#queue got me all wrong kiddo

[heavnofhell]

Mark Pellegrino Appreciation VII-XV-MMXXIV

[slvt4em1lyprenti2s]

Emmy

Summary: You’ve had a crush on your best friend Emily for a while but see her flirting with JJ, or so you think…

Word Count: 2.1k

Fluff, self doubt? slight miscommunication

Pairings: Emily Prentiss x fem!reader

!NOT PROOFREAD!

Reader POV:

Why does she have to sit like that?? Like it's so hot. Never thought I'd have a thing for man spreading but here we are. To be honest I never thought I had a thing for brunettes but then Miss Emily Prentiss waltzed into my life and now my perspective of everything has changed.

She's talking to JJ about something and I see Jayj brush over Emily arm, she's flirting, teasing. I'm suddenly grounded again and look down at the file I'm supposed to be working on. I can feel that godforsaken lump in my throat forming. Fuck sake, I can't cry at work. Especially over some stupid unrequited crush. I though Emily was just busy and that's why she's been blowing me off more lately but clearly not. She's found someone else.

I knew Emily would never like me, but damn did it have to hurt this bad? We're best friends which doesn't help the situation although I thought I made my feeling abundantly clear with my glances, touches, comments and flirting. Clearly not. I look up again at the sound of Emily laughing. I could listen to her laugh in repeat all day, it's the best sound in the world in my opinion. But, I soon realise the reason her head is thrown back and her cheeks have become flushed is because of JJ. She's laughing at some joke she made.

I take this as my queue to take my work and go sit with Garcia for a bit, she's like my sister we don't have secrets. I tell her everything, she tells me everything. That's how we work.

I'm walking down the corridor lost in my head and accidentally bump into Rossi.

"Hey, kiddo. Slow down, your gunna run someone over if you keep that speed up!" He said light heartedly with a warm smile. I look at him and mumble a sorry before I try continue my previous beeline to Pen's office. He obviously realised something is off as he grabs my bicep before I can run off again.

"Y/L/N, are you okay?" Those stupid three words, 'are you okay?'. I hate it when people ask because then the waterworks take that as their signal to turn on.

I turn and look him, teary eyed. "Yeah, I'm okay, ah uhm I was just going to see Garcia."

I say chocking back tears.

"Oh kid." He immediately brings me into his embrace, rubbing my back soothingly. This is his way of saying 'I'm here if you wanna talk but I won't press' and that's why I love Rossi. He's always there but never forces you to talk before you happy to. I pull away after a minute.

"Thanks Rossi. I needed that, but I should get to Penelope I have a couple things to run by her." He could tell I was lying and that I was only going to Pen because I needed to talk to her but he went with it anyway.

"Okay well, I'm around if you need okay?" I nod and continue walking to Garcia's office.

I knock the pattern that me and Pen made up my first day on the team so she'd know it was me knocking on the door. "Come in my love!" I hear her call out cheerfully from the other side. Her chair swivels round so she can see me and her once chirpy mood is instantaneously changed to one of extreme concern. "Oh honey what's wrong?" She says as she brings me into a hug.

"It's stupid, Pen." I say realising how childish I'm being right now.

"No," she says pulling away so I can look he in the eye "Your emotions are never stupid. Don't invalidate your feeling y/n/n. Ever." I smile gratefully at her and pull a chair from the corner and sit next to her at her desk. "Okay, so..." and off I went.

I told her about my massive crush on my best friend and how we have been flirting on and off, spending more time alone together, the glances the lingering touches. I told her everything. My cheeks were stained with tears by the time I finished.

"Honey, I don't understand why you're crying though that's all so amazing, what's got you down?" She says the confusion evident in her voice.

"She's been blowing me off so much recently and I didn't know why but I think I just figured it out." My skin around my nail is now bleeding slightly where I've been picking at it. A habit both Emily and me share.

"What is it?" Garcia says realising my hesitation.

"I don't wanna sound jealous or crazy or just downright mean but I think she likes JJ. I mean just now they were talking in the Bullpen and JJ was touching her arm and it wasn't just an innocent touch you know? I could just tell. Then when I tried to ignore it and finish my work I heard Emily laugh at one of her jokes and I looked up to see Em with her head back laughing and Jayj's hand on her shoulder." I choke back sobs while ranting to Pen when someone knocks on the door. "Shit." I mumble under my breath and Pen tells me not to worry and just face the computers and look busy. So I do just that.

"Hey Garcia I need a really quick favour from you if that's okay?" I hear the person say from the doorway. At this moment I think the universe must have it out for me at this point. The person who needs a favour from Garcia is the exact woman I've just spent the last 30 minutes crying over. Emily Fucking Prentiss.

"Oh hi y/n/n!" She says all too cheerfully to be the person who's been cancelling all her plans with me.

"Hi Emmy." After I say hi back I immediately regret it because you can hear the tears in my voice, it's gone all groggy and horrible.

"Oh my god, are you okay?" she rushes over to my side after she hears me speak and brings my head to her stomach as she's standing and i'm sitting. Even though she's the reason I'm in this state to begin with I can't help but wrap my arms around her waist and stuff my head into her shirt and take in her comforting presence.

"Uhm I'm gunna leave you two be for a minute." I hear Pen say before she leaves and I hear the door click shut.

Goddamnit Garcia. I think to myself.

"What's got you all worked up, huh?" She says in the most soft, loving voice I've ever heard which just makes me swoon even more.

"Okay, look Em, I'm gunna say a lot of things and I just need you to listen right now okay?" She grabs Garcia's chair and sits opposite me, our knees brushing as she takes my hands in hers to make me stop picking my nails.

"Okay, go for it. I'm all ears." she stares into my eyes and I gaze back into her honey brown eyes, god I could stare at them all day and never get bored.

"You're the reason I'm crying Emmy." she looks taken aback but keeps true to her word and let's me continue nonetheless.

"Emily, I am so scared to say this but there's truly no other way to explain why I'm so upset without telling you. I'm so helplessly in love with you it hurts Em. I thought I was dropping hints with the flirting and the touches and glances but clearly I wasn't obvious enough. You keep blowing me off and saying you're too busy to hang out but I realise now that's not the case. I saw you and JJ in the Bullpen today and the way she was looking at you and how her hand lingered on your arm, and the way she held your shoulder when you were laughing. Even just the way you laughed you threw your head back and everything. Emmy, if you're into JJ that's fine but I just wished you told so I could be let down gently and not feeling like I've been stabbed in the heart."

About halfway through my little rant I started crying again and she started to say my name to try get me to stop talking but I wouldn't listen because I needed to get my feelings out in the air.

"Are you done?" She asked as she brings my hands, that's she's still griping, into her lap, causing me to lean a little closer to her.

"Yes." I say quietly so only she could hear.

"Okay now I'm going to do something and you're not allowed to interrupt me, okay?" The only expression I could see on her face was love and admiration which confused me but I nodded anyway.

"Good. Now, what I want to say is, I love you too y/n/n." A smile is plastered across her face as she confesses to me, my face was quite the opposite. My jaw was on the floor and my eyes were slightly wide.

"What do you mea-" all of a sudden her finger on my lips silenced me.

"I'm not finished." She says with a smirk.

Her finger that was on my lips, now rests on the side of my face cupping my cheek. Her thumb is brushing over my skin as she pulls me in.

Our lips collide and I know it's super cliché but I felt sparks. It's like all the doubts I'd ever had had just dissipated within a millisecond of her lips being on mine. Her free hand moved to my waist as I deepened the kiss by weaving my hand into her raven curls and pulling her impossibly closer. Slowly she coaxes me off the chair and into her lap, and she rests her hand on my hip the other firmly planted on the back of my neck, making sure I don't pull away. Her lips glided across mine like we had done it a thousand times before. Her tongue grazed my bottom lip asking for entrance which I gave her.

After a few minutes of just making out her lips detached from mine and made their way to my neck. I leaned my head to the side to give her more access. She pulled down part of my shirt and sucked at the pale skin. She pulled away and kissed the now purple spot on my chest before covering it back up with my shirt and making her way back to my mouth.

This time the kisses were sweet and short, we broke apart to look at each other when I broke the silence.

"What does this mean Emmy?" I say, My voice full of hope.

"Well my tongue was just down your throat I hope it's clear what this means." She joked and I let out a laugh. "I want to be yours y/n/n, if you'll let me. Also, I never had nor will I ever have a thing for JJ, I promise sweetheart." The use of the nickname made me smile brightly and she noticed taking a mental note to keep using them. She kissed my forehead as I began to speak. "Of course I'll be your girlfriend Em."

At this she kissed me, but this one felt different. All the love and passion we had for one another was poured into this short interaction.

We pulled away as we heard the door click open again and watched Garcia walk in.

"Oh my god! You guys!!" She squealed delighted at the scene in front of her. I smiled and climbed off Emily's lap. "Are you two..?" Pen said, gesturing between me and Emily.

"We sure are!" Em said, looking at me lovingly. I just nodded and thanked Garcia for listening to me cry for nothing before making me way to the door.

Emily's hand found it's way into mine as we began to walk out of Pen's office both smiling and chatting quietly just to one another.

As we walked back into the Bullpen Rossi looked out his office window and gave me a thumbs up, I returned the gesture and sat down at my desk, filled with happiness and briming with excitement about what the future holds.

[letmewriteinpeace]

" No work, only cuddles " || FNaF nightguards + reader

Title: “ No work, only cuddles ” Characters: Caregiver!Mike, Regressor!You, Big/Caregiver!Scott(mention) Genre: Fluff Warning(s): [N/A] Extra Notes: Hi Friends! I’m back and with the requests finally getting done and worked on. There’s lots more in the queue and requests will be becoming my top priority soon enough since school’s calming down and I have more time to write. 

Also! I used the nickname ‘Bubba’ for Mike, since I felt it fit him perfectly, and he uses the nicknames ‘Bean’, ‘Kid/Kiddo’, and ‘Little One’ for you. 

Word count: 906

   Mike laid on the couch, a very small you laying on his chest with a pacifier bobbing up and down contently in your mouth. A cartoon you seemed so invested in played on the small T.V. Mike had set up in his living room only a few weeks earlier. He'd zoned out from whatever cartoon was on, humming softly with a hand patting your head and running his fingers through your hair gently which was very much appreciated by you. 

   His eyes drifted over to the clock that sat on the wall. '11:17' He had to get to work soon, which meant he needed to get you a babysitter. No way you could stay home alone in such a small, fragile mindset. He reached for the phone on the table beside the couch, hearing a soft whine come from you as he moved. "Hey, hey, it's alright. I'm not leaving yet, Kid." He grabbed the phone and settled back down again, you getting back into your comfortable position and continuing to focus on the cartoon. 

   He carefully dialed up Scott, putting the phone up to his ear and letting it ring. Eventually, the other picked up and a rather passive conversation ensued. Basic 'hi', 'hello', 'how are you?' small talk went on for a little while, the conversation going nowhere until Mike finally asked. "Hey, you think you can watch this little one? I gotta go to work soon and they can't be home alone for so long -- Yeah, yeah, them. They regressed earlier and have been cuddling with me for awhile, I think they're awfully small right now -- No, I got supplies, don't worry. I gotta go soon so, please hurry."

   You'd been focused on the cartoon, dismissing the conversation your caregiver was having. That was until you heard him say he had to leave soon. That didn't go unnoticed, that worried you. Why'd he have to leave? He couldn't leave, you were cuddling! It was just rude to leave during cuddles. You whined loudly, nuzzling into him causing him to focus all his attention onto you and dismiss himself from the idle conversation with Scott. "Hey bean, what's wrong? Hm? What's with the fuss?" he kept his tone as light as he could, hoping it'd soothe you in some way.

   You only whined louder as if it would somehow tell him what was wrong. He hummed as if he understood, frowning worriedly. "Yeah, Scott? I'll talk to you in a bit -- Mhm, bye." He carefully reached over to put the phone away, but you took that as he was gonna leave and hugged his torso, attempting to hold him in place. He stayed where he was, stretching himself so he could put the phone back without moving that much before settling back down again. 

   "Kid, I can't help you if I don't know the problem. You think you can try to help me figure it out?" You shook your head, too upset to do much of anything besides cuddle. He sighed softly, "Alright Kiddo, but I can't help if I don't know. Are you hungry?" You shook your head. "Thirsty?" Another shake. "Want a toy?" You shook your head again. "Sleepy?" You shook your head violently causing him to hum softly. "Then what's wrong?" "No go.." You nuzzled your head into Mike's chest as he raised an eyebrow.

   "No go? You don't want me to leave?" You nodded, cuddling deeper into his chest. He sighed fondly, smiling down at you and patting your head. "Alright little one, alright. I'll see what I can do." He moved to grab the phone again, dialing Scott once again and continuously patting your head to hopefully keep the displeased whine and sounds at bay. It rang for a bit before Scott picked up. "Hey Scott, yeah -- I know, don't worry about watching after them though. I just -- Yeah, please? That or find someone else to. -- Yeah, I know I owe you and I'll -- Yup, I'll watch him. Sound good? -- Thanks Scott, see you Monday." 

  You hopefully looked up at him once you felt him reach to put the phone back down. "Bubba no go?" "Bubba's not going anywhere, bean. Bubba's gonna stay right here with you." You smiled widely, nuzzling into him affectionately which made him chuckle softly. "I think it's getting late though Kiddo, it's almost midnight. Much, much too late for a little one like you to be up, hm?" You whined softly, enjoying the cuddles and not wanting to move. "No bed.." "Yes bed. Not right now though, you still have a few minutes Kid. Okay?" "Okay Bubba.." 

   The two of you relaxed for a little bit, cuddling on the couch until Mike deemed it too late and began getting you ready for bed - much to your displeasure. Bath, pajama's, bottle, pacifeir, and of course, your favorite plush. "Night kiddo, sleep tight, okay?" He patted your hair down gently after he made sure you were tucked in and comfortable. "Mhm, night-night bubba." He smiled, walking over and turning off the room light while keeping the smaller night-light on for you, and closed the door almost completely before going and beginning to clean up the rest of the house before heading to bed himself. 

[mechformers]

Could I request spider x gn reader where reader as general anxiety and was human but got put in an avatar body indefinitely because they were dying it traumatised them and sometimes they dissociate a bit because of it and when they get kidnapped they get really anxious and stressed and they stay close to spider but when they get separated they stay closer to quaritch due to him reminding them of spiderthey self sooth by sucking there thumb, if it could just be fluffy please, thank you hope you have a good day/night

Absolutely! Thank you so much for your request <3

I don't know if this is anything close to what you had envisioned when sending your request, but it was so much fun to write. The reader maybe reads a bit more traumatized than what you asked for, but their dynamic with Quaritch was just too good to lose out on, so... <3

You're alright, kiddo...

2074 words

SFW / Platonic Spider & gn!Reader + Quaritch & gn!Reader (blink and you’ll miss it Sider & Quaritch) Tw: gn!Reader, terminal illness before being transferred into an avatar, anxious reader, PTSD, thumb sucking as self-comforting, disassociating, selective mutism, food/eating, Quaritch is soft and kind to the kids (fight me lol)

You didn’t know what hit you when all of a sudden, your queue was grabbed hard and you were pulled backward. The Sully kids and Spider all screamed and hissed as they too were taken, but as you were all forced to your knees, all you could focus on was the huge man that sauntered into the little group, his sneer sending chills down your spine. You try your best to stay quiet, to cooperate, just like Jake Sully had always taught the kids to do, but you could feel yourself slipping. 

“What’s wrong with…” The big man, the Colonel, asked the Na’vi behind you when you started shaking. 

“Them,” Spider barked, fighting the hold on his own hair. 

“Uh-huh…” The Colonel hummed lazily, “What’s wrong with them?”

“They’re afraid, alright, so step away and give them some space already,” Spider sneers back, still fighting his hold. 

“Nice try, kid,” The Colonel huffs before turning his back on you to focus on Lo’ak instead. 

You don’t register what’s being said or what happens. The only thing you know is that it’s getting darker and then, Neytiri calls out to her children. Relief floods you as you realize that you’ll be saved, that you’ll get to sleep in your own nest and be with your own people. The next thing you register is running as loud noises and flashes of light bombard you from all sides. Neytiri and Jake are both shouting, and the Colonel answers them with a cold chuckle. Your hand is grabbed hard as Spider pulls you along from your cowering position by a tree, the undergrowth disappearing quickly as you get to higher ground, seemingly running for your life. There’s a loud noise behind you, a flash of orange light, and then everything goes dark. 

-

“Y/n? Y/n, are you alright?” Spider’s voice calls to you, but your ears are ringing so loudly, you just whine in response. 

This was easily ten times worse than waking up in your new avatar body ever had been. The memory, however, still makes you nauseous. You had never wanted to be transferred into this avatar body, yet, here you were while your own body was somewhere else entirely. Maybe you should have been happy that you got this second chance, but living with the Na’vi, with the scientists, after you were abandoned on Pandora, was anything but easy. You didn’t quite fit into the Na’vi way of life. You were weak, quiet, anxious… Yet, somehow stuck there with them all.

“Hey, Y/n, come on back to me,” Spider urged, making you open your eyes, only to quickly close them again. 

The lights were so bright in the room you were in, the floor cold and rough against your skin. You didn’t know how long you had been out or how much time had passed since you were taken. The only thing you knew was that Neytiri and Jake weren’t here, that this wasn’t home or anywhere close to it. You were sitting below a huge table with Spider, the older boy holding you close as he tried to connect with you. 

“Listen up, kid,” The Colonel hums as he steps into the room, the massive glass doors swishing open and then shut, “The deal is this; we gotta learn how to do this Na’vi stuff. Now, I know you said you won’t betray the Sullys, and I respect that. But I need an answer,”

“What if I don’t have an answer for you?” Spider spits back, the distaste so clear in his voice. 

“Then I gotta give you back to the lab coats,” The Colonel drawls before pinning Spider with a look, “They’re asking for you both this time,” 

“Guess there’s not much of a choice then,” Spider huffs angrily as he crosses his arms above his chest. 

“Guess there ain’t,” The Colonel smiles smugly before mirroring Spider and crossing his own arms over his chest. “So who’s your friend there?”

“They’re one of the orphans from the village,” Spider starts, stepping before you to block the Colonel’s way. “Their body got sick some years ago, so the scientists made them an avatar so that they could survive,”

The Colonel hums before sucking his teeth, his crossed arms shifting his hold before he looks past Spider to where you still sit under the table. His eyes make your skin crawl with the way you feel as if he sees straight through you. The need to be closer to Spider, closer to someone safe, eventually forces you to reach out for the older boy. The end of his tweng is what you grab a hold of, the worn material grounding in its own way as it’s stuck to Spider’s person. 

“You’re scaring them, skxawng,” Spider sighs as he steps closer to the table so that you don’t have to stretch your arms out to him. 

The Colonel stares at Spider for a long while before stepping back and getting down to one knee with a heavy grunt. Resting his arms on his bent knee, he leans forward, eyes looking for yours. They’re sharp and calculating, but to your surprise, they’re filled with curiosity instead of the cruelty you were expecting. 

“You alright there, kiddo?” The Colonel asks, his voice husky. 

“They don’t speak much,” Spider sighs, but the Colonel doesn’t pay him any mind. 

Unable to meet his eyes, you nod your head instead. The way he looks at you is stressing you out, your anxiety levels rising steadily as he stares. Eventually, he gets up on his feet, mumbling something to Spider before the doors swish open and shut again. It doesn’t take long before Spider’s head bends down to look at you too, his smile gentle. 

“Still good, Y/n?” He asks while squatting down to your level. 

“Yeah,” You croak, your throat tight, “Thanks,”

“Don’t know if you heard it, but we’re moving out later,” Spider explains slowly, making sure that each word registers, “He’s getting us some food, are you hungry?”

“I’m starving,” In time with your words, your stomach rumbles loudly, making Spider chuckle as a grin spreads on his face. 

“I guess you are,” Spider hums before getting up again. 

This time though, he takes your hand, squeezing it tightly as he sits on the tabletop. It’s an awkward position to sit in with your hand raised like that, but when he squeezes it, it settles something within you, making your anxiety dissipate somewhat. You don’t notice it when you start drifting, but when you come to again, the Colonel is sitting in the corner by the door as he chats with Spider. The older boy is still holding your hand while he eats with his other. He’s seemingly enjoying the conversation, his face breaking out in a grin as he chuckles at the Colonel. 

“Ah, there they are,” The Colonel hums, his sharp eyes greeting yours when you look up at him, “Brought you some food,” 

The Colonel's eyes turn almost gentle as his eyes drop to the thumb in your mouth, his head tilting curiously as his ears rotate toward you. Immediately, you pull your thumb out, clenching your hand around it as you feel your face heat. The Colonel tuts, his husky voice gentle when he speaks again. 

“It’s alright to suck your thumb, kiddo,” He hums, his eyebrows furrowing in deep thought for a moment. “Does it make you feel better? Safer?”

Nodding your head, you’re unable to see his expression. The Colonel hums gently and just like that, the room falls silent. Spider hands you what surprisingly turns out to be diced yovo fruit and sure enough, when you put the first cube in your mouth, the sweetness of the fruit explodes. Humming with happiness, you chew the cubed fruit until you’re full, eventually daring a low “Thank you, Sir,” which earns you another one of those gentle smiles. 

As far as kidnappings go, you guess this one isn’t the worst. You’re treated well and the recoms, the entire unit, do what they can to protect both Spider and you. It’s probably why it takes you by complete surprise when the angry General pushes the recom unit out on a mission they’re not yet ready to embark on. For the past few months, Spider has been teaching the recom unit the Na’vi way, preparing them for what Pandora had to throw their way once they were alone in the jungle that surrounded the area. Apparently, the General had been fed up with waiting, her angry narrowed eyes demanding results that even you knew wouldn’t come. 

Still, the recom unit obeyed the orders, which was what led you to be in the situation you were now in. Distressed and spiraling, sucking your thumb for comfort, you crouch by the hollow opening of a tree root as the furious thanator the recom unit had stepped upon runs around the area, furiously protecting its territory. In the chaos that erupted when it attacked, Spider lost the hold on your hand, his body being pushed away from yours as the recoms pushed at the two of you to move forward, shouting for you to run, to get away. It hadn’t taken long before you were separated, each one of you spread around the forest as you tried to escape the predator. 

Before you know it, you’re pulled out of your hiding spot, strong, huge arms wrapping tightly around you as you’re gathered up to wrap your legs around a strong waist. Locking your legs behind the recom’s back, you cling to him as if your life depends on it as he takes the both of you through the forest, sprinting further and further away until suddenly, the thanator stops and turns, the intruders - you - out of its territory. Breathing heavily, the recom cups the back of your head, pressing your face into the crook of his shoulder as he comes to a stop. 

“You’re alright, kiddo…” Quaritch rasps, his voice windy as he turns in circles, “You’re alright,”

“Are you hurt?” The question registers, but you’re unable to reply to it, your heart still racing in your chest. 

“Y/n, are you hurt?” Quaritch asks again, this time more gently, but with an underlying urgency. 

When you still can’t reply, he gently peels you off of him, sitting you down on a rock as he checks for injuries. Eventually, when he’s pleased, you’re lifted up into his arms again. Quaritch’s own heart is beating frantically, even through his vest, but that doesn’t stop him from reacting. His first priority seems to be to get you as high up in the air as possible, something that doesn’t come easy when they haven’t trained much on climbing. At least he isn’t wearing the boots anymore, which makes the whole thing a little bit easier. Only when he’s reached the highest branches does he stop to sit down, his long legs spread on each side of the thick branch as he takes a moment to just breathe. 

“Iron Sky, Blue one, actual,” Quaritch rumbles as he presses the device on his neck, “Requesting extraction,” 

You listen as he talks to whoever is on the other side, the hums and grunts rumbling through his chest as you try your best to calm your nerves. A big hand cups your head, gently pressing it to Quaritch’s chest, making you look up into sharp yellow eyes. There’s a soft smile on his lips as he looks down at you before he looks out over the jungle below. There are sounds all around you from smaller animals, birds chirping as they communicate in the neighboring trees, no doubt telling each other about the two Na’vi in their territory. 

Taking a deep breath, you relax your head against Quaritch’s chest before letting it out. Although you know that he’s a bad man, you can’t help but feel safe as his arms hold you protectively against him, making sure that nothing or no one can hurt you. Your feet hurt and you’re tired, sleepy even. Lifting the hand closest to Quaritch to your lips, you gently slip your thumb into your mouth. It’s immediately soothing in a way you have never been able to explain, and when his thumb starts stroking your head where he cups it, it doesn’t take long before your eyes close and then… you sleep safely wrapped up in protective arms.

[rebelwrites]

Lights of my hometown

Bishop Losa x Reader

“Mi Reina” your boyfriend smiled sadly at you as he walked into your shared bedroom, finding you sat crossed legged in the middle of the bed staring down at a navy blue hoodie.

“Hey” you sighed looking up with tears in your eyes “it doesn’t smell of him anymore Bish”

“Come here” he sighed sitting behind you pulling you into his body, passing you a box “I may have spoke to Chibs to find out what aftershave he used”

Slowly opening the box, to find a brand new bottle of bleu de Chanel.

“I know how much he meant to you Querida” Bishop whispered, kissing your head.

This was what you loved about this man, he didn’t get pissy when you wore the samcro hoodie laid in front of you, he didn’t get pissy that your home screen in your phone wasn’t of you and him but of you and your best friend. He didn’t get pissy at the fact you had your best friend’s name tattooed in the wings of an Angel on your forearm. He supported you and understood your pain. As you leant against him your phone went off

📱from “Chibby”

ye still coming tonight lass, miss ya

📱to “chibby”

yeah all of us are, will be there tonight

“Come on then, lets go spend the weekend with your family” Bishop whispered kissing your head as you sprayed the hoodie in the aftershave.

Walking outside you saw the other side of your family parked in your driveway, smiling softly at you.

“Do we all have to go to Charming? I mean it’s a trek, and sporting the wrong emblem there kiddo” Coco moaned causing you to shoot him a death glare as you pulled the sleeves of the hoodie over your hands. You just wanted to punch him in the face but Angel beat you to it.

“Have so fucking respect pendejo” Angel snapped as he hit Coco round the back of the head before pulling you into a hug “I got your back mami”

Not saying anything as you climbed into the recaro seats of you car, gripping the steering wheel, taking a deep breath, your heart felt heavy, how had it only been a year.

“I can drive if you want querida?” Bishop whispered, taking your hand kissing your knuckles.

“I’m good” You mumbled shaking you head “I need to drive”

You and Bishop had been together for 2 years now, but the first year of the relationship was long distance, due to you essentially being an honorary member of the sons, helping out when needed and going on runs. But ever since that day a year ago, things changed you moved out of Charming and moved to Santo Padre, it was basically a fresh start, but you still made the drive to Charming once a month and it was because of your relationship with Bishop that Jax made it his mission to rebuild the bridges with the Mayans.

The only sound in the car was Bishop calling the other MCs that you had to drive through letting them know you were all passing through, his hand planted on your thigh, he would have held your hand the whole way but you drove a manual.

The drive went smoothly and a small smile appeared on your face as you parked up in the field, memories flooding your head, as a single tear rolled down your cheek. You had never shown Bishop this, this was what you came back to Charming for every month, and you would continue until the day you died.

Got the summer stars out in the backwoods Got the windows down, make you feel so good To lock your high beams in on a mud hole If you’re where I’m from, then you damn sure know About the lights of my hometown yeah, they come alive when the sun goes down

Climbing out the car, standing in front of your Mayan family, Bishop wrapped his arm’s around your waist.

“So I know you all ask me what I do when I come back here once a month” you said leaning against Bishop’s chest and you pulled out your phone you called Juice so he knew when to go “well this is it. The lights of my hometown”

And on the queue everyone’s main beams went on lighting up the field.

“Just tonight has more meaning” you mumbled “so thank you for being here”

Within seconds they all engulfed you in a massive group hug, putting a smile back on your face before you all headed over to the sons.

We got the moonshine, I’m talkin’ both kinds Have you seen baby staring at them tanlines Yeah, we’re throwin’ down until the cops come When the blue lights flash, boys it’s time to run

“So how does this work” Bishop smiled, pulling you down into his lap.

Your mood had lifted a bit, being around your whole family, everyone was having a good time but there was sadness in the air tonight.

“Well we just party” you nodded sipping your whiskey “we party until the cops come and break it up”

“Any particular reason Querida?” Bishop asked as he traced your tattoo on your lower arm with his fingers.

“It’s a celebration of life, of the ones we love and the ones we have lost along the way” you smiled

“I think it’s perfect and an amazing thing to do mi dulce”

It was so nice to see both MCs getting along, there was no more beef, no hatred.

Light a flashlight on a gravestone Let your best friend know that he ain’t alone Go on and pop a top, pour a little out Just to let him know we’re still thinkin’ about him

You were still sitting on Bishop’s knees when Chibs and Tig strolled over to you, leaning down placing a kiss on your head.

“It’s time kiddo” Tig nodded.

“I want you all with us” you whispered turning to Bishop placing a loving kiss against his lips.

“Always mi Reina” he whispered.

Soon enough you were all standing around Jax’s headstone, a bottle of whiskey in your grasp as silent tears ran down your cheeks whilst Bishop held your in his arms.

Unscrewing the cap off the bottle you passed it around telling them all to take a sip, as soon as the bottle reached Chibs he took a long gulp, mumbled something as he looked up at the sky with tears in his eyes before passing the bottle to you.

All eyes were on you and you brought the bottle to your lips, taking a long gulp, feeling that familiar burn in your throat, you wiped your cheeks with the back of your hand before wiggling of your Bishop’s arms, taking a few steps forward to the grave.

Crouching down you placed on hand on the headstone. Before pouring a decent amount of whiskey on the grass, leaning over you kissed the marble stone before looking up at the sky

“I miss you, you annoying little shit” you mumbled.

Bishop saw the tears running down your cheeks, instantly crouching by your side pulling you close to him.

“thank you for being here, thank you for everything” you whispered, placing your hand on his cheek.

“Anything for you Querida” he whispered “he would be so proud of you”

[onceuponaloonatic]

(i just read most of surrogate au on a road trip i Love) do you want to do chaeyoung is hanging out with jihyo and baby nico but jihyo has to run in for a work thing or smth and so chaeyoung is left alone with nico. chaeyoung however has Zero childcare skills and is so clueless. queue chaeyoung getting nontoxic paint and trying to paint with 2 month old nico, its literally all smears and both are covered in paint from head to toe by the end but sana and jihyo both love it and take one of the "artworks" and frame it.

thank you so much !! sorry for the wait !! also i only have three asks left so if you guys have any ideas please send asks!!

“Who’s the cutest baby in the world? You are.” Jihyo smiled as she tickled Nico’s stomach, earning her a giggle in response. Nico had just started giggling a few days ago, right after her second month of life had officially begun. Needless to say, her parents could not give enough of it. Sana had taken countless videos the first time Nico giggled, and had sent all of them to Jihyo. Now that Jihyo was watching Nico, she couldn’t get enough of her baby girl giggling. “I love you.” Jihyo kissed Nico’s cheek.

“Babe if you give her too much attention she’s going to be spoiled.” Chaeyoung giggled from the couch. She had received most of the videos from Jihyo, and she thought it was adorable how in love with Nico Jihyo was. She also knew her girlfriend needed this time with Nico. She hadn’t been able to spend much time with her lately and Chaeyoung knew it was eating at Jihyo. “I think it’s too late for that.” Jihyo picked Nico up and carried her to the couch where she sat next to Chaeyoung. She quickly settled Nico before leaning into her girlfriend. “You’ve seen how Sana is with her. Sana is like obsessed with Nico.” “Don’t pretend you aren’t too.” Chaeyoung giggled. “You are just as in love with her as Sana is. She’s my competition for your heart.” Chaeyoung smiled when a tiny foot kicked her arm as Nico wiggled in Jihyo’s lap.

“You know I love both of you right? It’s not a competition. I love both of you.” Jihyo nodded, resting her head on Chaeyoung’s shoulder. Chaeyoung’s arm snaked its way around her waist and Jihyo smiled. “I know. Don’t tell Nico though, we have a bet going.” Chaeyoung laughed as Nico’s foot kicked her again. Chaeyoung took her free hand and grabbed Nico’s foot, squeezing her clothed foot. Nico’s toes curled reflexively, gripping onto Chaeyoung's hand while she played with Jihyo’s shirt collar. Their perfect moment was interrupted when Jihyo’s phone rang. Jihyo sighed, moving Nico to one arm to pick up the phone. Chaeyoung squeezed Jihyo’s waist before letting go, moving to take Nico from her girlfriend. Nico giggled as Chaeyoung lifted her up as high as she could before bringing her back in. Jihyo eyed her with an amused smile while she talked on the phone, but it was quickly replaced with a look Chaeyoung knew all too well. “Your boss?” Chaeyoung asked once Jihyo was off the phone. “It’s Saturday. My boss knows I don’t work weekends.” Jihyo sighed. “But there’s an emergency in the case, if I don't fix it we might not be able to get the conviction.” “I get it.” Chaeyoung smiled. “You have an important job. Nico knows that too. I’ve got her, go.” “Thank you so much. I love you. You're the best.” Jihyo gave Chaeyoung a quick kiss before getting up to get dressed. “I know. I’m the best girlfriend in the world. It’s a curse.” Chaeyoung said dramatically. Jihyo laughed as she quickly threw on work appropriate clothes. Once she was dressed she pulled her hair up in a quick ponytail before moving to say goodbye. “Be good for Auntie Chaeyoung Nico.” Jihyo kissed Nico’s chubby cheek. “And you, no roughhousing.” “Can’t make any promises.” Chaeyoung giggled. “I’m serious. I should be back after lunch. You have Sana’s number but in case your phone dies it’s on the fridge. Her bottles with instructions are in the fridge. Sana wrote them so they should be pretty through but if you have any questions I’ll keep my phone on and Momo calls herself the master of bottles, she doesn’t need to eat until after her mid-day nap but if I’m not back by then you’ll need to take care of it. She needs to nap at eleven thirty, and she should be awake by one. The baby monitor is on but if there’s any issues with it-”

“Jihyo, it’s okay. Seriously you and Sana both spiral so much. It’s going to be okay. Nico and I have hung out before. I love you, have fun at work.” Chaeyoung giggled, kissing Jihyo one more time.

“Thank you. I love you too. Bye Chae, bye Nico!” Chaeyoung had to practically push Jihyo out of the apartment. “It’s just you and me kiddo.” Chaeyoung giggled, kissing Nico’s cheek before taking her over to the couch. She sat for a few minutes before Nico started whining. Chaeyoung quickly went through the usual list of Nico things but it quickly dawned on her why Nico was whining. “You're bored. Alright, let’s find something for you to do.” Chaeyoung went over to the baby bag Sana had packed and looked through it. She found a toy for Nico, pulling it out and giving it to Nico. Nico felt the toy, but immediately threw it. “Alright not that.” Chaeyoung sighed. She had spent time with Nico before, but not alone. She actually had never watched kids alone. Her best friend growing up babysat a bit in high school for some extra money, but Chaeyoung only went with her once and the kid was ten. It was nothing like taking care of a baby. It was a little overwhelming. So Chaeyoung did what she normally did when she had no idea what to do. Google.

After a quick “what to do with a two month old” google search and looking through a few articles she came to the conclusion she had no idea what she was doing. She had already tried toys, Nico had quickly rejected that. Sana and Momo handled tummy time so Chaeyoung didn’t want to do anything that would be wrong or confusing for Nico. Nico’s nap didn’t start for an hour, and she clearly wasn’t hungry. “What do you want to do baby?” Chaeyoung sighed, thinking about what to do. “You could help Auntie Chaeyoung with her work, would that be fun?” Chaeyoung’s answer came with a tiny kick to the arm and she took that as a yes. She carried Nico over to the makeshift paint station she had in the corner of their living room. Before she moved in, Jihyo had an old piano she had inherited from her family there. Now the piano sat on the other side of the living room and Jihyo’s dead plant that had been sitting in her living room for way too long had been replaced. Chaeyoung liked the change, it felt a lot more homey. “Alright let’s see. Here, this is non-toxic. Have you ever painted before?” Chaeyoung asked. “I’m guessing you haven’t. Your mommies are kind of boring. Let’s change that.” Chaeyoung smiled. “Do you know what color this is? This is red.” Chaeyoung smiled, getting some red non-toxic paint and putting some on her paint tray. She moved Nico so she was using one hand to support her body, Nico looking at her curiously. Chaeyoung put one finger in the red paint, showing it to Nico before putting it on the blank canvas. “Want to try?” Chaeyoung grabbed one of Nico’s hands and put it in the paint before putting it on the canvas. Nico giggled as a tiny hand print appeared on the canvas. “Like that? Let’s get some more colors yeah?” xx

Jihyo got through her work as quickly as possible. She wanted to be back before Nico’s nap in case Chaeyoung had trouble putting her down and she wanted to spend time with Nico. Thankfully, she got through it all quickly. She rushed home as fast as she could, noting she got home a couple minutes before Nico’s nap was supposed to start.

“Chae? I’m back!” Jihyo called when she entered the apartment. She took her shoes off before going into the living room. She saw her daughter and girlfriend sitting at Chaeyoung’s painting station. Both of them were covered in paint somehow but both had huge smiles on their faces. Jihyo couldn’t help herself but take a picture. “Hi baby.” Jihyo greeted after taking a picture.

“Oh hey! Nico look Mama’s back!” Chaeyoung giggled. “We made art.” “I can see that.” Jihyo smiled, taking Nico from Chaeyong and giggling at how much paint was on the denim dress Sana had put on her that morning. “Let’s go get you clean and then take a nap.” “I’ll clean up here.” Chaeyoung smiled. Jihyo nodded and carried Nico to their bedroom. She undressed Nico before putting her in the sink and gently wiping the paint off of her. She put on Nico’s pink frog print pajamas before sitting down on the bed with Nico in her arms. She rubbed Nico’s back and hummed to her as she waited for her to fall asleep. Nico was out quicker than Jihyo had ever seen her, and Jihyo gently put her in her crib before going back to her girlfriend. “She asleep?” Chaeyoung asked. “She fell asleep faster than she ever has with me.” Jihyo smiled, sitting in Chaeyoung’s lap. “Cool. Look at the art we did.” Chaeyoung showed Jihyo the canvas, which was covered in paint smudges and tiny hand prints. “Aww. We should hang this in the new living room.” Jihyo giggled.

“Hmm.. I think we should put it in Nico’s new room. The nice thing about moving is she will have her own room with us too.” “We could do that. Or you two could make a smaller one and it could go onto our new fancy fridge.” Jihyo offered. “Oh, sounds good. I meant to ask, would you prefer purple or blue for Nico’s new room? I was thinking we could do a sky theme with clouds and stars, but I wanted to ask your opinion first.” Chaeyoung asked.

“Chaeyoung, you really don’t have to-”

“No no no. You agreed to give me complete creative control of Nico’s room when you decided to give her her own room. It’s part of being my girlfriend.” Chaeyoung wrapped her arms around Jihyo’s waist.

“I was going to say, you don’t need to paint my daughter’s room. It’s a lot of work-”

“I know. But we can do it together. Nico deserves the world.” Chaeyoung kissed Jihyo’s temple. “Plus painting is kind of sexy, isn’t it?” “I can’t believe you.” Jihyo rolled her eyes, but couldn’t fight the proud smile on her face. Even if she was faking annoyance, she loved how much Chaeyoung loved Nico. When they were first dating, Chaeyoung had seemed apprehensive about Nico. Jihyo and her were already dating when Jihyo found out Sana was pregnant, but their relationship was only a few weeks old and definitely not in a place to be having kids together. Chaeyoung was younger than her too, so Jihyo was worried about how she would be with Nico. But ever since Chaeyoung had met her, she had been in love with Nico. And it seemed the longer they were together, the more Chaeyoung fell in love with Jihyo’s daughter. Nico was important to Jihyo, and so was Chaeyoung. She couldn’t help but be filled to the brim with happiness seeing them get along. “Love you too Hyo.”

[pucking-insane]

Roman Ahcan As A Dad | HC

You and Roman would have four little rascals

A set of twin boys (Chase and Maddox), another son (Sawyer), and a daughter (Salem)

Chase and Maddox, oh boy

Definitely surprised both you and Ro when you were told your first baby was actually 2 BABIES

“How am I supposed to take care of 2 babies? I can barely take care of myself!”

But once the boys are born, it’s not as bad as he thought

When the boys are older

They are definitely Roman’s sons

They look just like him

Hair color, eyes, nose, everything

Wreak just as much havoc

Little pests those two

They’d be the defensive pairing no one would ever want to mess with

They definitely would try to switch places with each other multiple times but you and Roman definitely are able to tell them apart

Sawyer

He’s mr. sensitive on the inside

He’s got a huge heart

But don’t get me wrong, still can be a pest

After Sawyer, you and Roman would be like “we’re done, no more kids”

Well

4 years after Sawyer is born

Hello Salem

The first time Salem is put in Roman’s arms

Man is a fucking goner

Roman = melted

The boys would be her protectors

So in other words, no one messes with Salem Ahcan

She would either be in ballet/gymnastics or be the girl who plays boys hockey

LITERALLY NO IN BETWEEN

Roman would get roped into tea parties with Salem and her stuffed animals and secretly love every second

Now Roman as a dad in general

He would be the fun parent

Ice cream for dinner?

Oh yeah

Waffles for breakfast every saturday?

Duh

He’s especially a sucker for Salem, but if the boys pout enough Ro will cave

There would be many many many knee hockey matches in the basement

Inevitably Ro would come upstairs

“Babe, don’t be mad…”

“What/who did you break?”

“Well, we might need a new shadow box for my Wisco jersey”

But that’s not even as bad as it gets

Sometimes knee hockey matches would end with trips to the emergency room

Not for anything too bad, just busted lips, broken noses

You’d have an outdoor rink in your backyard

How many times would your five children (bc let’s be real we’re counting roman as a child) come in with blue lips after playing outside?

Queue the hot chocolate

LOTS OF WHIPPED CREAM AND MARSHMALLOWS

Ro would squirt some whipped cream directly into his mouth as he’s getting the cocoa ready for the kiddos

“Daddy can I try?”

Needless to say, you go through an entire can of whipped cream

Once the hot cocoa is done, you all cuddle up on the couch for a Disney movie

The kiddos all fall asleep

That’s when you just look over at Roman and smile

He’s got this look on his face that just says “Thank you”

You cuddle into his side and he kisses the top of your head

As a recap

Ro is the fun parent but is a great dad

The kids all look up to him

And you’re just content with life with him

This is for you lil sis @puckshitbitch :)

[heavnofhell]

Mark Pellegrino Appreciation VII-XXII-MMXXIV

[rebel-without-cause-x]

Lights Of My Hometown

Bishop Losa x Reader 

Just an idea I had for the song “Lights of my hometown - Brantley Gilbert” Also the first time I have written for Bishop but my requests are now open for him. Also made myself writing this, still not over the death of my baby 

Mayans Taglist:  @chibsytelford​ @briannab1234​ @starrynite7114​ @minnicelli​ @woahitslucyylu​ @whyisgmora​ @talicat713​ @trulysuccubus​ @everyhowlmarksthedead​ @ifoundmyhappythought​ @abbiesthings​ @gemini0410​ @angelreyesgirl​ @destynelseclipsa​ @enamouravecleslivresetlechocolat​ @jadesamhart​ @hermankopusortizorsumshite​​ @lady-pswrld​ @ly--canthrope​ @hennessyauntie​ @trhett21​ @i-love-scott-mccall​ @corebore123​ @mystic-shadows42​  

If you would like adding to the tag list send me a ask or a message 💕

“Mi Reina” your boyfriend smiled sadly at you as he walked into your shared bedroom, finding you sat crossed legged in the middle of the bed staring down at a navy blue hoodie.

“Hey” you sighed looking up with tears in your eyes “it doesn’t smell of him anymore Bish”

“Come here” he sighed sitting behind you pulling you into his body, passing you a box “I may have spoke to Chibs to find out what aftershave he used”

Slowly opening the box, to find a brand new bottle of bleu de Chanel.

“I know how much he meant to you Querida” Bishop whispered, kissing your head.

This was what you loved about this man, he didn’t get pissy when you wore the samcro hoodie laid in front of you, he didn’t get pissy that your home screen in your phone wasn’t of you and him but of you and your best friend. He didn’t get pissy at the fact you had your best friend's name tattooed in the wings of an Angel on your forearm. He supported you and understood your pain. As you leant against him your phone went off

📱from “Chibby”

ye still coming tonight lass, miss ya

📱to “chibby”

yeah all of us are, will be there tonight

“Come on then, lets go spend the weekend with your family” Bishop whispered kissing your head as you sprayed the hoodie in the aftershave.

Walking outside you saw the other side of your family parked in your driveway, smiling softly at you.

“Do we all have to go to Charming? I mean it’s a trek, and sporting the wrong emblem there kiddo” Coco moaned causing you to shoot him a death glare as you pulled the sleeves of the hoodie over your hands. You just wanted to punch him in the face but Angel beat you to it.

“Have so fucking respect pendejo” Angel snapped as he hit Coco round the back of the head before pulling you into a hug “I got your back mami”

Not saying anything as you climbed into the recaro seats of you car, gripping the steering wheel, taking a deep breath, your heart felt heavy, how had it only been a year.

“I can drive if you want querida?” Bishop whispered, taking your hand kissing your knuckles.

“I’m good” You mumbled shaking you head “I need to drive”

You and Bishop had been together for 2 years now, but the first year of the relationship was long distance, due to you essentially being an honorary member of the sons, helping out when needed and going on runs. But ever since that day a year ago, things changed you moved out of Charming and moved to Santo Padre, it was basically a fresh start, but you still made the drive to Charming once a month and it was because of your relationship with Bishop that Jax made it his mission to rebuild the bridges with the Mayans.

The only sound in the car was Bishop calling the other MCs that you had to drive through letting them know you were all passing through, his hand planted on your thigh, he would have held your hand the whole way but you drove a manual.

The drive went smoothly and a small smile appeared on your face as you parked up in the field, memories flooding your head, as a single tear rolled down your cheek. You had never shown Bishop this, this was what you came back to Charming for every month, and you would continue until the day you died.

Got the summer stars out in the backwoods

Got the windows down, make you feel so good

To lock your high beams in on a mud hole

If you're where I'm from, then you damn sure know

About the lights of my hometown

Yeah, they come alive when the sun goes down

Climbing out the car, standing in front of your Mayan family, Bishop wrapped his arm’s around your waist.

“So I know you all ask me what I do when I come back here once a month” you said leaning against Bishop’s chest and you pulled out your phone you called Juice so he knew when to go “well this is it. The lights of my hometown”

And on the queue everyone’s main beams went on lighting up the field.

“Just tonight has more meaning” you mumbled “so thank you for being here”

Within seconds they all engulfed you in a massive group hug, putting a smile back on your face before you all headed over to the sons.

We got the moonshine, I'm talkin' both kinds

Have you seen baby staring at them tanlines

Yeah, we're throwin' down until the cops come

When the blue lights flash, boys it's time to run

“So how does this work” Bishop smiled, pulling you down into his lap.

Your mood had lifted a bit, being around your whole family, everyone was having a good time but there was sadness in the air tonight.

“Well we just party” you nodded sipping your whiskey “we party until the cops come and break it up”

“Any particular reason Querida?” Bishop asked as he traced your tattoo on your lower arm with his fingers.

“It’s a celebration of life, of the ones we love and the ones we have lost along the way” you smiled

“I think it’s perfect and an amazing thing to do mi dulce”

It was so nice to see both MCs getting along, there was no more beef, no hatred.

Light a flashlight on a gravestone

Let your best friend know that he ain't alone

Go on and pop a top, pour a little out

Just to let him know we're still thinkin' about him

You were still sitting on Bishop’s knees when Chibs and Tig strolled over to you, leaning down placing a kiss on your head.

“It’s time kiddo” Tig nodded.

“I want you all with us” you whispered turning to Bishop placing a loving kiss against his lips.

“Always mi Reina” he whispered.

Soon enough you were all standing around Jax’s headstone, a bottle of whiskey in your grasp as silent tears ran down your cheeks whilst Bishop held your in his arms.

Unscrewing the cap off the bottle you passed it around telling them all to take a sip, as soon as the bottle reached Chibs he took a long gulp, mumbled something as he looked up at the sky with tears in his eyes before passing the bottle to you.

All eyes were on you and you brought the bottle to your lips, taking a long gulp, feeling that familiar burn in your throat, you wiped your cheeks with the back of your hand before wiggling of your Bishop’s arms, taking a few steps forward to the grave.

Crouching down you placed on hand on the headstone. Before pouring a decent amount of whiskey on the grass, leaning over you kissed the marble stone before looking up at the sky.

“I miss you, you annoying little shit” you mumbled.

Bishop saw the tears running down your cheeks, instantly crouching by your side pulling you close to him.

“thank you for being here, thank you for everything” you whispered, placing your hand on his cheek.

“Anything for you Querida” he whispered “he would be so proud of you”

[songfell-ut]

Rrrrrrgh Chapter 18 rrrrgh

I had to re-insert EVERY GODDAMN LINE BREAK ARGH it also took out all the italics. I’ll get those in a minute ;_;

(Watch out for arachnophobia, angst, aaaaand smut~~)

           For the eighth or ninth time, Frisk wished she had just said no. But she hadn’t, and she couldn’t back out now, so she kept walking, arms stiff at her sides.

At least she was almost there: she could hear rustling in the dark up ahead, and faintly musical sounds, like someone twanging a piano wire. Suddenly, her heel stuck on something, her shoe nearly coming off; the next moment, something else tickled her cheek. When she tried to brush it away, it wouldn’t come off her fingers. In the dim light, it looked like…a spiderweb?

           There was a high-pitched giggle overhead, and more webbing dropped onto her shoulders. The child was yanked off her feet, pulled straight up until she slammed to a teeth-rattling stop in midair. Heart pounding, head spinning, Frisk tried to tug herself loose, but it was no use: she was caught in the bouncy, gluey strands of…

…a really, really big spiderweb. And where there was a really big spiderweb—

           “Ahuhuhu~”

           Frisk turned her head as far as she could, and uttered a raspy sound as her gaze met five huge, mirror-shiny black eyes. It was a spider monster in frilly bloomers, ribbons, and pigtails—surprisingly cute, except for its fangs. “My! Whatever do we have here?” The giant spider leaned in closer, and Frisk watched in fascination as her reflection flickered in time with the monster’s blinks. “What brings a bite-sized human like you to my parlor?”

           The child couldn’t tear her eyes away from the spider monster’s eerie, fluid movements. It was balancing on the web, brushing crumbs off its sleeve, and dipping a pastry into a cup of tea it’d just poured for itself, all at once! “A-Are you Muffet?” she squeaked.

           The spider smirked, nibbling daintily on her pastry. “That’s me, dearie. Did someone send you to find me?” Her face creased into a scowl. “If that skeleton told you it would be funny to disturb us, I swear I’ll—”

           Something chittered, and Frisk couldn’t help squirming. Muffet gasped as a tiny shape emerged from the child’s collar. “Alphonse? Oh my goodness me! How did you get here?!”

           Frisk shut her eyes tight as the little spider crawled the rest of the way out of her shirt, followed by another, and a few more, and then what seemed like a thousand others. She could feel a tickly procession streaming up her neck and along her arms onto the web, where they swarmed around Muffet, making rapid clicking sounds.

           “They gave me a piece of paper asking for help,” the human explained, though the spiders were probably saying the same thing. “They were tired of the Ruins, but Snowdin is too cold, and it’s too expensive to get a heated carriage, so I gave some of them a ride to Hotland.”

           All five of Muffet’s eyes sparkled, and she clasped two legs in pure joy. “Oh, what a sweet little morsel you are! You’ve saved us thousands of g, just like that!” Frisk heard more chittering, and found herself being eased free of the webbing and lowered gently until she was back on the sticky floor. “I’m so sorry if I frightened you, dearie—most humans have a nasty habit of squishing spiders, but I didn’t know how very kind you were toward us!”

           “You’re welcome,” Frisk said, trying to pick the webbing out of her hair. The grownups had chopped almost all of it off before they left the castle; she’d hate for them to cut the webs out and make it look even worse. “My name is Kris. It’s nice to meet you.”

           The spider-lady was ignoring her, listening to what sounded like dozens of little voices at once. She didn’t have eyebrows, but her upper three eyes wiggled in almost the same way. “Really, now?” She regarded Frisk with new interest. “You wouldn’t happen to be ten years old, would you, dearie?”

           Where had that come from? None of the other monsters had asked her age. “Um…yes? I don’t know my real birthday, just the year.”

           The spiders must have understood her, because the noise increased, and Muffet tittered louder than ever. “How interesting~”

           “Why?” the child couldn’t help asking.

           “Ohhh, nothing, just a bit of gossip.” Muffet hopped onto a higher strand of webbing, crossing a pair of legs and pouring herself more tea. “Would you like something to eat?” She indicated a table with a pile of iced cakes and a sign reading 9,999 G. “No charge, just for you.”

           Was that a spider leg sticking out of the frosting? “I’m full, thank you,” Frisk lied.

           “Suit yourself, dearie.” For someone without any lips, the monster could slurp her tea quite loudly. “The spider clans don’t communicate with each other nearly as often as we should, but when someone manages to get here from the Ruins, they tell the most fascinating stories. Like the humans’ last visit here, eleven years ago—did you know that your King came with them? Supposedly, it was a group of minor nobles discussing repairs to the border fence, but no one notices spiders – except you, of course – and they hear all sorts of things behind closed doors~”

           The child frowned. “The King was here?” She didn’t think he’d ever been to the Underground; she’d just been glad he hadn’t come on this trip, though she was sorry the Queen was sick. It would’ve been so nerve-wracking to have to behave around him!

           “He certainly was.” Muffet licked a drop of tea from the fine hairs on her forelimb. “Yes, the King paid us a secret visit, and poor Chara was never the same afterwards. There was quite a commotion, you know, after he’d been gone a little while. They had to take her all the way to the Ruins so no one would hear her s—”

           There was a familiar chuckle behind Frisk. “ahh, muffet. putting the spy in ‘spider,’ huh?” Sans held out his hand, and Frisk gladly took it. “yeah, i dunno what she’s talking about, either. c’mon, kiddo, you shouldn’t be here. time to have a ferry good ride back.”

           “On the contrary,” Muffet said haughtily, “this wonderful child is welcome in my parlor any time. I would love to have her over for lunch!” Two sets of arms clapped their hands. “Go on home, dearie. Come and see me again sometime soon.”

           “man. you got a knack for making friends, ya know that?” Sans remarked as they stepped around the webs lining the floor. “i didn’t think she liked anyone who wasn’t rich, or fattening.”

           Frisk didn’t answer. The corridor had just enough bare, echoing surfaces for her to hear the last of Muffet’s conversation. “Not a word to anyone,” the spider was telling her family, or minions, or whatever they were. “I—what? …Why, yes, he would pay for that information. What a splendid idea! We could even give him a discount! Those glasses are so cute~”

           Frisk and Sans looked at each other, shrugged, and moved along to thinking up spider puns to unleash on Pap. It didn’t occur to Frisk until much later that Muffet had said “her”—the smaller ones hadn’t gotten that far under her clothes, had they?

Ah, well. She figured spiders must not know much about human pronouns, and they probably said strange, random things to everyone. It was nothing to worry about.

           Many years later, Frisk would remember that and wish she could smack her younger self upside the head. Not only was it racist, it was very incorrect, not to mention ungrateful. Spiders knew damn well what pronouns were, and nothing Muffet had said to her was random. She hadn’t even charged her for it…

 ~

             The hotel attached to Mettaton’s resort was unbelievably crowded that evening, the air warm and full of amazing smells. Sans had materialized by the fountain in the lobby, figuring it was long enough after dinnertime that there wouldn’t be too many people around. This turned out to be hilariously wrong: the line was still two or three deep at the food counter, the queue winding up and down the room and ending nearly out the doors. There wasn’t enough space for one boss monster to just appear out of nowhere, much less two, but here they were.

“My. Do you think they’ve gotten a room?” Toriel asked dubiously, releasing his arm and nodding to the monsters scrambling out of their way. “Should we check with the front desk?”

Sans glanced around, then relaxed and let his SOUL point him in a direction, like giving a hunting dog a scent to follow. Sure enough, his feet started toward the restaurant on the left side of the resort. “This way,” he grunted.

Luckily, at their size, they didn’t have much trouble getting through the crowd. Nor did they have to say anything to the restaurant’s maître d’: he took one look, bowed so deeply that he almost fell over, and walked ahead of them to harass the seated monsters out of their way.

They soon reached the far end of the room, where Frisk was holding court at a small table with Alphys, Undyne, Mettaton, and a few others. To Sans’ delight, she had perched on the back of a heavy chair, confidently projecting her voice over the other diners. “So I finished the introduction, she came out onstage, and what did she do? She froze right there in front of everyone,” the human said, gesturing with her champagne glass.

This got quite a reaction. “Oh, please,” Mettaton said with a groan.

“Ha!” Undyne thumped the table. “Served her right! What’d you do?”

“I peeked out from behind the curtain, and I looked at her, and I went—” Frisk closed one eye and opened the other as wide as possible, flashing a demented smile, and the monsters cracked up. “She almost started laughing, and it was perfect, because that was where the Queen was bragging about how much everyone loved her!”

“Good evening, everyone,” said Toriel, walking ahead of Sans to join the others. “Forgive me, but, what was this?”

Cries of welcome rang out. “Good evening, Lady Toriel! I was telling them about my friend Mathilda,” explained Frisk.

Standing on the periphery, Sans drank in the sight of his human seated among the monsters, looking adorably tiny by comparison, but completely at home. She was more animated than he’d ever seen her at the castle, her eyes bright and hands in constant motion as she talked. It was everything they’d both hoped for when they came here.

And speaking of drinks, he also had to note all the open bottles of wine and other adult beverages around the table. He remembered ordering several crates of them, but he’d assumed they would be consumed at a slower rate than this; monsters couldn’t handle alcohol as well as most humans. Come to think of it, neither could Frisk.

Mettaton had gotten up to greet Toriel, and was bowing her into his seat; Sans was impressed with his manners until the automaton turned and shooed Alphys out of her chair so he could take it.

Justice came swiftly: Undyne waited for Mettaton to get comfortable, then kicked him under the table hard enough to make a metallic clang. “Never mind him. Here,” she said to Alphys, holding her arm out and patting her lap.

Toriel cleared her throat, and the scientist turned about five shades of reddish-orange. Practical as ever, Undyne got up to grab a chair from another table instead, ignoring its irate former occupant and cramming it between her seat and Frisk’s. “Ta-da!”

When Alphys was happily settled, Toriel gave the automaton and the Royal Guard Captain reproachful glances. “Your friend Mathilda?” she prompted.

Frisk smiled. “Yes, from St. Brigid’s. She wanted me to narrate the part of the spring pageant where she was playing the Queen—have you heard of The Sun Cycle?”

Toriel accepted a glass of red wine from the waiter. “The allegory about the two sisters? Of course. Did Mathilda have a case of stage fright?”

“Right after she spent ten minutes straight telling me not to be shy.” Frisk made another face. “I teased her about that for years.”

Toriel chuckled. “And rightfully so.”

Sans was busy staring at Frisk when she suddenly looked straight at him. “Sans?” He jumped, then scowled self-consciously as she shifted her weight. “I hate to make you stand there—is there anywhere he can sit?” she asked the group.

There was a general murmur and scooting-out to make room, but Sans waved his hand. “Nah, don’t worry about it. ‘s what I get fer bein’ late to the party,” he muttered.

The priestess frowned a little. “Well, if you’re sure…” She indicated a green jug on the table. “You wanted to try some hard cider, didn’t you? Now’s your chance.”

“’m fine,” he said gruffly, and she gave him a short nod before Mettaton reclaimed her attention with a question about human seating etiquette.

Sans wanted to smack himself on the cranium. Typical Frisk: she was mad at him, but still didn’t want him be to left out. Well, neither did he! It physically hurt to keep himself from going over and petting her hair, tucking that one bit behind her ear, asking how she was feeling…

Yeah, this whole staying-apart thing wasn’t fucking working. If he couldn’t have some time alone with her soon, he was going to throw her over his shoulder and teleport them both far, far away, which would probably look a little suspicious. What would it take to—

Alphys coughed. “S-So did the rest of the pageant go all right?”

Frisk sipped her champagne. “Oh, yes. I’ve always loved that story, and I didn’t have to be onstage, so I—” She paused and held the empty glass out, and another waiter swooped in to refill it. “Thank you.” Sip. “It was wonderful. We had a five-piece orchestra playing along, and the Queen’s song, ‘Daylight’s Lament,’ actually brought people to tears.”

Sans wasn’t thinking very straight, or else he would known better than to say, “Is that the mopey thing you’re always singin’?”

Everyone turned toward him, and he shrank back at the priestess’ expression. “Are you a musician, Frisk?” Toriel asked around her refilled wineglass.

“Yes, I was in the choir at school,” the human said, giving Sans a significant look. “The Sun Cycle had just been adapted into a musical, and we all nagged our teachers until they let us perform it.” She grinned ruefully. “It was the best political training I’ve ever had. If you want to delve into the darkest side of human nature, just tell a group of teenage girls that only one of them gets to play the Queen.”

They all laughed, though no one disagreed. “And Mathilda got it?” Sans asked, just to contribute.

“Yes, she did,” Frisk replied. Her feet swung back and forth a few times, drawing his attention again. “She tends to get what she wants.”

Trying to distract himself, Sans remembered something and asked, “Isn’t she the one who’s gonna replace you?” They looked at him in surprise, and he added, “Y’know, if you ever decide ta quit?”

That earned him another glare. “Yes, if I ever do. The only reason I became High Priestess and not her was that my magic was stronger. Otherwise, she’d have been perfect.”

“Now, now. I would think—no, I know that you’re doing an excellent job,” Toriel said warmly, and the priestess ducked her head.

“Wait a sec.” Undyne banged her mug on the table, startling Alphys. “Didn’t you say somebody tried to kill you ‘cause you’re the High Priestess? Aren’t you worried someone’ll come after her, too?”

“Well…not really.” Frisk made a complicated gesture. “It may sound cold, but you’ve never met Mathilda. She doesn’t have time to be assassinated. If the Church didn’t pay for a half-dozen guards everywhere she went, she’d just hire them herself and go about her day.”

“Nice,” said Undyne, but despite Frisk’s light tone, Sans wasn’t so sure about the way she was frowning into her champagne glass. Did she feel guilty for being so cavalier about her friend’s safety?

…No, that wasn’t it. He had a sudden attack of insight: Frisk wasn’t only in danger because she was the High Priestess; she was also in the way of people who profited off monsters. Did Mathilda have different views on the subject – maybe more safe or conventional ones – that would keep her from being targeted?

What about the person who had paid to keep Frisk safe? He still had to tell her about that, too, assuming he ever got the fucking chance!

That was enough of that topic. What else could they talk about? “How’d it go in the lab today, Al?” he asked.

This time, they all looked at him as though he’d thrown dog turds onto the table, and a couple of the other monsters actually got up and left. His stupid, tired, frustrated mind took a second to catch up: everyone knew that Alphys had been testing Frisk’s magic, and as much as they liked and hopefully trusted the human by now, they didn’t want to hear about her barriers.

“Um…” Alphys fidgeted with her mug of spiced cider. “You were r-right. I couldn’t even quantify how much f-force she could potentially withstand. It’s honestly still hard to believe.”

“Yeah, it turns out she’s even better than we thought,” Undyne said defiantly, and raised her mug. “Toast: to Frisk being on our side!”

Frisk raised her glass in reply, downing the rest of the champagne in one gulp, and everyone with a drink quickly followed suit. As the waiter came back for more refills, Sans nodded his thanks to Undyne; she stared at him, then drew her thumb across her throat to indicate that he was dead. He shrugged, agreeing that that was fair.

Alphys fidgeted again. “Actually, Sans, I’d like to t-talk to you about that sometime soon. Alone, m-maybe?”

The skeleton blinked. “Uh…okay.” Now that a few chairs were empty across from Frisk, he walked over to shove them aside and sit down on the floor, putting his eye level only a foot or two below the others. Why would Alphys need to talk to him alone? If she wanted more data, why not include Frisk? He’d have to find out later.

Undyne scowled, half-turning to drape her arm over Alphys’ shoulders; the lizard monster turned a few more colors, then leaned into her. Good for them, thought Sans, with only a twinge of jealousy. “I remember when I was a kid and I used to snoop around in my parents’ room,” Undyne continued. “My mom got fed up and told me there was a human hiding in her closet. Not only did I stop sneaking in there, I’d run past their door to get to my room!”

Sans forced himself to join in the laughter. “Poor Pap,” he remarked. “When he was a kid, I got him that pirate bed, and he wouldn’t stop jumpin’ on it in the middle of the night. I didn’t wanna take it away, so I said there was a human under it ‘n Pap was gonna wake him up.”

“Sans,” Frisk scolded him, but she was smiling now.

“It’s true,” he said gleefully. “The next night, I found him makin’ a decoy to throw into bed so he could go hide in the closet.”

Undyne guffawed, and Toriel shook her head, though she was also smiling. “That poor child! Tell me he isn’t still sleeping in the closet, Sans!”

“He’s not. I made a big deal about talkin’ with the librarian and finding out humans are scared of books about Fluffy Bunny. We read one every night from then on, and whaddya know? The human never got ‘im,” the skeleton said proudly.

They laughed again, and the last of the tension dissipated. “Speakin’ of Papyrus, where is he?” Sans asked, feeling guilty for not noticing sooner. “Hope I didn’t miss ‘im on his way home.”

Mettaton couldn’t drink, so he had spent most of the conversation checking his face paint; he sighed theatrically, putting the mirror away in his chest compartment. “He got drunk already, the poor dear. I sent him upstairs to sleep it off.”

Sans didn’t have to fake a grin. “Makes sense. It only takes half a mudslide to get him started tellin’ everyone how bad my jokes are, and tellin’ the jokes ta prove it, and then gettin’ mad that he knows all my jokes by heart.”

“A ‘mudslide’?” Frisk repeated.

“Yep. ’s one of Grillby’s finest cocktails: magic ‘n mud.”

The human looked puzzled. “By ‘mud,’ you mean…?”

“Wet dirt,” Sans clarified.

“…You…drink…?” Frisk couldn’t bring herself to finish the sentence. “What does that even taste like?”

Pause. “Mud.”

More laughter. Frisk’s nose was wrinkled, but she was still smiling; that was enough for Sans.

He didn’t want to ruin the mood by saying something else stupid, so he nodded to her and turned to survey the now-half-empty room. It must have been pretty late, because the maître d’ wasn’t letting anyone else in. The nearest table had just one person, and—

It was sitting there, out of nowhere, legs dangling over the side of the table. The demon-child locked eyes with Sans, hands resting on the knife in its lap, and it grinned.

Sans stared back at it, paralyzed. Through the fog of shock and terror, there arose a single thought: Are you fucking serious?! I don’t need this right now!

The thing shook its head. It looked meaningfully at their table – at Frisk – and back at him. It raised the kitchen knife, pointing at the side of its own head, and made a circling motion.

Sans managed to twitch with sheer rage as he recognized that childish gesture. The little bastard had come all the way here to tell him Frisk was crazy?

Its grin faded into a faint, superior smile. It lowered the knife and tapped on its sternum three times. Then it shifted around to face the human; to Sans’ bewilderment, it sat cross-legged and leaned forward on its elbows, ruby eyes glued to Frisk, as if waiting for a play to begin.

What was it doing? …Why was it doing? He had the feeling that it genuinely wasn’t interested in him for the moment. What did it think Frisk was going to—

“Sans?” Her voice snapped him out of it; the skeleton found he could move again. “What’s the matter?”

“Uh…” He looked at her, then back at the demon. It was gone now, of course. “Nothin’.” He glanced back and forth a couple of times just to be sure. What the hell was that about? The thing wanted to tell him that Frisk was nuts and Sans should check her SOUL? But…

Sans shook himself, turning to size up the room. Everyone was slightly to moderately tipsy, but relaxed, probably ready to call it a night soon. There was absolutely no sign of danger anywhere; even if there was, Sans couldn’t imagine a threat too big for him, Toriel, Undyne, and Frisk.

To hell with that thing. He wasn’t going to ogle her SOUL for no reason in front of everyone; somebody would notice and give him crap for it, she’d get embarrassed, and he’d have yet another thing to make up to her.

Toriel took a bottle of wine directly from a passing waiter and poured herself another glass. “Where are you staying tonight, my child?”

           The human brushed her hair behind her ear. Sans glanced at her, and his spine stiffened: she was looking right at him, her finger tracing the edge of her choker. “My things are still at Sans and Papyrus’ house, so I was planning to stay in Snowdin tonight at the inn.”

The skeleton tried to hide his sudden jubilation. She was telling him she’d have her own room, which meant some damn privacy at last! He’d have a chance to tell her things and apologize for being stupid about the chessboard, and then…choker, and—

           “Whaaat? You have an entire new wardrobe upstairs, and you want to go all the way back to that smelly wasteland?” Mettaton complained. Sans gritted his teeth as the automaton reached over to play with Frisk’s hair, sweeping it up with one gloved hand. “You know, darling, if you’d let me put this up for you, it wouldn’t keep getting in your way. Why don’t you stay here another night so we can figure it out?”

           “I’ll be fine, thank you,” Frisk said tartly, pushing his arm away.

           Mettaton pouted. “But what about—”

           “She said no, dipshit,” Sans snarled. “Not everyone has time to play dress-up.”

“Oh?” drawled the automaton. He sized up the giant skeleton and flashed a literally pearly-white smile. “I see. Well, if she absolutely must stop in at your hovel, be sure she has everything she needs. You know, her clothes, a few midnight snacks…plenty of socks?”

Undyne and Alphys nearly spat their drinks across the table. Sans twitched as though he’d been poked in the SOUL—which, in a way, he had. “Ya wanna die, ya friggin’ piece of—”

“Be nice, children,” Toriel mumbled. She covered her mouth for a massive yawn, nearly dropping her wineglass. “Speaking of wardrobes, Frisk, I had enough time after my nap this afternoon to go through Chara’s old clothes. I found several things that should fit you. Why don’t you stay over another night so we can try them on?”

           The human’s face was still red. “No, thank you, Lady Toriel,” Frisk said over the faintest murmur of “Socks” and barely-suppressed snickering.

           The former Queen sighed, too far gone in memory – and alcohol – to notice. “It would be so cute to see you in those dresses,” she murmured. “We can hem them up if we need to. You’re about the same size she was at…goodness, fourteen or fifteen!”

           “Yes, childhood malnutrition will do that.” Frisk accepted yet another refill from yet another waiter. “My mother took no care of me.”

           “You poor thing.” Toriel shook her head. “How I wish you could have stayed and grown up here! We would never have neglected you like that.”

Undyne sighed, propping her head on one fist. “Yeah, that would’ve been amazing.”

Mettaton also sighed, lacing his fingers together and resting his head on them. “For once, darling, we agree. She should know at least five times as many dances as I’ve taught her.”

Toriel hiccuped. Sans had always heard that drunk people did that, but never seen it for himself. “And she could’ve sang for us, too. My poor little angel—such a wonderful child!”

Frisk smiled, until Toriel went on, “Yes, I’ll always miss Chara. Did you ever get to meet her, Frisk?”

           No answer. Sans’ backbone prickled; he checked the other table, but the demon wasn’t there. He glanced at Frisk, and to his alarm, she was almost literally vibrating with tension.

Alphys was also squinting at the human, as if checking her. Whatever she saw made her eyes go wide, and she signaled frantically at Sans. “So, Frisk,” he said, too loud.

She looked up, startled. “Uh,” he said. Crap. Now he had everyone’s attention, and he had to say more words. This time, though, he made himself think first, settling on a topic so safe and dull that nothing bad could possibly come of it. “I just remembered—when I was passin’ stuff out with the Royal Guard earlier, we found a couple small discrepancies in the list,” he said casually. “I made some notes about it. Can you and Tori take a look real quick?”

           “Of course. I’m sure it’s fine, though,” Frisk said, giving him another smile. Then, as he started to reach into his coat for the invoices…

It was the tiniest movement, and he just barely caught it. She took too large a drink and slopped champagne onto the corner of her mouth, which she chose to lick off slowly, eyes on his.

           Sans would think of that moment and berate himself for years afterward. For one thing, he didn’t know or care how openly he was staring at her, or who was watching; more importantly, his hand kept moving while the rest of his mind did a belly-flop into a mire of absolute lust, all his resources suddenly diverted to socks and lace chokers and that cute little mouth…desperation to run his hands all over her again and find out if she still had that weird blood thing going, what her exact criteria were for it being the right time to—

Left to manage on its own, his hand knew only that it was supposed to get something for her out of his pocket. It encountered the papery thing he needed, and then another thing it knew was for her, and dutifully pulled both things out. He didn’t have enough concentration to use magic and send the invoices directly to her, so he tossed them onto the table with a solid thmp. “Pass that t’ Frisk, wouldja?” his mouth said.

A couple shreds of conscious thought worked themselves free, wondering why the papers had gone thmp. Paper wasn’t supposed to go thmp. What had he…

Oh. It was the heavy golden envelope, the one with the King’s letter for her.

           On the table.

…With her full name on the front.

Right by Undyne, who was reaching to pick it up, just like he’d asked.

           Time slowed to a crawl. Icy dread swept over him, and he raised his hand, knowing it was too late—Undyne had handed over the invoices and was already saying, “Heyyy, what’s this, boss?” Before he could stand up or regroup his magic, the Royal Guard Captain flipped the envelope around to read the calligraphy. “Fancy! Is it a love letter for—”

           She stopped. Sans’ SOUL shrank to nothing as the fish monster’s brows drew together. “Hey. Your Majesty?” she asked, raising her voice.

           Toriel finished her drink, trying to set her glass down and missing the table entirely. “Yes, Captain?”

           Undyne gave a puzzled half-smile. “Did you adopt Frisk or something?”

           Frisk looked up from the invoices. The goat monster glanced at her, then chuckled. “Why, no, not that I’m aware of.” Toriel was smiling, too, clearly waiting for a punchline.

           Sans snatched at the envelope with a burst of red magic and shoved it into his pocket. “Hey, Frisk! Guess what? Time ta go!”

           Frisk started, and had to catch herself before she fell off the chair. “What? Why do—”

           “Then how come she has your last name?” asked Undyne.

           Silence. Toriel and Undyne were awkwardly smiling, each waiting for the other to speak and growing more confused as the seconds ticked by.

Alphys frowned, then peered at Frisk, who was staring at the panicky skeleton. “Sans,” the human said softly. “What is she talking about?”

Sans was still sitting on the floor, and couldn’t get up; he felt sick as Frisk stepped down from her perch and came over to him. “What do you have there?” she asked, even softer.

           His hand moved on its own again to pull out the envelope. “’s a letter,” he mumbled. “I was gonna give this to ya later, when we talked about—”

           Frisk snatched the envelope and turned it over. He forced his sockets to stay open as her face went pale, then stark white. Slowly, her head lifted until their eyes met. “I didn’t mean ta get it out yet,” he said helplessly. “It was an accident. I’m—”

           “Where did you get this?” she asked carefully. “When did you get this?”

           “Yesterday. From…from Dr. Serif. He met me in the village to help get all the stuff ready, and the King gave it to ‘im ‘cause he thought you’d be—”

           “This is from my father?” Frisk stared at the dark-gold calligraphy, then at him. Sans just stared back, letting his silence speak for itself.

           Alphys squinted one more time at Frisk’s chest. Then she bolted from her seat, skittered around the table to Mettaton, and latched onto his arm. “You need to get everyone out of here! Right now!” she hissed.

           The automaton quirked a lacquered eyebrow at her. “Are you joking? This is the most—”

           “I said now!”

           Toriel and Undyne watched Mettaton scramble out of his chair, leap straight into the middle of the room, and strike a pose. “Hello, beauties!” he called to the remaining twenty or so diners, giving Alphys a nervous glance. “This is your lucky night! We’re going to have a scavenger hunt, and the prize is me—one candlelit dinner with yours truly! Follow me to Paradise!”

           Alphys breathed a sigh of relief as the monsters trooped out, dragging the waiters and the protesting maître d’ with them, and the doors slammed shut. The royal scientist gestured to Toriel, then Undyne, who had come around to their side of the table. “We should leave, too,” Alphys said urgently.

           “What?” The goat monster frowned at her, and at Frisk, whose shoulders had hunched. “Are you all right, my chi—”

           “Yes!” They jumped as Frisk whipped around, clutching the envelope to her breast, giving them a dreadful smile. “Yes. Yes, I…I’m fine. I just need to—” She gulped. “Never mind. I have to talk to Sans.” She held her hand out. “Let’s go.” He didn’t move, and she said desperately, “Now? Please?”

           A tiny quiver of fear ran through him, and not just because he, personally, was in an absolute world of shit. He could feel the air around Frisk grow heavier, and for the first time in a long time, his instincts were urging him to back away. Her magic was building rapidly, as if she was getting a barrier ready, but she wasn’t doing it on purpose. What did she—

Oh, crap. Not only were they Underground, where magic was naturally stronger than above, she was already at least a little drunk, and tired, and…well, “upset” would not begin to cover the fallout of his slip-up. Was Alphys worried something would happen? But…

Just to be sure, Sans took a long look at Frisk’s SOUL. For a second, he thought something was wrong with his vision, or he was just out of practice; then he realized that, for once, he was not the problem.

Her SOUL was a goddamn mess. It shone as bright and beautifully red as when he’d first seen it, but where it had been rock-solid with determination, it now looked more like a snowglobe that kept getting shaken up before the glitter had a chance to settle. Magic was seeping through her skin and beginning to tint the air around her, and if she was aware of it, she wasn’t even trying to control it.

Fuck. Alphys had been smart enough to keep an eye on Frisk’s SOUL when she started getting agitated about Chara—had the scientist noticed some instability when she was testing the human’s magic? Either way, she’d been scared enough to have Mettaton clear the room.

But it wasn’t as if the monsters should be scared of Frisk, was it? Sure, she seemed pretty volatile right now, but she was still Frisk! She would never hurt anyone! At least, not on purpose…

Sans couldn’t help glancing at the other table. Sure enough, the demon-child was back, grinning and clapping its hands in sheer delight. “Told you so,” it said gaily.

           Undyne coughed. “Uh…Frisk? Why’d your dad call you that?”

           Frisk gestured one more time, and Sans made himself look at her hand with a grim, apologetic shake of his head. His SOUL wanted to tear loose and go hide at the way her face contorted. “You’ve gotta calm down, kid,” he said quietly. He didn’t know how to explain in front of everyone that her magic was too thick for him to teleport her anywhere without touching her, and doing so right now would singe him down to the bone—probably straight through it. “Please,” he added.

           The priestess let her hand drop. She closed her eyes in resignation, pinching the bridge of her nose. “He called me that because I’m illegitimate, and I have to use my mother’s name.”

           Pause. Sans shuffled back a little as Frisk’s eyes opened again, taking in the monsters’ blank faces. “Oh, for God’s sake! Do I need to spell it out for you?” She brandished the envelope at them: FRISK DREEMURR. “That was Chara’s last name, and she was my mother!”

           The world stopped for a moment. Sans watched Toriel, breathless, painfully aware that her reaction was the one that really mattered. If she took Frisk seriously, then the priestess could probably recover her equilibrium and work through some of her feelings. If she didn’t—

           Toriel was frowning in bewilderment. Then…she started to smile, and Sans’ SOUL shrieked in panic: Nonono, don’t do it, don’t—

           The former Queen gave a polite little laugh. “I’m…sorry, my child, but…there must be some mistake.”

           The air crackled, not loud enough yet for the others to hear. Frisk gripped the letter harder, still holding it at arm’s length. “Why do you say that?” she asked, too calm.

           “Well…” Oh, crap. Now Undyne was smiling, too, only stopping when Alphys yanked on her sleeve. “Sorry,” the Captain said, “but c’mon. Chara never even had any kids!”

           “Yeah, she did,” said Sans, and the women looked at him in astonishment. Frisk’s arm fell to her side as he continued, “The humans who visited ‘bout twenty-four years ago had their King with ‘em, and he knocked her up. She hid it till the last second, ‘n then she gave birth in the Ruins so no one would see anything.” He glanced at Toriel. “Right?”

           It was hard to say who was the most shocked. “I thought Chara had me after she left the Underground! You mean I was born here?” demanded Frisk.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me!” barked Undyne. She looked at Toriel, whose eyes were huge, hands pressed to her mouth. “I-I mean—” The fish monster turned to Alphys. “Don’t humans get really big and weird when they’re pregnant? Wouldn’t we have noticed something?”

           “Not n-necessarily,” Alphys said, fiddling with her claws faster than ever. “It depends on the individual, and how the baby d-develops. Besides, it’s not as if we had other humans to compare her with. She could’ve just w-worn thick clothes and stayed out of sight.”

“Huh.” Undyne stared at the floor. “Now that you mention it, she did spend a few months cooped up in the house before she left. But—”

           “Where did you hear this, Sans?” None of them had ever heard Toriel sound like that, her gentle voice lowered to an almost bestial snarl. “Who told you?”

           Sans grimaced. “You guys cleared everyone out of the Ruins, but you didn’t get all the spiders. They saw what happened, an’ they heard her tell you who the dad was.”

Toriel’s mouth fell open. “Spiders?”

“Yep. Some of ‘em made it over to Hotland while Kris was here, and they told Muffet, an’ she wound up sellin’ the story to Grillby. I don’t think he ever told anyone else. He just likes knowin’ stuff.” The skeleton scratched the back of his skull. “When I asked him ‘bout Chara the other day, he told me everything. I just never got a friggin’ chance to talk to Frisk about it.”

Another long pause. Was it his imagination, or was the air getting hotter? The priestess was only a few feet away, and though he didn’t have the courage to look at her again, that side of his body was tingling very unpleasantly.

           Toriel’s face had hardened, her arms folded at the waist. “Be that as it may, it proves absolutely no connection between her and Chara.”

God damn it. “No, they didn’t know for a fact that Frisk was her kid. But her age matched up, and a bunch of the spiders who rode with her were right next to her SOUL for a few hours. They said she had a buttload of magic, and it smelled like the Underground—way more than any human’s should.”

“It would explain how she’s so powerful,” mused Alphys. “With the capability to use magic from her f-father’s side, and being c-conceived and gestated here, she probably started accruing it before she was even born. She’s already proven that she can convert a monster’s power for herself, so…”

“Holy shit,” whispered Undyne. “So Chara really did have a kid?”

“Yes, she did,” the former Queen said tightly. “We just thought she was ill and shutting herself away for a while. She didn’t tell us how Stephin had betrayed our hospitality until she was nearly in labor, and she begged us not to tell any of the other monsters.” Toriel was gripping her own sleeves hard enough to puncture the fabric. “We gave her two months to recover, and then Asgore sent them both to Stephin. The baby wasn’t very strong, but Asgore was afraid that if we kept her here, Stephin would think we were holding his child hostage.”

No one answered, and Toriel swallowed hard. “A few weeks later, Chara returned to us in agony. Stephin had just become engaged to another woman, and he refused to break it off. The baby had become sick after leaving the Underground, and when Chara started preparing for the journey back here, she…the child didn’t make it home.” The former Queen wiped her eyes with the side of her hand. “I am sorry, Frisk, but there is no way you could be—”

           “Yes, there is,” Frisk said, sounding oddly detached. “Chara lied to you. I didn’t die—she left me with a wet nurse and paid her to be my foster mother.”

Sans wanted to dive out of the way as Toriel took a step toward the human, Undyne and Alphys also shrinking back. “You mean to tell me,” the goat monster said, deathly quiet, “that my daughter knowingly abandoned her child and deceived her family?”

“Yes. She did.” Frisk was standing firm, but the monsters could see the haze coming off her like a golden mist; Sans traded looks with Undyne, who pulled Alphys closer. “If you really think it’s impossible for me to be Chara’s daughter, why did you ask my exact age?” the human demanded. “Why did you want to know how old I was when I first visited, and why did Asgore ask Sans the very same thing? You knew Chara had had a baby girl ten years before the delegation arrived, and then you found out Kris was a girl. Were you wondering if I was actually—”

           “No!” They flinched at Toriel’s sheer vehemence. She gritted her teeth, trying to control her temper. “It was all Asgore’s fault. When Chara returned to us, he had the temerity to accuse her of lying about her child’s death. He told her she was not welcome unless she brought the baby back with her! Of course we didn’t see her again for ten years!” Smoke drifted from between her fingers as she wiped her eyes again. “I still don’t know how he could have done something so cruel, or how he told you about it, but my only regret is that I ever considered the possibility for a single second! I know you are both wrong!”

           Frisk’s eyes narrowed, and Sans jumped as a golden spark flew in his direction. He quashed the reflex to teleport to safety and stood up, only for Frisk to look around him, as though he wasn’t there. “I haven’t spoken to Asgore since I was a child. He has nothing to do with this conversation,” she snapped. “Do you know who first told me Chara was my mother?”

           Toriel tried to give her a tolerant smile. “No, child. Who first told you?”

           “Asriel.” Before the goat monster could react, Frisk pressed on, “He put the pieces together after he saw me make a barrier by accident. He knew that that ability ran in the royal family, and the King had fathered Chara’s child, so he asked her if it could be me. Chara got him to bring me to her, and he told me who I really was.” The envelope trembled in her hands. “He told me I’d come home.”

Toriel’s eyes widened again. She started to speak, but Frisk raised her voice: “Chara said my nurse had told her I’d died, and she apologized to me for how she acted whenever she visited the orphanage or the castle kitchens.” The human’s face had the hard, bitter expression Sans recognized from the time she’d caught him trying to escape. “She was so sweet to all the other children, and then she looked at me like I was some kind of diseased rat! She said it was because I reminded her of her little girl and it made her sad, and she didn’t know it was actually me!”

           “There!” Toriel exclaimed. “You see? The nurse wanted to hide the King’s child for her own gain, and—”

           “Chara knew who I was all along!” bellowed Frisk, and it was the goat monster’s turn to step back. “She knew damn well that I was alive! Why else would she pay my foster mother a hundred dinar every month for ten years? How did she know to check in on me every so often to see if I still existed? Why’d she leave me to be beaten and starved half to death while she kept the thousands my father gave her to support us both and did whatever she liked?!”

           “How dare you say that? My child would never have—”

“She would, and she did! I’m sorry, Toriel, but she lied to everyone, especially you! Chara abandoned me until I was useful for something besides money, and she tore your family apart to punish Asgore for being right about her!”

           “ENOUGH!” roared Toriel. She made a violent gesture, flame sizzling through the air. “I will not hear any more of this! Do you understand, High Priestess?! Whatever you may think happened, I know my daughter, and I know what she was and was not capable of! If you’re going to insist on slandering her any further, perhaps it would be better for you to l—”

           The echoes died. The fury in Toriel’s gaze was gone, a hand coming back to her mouth.

           “Better for me to what, Lady Toriel?” Frisk asked, so gently that Sans cringed. “Should—” Her throat worked. “Should I leave the Underground? Are you going to send me away again?”

           Toriel didn’t have the chance to reply. A barrier screamed to life overhead, and constricted until it formed a dome around them only about twenty feet across and fifteen feet high. “All right. I understand,” said Frisk.

Undyne reacted first, pushing Alphys to the floor and stuffing her under the table. “Frisk!” snapped the fish monster. “Calm down, okay? She didn’t mean it!”

“She didn’t mean to say I was lying?” Frisk inquired, her voice suddenly rising to a shriek: “She didn’t mean to tell me to get out?”

“Frisk!” Sans tried to grab her shoulder, only for a flare of gold to warn him away. “C’mon, sweetheart! Ya gotta stop it! We can talk about this!”

“We just did, Sans!” He had seen her in pain before, but it was nothing compared to the wild-eyed stare she turned on him now. “We talked about it because you couldn’t wait to show everyone who I was! Thank you so much for helping me have this difficult conversation! We’ve finally answered the question of whether someone else I love is going to call me a liar!”

Sans’ SOUL already hurt so much that it took a moment to remember what she—oh, God. She meant when she’d told him she was Kris, and he’d scoffed at her until she stripped down to prove it. Now she’d been forced to reveal her identity to Toriel in the least natural way possible, and she didn’t believe her, either. “Frisk—”

She was smiling, but in a very unhinged way. “No, I should really be thanking you. Life is so much simpler now! I don’t have to waste any more time and energy wondering if I should feel worthless, because the closest person to a real mother I’ve ever had just told me so!”

Sans couldn’t answer: he had to fling himself backward before a cascade of sparks hit him in the face. Frisk drifted away a few steps and sank to her knees, hands still clenched on the envelope in her lap. “It’s fine,” she mumbled at the floor. “Food, presents, bubbles—I already gave you everything I have. If you don’t want me anymore, then…”

Toriel was rooted to the spot, chest heaving. The barrier sank lower, nearly grazing her horns, and Undyne rushed to sling her under the table as more sparks flew. “Sans!” the Captain shouted over the crackle and hiss of human magic.

The skeleton glared down at Toriel, and shook his head as she tried to speak. Frisk was too far gone—anything else the goat monster said would just aggravate her further, assuming she could even hear it.

Meanwhile, the dome was slowly closing in on them, and they couldn’t do a damn thing about it. If he tried to touch Frisk now, she’d just shove more magic at him; not only would that hurt like hell, it’d trap them all between two layers of barrier. He yelled her name again, but she didn’t move.

Shit! Why hadn’t Alphys warned him sooner? Why hadn’t Undyne kept her goddamn mouth shut about the letter? And if Toriel couldn’t accept right away that everything she knew was wrong and Chara was even worse than Sans had imagined, couldn’t she have found a way to deny it without completely destroying Frisk?!

Why hadn’t he—

No, all that mattered right now was getting through to her. The light surrounded them in blinding golden pulses, the barrier crackling like…

Humming. The barrier was making a hell of a lot of noise, and it…didn’t sound like her humming at all. Why was he thinking of that now?

…Because the last time his magic had been out of control, in his prison cell, she’d calmed him down by humming. But he hadn’t even heard her at first; he’d only snapped out of it when she touched his blaster – the physical embodiment of his magic – with her bare hand. He never did explain to her what a no-no that was…

Sans looked at his hand. He looked at his priestess, curled in on herself, lost in misery. The golden dome was so close to the crown of his skull that he could feel his whole body screaming at him to run.

The giant skeleton looked Toriel in the eye. Then he squeezed his sockets shut, lifted his arm, and placed his hand flat on the barrier.

 ~

             Something…happened.

           One second, the pressure in Frisk’s head was intolerable, grief and despair rising to a fever pitch, spurred by the determination to keep the monsters here until they changed their minds, till they were sorry. Then—

           The sensation could only be likened to someone running their finger down the inside of her chest, the most strange and intimate thing she’d ever felt. It should have been horrible, or at least uncomfortable, but…

           But it didn’t feel invasive. It felt like someone giving her heart a gentle nudge, saying in a familiar, gravelly baritone, “’s all right, Frisk. It’s gonna be okay. I promise. But you gotta stop now, ‘kay?”

The feeling slipped away. She stirred, trying to get it back; Frisk opened her eyes and—

           Sans. Her chest gave a happy little shiver as she saw him looking down at her. He was standing nearby, giving her a strained smile and…and touching—the barrier—

           Fear jolted her fully awake. Frisk whistled as hard as she could, and the searing golden light vanished. Her whole body ached, but it was nothing compared with what she glimpsed as Sans lowered his arm. “Oh, God! Sans—”

           “Hey, kitten,” mumbled the boss monster. He had to stifle a grunt, shuffling hastily to turn his back to her. “Tori, could I…get a hand with this? Heh…ow…”

           Frisk tried to get up from where she was kneeling, or at least stop shaking. Green light shone around Sans’ huge form, but she barely noticed; all she could see in her mind’s eye were his blackened metacarpals, the smaller bones not just burned, but partially melted by her magic.

           Her legs refused to work. Frisk dropped the envelope and shuffled herself around in a half circle to see if anyone else was hurt, and whether they had seen her nearly kill her poor skeleton. No one was here…

           “Aww, darn. You were so close.”

           …except for a voice that felt like spiders crawling into her brain. The demon-child sat on the edge of a nearby table, shaking its head at her and sighing. Then it gave her an encouraging grin. “Oh, well. That was still fun—just like old times. Don’t worry, you’ll get ‘em someday!”

           Someone moved behind her. Frisk blinked hard, then shuddered, and pushed herself up onto her feet, standing with her back to the demon.

Undyne was climbing out from under their table and offering a webbed hand to Alphys. “Undyne?” The human moved gingerly toward them. “Are you two all right?”

           The Captain’s eye widened, and her arm shot out, protecting Alphys from…from what? Frisk glanced around them, looking for—

           Her. Undyne was protecting Alphys from her.

And why not? Hadn’t she done exactly what the monsters feared most—trapped them with a barrier, maimed someone, and nearly killed them? Even Undyne was afraid of her now!

           Frisk shouldn’t have gotten up: she felt her body go heavy, legs giving way. She was only vaguely aware that she was going to fall, and that Undyne was hesitating, moving too late to catch her.

A soft, tingling sensation stopped her just short of the marble floor, lifting her higher into the air. To her dismay, she was enveloped in red magic, and Sans was reaching for her; Frisk tried to say, “No, don’t—”

           His arms closed around her, strong and safe, his injured hand settling her against his shoulder. The other drew his coat over her legs; a shaky phalange ran through her hair, and a shakier voice rumbled, “Y’okay, sweetheart?”

           Frisk wound her arms around his neck as tight as they’d go, not caring how his vertebrae dug into her flesh. She was too numb to cry, and she didn’t have the strength to ask what he was doing, or why he was anywhere near her. All she could do was hang on.

           Undyne cleared her throat. “She…is she okay now?”

           “She’ll be fine,” snapped the giant skeleton, and immediately stroked Frisk’s hair again as she trembled. “Shh, s’alright,” he murmured.

“Sans,” Toriel said brokenly. “I—”

The world tipped and swerved as Sans shifted his weight, turning them away. “C’mon, kitten. Let’s go home.”

           “To your house?” Undyne was still shaken, but Frisk heard a warning note in her voice. “Look, I know you’re really emotional right now, but she’s not in any condition to—”

           “To sleep!” he snarled. “I’m takin’ ‘er home, and we’re gonna sleep! Good fuckin’ night!”

           A tiny part of Frisk wanted to tell him to be nice, but she couldn’t even stay conscious. The last thing she heard was Toriel’s cry of “Sans, wait!” before his magic rushed them through space. Then—

 ~

             On her third day at the convent, they finally made her leave her room.

           Frisk kept her eyes on the ground, letting the matron steer her down a hall and out into a courtyard full of chattering girls. The noise dropped a little as they saw her, but when Frisk stayed by the wall, there was a collective shrug, and the chatter resumed.

           The wind was howling. Frisk wiped her nose on the sleeve of her new uniform, wondering dully if it was going to snow out here. The drifts in front of Sans and Papyrus’ house never seemed to go down, no matter how often they tossed her into them.

           Did they miss her yet? Did they even know she was gone? Or had the accident—

           “Excuse me?”

           Frisk looked up. Through her tears, she saw a group of older girls standing in front of her, with a grownup right behind—the Sister must have ordered them to come be nice to the new girl. Sure enough, the speaker was holding out a handkerchief, looking kind and concerned. “Thank you,” Frisk whispered, taking it and wiping her eyes.

           “It’s all right. I know I was very sad when I first got here,” the girl said, a little too loud. She smiled, and Frisk tried not to shudder—she’d gotten so used to monsters that the girl’s pretty blue eyes, golden hair, and rosy skin looked fake, like a doll.

The grownup nodded approval and moved away to yell at another group for telling dirty jokes. Immediately, the blonde girl’s smile sharpened, and she wrinkled her nose. “Keep it,” she said curtly.

That was bad, but at least Frisk had expected it. What really hurt was when the group moved off and the girl said to her friends, “Oh my God, her hair! And did you see her eyes? She looks like a rabbit!”

The snickering felt like a scab being ripped off Frisk’s heart. “Geez, Mathilda,” another girl said quietly.

“Well, it’s true! They’re not supposed to be red! Is she cursed or something?” Laughter. “I’m serious! We all need to say extra prayers tonight!”

…

Would it have changed anything if Frisk had remembered that conversation? Soon after, the King visited and told her everything – how he had thought Chara was at least providing her with basic necessities, and he would be sure she never lacked for anything again – and when she worsened, they decided to remove her memories; the Mother Superior had repeated the most relevant facts about her father and her future education, and Frisk had accepted her new life.

As far as Frisk knew, the first time she met her best friend was soon afterward, when Mathilda switched places with someone to sit next to her at lunch. “Hello. You must be Frisk,” she said, smiling. “Do you, um…”

Frisk watched her in puzzlement. Why was Mathilda Owen bothering to speak to her?

Mathilda fidgeted. “Never mind. I just wanted to say hello.” Why did she look so guilty? Her friends were watching, whispering anxiously to each other, as though something important was at stake. “Would you like to come and sit with us? I hate to see you all by yourself.”

As soon as she figured out that it wasn’t a cruel prank, and she really was making friends with the most beautiful and kind-hearted girl in the entire school, Frisk was too happy to question things further. It took her a long time to realize that everyone knew why the King had been here, and that everyone wanted his daughter to like them, especially Mathilda.

Even then, Frisk had decided not to care. As long as she could earn their friendship by being kind and helpful, did it really matter how it’d started? It wasn’t as if she was only worth something because of her father.

…It wasn’t.

 ~

             …Finally.

She shook the ruby droplets from the kitchen knife, wondering idly why he was the only monster who ever bled, then kicked the dust aside. It was time to move on.

 ~          

                       Frisk awoke in a rush of adrenaline and half-remembered nightmares. It was dark; she thought for a moment that she’d been buried alive, then realized that something huge and leathery was draped over her entire body. No golden twilight through the windows, no blood, no dust…

Ugh. Her mouth tasted like a warm sock, and her head throbbed the way it always did when she’d used too much magic. With great care, the human slithered out of her warm prison for a look around.

She was in Sans’ room, lying on his outgrown mattress, his overcoat loosely wrapped around her. The lamp was on, but he’d draped an old shirt over it to diffuse the light into a soft glow, giving the cold, messy space a warmer aspect; in fact, the golden haze reminded her of—

           A barrier.

Chills swept through her, clearing her head of other thoughts like a blast of frigid air. It wasn’t just a nightmare: she had used a barrier against monsters inside the Underground. There was no coming back from that, no excusing or explaining it away.

Even if Toriel hadn’t really meant it at the time, her order to leave would probably become reality. Her friends might not entirely blame her for lashing out, but there was still no way they could trust her anymore—after she had hurt Sans like that, she’d be angry if he did trust her!

           Frisk slowly eased herself back down inside the coat, as if she could hide from what she’d done. In her bitter, selfish regret, she didn’t even think of what this meant for her peace efforts; all she knew was that the Underground was the only place she’d ever really belonged – her birthplace – and she had lost any right to be here. Back to the humans, then, and her suffocating routine of work, exhaustion, and loneliness, secretly hoping that maybe, if she could be useful enough, someone would love her for more than her money or her pedigree and stay. If she could just be good enough—

           Well, obviously, she couldn’t.

           Frisk wasn’t going to cry again. She was tired of crying about things in general, and in this case, there was no possible way to make herself feel better. Why bother making her headache worse and her sleeves all soggy again? She just burrowed deeper into the huge leather coat, willing her mind to subside into comfortable nothingness; at least she was good at that.

It usually helped to have something small to focus on, so Frisk unhooked her itchy black choker and scratched her neck, flushing at the memory of flirting with Sans in front of everyone. Then came her boots, her stockings, and her earrings…

…which weren’t there. The priestess frowned, fingering her earlobes. She didn’t remember taking them out. Had they come off while she was asleep?

Wait a moment. Sans had put her here, hadn’t he? Her satchel was close by; Frisk stuck her arm out until she could pull it over and peek inside. Sure enough, not only had the boss monster removed her earrings for her, he’d left them atop her folded clothes, where they were both safe and easily found.

For some reason, that one little thing, that bit of care and attention, was the last straw. She took a deep breath, only for it to catch as a huge sob tore loose, partly muffled by his coat. Then another, and—

Sans was suddenly standing by the mattress. “Frisk!” He sat down hard. “Frisk, it’s okay, don’t—”

The human forgot that he was supposed to be scared of her. Moving on pure instinct, she flung the coat aside and launched herself up at him, letting his shirt absorb the first wave of tears. “Aww,” he murmured, folding his arms over her back and cradling her head in one massive palm. “C’mon, sweetheart, ya don’t hafta cry. Everythin’s fine now.”

Frisk pressed her face into his clavicle, furiously shaking her head. It was important to explain to him that nothing was fine and it was absolutely correct for her to be crying, but she was crying too hard to get the words out.

Sans gave a large, soft sigh, carrying her outward and back in. “It’s okay,” he repeated, his voice rumbling throughout her body. She shook her head again, and he ran the side of his finger down her back. “Yuh-huh, it is. Calm down.”

She didn’t want to calm down, but as he kept petting her, Frisk’s sobs slowed down a little. The boss monster made a sound deep in his chest, and she answered him with one that made him squeeze her tighter.

There was that magnetic feeling again, as though she was completely stuck to him. This time, though, she wasn’t frightened. And this time, she felt something else: another sensation was stealing over her, so slowly that she thought it might just be her imagination. It was similar to when he’d accidentally given her his magic, but this didn’t seem accidental, and it wasn’t exactly magic…

She’d felt it when he touched the barrier, and here it was again, washing over her in gentle waves: guilt and anger at himself for kicking off the whole incident, anxiety for her, and…well. He didn’t think she was worthless, or dangerous, or that she needed to do a single thing to deserve forgiveness. His hand didn’t even hurt anymore. …Much.

Even if it did, he still loved her.

Frisk shook her head again, but her sobs grew slower and weaker, gradually coming to a stop. The human leaned away long enough to sniff back a giant wad of snot, then sought a dry patch of his shirt to wipe her eyes. She wasn’t sure how he was doing this, but she wasn’t going to question it right now. “Hand?” she croaked.

Sans was quiet. He grunted, then held his palm up. “It ain’t that bad. Looks kinda like a frowny face. See?”

The priestess gulped, raising her own fingers to trace the pattern of deep swirls and grooves her magic had left in the living bones. “Can…” Frisk had to swallow a few more times before she could whisper, “Can you still move them?”

He paused. She felt a closing-off sort of twinge in her chest, as though he’d decided to stop sharing his feelings so he could fib: “Yeah, pretty much.” His metacarpals waggled back and forth, the smallest of them longer than her entire hand. She poked the base of his thumb and forefinger, where a good two or three inches of bone were fused together. “That doesn’t count,” he said stubbornly.

Frisk shuddered, turning to rest her cheek near the top of his sternum. “I’m so sorry.”

“I know.” He shifted uncomfortably. “Do ya wanna talk about it?”

“I don’t know,” she said, and winced as her head throbbed. “What time is it?”

“Last I checked, it was about seven o’clock,” he replied, petting her hair again. “I got up maybe half an hour ago an’ healed you, just in case.” Tap, tap. “How’s yer hangover?”

“…Not that bad, actually.” Frisk yawned. She’d missed being with him so much that it felt like a waste to just sleep, but it was hard to argue with the results. After all she’d had to drink last night, and then…the incident, she was amazed that she only had a headache and an icky mouth. “Thank you for that. It feels like I got much more than five or six hours.”

Sans chuckled, tapping her head again. “That’s ‘cause it’s seven in the evening, kitten. I think we slept about eighteen hours.”

Frisk’s eyes shot open. “Are you serious?” She leaned back enough to look him in the face. “Is that even possible? I—”

The words faded as their eyes met. Frisk figured she must look pretty awful, but he wasn’t much better. “Did I miss a spot?” he asked gruffly.

The human nodded, reaching up to brush at the dried red on the corners of his sockets. Sans leaned into her touch as she rubbed his cheekbone. “You’re supposed to be a big boy now,” she scolded the giant skeleton. “Do I need to—”

Memory hit her again like a fist. Sans jumped as Frisk suddenly yanked her hand away, trying to push herself off him. “Hey!” he protested. “What’re you—wouldja hold on a damn minute?!” More by reflex than design, his hand tightened around her back, keeping her in place. “It was an accident, goddammit! You’re not gonna do it again!”

“No, it wasn’t!” Frisk thumped his shoulder with her tiny fist. “You don’t understand!” Thump. “It wasn’t an accident! I was so angry, I wanted to keep everyone there, and I didn’t want to control it! I don’t know what would’ve happened if you hadn’t stopped me!”

Sans started. “That little fucker,” the skeleton whispered, as if he’d realized something very profound. “I know what it was, Frisk. That goddamn thing was right there! I saw it a minute before the whole name thing started! I dunno if it made me drop the letter so you’d freak out, or if it was plannin’ something else, but it wanted you to go nuts! That’s why—”

“No! It wasn’t!” Thump. Thump. “Are you even listening?! It was me! I did it on purpose!” Thump. “I was already…” Frisk shuddered, shaking her head again as more emotions boiled to the surface. “Do you know how scared I’ve been? We’re halfway through our visit, and I haven’t even talked to anyone about ending slavery! I’ve just been thinking of how to tell Asgore and Toriel about Chara, whether they’d believe me and if I’ve been selfish to keep back something that could help make peace—I had no idea their estrangement was because Asgore knew Chara was lying about me! And I missed you so much—” His arms tightened, and Frisk caught herself on another sob. “I don’t want to go, Sans!”

“No one’s makin’ you go anywhere!” He gave her a very light shake. “We all know you, Frisk! Ya think anyone’s sittin’ there thinkin’, ‘Welp, that was inevitable, let’s go ahead ‘n toss ‘er out now’? Or d’ya think we feel like shit ‘cause we kept pokin’ you till you couldn’t take it anymore?”

“How can you say that?” she demanded. “It doesn’t matter how badly I was provoked! I wouldn’t let you get away with attacking me just because you were angry!”

“Y’already did. Remember?” He stroked her back with one knuckle. “You coulda done anythin’ you wanted once I quit tryin’ ta murder you, and ya put me to bed ‘n fed me.”

…Damn it. “That’s not the same thing! I—”

“Frisk.” His phalange brushed her cheek. “Yer the one who’s not listenin’. No one is makin’ you leave. We’re gonna talk about it with everybody, there’s gonna be a big damn fight over who’s the most sorry, an’ we’re gonna figure out how to get you in to see Asgore. You’re gonna say whatever you need to about Chara and lay out yer big plan to make everything all better. If he doesn’t wanna do it, we’ll figure somethin’ else out before we leave.” His hand rested on her back like a shield. “And I’m gonna quit actin’ like all I hafta do is stay outta yer way an’ let you do everything. From now on, I want you ta tell me if somethin’s botherin’ you before ya go crazy.” Squeeze. “Any questions?”

Frisk thought about it as she sniffled. “Yes. Why couldn’t you have been this sweet when I gave you the stupid chessboard?”

He snorted. “Yer startin’ ta sound like me!” Pause. Shrug. “Short answer? It was pretty much the best thing I ever got, and I didn’t know what to say.”

“Whatever happened to ‘Thank you,’ Sans?” Thump. “I was really looking forward to you opening your gift, and you couldn’t wait to get away from it!”

“I know, I know!” His shoulders hunched again. “’m sorry! I…wanted ta jump you, but that wasn’t exactly an option. I didn’t know what else ta do!”

How could he make her want to hug and slap him so badly? “Well, putting that aside, do you plan to spend the rest of your life running off when you get embarrassed?”

“I wasn’t—” He caught himself and scowled. “I dunno. Just…sorry I was shitty about the chess stuff. It was amazing, and thank you a lot for it. Okay?”

He was so exasperatingly cute that Frisk had to bite her lip. “All right, then. You’re welcome. I…”

Rrrrgggrgrgl.

They both froze as her stomach rumbled. Frisk made a sheepish sound, and Sans chuckled. “Right. I was in the middle of makin’ a couple sandwiches when I came up.”

Frisk nodded. “Where’s Papyrus?” She wiped her eyes again. “Please don’t say he’s planning to make dinner.”

“Nope! I left a note on the door tellin’ him and Undyne ta stay at the inn tonight. I said we’d meet ‘em at the Ruins tomorrow morning.”

They were going to be alone tonight? The priestess felt light-headed, her cheeks burning. Sans must have been thinking the same thing, because she could’ve sworn his bones were getting warmer. “Time ta eat,” he mumbled, and a blink later, they were in the living room.

Still in his arms, Frisk turned her head to survey the kitchen table. He’d set out a loaf of bread, some cheese, tomatoes, and a few other things, obviously dropped when he’d heard her crying. Frisk thought about it, then snuggled back into Sans. There was food, and she was starving, but he was right here, too; she didn’t know which she wanted more at the moment.

Another rumble from her stomach settled the question. “Off ya go,” he said reluctantly, and Frisk sighed, moving her hand down to push free of their stuck-togetherness.

Sans suddenly made a strangled sound. Frisk didn’t understand it, or why his hand had flexed to avoid squashing her, until she looked down: she’d accidentally reached in between his ribs, pushing his shirt through and wrapping her fingers most of the way around his middle rib.

She’d never put her hands inside his ribcage, assuming it was basically a private part, and it seemed she was right. Just like that, his breathing had grown ragged, his bones trembling as her hand tightened. There was no misinterpreting his physical reaction; she could imagine how his instincts to comfort and protect her were deepening into much more raw emotion…

…because it was completely mutual. The young woman tugged lightly on his rib, and felt him shudder again. “Frisk,” he muttered. “Knock it off.”

Frisk moved just enough to brush her cheek against his jawbone. “What?” One finger slid along the bone toward his sternum. “This?”

Sans’ entire frame jerked. “Yes, that!” He caught her wrist in the curl of his index finger. “If I was a human, it’d be like stickin’ yer hand down my pants!”

“You don’t want me to?” she asked, very matter-of-fact.

Sans’ arm across her back was almost hurting her. Not tight enough, then. “Frisk,” he said warningly.

“I’m serious.” She licked her lips, feeling heat spread through her, chasing away the sorrow and anger. “My period’s over, the house is empty, and your magic doesn’t have any negativity at all right now.” Her free hand drifted toward his sternum. “We both need this, Sans. Don’t tell me you’re not interested.”

“I’m not sayin’ that!” To her bewilderment, he seized her with his magic and set her on the couch with a butt-tingling thump. “Just… I want you so bad, I’m about to lose my damn mind!” His entire skull was bright red. “But you’re still messed up from somethin’ that only happened ‘cause I was bein’ a dumbass, an’ I’m not gonna do it when you’re not thinkin’ straight! That would be fuckin’ wrong! Got it?” Despite himself, he stepped closer to touch her cheek. “’Sides, there’s somethin’ we’ve really gotta talk about first. The letter from yer dad is…”

He trailed off as her face twitched. “What?” he asked suspiciously.

“So, you…” Frisk knew this was not the time, but she couldn’t keep the words from bubbling up: “You’d be…fucking wrong?” Her body was trembling again, this time with the urge to giggle. “You already went the extra mile and figured out how to be my size. I’m pretty sure that means you can do it correctly now!”

“Frisk,” he said, scandalized, and covered his face as she snrrrked. “God damn it, woman, I’m tryin’ ta be serious here!”

She didn’t answer, at least not out loud. Sans took one look at her face and gave his scariest growl. “No.”

“But—”

“Frisk.”

“But are you—”

“Friiiiisk—”

A long pause. Frisk sighed in resignation, shrugging one shoulder.

Sans nodded. “Okay. Now, for real, Frisk, I’m—”

“—fucking serious?”

The dam broke: one moment, they were staring each other down, and then they burst into hysterical, snorting laughter. Frisk was sobbing again, but for the right reason, dammit; Sans let his forehead thunk on the floor, trying desperately to stop long enough to say something, only to end up laughing harder.

Eventually, out of sheer weakness, they had to slow down, and reached a point where they could almost breathe normally. “Shit,” rasped Sans, and wiped his eyes on his sleeves. “Oh my God, I love you.”

Frisk’s breath caught, her heart coming to a standstill. She sat up, watching the skeleton realize what he’d said. His sockets widened, but he looked straight at her, almost defiantly. “What?” There went the red again. He looked away…and back. “’s true,” he said, very quietly.

There was no telling what she might have done if Sans hadn’t pushed to his feet and waved his hand at the table. The bread knife started sawing away, cutting the loaf into sandwich slices and assembling the ingredients. “We need ta eat somethin’, an’ then I should go track yer letter down,” he mumbled, trying to rub the color off his skull. “I dunno if someone picked it up, or if it got left up there, or what. You can get some time to yerself—take a bath or somethin’.”

A bath sounded good, decided the one functional corner of her mind. She accepted the glass of water and mostly-tomato sandwich he wafted over to her a moment later, ignoring his muttered apologies for its crappiness. Nor did she pay much heed when he said something else, tapped a knuckle on her shoulder, and winked out of sight.

Alone for the first time in several days, Frisk finished her sandwich. She put the dishes in the sink, went upstairs, and ran a very hot bath, staring at the steam rising from the water. Then she went to Sans’ room, removed all her clothes, and lay down to wrap herself in his overcoat again. She hadn’t touched herself since before they left the castle, and she was even more worked up now than she’d been the night she made herself clear to Sans; being in his room, with the feeling of his bones and everything he’d said to her fresh in her mind, anticipating time to themselves at last—that was more than her body could handle. So…

It took so little time that the water was still hot when Frisk stumbled back into the bathroom. She left the door open a crack before she got in the tub, because…the steam…had to escape. Yes. The door needed to be open. For the steam.

Frisk knew exactly when Sans returned; to her disappointment, she heard an embarrassed mutter in the hall, and the door clicked shut. Just because she could, Frisk splashed louder, whistling his favorite song and letting the notes linger than she probably had to. She let the water out, also loudly, and kept humming as she dried herself and got dressed.

Sans was obviously on his guard when she came downstairs, which was wise: she was wearing his old clothes again, hands in the pockets of his zipped-up blue jacket, though she hadn’t had the nerve to put on any socks. He gave her one glance, reddened again, and turned his head, shoving the golden envelope at her. “Here.”

Frisk swallowed. “Thank you.” She studied the envelope for a moment, then tossed it on the couch and advanced on him. “I’m feeling much better now, so—”

“Nope!” Sans skipped away fast enough to make her yelp a little. He held up his good hand, as if to ward her off. “Dammit, Frisk, I mean it when I say I’m not gonna fuck you yet! Sit down and listen!”

Startled, the human sank onto the couch. Sans scratched the back of his head, collecting his thoughts. “Okay. So. Gaster gave me that thing, an’ he told me what’s in it.” He shut his eyes. “First thing: your King’s been talkin’ about you all over the place. Everyone—all the humans know Chara was yer mom.”

Frisk’s stomach lurched. “I see,” she murmured. Sans watched anxiously as she blew out a long breath. “Well, at least if I start throwing barriers at humans, it won’t frighten them.”

Sans chuckled. “Nope. They’d think it was neat,” he agreed.

The priestess thought it over, and decided that this particular problem could go back on the shelf for now. “Did someone see the letter and start spreading the word?”

“Yep. Gaster says yer dad’s pissed off, and that’s his way of bein’ passive-aggressive.” He indicated the envelope. “He fixed up a bunch of legal stuff with your name all over it.”

“‘Legal stuff’?” Frisk scowled. “Am I being arrested for theft?” She almost hoped so; that was a fight she’d enjoy winning. “If I am, I swear I will burn down the entire—”

“Nope. Just the opposite.” The skeleton took a deep, deep breath. “He…”

Watching his face, it suddenly clicked. “He wants to adopt me?” she asked crisply.

Blink. “…Uh.” Blink. “…yes?” Emphatic blink. “How the hell did you know?”

Her teeth clenched, all her muscles knotting at once, and then she let it go with a sigh. “He hinted at it a few times back when I was teaching Gaius magic. It’s been so long, I forgot all about it.” Mostly. “The poor boy isn’t going to live long enough to have his own heirs, and my older siblings are almost all gone, so… I was hoping His Majesty would name one of his more distant relatives, or pick another of his children.”

“Well, you’re the best he’s got.” Frisk flushed as Sans sat down against the opposite wall. “Is that a normal thing fer humans? You’re gettin’ old and yer official kid is kinda puny, so you grab a backup?”

Frisk crossed her legs, absently enjoying his reaction. “It’s uncommon, but it’s happened before in order to keep a particular bloodline going.” She picked up the envelope and broke the wax seal. “I’ll bet you a million dinar my father says he’s invited Luke and Mathilda back to the castle with their family. He went to school with Luke’s father, so he probably wants to get reacquainted before they announce our engagement.”

The boss monster watched in silence as she pulled out a sheaf of expensive papers, setting aside the copies of her ducal investiture and adoption decree. Frisk unfolded the handwritten letter, read it over carefully, and nodded. “You owe me a million dinar.”

He didn’t laugh. “See? If you end up havin’ my kid, it’s probably not gonna improve yer chances of bein’ Queen someday and gettin’ to set everything right for everyone.” Sans shrugged, eyes on the floor. “Not the kinda thing I can ask you to give up just so I can get laid.”

Warmth bloomed in her chest and rekindled in her middle, where she was still sensitive from her personal time upstairs. “I’m not giving anything up. I don’t want to be Queen,” she said calmly. “I want to become the humans’ ambassador to the monster race and set up an embassy somewhere close by—maybe at the farm on the river.” She set the papers aside and got to her feet, her entire body humming. “And if I do have a child, I’m going to love it and raise it, no matter how hard things get…even if it’s only half human.”

Sans’ eyes went blank. “…Frisk?”

The High Priestess’ heart was pounding so hard that she wondered if he could hear it as she crossed the room. She stopped in front of him, and held her hand out. “Will you stay with me, Sans?”

His hand came up to engulf hers and tug her against him, even as he shook his head. “Ya can’t decide somethin’ like that so quick,” Sans protested. Frisk leaned in just hard enough for him to feel her breasts through the thick blue jacket, and he shuddered. “I-I mean, believe me, I understand bein’ horny, but—”

Frisk reached up to rap on his cheekbone with her knuckles. “Excuse me, sir, but my mind has been made up since I opened the box.” She turned to press her lips to his phalanges. “Take me to your room, please.”

The light in his sockets dilated nearly all the way. Massive hands closed around her, and the world suddenly rushed by, depositing them by the door in his room. His magic pulled the mattress out to the center of the floor, straightening his overcoat in lieu of sheets or a blanket; the skeleton released her and glanced around for a moment, visibly regretting that they weren’t in a more romantic or at least clean environment. “Close yer eyes,” he mumbled.

Frisk complied, feeling and hearing him compress his huge frame down to human size. She opened her eyes just in time for Sans to pull her down to the mattress, setting her in his lap with her calves draped over his femurs. As before, he didn’t seem to care how his clothes hung off him; he simply yanked his sleeves back, then slipped his arm around her waist, the other running through her hair as he mouthed her neck.

That was a good start; the priestess wound her arms around him as Sans pulled her even closer. She made a delicate little sound as he slid his tongue into her mouth, his movements slow and gentle until she deliberately nipped him.

He nearly snarled at her, one hand gripping the small of her back and the other tangling in her hair. Frisk almost purred at the twinges in her scalp, letting him hold her in place as the kiss grew rougher and his fangs grazed her lip. She couldn’t believe how easily this was coming to her, how gratifying it was—all it took was a few little sighs, soft touches, and complete sexual abandon. Who knew?

It was more than a physical urge, though. She couldn’t even guess which of them needed this more, to be held and explored, valued, accepted—

The hand on her back had crept under her jacket, finding the hem of her shirt and then encountering bare skin. Frisk shivered pleasurably at the feel of bones gliding up her side, and at the disbelieving sound he made. “Holy shit,” breathed Sans. “You’re so soft.” His nasal ridge dropped back to the crook of her neck; he inhaled so deeply that she felt a rush of cold on her damp skin. “You smell amazing—” His tongue ran across her throat, his teeth sinking just hard enough to make her whimper and reach up to caress his skull. “I don’t…are ya really sure about this?”

Sighing inwardly, the priestess nuzzled the side of his vertebrae; he sucked in his breath as her tongue ran over the dry bone. Her legs shifted toward him, hips scooting closer as she guided his hands to her waist. Sans accepted the invitation, hitching up his baggy trousers and carefully grinding his pelvis into her so that she could feel his magic more directly.

It was one thing to have undergone a comprehensive scientific education and read dozens upon dozens of romance novels, and quite another to actually feel male parts…or magical facsimiles. The eternal, universal question sprang to mind: how was anything that size supposed to fit in her? That couldn’t be right. If she didn’t know better, she’d dismiss the whole idea as an elaborate prank, and childbirth as some kind of optical illusion. But…

Frisk ducked her head into his shoulder, face burning as his fingers combed through her hair. Luckily, Sans was oblivious. “’s not fair,” he murmured above her. “Everythin’ about you feels nice, ‘n I’m just a buncha gross bones.”

Frisk gave a disapproving snort—this, she could handle. “Here, give me your hand.” Ignoring her hot cheeks, she took his wrist and slid his hand up under her jacket, unable to suppress a tremor as his phalanges traced the underside of her breast. “If I thought you were ‘gross,’ would I be letting you do this?”

There was no telling what Sans thought: his powers of speech had degenerated into a series of incoherent sounds. To her irritation, he withdrew his hand and grabbed at the bottom of her jacket, desperate to pull it over her head…only to blink in confusion as Frisk snrked at him, leaning back and helpfully tapping the zipper.

As it turned out, the joke was on her. In another split-second, Sans had the jacket unzipped and the sleeves pulled straight down her arms, the whole thing tossed aside; before she knew what had happened, he was crushing her against him, his hands back under her white shirt, palms sweeping along her sides and up across her back—

In the heat of the moment, both of them had forgotten about her scars. Frisk tensed as his hands passed over the rough skin, and he stopped dead. “This okay?” he inquired after a moment, giving her a few experimental pets. “Doesn’t feel too weird, does it?”

The young woman shook her head, resting it on his shoulder and reminding herself that he’d already seen them. There was nothing to worry about or feel ashamed of. “You can touch it if you want. It doesn’t feel like much of anything anymore—the nerve endings are gone.”

Sans ground his teeth. “Are ya sure I can’t go kill that bitch?”

Purely on instinct, Frisk placed her slender fingers between his upper ribs, near his sternum; his eyes widened further as she pulled herself the rest of the way onto his bony, baggy-trousered lap. “Please don’t,” she said against his jaw. “I think we have better things to d—”

In one motion, Sans pulled her shirt up to her collarbone and hitched her forward to lay them both down on the mattress. With her face aflame and her heart galloping harder than ever, Frisk stayed still as he rose on one elbow to look her over, jaws parting to breathe more heavily; but to her surprise, when he reached down, all he did was rest his right palm on her sternum, where they could both feel her heartbeat reverberating through the disfigured bones.

Frisk gradually forget to be embarrassed, or cold, letting him see that she trusted him enough to stay exposed. Sans moved his thumb a little, and without thinking, she rested her hand on his, playing with the gaps between his joints. They were both content to stay that way for a few quiet moments, studying the contrast between her skin and his bones.

Soon, though, he had to lean down again to kiss her, and his hand turned to stroke her breast with the backs of his fingers. Frisk made a soft sound and tried to sit up to demand more; to her surprise, he shook his head and slung his femur across her waist, pinning her to the mattress. “Slow down, kitten,” he muttered. “I don’t wanna go nuts an’ hurt you by accident.”

That was cheating. She was already aroused enough; when she reached down to grab his hand, only to have her wrists corraled and pinned over her head with a trace of red magic, she couldn’t help moaning out loud.

Sans’ orange eyes were fully dilated now. He had sat up and partly turned aside, but couldn’t look away from her writhing and urgent noises. “What’d I just say?!” he snapped.

“I can’t help it!” Frisk squirmed again. “Let me go, and I’ll stop! Please!”

With unnatural speed, Sans released her and kicked off his trousers. His full weight flattened her to the mattress, and something pressed very distinctively into her stomach; Frisk tried to look down between their bodies, but his baggy shirt was blocking her view. Was it red like the rest of his magic, or—

His fingers caught her chin, making her look up at him. “Okay, kitten. You ready?” He let go long enough to hook his phalanges in the waistband of her black-and-white-striped pants, and rested his forehead on hers. “I…” He exhaled, his entire body trembling. “I’m just guessin’ on size. Went with somethin’ like this.” His tongue stuck out for a moment. “If it doesn’t work, then—”

“It’s all right, Sans.” Frisk leaned up to kiss his jaw, wiggling her hips to help him remove her last piece of clothing. “Go ahead.”

Sans nodded, taking in the view with his jaws still parted and his eyes burning, but he clearly couldn’t wait any longer. She let him arrange her arms around him, then run his hand over her waist and hips, rubbing her thighs for an appreciative moment before he nudged her legs open.

Either Sans had read up on this process, or the instincts Undyne had mentioned could adapt to human anatomy, because he didn’t even hesitate. He plucked the folds of his shirt out of the way and reached down, and Frisk jumped as something prodded her entrance. She’d gotten a couple of her fingers in there before, but as Sans moved forward into her, she couldn’t help wincing. The pressure quickly grew into discomfort as her body started giving way; she buried her face in Sans’ shirt, and he paused for a second, then leaned in—

Romance novels had absolutely lied to her. The pressure built into sharp, burning pain as he pushed further into her, and Frisk couldn’t hold back a little sob as he moved out, and back in. He shook his head; she tried to tell him it was all right, only to cry out as he sank the rest of the way inside. “God—‘m sorry, Frisk, just—” His hips moved back again, and he started to sit up.

Frisk latched onto his ribs again, legs squeezing his pelvis in the strangest, strongest determination she’d ever felt. She didn’t care if it hurt: he needed her, she needed him, and she’d be damned if she’d let it end yet! “Don’t stop,” she whispered, keenly aware of the effect her voice had on him. Just to be certain, she ran her finger over the back of his skull. “Please?”

There were no more words after that. The boss monster slammed into her again, drawing another near-sob from her. He snarled deep in his throat, hands trembling as they grasped the overcoat behind her head; with a huge effort, he drew out and pushed in more slowly, then stayed still for a moment. Frisk made the mistake of wriggling her hips to try to adjust to the feeling of fullness – of intrusion, really – and he swiftly jerked out and slammed in again.

That was enough for Frisk. She pulled clumsily at him with her legs, and he either took the hint or couldn’t hold back anymore: he snarled in his throat, movements faster and more erratic the closer he came. Frisk held on, ignoring the pain and focusing on the fierce exultation of watching him lose himself in her; when he started to slow down a little, she growled and bit his clavicle as hard as she could, determined to see him finish.

Sure enough, Sans groaned deep in his throat, ending on a snarl; his hips went once—twice—three times more, and his arms locked around her, his entire body shoving her into the mattress as hard as she’d wanted. Frisk let him ride it out for as long as he wanted, waiting till the tension in his limbs finally relaxed and he slumped into her.

Neither one spoke for several minutes. There was no need for him to pull out: she felt his magic vanish, and tried not to breathe too big a sigh of relief. Well, she couldn’t be disappointed in the lack of multiple orgasms or even much pleasure yet—how could she when Sans was lying in her arms, rubbing his face slowly into her neck as his breathing began to slow?

Frisk stroked his skull and shifted her weight where his leg was digging into her, and immediately regretted it as her entire lower half protested. She was going to have many bruises in the morning. They would just have to work on their technique, she thought, resting her cheek on his cranium.

Sans showed no signs of life besides his breathing for several minutes. She was starting to worry a little when he moved his head enough to say, “M’rm.”

The young woman blinked. “Beg pardon?”

He was silent for a long time. “Never mind. I’ll ask ya later.” Sans rose up on his elbow and shakily leaned in to lick her neck again. “Thank you,” he murmured.

There was so much behind it that Frisk didn’t know what to say. Instead, she reached up and pulled his head back down to her breasts, resting his cheekbone over her heart. It made her remember how he’d shared his feelings directly with her before, and what’d happen if he tried that in the middle of sex…

Frisk sighed, closing her eyes. That was another thing to put away for later, to worry about and/or look forward to when she got to it. For now, she closed her eyes, and waited for Sans to say something; then she peeked at him, and saw that she was wasting her time. He was already fast asleep.

[archadianskies]

Whumptober Day 20

Lost  → excerpt from ch4 of the RK-YK500s (After a sudden mysterious autoimmune illness befalls the RK series, they are temporarily housed in YK500 units while a cure is found.)

Whumptober Masterlist | 20/31 of RK900 short stories

↳ on Ao3

Tags: Age Regression/De-Aging × Kid Fic ×Post-Pacifist Best Ending × Hurt/Comfort × Father-Son Relationship × Gavin Reed Being an Asshole 

Ronan sits in the front seat of Detective Reed’s car and looks out the window as they leave the apartment complex. It’s starting to lighten up outside, the sun finally starting to fill the city and banish the dark of night. It snowed all last night and everything is buried under a blanket of white. He thinks it’s very pretty.

“Come on.” Detective Reed jerks his head as he parks the car at Starbucks. Ronan unclasps his seatbelt and opens the door, shoes crunching in the snow as he hurries after him. A blast of warm air hits him as they enter the cafe, and he sticks close to Detective Reed’s side as the man joins the queue for the counter. 

“Aww Reed who’s this little guy?” The barista grins down at him. “D’you want a hot chocolate? Hot milk?”

“No thank you, I’ve had my breakfast.” Ronan answers, and the barista laughs delightedly. 

“I’m just stuck with him for a while.” Detective Reed rolls his eyes. “I’ll get the usual but make it a venti. Fuckin’ briefing at work this morning.”

“Hey, language!” They chide, and Ronan’s not sure why. He knows what expletives are and how they’re used for extra emphasis. They wait at the other end of the counter for Detective Reed’s coffee, and once acquired, they head back to the car. 

“Ah shit!” He curses just as he’s about to unlock the vehicle. “Fuck! I left it on the- ah shit.” Turning to him, he points down the road. “Ok listen I have to go home and grab something. Precinct’s that way, you might as well head over while I go back.”

“You want me to walk to Central Station?” Ronan blinks, frowning as he sets the objective. 

“It’s like ten minutes walk that way, c’mon, we’ve done this a million times now.” Detective Reed unlocks the car and gets into the driver’s seat. “Tell the Captain I’ll be right there. I won’t be long.” He shuts the door and backs out of the customer parking bay and Ronan is alone.

He knows where Detroit City Police Central Station is: 1301 3rd Avenue, Detroit. It is, on average, about a ten minute walk from his current location. It is not a difficult objective to complete only Ronan’s unsure why Detective Reed said they’d done it a million times now which can’t be possible because Ronan doesn’t remember ever coming here. Well. He can do this. Calculating the route isn’t so hard when he puts in the starting location as the Starbucks address and the destination as Central Station. Ten minutes walk and then he will have achieved his objection. It’s not so hard! Is it? 

He feels his stress levels starting to rise and he doesn’t know why because there shouldn’t be anything to stress him out.  More and more citizens are out and about; there’s a lot of people and some of them are looking at him as he walks down the street. Down this street and then turn left at the end. Easy. Only...it’s not? And he doesn’t know why it should be easy but isn’t. He clenches his hands and it feels wrong not to have Connor to hold onto, or even Hank. It feels lonely and scary and Detective Reed isn’t here and there’s no one he knows and there’s no one to hold onto and-! His face is wet and he can’t breathe properly and his stress levels are climbing higher and higher and he wants Connor! He wants Connor to hold his hand! Or Hank! Everything is too loud and big and scary and Ronan hates it, he hates it, he wants to be inside with The Void and his aeroplane pyjamas that are soft and warm and he doesn’t want to be out here alone!

“Hey are you okay?” A woman asks him gently and Ronan looks up at her and can’t see her face properly because his eyes are wet. “Oh sweetheart, where are your parents?”

“C-c-” he hiccups and tries again. “Central Station!”

“Central-” she pauses, then nods. “The police station! Did your parents teach you that for when you get lost? What a clever boy you are.” She’s dressed like a businesswoman with a long coat, and she removes her scarf to wrap it around his neck. “Come on, I’ll take you there.”

It doesn’t feel like ten minutes, it doesn’t feel easy, it feels so long and horrible and Ronan cries and rubs his eyes and tries not to be so loud because a nice lady is going out of her way to help him complete a stupidly simple objective. She coos at him sympathetically, squeezing his hand and rubbing it with her thumb and reassuring him that it’s alright, it’s just up ahead. 

*~*~*

Hank scratches his beard and glances at his phone again. Reed’s late. At least he had the good grace to tell someone he’s running late, so Hank can’t really fault him for that. He glances over to where Connor is sitting in his usual chair, sipping on one of those android caprisuns. He let him choose what he wanted to wear today, and the boy chose a white turtleneck with a denim jacket lined in shearling. He even tied one set of shoelaces all by himself after Hank tied the other one. Hank manages to resist reaching over to muss his curls, but only just.

“Sorry, sorry! Forgot my fucking badge on the counter.” Reed announces as he hurries through the security gates, coffee in hand. “Figured I’d need it if we’re questioning people.” 

“Alright, come on.” Jeffrey waves them over. “About time.”

“Where’s Ronan?” Hank looks behind him, expecting to see the boy toddle in like a duckling. 

“Oh, he’s not here yet?” Reed looks at his desk. “Huh.”

“...Why would he be here?” Hank asks slowly, and a nauseous wave roils in his stomach as Reed shrugs. 

“Because I sent him here?” Reed answers matter of factly. “Precinct’s what, a ten minute walk from Starbucks? I thought it’d be better if he headed here while I doubled back.”

There’s an uncomfortable beat of silence and Hank’s own face of horror is mirrored by everyone else in the bullpen. 

“You left a fucking child-”

“Reed why the fuck-”

“Gavin he’s six-”

Everyone erupts all at once and Hank reaches him first, and Reed’s lucky he put his coffee down a second before Hank grabs him by the lapels and gives him a violent shake.

“I’m going to fucking skin you alive Gavin Reed, you absolutely fucking fuckwit!” He bellows, and the murder must be in his eyes because Reed looks like he’s about to turn tail and bolt.

“Why are you making a big deal over this he’s a fucking android!”

“He’s a six year old android!” Hank yells, shaking him again. “You left him on the street! All by himself! Would you leave a child out on their own in public?!”

“But he’s an android why couldn’t he have made it back on his own?!”

“Because he’s a six year old android!” Hank slams him against one of the boards, pure rage in his veins. “You better get the fuck out of this office and find that boy or so help me god Gavin Reed I will end you!”

“Lieutenant, if I may.” It’s Beth, one of the android receptionists. She waves him over. “A kind citizen just dropped Ronan off. He’s with Stephanie right now.”

He drops Gavin and rushes to reception, and there’s Stephanie crouched under her desk comforting a crying Ronan and Hank’s anger vanishes in an instant. He shrugs off his jacket and drops to one knee to wrap it around Ronan, gathering the boy into his arms.

“I didn’t complete my objective! I couldn’t do it!” The boy cries into his shoulder, little body wracked with sobs. “I’m meant to do it by myself!”

“It’s okay kiddo, no one’s mad, no one’s mad I promise.” Hank hushes him, rubbing his back as he squeezes him close. “It’s okay, you’re safe now. I’ve got you.”

“I didn’t complete my mission!” Ronan hiccups, clinging to Hank like a lifeline and Hank makes a mental note to skin Gavin with a butterknife later. “Detective Reed told me-”

“Detective Reed is a-” deep breath, sharp inhale. “-unused to caring for YK500s. He gave you a mission meant for older androids, not little children.”

“But it was easy, he said-”

“It doesn’t matter what he said.” Hank spits, and the boy stiffens in his hold. He sighs heavily and presses a kiss into his hair before he can stop himself. “It doesn’t matter. What matters is you’re here, and you’re safe.”

“I’m sorry.” Ronan mumbles, and Hank pulls away just far enough he can look him in the eyes.

“There’s nothing to be sorry for, Ronan, do you understand?” He wipes the boy’s tears away with his thumb. “You’ve done nothing wrong, absolutely nothing.”

Swallowing thickly, the boy sniffles back the last of his tears and manages a nod. He rubs his eyes before leaning forward and wrapping his arms around Hank’s neck again. 

“There there, I’ve got you kiddo.” He soothes, standing up and simply carrying him into the bullpen. He avoids looking at Reed because he knows the moment he lays eyes on him he’ll fly into a fit of rage and murder may be committed. “I have to go and talk to Captain Fowler and do some work, but Connor will be right here with you.”

He glances over and Tina quickly wheels Ronan’s chair over to Connor’s desk, and Hank gently lowers the boy to sit. Reluctantly untangling his hold on him, Hank smoothes the boy’s hair back and thumbs away the last of his errant tears.

“Connor, you’ll look after your brother won’t you?”

“Yes Hank!” Connor nods eagerly, already reaching across to hold his hand. Ronan’s lower lip trembles for a moment, before he steels himself and squeezes Connor’s hand. “Ronan, you must replenish your fluids! Here, have one of mine.” With his other hand, Connor plucks out another pouch from his backpack propped on his desk. “I’m going to let go so I can put the straw in, okay?”

“Okay.” Ronan sniffles as he nods, and Connor pokes the straw into the pouch before offering it to his brother. 

“Here you go.” Ronan takes it with one hand and seeks Connor’s hand with his other, big grey eyes still glassy with barely restrained tears. Leaning over, Hank gives them both a kiss to the crown of their heads, nosey colleagues be damned before following Tina into Fowler’s office.

[wispandwhispers]

moonboy

Notes: I have a logicality angsty oneshot in the works, two on going fics and this one. Help me.

Pairings: Prinxiety, Logicality, qpr dukeceit

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Tw(s): Implied stuff from the get go, cursing, Remus being Remus, witchcraft stuff, rituals, hypnotism (I'm going to hell).

Words: 2176

"Kiddo, are you ok?" The round glasses wearing father had bust down the door to Roman's room.

"Noth-i-i-ng, I just-just stubbed my toe."

"But you're still in bed." He gestured to the bed which he obviously had not left.

Shit. Time to make and excuse.

"I stubbed my toe in my-y-y dream?.."

You dumbass. He just has to look at your crotch .

The parent stared at him very closely. "Well that checks out," He leaped off the bed, "If there is anything wrong, remember you can always come to me, no matter how big or small."

A wary smile from Roman with an equally shaky thumbs up and the parental figure took it as a queue to leave.

Now a more prepared Roman grabbed his pillow and then promptly had a mental breakdown into it.

******

ThePrince: Bro you got to help me

TheDuke: Look, I've got some erection medicine in my closet, I'll go and get it

ThePrince: NO!

TheDuke: What is it then?

ThePrince : Its too complex to talk talk on text I'll talk to you about it later

******

Despite the twins being sixteen years old, they would always argue over whose turn it was to wash the dishes and because their Pa was so sick of their bitching that he proposed a solution: They both wash the dishes together. And as both parents would leave the house quickly after breakfast and they had time to burn, Roman decided to inform his twin on the incident.

"So, someone sent you your wet dream in smut format and you're complaining?"

A splash of water across Remus' face

"Can't you see that the problem is that someone knew what my dream was in the first place! Someone had access to my fucking dreams!"

"Dad would be proud of that-"

"It wasn't supposed to be a pun!"

Remus looked at his brother.

"Look, if you are so worried about the text, just give Pa your phone and he can probably track the-"

"Yeah, fuck no," Roman started to scrub the mug he was holding harder. "I would then have to explain why I even care and I'm not doing that."

("If you scrub that any harder, you'll break it.")

("Oh, thanks.")

(He passed the mug over for the other to rinse off.)

"Well if you aren't going to Pa about it, I might have an idea..."

Why did he trail off like that?

******

"So basically, someone transcript your ... fanfiction about Lunaper and you need my help?"

"Yeah, don't you-"

"And your dumbass hasn't even fucking acknowledged the first part of the message?"

Janus walked up and snatched Ro's phone away from him and unlocked it.

("Excuse me, but how do you my phone password?")

(Janus chuckled seemingly to himself, with an otherworldly feel in his voice. " You don't want to know.")

" ' Do not fucking touch him or'; the or is important as the anonymous messenger is giving you a choice: Stop trying to be friends with Virgil or suffer the consequences."

The twins stared blankly at Janus.

(Janus mentally judged them.)

"Choose the former, stop trying to be friends with your crush."

Silence filled the room.

Roman walked up to the gloved wearing male who might as well as told him to stick his hand into a blender.

"Do you have any physical idea how impossible what you just said is?" Roman said this in a voice so cold and unfeeling that would of probably scarred any other organism for life.

But he was talking to Janus Vale. The kid who was queer platonic partners with Remus Xia. Pretty sure he doesn't fear God anymore.

"If you are that, entranced by him, there is always other options..." And again that voice that seemed to be powered by undead spirts, those the seemed to leak-

I should really just ask what the hell he means.

"Just cut to the chase, what do you mean by options?"

What the fuck have I got myself into?

"Let's just say ...," And this is where the gloved figure eyes started to glow a blinding gold and the palm of his hands that were covered shortly followed. "I know ṡ̩̣͡h͙̣̺̽̿̆i̬̝̼̾̒̚t͇̿."

******

"So you could do hypnotism, and you never told me this?!"

"That's not important at the moment, we need to start the ritual soon or shit is going to go south."

"Wait, why do we need to finish so soon, we have thirty minutes until first period?"

"Don't question things, just follow my instructions."

Janus took of his gloves and discarded them to the side and Roman could finally see the truth. The palms of his hand seemed to be printed with an gold open eye shape . And Xia couldn't shake off the feeling that they were watching his every move.

"Give me your hand, Roman." Roman complied and Janus' eyes and hands started to glow so intense it threatened to be brighter than the sun.

"L̵̡̫͙̣̼̼̪͈̦̈́͊ö̷̺̳͓̫̰̮̦͍̓́̅̓̊ö̴̧̞̥̤̞̱̟̳́͝͝k̷̡̠̟͕͖̜͖̦̯̣̐̓̎́͋̽̂ ̴̺̩͖̹̹̓̅̈̌͐i̷͉̭͉͖̭̝̝̼̪͋̈́̀́͝͝ͅn̷̬̙̖̲̥̪̹̰̜͗͗̈̔͑͗͆̚̚t̵͔̖̤̲̥̟̜͘ͅo̷͍̩͍͖̤̲͒͌̌̒͝ ̷̡͔̱̝̱͇̎m̷̜̓̕͠ȳ̸̺̻̱̩̹̎̉̀͋̆͌ ̵̦̤̹̪̞̲͓̽͐̚é̵̡̛̹̬̪̣̅̓ͅẙ̴̉̚͜e̵̛̺̾͌̂͗̕s̸̞̖̱̎̿ ̸͉̣̫̉͝͝y̴̗̤̐͂̐̍̏͘o̴̡͖̟͎̯̹̯͍̹̕ų̷̧̨̯̠̳͈̬̰̒͘͠ͅn̴͕̗͌̓̿͛g̴͓͊ ̵̹̳͔͉͚̄͂o̴̥͍̮͉̠̼͚̓͜n̴̢̧͉̳͔͓̈́̓e̵͎̻͉̰͙̝͉̹͗̋̃̈́̒͂̚͝͝."

Ok, it now sounds like there is seven people speaking, this was a bad idea.

He looked into Janus' ( Was he even there anymore?) eyes. A feeling of absolute calm washed over him.

̫͂"̡̡̛̖͇̙͂̑͆͊F͙̦͛̀e̊͜e̻̰̎̈́l̑͜ ̠̯̯̭̺̈́̈́̉̂͝ṫ͎h̪̽͢͠e̡͇̻͓͍͂͛͠͞͠ ͓̖̟̼͍̾̀̽̌͊p̲̬͋̿ṳ̿l̡͔̳̓̇̌ḽ̛͉͚̮̽̒̈ ̫̕o̥͖̞͐̐̋f̧̠͓̔̇̈ ̡̦̙̟̊̐̕͞tḩ͈̼̗̈̊̓̂e ̫͗c̣̺̘͊̋̄͜͡a̲͔̟͌͛̾̾͞ͅͅl̦̓m̛̓͜ͅn͚͓̊͡é̟ş͓̋͠s̻͉̲͖̀̃̿͂͘ͅ ̦̂͟͝j͉̱̾͠͞ͅu̗̳̇̇ş̣̗͙̂̈́͗̑t̛͈̮̹̣̅͋̊̓͟ ̟͓̮͒̒͝d͍̻̠̪͊͋͝͡r̼̍ag̣̮͉̟̺̍̀̓̉͌ y͕̖̏͘ŏ̭u͇̥͆̍͜͝ ď̪̲̋͋̑͟ͅơ̢̭̓̆͢wń̹̳͡,͙͞ ̡̢̣̣̫̈̒̈́̿͘d̡̗̖̣̑͛ē̘̮̖̠͋̉̓e͈̥͑͌p̮̤̠̓̈́̇ę̻̎̆r̟͈̬̗̮̾͆̉́̚ ̡̲̯̔͋̏á̫͛̎͢ͅn̰̓̋͟ḏ͖̈́̈͆ͅ ̛̜̩͉̆̃̏͢ḑ̋eḙpȅ̙̤̀ŗ̞̓̀ ̟͉͕̟͋̆̅̃͟͞i̫̠͂̾ń̨͕͍̻͇̃̀̉͡ẗ̢̙͓͕͂̕͘ǭ̗͕̻͂̋͗ ̬͂ṫ͈̭͂h̙̣͎͆̊ē̹̝̫̮̇̒̔̎͟ ̤̫̭͂̉̐͘͟pḛ͛͆ͅa̩̽c̱̺͇̐́̿̊̂͢͟ĕ̦̠͔̳͂̾͒ ̡̲̺̑̓o̩͉̳͕̟͂̈͒͌̍f̠̱̊̽ ̛̰͖͍̌̊̽ͅḭ̭͍͋͝t̤̔͋͜ ̝̙̟̻̠̀̽̾͘͝à͙̳͉̐̔ll̮̠̙̖̃̋͒͐͢͝ ̹̠͇̔̍͠an͍̒d͙̙̞̬̂́̀͛ b̪̼̠͇̽̄̔̊̕ͅy̡̘̝̖͋̉̚͡ ̡̻̩̠̱̋̍̐̓͝t̡̞͈̺͌͗̈́̓͜͠he̝̿ ť̻i̯̓m̡̫̑͘e ̢̛̫̈̍͐͜ͅI̯̒ f̧͙̤͛͛̊͜͟͡i̲̱̬͉͗̂̌̉n̼̺͈̩̈͐͘ȋ̢͙̏s͎͔̘̏͛͞ḧ͇͖̮́͠ ̺̅t̢̢̲͖͛̈̓̌h͕̭̹̙͖͊̒̀̏͋i̡̺̫͐̊̊̾ͅs͎̫̃̈́̏͜͟ ̝̟̾̇s̻͚̟̽̎̑ȩ̻͇̼̐̾͝n͌͜t̛͉͍̅e̟͍̱͓͆͗̄n̞̫̓c̮͗e̼̊̚͢,̧̡̩͇̞̾̓̀̃͌ ̣̓y̤̙̞̳̍̈͒̔ǫ̼͘͝u̟̅ ̧͔̲̫̿̇͘͠w̘͇͍̟͆̑̀̔͜il̢͍̓͊l̩̖̼̂̎͐ ̪̽j̡͈̝͛̄u͕̝̐̓̏͟ş̹͎̈́͗̀̐͢t̛̖͍͎͈͂̕͡ ̻wa̖͘ṉ̪̾͝t̺͡ ̢̳̣͛̀t̬̭̋͘o̧͍̹͓̝̔̇͒͡͞ ̖̜̆̑l̮̟̾͘ǐ͕͔̺̳͌̀͊st̛̙͉̺͎͆̓̃̕ͅẽ̢̮͊̏͢͡ͅn͙̯͎͐̊͗͠ͅ ͈͗͜t̛̤̜̃õ̭̺͞ ̨̜͗̆͢m̤͌ȳ̫͔̳̏̕ ̡̘̟̋̎͛s̼̝͉̰̆͆̈́̓ȕ̟̖͔͆̍̋͜g̯̪̙̤̎̇̾ğ̪e̲͍͆͗s̬̿t̡̠̟̔̓̕i̧͔͓̋͛̃o̱̺̗̟̩͋̓̓̇͠ń̗̳͚̥̫̔̀̕͝s̯̭͑͛̽̕͜͟.̨̈͗ͅ"̬͇̈́

And with that Roman's mind went blank.

"G̛̟̯̭̾̿o̬͡o̥͒d͇̼͔͂͌͘,̢̯̙̭̽͛̓̊ I̪͂ ̧̮̩̩̟̈̑͛͂͘k͙͎͕̒̑̅n̪̲͂̈ow̠̑ ̨̱̊w̧͉̻̩̐͛̅̎h͉̼̤͂̊̐̓͢á̠̪̃͌͜t̨͚̳̜͖̃̾̓͐͞ y̯͓̑̕ò̖̘͡u̱̰͋̒ ͇̜̼̒͌̈́ͅd͔̩̑̿e͕̜̅̿̓̍͟͢s͎̯͖̚ir̩̗͓̃͛͐e, ͖̳͐̅I̦̅ ̓͢à͍m̲͎̲͔̎͋͒̕ ̭̺͕̬̐̾̉̃͜͡ṯ̭̝̞͊̍̅͡r̡̻̣̹͖͋͒̂͑͑ȳ͕͓͘i̢̖̳̯̐̅͛̒n͍̟͈͑̏͞g̨͍̑̾́ͅ t̞̞̿͞ö̙́ he̩̲̾̊̋͜ļ̝̱̯̺͂̉̇̉͛p̥̌͆͢ ÿ͎́ou͎̓ ̛̲̲̘̿̃̚͟,͖̰̂̋n̡̖̼͌̐͒o̢͔͓̜͊̾̌͆t͓͍̤̎̽͘ ͚͚̞̺̄̿͌̚h̥̻͛͝i̖̤͌͆n̨͋ḓ̛͉̭̑͊͢͝ẹ̞̘̪͒̔̽̕ř̺̺̖̽͑͗͜, "Roman nodded in acknowledgement of this statement. "An͉̖͉̄̄̄d͔̣̪͐̋̕ ̼̙̜̑̃̀al̨͖͈͎͖̅̅̈̉̕l̝͐ ̛̖͙͊̑͢y̢̡̰͂͂͟͡͠o̺̾u̮͋ ͈͞ẅ̧́a̳̒n̯͉͔̂̋̌̃͜ť͙ to̝̳̐̅ ͖̹͔̓͂̔d̥͡o͔̣̳̮͂͑͐̂ i͓͠s ̺̪͗̒̔͟ma̧̡͓͍͛̏͒̕k̡̨͑͞e ̰̎s̈́̕͢͢u̧̺͈͑̾͐r̰͓̆͛̄ͅe̛̘̼̎͌͢͢ ̣̤̜̆͐͋t̛̜̰̉h̨͇͌͡ă͚̭͈̲̮̍̈́̄̃t ͉͌t͍̤͕̞̋̐̚͡h͈͆̊͟ą̮̝̥̏̈́̆t̨̙͖̀́̋ f̡͎͎̭̎͂͆̀í̛̬͜l̡͚̤̘̄̄̂̍e̳͂ ͙̤͌̆͜͞d̢͎͇̰̑̌̇͘ò̖ḙ̲̞̂͆͑̕͢ś̥͢͠n'̮̚t̬̦͕͋̌̍ ͙͎̲͛̑g̮̖̱̻̈́̇̔ȇ̤̞̘̓̓͟͝t͔̰̺̯̂̆̆͞ ̟̟̾̆s̗̻̆̾p͔̌̒͜͜͞r̛̯̜̽e̥͂a̾͜d̛̖͖̣͎͌̄͗."

Roman repeated his previous action.

" Tḧ̢̨̃ĩ͔̋ͅş̧̫͗́̔̒͟ ̝̥͎̟͋͆͝i͎s̢̛̞̋͘͜ ̖̭̀͐m͓̯͔͎̋̓̄͝y̯͌ ̣̅s̱̳̘̅͆̉u͓̎g͔̹̍̆g̖̲̮̈̏̚ȇ͎̰͕̞̍̾͛s̢̐t͎͡i̲͙͆͘o̧̤̻̦̽̓́n̙̻̭͕̉̐̐ ̨̛̲̟̦̃̋̇:��̖͔̼̤̦̊̋͂̕ ͖̜͉̪͕̂̊̌̑̎t̛̪̖̱͐̍he̢̫̒̓ l̯̻̙͚̗̎̓́̔͘ǔ͜s̯̭̝̠͍̈́̄̆̾͡t̪͒ ̛̫̪̩̤͎̏̉̑̋ạ̙̊͒n̛̮͔͙͗̈d ̺̏l̼̗͖̅̾͒o̭̓v̡͎͇̚̕e̢͙͚̦̓͒̈̚ ̮͙͐̋y͖͞o̡͇̳͚̎̽̂͒u̻̘̐̔̃͜͜ ̹͇̮͒̿̒f̘̱̿̋ë̗͍̇e̱͕̥͗̃͡l̮͝ ̪̤͕̼͑͆͂f̩͚̈́͊o̳͠r͈̳͌͘ ̺̘̊͞h̛̹̙̳͚̺̾͌̇͠ĩ̡̛͉͖͘m̧̧̛͔̻̄̈̊̔͢ w̻̌i͕̮̺̖̋̾͝ll̙̩͛͒ ͐ͅbȩ ȩ͓̄̏͑͢x̩̃ť̲i̯͉̳̤͍̽̋́̕ń̙ḡ̥̱͘uis̬̟̽̾h̩͡e̤̹͇̮̋̅̊͋d͈̦͖̦͑̓̉̚ ̼̘́͐b͙̼̻͒́͋y̓͐̾͒̾͜��̳̦̱ ̘̕ä̹n̳̹̥͎̜̈̀͘͡ ̰͍̽̊̅͟ő̻̖̟͇͆̓̈́p̡̠̝͕͊̾̑̄͜͡p̣̰̿̈o͕̭̜͑͊̓̕͢s̛̬͔̥͈̎̓́ỉ̧̨̞̪̺̂̒̋̑t̖̂̈ͅe͕͘ ̦̥͗̓͢͝f̺͚͔̃͊͝o͔͈͑͗r̢͛c͍̎e̺͆."

Whatever Janus was at the moment smiled as Xia bopped his head, a sign that he was ok with this.

"Ok̡͈͇͒̈́͘͜͞ ẇ͢h̫̣͊͂̕͟ẽ̺̭̦̃͞ň̲͋͟ ̨̦͊̇̂͜Ì̻͖̬̜͛̄͘ ̩͂l͎̙̻͊̓̈e̜̯̤̅̅̓͡ͅt̰͈̤̬̽̏͊ ̙͆g̘o̪͖̙̠͂͂͆̓̓ͅ ̗̈ỗ͈̠̜͇̔̕f͓̃ ͓̍y͓͌ơ̬̲̱̓̈u̮͂r̟̫̱̍̏̈͘ͅ ̧̎ḥ͝a̢̲͛̋͢͝n͇̲̊͝d̟̻̲͓̏͆͗̕,̢͓̩̤͛̌̏̎ ̞͇̔̍yọ̠̞̑̔̌̍͟ư͖̼̑͜͞ ̺̹̬̆̊̇͟w͔̯͂̾i̗̠̩̖̔͂̀͞l̯͈̳̔̊l̞̅ ͍̖̬̫̰̔̃̉̕͡r͕̝̜̆͗͒e̡̻̻̣̫̾̃̋͋͘m̼̟̅͋è͙̤̙̘͂́͠m͖̯̻̯̀̽̒͐b͉̗̎̾̊͐͜͢͡ͅe̥̠͕̝̓͛̉̾r͇̩̖̲͈̄̓̌͞ ͔̹̃̕n̻͡o̞̚͟͠n̳̉e̮̓ ̝̎o̱̪͍͇̐̽͠f̮̻̋̈́ ţ̹̋͊ḫ̻͔̻̞̏͋̊̍̚ǐ͟s̙̠̾̚͜͞͡ͅ ̖̳͆͡a̫̯̠̔͊̃n͎͉͍̪̓͐̑̕d̨͓̰͕͚͊̎͛̓̉ ͎͋o̫̺̻͙͐̊̏̿ṇ̍l͚͗y̜͕̙̎̿͛̚͜ ̩͙̻̭͇̒̑̽̽̊r̜̄e̫̩̼̓̄̀͜͠m͖̼͗̎ḙ̇m̧̢̡͔̜̓̌͛͑̚b̢̰̙̱͊͆̅̉è̻̺̳̹̓̚͝ȓ̠͓̬̟͂͝͞ ̟̆ţ̲̎̓hä͉t͙̠̓͡ ̡̧̣͍̘̿̇͘͞y̨̲̗͈̐̉͋͝ó̟̘̓ȗ͖̼̻͌̑ ̪̹͐͞ä̧̲̜̬́̽̂́ȑ̥̑͢e͎͇̣͖͓͛̆̋̏͡ ̪͠n̰̒ọ̮̟̈́͛̾ẁ͎̥̹̪͌͞ ̢̼͖̲̅͒͂͝s̞̼̆a̱̖͑͛f̟̯̦̑̃͑ė̻̘̣̰̫̋͠͝."

The golden eyed one let go of him and Xia promptly flickered his eyes for a moment before snapping back to reality.

( Janus returned to his eyes to their regular state.)

"So, what happened?"

"Nothing you need to worry about."

( He was putting back on his gloves.)

"So something happened by default."

Janus decided to ignore him.

******

Roman felt off.

He didn't know why.

It felt like something was off, something majorly important was off, and it felt like the type of thing you would notice until it was too late.

Pull it together Xia, nothing is wrong, it's just-

Virgil walked into the classroom and every single fibre in his body despised the fact the hoodie wearer could breathe.

So he decided to act on it.

"What the hell, princey?," He gestured to the fact that Ro had just pulled the childish trick of pulling your chair back right before you sit on it. "Are you a  fucking infant?"

("No cursing in the classroom.")

"At least am not you, whose shit eyeshadow bags might as well be done blind!"

("Nice, she gets to curse but he can't, the double standards are-")

"Ok, princey...," And those eyes that held so much power and so much cosmic energy that made it see like the universe itself was at his command but all Roman saw was a nightmare, darkness and evil that needed to be slayed. But he would always dismiss the fact that his chair was currently vibrating the power, he was too focus on  planning to destroy what was in front of him. "You want to fight, fucking come at me!"

Has this always been the feeling I've had towards him?  N̛̤͎̬͍͆͂̚Õ̋̒͢͜͜ ̩̿İ͔̬͇͌͠T̢̮̽̽ ̺̖̣͒̈̆̕͟H̱̬̝̾̀̿̾͜Ă͔S͉̦̳̈́̀͝N͈̖̣̓̉͑'T̨̙̣̱͒̓͊̕,̟͝ ̧̤̔̄͂͜Ÿ̰̗̫̓͠Ò̫Ủ̩͚̽ ̡̢̫̙̓̒͂͂L̢͓̬͕͆̀̎͝Õ̻̻̩͎̕͠V̻͂-̲͍̳͂̒͛ It must of been, why would this feeling of loathing be so intense otherwise?

("Sunday, Vale~" And that was all it took to shut Janus up.)

Roman held his head in pain, feeling like there was two people speaking, feeling like his skull was going to split in two, feeling like-

"Roman, are you ok?" Virgil's eyes had turned a softer shade of galaxy, if that even made sense, almost like he could see what-

There is nothing wrong with me, I've always been NÓ͍̞͎͇̋̓͆,͍̦̹͈͐̾̏͂͜͡ ̳̺̺̖̄̽͌N̝͕̆̓O̖̚,̙̣̦͗̊̿ ̹̳̼̀̎̐Ṅ͉̦͓̻̓̍̈Ǒ͍,̧͙̱̭̃̐̒̕ ͎͂N̝̒O̡͖̜͖͑̓͐͠-͂̒͛like this.

"Yes, but it would be better if you were choking by my hands."

("This is the weirdest foreplay I have ever seen.")

Roman grabbed Virgil's ripped shirt and proceed to slam him to the floor.

("Remus!")

The nova in his the slammed eyes were almost as black as the darkest void of space, a black hole that showed no mercy to those  who dared to cross its path.

"Wanna play, let's fucking play..."

******

"Mr Xia and Mr Lunaper, would you please explain why there is three broken tables and nine smashed chairs in 3Q?" The principal was terrifying in the way that they never rose their voice, they were always so calm and collected that it scared or scarred any student shitless and made them never want to fuck up again.

(Except Remus and Janus but then again they are the specimens that are Remus and Janus.)

"You should not even have the strength to fling a table across the room, with your poor gym academic records Mr Lunaper but you were able too anyway, why?"

"I'm not answering that question, Mx Spring ."

"Fine, but you Mr Xia, I have gathered from eye-witness reports that you were quite good companions with him less than a day ago and now you were throwing chairs at him, why?"

Roman stood up defensively. "I did it because.."

Why did I do it though ?E͈͠X͙́A̧̱̖͋̈C̡̨̺͍̝͂̉̄͘̕T̞͈̙̬̎̿̇͘L̘̗̝̭̃̈́Y̛͚͎̻̊͝ ̢͚̩̤́͐͘Y̻̐͌͢O̤̼̜̒͆͘Ǔ̦ ̰̦̖̾͗̓Ḍ̛͕̩̲̐͑̈́O̰͊Ņ̹̎̿'̨̩͛͛̒͟T̰͔̼͆̊ ͈̮̈̆M̥̐E̟̒Ḁ̧̧͉̅̾̒͠Ń͚͇̲͈̃͛͆ ̻̋T̢̰̐͌͟͝H͇̆IS̥̪̈͋͢͝ͅ,ͅ ̝͌J̤͗U̺̼͘̕Ŝ̫̞͘T̺̼̱̼̖̆̐͆ ͇̩̅̕Ĺ͙̪̮̓̇̕͞ͅͅIS̙̎T̳͈̮̏̿̎EN̨̖̬̦̮̈͌̍͐̿ ̢̤̊̉Ṱ̣͐͘O͍̲͓͆̌͗̅͜ ̛͈̰͎̃M̭̓E̢̧̼̫͛̂͌͞-̮̍  It did it for reasons though.

"....because he is insufferable, because I see him rage fills me...that's it really."

"So you destroyed a classroom and endangered the safety of more than two dozen people because you don't like Virgil's face. A month's worth of after school detention .You are now dismissed and Virgil can you please stay behind for a moment."

"I politely decline that offer Mx.-"

"What if I told you that I know, why you were able to fling that table?"

Virgil stayed behind as Roman left cursing profanities under his breath over his unjust ruling.

******

"I'm just going to tell you one thing, Spring...Stop while you think you are ahead because if you have any idea what I am, you would know not to screw with me."

*******

Over the span of the nest fortnight, a rivalry like no other emerged between Virgil and Roman, both needlessly trying to get the other on their last nerve at all given times, which one incident ended with Xia's phone cracking. The peculiar thing about this is the fact that his phone perfectly was cracked in the phase of the moon that night but no one took notice of except the twins Pa when Roman had to explain why his new phone was cracked.

But on the days he would have the worst fights with Virgil, he always dreamed about this beautiful man dressed in all the colours of the stars slowly waltzing with him and sometimes embracing him. The dream would always end with him whispering into his ear something along the lines of 'Remember what you long for before the veil dropped'. Now he was obviously disturbed that he was falling in love with a person of his imagination but anytime he was to think about the cryptic message, his head would feel like it was about to spilt into two.

Meanwhile, Janus had become Virgil's new guide around the school and because both of them had a similar 'I'm done with this bullshit and it's only eight thirty' mentality , they became fast friends. Because of this, Janus learnt that Virgil had extreme social anxiety, that he was a fellow homosexual and the fact that he was cousins with Remy.

Remus also found it weird that his brother, who had never given up on a crush until they flat out rejected him, now despised him with every fibre of his being. He was aware that Janus' could hypnotise people but he also didn't know if his partner had any idea how batshit Roman would get over his crush.

******

LittleTrashMan: Jan, what exactly did you suggest to my brother

DoubleDs: Well I just suggested that the feelings he has for Virgil will be extinguished by an equal force

DoubleDs :Making him just see Virgil as a normal person

DoubleDs: That's it

LittleTrashMan: My brother, the guy who tried to hack to speaker system on a train to try and ask out a guy, who still has a childhood crush on Aladdin, who has never let go of a fucking crush unless they say no and even then he pines hard.

LittleTrashMan: My brother's love for people is endless, so his hatred will be endless

DoubleDs: ...shit

[dreamcity-rawr]

Strawberry Bad Boy || Chenle

Character: Zhong Chenle (NCT DREAM) Genre: fluff, badboy!au, richboichenle  Words: 1.5k words Summary: Chenle buys strawberry milk for you but also slaps a flirt in the face with a stack of money for you, that’s the kind of bad boy he is  Warning: language  Request: badboy!nctdream extension for Chenle

  “Hey there kiddo, give me a few dollars?” Chenle looks up from his phone upon being called. The guy standing right in front of him in the queue line is quite older and quite desperate. “Pardon?” Chenle heard him clear as day but he doesn’t like the tone the older is using while asking for a favor.

  “Come on, you look like a child of a rich family. Probably your parents gave you a few spare dollars you could give me, right?” he says, as if it is a normal thing to say. Chenle’s eyes travel to the waiting cashier, then to the sandwich that the pitiful guy is holding in his hand.

  Despite his dislike towards the older’s attitude, Chenle still decides to help him out and pay for his sandwich. Once it is paid, the older reaches out to pat Chenle’s head but the male slapped his hand away with a cold stare. The older narrows his brows before saying, “Once you get a job and manage your own finances, you’ll understand how harsh this world is, kiddo”.

  Chenle closes his eyes for a second, sighing to calm himself down or else he really just might snap. Chenle pushes past the annoying guy and pays for his own strawberry milk. he hears a small scoff and notices the older glance at the strawberry milk with a mocking smile before heading out of the convenience store.

   Chenle turns back to the cashier, ignoring the annoyance that bubbles inside him. Not long after, he exits the convenience store as well.

  “y/n, I got the milk you wan-” Chenle trails off as he walks towards you. When he looks up from the milk bottle, he notices that you have company. Chenle has told you to wait outside while he goes in and buys the strawberry milk you’ve been desperately craving and once he’s out, someone’s already hitting on you.

  A snort leaves his lips as he recognizes the flirting male as the guy he’s paid a sandwich for earlier. Walking closer to you, Chenle notices how uncomfortable you look talking to the older male. But once he comes into your view, a smile appears on your lips and you immediately call out for him, “Chenle! You bought it?”.

  He walks to you, waving the strawberry milk lightly to show you and the smile on your face only widens. The two of you completely ignore the stranger that came to you earlier as Chenle gives you the product and you beam at him, “Thank you!!! You have no idea how much I’ve been craving this”.

   “You made me buy strawberry milk from a convenience store, y/n. Are you kidding me?” he sighs as you poke the straw through and waste no time to start sipping. It is moments like these when Chenle’s amazed at you. Chenle promised to take you to a fancy restaurant after finishing your last exam yet you somehow managed to persuade him to just get you some strawberry milk at a nearby convenience store.

   “You have no idea how good this actually is, do you?” you widen your eyes at him in disbelief. “It’s two-dollar milk, how good can it be?” Chenle rolls his eyes, his tone of voice betraying the small smile creeping up his face. Your little conversation is interrupted a second later.

    “How about I take you out and we actually do something good together, babe?” the previously flirting guy speaks up to you. In a millisecond, Chenle’s smile is replaced with the coldest and emptiest look you’ve ever really seen. It almost makes you choke on your drink. You blink a few times before looking at the older guy with an awkward smile, “Ah, I’m here with someone already, so no thank you”.

  The guy waves his hand as if in dismissal before taking a step closer to you, that’s when you notice Chenle look the other up and down in the corner of your eye. “Come on, strawberry milk? Babe, you deserve much more than this little snob” he motions at Chenle and your eyes widen when you feel the guy’s hand around your wrist.

  If there’s anything Chenle hates the most, it is being called a snob. Because he isn’t one. Chenle grew up in a well-off family, yes, but his wealth is self-earned. He has started financing for himself ever since he turned 15 and has been very successful in his own. Given his hard work and effort, him being rich completely makes sense. But people tend to not perceive that and just assume he’s only rich because of his family background.

  People’d come to him, get close to him and use his kind-heart nature to their advantage. Chenle’s been constantly used but because he feels like it’s okay to help out those who need it, he hasn’t ever really stopped being taken advantage of.

  You and Chenle met around the time Chenle started out his little business career. You weren’t really aware of his family background when you approached him. It was out of plain interest towards a classmate that is so intelligent and mature despite his age. And to be honest, given the age that you two were at, you never really thought Chenle was anything beyond a normal student.

  Chenle saw that in you, the open and understanding you really appealed to him in this society full of people who chase after wealth and fame. He thought you approached him because of his status as well at first. That’s why he was very cold towards you. But later on his doubtfulness towards you disappears the more time he spends with you. You never ask for anything other than his opinion on your projects. And even when you hang out, you never let him pay for anything you want. You pay for what you want yourself and even scold him whenever he tries to pay for you.

   That’s how Chenle ended up developing a soft spot or you despite his badboy-ish persona.

    But you being hit on by this douchebag rubbed him the wrong way. It’s one thing to receive insults about himself. He can ignore that and keep his anger in himself. It is something he is used to. But standing there and seeing this random stranger disrespect and touch you was way too much for him to stay quiet.  

   “How about you back the hell off” Chenle grips the male’s arm harshly while glaring at him. The latter is taken aback by his strength but remains the smirk on his face, “I’m taking this babe out, not you” he says.

  Chenle’s grip tightens even more and you notice how white his knuckles are turning. It is when he tenses his jaw that the older male lets go of your wrist, only to turn to Chenle and grip his collar, “What can a kid like you do to me? You’ll call your parents?” he asks but narrows his brow the moment Chenle’s lips curl up into a mocking smirk.

  “You can’t even afford a sandwich, what makes you think you can take my girl out” Something in the way he says that or how me calls you ‘his girl’ makes you feel fuzzy inside. For him to have the audacity to talk to an older male with so much confidence.

   “What did you say?” The male looks a little flustered but regained his composure, if he had one to begin with. Chenle doesn’t even bother removing the other’s grip around his collar because the next minute, they are surrounded by a bunch of men dressed in suits.

   “Get some money in your wallet before talking to me” Chenle’s smirk starts to make you grin from ear to ear. Ugh, rich and cool, he won’t stop talking about this later on, you think to yourself, almost rolling your eyes. You see the older male this close to snapping or throwing a fist. But he couldn’t.

   He looks around at all the bulky men before slowly letting go of Chenle. The now empty milk bottle is snatched from your hold and you see Chenle handing it to the flirt. He pulls out a stack of one-dollars out of nowhere and starts tapping it against the older’s cheek mockingly, “Throw that out for me, will you? Might as well go get yourself some strawberry milk while you’re at it” he cocks a teasing brow at him, leaving the stack of money on the top of the male’s head

   And in a blink, the smirk is replaced by his cold glare as Chenle looks the other dead in the eyes. “Pray I don’t find out where you fucking live if you don’t want to be homeless”. It comes out as almost a growl rather than a normal threat. The older gulps, actually feeling insecure.

  Chenle then turns to you, taking your hand and walking away from the scene. A chuckle leaves your lips before you throw your arm around his shoulder while walking, “Damn, ‘buy yourself some strawberry milk’ he said. What a strawberry bad boy”. Chenle suddenly removes your arm from his shoulders and turns you to face him, face barely a breathe away from his as he whispers with a smirk, “Your strawberry bad boy”.

   And there it comes again, the fuzzy feeling inside you.

   author’s note    another request finished!!! Chenle is still a cute lil baby for me so...this is as much of a bad boy as he can be for me. Anyways, hope you enjoyed reading this!!! I love you 

[dzamie-oc]

Smaugust 11 - Celestial

Spike is anxious about the future. He goes to ask Celestia for help - after all, if anyone knows the woes of a long life, it would be her! (1134 words)

Spike jogged through the familiar halls of Canterlot Castle, waving at some of the Royal Guard as he passed them. Most of them maintained their professional, steely, serious gaze, but he did get a few of them to soften into a slight smile for the young dragon. If he watched closely, he saw a few of them widen their eyes slightly; he knew them from before the whole Nightmare Moon thing, and hadn't seen him with his new wings. Spike only paid half-attention to the route he was taking, letting his feet move on autopilot down the carpeted halls and around corners while he checked out how the decor had changed since his last visit. Although he had been living in Ponyville with Twilight and her friends - well, Rainbow technically lived in Cloudsdale, but she was pretty much an official Ponnyvillian - he still knew each corridor like the back of his claw. One more turn brought him to the grand entrance before the throne room, where he was thrilled to see only a single pegasus mare waiting before the huge, ornate doors.

Flapping his wings, Spike danced over the remaining distance before coming to a stop in the very short queue. "Hi there," he greeted her, "whatcha looking to ask Princess Celestia about?"

The mare turned her head, then looked down at him. Seeing him as a young dragon rather than an older one, she gave him a friendly smile rather than the terrified gasp Spike had seen Smolder get. "Oh, I'm a gardener - I grow special plants up in the clouds - and the Earth ponies in my town have been accusing me of stealing their livelihoods, even though I grow completely different plants." She pointed with a primary feather at her flank, which had what looked like a multicolored daisy on a raincloud for her cutie mark. "See this plant? That's a Bellis prismata, native to Cumuloria. It suffocates in dirt, and it's about eighty percent of what I grow." She refolded her wings to her sides before continuing, "I suppose I'm just looking for, like, a royal mark of approval or something. Or, hay, just somepony of authority to tell me I'm right." She and Spike shared a chuckle at that.

"If the flower looks anything like your cutie mark, that's really cool! I hope I get to see one someday!" Spike said.

"Well, swing by the outskirts of Trottingham sometime, little guy, and maybe you'll see my cloud!" the mare replied. "So, what are you here for?"

Spike scuffed his foot against the ground. "Ah, just, y'know, life advice. About growing up and stuff," he said, a little self-conscious, "I guess that's pretty silly compared to your neighbors trying to trample your garden... metaphorically, if it's in the clouds."

The pegasus shook her head and gave him a bright smile. "Not at all, kiddo. Heh, I wonder what I would've done if I'd thought to ask Princess Celestia for guidance when I was a filly..."

The guard called the mare's name, and she bade Spike farewell before walking into the chamber, passing a unicorn stallion engrossed in the scroll floating in front of his eyes. Spike took the time to think about what he'd say to the Princess, and also to see if he could tell the guards apart, to no avail. A few minutes later, the one on the right called out, "last one, Spike the Dragon," and Spike stepped up for the doors to open. As he went in, he passed the gardening mare.

"Went well?"

"Yes! Nothing like a note, but she gave me advice on not letting them bother me!"

"Nice one!"

"Yeah! Good luck, kiddo!"

The dragon entered the spacious room. He had grown up in the castle, had probably been in this very room countless times - especially as the Sibling Supreme - but it still was a sight to behold. A huge, vaulted ceiling, numerous stained glass windows depicting the exploits of Princess Celestia, Twilight, and her friends. And, in one, Spike held the Crystal Heart. The young dragon always held his head up a bit higher after seeing it. Finally, his view settled on the two velvet-lined thrones in the focus of the room. One with a yellow sun atop the back and a white alicorn sitting on the cushion, and the other with a silver moon and a blue alicorn. Judging by their relaxed posture and the guards in the room standing at ease, Spike figured they had heard who, exactly, was the last "petitioner" of the day.

"Hi, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna!" he called as he walked up to the throne. One of the guards on the side stiffened when he walked past where most petitioners stopped, but his counterpart smiled at him and shook his head. Spike was fine. "Were both of you running Day Court today?"

Luna shook her head, her ethereal mane swirling behind her. "I am afraid not, Spike Sparkle. I merely stopped by to invite my sister to enjoy dinner with me."

Spike cringed and took a step back. "I can, uh, come back some other day?" he offered, "I don't want to get in the way of your sisterly bonding."

"That's quite alright, Spike, Day Court is still in session," Celestia said, her voice calm, even, and inviting, "and besides, I wouldn't do that to a friend. I'm sure Luna will live even if we run over time and I'm a few minutes late."

Luna stuck her tongue out at her older sister. "I shall order extra alfalfa for you, sister, if your tardiness is excessive." Celestia drew back in a mock gasp, looking as though the Princess of the Night had threatened to drown Philomena. After a second, they broke down into laughter, and Luna walked away from the throne and through her curtain out of the throne room. "I wish you two well in your talk! But tarry not for too long, dear sister, or I shall ensure you stick to your diet!" And with that, she was gone.

Celestia and Spike turned to face each other. "So, my little dragon, what did you come here to talk about? Not that I don't love your visits no matter the reason, but you usually don't register for Day Court when you just want to talk about your latest adventure with the girls. Or especially Rarity."

Spike blushed a little, recalling his and Rarity's last trip into the gem mines near Ponyville. "Yeah, well, this feels serious. Er, more serious? It has that 'weight' thing that Twilight reads about in her crime drama novels."

The alabaster alicorn rose from her throne and descended the steps to stand next to the dragon. "Well, I will do my best to help support that weight with you."

"Thanks, Prin- thanks, Celestia," Spike said. He had to crane his neck up a bit further, but this felt more like an easy, casual conversation. "I've been thinking about growing up, and I'm worried. Dragons live a long time."

"Oh, Spike," Celestia said in a motherly tone, "you're far too young to worry about outliving your frien-"

"No, no, not that," Spike interjected, "I think I've got a decent handle on that. Well, I'm sure it'll pop up again when the time gets closer, but I think I've got it for now. No, it's more..." He sighed. "When Twilight and I first came to Ponyville, she was against making friends, and kinda bad at the whole 'friendship' thing for quite awhile longer."

Celestia giggled. "Oh, yes, I do remember her mentioning that in her first Friendship Report, to show how she had grown." She tilted her head, trying to read him. "Are you...? Ah, my apologies, Spike. I'll let you tell it at your own speed."

The dragon smiled at her. "Thanks. And no, I'm not wondering if there's anything I'm wrong about or missing out on. I may be Spike the Brave and Glorious, but I'm not Spike the omnisss... omnisha..."

"Omniscient?"

"Yeah, that. I don't know everything. Nopony does." His smile twisted into a wry smirk. "Not even you, Princess. I've heard how often Luna pranks you."

"Would you believe I fell for them on purpose to cheer her up?"

"Nnnnope."

"Drat."

Another shared laugh. "No, but..." Spike's smile fell. "The thing is, ponies change. Griffons change. Changelings change - hay, I sang a whole song about it! And Ember and Garble have shown me that dragons change, too." He looked up at the co-ruler of the land, eyes wide in a sad, pleading stare. "What if I change too much? What if I grow up to be like that Power Ponies villain, Wild Card, and start thinking that Equestrian society is bad at the roots? What if-"

A look of horrified realization spread over his features. His crest and fins sank, and he trembled as he finished in a small voice.

"What if, like Tempest Shadow, I start thinking that friendship and being nice was a thing for foals and little hatchlings?"

"Aw, Spike..." Celestia said in a soft voice. She leaned her head down and gently nuzzled him before continuing, "there's no way to predict how you'll change. But remember, Twilight ultimately showed Tempest the magic of friendship anew. I have faith that friendship and harmony will prevail in everypony, and as an alicorn and a dragon, we have so much more time for it to return in us, should we falter, ourselves."

Spike still looked close to crying, but he had a small smile on his face. "What, you, falter in friendship?" He snorted and waved a claw dismissively. "You're Princess Celestia! You're, like, the epitome of peace and harmony!"

"Don't say that around Luna," Celestia quipped, "she's seen my nightmares. But, Spike, would you like to know one of the best ways of keeping yourself from... becoming a Power Pony villain?" The alicorn mare leaned in, as though about to divulge a particularly juicy secret.

The dragon stared at her, cautious hope in his wide eyes, and nodded.

"It's... friends," the Princess said with a smile, "friends who can cheer you up when you're down, friends who give you a reason to keep on trotting..." she paused, her expression turning wistful as she gazed toward's Luna's throne. "Friends who notice when you feel like the world is against you, and can bring you back before it's too late..."

Spike followed her gaze, then reached out to reassuringly pet her foreleg. "Princess, I'm sure you didn't know any better."

Celestia looked back at him, and returned to smiling softly. "You're right, Spike, I didn't. I wasn't used to being a Princess back then, and I lost my dearest friend for that change." She took a deep breath, then straightened and gave him a more confident smile. "But, again, I learned the error of my ways, and that was also a change, as was the rest of those thousand years. And believe me, since she's returned, we've also changed quite a bit with how we think of and talk with each other. I honestly believe it will all turn out for the best in the end, as long as you keep on learning. Even when you're as old and ancient and know-it-all and boring as me!" Celestia's eyes widened and she covered her mouth with her hooves, then glared around the room.

"Oh, come now," the disembodied voice of Discord said, "surely you weren't going to lecture one of my O&O buddies about change and not even invite me? I even brought you a cake! Banana-vanilla, your favorite."

"Pardon me if I don't exactly believe you," Celestia said, testily.

"Well, too bad. You get me anyway!" The draconequus's upper body popped out of Celestia's billowy mane, holding a one-layer cake with a crude drawing of Celestia on the icing. He immediately smashed it into her face. "Well, that's my gag for this. Discord away!" Discord's body liquified and fell to the floor, where it slipped away through the cracks in the tiles.

Celestia sighed and lifted the cake away from her in her magic. She looked at Spike, then at the cake. "Don't tell Luna?"

Spike mimed zipping his lips; Celestia licked hers. Just before she took a bite, she smiled serenely down at the young dragon. "I hope I was able to help you, my little dragon."

He gave her a grin and a thumbs-up. "I think I got it. Thanks, Celestia!"

"Anytime, Spike. Have a good day," she said, and the two of them parted ways, to opposite ends of the throne room.

Spike was distracted again as he left the castle. But this time, his smile wasn't from the gorgeous architecture and decor, but rather the memory of his conversation, and what he learned from it.

[seedling-lotus]

thank you for tagging me @mylastbraincql​ !!! 

All right! Bearing in mind that today I am extremely flustered and extremely fond (partly due to a certain fic, but also just in general. I’m in a good mood today. It’s nice) and that there are 650 fics in my bookmarks on AO3, I’m gonna try to keep this to a single fandom. And in honor of the lovely @mylastbraincql​ who tagged me, I will try to keep this to MDZS fandom of which I only, currently have 81 fics bookmarked (but I have a pile more in my TBR queue)

SO Let’s begin!

“Slow Burn” or “Love at First Sight” - Now don’t get me wrong, I have a fond place in my heart for “Love at first sight” fics too. But usually only in the context of slow burn mutual pining there after. so yes, fall in love quickly, but don’t do anything about it for a long time. But yes, love me a slow burn. This series is slow burning and super cute. This fic was also a beautiful slow burn.

“Fake Dating” or “Secret Dating” - I don’t think I’ve ever really encountered secret dating? But fake dating, mmmm. Especially fake dating where they end up catching feels! (I know I’ve read so many fics with this but I cannot find a single one right now, what the heck...)

“Enemies Annoyances to Lovers” or “Friends to Lovers” - Friends to lovers is super sweet, but, well, I prefer some darker emotions in my reading. Though I suppose there could be dark emotions there too... I don’t think I’ve ever really read it. Annoyances to lovers. Oh dear. This fic, I think, probably fits the trope best?

“Oh no there’s only one bed...” or Long-distance with correspondence - I love this trope. It’s hilarious to me. Hmm... I don’t think I’ve actually read all that much of it for this fandom, but it does come up in this fic. 

Hurt/Comfort or Amnesia - Don’t get me wrong, there’s a lot of hurt comfort in amnesia, but I do prefer just straight up hurt/comfort. Like this fic, and this one.

Fantasy AU or Modern AU - Yes. All of the yes. gimme all of it. I love all of it. I love every single possible type of AU. I will read a million AUs! But here, lemme find some specific examples for this one. Fantasy & Modern (I admittedly have more examples of modern than fantasy, but they’re all so good! And I’m only sharing one modern under this particular heading to make it fair.)

Mutual Pining or Domestic Bliss - Pining in general is just my jam, okay? Mutual Pining? *wheezes* I love it. It slays me every single time. I have so many freaking emotions about pining. I pine for pining fics, you do not understand. Rip my heart out. This one is mild on the pining, but I love it.  And here’s one that’s actually mutual pining like I’m supposed to be giving examples of >.>; 

Smut or Fluff - So this one is actually a really hard choice for me? I don’t actually particularly like Fluff or Smut as far as fics go, but I am more likely to choose Smut over fluff. Largely in part because the higher rated fics tend to have story lines that I enjoy more. I’m also a huge sap and get easily overwhelmed by fluff, so I try not to turn into a giggling goof too often. But anyway. Here’s a Smut. and a Fluff. For your reading pleasure. 

Canon-compliant (missing scenes) or Fix-it fics -Yes! yes to both! Oh goodness, I love both of these ideas very much. I love when people expand on a canon in ways that still comply. I also love when they tweak things to make them work! Compliant Okay, I admit, that one doesn’t quite fit the criteria because it’s technically a continuation instead of a missing scene, but I’m counting it anyway. Fix-It This series is one of my fave fix-its. Largely because I just freaking adore Mo Xuanyu.

Alternate universe or Future fic - Both, both is good! I am weak for both of these. Possibly more for AUs but I will definitely get equally excited about both. Here’s one of my fave AUs. And my fave future fic series.

One-shot or Multi-chapter - Honestly, I can go either way on this. It really depends on my mood and how much time I have. Though with this fandom and their propensity for one-shots that are over 20,000 words... But I do love it. Here is a painfully long, but absolutely gorgeous one-shot that I love. and here is a kind of silly multi-chapter (that’s actually shorter than the one shot) that I enjoyed thoroughly. 

Kid fic or Road trip fic - Oh I love Kid fics! Fics where the characters are kids, or have kids. Either way. I love them very much. So many of my fandoms, this one included, do involve a lot of traveling in general, but that’s usually in a more mission oriented sense. I’m not really sure any of them would travel for the sake of traveling. (I can’t find any examples of the characters being kiddos in my bookmarks >.<) here’s another where they have kids because it’s too cute

Reincarnation or Character death - I’m gonna be honest, character death is just depressing for the most part. I will, sometimes, read very short fics involving it, but it’s not a favorite. Reincarnation fics however? Oh heck yes. (>.< I don’t think I have any examples of reincarnation fics tho)

Arranged Marriage or Accidental Marriage - I know that, like, accidental marriage is the name of the game in this fandom. And I do love it. It’s hilarious. But arranged marriage AUs have a special place in my heart. This is one of my faves. 

High School College Romance or Middle-aged Romance - I have absolutely nothing against middle aged romance (heck, in this fandom that’s practically canon) but I admit, younger romances resonate a bit more for me, and I am more likely to click on them. (Probably because I’m not too much older than those tropes 26, gods, it’s been years since I was in school, what the heck) Here’s a cute little college AU.

Time Travel or Isolated Together - Ooo, this one is fun. In a sense, these two tie closely for me because there’s a lot of... Overlap? or at least, a lot of potential for it. In general anyway. It usually doesn’t work that way, and certainly not for this fandom. I’ll admit, I haven’t read any outright time travel fics for these lovely characters, yet. I’m pretty sure I have a couple in my TBR. As for Isolated together, that has so much potential. I like it both in the sweet ways and the angsty ones. This is the closest to a time travel fic as I’ve read for this fandom. And here is a cute little “isolated together” fic. 

Neighbors or Roommates - These AUs are, yes. I love them very very much. There’s so much potential for them. I don’t technically have any recs that fit either of the above for this heading that I haven’t already linked, but... Here’s a super sweet fic that they become roommates at the end of ^-^

Sci-fi AU or Magic AU - Give Me All The AUs. No, but seriously. I adore Sci-fi and magic. Now this fandom does make it a little harder for the magic AU because canon is technically magic, but! It’s still a lot of fun to read. Unfortunately, the only Sci-fi au I’ve read is already linked up under the Fantasy header (it’s both, hush). But here is my all time fave alternative magic fic for this fandom. (And it just updated the final chapter!!)

Angst or Humor - *cackles* oh goodness me. Angst. Angst all the way. If my heart feels like it’s being forcibly removed from my chest, it’s the best. Humor is... not really my cup of tea in general. I enjoy laughing, no doubt, but my humor is pretty dark so it’s way easier for me to be amused by an angsty fic than a humorous one. Here are some angsty fics that ripped my heart to pieces.  

Tagging! @lepetiterik, @toddnyallison, @hunxi-guilai and anyone else who wants to play!. (you absolutely do not have to rec fics in this, I just got waaay over excited and wanted to share. let me know if anyone wants recs from any of my other fandoms)

[digimonadventuretimelines]

[15 - Ken vs Lupinmon!!]

Daichi, Ulforce and Natsu followed the horde of Bakemons carrying tons of families to Tokyo’s Big Sight as Natsu predicted, or as she could remember of the original story. They couldn’t go inside and take part of the fight, so they watched carefully the revolution led by the adults to break the Bakemon barrages and leave the building. Natsu used a pink bubble shield to hover over the building.

“Hikari’s there!” Natsu pointed at the group of kids in front of Tailmon, who was forced to identify every children in a long queue “Yes, the events of this world are a bit altered. Daisuke’s the eighth child, and Hikari is probably the future Chosen Children from year 2002.”

“We can’t interrupt those events…” Daichi mused, his D-TimeRune on his hand “If we save everyone here, Hikari might not be chosen in the future.”

“Exactly, let’s focus on the other people-- Wait, hold on a second…”

Vamdemon appeared in front of the kids, giving shivers to Natsu. The boy didn’t get it at all, but someday he would. They heard the children’s screams, they were having a hard time to deal with those events. The nightmare Natsu know thanks to how Daisuke reacted to those memories.

“This is the part Vamdemon is noticed about their soldiers had found the eighth kid” she muttered, Daichi looked at her and saw Natsu’s frown and fist clenched “I need this pendant to get full as soon as possible, I don’t want to show you WHAT happened on this day. It’s almost full… Just a few minutes...”

“What happened?” the boy asked “Natsu, you can’t hide important information from us!”

“You see, Daichi kid” Ulforce put a hand on Daichi’s digivice, “This is a thing we shouldn’t show you, or tell you. It’s terrifying, and you father from this world… Well, he will witness it by himself and have something that probably will change him forever.”

“But what is!?”

“Oh, it’s full! Thank goodness, let’s get out of here as soon as possible!!”

“Already!?” Ulforce gasped “Wow, how did you do that!?”

“I don’t know… But let’s open the gate and-- Daichi? Daichi, please we need to get out of here!”

“Why can’t I see what’s going to change my father in this world?”

“... When you get ready for that story, I will tell you. Please let’s go home.”

He pointed the digivice to the pendant, opening a gate in front of them. They left that world so fast that he wasn’t sure what it meant.

Oolong tea on a mug saying ‘the world’s future’ on it. A dark room only illuminated by two screens with a streaming site open and a chat box there. She had been watching carefully the events recorded by Mitsuki, who had now knocking on her room’s door.

“Come in” a girl voice was heard from outside, and Mitsuki opened the door.

“Wow, you’re fired up today Mirai!” he exclaimed, turning the lights on “My dad says it’s not a good idea to use the computer in a dark room.”

“I know,” she didn’t look at him because she was typing furiously on the keyboard “I needed to keep myself focused on the data.”

Izumi Mirai. A girl at the same age as Taisuke. she has reddish short hair with a headband to give her a cute-ish appearance. her bangs covered her forehead and the two sidebangs are a bit longer than the rest. Her eyes are purple-ish, reflecting the monitor screens on them as she works on the PC.

“Ok but why are you doing it?” he sat on her bed, seeing a few printed papers on it  next to him “School’s homework?”

“Oh no, Daichi asked for my assistance” she said, her eyes running through the recording video “I know he got a digimon, he told me first.”

“Aw, and I thought I was his favorite friend…” he added a chuckle at the end.

“And you? You found a digivice today right?” she stopped typing to look at him, “It looked like a phone? An old phone?”

“Yes it does” he then showed her it “Not sure how, but it appeared to me when I met that mysterious Blue Greymon’s warrior today… And when I tried to protect…”

“HA, I’M NOT THAT WEAK!! But really thanks for saving my life!!” a voice came from the digivice, a Yellow D-TimeRune. On screen there was a purple-ish Patamon -- Tsukaimon -- pouting at first, but now he was smiling.

“It’s okay, Pit” the boy responded, “But really, what was happening?”

“Huhu, according to my investigation… This incidents are happening to cause a clash between the worlds!” she took impulse to run the desk chair to the side and let Mitsuki take a look at the screens, “All those attacks are directed to the portal areas, the Digital Gates. But huh, why are those digimon attacking their own species?”

“Because some digimon are refugees of the current enemy, kiddo”

“Oh right right… To add this to another evidence list!”

“Speaking of that… you got a digivice thing too, Mirai?”

“Shh, my dad has a database of Chosen Children around the world and he might not like to know I got one!” she whispered, taking a purple D-TimeRune from her dress overalls’ pocket “And Koh isn’t a very good at fighting emulation…”

“Koh?”

“Mi-Mirai I didn’t know you got visitors… Hi, I’m KoKabuterimon. Or Koh, as Mirai calls me by.”

“Oh… A digimon who I never had seen before!”

“Well, he appeared on the internet on the same day Daichi told me about his secret. Since then, I’ve been researching about Koh and the digivice. For short, this digivice gathers data of your dominant trait and transforms it into energy. But! Each digimon has a compatible energy with yours, which we call it ‘rune fragment’ and it is important for evolution...”

  …  which means you have to unlock it to achieve a temporally higher form for battle. Human and Digimon partners have to be connected by a special ‘link’ formed by this digital device. To evolve your partner, you need to perform a few steps.

Step one, scan the back of your hand and activate it by the command…

“Scan DigiRune!”

Step two, point the device at your digimon partner and unlock the power by saying…

“Load Evolution!”

Then it’s done! Evolution is unlocked! But, if your digimon runs out of stamina… The evolution might not hold for much time.

“Ack, be careful at how you evolve me kid!”

BlackAgumon growled, since the kid wasn’t very aware of what to do.

“... No stamina?” the boy looked at the digivice’s screen. It was an orange with white model “Ok, we need to eat now. Also, I need to go home please don’t make a fuss inside the digivice.”

“Of course I ran out of stamina! You can’t force a digimon partner evolve like that!” the digimon complained “How many of those refugee digimon have we helped until now?”

“Hm… 15. I sent them straight to the authorities.”

“Fair…” he then glanced at his tamer, “What’s wrong kid?”

“More children with digivices like this one are appearing. Does it mean… I will have to reveal myself to them? N-No, if I do that… they will tell my parents and I’m not here to be scolded by them!”

“... Take your time kid.”

 “Fascinating huh?” She put the digivice back to her pocket and returned to type on the computer keyboard “Ah, now that you know about this peculiar information maybe you want to talk with Daichi about further details.”

“I see, but what ‘further details’ are you talking about?”

“You will see, now go ahead I have to investigate who is this mysterious kid you found today.”

“Huh, kicking me out?” he smirked “How rude~”

“Oh please, Mitsuki…” she grinned “If you want a literal kick…” and laughed.

“No, I’m not here to test your current invention~ See ya!”

 “You’re late” a girl with brown-ish hair, green eyes spoke once she saw Hoshi approaching. The boy next to her had the same color of Tachikawa Mimi’s hair and eyes, but his haircut seemed similar to Michael’s -- the American Chosen Child.

“Sorry. Didn’t mean it. A digimon attacked and I… I had to take another route! I’m fine though!”

“Your excuse is well elaborated” the boy smugged “We were watching Mitsuki’s stream. You were in battle with a digimon” Hoshi gasped “Don’t worry, we got you covered.”

“But then… wha-what’s the news?” Hoshi babbled “Reika’s message said it was important!”

“During the stream…” a second boy spoke. He resembled Kido Joe, safe for his haircut being different from his father “a light came and we got… These.”

Then, the trio showed her three D-TimeRune digivices: One gray, one burgundy and one green.

“You three!?” her jaw dropped “B-but how!?”

“We don’t know” Reika replied, “Mike and Jin don’t know either. And what do you mean by that reaction? You have one too?”

“Yes, here” Hoshi showed hers “But is a bit different from yours… Yours look like Eiji’s and Kiyoko’s…”

“Them too?” Jin raised an eyebrow “That’s… strange.”

“Why strange? Kiyoko was the first!” after that reveal, she sighed and “Will you tell your parents? Did you get digimon partners already?”

“A digimon?” Mike, the boy next Reika, talked “No, we didn’t get any digimon either.”

“Are we supposed to get digimon with those old phones too?” Jin asked, Reika and Mike looked at him and then the three gave a glance at Hoshi.

“Yeah, you supposed to! I think… We got ours when we were… trying to save our digimon partners…”

“How odd…” Jin fixed his glasses.

“As you can say… We’re late to the party” Mike shrugged.

 The gate opened by Skuld to send the trio home actually…

“Huh, we’re in the Digital World!?”

… sent them to the wrong ‘home’ and they saw Lupinmon dashing thru the forest, lightning sparkles floating in the air. And behind them, Stingmon carrying Ken in his hands. Natsu covered her mouth, and Daichi bit his lip. Ulforce gave a concerned gaze at his friends, knowing that this means Daichi had to prevent officer Ichijouji from beating Lupinmon.

“What should we do!?” the blue digimon babbled.

“Natsu, follow them!” Daichi ordered with a determined glare “Move this forcefield faster as possible to reach Lupinmon. If officer Ichijouji hurt Lupinmon… He will be petrified when he learns that Lupinmon is my father!”

“R-right…! I will… I will try!”

 “You’re slow, human!” Lupinmon laughed, jumping from branch to branch with the speed of the thunder. But Ken wouldn’t give up at all, no matter how long it takes… But suddenly, Lupinmon missed a jump, his speed downgraded drastically “Ugh!”

Stingmon and Ken reached him. When Lupinmon tried to speed up, Ken used the improvised whip made of the vine to tie Lupinmon. They had won the game.

“I guess you are slower then” Ken smirked; Stingmon grabbed the vine.

“You think so?” Lupinmon’s smug hinted something. Soon, the digimon cut the vines and disappeared quickly… “GOT YOU!” … to reappear behind them. An electrical slash made of blue sparkling claws sent Stingmon and Ken to the ground, “Oh wait… I bluffed. You’re not going home, pal.”

… Pal? Ken found that oddly familiar, but ordered Stingmon to attack back. Stingmon nodded, put Ken on the ground carefully and then flew against Lupinmon. the opponent kept smirking, and dodged Stingmon’s Spiking Finish’s stingers. The kicks thrown by the insectoid digimon were dodged as well. HOWEVER, at a very critical part of the dodging…

“Ugh…”

Lupinmon stopped moving, and his eyes flashed from red to brown. Stingmon took the opportunity and threw a kick at the enemy, sending him against a tree. Lupinmon fell on the floor. But still didn’t try to move. Ken was still watching, yet unable to know what was happening, why was Lupinmon not dodging or blocking Stingmon’s attacks anymore…?

“Stingmon, get him--”

“NO!!”

Natsu landed the bubble between Stingmon and Lupinmon. Ken growled.

“Stop, officer Ichijouji!” Daichi spoke, his voice of tone was deadly serious.

“If you didn’t notice we weren’t trying to kill him” Ken replied after regaining composure, yet he was a bit of aggressive with that line. Typical of him.

“You have to believe me!” Daichi continued “Lupinmon is my dad!”

“Wha-- Hm, that makes sense…”

The kid, Natsu and Ulforce looked at Lupinmon. Daichi frowned, “Dad please snap out of it… You can do that! Come back… to us!”

“Ngh… ARGH! YOU AGAIN!!?” Lupinmon’s eyes turned red again “I will… I WILL END YOU FIVE RIGHT NOW!!”

“Stingmon!” Ken shouted, and the insectoid grabbed the three then Ken and flew away from there.

“But… But he stopped, why can’t he return back to his consciousness!?” Daichi desperately tried to find the answer, but Ken put a hand on his shoulder “O-officer Ichijouji?”

“If he can get control over himself for a few minutes… There’s a chance of him coming back.”

“But what should we do?” Ulforce asked, “Lupinmon is the one leading the troops against the human world.”

“The Roar of Freedom are controlling him. I have to tell the others, but I won’t let them take a drastic decision about it. He’s a victim, not the true enemy.”