dontbeafraidfic

[countlessrealities]

Rick, what do you think about the Utrom?

Unprompted asks || Always accepting !

Rick's first reaction at the question is a little scoff. Why the hell is someone asking him about the bubblegums? The way he acts towards them should be enough to tell what he thinks about them. And sure, Krang, Subprime, Bishop and Grum aren't their whole species but, in the scientist's eyes, they summarise their kind very well.

In truth, even if he would deny it even under torture, he is very much aware of how contradictory his behaviours towards the four aliens are. On one hand, he has always an insult or a complaint or some not-constructive criticism ready to be directed at them. With Subprime, especially, the first impression one would get of their relationship is that they hate each other's guts. Which is true...to an extent.

On the other hand, however, it's undeniable that Rick also holds a certain degree of respect for the Utrom's scientific knowledge and skills, and that he tends to seek out their company whenever the chance arises. That makes it really hard to believe that he dislikes them so much or that he doesn't care at all.

"I-I guess that they don't suck too much as a species?" He ends up replying with a shrug, in a slightly dismissive tone. "An-And they can offer resources and tech tha-that grabs my interest."

And no, Bishop, he's not talking about the crystals. He can harvest those by himself.

"T-The one I personally know? T-They are four pain in my ass. H-How the fuck can someone so small be s-such a big bother is a fuckin' mystery." He follows the words with an eyeroll. "I-I mean, they can also be decent company, b-but I swear, they always have something against me. G-Geez, if you don't like how I handle shit, n-no one is forcing you to hang out with me."

Pity that it's not so simple. He's the one who goes and bothers them to start with, so there's not much the poor aliens can do to avoid him. Not that Rick would ever admit this either.

"B-But I guess that they are fun enough to toy with to be worth my time, and tha-that's not something I say about everyone. J-Just don't tell them I said that. T-The last thing Krang and S-Supprime need is a fuckin' ego boost."

{ @technodromes - mentioned }

[silverheartlugia2000]

DCXDP prompt

Ok, so there's plenty of Danny laying low or freaking out about the no meta rule, but I have this CRAVING of someone for once just explaining it to him? Like whoever bird or birds he's talking to just leans in and whispers "Wanna know a secret? That's mostly just a mind control precaution. I mean would you want to see Supes jacked up on fear gas? If the league do come over he prefers to be called first so he's close if something happens."   

Danny- "Oh... yeah that makes sense actually, that shit isn't fun to be under.."

"Wait is THAT why you have that string of robberies on your record?!"

"That and the time my whole town got possessed in order to make me look bad and get arrested.."

The bird then drags Danny into the cave to open Bruce's file on him, and they both sit down and fill in the gaps on the shadier spots of his record. Heck Danny eventually gives Bats a few thermoses and other less harmful but still disabling device blueprints to add to the contingency file cause even if Dan is in therapy and on probation he knows his shit luck will probably make it needed sooner rather than later and he knows how fast it will go bad.

It comes in very handy at the next gala when Vlad attempts to have a duplicate overshadow Bruce who refuses to take his business propositions. Vlad gets nosey before Danny pulls up his king rights and makes vlad take an Oath (the magic binding kind) to not mess with Bruce or his family or reveal any of their super identities to anyone at all. Constantine is there beforehand to read over the contract and outthink any loopholes before vlad can take advantage of them.

Danny gives them samples of ecto-dejecto for medical emergencies, the Bat's keep them refreshed and in stock especally after they meet Ellie and hear about her stability problems. With help from Frostbite and Danny's ok they start working on a more reliable formula just for Ellie's sake.

Yes Jason is calmer around the halfas and he is slowly stabilizing enough form a proper core from it, (not an instant fix this time!) whether hes becoming a true halfa, more towards a remnant, or both they arent sure. But one night when the phantoms arent around Jason is having a bad time, reacting from something he was hit with during a fight. Tim just grabs one of the ecto-pens on a whim and it just flushes out the toxin so fast Jay passes out. When he wakes up his core has had a good growth spurt, its still not complete yet but he's beginning to get some minor abilities, the Phantom sibs start coaching him before it gets strong enough for Jason to turn completely intangible and if Jay starts complaining? Clockwork whisks them ALL up to the tower for a home movie night of Danny's greatest fails. Grampa has a collection, good and bad XD. Yes Danny is cringing in shame while eating Clockwork's ecto cookies but Jason is slowly starting to understand the importance of getting the basics right cause he does NOT want to accidentally sink completely under the ground without being able to get back out no thank you!!

What core type would he get anyway? Shadow's like Johnny because of the stealth perks? Earth to prevent being buried again? Would he have literature as a secondary obsession cause obviously he's gonna follow Danny into the family/protection category but since Danny also has a space obsession why not?

He puts Jazz's name in the list of superhero safe therapists, the fact she's already making waves at Arkam is only boosting her reputation. Especially once they read her paper on ghost obsessions and how sometimes they are comparable to hyper-fixations in autistics in the way they both satisfy and promote healthy growth for a ghosts physical and mental state but also how being deprived of them or forced to go against them can be severely harmful to their literal health.

And that was one thing the birds kept tripping on to understand whenever they needed to bench one of the halfas but they would end up just hovering around NEEDING to be helpful no mater how much they are told to go back to bed. They also get a whole new understanding on what happened to Dan cause yeah his whole timeline is based on loosing his family and retaliating out of grief.

So from then on the halfas are allowed to help with little tasks as long as they do not strain their recovery at all. Whenever Danny gets sickly and depressed they take him up to the watch tower, Ellie gets lessons in different languages so she can interact more when they let her join them on international trips, Jason gets set loose in a newly discovered bookstore when the manor's or Bab's library isn't enough, and Dan.. they're still figuring him out but he seems to enjoy wrecking little play city set ups and games where you play as the monster like Godzilla or Rampage along with general ghost sibling rough housing. (Lilo and Stitch is his favorite movie but you'd be hard pressed to get him to admit it,)

As for ships, definitely anger management. Jason becomes an unofficial fourth Phantom sib. Platonic everlasting trio cause Danny loves his friends and they will pet him like a cat for hours while his tail coils around them possessively like a giant snake and still make memes of it when he's grumpy. Brain dead is fun also, especially if Danny or the others are capable of Little Baby Man form and Tim has to fight Damian for cuddle rights! Bats has his usual girls but hey superman isn't that bad to hang around either.

[tenabrye]

I find it so amusing that in the manga, Vash cant drive. I think its adorable that hes this kick ass outlaw, but cant drive lol

Could I get headcanons or a fic maybe for the reader teaching Stampede Vash how to drive (hopefully better than Meryl) and they develop feelings for each other while doing it?

Thank you so much!

Imagine being someone with such a high bounty on your head who is also a badass without trying, yet you can't drive to save your life. XD

"I step on this one?"

"No, that's the brake," you sighed, telling him for the tenth time, "you need to step on the gas pedal." You had gone over what was what with Vash for what seemed like hours. You watched as his hands gripped the steering wheel and his foot pressed on the gas pedal, causing the vehicle to lurch forward with an agonizing screech. The noise caused the blond to release his foot and turn to you, taking note of your wide eyes. He then followed your gaze and stared at the gearshift. It was still in park. "You really won't get anywhere with it being in park."

The man chuckled and scratched his cheek in a sheepish manner with his finger. "I, uh, whoops." He heard you sigh once more before he shifted the vehicle out of park and to drive. "Sorry," he said.

"It's fine," you assured him, "it's a common mistake."

"Really?" He asked.

"No," you said, causing him to frown, "but that's why I'm here. Hopefully with my teaching, you'll learn how to drive. Maybe even better than Meryl."

Vash huffed through his nose and smiled. "That's a lot of hope you have for me."

"Not hope, because I know you will. Now," you paused and gestured to the gas pedal, "you can drive without hearing that awful noise, but don't--" Before you could finish your sentence, Vash had stepped on the gas pedal, causing the car to quickly roll forward. You gripped the dash and held onto the small handle on the roof of the car, squeezing it tightly as you clenched your teeth. "Stop, stop, stop!" You hollered out, and the blond was quick to stomp on the brake, causing you to lurch forward.

"What did I do wrong?" He asked, lips curving into a frown as he saw the slight fear on your face.

"You can't just step on the gas like that," you told him, "you have to ease into it gently." Your grip on the handle loosened and you sighed, leaning your head back against the head rest. "The easiest way to put it is to imagine gently pressing your foot down in the sand."

He blinked before carrying out your instructions, the toe of his boot slowly pressing down on the gas pedal, causing the vehicle to gently move forward again. His hands had a firm grip on the steering wheel, and he kept his eyes on the dirt road in front of him. You did the same, often glancing at Vash to see how he was doing.

"Thank you for doing this," he said.

"You had to learn sooner or later. Besides," you paused to smile at him, "you're a fast learner. It's not too difficult to explain things to you."

Vash hummed, his lips having curled into a soft smile as he kept his eyes on the road. "It helps to have a teacher with a lot of patience." Truth be told, he was ecstatic when you said you would teach him how to drive. This allowed the two of you to be alone in the car, and for him to relish in your presence. He just didn't know you felt the same, and it's partly the reason as to why you were teaching him how to drive. The other part being that it was something he definitely needed to know in case the situation called for it.

"It helps even more when the student is so calm." Silence followed you both as you stared out ahead, watching as the blond kept the vehicle straight during the drive. It wasn't until the car rolled to a slow stop, having reached a small intersection, that your lips parted to speak. Before you could say anything about him turning, Vash carefully maneuvered the car in the left direction, causing you to smile in satisfaction. "See? You're practically a natural now. Since no one is around, you can go faster if you'd like to."

The approval to do so caused him to press the gas pedal down a bit more, the car now moving at a faster rate down the road. "I'm glad it was you to teach me. I get to both learn how to drive and be around someone I like."

You blinked, head snapping in his direction as you stared at him. "Like?" You asked, brow now raised. "You like everyone, though."

The car slowed until it came to a stop, and Vash put it in park before he turned to look at you. "The feelings I have for you aren't the same with the others. I like you, a lot."

Your lips curled into a broader smile. "Well, that certainly explains how enthusiastic you were about learning how to drive. You could've asked for anyone, yet you chose me for that reason." A small chuckle slipped out and your eyes softened as you stared at the blond. "I like you, too, Vash. Always have." A light crimson hue dusted his cheeks the second you leaned over and planted a light kiss to his cheek. "How about you drive us back and we can catch up on how long we've liked one another?"

With a slow nod, the blond put the vehicle into drive and gently stepped on the gas pedal. "Maybe we can continue the driving lesson later?" You hummed in agreement, and Vash couldn't help but grin. Today truly was the best.

[noffy96]

Sun/Moon Fic

Chapter two is here! I had so much fun writing this one. This might be the quickest i ever updated a fic? Maybe. I am not sure. But we are here for it XD

Our first day together Apart .

Word count: 7724

Chapter 2/4 (Complete)

Previous Chapter | Next Chapter

Chapter Summary:

The first thing he did when he was woken back up was call for Moon in their shared headspace. Only to be met with utter silence. Not even the prompt of ‘rest mode don't disturb’ appeared. 

He called a second time still being met with utter silence. He was about to call a third time when he remembered. They were supposed to be separated now…is that why it was so quiet? 

Or

Sun is the first one to wake up, He learns to work with his new body and then waits anxiously for Moon.

--link here to AO3--

or continue below the read more line

The first thing he did when he was woken back up was call for Moon in their shared headspace. Only to be met with utter silence. Not even the prompt of ‘rest mode don't disturb’ appeared. 

He called a second time still being met with utter silence. He was about to call a third time when he remembered. They were supposed to be separated now…is that why it was so quiet? 

He poked at his code for several more minutes. But could find nothing. Not a single trace of Moon was left.

He needed answers and he wanted them fast. Was his love okay? Did they succeed? Did they…

He shut down those thoughts. He had to focus and find out. So he activated the LED’s of his eyes. Only for it to stay utterly dark. He tried to move his head. But he felt restricted. Like he couldn't move the rest of his body.

“Raise your eyelids Sun” 

The voice was familiar, but the instructions were not. He had no eyelids. But tried searching for a code for them anyway. Anything If it could get him closer to seeing Moon. 

There was indeed a system for eyelid movement. And as they slowly raised he was greeted by the low light of one of the Parts and Services Cylinders. 

He was lying on the chair at a diagonal angle. And he could see through the glass to the other side 

There was his regular tech Diana…she was staring near the mic with a patient smile. He heard over the intercom as she started speaking. 

“Excellent! How are you feeling so far?”

“How's Moon?” 

It was rude to ignore a question but he had to know. Was he okay? Was he alive? Was he turned off? Did….did he get destroyed….? His voice had sounded a bit off, but this was more important 

Diana’s smile was patient. 

“He should just be waking up as well. Alex is working on him. Just got a text from them that they were turning him on for the first time as well. “

He let out a gasp

“So … it worked? “

Diana's smile grew.

“Everything is looking that way. Don't wanna text them and risk distracting them. So let's quickly go through all your checks. And I could send you on your way. That way you’d be done at the same time and could leave together “

He nodded excitedly. Oh yes! He would love that. Then they could go back to the daycare and he could fuss and look at Moon all he wanted. 

So the sooner he was out of here the better. Nothing against Diana she had been wonderful on every occasion. But he still didn't like this place. 

Diana could tell and never seemed to take any offense and did everything in her power to make his stays go as smoothly as possible. With both her and Moon's help. He had least stopped fearing coming here. 

Alex had the same effect on Moon. And he was glad there was someone Moon trusted with his upgrades after everything that happened with the virus.

His voice still sounded a bit off to him, He just couldn’t quite pinpoint what it was. But maybe they would test that later?  

“So Sun. Tell me. How is your vision? Any interference anywhere?”

He scanned around the place. Now that he was a bit calmer. He noticed something immediately.

“It's better than before! There are no black bars in my vision anymore!!”

He was indeed seeing so much clearer. Everything was one continuous image. No lines cutting across it at all. 

“Wait…what do you mean Sun?”

“You know…the black bars from before? Several horizontal stripes broke up my vision. It's just one image now! Oh, I don't gotta keep moving to see everything!”

He wanted to move his hands but found that he still couldn't meanwhile Diana looked shocked

“Sun why had you never told me that before?!  That shouldn't have been the case at all!

He titled his head slightly

“But it has always been like that?” 

Diana wiped her hand across her face. 

“You mean to tell me, your vision has always been broken?” 

There was a faint throb in his chest.  

“I guess so? I didn’t know those lines weren’t supposed to be there” 

He said apologetically.   

“No...no Sun, you are fine. Just another write-up about the previous staff. The more evidence the better, just wish it wasn’t at the expense of you guys. But let’s keep going. So can you blink super fast a couple of times, and check if there are any glitches”

“Sure thing”  

He did as told, and reported no problems than he was to hold his gaze in every direction for a while and Diana clapped happily 

“And that is the last, your eyes are working perfectly! Now moving on to your mouth. Can you lower your smile into a neutral expression for me?” 

He stared blankly through the glass at the tech. 

“Can I do what?” 

“Your faceplate can move now Sun. And I need to see if it can do most of the expressions listed.” 

He searched for his code, and indeed he found the controls for his faceplate. Before there had been just controls for turning his eyes on, And a separate set to control his rays as well. They had become so second nature to him, that he didn’t have to think about using them most of the time. He just did. But suddenly there were so many more controls. 

Several little motors to contort his face. But he had still no idea what he looked like. It took a couple of tries but one corner of his mouth managed to turn down. As he was struggling with finding the other side. He heard Diana say 

“Maybe, it would go easier if you could see your face, here let me find a mirror for you” 

His eyes suddenly shot up at those words 

“NO!” 

Diana stumbled back, almost falling over, She turned around, seeming to answer to someone before turning back, and he felt a small amount of guilt come over him for scaring her. 

“I...I...please I don’t want to see just yet…I wanna…with Moon…I mean...if I could…I can do it without…please don’t “  

He started stumbling over his words, and a familiar sensation of embarrassment came to him. Vents started up in an effort to keep him cool as he felt himself heat up. 

Diana went from shocked to smiling as she came back to the mic. 

“It’s okay, Remember, we are never doing anything you don’t want to unless it will impact safety. But it’s good that I can check off your high voice range as working as well as the blushing feature”  

“I-i can-” 

He started but Diana interrupted him. 

“Please keep working on controlling your face, the faster you get it, the sooner you get to see Moon”  

There was a teasing hint in her voice, But she was right and decided to not think about what was just said. Also ignoring the fact that his voice hadn't sounded like his own at all And decided to go back to focusing on what part of his code, was activating what part of his face. 

It took a long while to go through all the expressions for the test, and the longer he was at it the easier it became. It wasn’t natural just yet. And he had a tendency to go back to his little too-wide smile that his old faceplate had rested in. But Diana assured him that if he practiced a couple of times in front of a mirror. It should all come easily. 

The last thing he was told to do was stick his tongue out. And his eyes widened. He had a tongue now! And he quickly did so. Curling it slightly upward so hoped he could see it. It was longer than any human tongue he had ever seen, and also bright orange. 

He wondered how it was hidden behind his faceplate. As far as he knew of the blueprints he had seen. It was still just a flat disk? 

But he decided that he had all week to find out that particular mystery. Diana even told him he should be able to taste things now! He questioned why and apparently it came with an identifying index. So if kids started handing things out, he could now check the food for stuff other kids might be allergic to. 

He was just happy he would actually be able to taste some of the cookies the children tried to give him, instead of pretending to eat and then the cookie crumbling on the floor as he smashed against his static smile and made a mess. It always made the children laugh. So it wasn’t too bothersome. Just..the mess he rather not deal with. 

As he retracted his tongue, he decided to bring up what had been bothering him for a bit now 

“Ah….Diana?  My voice…it sounds…different?” 

He didn't know how else to explain it. 

“That could be, we had to give you a brand new voice box after all. Comes with the new body. Not that we could have used your old one. It was broken anyway.” 

He tilted his head again.  

“When did that happen? I really tried to not blow it out!”

He fretted, going back on his memories before they got here. He didn’t do anything that required him to raise his voice

“No Sun…it has always been broken. Moon’s got stuck with the soft rasp, and you got stuck the high end with the light cracks. But since it worked fine for both of you and you were getting a new body anyway. It was decided not to replace it, just like the old LED's for your eyelights” 

He stared at her through the window once more

“Oh, you didn’t know that either! “ 

He shook his head. 

“Oh Sun, I am sorry, I clearly need to ask better questions. But yeah, your voice settings are right now set to the default setting for sun models. But you could adjust the pitch. I recommend not doing that just yet. We need you to work using basic functions for a while. But I’ll let you know as soon as you can. If you still want to then of course “ 

He gave a nod, 

“Thank you, it’s….a bit strange, sometimes it feels like my voice…but sometimes..it’s a bit too low? I might just need to get used to it” 

Diana nodded understandingly 

“I get it, Like I said, I will let you know when you would be allowed to change it. But you probably stuck with this for a couple of days”  

With that, the discussion was over and they moved on to his rays. First, he had to try to spin them, after that retract and then extend them again. Next, he was asked to move each one individually. He had always had some amount of control over them, but not this much! He had been able to make them shorter. But not completely retract. Probably because Moony’s faceplate had been in the way. 

He had great fun with it for a while. As Dianna had to step away, to go give him control back over the rest of his body. He noticed it the instant he got it back. As he moved himself slightly forward. Luckily not enough to fall out of the chair. But he did move his hands in front of him to steady himself. And now that he saw them, he couldn’t help but stare at them.  

There were sleeves covering his upper arms and the elbow joint. He still wore ribbons around his wrist, but they did a better job covering the joint at his wrist. His fingers were still long, but they were no longer just metal. 

They seemed to be covered in a soft yellowish silicone. And as he grabbed onto his arm he noticed that both his hand and arm had a little give. Also, he sensed way more than just touch. The tips of his fingers were colder than his palm. He could also feel texture now. And not just the input that he was holding onto something. His sleeve was soft, and the ribbons were silky and kept gliding through his fingers. 

He heard Diana laugh when she returned in front of the glass.

“I take it that the touch sensors are working”

He nodded eagerly as he went to touch his face. Feeling the slight rise of cheeks, the way his mouth was shaped in a surprised gasp, instead of a smile. He could feel the teeth and he giggled as he bit his finger lightly just to feel that pressure. And he downright squealed as felt it as he changed his expressions First smiling, then frowning,  raising only one corner of his mouth. Then the other.

The edge of his mouth felt a bit strange  It seemed he didn't have lips…but the silicone would be able to cover all the teeth. Giving the impression of a closed smile at least. Should he still call it lips then? He'll figure it out at some point. 

As he traced his hands across the center of his face he came across a split. where one-half of his face was raised a bit higher. And he smiled as he traced the familiar crescent moon shape that was in the center of his faceplate. 

So they kept that part of their old design. And he could feel his cheeks rise as he gained a broad grin. Before quickly moving his hands to feel along his rays.

Diana left him to his exploring. Occasionally popping in with a question. But soon she let out a soft cough 

“So Sun, ready to start moving around?” 

“Oh, yes, yes! Ready as ever!” 

“Wonderfull, you should have full control back. First I am gonna lower the table back to horizontal, then you can sit and stand up. And don’t be shy to hold on to the table if you need to. I imagine all the controls are still a bit hard to find. Take your time okay?” 

He nodded and gave Diana two thumbs up. He swallowed a small yelp as the table started moving backward, his fingers drumming onto on his chest as he waited. He also now noticed that there was a light movement there.

“Uh…Diana? My chest keeps moving. “  

“hmmn..Oh yes, you got simulated breathing now! Should help with calming exercises and putting kids to sleep”  

Diana’s voice sounded over the intercom, his rays swayed slightly. As he processed the information. He was apparently mulling it over a bit longer than he thought as Diana’s voice came again

“Whenever you are ready Sun” 

Sitting up went easy, he was surprised that it went so silently. Not hearing any of the soft clicks he normally did when moving. But new body and all, His smile grew as he noticed his pants were still the same as they had always had been, But his feet seemed to be a bit shorter than before, something was also seemingly holding his shoe in place at the side. So they were no longer glued on then? 

He swung his legs off to the side only for his torso to keep facing forward. He heard Diana cover a snort. 

“Oh…Full ball joints?” He questioned 

He found his controls again and spun his torso a full three sixty degrees.  

“Correct! I all of your joints are now”

He settled so he was facing normally and tried the joint of his neck, being able to fully turn it like an owl, and letting out a giggle before turning back. He decided to see if he could do the same with his elbows and knees later. As he moved his wrists in different rotations as well.

They had always been very flexible, They had to be if they ever needed to crawl into the play structures. But this would make the whole process so much easier. He must keep in mind not to contort himself into strange shapes and scare the kids. But he was sure he was gonna try all kinds of silly poses when it was just him and Moon. Just trying to one-up each other. 

Oh, he wondered how Moon was doing at this point. Was he also finding joy in discovering his new body? He hoped it was going just as well for him. Moon would love this flexibility. And the new face plate. He wondered if they changed their colours slightly.  His arms certainly looked like they were a brighter yellow. Would his be a different shade of blue? 

He cut off his rambling thoughts. As much as he wanted to continue thinking about his partner. He had to continue on, That way he wouldn’t keep spiraling about what if’s. He would actually be able to see him! 

He placed his hands beside himself. Felt the colder metal beneath his new fingers. And slowly stood up.  Finding his balance was easy. And shortly thereafter he even took his first step. Walking to the edge of the cylinder, and then turned around walked without any problems to the other side. 

It seemed these controls had been the exact same as before so it didn’t take long to master at all. So he walked to stand in front of the glass staring at his favorite tech. 

“All good, No problems, nor glitches, or errors anywhere!  Does it look good from your end?” 

Diana was wearing the biggest grin he had ever seen.  

“It does Sun, I have no further tests for you today. Just one more scan and that’s it. You’ll be free to go” 

His hands flew to his mouth

“Really! “ 

Dianna nodded happily. 

“Could you be a dear and plug yourself in? It’s a new cable but your port is in the same position” 

He nodded and rushed back over to the chair. Watching a cable come down, he grabbed it with both hands and smiling as he filed away the new texture. And brought the cable to the back of his head. It attached with a click and he the area around it warmed up a tiny amount. 

He stood there swaying slightly making sure that the cable was kept in place

“Do…do you need me to do anything?” 

It took a while but Diana came over again.  

“No, just gotta let this run, it will take five more minutes maximum. Okay?” 

“Sure” 

He decided to trail his fingers along his arms again, categorizing the new sensations in different folders in his mind. He wondered if Moon would feel the same. Would he also be soft now? Would he run hotter or colder? Would he have a shirt now too? Would it feel any different than his own? 

He brought his hands down, as they brushed against his pants, noticing immediately they were a different material. And classifying the new sensation as well. But he also noticed. That even though these looked like his old pants. They were definitely newer ones. For one these had pockets now! 

He bounced a bit excitedly. And noticed a strange sensation in his legs. He did it again. It was familiar in a way. It felt kinda how it used to feel as he tried pushing his rays back in, in his old body…before the spring bounced them back. 

“Diana…are there?…are there springs in my legs?” 

There was some static before Diana's voice came back. 

“There are! They wanted you to have another way to get up to the balcony, in case the wire  malfunctions” 

He frowned slightly 

“Isn’t that why we have the hidden door in the theatre?” 

Dianna laughed 

“Also yes, but that is mostly for maintenance workers. This is for when you are in the daycare during working hours. You could call the wire, but if you don’t wanna risk children climbing on top of you, you could now use the springs to jump all the way up to the balcony instead. They are also very shock-resistant! So you could practice new ways to jump out as well! I believe you are the only one with them, I think they gave Moon a different feature? But you have to ask him what that is gonna be, I only really worked with your new body in dept.” 

He nodded along with her explanation. His smile grew as she brought Moon up. Something unique they could both show each other?! Oh, This was just getting better and better. 

He would need to find a perfect moment to show him. Or should he just tell him outright? 

He wasn’t sure. There were so many things that would need to be done anyway. But first, he just gotta see what Moon looks like now. These last few minutes were taken ages! He just wanted to see his Moon already! 

There was a quiet ding, and he stood up straight. 

“That’s it Sun! You can unplug now, and I’ll open the cylinder” 

He gave a little dazed nod. And carefully removed the cable. He was still holding it when the sound of the door opening came through his audio respirators..

He started at it…this was it huh? His first step forward was hesitant. But he slowly inched himself forward. Holding onto the edge of the door frame.

Diana never hurried him along. unlike past workers who sometimes basically shoved him out of there. While still dazed and confused from all the updates they had done. 

His chest rose with a simulated breath and he stepped out. And couldn't help but return Diana's smiling face. 

“You did wonderfully as always Sun. So last a few things before I let you go,” 

She gestures at him to follow her to her desk. He stood there swaying slightly as she rummaged through some papers. And then picked up a document, and went over to a page with what looked like a schedule on it. 

“According to this…I will see you again…Next Friday. That's in five days. Nothing long, more of a scan to see if everything is working as it should. And answer any questions you'll come across with the new body “

He nodded. Sounded good, 

“Do you know when?”

“Between 10 and 11. There is a staff meeting before, so depends on how long that goes. You and Moon will probably be called together”

That relaxed him somewhat. The thought of coming down here alone didn't sit right with him.

“The second thing is your Manual. Fazzbear didn't want to install it into your memory right away. Something about it being an external file, and maybe risking viruses again? I think that is just crappy higher-up talk. So I am gonna print you yours. Because it never states you can't have access to it. It's gonna take a little while longer to print. You can wait in the hallway for Moon. But wait till I get that for you before you two leave alright?“

His rays spun excitingly. He would actually get acces to his own manual! And not in the roundabout way Moon had gotten to it last time. He at first hadn't liked it, that Moon had basically stolen it. But as their updates slowed he hadn't been more grateful as it meant they could do basic repairs on themselves

The more they could avoid parts and service back in those days the better. He stared at the door

“Is…Moon?”

He asked carefully. Diana picked her phone up. 

“Mmmnn. Got no message from Alex yet. So probably not yet. But it shouldn't be long. “

He gave a shaky nod

“Okay…and thank you for everything “

Diana's smile was gentle

“Anytime Sun. Now shoo. I am sure Moon would love for you to be the first thing he runs into”

He straightened eagerly and did what he was told. Cause she was right, Moon would be! He quickly made for the doors and stepped into the hallway. 

He moved away from the door so he wasn't blocking it…but now what? 

He just had to wait. He stared at the other set of double doors. The second part and service room. It was built shortly after the new staff had arrived. Seven main animatronics, a hundred staff and cleaning bots, and just one workstation. They called the old staff insane. 

Moon was behind those doors. He knocked his knuckles together. Moon was so close…he could go in and check…but he wouldn't want to disturb Alex. What if something went wrong?!. 

He glanced down the tunnel instead. It was very empty, he just saw the wheels of a security staff bot roll out of sight. He slowly started pacing back and forth. He sometimes saw a human staff worker appear further down to hall. To go through the Plex more easily with all the construction likely still around. He waved if he noticed them.

But he was mostly lost in his own thoughts as the minutes kept ticking on. Why was it taking so much longer? Was something wrong? If something had been Diana would have gotten a notice…wouldn't she? She wouldn't send him out here to wait for nothing. 

What if the virus was back?! What if being placed into a new body reactivated it. And Moon was stuck again. But this time he wouldn't be there to comfort him. Or-

He slapped his cheeks a couple of times. No! No! No! he was gonna be okay! He had to be okay. 

They promised each other they'd be okay

Moon was gonna walk through that door any second now!

…

…

…

“Argh!”  

He groaned out loudly. Pacing once more. The bells around his wrist jingled loudly as he kept wringing his hands together. 

He was being ridiculous. He knows he was. But he didn't like this. He never handled being completely on his own partially well. And then he had been forced to be, to protect both himself and Moon. After the virus was gone…there wasn't a lot of time he was ever truly alone. 

He was either with Moon. The kids, the Glamrocks, or the staff. No longer locked in the daycare to just entertain himself. 

But that made any time he was alone so much harder. He tucked on his rays but quickly stopped as it hurt a lot more than it used to do. 

Okay, focus! He just had to focus! He is fine. He didn't want Moon to walk into him being an anxious mess. He was gonna think something was wrong when there wasn't!

He stopped once more standing in the middle of the hallway. He just had to occupy himself for a bit. Maybe count tiles or something. 

Yeah…yeah that could work. Which tiles? Floor? Ceiling? Wall? 

Before he could decide he noticed something else on the walls he hadn't before. He didn't pay a lot of attention here. As he rather just be out as soon as he could. 

But it was definitely updated since last time. On the wall between the two doors to the different parts and service rooms. Where posters of the main band. They seemed newer, as they still held a glossy finish. 

One poster for each member:  Freddy, Chica, Monty, Roxy. 

He had seen these everywhere of course. But these seemed to all have been signed by their respective animatronics. It made him smile seeing everyone's handwriting. They even had little messages thanking the staff. It was nice

He carefully looked at each one…only to turn around and notice four more posters. One was of Glamrock Bonnie. And it wasn't one of his old ones. It was a new one for when he would be fixed  It didn't have a name signed yet. But he had a feeling it would be as soon as he was here. Just waiting for those last parts to arrive. Oh, why did the previous shipment have to become lost? He should have been with them already! 

But next to it was what surprised him. Not the one of DJ Musician. But the large signature did make him smile. No, it was, the posters of himself and Moon. One for them each. It wasn't the posters that hung in their daycare and advertised their candy. 

Where are these…their own new posters?  They weren't signed either. He never really had to sign anything. Except his own drawings. Would…would he be allowed to sign this? 

He felt a warm throb in his chest. He warped one arm around himself. He kinda wished they had taken the plushies with them. He would have been able to hold the Moon plush for comfort…and not try and hug himself. 

His eyes slid to Moon’s poster. Trying to spot all the differences with the old poster. Then there was a loud clang. Like something had fallen from the room Moon was in. followed by loud thuds. He jumped back as those loud thuds came closer. 

Just as he faced the door, it flew open.

Moon was standing there. 

Starry pants, a blue and white colour scheme, red eyes, and a nightcap on top of his head. The little bell gave a quiet jingle as it came to a stop. Everything was still there. The same…yet shinier, newer. 

They stood there frozen Moon's hand resting on the door. Red eyes scanned him up and down. His own was not able to move from Moon's face. It was like all his programming just had stopped. Grounded to a halt in an instant.

All that was happening instead was that his head was playing Moon's name on a loop. Suddenly a thought broke through. What if he isn't real?…what if it's an illusion? He started raising his hand. 

But Moon was quicker. Moon had shaken himself out of his stupor and took off again. Racing towards him. 

So fast he barely was able to register he was gone from the door. Cause the next second two arms had wrapped around his waist and lifted him up into the air. 

His own hands landed on his partner's shoulders. Feeling the soft fabric underneath as he held on as he was spun around with a happy shout of.

“Sun! You’re okay!”

He nodded happily, legs kicking excitedly as laughs were leaving both of their voice boxes.

“Yes! Yes oh, Moon! So are you!”

Moon was laughing still. He never heard it so happy. His whole voice was sounding clearer, it was so beautiful! 

“Your voice! It's fixed! Oh, you sound so wonderful Moony!”

“Me?! You as well! Sunny you look so good. The blue eyes really are pretty, I see why you missed them so much “

He felt himself flush with a happy giggle. They had stopped spinning but Moon was still holding him up. Swaying them back and forth. 

“Me? What about you? They kept you looking handsome as ever!”

Moon chuckled

“Flattery will get you everywhere Sunshine “

He laughed louder. As he stared down at the most important thing In his life. He let go of one of Moon’s shoulders. And brought the hand to his cheek. It flushed a bit under his touch. 

And he let out a happy gasp as he felt the heat of it. Stroking over his cheek happily, Moon nuzzles into it further. He couldn't hold back the happy cooing noise. 

As he let go Moon slowly lowered him back to the ground.. 

“Your turn Moony!”

He didn't give his partner any time to react as he quickly warped his own arms around Moon’s waist and lifted him up. 

“Sun?!” 

But he didn't sound upset, not at all. No, it sounded like he was completely pleased with the situation at hand. He started spinning them around as well. 

“What?! Can't handle my affection Moonlight! Cause this is just the beginning!”

Moon went from laughing to cackling. Hands holding onto both shoulders tightly and he welcomed the hard press of fingers. 

He was holding Moon!. Actually, really holding him! Not a plushy, not their blankets pretending it was the other as they protected each other throughout their mindscape. He was physically holding him. And Moon was laughing, and moving beneath his arms. Alive and well. 

Fingers were tracing along his rays as Moon's voice calmed down as he stopped their spinning. 

“I'll handle anything you throw at me Sunlight” 

His partner's voice was filled with affection as his own face got cupped. Now it was his turn to blush and it made Moon chuckle. And he slowly started trembling as the reality started to hit him. 

“Sunny. What’s wro-oh”

He quickly put Moon down and pressed close, warping his partner into a hug. 

Their first hug. 

Pressing his face into his shoulder. Closing his eyes tightly. 

“We’re okay…. actually okay, I am so happy Moon…so so happy but also…” 

He let out a laugh. It was filled with static and it felt like he was holding back tears. Was he able to cry now? He never asked, and he squeezed him tighter. 

Moon's hands quickly came up to his back. Squeezing him just as tight. Not letting go at all. Then slowly the hands started rubbing up and down his back. Warming him up and calming him down.

“Me too, Sun. So...so happy. I got you…the scary part is over and done. We’re Together now “

Moon turned his faceplate and he felt a kiss along one of his rays and retracted them extended one by one in a quick circle as he giggled

His own hands couldn't stop moving as well. Trailing all along Moon’s back. As he pressed their entire fronts closer together. 

“Hey, Sun?”

“Mmm?”

Moon kissed another one of his rays before continuing.

“The first thing I did was try to call for you”

He couldn't help the small bark of laughter that came out of his voicebox. Before Moon would think he was being mocked he whispered

“So did I”

Moon laughed softly as well.

They kept hugging for a while, seemed neither of them wanted to be the first one to break it. Eventually…he just wanted to see Moon’s face again. So he pulled back enough so he could see him again. Moon did the same. Both slowly turning to face each other. 

There was barely any space between them. And both of them reached a hand up to hold each other's faceplates. His rays retracted to give Moon's hand room. 

He turned his partner's face so he could give the white crescent side of his face a kiss. Then staring into those happy red eyes. 

Moving his own face to his love’s guiding hand and got a kiss on his raised cheek. 

He kissed between Moon’s eyes. He got a kiss on the forehead. And they kept going like that. Just sharing kisses back and forth 

Eventually, they pulled away with giggles letting their foreheads rest together. Eyes going towards each other's mouth.

“Connected”

A robotic voice like one of the staff bots sounded from inside his head. And both of them pulled back sharply. 

What was that?!? Where had that come from? What was -

‘ Hello? ’ 

He heard Moon's voice from inside his head. If a bit filtered like he was speaking through a phone

He brought a hand to the side of his faceplate. Staring wide at his lunar counterpart. 

‘ Moon?! ’

‘ Sun!? ’

They stared at each other, his hands covering his open mouth. Moon’s mouth was opening and closing

“Did…we…can you?! - “

‘ hear me? ’. He finished inside their head

And he nodded as he heard Moon’s voice echo inside of himself. 

“Yes!” He squealed 

‘I can! ’

It wasn't the same as having Moon in his head. It was clear he could only send his voice over. And not everything he was thinking and feeling. But they still could communicate like before! 

He was bouncing in place, and Moon's red iris had tripled in size. The bottom part of his face was trembling. 

“Oh, Moon! Moony this is so wonderful. Oh, I wonder how far we can be apart before it stops working? But we can test that later! later!, later! I am not letting you go anytime soon!”  

He brought his partner close again. Who still seemed a bit in shock. As he stumbled forward at his actions. 

“Ah! Moon!”

Moon grabbed onto his arms to steady himself and not fall face-first into the floor.

“Okay...I'm okay...just...”

He trailed off. His eyes were now fixed on where he was holding his arm. He looked down as well. The motors in his chest began working faster seeing the white and blue against the yellow silicone of his own body. 

The grip loosened, and slowly Moon’s hand traveled further down his arm. He could hear Moon’s fans blasting his own slowly staring up as well. The only sounds besides the soft jingle of the bell on Moon’s wrist. 

Moon's fingers came to his own ribbon-covered wrist. Thumb stroking over the silly silky fabric once, twice… And then continued on as the fingers skated across his palm and it felt like he had gotten a static shock.

Just the tips of his fingers…

As they stared his other hand snaked around Moon's waist, again pulling him close as Moon's arm circled around his lower back. Their sides basically pressed together as much as they could be. So why did that motion on his palm feel so much more intimate? 

Slowly their fingers interlinked. Hands resting together palm to palm. And he had to make a whole new folder for just these sensations. Moon’s hand was slightly cooler than his own. His whole body seemed to be. 

His fingers had been really smooth. But that is probably because their bodies are still brand new. He squeezed the hand softly. And he got the same soft squeeze in return. 

“Your fingers aren't claws anymore”

He observed. Moon chuckled faceplate landing against his shoulder. And they both kept looking down their bodies at their held hands.  

“Well…not exactly “

Moon squeezed his hand again but kept the tight grip. And slowly he felt the nails extend and dig lightly into his hand before retreating once again.

“Retractable claws!” 

He whispered, amazed.

Moon nodded. And in response he nuzzled what counted as their nose against Moon's forehead, also feeling the soft fur of his hat. 

They were holding hands! And basically cuddling. And even though Moon was colder than him it still felt so incredibly warm. He wanted to keep covering his partner's face in kisses. 

He also really wanted to kiss Moon properly! Press their smiles together, and feel their new faceplates heat up. Actually, experience all those rushing emotions. 

Not as before that when he opened his eyes all he saw was air. Or being so tangled in his code that he couldn't feel anything. But Diana could be back any second. And he didn't wanna risk being interrupted. 

No, their first kiss should be something more special. And as much as wanted to…it should not be in the dark halls next to part and service. He looked down at Moon’s eyes. 

The new eyes were less intense than the bright red eyes from their old body had been. He just knew he was gonna get endlessly distracted by them in the future anyway. 

His gaze dropped down to his partner's mouth. It was set in a lazy smile. Perfectly content to be held as he did. The perfect picture of a nap attended. 

Gaze flickering up only to see Moon staring at his own mouth before their eyes met. He heard Moon ask softly in their head

‘ later ?’

He nodded carefully so as not to disturb this perfect position they got themselves into. 

‘ alone? Daycare? ’ 

He asked in return. And Moon nodded as well. Seems they were on the same page. He left a longer kiss on Moon’s forehead. Only pulling away because suddenly there was a loud noise followed by: 

“Moon! You fucker! You better still be there!”

The doors flew open again as an angry Alex stepped through. The smaller human was panting heavily. 

“Language!” 

“Language~” 

He knew Moon was just saying it to rile Alex up more. As Moon was just as bad when it came to curses…unless it was during actual work hours. 

Moon is very serious about taking good care of their little stars. And that includes swearing. He tries to let Moon off the hook when he swears outside of their work hours…but his own programming more often than not catches him off guard. 

Scolding Moon before he actually realized what he had said. 

Alex huffed, and Moon just leaned further into him which he had no problem with. He was enjoying a cuddly Moon. It was the best feeling in the world.

“Good to see you up and running to Sunny-.”

He saw Moon's eyes narrow at the use of the nickname, and he wasn’t quite sure how he felt about it himself. But Alex continued on regardless

“But Moon here knocked over several trays with bolts and other parts over in his rush to see you. Not to mention, that I hadn't finished talking to him yet”

He felt his cheeks colour and his smile grow as Moon shrugged.

“You should have known what you set in motion by telling me that”

He started rocking Moony faster.

“You really did?. Oh, that's so sweet of you Moonlight! “ 

He nuzzled the top of his head again and Moon let out a helpless giggle.

“But you should apologize as well”

“Mmm nah”

“Moony!”

Alex crossed his arms but was looking a lot less annoyed. Diana came out of the other room. Looking a bit more frazzled than when he had left. 

“Oh, don't you two look cute.” 

She smiled happily some of the tension leaving her. 

“Thank you~”

Both of them said and Alex sighed

“Yeah, yeah. You two are adorable. But now, Moon. The thing I wanted to say is. That while you free to leave…you two can't return to your room just yet”

His rays spun, and the hand that wasn't holding Moon’s was absentmindedly rubbing up and down Moon’s back again. 

“Was it not supposed to be finished?”

He questioned worryingly…they never had to use the power stations before and he rather not spend a night in those.

“Oh, it is. They are just moving in the last of the furniture. Should be no more than an hour or two. We'll send a message as soon as they are done“

Both of them sighed with relief. 

“Oh Diana, you got my manual?”

He asked remembering why he was asked to wait as well. And He felt Moon perk up at those words. But she shook her head.

“A paper got stuck as the ink ran out and it caused a whole mess. Gotta start it again. As parts were just unreadable. And Moon’s manual needs printing as well. It should be in your room at the end of the day.”

He hummed and Alex huffed 

“That's what you also missed. Yes, you get access to your manual” 

Moon looked absolutely giddy at the news, and Alex raised his hand. 

“Just… look guys I know you both share pretty much anything. And this is just my advice. But all the new manuals have a… section at the end of them. It is not necessarily Fazzbear-approved. But it was mostly written by the new staff here. And it is all legit, just more catered to the fact that everyone here has gotten..."” 

Alex waved his hand around

“Sentient?”

 Moon supplied

“Yeah…just. Okay, those parts of the manual can be very personal...I know you two literally shared a brain so there are probably not many secrets. But still. Just for the first time. Read that part on your own. If you decide to share. Great. But yeah…my advice”

He felt himself frown. He wouldn't know what there was that he wouldn't wanna share with Moon. But he was surprised when Dianna piped up.

“I second that. No rules against sharing. Just...I think you better make an informed decision if you read it on your own first”

He nodded hesitantly. And Moon did the same.

“Anything else? Or are we free to go now?”

Alex looked thoughtfully for a second then. 

“Just have read through the base part of the manual before Friday…but I think that's it? Unless you got something”

Alex turned towards his coworker and Diana shrugged. 

“Don't think s- “ she got interrupted by a buzz and quickly checked her phone. Suddenly her grin grew as she showed Alex the text who also gained a smile

“Well” - she continued and he eyed her wearily.

“You two should head to the west arcade”

He shared a glance with Moon, who looked just as confused

“Why?”

He asked, not that he was opposed to go see the DJ, it had been a while. But this instruction out of basically nowhere had him weary. 

Both their grins got bigger

“You’ll see, now off you go. There will be a hoard of cleanbots that need updates coming soon. So leave before they flood the tunnels”

They were making shooing motions at them. Moon Freed himself from where he had cuddled into his side.

“We get it, we get it. We’ll scram.”

And he was tugged along by his still-held hand. He waved at the two of them 

“BYE! And thank you for taking care of us. “ 

Moon gave a little Salut. Before slowly speeding up more and more.

Soon both of them were rushing down the maintenance tunnels. Dashing like mad. Hands still clasped together. Laughing like madmen. It felt good. Letting out all that nervous energy that had been building inside of him. It was like it was all rushing out now. Free to do as he pleased and both of them relished in the opportunity. 

They nearly crashed into the wall. As they reached the doors. And maybe they spend some long minutes right there,  splattering kisses all across each other's faces again. Just a giggly and happy mess of new emotions. 

Before stepping out, and making their way to the west arcade.

[elvenbeard]

trembling hands!!

Trembling Hands

(this was from the micro story prompts, but I'd been aching to write this scene for a while, and this was the perfect prompt for it. thank you for enabling me XD)

Something hadn’t been sitting quite right with Kerry all night. He was on the sofa, absentmindedly strumming his guitar. It had been a while since he’d felt as good about doing just that to wind down after a long day, but today it just wasn’t cutting it for some reason. The nagging thoughts that kept him awake were louder.

V had said everything was fine… he’d sounded weird at first, yes, but he had a lot on his plate at the moment. No surprise he was a little out of it. Also, why would he lie? Just to not worry him? No one else had ever felt the necessity to try to protect Kerry’s feelings like this.

But then again… V was different. Different from most people Kerry had ever dealt with. Surely, he would have said something, anything… After all, he’d promised to call if something new came up with Arasaka, good or bad.

 It struck Kerry like lightning. Yeah, that’s what this had been about. And whatever it was, it had been so bad, he hadn’t been able to spit it out…

Kerry cursed and put his guitar down, simultaneously pulling up V’s number on his holo. As it was still ringing, he got up from the sofa and began pacing through his empty villa that felt particularly quiet tonight without V here.

“This is V,” the voicemail answered, and Kerry’s heart sank, “Leave your contact info, I’ll get back to you asap.”

“V, can you please call me back like, right now? I’m kinda worried,” Kerry replied as he absentmindedly walked upstairs, still no particular goal in mind apart from moving around. He hung up and looked out of the windows facing east. The very first thing that caught his eye in the night sky was a heavy AV just leaving the Arasaka’s estate up the hill. Kerry wasn’t sure if it had brought or picked someone up, but as such this kind of movement wasn’t that much out of the usual. Ever since old Saburo had kicked the bucket, their little hideout here had been as busy as never before. People, vehicles, AVs coming and going all day round. But still, in this moment, it increased Kerry’s uneasiness. He quickly turned around and dashed to the opposite side of the upper living room, keeping an eye on the sky for the AV. But it was nowhere to be seen. Maybe he’d missed it, or it had taken a different route than he’d expected it to. His eyes wandered along Night City’s skyline to Downtown, where the rooftop of Arasaka Tower was only just visible. He stared at it intensely for a good couple of minutes, thoughts racing. But the sky over the city center was not any busier than every other night. Maybe… everything was fine. He was probably panicking for no reason, starting to see things…

“Argh, fuck it,” he hissed and decided to call V again, but again he only reached the voicemail. There were a million reasons why he didn’t pick up. Maybe he was busy with an impromptu late-night gig, maybe he was in the middle of an important conversation… Hell, maybe he was sitting on the shitter with food poisoning. He’d call him back any moment for sure, they’d have a good laugh about Kerry’s paranoia, and Kerry could finally catch some Z’s.

It was after midnight already. Minutes passed, but V’s call didn’t come. Kerry scolded himself for not realizing sooner that something had been off, for not being more insistent, asking him to swing by later…

He stared out of the window again, to the tower, a little while longer. 50 years ago, he’d known what Johnny had been up to – no details, obviously, they barely talked at that time without it derailing into a shouting match. But he’d known him long and well enough to make a good guess where he was headed with Rogue when they left, with the big farewell gesture and speech and everything. Johnny hadn’t expected to come back, and Kerry hadn’t run after him because he’d known it wouldn’t have made any difference. He’d been more than ten years late trying to prevent Johnny from doing something stupid… part of him had always regretted not trying harder, punching some sense into him. But he’d also regretted not going after him, stopping him from throwing his life away for something he couldn’t change.

V's situation was different though, completely… Sure, he didn’t have warm feelings for Arasaka either, but he didn’t have a personal vendetta to complete. And yet, with Johnny in his head, who knew what ideas he’d given him about solving the Relic-problem, especially if they’d received bad news from Hanako…

Kerry was like frozen in place, in fear even of what might have happened without him knowing. He couldn’t do this again... He’d lost Johnny before, and he had accepted that he’d have to lose him once more if it meant keeping V. But the thought of potentially losing them both, and again not daring to at least try to do anything about it…

He unglued himself from the window, ran down the stairs and out the backdoor. Everything was a blur until his Rayfield emerged from the tunnel leading up to the highest portion of North Oak. The winding road took him to the entrance of the Arasaka estate. He slowed down, pulled over, and tried to analyze what he was seeing, but honestly… all was normal. No private army, no unusual number of vehicles or people or anything really… In fact, the estate seemed very, almost too empty. Kerry shivered. Had someone given them a reason to fuck off in a hush-hush operation, maybe? He could only guess though, and since he had no intentions of ringing their doorbell to ask, he stepped back on the gas and took off.

Grasping the steering wheel with all his might to stop his hands from shaking he left behind Japantown’s rainbow of lights and entered the sleek wide boulevard that led to the heart of the city. The perpetually circling holographic koi fish of Corpo Plaza were visible from afar already, but Kerry kept looking up to Arasaka Tower in search of… what? He wasn’t sure. All the way there he expected the whole damn thing to go up in flames.

So late at night, Corpo Plaza shouldn’t have been particularly busy. As he got closer though, Kerry finally got the confirmation he’d been looking for that something was not right. The turning lane that would have brought him to the tower’s main entrance was blocked off by a large NCPD truck, orange flashing lights burning in Kerry’s strained eyes.

“Keep going!” a cop ordered over loudspeakers, and Kerry sped up only just enough to not raise eyebrows, catching a brief glimpse of the tower’s entrance as he switched back onto the main lane. A minotaur mech or two were guarding the area, as well as some people, cops maybe… or Arasaka soldiers? Kerry floored it, zooming through the underpass below the plaza and switched to the left lane. At the first chance he made a U-turn and suddenly found himself surrounded, not by police cars, but mobile units of all the big news stations headed to Arasaka HQ like the vultures they were. The roundabout below was beginning to fill with medias, police cars trying and failing to maintain order, and then just some curious bystanders all trying to get a glimpse at whatever was going on.

“Fuck, V, what have you done,” Kerry hissed, only just squeezing his car that was way too big for maneuvers like this past the traffic jam. He was convinced this had to do with V and Johnny. It just had to.

He had no clue what he was supposed to do now, but he knew he had to get away from this crowd as a start. About a half circle around the roundabout later he passed under the bridge connecting the central pedestrian area to Arasaka Tower. He managed another brief glimpse at the mechs posted there. He’d feared to spot Adam Smasher among them, but thankfully he was nowhere to be seen.

There was a portion of the roundabout that was still relatively free of cars and people. Kerry pulled over, then attempted to call V again. Nothing, no response, only the voicemail after 20 seconds or so. He slammed his hands on the steering wheel.

“Fuck!”

Then he turned to look out the window. He realized they’d been here, almost in this exact spot, not too long ago. It wasn’t really a decent parking spot, but there was a half-hidden stairwell leading upwards to the shops and walkways. Kerry had asked V about his favorite places in Night City, and he’d dragged him here of all places. Parked his bike and led him up to the center of the plaza, where stressed-out corpos mingled with wide-eyed tourists usually.

“Whenever everything got too much,” V had said, speaking of his time working for ‘Saka, “I clocked out for thirty minutes, came down here, and did a round or two along the walkways to wind down. Dunno, there’s something calming about watching the fish float by.”

Kerry had joked that for someone who wasn’t “really that into meditation” V subconsciously did a lot of things to cope with stress that could absolutely be classified as such. His chest hurt thinking back to that day and their conversation, standing against the rail side by side in the midday sun, surrounded by the massive skyscrapers. Talking about the past and a possible future together.

“Everything’s gonna be okay, one way or another,” V had said, “At least that’s what I have to keep telling myself, or I’ll go nuts.”

“Everything’s gonna be okay…” Kerry repeated to himself before he got out of his car, pulled up his hood, and jogged up the stairs. Medias and onlookers had replaced the corpos and tourists, were pushing towards a barrier erected by the NCPD. TV drones were zooming around and promptly shot down by cops and security. Kerry realized the mechs he’d seen in front of the entrance were not Arasaka, but Militech branded… Was this some kind of weird coup again, nothing to do with V after all?

Once more, Kerry was lost. What the hell was he even doing here… He was half tempted to go back to his car because… whatever was going on was way beyond his capabilities. He overheard some of the medias’ questions screamed at the police spokesperson trying to keep everyone at a distance. Something of a shooting, a terrorist attack, and Kerry’s heart sank, memories he thought he’d long repressed welling up of the news reports from that night 50 years ago. At least no mentions of a nuclear bomb. Yet.

As long as the reporters were occupied with harassing the police still, and vice versa, Kerry decided to get some distance between them and himself. He pulled up V’s number once more, knowing deep down it was in vain. He wouldn’t pick up. For a second Kerry wondered if he was even still alive, and his stomach turned at the mental image of V lying somewhere in that tower in a puddle of his own blood, staining the polished marble floors.

Kerry paused and closed his eyes for a moment, hoped it would stop his head, or better even the whole world from spinning. The last weeks had been absolutely insane. Johnny back from the dead, somewhat, this kid stumbling into his life more on accident than with purpose, but at just the right moment to prevent Kerry from making his worst decision so far. The way they’d connected almost instantly, the way V just got him without Kerry having to say much or anything at all sometimes… How V had reminded him of all the beauty in the world that made life worth living, that Kerry was not done just yet, that it was never too late to start over, no matter how hopeless everything seemed... Someone like that wouldn’t just throw his life away like this, would he? V wouldn’t just leave him behind without a word, right?

Kerry opened his eyes again, V’s holocall profile still on his display. He slowly started walking, away from the noise of the crowd, drawn towards the walkway, to the warm, happy memory of the conversation they’d had up there. With Arasaka Tower looming in his back, he called V, one more time. It rang and rang, the noise droning louder and louder in his head with every step he took towards the center of the plaza… Kerry stopped dead in his tracks and listened, because he could have sworn... But then the voicemail answered, and he cursed, hung up, and immediately called back. The holo was ringing, yes, but he could hear V’s phone ringing, the actual ringtone… Or had he finally lost it now? He looked around, trying to locate where the ringing came from, turning down the volume of the holo to better hear his actual surroundings. He didn’t dare to call out for him, the medias and police weren’t that far away, and he preferred to not have their attention right now. He jogged up the walkway to his left a bit, but the ringing got quieter again.

He spun back around, and then his heart stopped. A little bit ahead, he’d just passed it, was some sort of modern sculpture, a bunch of black and white cubes stacked on top of each other. The other day they’d seen some people hanging out on them for their lunch break, tourists sitting down taking selfies. And now, only just, Kerry could see a shock of blond and purple hair poking out from behind it. He raced back down, skidded across the artificial lawn covering the area around it, and stumbled behind the sculpture. It was him, it was V… but a sledgehammer to the chest wouldn’t have taken away Kerry’s breath more effectively than the sight of the state he was in. He sat on the ground, slumped back against the cubes, hands in his lap… and his goddamn phone in his hand still. Had he been trying to call help and then passed out? Then Kerry noticed all the dark stains on his clothes, in general V was utterly drenched for some reason. There was so much blood, it couldn’t have been just his… or was it? He was awfully pale, beaten up, covered in scratches and bruises. Before Kerry really knew or realized it, he was down on his knees in front of V. With trembling hands he reached out to cup his face as gently as he managed, almost didn’t dare to touch him, and flinched at how cold he was. Overcome by dread he managed not to scream only just, only when a hint of V’s breath grazed his hand. It was weak and shallow, but he was breathing. He was alive.

“V?” Kerry croaked, almost not recognizing his own voice. He softly stroked V’s cheeks, his hair, let a hand trail down his neck to briefly check his pulse, and he was surprised for a moment at how strong it was. It made him hopeful that he wasn’t in the middle of bleeding out at least.

“V, please, wake up!”

He still didn’t dare to try and shake him, scared he’d hurt him even more. Some of the scratches in his face looked like he been dragged across concrete, his bottom lip was split but not really bleeding anymore. Kerry looked him up and down intensely, for wounds or anything that would explain his state and the amount of blood on his clothes, but he was too all over the place, heart racing, vision blurry with tears to really achieve anything at all or find a semblance of closure. He looked back up at V’s face and gasped when he saw V had opened his eyes, just barely. He was looking at him with a slight frown, almost as if in disbelief.

“V!” Kerry’s hands immediately went back to his face, lifting his head slightly to better meet his gaze, to let him know he was safe.

“V, we need to get you away from here. Can you walk? Are you hurt, can I… can I do anything?” he almost tripped over his own tongue, thoughts faster than his mouth managed.

V’s eyes went wider, just slightly, as if he’d only just realized he was really here speaking to him.

“It’s gonna be okay, I’m here, and I’m not goin’ anywhere,” Kerry whispered, pressing his forehead against V’s.

A hoarse noise escaped V’s mouth, not quite a groan, more a weak laugh. Kerry moved back a little again, and his heart broke at seeing V’s eyes closed, face distorted in pain and tears starting to stream down his cheeks. V, who’d always been so collected, logical, who had such a pretty, dorky laugh… he was utterly devastated.

“Kerry… He’s gone,” V said, voice so raw and so full of pain it hurt Kerry just as much, “And it was all for nothing…”

He started full on sobbing, his entire body shaking unconsolably. Kerry needed a moment to stomach what V had said, so many new questions on his mind now… At a loss for words, he put his arms around him tight, held him close for as long as he’d need him to. They cowered like that for a long time, in the shadow of Arasaka Tower, but engulfed by the red and blue light of the two holographic fishes continuing their eternal dance above them as if their world hadn’t just changed forever once more tonight.

(thanks for reading, hope you liked this! I have yet to play the "Don't Fear the Reaper" ending myself, but this is what I'd picture to happen immediately afterwards)

[avelera]

Hi, saw that you posted ch 7 of Giving Sanctuary and figuratively sprinted to ao3 to read. I love how soft everything is and between Hob and Dream. And! I'm noticing that Dream is slipping more about himself, lol. He literally says "waking world" or the redundancy in sleeping to enter his own realm. Which. Hob doesn't seem to really pick up on??? Ah well, he had other things - or a singular being - to focus on.

And Lucienne mention! Love Dream's description of her _strong_ urging for a "centuries overdue holiday" for him. Would love to be the fly on the wall for that exchange between them. Lucienne must have been so surprised then thrilled for workaholic Dream-my-purpose-is-my-function-and-I-can't-change-this to ask her if he could take more time in the waking world! To. Visit. A. FRIEND. A FRIEND. Also would love to be a fly on the wall for the ensuing gossip between the Dream folk (or at least between Lucienne and Jessamy) about Dream’s Friend and how Dream is willingly taking time off his work to spend time with this Friend (for more than once a century meet-ups).

And that moment when Hob changed in front of Dream and Dream.exe stopped functioning while Hob is going on as usual. Dream had no idea what Hob was talking about, huh? I laughed. I’m still laughing. I will continue to laugh.

Anyways, reading this chapter made me feel very giddy. Thank you for writing it!

Aaah, thank you so much! Apologies for not replying sooner, I wanted to wait a day to not spoil the story quite as much!

As for Hob picking up on stuff like "the waking world" - Understand I'm actually very excitedly "yes, and..!" ing you when I say, if you knew nothing about Endless lore... how the fuck would you interpret shit like that?? Like, Hob has already accepted that Dream is some sort of weird wizard or sorcerer of some kind, someone with a realm, someone whose name is "Dream" and his sister is "Death" and he's got a weird house and has lived for thousands of years. He know Dream isn't one of the Four Horsemen.

Unlike Hob from pretty much any other era, he is very much not pushing for more right now because Dream has done so much for him already, he's content to let it lie in pretty much every situation except not having a name to call Dream and being scared shitless that he, Hob, might accidentally usher in Armageddon as some sort of proxy for humanity being asked by one of the Four Horsemen if he wishes to live every century. Anything less than that? He's not gonna pry.

I only say this cuz I promise, I really did think about it! But the Endless and the Sandman universe borrows from mythology but it also gets just about everything just a liiiittle bit off when it comes to the mythological Morpheus or Oneiros, and Hob isn't as well read in the 1600s as he might be later. I genuinely wracked my brain for if he'd have any context to even start guessing Greek gods, much less get on the trail of who and what Dream is. Even the idea of a god of dreams would be pretty foreign. He might guess a Faerie creature, except Dream said he's not in Faerie.

So all of the weird shit Dream is saying is certainly weird, Hob is building up context clues to try to build a picture of who or what Dream is, but he's nowhere near guessing "the god of dreams" or figuring out what an Endless is. He could theoretically put together the name "Dream" and "my realm" and "I don't sleep" but that would again, require interrogating Dream to fill in missing pieces, which 1689 Hob is just not going to do. Sorry this essay got away from me but I was very excited at the prospect of talking about why this fic hasn't been heavier on Hob figuring out who Dream is on his own (unlike say, CLWM Hob who has more leverage because he's doing Dream a favor in return and he has an inquisitive mind and a lot less feeling of being beholden to Dream).

I admit, your comment about those conversations kinda makes me want to give a flash of what Dream's side of that chapter was like XD - Suffice to say, poor guy is going through a wild time right now emotionally, lol. And Lucienne is OVERJOYED that maybe Dream will have some help on his mental health before the whole Dreaming, where she unfortunately lives, collapses. If she ever met Hob she would surely shake his hand lol.

Anyway, I'm so glad you're enjoying, thank you for this lovely comment!

[cesium-sheep]

many pleasant interactions today but wow I would like to lay on the floor and not be a person for uhhh ever, already. (also I was telling arin I’d work on her necklace but she said it’s fine if I want to just take time to be sad first. cuz it is sad whenever matt leaves, especially when we really need him here tbh.)

tried to go to the leasing office about the scraping (they had their come back later sign up), a kid was on their way home as I came out and asked very politely for me to hold the gate for them (even though it’s broken and they didn’t actually need me to). they thanked me and told me to have a nice day, and even found a chunk of rock to prop the gate open for me in return XD

passed the leaf blower guy and held the gate for them, they said hello and thanks as well.

finally actually got into the leasing office, there was a bit of a backup of people, one guy started a conversation about cats because I was wearing my “I know what I’m doing” crowlines shirt that has a drawing of a cat on it. (their cat likes whipped cream and is very spoiled. it was very noisy with all the other work going on so I had to focus to hear.)

the lady with the tattooed eyebrows was there and said that pest control comes out every thursday so just let them know if we need traps or whatever. (in fact the pest control guy was standing right there also waiting to check in, and was very polite and helpful about it.) we’re not gonna do anything right now since I haven’t seen/heard anything else, I just wanted to make sure someone knew about it since that kind of thing can accelerate quickly.

I still gotta call kelcey, but that’s generally low social spoons.

(also I clarified something about the future living situation with arin last night, cuz she’d said something the night before about “matt’s bedroom slash the guest room” and I was like “no??? his room should be just his???” but she was thinking of specifically if he’s not able to move with us right away which is a possibility we’d already discussed, and that the third bedroom would be treated basically as his from the start but would still be open to other guests when he’s not visiting up until he actually moves in, but not after. whereas I was thinking she meant after he moves in. so I passed that along to him and he was asking if we’d be able to afford a 3br without him since “it may not be immediately” which, it bears noting, is not “won’t” so. personally I’m just hoping that he can move in by christmas. but he said previously he wanted to be with us this christmas even if he’s not living with us cuz he’s tired of the family rigamarole. and it’s possible it could be sooner than that, since he does get 3 1/2 months of lead time for planning/tying up loose ends/etc before we actually move. which yes may still not be adequate prep, depending, but is still a significant head start.)

[primofate]

Genshin Shortfic: Death and Regrets Pt.3

Notes: Believe it or not, this was commissioned (Basically the reason why I got it out earlier XD)! If you’re interested in commissions, message me! Ideally on the chat and not the ask box haha :D 

Warnings: crying, DEATH (you die), mentions of torture. GRAPHIC WOUNDS AND INJURIES. NO FLUFF/COMFORT. DOES NOT FOLLOW THE ACTUAL LORE. Some of these hit really hard because it’s double the regrets (As in the character contributes more to the fact that you died)

Characters: Thoma, Xiao, Diluc, Zhongli x gn!reader

Other Versions: (Kazuha and Childe)  (Scaramouche and Kaeya)  (Itto, Gorou, Albedo)

Thoma

This man loves you to the moon and back. Seeing him be nasty towards you is rare, even on his bad days.

But things aren’t going well with the Vision Hunt Decree, the Resistance’s army is failing and there are also rumors abound that in a few days, Thoma’s vision is going to be seized. 

“I need some fresh air, I’ll be back in a bit,” it was him who excuses himself out of the house you understood. Sometimes he just needed to take a walk around.

You were surprised when only a few minutes later he had come back, the front door opening. You turned to greet him with a smile only to be met face to face by two soldiers. They’d kicked the door down, it wasn’t much of a task.

“We’re here to take Thoma, retainer of the Kamisato Clan,” and in your mind you know that they’re here for his vision, although they are earlier than expected. You know that they want to take him. You offered the only thing you thought you could offer, “If I give you my vision, will you spare his?”

It was just your vision. You thought. You’d live without it and you had faith that the decree would be over soon, under the Resistance’s perseverance. How were you to know that the soldiers knew you were part of the Resistance? How were you to know that these particular soldiers were not merciful? 

You fought back against their questions. About who was behind the Resistance, where the heart of the Resistance was, who was in collusion with them. You didn’t think they’d backhand you, flinging you to the floor while you feel your cheek bruising. 

Before you could use your vision, they’d stripped it away from you forcefully. Before you could cry for help, they’d impaled you with their spear. 

They left with your vision and your life. 

“Y/N?” Thoma calls out as he returns from his walk. His mind is clear and he’s brought home some sweets from the street vendors in town. He leaves his shoes at the door, taking his time as the plastic bag rustles next to his sitting position. 

“I got something for you!” There’s a small smile playing on his lips. He clearly left in a bad mood and he knew that you would know. He didn’t mean to make you worry, so as he stood and rounded the corner of the hallway and suddenly felt something amiss, his smile dropped. 

“Y/N?” You would’ve come to greet him by now. By the time he’d taken off his shoes, you’d have wrapped your arms around him and kissed him at the front door. 

He slides the door to the bedroom open. The sight of you with a spear stabbed in your abdomen causes goosebumps to crawl all over his body. The plastic bag in his hand drops to the floor as he tries to make sense of the situation. “No...” His eyes darts all around the room, trying to look for some sort of clue, some sort of help and yet he’s rooted to the spot. His eyes land on your waist.

Your vision is gone.

“No... No, this is--” not real, he’d like to say. But there you were. Unmoving. Blood pooling under you. Pale. 

If he was home sooner could he have helped you?

“No, I can still--” he scrambles towards you, his pants staining red at all the blood on the floor. “Y/N!” he pats your cheek twice, recognizes that you’re cold and with a shaky breath checks your neck for a pulse. And all at once the world is spinning around him as he lets out a frustrated wail that alerts the neighbors something has gone wrong.

It was loud and deafening. Like he’d been the one stabbed. Like someone was driving a knife into his chest and twisting it around. He bangs his fists on the floor with tears running down his cheeks. “No! NO! NO! I can’t--” his nails are digging into his own closed up palm. 

It was supposed to be me!

It’s hard to breathe. He feels as if his heart isn’t pumping. There’s an ache in his chest as he grips his shirt while whimpering. “...Y/N help me,” Because you were always there to help. Because you were always there to smile at him and say it was going to be alright. That he was doing his best and you were proud of him. He lifts his head up to look at your lifeless face. “I can’t live like this, please,” 

How does one continue when their other half is torn away from them?

“Y/N!!!” Pathetic. He thinks. You were the one who needed help, and yet, in this exact moment, he knew that no one else could save him except you.

“I don’t want my vision! Please, please just give Y/N back!!”

Xiao

Has a temper and everyone knows it.

Will go through periods where you sometimes can’t find him, or he just doesn’t speak to you. But you never take it personally. Sometimes Xiao just doesn’t know the right words to say and chooses to keep quiet instead. You know that he still loves you anyway, because he always apologizes after those weird episodes and hugs you in private. 

On particularly bad days, he won’t be able to stay silent and will snap from time to time. 

“Silence!” His gaze is piercing. Like he’s accusing you of something. “I told you I don’t need all these human things!” 

He’s somewhat always had walls around him. Perhaps he was afraid that indulging too much in “human things” would make him attached to it. He had his duty as a yaksha, and he didn’t want to be distracted from it.

So you took your gift away that day and decided to give him some space.

He’s decided to stray away from the Wangshu Inn today. He’s atop a cliff, sat above it and looking over Liyue Harbor. Just letting the sight calm him and the sounds soothe his angry disposition. 

A soft breeze whirls by, it was gentle and quick. One would hardly recognize that it had even passed by, but Xiao does. And he hears a faint voice along with it.

“Xi--”

His brows furrow as he frowns. It wasn’t enough to hear. He didn’t know who or what it was he was hearing. It was there and gone like a snap. But he alerts himself to any other sounds and a minute later, it comes around to him a lot clearer, yet weak. 

“Xiao,”

It’s you. He had never mistaken your voice before and you never call to him just for a mundane reason. So, with a swirl of black smoke he’s taken to where you are. 

Dying.

Xiao is possibly one of the few whose reflexes are near perfect. When he sees you on your side, bleeding out from a hole in your chest, retching blood, it frightens him. He scoops you in his arms, about to disappear into the black smoke again when you grip on his shirt, blood running down the side of your mouth.

“Xiao, I won’t make it,” it’s a miracle that you’re even talking.

“Cloud Retainer can help you,”

Your shaky hand presents to him the earlier gift you had taken away. It was a small box, fitting in your palm. “Will you--” you cough again, tasting the iron in your mouth. “--accept it now?”

“No, Y/N. Give it later. Who did this to you? Tell m--”

But as he stands, your arm flops off to the side, the box lands on the ground. Xiao looks at you, “Y/N?” Another breeze passes by. This time, enough to ruffle his hair. Your face looked so peaceful, and yet there’s a raging storm inside him.

Sure, he had a temper sometimes. He did not know how to express himself in certain situations. But none other than you had managed to understand him. Managed to reach him through his highest walls. 

There aren’t any tears, but it’s hard to even feel anything. He drops on his knees to partly lay you on the ground, your head still propped in his arm. He leans over to grab the box that you attempted to gift him.

His hand is tight around it.

His hand is shaking.

“I-I got it, Y/N,” He uses his thumb to flip the top of the tiny box away. It seemed to be some type of wooden charm. “--and I’ll take care of it-- S-So--”

He abruptly shuts his mouth. Because when Xiao doesn’t know what to say he chooses to keep quiet. Because if his lips tremble he’s afraid he won’t be able to hold back the hurt pouring out from him. Silently, he bows his head and hides it into the crook of your neck. Had you been awake you’d feel your shoulder dampen. You’d feel his body shake. 

I just want to hear your voice again.

Diluc

Mostly a gentleman. Just rough around the edges.

He sees you as his treasure. Someone that he’s thankful for every single day of his life. 

You’re literally the colour in his grey life. The laughter in his quiet study. The love in his once empty heart.

Still, everyone has bad days. 

On his bad days, it starts out subtle, but you know by the way his forehead creases that he’s in a bad mood. 

“Is it particularly bad today?” You ask when you realize he’s been quiet this whole time in his study. You take that as a yes.

“In that case I’ll just leave these snacks here and you can eat them wheneve--”

“Please, Y/N,” His voice is calm, but there’s a snappy undertone to it. “I’d just like some peace and quiet,” 

You went out with a basket that day, thinking that you only had to do a little shopping out in town.

It was late.

It was well past into the night when he went to town to try to look for you.

“Have you seen this person?” At first he thought you’d just lost track of time. “Oh yea, they got some flour from me today,” the shops were closing up. Diluc was more frustrated than worried. Perhaps he was overthinking. You might be back at the mansion by now. Perhaps the two of you had just narrowly missed each other while he was on his way to Mondstadt.

So he walks back to the winery.

The walk is much too quiet, even for a night like this. There was a deep, foreboding feeling at the pit of his stomach and the longer he walks the more his anxiousness surfaces.

What if you weren’t home? Where would he start looking? Mondstadt itself was massive. Wait, did you leave on purpose? 

He shook his head at the thought. Buying flour meant that you had plans to come back home, so he held on to that and he trusted you, despite his small mood this morning. He knew that wouldn’t be enough to deter you. You understood him so well that he didn’t think he could find anyone else--

He stops in his tracks as he passes by a small pond.  At the edge of his eye he sees that something is ashore and laying there. When he turns his head and sees your familiar tuft of hair, face down on the ground, he isn’t sure how to respond. 

The several arrows on your back was not helpful. The charred skin was sickening. If Diluc had been in his right mind, he’d know that you were shot at by fire arrows. And you, in a desperate attempt to put out the fire on your back, flees towards the pond. But to no avail. 

He silently kneels down next to you and shakily yet gently tilts your head towards his direction. He had to make sure it was you. 

Here was his peace and quiet. 

“I-I didn’t mean--” his face grimaces in horror at the realization of what he’d said this morning. “--s’not what I meant,” his voice is trembling. He double checks again, your breathing, your pulse.

All gone.

He can’t breathe.

His breath comes out as quick gasps, unable to catch up with the writhing pain inside him. Slowly, he feels the colour drain from his life. The love emptying out from his heart. “This is a mis--” gasp “mistake,” His eyes are starting to blur with tears, but he refuses to look away from the face that he loved most. 

“Why was I not here? WHY WAS I NOT HERE?!” His fists unconsciously pulls at the grass underneath him. His voice is scratchy as he shouts with the lump in his throat. Then his head drops down as the tears finally cascade from his eyes. “Not like this,” His hand reaches out to grip at your hand. 

What a joke. Protector of Mondstadt, they say.

“Not you Y/N. Not you too,” and he knows that the laughter in his study will be gone. “Don’t leave me, please,” He knows that the mansion will go back to its dreary and gray existence. 

He knows and yet it was so hard to accept. He howls at the sky. 

“WHY DON’T YOU JUST TAKE ME TOO?!”

Zhongli

Have you seen him when someone breaks a contract? When he’s having a bad day, he might be as angry as that. Although it’s quite rare. 

Zhongli has the composure of 6,000 years. It’s hard to see him flip or lose his cool.

Again, he is one of those people who excuses himself out of the situation rather than having the other person leave. 

“Y/N, dear, I’ll be back by dinner,”

He’d been looking into the influx of Fatui in Liyue recently. Perhaps he had reached a dead end. 

“Where’s he?” one of the agents approach you while you inspect a tomato. You look up at the man, confused. “Who?” You whisper out. The stall owner looks up cautiously. “Rex Lapis,” You put the tomato back calmly. “Rex Lapis is long gone,” and start walking away, only to be followed by several other agents, and you know that they’re there. That’s the reason why you lead them away from the city instead. As powerless as you are, you at least knew that you had to protect Liyue’s people, and these agents looked as if they were ready to wreak havoc. 

“Don’t be a fool, we’ve been watching him,” 

“...And what did you find out?” Your calmness must have been something that you learned from Zhongli. Because even with a group of 10 agents around, vanguards and legionnaires included, you don’t feel much of fear. 

One of them points at you with a grin. “That you’re important to him,” 

It’d been planned to only be a kidnapping. No one knows how Zhongli would come to find you, handprints around your bruising neck, lifeless. Maybe you’d pissed off the Fatui. Maybe you’d fought back. 

Zhongli has never been partial to any group of people. Adepti. Fatui. Archon. Demon. All are equal in his eyes. And yet, when he sees you, he can’t help but feel his hatred for the Fatui run hard in his veins. 

He picks you up wordlessly and cradles you close as he starts to walk.

I should have known. I should have been on guard.

He doesn’t feel the pain in his chest. Instead, he feels it everywhere. Like a weight had been thrown on him and it was dragging him down into the depths of darkness. Walking was like dragging stones with him.

Then, suddenly, in the middle of a clearing. He stops. He processes the fact that you’re gone. It dawns on him that tomorrow, he wouldn’t have you in his arms anymore. 

He pulls you in closer to him, and he leans down to kiss you on the ear. “Y/N,” a gentle whisper. “I’ll keep you in my heart, forever,” The lone tear he sheds disappears into your hair, but more flow out. As someone who has witnessed death and pain before, he’s taken aback that his tears continue. He’s surprised that he isn’t able to control them. 

That’s how much it hurt him. How could it not? When you’ve always been by his side all this time?

“I’m sorry, Y/N,” 

Sorry because he couldn’t save you. Sorry because he also couldn’t promise what he would do to those Fatui agents.

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[purplehairedwonder]

Chapter 1063: Ambush

When I read the spoilers this week and saw Law’s name, I actually gasped. I had just resigned myself to not seeing him for at least a year, if not longer--depending on how long this current arc lasted. But we must truly be in the endgame if we’re seeing flashes to the outside world in the middle of an arc rather than between arcs.

And then I saw what was happening with Law and basically had this reaction:

Me: I miss Law already. I hope we see him sooner rather than later. Oda: Law vs. Blackbeard Me: NO NOT LIKE THAT

But I’ll come back to this. First, the cover story:

So, it looks like Kuzan kidnapped Pudding, which would give Blackbeard the ability to read the Poneglyphs. For all the twisted nature of the Charlotte family, you can tell they really care about one another. 

Of course, Zoro’s request from last chapter was left on a cliffhanger. Still, we have some good moments with divorced dad Jinbei and his Devil Fruit-eating children.

And thus, the Glutton Trio was born XD

And Atlas throwing some shade at Jinbei, but Jinbei just goes with it.

I love him. So much.

And just when I don’t think I can love him any more, he becomes even more the divorced dad with his Hawaiian shirt. 

Huge eyeroll for Bonney’s outfit. Why would a battle suit not have pants?

Luffy also gets new threads:

The boots are giving Mega Man vibes.

Also nice to see Luffy using his future sight here with the Pacifista.

Luffy attacks the Pacifista -- and it’s nice to see Luffy fully aware that this is a Pacifista and not the real Kuma -- and Bonney interferes. 

This is a cool shot of Bonney.

The shot of a younger Kuma and Bonney is actually heartbreaking. (Kuma looks a bit like Kyros here.) 

She has to know this isn’t her father. Is her reaction that she doesn’t like the visual of Luffy attacking a Pacifista that looks like her father? Oof.

Okay, anyway. To the completely unexpected part of the chapter: TRAFALGAR D. WATER LAW IS BACK.

The Blackbeard Pirates have ambushed the Hearts, and the Tang has taken too much damage to stay submerged.

And suddenly...

The fandom explodes. Oda’s been finding ways to bring a number of his SBS sketches into canon, from the young Warlords (Seraphim) to female Law. This is so random and more evidence someone needs to bonk Oda and send him to horny jail.

(She is really cute, though.)

I can’t stop laughing at female Bepo in the background though.

Shachi and Penguin are such dorks, and Law has no patience for it. I love their friendship.

For all the people (looking at you, Reddit) who think Law has weak Haki, well...

He’s able to overcome the effects of Doc Q’s powers with his Haki.

Look, Doc Q’s powers are the ability to spread disease, so I find the idea that being a woman is a “disease” pretty gross. I’d like to know if Ikkaku turned into a man during this; if the “disease” is just changing genders, then my annoyance drops significantly.

Still, the translation of “Ma-lady” was clever. I’ll be interested to see the official translation of this line.

(Update: The official called it the “Feminizaton Disease.” Gross.)

We see the various Devil Fruits members of the Blackbeard Pirates have gotten, including the Warp-Warp Fruit and the Buff-Buff Fruit.

I was thinking about this, but @chromatic-lamina​ has a nice breakdown here of how these powers are essentially all things Law’s own fruit can do. He seems like the best person to counter these various powers.

And then the big man himself arrives -- hilariously, on the back of Doc Q.

I love this panel with Law popping out of the panels as he faces Blackbeard. (Also, he’s still in his tank top. Now I may need to be bonked, oops.)

What’s really interesting to me here, though, is the familiarity with which Blackbeard is speaking. It shows they clearly interacted at Rocky Port. And, lest we forget, Blackbeard is holding Coby -- the so-called hero of Rocky Port -- captive. This is where we learn what happened during that incident, isn’t it? *vibrates in excitement*

Am I worried about Law here? Yes. Law has a damaged ship and Blackbeard plus three of his lieutenants. Is Law going to hold his own in this fight? Absolutely. I mean, look at this face.

He doesn’t look afraid. However, Blackbeard and his people fight dirty.

There is zero narrative purpose to killing Law here. For one thing, if Oda planned to kill Law as soon as Wano ended, there was no need to give him the new motivation to learn about the Will of D. Yes, Robin is also interested, but Law is the only D. we’ve seen who wants to know about his name. For another, Luffy doesn’t need more motivation to want to fight Blackbeard; his role in Ace’s death is plenty. 

But Blackbeard also is going to get some kind of win here, I think.

That said, I could easily see Law being taken captive and, held alongside Coby, we learn about the Rocky Port incident. I could also see an interruption to the fight a la Rayleigh coming to Amazon Lily. 

I hope it’s not off-screened, but then again, the last time we saw Sabo, he was on an island that got nuked and we haven’t heard anything since.

(Are we going to see what Kid is up to in a future chapter as well? I’m still so surprised to see Law so soon after the end of Wano.)

[itsxcowboyrocksteady]

Good Morning, Mr. Fairfield

Good Morning, Mr. Fairfield: A Dead by Daylight One Shot

Pairing: Dwight Fairfield x (GN) Reader

Contents: Loads and loads of Fluff, followed by total Smut, NSFW

Content Warnings + Specifics: Long Story/Post (4,831 words); Mentions of anxiety; Dwight's really sad in some of this; Mentions of loneliness; Dwight being self conscious about his body/appearance; Mutual pining; A couple of flashbacks; Dwight's never even been kissed before; Virgin Dwight; Dwight's first kiss; Dwight's first blowjob/hummer

Summary: You and Dwight are friends from work, but you've gotten close with him and even hang out with him on weekends. Sometimes even sleeping over at each other's places. After getting approval for a Friday off to spend a long weekend with you at the end of your staycation, the boss calls him in, anyway. In his disappointment, he makes a mistake that turns a really bad morning into being the happiest he's ever been in his life.

A/N: I decided to just post it all at once instead of doing it in parts xD. I couldn't really decide where to cut it and it didn't make sense to me to do that the more I looked it over. Anyways, I'm so in love with this man. Can you imagine Dwight having major feelings for you, and telling him you love him, and how happy that would make him??? And I've been obsessed with the idea of him getting a bj for the first time and how fucking precious he'd be and the sounds he'd make and... Anyway, I wrote it lol. Really tho, someone rescue me, I wanna hold him so bad >.<

You and Dwight are snuggled up together, asleep on his bed, having drifted off to the movie you had been watching the night before. This happens a lot. At first, Dwight had been nervous about it, but now? He loves that the first thing he sees is you in the morning when you stay over. Or how you both wake up sometimes to find that you’d wrapped your arms around him in your sleep. You were embarrassed the first time, but he told you it was fine. Actually, it was kind of nice. And when you agreed, it made him happy… Even if you are just friends... *

He’s not really sure when he began to fall for you, but he thinks it was around the first time you had come to visit him. He had always thought you were pretty cool, but when you had been the only person that showed up to his birthday get-together, that meant a lot to him. Especially since you were the one he was most hoping would show up. He really liked your conversations and you were the person he interacted with most in a friendly way, not just as coworkers.

He had been on the verge of tears as he received text after text from coworkers --the only people he really knew-- all cancelling the night of the get-together. Some never sent a message at all. He didn’t want to make it a party, you see, because if he made a big deal about it and nobody showed up, he’d be sad. But he hadn’t thought that the size of the party, or what he called it, didn’t matter.

He was alone. Again. Just like always. And the feeling of loneliness was so great that he almost didn’t look at his phone when it buzzed again.

Through his tears, as he started to sniffle, he looked at the screen to see a text from you, the last person on the list that hadn’t contacted him yet, after he had come to grips with the fact that the others weren’t going to. As he was preparing himself for his last bit of hope to be crushed, he opened the text.

8:04 PM: Hey Dwight! Im running late but I should be there in 10. Im sorry I didnt text u sooner 🙁 I tried but my service was iffy. I hope my gift makes up for it lol!

He wiped his eyes and read the message a few more times. You were on the way? You even got him a gift? He choked back a sob as his heart leapt that he wasn’t going to be alone on his birthday, after all!

He rushed to the bathroom to wash his face so he wouldn’t look like a mess when you got there, and nearly tripped on his way to answer the buzzer to let you up to his apartment a few minutes later. When he opened the door to greet you, you stood there with a giant teddy bear. It had glasses on and large, expressive eyes.

“I-I hope you like it,” you had said sheepishly, before even greeting him. “I don’t know, I saw it and it reminded me of you, so I thought you should have him… But I have another gift and a card in my bookbag.” You motioned with your head to the bag on your back, hanging on one shoulder.

He smiled brightly at you and said, “No- I mean, yeah! I like it a lot. I can see the resemblance.”

Then the two of you spent the night laughing, talking, eating pizza and popcorn, and watching the movie you had brought as your second gift. Office Space. You had said to him once that he should see it and that he’d love it. He didn’t say anything, but he was flustered that you had remembered such a small conversation with him from months ago.

He couldn’t believe how annoyed you got that nobody else showed up, and that they all cancelled last minute on him like that, and how you shook your head as you scrolled through all the messages he had received when he handed you his phone. It made him feel like you actually cared and weren’t just showing up to be nice.

After that night, the two of you started to hang out more. You grabbed lunch together at work sometimes. After a while, you’d even stay over his place some weekends, or he at yours. When he started to realize he had feelings for you, though, he felt a crushing sense of despair, like it was a foregone conclusion that you didn’t feel the same. He’d been there a few times before, and he wasn’t going to ruin this friendship he cherished so much by making you feel awkward around him. So he kept his feelings to himself.

Sometimes he thinks about it and realizes he probably had feelings for you before then, but all those fears subconsciously prevented him from figuring that out until he couldn’t deny it anymore... *

Dwight begins to stir as he hears his phone chime. At first he’s confused because he hadn’t set an alarm the night before. As he feels around his nightstand for his glasses and wakes up a little more, he realizes that it’s not his alarm. It's a text. Multiple texts. From your boss. On his Friday off that he had gotten approved so he could have a long weekend with you at the end of your vacation time.

5:48 AM: We need you to come in today Dwight.

5:50 AM: Your department is way behind on the paperwork we need to file by Monday.

5:55 AM: Be here by usual time.

He holds his phone up, the light reflecting off of his glasses. He doesn’t move for a moment. All that goes through his mind is his deep disappointment. He had been looking forward to hanging out with you today, especially after a particularly difficult work week. In fact, this long weekend was the thing that helped him get through all the bullshit this week had given him.

He slowly gets out of bed, trying not to disturb you. He wonders what to do. You’re in a different department that didn’t have anything to do with this specific project, so you wouldn’t be called in, too. Besides, you never told anyone but him that you were having a staycation. Which means that he’d be leaving you alone at his place all day. He resigns himself to the idea of writing you a note explaining where he is and telling you that it’s OK if you want to head home and try to hang out again the next available weekend.

I’ll do that after I shower, he thinks sadly, not wanting to start looking around for pen and paper in the dark and wake you. At least he has an en suite, though it had always seemed laughable to Dwight to call it that since his apartment was far from nice and that seemed like a “rich” word to him. Still, he was able to slip in without making much noise.

His thoughts race from one depressing thing to another as he makes his way to the shower. He quietly closes and locks the door behind him before undressing to prevent you from accidentally walking in on him. Even the thought of that makes him turn beet red. But he’s broken out of that thought the moment he turns the shower on and gets hit with a blast of cold water. He covers his mouth to keep from yelping.

It’s only after he steps out of the shower and wraps his towel around him that he realizes he forgot to grab a set of clothes to change into while being lost in thought. His heart pounds and his anxiety spikes. He considers putting his sleep clothes back on for a second, but decides that he can’t because they’ve been on the floor this whole time and that would make taking a shower a moot point. He shakily unlocks the door and turns the knob as slow as he can, silently pleading with you to stay asleep.

He hasn’t so much as been shirtless around anyone since high school, in the locker room with the other boys trying out for the football team. Even then, he felt uncomfortable. Dwight has always lacked confidence in most everything. But his appearance, his body, was always one of the things he was most self-conscious about. He had always been the scrawny kid with the big nose and the bigger glasses. It was partly why he had learned to become invisible in the first place. It was also a big reason why he was so timid about pursuing any romantic feelings he had had for anyone in the past, but for you especially.

The idea of you seeing him basically naked except for his towel makes it difficult for him to breathe. He takes a few seconds to try to calm down as he stands in front of his dresser, fearing his trembling hands will rattle the drawer enough to wake you. He begins to slowly open the drawer.

“Hey, Dwight, what are you doing up so early?” he hears you say sleepily and yawning from the bed behind him.

He freezes in place a moment. He knows he’s going to have to turn around to face you and answer you. He feels his face and his ears get hot and knows that he’s turning red. He closes his eyes tight to brace himself, and then turns around.

“The, uh… The boss sent me a message. He needs me to go in today,” he replies, looking anywhere but at you and praying that you didn’t detect the quivering in his voice.

You sit up, confused. “But they approved your day off three weeks ago?”

He still can’t look at you, but he’s in disbelief that you’re carrying on a normal conversation.

“Um, yeah, but the, uh… My department didn’t finish what we have to do by, by Monday, so…”

By now, you’ve woken up enough to recognize that Dwight sounds more nervous than usual. The room is too dark for your sleepy eyes, so you turn on the light on the nightstand next to you. When you look back at him, you understand.

You see him standing in front of his dresser, holding onto the towel wrapped around his waist like he’ll die if he lets go. His other hand nervously rubs the opposite arm like he’s trying to shield himself. His face is practically scarlet with embarrassment. His eyes are transfixed to a spot on the floor.

All you want to do in this moment is hold him. Be close to him. Press yourself against him. Kiss him, and tell him it’s OK... *

Unlike Dwight and his feelings for you, you knew the exact moment you began to fall for him.

You had always liked him well enough. He was one of the only people at the office that you enjoyed talking to. You had thought to invite him to tag along with you and your friends to some activity or another a couple of times, but he seemed shy and you weren’t sure if crowds were really his thing.

As you spoke to each other more frequently at work, you began to notice that you’d light up every time you saw him. You even found yourself taking the long way to your desk once or twice just to pass his station and say good morning to him. It took you some time to admit to yourself that you had developed a crush on him, but once you did, you weren’t sure how to proceed. Or if you should proceed with anything more than how things had been between you.

When he invited you to his place for his birthday, you were thrilled. You told him you wouldn’t miss it. And you were glad to see that he was putting himself out there like that. You went to shop for a gift and you saw this really cute giant teddy bear that reminded you of him. You hugged it to see how soft it was, and thought, I wonder if Dwight’s hugs are this nice?

That thought lingered with you as you gift wrapped the movie before heading over to his place. You wondered if he was the kind of person who gave hello or good-bye hugs, imagining his arms around you. You were hoping so.

Then, when you got to his place, you didn’t say anything, but you noticed his eyes were a bit puffy. When you found out that nobody else showed up, or would show up, you realized that he might have been crying before you got there. Your heart broke. You were so angry at everyone for doing that to this sweet man at the last minute.

Sitting together and watching the movie, you couldn’t help but look over at him as he laughed. Seeing him so happy made you happy. It was then, noticing every detail of his face, from his endearing smile to how his nose would scrunch up when he laughed, that you had first felt the strong urge to hold him. To kiss him.

This wasn’t just a crush anymore. You were in love.

When you started sleeping over his place, and woke up with your arms wrapped around him that first time, your heart pounded in embarrassment. You were so apologetic. But when he told you that it was nice, and not to worry about it, sometimes you would do it on purpose if you woke up during the night. Every time, on purpose or not, he’d wake up and smile at you before reaching for his glasses. And you’d try so hard to hide that his contented smile made you melt.

You had it bad for Dwight. But you worked together. And everyone knew you both were friends. If you said anything and he didn’t feel the same, then everyone would know that something was wrong, and you weren’t sure you could handle the whispers on top of a broken heart... *

Before you know it, you’re out of bed and walking towards him. He looks up at you with wide eyes as you approach.

“W-what are you doing?” he asks, backing up against the dresser as though he thought it would put distance between you both.

You stop just in front of him and look into his eyes. You have no idea what’s come over you, but this feels right.

“Dwight, is it OK if I kiss you?”

He’s sure he didn’t hear you right. “What?”

You smile softly at him. “I asked if it was OK if I kiss you?”

He says nothing, he only nods his head. His skin bumps as you place your hands on either side of his face and press your lips to his. He moans softly as your kiss deepens and you run one of your hands through his still-wet hair.

You pull away from the kiss and whisper, “Did you like that? Was that OK?”

“Yeah,” he says, also in a whisper. “Was I OK?”

Since you’d been friends for a while now, you knew that he had never been with anyone before, and not even been kissed. He was bound to be worried about any new experiences.

“That was perfect. You’re perfect, Dwight.”

“I am?” he asks in disbelief of what is happening right now, of the love he sees in your eyes as you look at him.

You nod. “Yeah… I mean, look at you!”

His gaze falls to the floor again, self-conscious. However, they dart right back up to meet yours when he hears your next question.

“May I touch you?”

His heart pounds so much that he thinks you might be able to hear it. He’s never been more nervous in his life, but he so desperately wants you to.

“Um, y-yeah, but… How?” he asks, his voice shaky again.

You softly kiss his lips again and whisper, “I’m just going to move my hands to your chest, and we'll go from there. OK? If you want me to stop at any point, tell me to stop. As bad as I want you, I’m more concerned with how you feel, OK?”

For the first time since you woke up, he smiles at you. It’s a small, unsure smile, like he’s afraid this is some kind of joke, but he so badly wants to be happy about all of this.

“You want me?” he asks, a little breathless.

You nod. “Dwight, do you really not know how much I love you?”

His body relaxes just a bit. His shoulders aren’t as tense. He moves the hand that had been on his arm to your cheek and kisses you. It’s the most affectionate kiss you’ve ever had. This man is so sincere that it makes you feel like your heart will burst.

When he finally pulls away from you, you see that he has tears in his eyes, but he’s smiling brighter.

“I love you, too. I always wanted to tell you, but I was so scared you wouldn’t want to be around me anymore…” he says in a rambling sort of way.

“Baby, I’m not going anywhere,” you say as you slowly begin to move your hands from the back of his neck, to his shoulders, then to his chest. You rest them there with your palms flat, feeling how fast his heart is beating.

“This OK so far?” you ask, checking in.

“Yeah,” he says.

You continue moving your hands over his body, your light touch giving him goosebumps and making him shiver as they rest at his sides. This time, you seek a silent confirmation, only looking at him and nodding. When he nods back that he’s OK, your hands move to his back, and after he stops pressing himself against the dresser to allow you some room, you slide your hands over the towel and onto his ass.

“Oh,” he says softly, and you can see him beginning to turn pink again as he chuckles, a little embarrassed.

You lean in and kiss him again as you give his ass a gentle squeeze. With your lips still planted on his, you can’t help but smile as he giggles into your kiss.

He’s so adorable! How did I get this lucky? you think to yourself as you pull away from the kiss and look at him for a moment, keeping your hands in place. You look him up and down, wanting him so badly that you can feel your body practically ache. You wish he could just stay with you, wrapped up in each other all day. You’ve never been angrier at your boss than in this moment.

You place a soft kiss on his jaw as you move just one of your hands and hook your finger into the towel, bringing it to the front, where he’s been clutching it.

Reflexively, he gasps and holds a little tighter onto the towel. He berates himself in his head immediately for being so skittish. He wants you, too. Just as badly. He’s just scared. He’s scared that you’ll laugh at him. He’s scared that he won’t be enough for you. He’s scared that you’ll be disappointed in him, if not once you see all of him, then when you finally get him into bed. Having never been with anyone before, and already being so self-conscious otherwise, he has a moment of panic that maybe this is a mistake? Maybe you deserve better?

You see every bit of his anxiety in his expression. You feel bad, thinking you maybe tried too much too soon. Removing your hands from him entirely and backing away a few steps to give him some space, you say, “I’m sorry. It’s fine if that was too much, we don’t have to do anything else. We can go at your pace.”

He sighs. “No, I… That was OK. I’m just really nervous. I just don’t want to let you down.”

“Dwight, you could never. You hear me? Even just thinking about the sounds you might make is turning me on right now. No matter what, I promise you, I’m still going to want you. I’m still going to love you and want to be with you.”

Again, his body relaxes a bit. Slowly, he moves his hand away from the towel and places both of his palms on the edge of the dresser behind him, fingers forward. The towel is still folded into itself, keeping it in place. He looks up at you, still nervous, but with almost pleading eyes.

“May I?” you ask, making sure this was the invitation you thought it was.

He nods, closing his eyes for a second before looking back at you. He watches your every move as you slowly close the space between you again. He trembles slightly from his nerves as your hands move to undo the towel and it drops to the floor. He knows he’s bright red again in the face as he watches you intently for any sign of dissatisfaction, or worse, amusement as you look at him completely. Instead, he sees that same loving look in your eyes from before.

You were right. He's perfect in your eyes. It makes you sad that he had been so scared.

“Um, is-is everything alright? Am-am I alright?” Dwight finally said after more time had passed in silence than he was comfortable with.

You snap out of your thoughts and look him in the eye. “Oh! Yes, I’m sorry… You’re just…”

Had he misread a look of pity as being loving? He braces himself.

“You’re just so beautiful, Dwight. More beautiful than I ever imagined.”

He smiles again and catches his breath. Though he inhales sharply once you place your hands on his hips and lock eyes with him, a playful smile on your face.

“May I continue?” you ask.

“Y-yeah,” he says, wide-eyed and heart pounding.

Slowly, unbearably so, you trail your fingertips down his leg, keeping your other hand in place on his hip. You feel like you might just die from the look he’s giving you. You can still see the anxiety behind his eyes, but there’s a neediness there, too. You notice that he’s getting hard from the anticipation alone, and the silent pleading you see in his expression is enough to make you practically ache for him. So much that you can’t help the moan that escapes you as you finally cup his balls and stroke them lightly with your thumb, causing him to gasp and moan, himself.

His eyes shut tight and his grip on the dresser behind him gets stronger. You smile as he makes little “hm” and “ah” and “oh” sounds as you tease him.

“Is this good?” you ask, still grinning and knowing damn well that he’s melting at your touch.

“Uh--mmmf--uh-huh… Ah,” is all you hear from him.

He gasps again when you kiss his jawline and begin to trail kisses down his neck. To his shoulder, then his chest, pausing only a moment to flick both of his nipples with your tongue and making you very excited to learn how sensitive they are when he moans a little louder and arches his back a bit. You practically giggle before continuing down his abdomen, to his belly, until you’re on your knees in front of him. You finally take your other hand off of his hip to grab the towel on the floor and fold it as best you can with one hand, shifting to put it under your knees for support.

“Um -- Oh-mmm -- w-what are you -- hm -- what are you doing?” he asks, his eyes still shut and his head now tilted downwards towards you. His voice is soft and sweet. But you can hear the hope in there that he failed to hide, too. He knows exactly what you’re doing, and he’s as desperate and eager for you to start as you are.

You’re not simply "angry" with your boss anymore. No. Thinking about how you and Dwight could be spending the day, you hate this asshole even more for calling him in.

“I think you know,” you say with a laugh, smiling even bigger when his face turns pink again, further betraying his desperation and almost unbearable desire. “But just in case,” you continue, trailing your free hand up his leg and resting it on his ass with another playful little squeeze, “if you’re not into it, tell me to stop.”

He tries to say, “OK,” but his brain goes to static when you move your hand from his balls to his now rock hard dick, giving him just a couple of slow, gentle strokes. All that comes out is, “O-kAAAAAH! Oh, god…”

That’s nothing compared to when you finally begin to use your mouth on him, your hand remaining on his shaft as a guide. You lick your lips before pressing them against the tip for a soft kiss. You can feel him already beginning to shake, and his knees buckle just slightly when you move your tongue down his shaft, then back to the tip and repeat on the other side, shifting it underneath as you bring it back up the second time and lick upwards at the head.

He cuts you off before you ask him how he’s doing this time, knowing you’re about to and being unable to take any more teasing. “Please keep going,” he begs breathlessly and sounding like he might cry if you don’t.

Your lips are back on him, now taking the tip into your mouth and playing with it for a moment with your tongue, lapping up the precum that had begun to drip out of him. You slide onto him as much as you can, massaging him with your tongue and guiding him in and out with your hand, occasionally humming and moaning for added sensation.

His knuckles are white from how hard his grip has become on the dresser. His eyes are shut tighter than before. He’s trying not to moan too loudly, but he can’t help it. He’s trying to stop his knees from buckling again because his trembling has gotten worse in how amazing this feels. He’s focusing whatever brain power he has that isn’t locked on what’s happening to stop his body from involuntarily thrusting for more contact. But the man positively unravels when you move your hand from his ass to play with his balls again, using the hand on his dick to make an “O” shape against your lips. Your hand and mouth begin stroking him in unison and your moaning becomes more consistent.

“Oh my g-- Oh… OH! AH!!!”

His head snaps back and he calls out your name. The noises he makes are a mixture of moans and sobs. He tries to tell you he’s going to cum (a little too late, but you don’t mind) but he’s so lost in his orgasm that he can’t form words anymore. He feels like he might collapse as he spills into your mouth. Whatever embarrassment he might have had before dissipates in his rapture. He gives one last little “ah” as you slide him out with a soft pop.

You swallow and wipe your mouth with the back of your hand before planting soft kisses on his body again, working your way back up and using the dresser to help you stand again. Each kiss makes him shiver, his whole body feeling tingles. Of course, you pause at his nipples again, this time giving each a little more attention and making him laugh in between moans. But you make your way back up to his neck, and back to his jawline before sucking on his earlobe a moment.

“How do you feel,” you whisper, sending another shiver through his body.

“That… That was amazing. I-I just can’t believe…” He trails off and gets quiet a moment. You’re kissing his neck so lovingly, but his anxiety begins to return and he can’t shake the feeling. He’s never been this lucky, and he’s never fallen this hard for someone before.

“This is real, right?” he finally asks. His voice sounds like he might cry. It breaks your heart.

“Dwight,” you say, now looking him in the eye and not raising your voice much louder than whispering, “yes, it’s real. I love you.”

He wraps his arms around you tightly and kisses your cheek.

“You should probably go get cleaned up… Again,” you say, laughing.

“Just a couple more minutes,” Dwight replies, still holding you.

“You can have me for much longer than that when you get back later.”

He smiles. “I’d like that very much.”

He really is adorable. How did you get this lucky?

[guesswho873]

Enjoyment after a long time

Warning: swearing cuz of tommy and harsh words, sobbing ect.

Summary: tommy was sad andXD cheer him up and dream comes and tommy gets his revenge.

Characters in this : a little bit of lee!tommy and ler!XD mostly ler!Tommy and lee!dream.

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so......It's been months after tommy's exiqution(again idk how to spell it). No one came to see him..... No one, ABSOLUTELY NOBODY, did anybody even cared..... A-are they happy that he is gone. No n-no, that can't be,he had some f-friends like phill, tubbo an- wait!!

T-tubbo his best friend atleast ,tommy thought he is..........

......

... He did this to him HOW COULD HE, I(tommy) EVEN FOUGHT TECHNO CUZ HE KILLED TUBBO. tommy was in anger, broken, his knees gave up he fell to the ground.sobbing

Everything turned black around him and he heard someone behind. he turned back and became pale white.

There he was, dream. He had a netherite sword.and he was coming closer to tommy. Oh no nO NO NO!!! tommy felt the fear. But he saw someone behind? w-was it "TUBBO?!".

He shouted. "Tubbo a-are you here to take me? Tommy felt sooo happy to finally see his best friend in a long time. But the happiness didn't last long cuz tubbo smiled and said.

"Yeah!! take his life dream, no one cared about him anyway!

" WHA- before he could finish his sentence, he felt a sharp pain going through his chest.

He screamed. Finally waking up. He was in tears " another nightmare" tommy winened still shaking in fear 'I mean it's gonna happen sooner or later' tommy thought.

He got up and did some of his morning tasks from his hut or whatever he called it.

He went out,no one was there not even ghostbur and friend. "Omg now!!? From all the time now only ghostbur is gone come on?? I feel like I need some company". Tommy thought.but Tommy puffed his chest and said

"No, I didn't need any company I am ok on my own. I can do whatever the fu*k l want and no one would stop me..." He said that starting it loud but in the end his voice became quite and said.

"Untill dream comes and......." The nightmares came back to him. He shook it off. He was breaking some wood. That is all he can do. if he upgrade it dream will make him to burn it.

So he was collecting wood when he heard a 'pop' sound from behind he flinched and tuned back to see a man with green clothes and a mask.

He almost screamed thinking that it is dream but, then only realised that it was XD.

Oh my- XD you scared the shit out of me. XD just stared him.

"W-why are you h-here?" Tommy asked. XD looked at him and said " I heard you scream so I came here to see if you are fine. Tommy relaxed a bit. And tuned away from XD and collected some more wood.

"And?? You are gonna answer me or not?" Tommy turned to him angrily and said

" NO!! I'm not FU*KING fine, what YOU are gonna do? help me?!!? No you won't.all you do is just ask me "if l am fine" and do NOTHING" tommy kinda shouted but regretted it.

"TOMMY do you know who you are talking to?" XD asked furiously. "yes! The elder brother of the person who IS BEEN TORTURING ME!" He said which shocked XD.but then tommy apologized.

"I-i am sorry XD it's just that all that is happening came to my head" said with a apologizing voice.

"It's just that, what dream is doing to me the past couple of months,the isolation and the fact that tubbo left me like this.... And the fear of dream killing me...... And I have no one to talk to even if there is ghostbur I feel like I need a human interaction." Tommy said in a broken voice almost in tears.

XD's heart (if he had one) broke into million pieces and got near him and pat his head."it's ok tommy everything will get better soon". XD comforted him.

But it only made tommy want to cry more. XD talked to dream soo many times to not torture tommy like this all the time,but dream just wouldn't listen and he couldn't bring himself to hurt his little brother.

george was a good friend of tommy that is how XD know tommy.

Seeing tommy like this made him so sad,seeing his condition, so he did the unthinkable. He created two golden apples and some steaks and gave it to him. yes. reader you read it right, he did it.

Tommy's eyes widened at this with shock. (I mean I am even in shock) "a-are you gonna give me these?. He asked amused.

XD smiled(which tommy couldn't see) and nodded "yes". "But don't expect another one from me"XD said.

Tommy took a min to realise that XD said yes

Which made XD smile even more.

Tommy was so happy that he took it and put the steaks and one gapple in his inventory and took a bite out of the other gapple and did not even say thank you, as he IS tommy. but XD can see that he was grateful by his face.

Tommy was starving and didn't even remember the last time he ate a proper meal. So he ate it now, cuz if dream saw he has a golden apple he would have made him burn it.

XD made him sit down and saw happily, as tommy was eating the gapple.

After tommy finished the gapple. XD noticed that there is some juice from the gapple in his shirt "omg kids" XD thought and said

"Tommy you got some stains from the gapple" XD creates a napkin and tried to wipe the stain in tommy's shirt in his ribs area when he accidently squeezed this ribs and tommy yelped.

XD was suprised ,but then know what was happening.

"Tommy what was that~~" XD asked in a teasing tone.

"Nothing" tommy said but it only made XD smile even more.but he acted like he didn't know.

"Oh ok! Let's get back to cleaning. He said but only squeezed it again.

"Ahh" squeaked again.

"Tommy you can't yell at me for trying to wipe the stain off of your shirt"

I hahahahm not yehheling ahaht yohou" tommy giggled.

"NOW you are LAUGHING at me?!! This is just unacceptable. XD shook his head,smiling and stated to squeeze and scratch his ribs and tommy laughed.

"Hahahahhahahah XD yohohobu arhahhahahae jusheheheht tickl- hahahahhahah me!!" Tommy laughed. Seeing tommy laugh freely after a long time XD smiled.

Ticking you?? Tommy!! Why would I? I am just trying to help and your framing me for something I didn't even do !!!' Now that's it!," saying that XD blowed a raspberry on his ribs and scratching them at the same time and tommy was in histerical.

"AHahaHAHAHHAHAhhahahahaHAHAHHAHA XD shahhahhHahahhaHahhahaP' after some time XD stops and rub away the ghost tickles.

"Feeling good?" XD said sitting beside him.

Tommy was in a loopy smile he loved it cuz it is the first time he laughed in months and said:

"Yhehes, it whahahs nihihice" tommy said before coming back to his senses and realising that he was a "man" and said " I m-mean it wasn't, I just said it to make you feel better"

XD smiled.

But after XD sighed and said:

" I told dream sooo many times to stop torturing you but he just wouldn't listen" uge. " "He is soo stubborn as always" XD said disappointed at dream.

Tommy looked down at the ground and said "I mean it's not suprising, he IS dream" XD nodded.

A curious tommy asked XD " if he is always like this then... what you usually do to make him listen?" XD said "hm?" In confusion.

"I mean if he is stubborn all the time so... When he was living with you, or when he was young ,what did you do to make him listen cuz you can't hurt him?"tommy asked.

That is them XD remembered something that he always use when dream is misbehaving or being annoying as a punishment.

"Oh!! I remember something that always work on him. oh~~ he could never handle that!!"XD said excitedly.

Tommy was sooo eager to find what it is." TELL me!! Pls I need to know!!" Tommy said.

XD was gonna say it but he saw dream from far away,comming here.

"Tommy!! He is comming here!! " hearing these words tommy quickly dug a hole in the ground ,and crafted a chest from the wood he got.put all his steaks and the gapple in there and buried it. "Dream can't see this" tommy thought and shook off the dirt.

He nodded to XD and he nodded back. Then XD disappeared with a 'pop'.

Tommy quickly went to cut trees for wood again.and he came.....

"Hello~~ Tommy how is your day been?" dream said with a sadist's voice. Tommy hated everything about it. Surprisingly dream was not wearing and armer for .......idk.

some reason. But tommy didn't care.

"FU*K OFF DREAM" Tommy shouted but dream just smirked and shook his head. "tommy how many times I told you,you should not say that to your frienddddd' dream said.

"YOU ARE NOT MY FRIEND!!! DREAM!!!" tommy shouted in anger. "THEN WHO THE FU*K IS?!" Dream replyed that made tommy shut up.

"I AM TRYING TO BE NICE AND YOU ARE SHOUTING AT ME?! YOU KNOW WHAT I WILL FU*KING DO!" Dream shouted and took his netheright sword. Tommy backed up.

"yeah that's what I thought! Now do not make your friend mad, cuz you have no other" dream said pointing out again and again that everyone left him like this.

"B-b-but I ha-have gh-host-" tommy shuddered in fear. The answer made dream mad.

"WHAT WAS THAT??" dream shouted and took one step forward to tommy with his sword.

"NNO NO NO! No one I-i have no one......other that you." Tommy said feared.

"Yeah and DON'T even think ghostbur is your friend he is just pitying you and staying around for a bit. And see he is not here now" dream said.which made tommy even more sad.

"Yeah!! And when you thew that party no one came why?? Cuz they are not your friends anymore!!" Dream smirked "BUT I came so I am your true friend" he giggled in a evil way.

'IT'S CUZ OF YOU' tommy thought but he wasn't sure if it's true.....

"Nowwww tommy show me your inventory " tommy froze ' did he know???!!' Tommy thought.but he cannot do anything so threw everything in his inventory to the ground. Dream examined it.

Lots of woods, wooden sword, axe, some feathers from all the chickens he killed ' he can't make a furnace cuz I wont allow it then he ate the chickens raw?' Dream thought 'but then he would be sick by now?' Dream thought

"Ok you can take you items back" dream said Tommy was shocked. 'Wait really??!" Tommy said.

"Yeah!!" Cuz you are my friend." Dream said. But tommy ignored the last sentence. After tommy picked up his stuff, dream asked with a evil grin.

"Tommy did you build a furnace?' With a evil voice. Tommy froze in fear. But he thought saying the truth will be the safe option and told yes.

"Hmmmmmmm? I will let this slip this time" dream said tommy sighed in relief.untill dream saw XD's napkin in the ground.

"What is THIS" dream asked furiously.OH NO!! tommy is screwed but thankfully he knows how to lie from all his business. He came up with a lie.

"I-its TUBBO'S I am so sorry!!!" Tommy said quickly.

"THAT IS TWO TIMES TODAY!" dream said furiously. Tommy honestly thought he was dead. But dream said "ok I am taking this"

"What?" That's it?" Tommy accidently said.

But dream smirked and said " not only that cuz it's tubbo's I think you are really attached to it so now I have it.... and burn it'

Dream lit up the fire and tommy brought his inner actor's skills into action.

"No!! Please PLEASE dream DREAM I WILL DO ANYTHING PLEASE please... Don't THAT IS the onl- NOOOO!!!!". Tommy said with almost tears.omg someone give tommy a oscar award.

Dream put it on fire. Tommy "cried" and said "why?" Dream shrugged and said "should have thought before THINKING about saying a lie to me.

Tommy almost wanted to laugh that dream actually believed him but he didn't want to ruin the act so he slowly stood up and walked to the river and sat there seeing the water.

He was thinking about something when dream came and sat next to him. "Hey!!" Dream said but tommy just looked at the water. "Why are you doing this" Tommy asked dream. But dream simply said

"Correction ,TUBBO is doing this" and smiled.

Tommy wanted to scream but he can't he is just....... Stuck here ........... For ever. Why can't dream just admit that he is doing all of these.why IS HE SO STUBBORN ON TORTURING HIM. tommy thought.

That's when he remembered XD saying something about "how to make dream listen"tommy thought.

XD said it would make him listen without refusing it cuz whatever it is dream can't handle it and by not hurting him too. But he didn't say what is it tho.

That is also was ruined by dream. Why dream has to ruin EVERYTHING. then tommy remembered XD was ticking him........ Will it work on dream...?

On dream's POV tommy was just thinking, he thought tommy was thinking about the napkin. So he got up and said

" ok if you are not gonna say anything then I better go to-" before dream could finish his sentence, tommy also got up and said

"Wait!!" And pulled dream into a back hug.

"Woa-" dream was about to take his sword thinking tommy is trying to hurt him. Insead he squeezed dream's ribs. Which made him squeak. Bingo.

Tommy's eyes light up." AWWW your ticklish" dream was in panic and said "tommy LEAVE ME ,I d-dont have tiME ah!" Dream said but squeaked at the end, cuz Tommy squeezed his ribs again.

"AWWW no mate! You should always have time for your friends. And since I am your "friend" as you said I am gonna prove it" said with a smirk. He wiggled his hands on dreams ribs. And he started giggling.

"NOhoHo hohow thiihhis is hahahahah gonna prohohve it hahahah" dream said blushing and giggling.

"Oh?? We do this to each other every once in a while." Said and suddenly going for dreams armpits. Dream SQUEAKED at the sudden change of spots

"hahahahahahahahha hahahahhahah gethhhhahahahah ouhuhuhahaht" dream said but tommy said "hmmmmm? Nope!!"

And launched his hands into dream's sides and then dream's knees gave up and he fall to the ground but tommy catched him and pinned dream's arms with his one hand and play with the other and he took his mask off (tommy seen his face once so it doesn't matter).

And he was pink

"Oh my!what a beautiful face full of pink~~"

"NohihohnoHOHO" plehahehase dohohon't" dream full on laughed at his sides being tickled. he tried to wiggle out but he could not cuz he was tried.and tommy took this opportunity.

Suddenly he laughed so loud, when tommy went for the hips.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH TOMMMY WAITHAHAHAHAHHAT" dream said

"Wait for what ??I waited long enough!!" Tommy said.

"HHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA PLEHAHAHAHAHAHSE!!" dream pleaded ,PLEADED!! that was the 1st time tommy heard him plead and he wanted to hear more.

"Awwwww bad spot?~~" tommy teased "don't worry I would give it some attention. By running my nails on it". "An-

"OMHAHAHAH MY GAGHAHAHAHAD TOMOHIHIHAHAHAHMY I WILL KIHIHIL YOHOHOHOU!!" Dream tried to threaten but tommy just giggled. And said

"Bold words from you right now!?"tommy said. " when-

Your.

At.

My.

Mercy.

Suddenly dream laughed even more.

'HAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH WAHAHHAHAHAHAIT NOHOHOHOHOHOT THEREEHAHAHAHARE HAHAHAHAH" dream laughed historically.

That is when tommy realised that he was tickling his lower belly.

Hmmm! This spot is a gold mine I see!?

"NonNOHOHOHOHHOHOHOHOHO" dream said and tommy simply replied "yes" and ticked there for few min.

"Oh wait dream I think I have a better tool for this!!" And took his feathers from his inventory. Dream froze. Oh no.

"By the way thx for letting me keep these stuff or else I wouldn't have got to hear your beautiful laughter"tommy said. Dream is regretted the decition he made.

"NOhoHo tommy plehehehs don't, I cahahahahn't hahahahahahndle thahahaht". Dream pleaded.

Tommy smirked and and came closer to his ear and whispered "should have thought before you fu*king tortured me" and lift up his hoodie and exposing his belly and slowly getting the feathers down to it.

"NoHoHONO hahahahah Tommy PlEEHHEleashahahe I whHIHIHAHAHAHAHLL dohoho anthihihing!!" Dream begged.

"AnYTiNg?" Hmmmmmm!!" Tommy came closer to his ear again and whispered "then "get me out of here~~" dream eyes widen. tammy smirked.

"No I can't do- HAHHAAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAH WAHAHAHAHAHABABHAHAHAHAHIT!"!dream asked.

"What do you mean "wait " I already told you. I waited long enough!" With that he added the other hand to this enjoyment and tickle with his one hand and the other with the feathers. (Even with his hands free dream can't pust of tommy).'how did he get kinda stronge' dream thought.That is when dream screamed in laughter. For a few sec it was just laughter.

"HHAHAHAHAHHA TOMMMY!!NOHOHHOHOHOHOHOHOHO HAHAHAH!!"

Dream said but then tommy blowed a raspberry. Then said.

(Sorry idk why there is a space here)

HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHA I WILLHIHIHIHIHIH BRIRIRHAHAHANG YOHOHOHOHOHOHOU TUBBOHOHOHO'S NAHAHHAPKIN OR SOMEHEHEHEHEHTING.

Tommy stopped for a bit and asked:

"What?" In shock.

"Yehehehs............ A hhahaha nahhahapkin or someheheethihihing like that" dream said still breathless and giggling and tears in his eyes.

'Wow is he still believing that lie? I mean I can't complain.' Tommy thought.

"Ok deal" said with a smile.

Dream thought it was over but then tommy said:

"BUT I have to do something else too" and with that tommy wiggled one hand in dream's sides.one hand squeezed his hips and brought his head down at his belly and NIBBLED it! All at once. Yeah dream felt like he couldn't die.

"Omg!! NoHOHOBOHO AHAAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHH! TOHOHOHOOHOMY I AMHABABBHAHAHM SOHOHOHOOHEY"

Dream apologized. He didn't even know why he said it but he did. And tears were running down his cheeks.

It went for a few min. And dream almost fainted. but thankfully tommy stopped. Tommy enjoyed this but he has to stop and got up from dream.

Dream curled into a ball. Still shoulder was shaking in giggles and he fell asleep.

'Omg I can't believe this pussy was the one who was torturing me this whole time' tommy thought but ........ He would be lying if he said dream didn't look adorable like this.

But tommy being tommy took some of dream's loot and put it in the chest with the steaks.

........

and went to his hut cuz it was becoming night time.

Dream woke up and saw he was missing some loot but he didn't want to asks tommy right now, atleast not after what happened he put his mask and went somewhere.

Tommy saw dream is gone but he doesn't care.

As long as this trick can work he is safe but he does not know if it would work again or not........

So he was in fear a litte bit and went to sleep. With no nightmare.

XD saw all this from above and smiled.....

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Sorry took a lot of time to post it cuz I was busy but hey hope you like it.

[rehcciardo]

The Hunger-ian G(P)ames

Welcome to my Race review of the Hungarian GP. As always I'm beginning with the drivers parade. Again no truck but at least they sat both drivers of a team in one car. As it was  quite windy in Hungary on sunday, I was waiting for one of them loosing their cap. And I wanted to give Charles a cozy and warm sweater. He was so fucking freezing out there xD Actually I  was writing a protest already about why the Aston Martin boys were the only ones who didn't read the names on their car and sat on the opposite seat instead of the one with their names on it. But exactly while I was typing, I saw that they weren't the only ones who can't read xD I guess it triggerd my inner Monk a bit xD. But to be honest the parade wasn't really eventful and I'll leave it here and start with the race itself.

The race started with  a nice fight between George and Carlos in turn 1 but George managed it to stay in the lead. I really thought Carlos could get him but George is an amazing defender!

Esteban Ocon blocked his teammate after start and Lewis who had a decent start, had the opportunity to overtake both  Alpine. And it looked like Ocon nearly forced Verstappen off track  a bit and there also was a small incident between Fernando and Daniel as well. At least their wheels seemed pretty close to each other.

But I know there were contacts between Magnussen and Ricciardo and between Albon and  I guess it was Stroll. The last one caused a virtual SC due of  debris of Alex Albons car on the track. VSC in lap 2. That escalated quickly xD.

Seb had contact with someone too. But I really don’t know what happened. There were so much happening in the first lap.

I have to mention, that Kevin had a damn good start. He gaind 3 positions at the start but unfortunately he had to pit early because he got damage on his frontwing after touching Daniels back.

Max made it pretty well through the field. He gained position after position but around lap 13 we heard a frightening radio message where he said that he again had issues with the engine. I really thought this would ending his race ways sooner than expected.

Ferrari made a fake box call for Carlos to force other drivers into box? At least it semed to work with George but I’m not sure if he would have boxed anyway. He had a dam slow stop and came out in a Alpine sandwich and again showed us his incredible defending skills in a fight with Alonso.

In the next lap Carlos made his real pit stop but it was so so slow as well.Charles stop a bit later was a tiny bit faster and he came out in front of Carlos. Was it a planned swap without team order? Possible. I would say it was especially after Charles asked for it some time ago when he said that he would be faster.

In lap 24 Ocon went into box for new tyres. He came out in front of Alonso and Ricciardo and again blocked  Alonso or at least fighted with him and Daniel took this opportunity to smoothly overtake both alpine in one go. As an Daniel fan this was the best thing in this fucking race. He showed that the old Daniel is still there and I’m pretty sure that he enjoyed this overtake as much as we did watching it. Daniel even build up a decent gap between himself and the alpines. At this point I had high hopes that everything will get better again and all the shittalk will stop. How lovely it was to have this illusion at least  for a short time.

In lap 28 began a nice and close fight between George and Charles  for the lead. the fight last a few laps until Charles eventually passed george in lap 31. Of course nice to watch but I think this long fight wasn’t something his tyres enjoyed much.

Both Alpine got hard tyres in their earlier stop and you could clearly see that the hard ones weren’t working well in the colder conditions at the track. They were really struggeling out there.

Yuki had some spinning after coming out of the pit. I would say he had problems with the cold fresh tyres and that’s why he had this little spin. Maybe there also was a bit of rain at this part of the track which could have made the track a bit slippery.

Max boxed for his second tyre change and forced the others to make a pit stop as well. Now we entering a  very much discussed topic after race. Ferrari pitted Charles for new HARD tyers. We already knew that the hard ones didn’t work so why the bloody hell Ferrari thought the hards would be a good idea? Max closed up to Charles quickly and Charles had not a single chance to fight agains Max. But after Max passed Charles he made a lovely 360 and lost the position again. But this save was kinda sexy!

George showed us again a nice battle. He fighted with Perez and also with Max but he only could overtake Perez. But nice move Mister!

Again Max closed the gap between himself and Charles and overtook Charles so easily as if the Ferrari would just park on the track. This hard tyres were ridicously slow. But I’m not an expert and I don’t know how many tyres of any type they had left after saturday. I really need to have a look next time because it really would be quite interesting to know for understanding strategies way more than I do.

Lance and Daniel pitted at the same time. Daniel got the shitty hard ones even I guess he asked to stay out a bit longer with the mediums to avoid the hard? But I don’t know for sure. But wouldn’t it have been better to avoid those hards when you already have seen that they are so fucking bad and absolutely not working? But did McLaren even had other fresh tyres left than the hards?And to be fair Lando had the hards as well. Again I’m not an expert and I need to learn much more about the whole strategy thing. But let’s focus on  what’s happened next. Lance passed Daniel after their pit stop and Daniel tried to fight back but hit Lance and Lance spun out. I’m so sorry to say that but I guess Daniel got a deserved penalty for it and this was the last peace of ruining his race. part of his own foult (at least the collision with Lance) and part of a shit strategy (or if they had no other coice for the race than I blame this damn hard tyre, which ruined Charles race as well).

In lap 63 Lewis destroyed Ferraris last hope to get on podium. He passed Carlos and a few laps later he also passed George. Charles instead went for a third pitstop to get on softs again and had no chance to end on a podium in Hungary.

With only two laps to go, Valtteri had to park his car next to the track and it coaused a SC. And I honestly thought that this race will end under the lead of Bernd Mayländer but they could bring Bottas car off track way faster than I thought. The SC ended in lap 69 of 70 and we had one lap with racing left. 

In the end  something nice to add: Seb got into points. Okay he ended on P10 and got ONE point but I won’t complain :D

This race was some crazy shit. Bad strategy choices, Haas and Aston Martin were impatiently waiting for rain but all they got were a few drops of rain every now and then, No Ferrari on podium but a double podium for Mercedes again, Max Verstappen started on P10, had a 360 midrace and won this fucking race! What a drive. You don’t have to like Max but  everyone should see that this was an incredible job by him. So and now have fun with the freakiest shit this silly season already is. Except you are a Daniel Ricciardo fan like me, than you probably won’t enjoy it right now.

[jennsterjay]

♫ So take me back in time To another world When you can be mine We don't have to worry When you're by my side There's nothin' I don't know There's nothin' to decide Apart from where we want to go ♫

                  -Back In Time (Sonic R OST)

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Lol I guarantee you zero people were shipping this before today XD, and if not I owe you a soda

All my main ships kind of took all Silver's dating options off the market (RIP Silver) XD so one day Silver goes to hang out at the Chaotix Detective Agency to kill some time, and he's there at the same time he sees an old friend of the Chaotix's stop by that he's never seen before. Mighty the Armadillo then approaches him with a winning smile, and it's then that Silver knew that he had met someone that would become a big part of his future. Since then the two get in a lot of detective, treasure hunting, sight-seeing, and time traveling shenanigans as the laid-back and adventure seeking jock, Mighty; and the justice-bound nature loving nerd, Silver :)

*Since this is set in the future, Silver is 22 and Mighty is 24

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Other Notes:

-Background image (insert 'backgrounds hard' joke XD): unsplash.com/photos/F_hft1Wiyj… -Omg shoes are hard to draw XD but proud of myself for coming up with a different shoe design for Mighty -Also this is my first time drawing Mighty digitally, the first was in my sketchbook the same day which I might post later -I swear my brand recently is just "Rarepair Sonic Ship" lmao -In my other ships Blaze,Espio,Amy,Sonic,Shadow,and Knuckles are taken so I couldn't do Silver like that X'D -Redesigning future Silver was hard because honestly his original design is perfect XD there wasn't much I could "magical girl transform" or "timeskip" with his design so I basically just pulled his hair back and added sleeves, pants, and black into his design XD;  He almost looks like a Vocaloid here -This ship is basically just the entire Sonic R OST XD: www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_5dFQ… -I imagine at some point they meet Fang the Sniper/Nack the Weasel and when he starts shooting, Silver is just like nope and stops the bullets in mid air like in The Matrix -I feel like Mighty and Ray have a brother dynamic like Sonic and Tails, so Ray would probably try to tell embarrassing stories about Mighty to Silver, and Mighty would probably try to stop him and chase Ray around. Silver would laugh. -Honestly I feel like if Mighty was in Sonic Forces, the fight would've been over sooner if Silver used his telekinesis/psychokinesis and threw Mighty towards Infinite and Mighty landed one good punch on him. Mighty is ridiculously strong, on par or even stronger than Knuckles I think. -Probably gonna call this ship Silvmighty, Mightilver, or 'FutureFighter' -Hope you enjoy the art and ship ^^/

[zainclaw]

Hello. I am a new symbrock shipper and i really appreciate your posts of the excerpts from the comics. But i was wondering which part of the comic people said the writer (the cates one) erased some kind of part about the eddie & venom? It gets me curious somehow and was wondering if you knew about this.

...I’ve actually been expecting someone to ask me about this, sooner or later. Kinda been dreading it, tbh XD But here goes.

(This is quite a long and serious answer, and I totally get if not everyone wanna read this, but as more and more people are becoming interested in the Venom comics, I do think this is an important thing to address.)

This is also a conversation about fandom.

*deep breath*

First of all. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and just like some people might be upset with the writers of a tv-show when things take a turn they don't agree with, some people are upset with the changes Donny Cates did when he took over the Venom comics after Mike Costa. Yes.

But here’s the thing:

The Venom comics have had many writers (and artists) over the years. I mean, jesus christ, the Venom symbiote’s very first appearance was back in 1988. That’s over 30 fucking years ago, people. At this point, I don’t think it’s realistic to expect the feel of the story to be the same under every single writer that comes on. I just don’t.

In 1996 Len Kaminski gave us Eddie and his symbiote holding hands and giving each other chocolate gifts with love hearts and the line “it’s not human, but it’s given me things no girlfriend ever could” in The Hunger. Then, 20 years later, in 2017-2018, we had Mike Costa give us Eddie calling the symbiote ‘my love’ and ‘dear’ and ‘darling’ and refer to their partnership as a relationship and finally made them have a baby together in First Host.

(I strongly recommend using my masterlist of comics excerpts as a timeline here to understand what the hell I’m talking about.)

Sure, Cates hasn’t had Eddie calling the symbiote ‘my love’ or ‘darling’ since he took over. I guess you could say he “removed” that. Do I miss that part? Yeah. Of course. But as far as I know, no one had Eddie and the symbiote hold hands again in the 20 years following The Hunger, either. Different writers have told different stories, chose to focus on different things.

Cates chose to go down a very angsty route. To, for example, bring back the topic of the Venom symbiote having a past with Flash Thompson, of sometimes wanting to be with him more than Eddie, and feeling torn about who to choose, and Eddie’s pain and jealousy over that. This is something Mike Costa barely touched on during his run. Costa wanted domestic bliss, so that’s what he did. But that doesn’t remove past canon. Not for him, or anyone else.

I’ve said this before - have basically warned people who’ve come to me saying they wanna start reading the comics because of my excerpts - but the comics are fucking angsty. There’s a reason I’ve made a point of posting Symbrock highlights from the comics, rather than just say “read the comics, they’re just never-ending domestic Symbrock bliss” because they’re not.

Eddie Brock is not a happy man, and his relationship with the Venom symbiote has been obsessive, possessive and unhealthy at times. They have grown a lot and come a long way over the years, but this has always been a part of their canon. Eddie’s fear of being alone, of being the symbiote’s second choice.

This side of them is part of why I, personally, find their relationship so intriguing. How they can’t stay away from each other, even though they're both so flawed and not always good “people”, and don’t really know how to keep their relationship healthy.

And I think Cates must have felt the same way, because he’s chose to dive into Eddie as his own person. He’s made Eddie face his demons, his past, deal with his fear of being alone and do a lot of growing in ways I haven’t seen him do in any previous comics. He wanted to tell the story of Eddie Brock, to perhaps let him become a better person than he was, in order to make the relationship between him and the Venom symbiote better. And in my personal opinion, he’s doing a great job of that.

I’m very much against the “fandom hive mind” thing, and the thought of new people entering the Venom/Symbrock fandom and simply adopting the “we hate Donny Cates, he ruined the comics” mentality because they see so many other shippers feel that way, is so upsetting to me. I don’t like how entitled fans can become at times.

(I don’t know how many people who still follow me from my Teen Wolf days, but, damn, I’m embarrassed about a lot of stuff that went down between that fandom and the show runners/actors. It was a silly teenage show on MTV, and yet so many adults (myself included) thought they should have a say in where the story went, and not. It took me a long time to realize that, but there it is.)

Donny Cates did NOT deserve the hate he got from so many Symbrock shippers back in 2018. He’s NOT unfaithful to the story of Venom as a whole, and has NOT ignored previous canon. He openly spoke to and supported the Symbrock shippers on Twitter, before they tore him to pieces for not being Mike Costa. For, in their opinion, completely ignoring the loving nature of their relationship.

But like?

Cates is the one who gave us the Venom symbiote’s first “I love you, Eddie”. Cates is the one who gave us Eddie getting phantom limb syndrome from being apart from the symbiote. Cates is the only one, in my opinion, who’s given us SO many beautifully heartbreaking inner dialogues from Eddie like that about love and loss and longing, all referring to the Venom symbiote. Cates is the one who gave us the exchange “You found me” / “Always” that I’m still crying about.

My point being: I don’t think it’s fair at all to say that Cates has ignored the intimate relationship between Eddie and the symbiote. Because he hasn’t.

And it wouldn’t surprise me if, one day, when the Venom comics get a writer who actually doesn’t treat Eddie and the symbiote like romantic partners, people will look back on previous runs and say “wow I miss what Cates did.”

But,

I’m not here to convince anyone that Cates’ run is better than, or even as good as, Costa’s. I’m here to tell you that you don’t have to love every Venom comic that’s come out in the past 30 years written by several different writers. That’s unrealistic. You’re allowed to have a favorite Venom writer. You’re allowed to think that where Mike Costa’s comics ended, Eddie and the Venom symbiote’s story ended, for you. You’re also allowed to, like me, enjoy the angsty and slow burn story currently being told by Donny Cates.

You don’t have to hate Cates just because you’re a Symbrock shipper.

That’s all I wanted to say, more or less.

[subbe93]

The Roulette of Destiny part 12

Shinichi has burst out what was in his heart, and Ran doesn't know how to handle it. As much as she wants to admit her own feelings, they are still promised to someone else. What should she do? Maybe it's finally time to go back to Tokyo and forget all of this?

A/N: Okay, I'm feeling a little bad making all of you wait, but CONGRATULATIONS! You have survived! It's Sunday again xD I hope your week went fast! I can admit, I didn't think this would bring too much pain for you guys, so I'm sorry D:

But yeah, I have been waiting this moment! I knew from the beginning that I want Shinichi to be the one who would just hold his feelings until it's too much, and then there would be the moment when he just can't focus to control his thoughts, and without planning, he just burst it out.

I told you that I wasn't 100% happy with the last chapter, but what I didn't tell you was that I liked the end of it. I still think it was a perfect way to bring out how they feel. I don't say that it was a masterpiece, but I'm still happy with it :3

But hey, you have been waiting for this too long, so I don't hold you anymore! Hope you enjoy this! ❤

Chapter 1 ~ Chapter 2 ~ Chapter 3 ~ Chapter 4 ~ Chapter 5 ~ Chapter 6 ~ Chapter 7 ~ Chapter 8 ~ Chapter 9 ~ Chapter 10 ~ Chapter 11

Chapter 12

That evening Ran cried, more than the night she got to know that she is going to be married to a stranger, maybe more than the third night at Yokohama and maybe more than in Shizuoka after her mother’s call. Every time she thought she pulled herself together, tears came back with an unbearable feeling.

Why? Why did God hate her so much? What had she done to deserve this? Why did she meet Shinichi after the night she had heard the news? Why did she leave with him on this journey? Why had she had to grow fond of him? Why had he had to…? Why they…?

God, she hoped so much that they wouldn’t have had that fight. Maybe he wouldn’t have said anything. Why didn’t he make any lies? Anything else would have been better than the truth. Why was Ran so stubborn to hear the reason? If she had just agreed that they should back go home…

Maybe then there wouldn’t have been any reason to her admit to herself how much she cared about Shinichi. Maybe she would have admitted those feelings after they would have gone back to Tokyo and continued on their separate ways. Maybe only then she would have realised how much she misses his company, his laugh, his smile, his jokes and banters, his presence… Maybe then she could have accepted how much she likes him, yet it would have been okay. She wouldn’t have known how he feel. And she wouldn’t have asked, because it wouldn’t have changed anything. They both would have been married to someone they didn't know. She would have learned to live with her longing, maybe forget it after some time later. She could have learned to live with the fact that they would have stayed as friends, maybe met at some coffee shop and exchanged how they have been, who did they married and all, but now she wasn’t sure if she could learn to live with the fact that she had fallen into him, and he felt the same.

Ignorance was bliss.

But now he had said it out loud. Because of that, she realised her own feelings, and it hurt. Well, maybe she should have realised sooner that he wasn't only a friend anymore, but she didn't. It was enough that she had fun - they had fun. It was enough to know that tomorrow they have a new day and got to do something fun together. How could she have realised sooner how she really felt? Or maybe ignoring those feelings was her way to hide them, to protect herself from the truth. Because right now she felt only pain. Her dream was always to find someone, fall in love and now when she had experienced it, she couldn’t go any further. It was a dead end. Her parents had promised her to someone else. To someone, she didn’t even know.

Truth hurt… And it hurt much more than she liked.

At nine o’clock she got herself together. Her eyes were swollen and red, and her nose was congested, but it didn’t matter anymore. She was sure that she wouldn’t cry anymore, so she got up, went to the bathroom, trying to make herself look like she hadn’t cried so much. Well, it was fruitless, but at least her hair wasn’t a mess anymore.

Ran straightened her clothes and left the room. She wanted to find him. She wanted to be with him.

She missed him.

Truth to be told, she had no idea where he went. All she knew, he could have been left from the hotel, walking somewhere in the city.

Huh. After that shopping mall accident in Osaka, she thought they would give their numbers to each other. Why haven’t they done it? Not after all this time, not after everything that had happened. How hard it could be?

He wasn’t anywhere on the first floor. She also visited the basement floor to see if he was in the gym or something, but… well, she didn’t even get far enough to make sure since she couldn’t go to the men’s changing room. He wasn’t in the restaurant, not on the terrace, not in the lounge… She couldn’t find him. Maybe he left the hotel?

“Have you heard that detective from Tokyo is here?”

Ran turned her head to find the one who had spoken. She shouldn’t be surprised to see three women in their finest dresses and make-ups. Two of them were sitting on the lounge’s couch while the third one was looking like she had been running from somewhere. And she was in a hurry.

“What?” one of them answered. “You mean…”

“Yeah, that detective! Kudo Shinichi! He is here!”

Something tightened on Ran’s chest when those two others stood up and shouted: “What?!” Well, at least she knew two things now: That the feeling she had, was jealousy, and the fact that Shinichi was still in the hotel.

“Yeah, yeah!” the third one screamed, but lowered her voice, though not enough that Ran couldn’t hear. “I saw him a few minutes ago! I saw him go to the elevator.”

“Maybe he went to the bar on the highest floor. In the end, it was a nice place, and the view is so romantic”, another one said dreamily. Then she got excited. “Let’s go there! I want to meet him!”

“Me too”, another one joined. “Maybe we can have his company!”

They giggled while walking towards the elevators, making Ran grit. Well, her only joy was that if she can’t have him, they can’t either.

Yet Ran wondered did he really went to that bar. Maybe he was going back to their room? It was a possibility. She went to the elevator and saw how those women just went to the other one. She almost wanted to run and penetrate on that same elevator, but she decided against it. There was still a chance that Shinichi went to their room…

Except he didn’t. Ran sighed. If he really went to that bar…

God, she really hated the thought of how those three women had already found him and would right now surround him, flapping their eyelashes, hanging on his arms, and with honeyed words asking to hear his stories about cases he had solved. Ran looked at herself, and saw red, swollen, sad orchid-colored eyes and wrinkled clothes… She was nothing compared to those women.

Part of her told her that she could do better. In the end, she had shopped for some clothes, so she had probably a nice skirt and some top which would fit with it. But she still hadn’t many shoes, make-ups, or jewels. She hadn’t thought that she needs to fight about Shinichi’s attention with another woman. And since she didn’t have much with her, there wasn’t a chance that she would look better than those women.

But she could always try.

She took out their luggage and only then did she remember that she had bought one simple, but pretty dress from Osaka. She put it on her. She also found mascara and lipstick which she bought when found them on sale, thinking that she could use them after she had used the old ones, but since this was an emergency, she decided to open them and use them. Well, those didn’t change the fact that it showed on her face that she had cried, but maybe people wouldn’t pay too much attention to it. She brushed her hair again before taking her ballet flats which suited better with her dress than sneakers, and her handbag before twirling around in front of the mirror, making sure that she looked fine, and left.

But after seeing her pink dress, black ballet flats, and light blue bag from the elevator’s mirror she realised how idiot she was. Her ensemble was so broken. She hadn’t bought those shoes to use with a pink dress, and she didn’t buy that dress just to use it with that denim handbag. She turned her back to her reflection and sighed.

What was she even thinking? It wasn’t like Shinichi would be interested in those women, and even if she would go and make sure that those women wouldn’t steal him from her, then what? It wasn’t like anything would change. They would still be married to someone else. Anything she would do, wouldn’t matter.

And yet, when she stepped out of the elevator to that bar and looked around, she saw them. Shinichi sitting at one table close to the windows and around him were those three women, wheedling to him something…

Even though Ran didn’t want to admit it, she saw red. She clenched her fist so hard that she felt her nails sinking on her palms. Her voice of reason said that she shouldn’t be so jealous, and yet…

“Heeyy, beauty, would you like…”

“I don’t have time for you”, she answered without even glancing at whoever was trying to get her attention. She just started to walk toward him, towards them, wondering what she was planning to do. She didn’t have the plan. She hadn’t thought this through, not at all. She was too occupied just wanting to get rid of those women…

“Shinichi”, she wheedled as seductively as she could. She wasn’t sure if it worked, but at least she got what she wanted: All four people turned their glances to her. With a fast glance, Ran saw how one of those three women leered at Ran like she was interrupting something important. Well, little that woman knew that it was Ran's plan, and she would also do it. So she kept her full attention on Shinichi, who stood up and looked very revealed.

For a moment it felt like there haven't been any kind of argument between them.

“Ran”, he greeted and smiled, though there was still something that stopped him to show his brightest smile. “There you are, where have you been?”

It made Ran confused for a moment. Did he wait for her? They didn’t plan to come here, did they? Or did she forget that after their argument?

But then she realised that maybe it was his way to tell those women that he wasn't in the mood to share his stories. Maybe it was a sign for Ran to stay with him, give him a reason to get rid of those women without hurting their feelings.

Well, she should give him what he was hoping for.

“I’m sorry, dear”, she answered and went as close to him that she could, put her hands on his chest, and raised her face to meet his confused expression. Wait, was she really going to do the first idea of what she got in her mind? “You know how I take my time in ladies’ room”, she continued and before he had time to say anything, she raised to her tiptoes and smashed her lips on his.

He didn’t react and slowly Ran started to feel like she had made a big mistake. She should have known better. She was always so hasty and went with the first idea of what she got, without thinking the consequences. Why she can't ever just take a moment to calm down and think her plans through?

She planned to back off when she felt his lips moving against hers and arms on her back, pressing her a little closer to him. She let out a surprised breath and a sound, which was unintended. She felt butterflies starting to fly on her stomach. Being close to him had been one thing, being in his arms was another story. Feeling his lips had been incredible, but feeling them moving with hers…

He backed up from the kiss and Ran opened her eyes. He turned towards the women, and if Ran wouldn’t be in her own dreamland, she would have noticed how they glared at her, and she would have shown them a victorious smile, but instead, she stared at Shinichi with red cheeks, because she just couldn’t take her eyes away.

“Sorry, ladies, but my company has arrived”, Shinichi said to them and bowed a little. “Have a nice evening.”

Ran heard them mumbling something for an answer, but Shinichi turned and led her away from that table. She felt his arm on her back, his hand on her hip, and his body beside her, almost touching hers, and she didn’t know why, but somehow, she felt more nervous than she really should have. In the end, it wasn’t the first time that they were this close to each other or that they wouldn't have touched each other before. But this time it made butterflies on her stomach flying around nervously.

Until he let go and stepped aside from her. Ran looked how he called the elevator, but he didn’t even move to come back closer to her or wrap his arm around her again. She felt kind of cold suddenly. She wanted to move closer to him, get that arm around her again, feel his warmth...

But she didn't do that.

The silence between them was a little awkward. Ran knew that she should say something, maybe explain or tell him that she also liked him much more than she should. She just didn’t find the right words to start. Somehow there weren’t any good words to start that conversation.

But she should clear the air. In the end, Shinichi was the one who admitted it.

“Shinichi…”

“Do you want to eat something?”

Ran shut her mouth. She wasn’t sure if he did that on purpose or accidentally, but if he did, he didn’t apologize. The elevator let out the sound that told them that it had arrived, and doors opened. He stepped inside and turned. Now he looked at her.

“Ran?” he asked and raised his other eyebrow. “Are you coming?”

She nodded and stepped inside. She turned towards the door and looked at how Shinichi almost pushed the button, but then he stopped. He met her gaze. “Do you want something to eat?” he repeated. Then he looked at those buttons again. “We can go somewhere or… I… can go to search something for an evening snack if you don’t…”

“Wouldn’t that restaurant on the first floor be a good place?” Ran asked. “There can be something small to eat.”

Shinichi pushed the button. “At this time, I think it’s going to be pretty quiet”, he said.

“After that bar, I think I appreciate something quiet and calmly”, she answered.

They got to the first floor and went to the hotel’s restaurant. There weren’t many people here, some here and there, talking silently while classical music played in the background. They searched the free table for themselves and sat down.

Then came that silence again. Ran looked at Shinichi while he was occupied with looking everywhere else. Ran wanted to say that he was searching the waiter with his gaze but at the same time…

“Shinichi.”

“Hmmm?”

Ran opened her mouth, then shut it. How should she say it? She took a deep breath.

“About earlier… When we… You…”

“It’s okay”, he answered without looking at her. “Let’s forget that ever happened.”

Ran stared at him for a moment. “What?” she asked eventually. “Why?”

He met her gaze. “We both are going to get married soon, aren’t we?” he asked. “And it was pretty impolite from me to say it. It doesn’t matter what I feel.”

“But for me, it does”, Ran answered.

He let out a dry laugh. “Why?” he asked. “You don’t do anything with that knowledge. You…”

“Because I… I… I like you too”, she interrupted him and lowered her gaze on the table before closing her eyes. God, she felt tiers coming back again. “I just… I… I just didn’t maybe realise it until you said it out loud… And in Osaka, when you were out late with Hattori-kun… Or that day, on the shopping mall…”

“Hey, don’t cry”, she heard him saying. “There’s no need for that…”

“But… I think there is”, she cried out and looked at him through her tiers. “I… I always wanted to find someone… To… to fall in love… I…”

Ran raised her hands to cover her eyes until she remembered that she had put on some mascara just because she wanted to impress him. If she had known that she is going to cry again, she wouldn’t have bothered.

But it couldn’t be helped. Even the thought that her dream was coming true, that she really liked someone who liked her back, was heart-breaking. Why now that she was promised to someone else? If they had only met a few weeks before… If only…

“Hey, really? How can you cry this much?”

She felt someone – probably him – sitting down beside her. She lowered her hands and looked at him. And before she knew it, he was pressing something soft on her cheek.

“This much?” she sniffed and let him do as he wanted. “How can I not? My… my dream…” Ran sniffed again before she leaned on him, burying her face on his shoulder. She wrapped her arms around him, gripping the back of his clothes like her life depended on it. “If we… If…”

“I know, and I’m really, really sorry that I said anything, okay?” she heard Shinichi say while his arms wrapped around her carefully and a little unsure. “Well, I didn’t really believe that you would feel the same, but I planned to keep all that for myself. But… after Osaka and after all those love luck things you put me through… I’m really sorry.”

Ran rubbed her face against his shoulder and almost immediately felt bad for doing that since she still got mascara and she probably just smudged his shirt, but maybe she could just wash it later. She just wanted him to know that she listened, and she wanted him to know that she didn’t blame him for that. Well, yeah, everything would be probably better and easier if he wouldn’t have said anything, but in the end, Ran was also part of the blame. She was the one who wanted to do all those romantic things and love lucks just to ensure that their love life would be as fine as possible with a random person. And if she wouldn’t have insisted him to tell…

“I’m sorry too”, she said silently and sniffed. “If I wouldn’t have demanded an answer…”

“It’s okay”, he soothed her. Ran nodded. At this point, it didn’t matter how much they were sorry about this. Words and feelings had come out, there was no way that they could take them back and pretend that nothing had happened. Ran wasn’t sure if she even wanted that, but in the end, as soon as the trip would be over, they would be over too. There wasn’t a shared future for them.

“Wait here”, Shinichi said suddenly and made Ran get away from him. He stood up while Ran stared at him with confusion.

“Where are you going?” she asked. He turned to her and smiled a little.

“You’ll see”, he said and handed the handkerchief to her. “In the meantime, you can wipe those tears away.”

Ran took the handkerchief from him and looked at it before raising her gaze, but he was gone. She took a deep breath before starting to wipe her tears away, and hopefully some of the mascara. She wondered how she looked by now.

Like it mattered. Ran smiled sadly and looked at her hand and the handkerchief. They would only eat something and go to bed. And in the end, Ran was pretty sure that it was what she needed: A good night's sleep. Even if part of her wanted to know what was going on now between her and Shinichi, even if she wanted to know how she should behave around him, it was probably for the best if they would talk about it tomorrow. Shinichi was probably a pretty good handle his emotions and be reasonable, but Ran? She knew she couldn’t. She was too emotional, and right now she couldn’t make clear decisions. Even if part of her wanted to be with him like they were dating, the part of her still reminded herself of arranged marriage which still waited for her (and him), and the fact that if she now would give up and let herself enjoy Shinichi as her boyfriend, she knew that when comes to time to say goodbye, it would be too hard. If she would let herself pretend now that she could be with Shinichi, she was pretty sure that it would make her future marriage and its acceptance much harder.

But that truth wasn’t strong enough to make Ran give up the chance to be his even for a moment. Even if that decision should have been easy to make, it wasn’t.

Everything was so complicated right now.

“Come with me.”

Ran raised her gaze and looked at Shinichi who had come back. He handed her his hand. She frowned and slowly grabbed on it. “Where are we going?” she asked and stood up, following him. They weaved their way through some tables before coming to the area which had a little clearer space. He stopped and turned while Ran just bumped into him.

“We are going to dance”, he answered while wrapping his arm around her. Ran raised her gaze on him.

“What?” Ran almost shouted. His smile was so confident. “Dancing? Here? But…” She looked around and felt so nervous. There were still some people, and she was pretty sure that they would draw attention, because this wasn’t any kind of “dancing restaurant”, and they were only ones who would dance, and… and…

“Who cares?” he asked and made Ran shape up in his arms. What, he was serious about this? “My mom taught me every ballroom dance she knew when I was younger. I didn’t like it, but she just told me that girls like to dance, and since I’m her son, I HAVE to learn to dance, because she is raising only gentlemen”, he told her and rolled his eyes. It made Ran giggle. Well, if she ever meets his mother, she needs to tell her that she had done a good job raising her son. “So, now I’m going to cheer you up with dancing.”

“But Shinichi, still…” she opposed unsecured. Really, here, now?

“But what?” he asked. “You don’t like to dance?”

Ran felt her cheeks blush. “It’s not like I don’t like it”, she said quietly. “But… There are people…”

He looked around. “So?”

Ran sighed. Why didn’t he understand? “They are going to stare at us.”

He shrugged. “Let them stare”, he said and made the first move, making Ran also move with his lead. Ran tightened her grip on him and tried to concentrate on her steps. “If they stare, they probably just want to admire us.”

“And if they don’t?” Ran asked a little embarrassing, trying to ignore the fact that she felt like being watched already.

“Well, whatever they think, I don’t care”, he said. “I asked the waiter if he could make sure that music would be calm and relaxing for dancing, and since he agreed, dancing here isn’t a crime”, he explained. “And as long as it’s not a crime, I can’t care less.”

Ran smiled. Well, it was nice to know that he felt confident enough to do what he liked. And it wasn’t like Ran would be mad about it. In the end, if she would have been sitting somewhere on those tables and saw that someone was dancing, she would have probably just admired them, thinking how romantic it would be. But now that she was the one who was on the dancefloor, drawing everyone's attention to herself, she felt so embarrassing. Like everyone would see every mistake she would make or…

“And I think you shouldn’t care about it either”, Shinichi said interrupting her thoughts.

“Why do you even think I care anymore?” she asked dryly and looked at him. “I’m dancing.”

“I know”, he answered and smiled. “But you are so tense, so you are bothered by it.”

Ran sighed and leaned closer to him, trying to hide her own face from him. And since the song was slow and calm… “I hate that detective side of you”, she mumbled even if she wasn’t sure if she really meant it. “You always notice everything”, she continued before taking a deep breath, trying to relax…

He didn’t say anything, neither did Ran. She just let him lead her with this dance, swaying with the rhythm of the music. Ran looked around for a moment, seeing some people watching them, talking… She closed her eyes, trying to keep herself relaxed, and leaned her head against Shinichi’s jaw, breathing his scent, sharing his warmth.

“You know, you shouldn’t be so insecure about yourself.”

Ran opened her eyes but didn’t move to meet his gaze. “What do you know about my insecure, Mr. confident?”

“Well, I have been watching you and you always got nervous when you got attention from others. I… I mean, probably right now every one of here would like to dance with you.”

Ran rolled her eyes. “Well, I’m not used to getting much attention”, she answered. “And I hate it when people are whispering and watching me because it’s a clear sign that they are just gossiping…”

He sneered. “Gossiping”, he repeated. “Like they couldn’t admire you?”

Ran sighed. “Why in the world they would admire me?” she asked. “There is nothing to admire on me.”

“There are many”, he answered.

“Like what?”

He didn’t answer right away, and Ran was sure that he had just stepped on his own trap.

“Well, your karate skills are very impressive…”

Ran laughed dryly. “And how many have seen them?”

“I have.”

She hummed. “Everyone can learn to be good at karate, it just needs much exercise.”

He kept a new break before saying: “And… You are… nice-looking woman.”

She snorted even though her cheeks warmed. “Nice looking woman”, she repeated dryly. “Wow, Shinichi.”

“I mean it”, he said fast defending himself. “You… have a.. a… nice eyes, and… smile… and… everything in you is… nice…”

He liked her eyes and smile? It wasn’t like she had hated her eyes, but orchid colored had always been a little too special in her opinion, and… she had never thought that she had anyway special smile.

Yet, nice? It was enough for Ran to make her feel touched, special and excited, but still. Nice? Well, it wasn't like she could say directly to him that he was a handsome guy who had beautiful, deep blue eyes and an attractive smile, a voice and laugh that she wanted to hear again and again, and what else. She probably couldn't do any better than him. But to her, it seemed a good opportunity for a little payback for all those things that he had made fun of her.

“Nice?” Ran repeated. She tried to sound unimpressive, which was pretty hard when she felt the opposite. “Like anyone would look at a nice woman twice.”

“You know what I mean”, he said.

Ran smiled. “I don’t think I know.”

He sneered. “Well, I have seen how people… men… admire you”, he said, making Ran blush even more. Really? When? “So, I don’t think there’s anything unclear, period.”

“I haven’t seen anything like that”, Ran said.

“Because you think they are gossiping.”

Wait…

Ran moved a little that she could look at Shinichi’s face. “Then, why are you paying attention to details like that?”

He looked away trying to keep his face straight, but the blush on his face told her another story. “Because I’m a detective. I pay attention to my surrounding…”

“Aaaw or has Mr. Detective been jealous of me?” she asked slowly, half-joking. His blush deepened even more. “Like when I took a match with Satoru-san, he said you glared at him very badly." She grinned. She enjoyed this too much. "If I remember right, you were pretty bad mood after that.”

“Oh, but I think I haven’t been the only one who has been jealous”, Shinichi said meeting her gaze and having that irritating smile on his lips. “Like someone on Shirahama beach, when I talked to those women…”

Ran blushed and looked away. “I wasn’t jealous”, she said as credibly as she could. “I… I just was so tired and wanted to go back to the hotel…”

He hummed as an answer and it sounded like he didn't believe her at all. “Or like today, when you came to that bar…”

Ran leaned back to him, hiding her face from him. “Just shut up and dance”, she said, making him laugh. She leaned her head against his, and this time she felt how he did the same. His arms tightened a little around her. She smiled and closed her eyes again, enjoying his closeness. For a moment, there was only she and he, in the empty place, just enjoying the music and forgetting the future.

Chapter 13

[backonmybullshit91]

@the-king-of-dreams A fun little forced double date with the Constantines and their broody boyfriends. XD

Johanna and John stayed in regular contact with one another. Had never lost contact. They were after all twins. Yeah, there were two of them running around. People didn’t seem to know that, and it was kind of shocking. They did look a bit different from each other aside from the man and woman thing. But they were still close and had talked each other through some pretty rough times and had even managed to find each other. They tended to move around a lot. Not staying in one place too long. But they did tend to find their way back to London. This city was there home. They loved it here. Johanna seemed to be taking her turn in the city again. For the time being. She had gotten pretty attached to a certain Endless. Something she was going to have to explain to John sooner or later. He seemed to be hinting at someone in his life too. They needed to plan a gathering between the four of them. She needed to meet this guy. Hopefully someone who could handle the crazy shit that the Constantines tended to get themselves dragged into. Johanna though seemed like she might have finally gotten someone that could handle most of her problems. Probably actually beat a few of them.

They had been talking back and forth for the last few days. Trying to figure out a good way to get together. She finally had something set in motion. They were going to New York. A city they liked to. London was home but a city they loved to visit was always going to be New York city. Never got so much as a second glance no matter what they were going when they in that city.

“Hey Dream.” She called as she put her phone back into her pocket. She was pretty sure the Endless was here. Least he had been a little while ago. He could come and go whenever he wanted and didn’t always say when he was going to head out. She was hoping he was still here. That way she could have a quick talk with him. “We should go on a bit of a trip.” She wondered if he knew about her twin brother. She didn’t think that had ever come up in conversation, but this seemed like a good way to mention it. Might be easier for them to meet though she wondered how well Dream would get along with John’s new man.

“I don’t remember if I’ve told you about my brother.” She said before getting an answer. “But seems like I have an excuse to go and annoy him and I’m dragging you along with me.” She might be leaving out the fact that he would be meeting whoever John was bringing with him but that would be fine. She was sure he would find a way to talk his into this trip to.