how scary a Camelot Knight going “I know you have magic” must be, so the trio takes advantage of Merlin’s non-threatening look. That, paired with the fact that he’s well known and well loved around the town, makes starting things off a lot easier.

A lot of the time, the people they approach don’t want to leave. They’ve kept themselves hidden for over twenty years, and they plan to continue to do so, but it’s a weight off their back to know that the option is there if they need it.

Merlin introduces Leon to the tunnels under the city, hidden and warded with his magic. The older knight is very much relieved at that; taking advantage of gaps in guard rotations wasn’t the most reliable plan, and he’d been paranoid for years that something would go wrong one day and he’d get caught.

They worked well together, though all three of their lives got a lot more complicated. Lancelot and Merlin were pulled into Leon’s secret smuggling life (despite him insisting that they could sit it out, considering they were already so busy trying to keep Arthur alive, which is apparently a lot harder than Leon had first assumed), and Leon was pulled into Merlin and Lancelot’s secret “bring about the Golden Age” life (despite the two of them insisting that Leon didn’t need to help, considering he was already so busy running a smuggling ring right under the nose of the King).

To be honest, the two lives sort of swirled together. Anyone that they sent to the Druid camps was told to spread the word of the Once and Future King, and when Leon was sent to distract Arthur when Lancelot and Merlin needed to do something Magicky, Lancelot was sent to distract Arthur when Leon and Merlin needed to do something smuggly.

Eventually Gaius finds out. Because of course he does. Because he’s not stupid. And whilst the three of them are unwilling to put him in anymore danger than he’s already in (harbouring a Warlock is... pretty dangerous. Though Arthur would probably forgive the older man anything.), they never turn away the small, portable medkits he passes along to them, and don’t complain when he offers to talk to Arthur about a promising new treatment for the flu for a few hours.

But overall, they have a proper little (unpaid) enterprise going, and no one suspects a thing.

Mistakes are made of course, some a little bigger that others. But most of them get a laugh from the trio when they think back on them later.

Ironically enough, this mistake came when the trio mistook a “need to save Arthur” problem, for a “need to save this poor scared sorcerer” problem.

They’d been getting complacent. No one had tried to kill Arthur directly in a while, so when a visiting Lord brought with him a very nervous, very secretive stablehand, they didn’t even consider that it would be the young servant who wanted to kill Arthur as opposed to the visiting noble (who was an arsehole, and therefor automatically under suspicion).

Merlin, being the most powerful of the three of them, was keeping an eye on the noble; trying to keep him away from Arthur as well as trying to figure out if he knew that his stablehand was a magic-user. Leon was distracting Arthur, with the help of a report Gaius had written, by talking endlessly about certain weaknesses in the knight’s armour and the injuries that Gaius treats most often and the link between the two.

That left Lancelot to trail the stablehand, whose name they had discovered was Alban. He wasn’t wearing any armour and didn’t have a sword, only a small dagger up his sleeve, so as not to frighten the boy.

Which of course was a huge mistake.

Considering how innocent Merlin looks, but how dangerous he actually is, they really shouldn’t have underestimated the boy, but alas, with how well both of the secret lives had been going, their egos had grown, and they weren’t as careful as they should’ve been.

It was only after the Lord had retired to his chambers (and Merlin had come to the annoying conclusion that he was an arsehole, but certainly not smart enough to be dangerous), and Leon had exhausted every possible line of enquiry about armour and injuries, that the two of them thought something might be wrong.

It had been hours since they had heard from Lancelot, and by the sounds of it, no one had seen him in that time either.

The stablehand also couldn’t be found.

They tried not to assume the worst; all of them (Merlin, most often) had disappeared for longer before, so before they panicked, the two of them went about methodically searching for the other knight.

The wards down in the tunnels hadn’t been disturbed, Lancelot’s room was untouched (the sight of his armour and sword laid out on his bed did nothing to quell their growing anxiety), and no one had seen him leave the city. The Camelot stablehands had no idea where the visiting servant was, and had apparently barely seen him in the stables since he’d arrived anyway.

Now it was time to panic.

The two men rushed back to Lancelot’s room, shutting the door behind them, Merlin hurriedly asking:

“What’s the last thing he touched, do you reckon?”

Leon raked his hands through his hair for the dozenth time, looking around with wide eyes:

“Uh... we had training this morning, and he took his armour off after that, and immediately went to follow Alban, so his armour? His sword?”

Merlin picks the sword up in careful but hurried hands. He closes his eyes, concentrating, as he mutters a quick spell. The sword shimmers for a moment before Merlin throws it back down on the bed with a huff:

“Nope, the trail is there but it’s weak, I need something more recent.”

Leon curses quietly to himself:

“Try his water goblet? Or the wash bowl? God knows that man doesn’t like to be grimy.”

Merlin hums, walking to the wash bowl before halting in his tracks:

“Wait... no, you’re right. He doesn’t like being dirty,-”

With that, Merlin changes direction, heading to the small desk in the corner and opening the draws at random, rifling through them. Leon walks up behind him:

“Merlin? What are you-”

He’s interrupted by Merlin exclaiming in victory, and straightening up. He turns around with a grin on his face, holding out a small comb:

“-he will have run a comb through his hair after washing,-”

He pulls a short, brunette hair from between the wooden teeth:

“-and an actual piece of him is WAY better to track him with than something he’s just touched.”

He repeats the spell from earlier, the smile returning to his face when he begins to feel the pull in his heart, leading him to the lost knight.

The two of them leave the room hurriedly, Leon trailing after Merlin, both of them trying to look an inconspicuous as possible.

They walk briskly down the corridor, hope and excitement blooming in their chests at the idea of finding the friend they’d been so worried about. Leon puts a hand on Merlin’s shoulder, but neither of them stop moving as he speaks lowly:

“Can you tell how far away he is?”

Merlin hums, before replying equally quietly:

“Yeah, I think he’s about... actually... no, no I can’t- what?”

With that, he stops dead in his tracks, stumbling when Leon runs into his back with a gentle “oof”. The knight looks down at him, his face back to looking panicked. They’d stopped at a crossroads in the corridor, and Merlin’s head twitches from side to side, like he can’t decide which way to go.

Leon shakes his shoulder slightly:

“Merlin, he’s been gone for hours, we need to hurry. Close your eyes, breathe, which way is Lancelot?”

Merlin does what Leon says, shuffling on his feet slightly before closing his eyes, taking a deep breath, and relaxing his shoulders:

“Where are you, Lance?”

He mutters it quietly to himself, and Leon barely dares to breathe, not wanting to distract him. After a few moments, Merlin’s head twitches to the right, the corridor that leads to the servant quarters. The servant opens his eyes, nodding briefly at Leon, before turning and walking down the corridor.

He passes the first few doors without hesitation, thankful for the late hour; all the servants are either eating their own dinner, or serving dinner to their masters. Which is probably where Merlin should be right now, but he had more pressing matters, he could deal with Arthur later.

He slows as he reaches the end of the corridor, frowning in confusion. There are no more doors, they’ve reached a dead end, and Merlin tilts his head whilst Leon stares at him expectantly, periodically checking the corridor behind them. Merlin begins muttering to himself again, flexing his hands as if he were in pain:

“This is... wrong. I don’t come down here very often but... there’s... this is wrong. I can feel it and I can... see it, like there’s something out the corner of my eye that shouldn’t be there-”

He gasps, turning and looking at a specific part of the wall, hovering his hand over the stonework:

“-or something that should be there!”

Leon’s gaze flicks between the wall and Merlin as he quietly asks:

“A hidden door? Can you... unhide it?”

Merlin takes a second to snort and roll his eyes, before pressing his hand against the wall, muttering spells to himself. Leon turns around, hand on the hilt of his sword at his hip as he stands guard. After a few minutes of Merlin getting more and more frustrated when the wall stays... well... a wall, he finally lets out a whispered exclamation; Leon glances behind him to see the stone rippling, and finally fading to reveal the door.

With one last check down the corridor, they enter the room slowly, shutting the door behind him. Leon whispers Lance’s name into the darkness tentatively, but Merlin just shakes his head, summoning a light.

It’s just a normal storage room filled with dusty shelves and empty crates, but Merlin moves through the debris to the back, cursing under his breath when he finds what he’s looking for. Leon moves up behind him, staring over the younger man’s shoulder to the precise symbol drawn onto the floor:

“Merls?”

Merlin huffs speaking lowly, not looking away from the symbol:

“It’s a teleportation spell, it’s why I was being pulled in two directions. Lance went through this portal, but it probably took him somewhere outside the city limits.”

Leon gulps, before taking a deep breath and gripping Merlin’s shoulder again:

“Can you activate it? Do we follow through the portal, or track him out of the city??”

Merlin shakes his head roughly:

“No, that would take far too long, we don’t actually know how long he’s been gone, it could have been all afternoon, remember? Look around, there should be a crystal or an orb or something, like a switch I have to push magic into to activate the spell.”

It only takes a few minutes of rummaging for Leon to uncover a rough looking crystal, and Merlin smiles weakly at the comically fearful look on the knight’s face as he holds it as far away from himself as he can; he may trust Merlin’s magic, but he is still logically... unnerved by things he doesn’t understand.

Merlin takes it from him, eyes turning briefly gold as he mutters an incantation and his hand is engulfed in a blue flame. The flame dies down after a few seconds at Merlin’s command, and he hides the now glowing crystal back where Leon had found it, before looking back to the symbol on the floor.

It takes only a few moments for the lines to start softly glowing, and when nothing else changes, Merlin takes a deep breath, reaching behind him blindly for Leon’s hand, and muttering:

“Well, here goes nothing.”

He feels the knight take his hand and step up next to him. With one last nervous glance to each other, they nod, and step into the circle.

MEANWHILE

Thankfully, whilst Lancelot hadn’t been seen in a while (on account of being camped out in the hidden storage room, waiting for his stalkee to reappear out of the weird glowy circle thing), he had only actually been kidnapped by Evil Alban the Not-Stablehand for about half a candle mark.

And he was currently very bored. The younger man finally reappeared, only to fly into a rage at the sight of another man, crouched like a gremlin, almost asleep in the corner of the entrance to his secret lair.

His eyes had flashed sickly yellow, and Lancelot found himself falling over the edge into sleep, and waking up an undetermined amount of time (like five minutes, but it was so fucking dark where he was, he had no way to guess what time of day it was) later, tied to a chair (not gagged, thankfully).

He had realised the trio’s mistake fairly early on in Evil Alban the Not-Stablehand’s monologue; something about vengeance and sins of the father and yadda yadda yadda. Honestly? He tuned it out pretty quickly, he’d heard it all before... multiple times, and he wasn’t too worried; he had faith that Merlin and Leon would arrive to rescue him soon (though he wasn’t looking forward to all the comments along the lines of “who’s the real princess?”).

It was when he almost nodded off that Alban stuttered slightly:

“...after all, surely someone who is strong enough to take the crown should... should deserve... it... are you falling asleep?!”

Lancelot’s head whips up with a quiet snort as he blinks the sleep from his eyes, and looks at the outraged criminal with guilt in his eyes:

“Uh... no? You’re doing wonderfully, Alban, very riveting, keep going.”

The knight’s words do nothing to calm the other man down, and he exclaims slightly as he stamps his foot petulantly. Lancelot bites his lip to stop himself laughing, but before he can get himself under control and say something else, Alban puffs his chest out and grins triumphantly:

“Your mind games shan’t work on me, Sir Knight. I will not be distracted by your mocking or... or distractions.”

Lancelot raises an eyebrow, but doesn’t say anything. Alban huffs, shaking his head roughly before looking back at Lancelot with wide, expectant eyes:

“Well? What do you think of my plan, noble Sir? Ineffable, no?”

Lancelot purses his lips, once again looking guilty as he chooses not to point out the younger’s misuse of the word ineffable (definitely NOT ineffable, considering he’d banged on and on for half a candle-mark):

“I don’t suppose you could... sum up the last twenty minutes or so worth of... plan? Then I could.... let you know my thoughts?”

Alban let out an inhuman screech, stamping his foot again, much to Lancelot’s hidden amusement. The Great Villain stalked off into the darkness, huffing and grumbling to himself, and Lancelot just rolled his eyes, murmuring under his breath:

“For fucks sake. Better not leave me here. Where the fuck are you guys?”

As if the Gods themselves answered the knight’s question, he hears another inhuman screech come from the darkness; though this one was a lot more high pitched, and was immediately followed by Leon’s unmistakable voice growling out:

“Where is he you pre-pubescent piece of shit?!”

Lancelot allows himself to snort at the likely look of terror on the Not-Stablehand’s face before yelling:

“Don’t make the kid shit himself Leon, if he does, you’ll be the one carrying his unconscious body back.”

He hears Merlin’s laugh and the distinct sound of a skull making contact with the hilt of a sword, before the two of them appear like ghosts, lit only by the glow of Merlin’s golden eyes, and the magical light floating between their heads.

Lancelot gives them a grin, shuffling in his binds slightly as he says:

“Took you long enough, he’s been banging on about how clever he is for fucking ages. Cut me loose, would you?”

Merlin clicks his fingers, the ropes falling the the floor as Leon checks him over for injury, and affectionately ruffling his hair, much to the other knight’s chagrin.

The three of them move to crowd around Alban’s crumpled form, hands on their hips as they stare at him, unimpressed. Lancelot sighs:

“You really didn’t have to hit him that hard, I don’t think he was that much of a threat.”

Merlin huffs and stalks off to reactivate the teleportation spell, leaving the chastising for Leon to deal with:

“Not much of a threat?! Lance no one had seen you in hours, we thought you were dead!”

Lancelot frowns and shuffles, suddenly looking apologetic:

“Ah, sorry. He took me less than a candle-mark ago, though I guess I lost track of how long I’d been sat waiting for him before that. I didn’t mean to worry you.”

Leon huffs, but drops the subject as Merlin calls back to them. The curly-hired knight picks Alban up, laying him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes before following Lancelot in Merlin’s direction. They stand around the glowing symbol, and Lancelot rolls his eyes at Merlin’s glower:

“Oh, don’t give me that look, Mister I regularly show up after three days covered in bruises and blood with “The Tavern” as my only excuse.”

Leon snorts and Merlin rolls his eyes but smirks, and with that, the trio step into the circle, reappearing back in the storage cupboard with no one else in Camelot even vaguely aware of the mini adventure they’d had.

This happens for a while. Saving people (mostly Arthur) from the batshit insane things that happen in Camelot that no one but them seems to be aware of.

Of course, rumours fly about the oddly close connection the three men have. Lancelot is head over heals in love with Guinevere (which he ardently denies, despite Merlin and Leon’s repeated dramatic attempts to get them together) and everyone knows it, but even Arthur starts to (jealously) suspect something is going on between Leon and Merlin, especially when Merlin’s lack of talent when it comes to making up excuses is displayed yet again.

Leon and Merlin had been sneaking out of the castle, on their way to meet the teenage son of a noble who desperately needed to escape. Lancelot, who had a late patrol, was to meet them by one of the tunnel entrances outside the city limits, and assure that no other guards were nearby.

Unfortunately, the pair came across a sleepy King, on his way to the kitchens for a midnight snack.

The King stared at them with wide, shocked eyes, and the pair stared back. Leon grimaced slightly, and after a few moments of awkward silence, Arthur slowly asks:

“What are you two... doing?”

Leon takes a deep breath desperately trying to come up with something to say, but before he can find an excuse, Merlin pipes up:

“I was teaching him poetry.”

Leon lets out his breath before slowly covering his face with his hands as he shakes his head slightly. Merlin immediately realises his mistake and bites his lip, furrowing his eyebrows as he says:

“What I mean, is that-”

He’s cut off by Arthur holding a hand up, his face looking mildly put-off as he shakes his head:

“I don’t want to know. Yeah, I changed my mind, I really... don’t want to know.” Before turning around and heading back in the same direction he’d come from, hunger forgotten.

Merlin holds his breath until Arthur turns the corner, before letting it all out in one go and staring at the floor wide-eyed. Leon keeps his head in his hands as he mutters:

“You fucking idiot.-” before looking up at the man besides him incredulously:

“-Why??”

Merlin looks at him indignantly, and loudly whispers:

“I don’t know!! It was just the three of us in a dark corridor like last time and it just popped into my head and I said it! At least he didn’t push, I suppose.”

Leon shakes his head again, before a look of realisation crosses his face and he looks at Merlin with dread in his eyes:

“Yeah... except when you used that excuse on me- shut up, of course I knew you were lying, I’m not an idiot- I thought you and Arthur were uh... well, I thought you were sleeping together...”

Merlin’s eyes go wide and he sputters for a response before he lets out a quiet, deranged laugh, and shakes his blushing head:

“First off, no. Second off... at least he didn’t push.” he repeats. Leon squints at his friend, before he gasps and grins:

“Oh my God, you like him!-”

Merlin scowls at him, and Leon laughs gleefully (though still quietly) before whispering:

“-all this time we’ve been ribbing Lancelot about Guinevere, and we should’ve been ribbing you! Oh my God, wait ‘til Lance hears this.”

Merlin turns on him, face bright red as he angrily (or as angrily as he can, when he’s the colour of Leon’s cape, and the knight is trying not to wake the castle up with his laughter):

“I swear to God, Leon, I will turn you into a fucking toad if you breath a word to anyone! I’ll do it, I swear I’ll do it!”

Leon forces himself to breath and coughs slightly as he catches his breath, putting a hand on Merlin’s shoulder:

“Fine, fine. I won’t say anything, but only if you help me hang mistletoe up in Lance’s doorway next week.”

Merlin rolls his eyes, but nods his head with a grin, and with that, they resume their sneaking around.

This happens for what feels like years and years, but really, Merlin only gets one day into looking at Leon with a shit-eating grin and saying that the old man has been doing this for “decades”, when suddenly... they don’t have to do it anymore.

Arthur repeals the ban on magic.

And to be honest, it was a complete surprise to everyone. Of course, the whole Kingdom knew that he was more tolerant than his father had ever been; he hadn’t executed anyone in years, and unless accusations were serious or life-threatening, he rarely ordered investigations.

As it turns out, he’d been working on it in secret for months, with only Morgana’s help (not that he knew about her magic, she was just the only person in his life who’d always been vocally against the ban). All the work they’d put in meant that when it came time to present it to the council, all Arthur had to do was hold his head high and say something along the lines of “I am your King, you do this, or you lose your seat.”.

The drafts were so well-worked, so perfect, the council had nothing to argue against, no excuses worth more than a roll of the eyes and a dismissive wave of the hand.

The repeal went through seamlessly, and Arthur was announcing Merlin and Morgana as his Court Sorcerers within a week (after of course a few hours of raging at the lies and deception, in which they defended themselves and each each other with sharp tongues and entirely valid descriptions of their terror, and with Leon and Lancelot stood behind them the whole time ready to pull their swords at a moments notice).

Leon, Lancelot, and Merlin told the King about all their adventures saving his arse, which he floundered at before abashedly thanking them, but they never mentioned the now obsolete smuggling ring they had going.

Of course, there were moments when they missed the excitement of sneaking out at night, the victory of seeing a family off to the Druid’s, or to a safe village, but ultimately they were ecstatic that they weren’t needed in that capacity anymore. It was undeniably a good thing.

Their plan to keep their heroics to themselves failed miserably however, when a crowd of around two-hundred gathered in the courtyard, led by a woman in her mid-thirties who looked mighty familiar to Sir Leon.

The gang met them down there, armed and worried at first, but quickly relaxing when they realised this was the furthest to an attack a group this large could get.

The King led the party, Morgana, Elyan, Gwaine, and Percival to his left, and Merlin, Leon, and Lancelot to his right, Guinevere and Gaius waiting by the castle entrance. It was only when Lancelot gasped, and grabbed Merlin and Leon’s sleeves to point at a specific family near the front of the crowd that they understood. All these people, all these happy, joyful, alive people... were people they’d saved over the years.

The three of them gulped, suddenly teary as more and more of the crowd pointed their way, wide smiles on their faces. They knew that this wasn’t even half the people they had saved (if you include Leon’s sixteen years doing it alone), but still, it was astounding to visually see it.

The familiar woman stepped forward at Arthur’s gesture, and the trio suddenly realise what’s about to happen. “Oh shit.” and variants of the above are muttered by all three as they wait with baited breath. There’s not really anything they can do to stop this:

“Your Highness, firstly I would like to thank you, for accepting my people back into your Kingdom-”

Her voice quietens slightly as she glances to the floor, her eyes filling with tears before she looks up again:

“-many of us haven’t been home in... in a long time, and it’s good to be back.-”

Arthur nods, giving her a smile despite his still growing confusion at the crowd behind her. The woman looks quickly to Leon, giving him a brief smile as he gasps, recognising her. She looks back to the King, raising her voice and her head as she continues:

“-Secondly, I would like to extend an even greater thank-you to Sir Leon, and his two companions, without whom many of us would have died. They risked their lives sneaking us out of the city when your father hunted us, and after, when we were still at risk of execution, but they never stopped, and never gave up. We are but a fraction of the hundreds of people they saved, and we have nothing to offer them but our unending gratitude, and a humble demand that they are rewarded for their service to Camelot’s people. They are heroes to us all, and always will be”

Arthur looks slowly over to a very teary Leon, who doesn’t even glance his way as he stares at the former servant-girl, a weak smile on his face. Merlin and Lancelot meet The King’s gaze in his stead, smiling sheepishly and shrugging as they nod, confirming the woman’s story.

Arthur shakes his head minutely, half proud of his friends, and half annoyed at being caught off guard, before turning back to the woman, the smile back on his face:

“I’m glad to welcome you home, all of you, and I apologise that it took so long for me to right the wrongs committed by this Kingdom. Sir Leon and his companions will indeed be rewarded for their service,-”

At this, Arthur turns to look at the trio, a soft, meaningful smile on his face as he nods at them:

“-and I extend my thanks to them also, for being brave enough to protect my people, when I was not.”

Leon finally meets The King’s gaze, and returns his nod. Merlin and Lancelot each clap him on the back, before the three of them descend into the crowd. A loud cheer goes up around the courtyard, the rest of the knights, Morgana, and Guinevere looking on in shock as the trio greets person after person, accepting thanks and hugs and laughing joyously at the reminder of the good they’d done, despite their fear.

THE END!!

I really loved writing this one😄! Honestly this idea started out as crack, but I’m glad that it ended so wholesomely :)

Same as usual lads, someone wants to write it up properly or extend it, go for it, credit and tag me ✌️

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