#“soon” now meaning... like... prolly after breakfast

[boognish-worshipper]

Sunrise, Sunset

switching it up with a franklin and lamar centered fic (not exactly as a ship buuut more or less some one sided feelings?) jus a silly little idea i had that was originally gonna be a one shot sorta thing or whatever,, changed my mind tho n i’m jus gonna split it up, this is part one !!

i feel like lamar would be very oblivious about his feelings towards frank tbh LMFAOOO

//

Lamar and Franklin sometimes drove out to the highest point in Los Santos to watch the sunrise. Well, more Lamar than Franklin, seeing as Franklin preferred to sleep in. He often dragged him out of bed to go take Chop out and see the sun peak up from the horizon, lighting the city up with natural reds and yellows.

“C’mon you lazy fuck, we gon’ miss it!”

“Lamar, the sun rises every fuckin’ day! Trust me, it’ll be there tomorrow.”

“You jus’ a lazy bum who don’t wanna get his lazy bum ass outta bed. Man get up already!”

Chop barked, and Lamar nodded to him.

“Yeah, you right Chop. This muhfucker don’t wanna budge, huh? Don’t even wanna take his precious dog for a walk. You oughta be ashamed of yoself Frank.”

“Chop wasn’t even my dog to begin with!”

“Man fuck you, you became co-parent of him when you had to take him in!”

Franklin could only groan into his pillow, missing the blissful sleep he had been shaken awake from.

“Just go away Lamar! Damn!”

He felt the taller man looming over him, grabbing his shoulders to shake him further awake.

“We’re running outta time, fool. C’mon, I’ll let you ride shotgun this time.”

Chop barked in protest.

“Chop, it’s the only way we might get him out the house.”

Accepting that arguing would get him nowhere, Franklin sat up right, glaring at Lamar.

“For fucks sake man, fine. I’ll go. Jus’ lemme throw on some clothes that ain’t the shit I wore to bed.”

Lamar grinned widely at him.

“Fuck yeah! Chop, let’s go wait in the car.”

The small dog trotted not too far behind Lamar’s long legs. Franklin wondered what force he disturbed that landed him in this position. He sighed, knowing that he wasn’t exactly a saint, so there wasn’t much to wonder at all. If this was his punishment then so be it. The car ride wasn’t too long, especially not after Franklin moving out of Strawberry to Vinewood Hills, making it easier for them to get there. Minimal traffic because of how early it was helped too. Lamar never dropped his grin, just happy to do his favorite thing with his favorite person. Who wouldn’t love watching the sunrise with their best friend? Especially seeing the way the sun lit his face up, a delicate smile on his face seeing an excellent sunrise and- Woah. Where’d that come from? Lamar figured it was just his excitement to see a particularly gorgeous sunrise, using that as an excuse for the feeling that sat in his gut. As soon as they pulled up to the spot, he bounced out of his seat, keeping the door open for Chop.

“We here homie!”

“Mhm.. so where the fuck’s the sunrise?”

“Patience Frank, patience.”

“But you jus’ fuckin’ bitched at me for the last half hour about how we was gon’ miss it! Fuck you mean patience?!”

“It’s coming! Don’t ruin a moment that’s gon’ be special, F.”

He grunted in Lamar’s direction, turning around to go play with Chop for the time being. The sunrise crept up, a ray of sunlight hitting Lamar in the eye. He blocked the light with his hand, hitting Franklin with his free one.

“Ay Frank, look!”

The sunrise that crawled up from the depths of the horizon shone in glimmers of gold and pretty shades of orange. Lamar smiled again.

“Man.. look at that. It’s beautiful ain’t it-“ He turned to face Franklin, who was caught in a trance. The sun hit his face just right, and he looked incredible. Like some sort of focused statue or whatever. It was alright to admire your homies like that, right? Nothin’ wrong with admiring a dude. Franklin turned back to answer him.

“Yeah, it sure is.. you good man?”

Lamar coughed slightly, shifting his weight onto one of his feet.

“Uh.. yeah man, just thought I saw a bug crawling on yo face or sum’. But damn, I’m glad we caught this.”

“Me too. But I’m still pissed you dragged me outta bed so fuckin’ early.”

“Man what’d I say? Don’t bitch while we havin’ a moment!”

Franklin only laughed and Lamar felt something in him stir. It was good to hear him laugh.

“So now what?”

“Well, if we leave now by the time we get back into the city some of them diners should be open for breakfast.”

“This early in the day?”

“Believe it or not Frank but the rest of society does their shit earlier than you. So ya, people eat this early.”

They went back to the car, with Chop riding shotgun this time. Franklin wanted to rest his eyes until they got to whatever food place Lamar was taking them to, earning a snarky comment from him. Lamar wanted to pick a decent place to eat and eventually settled on an old diner they went to as kids. He poked Franklin, reanimating him back to life.

“Look where we at dog.”

“Ohh shit, this that diner we used to go to after school everyday! It’s still in business?”

“Guess so man. Let’s go!”

“Wait! What about Chop?”

Shit. Right. Chop looked at the two men, tilting his head sadly.

“You wanna jus’ bring the food back to yo crib?”

“Eh fuck it. Why not.”

They decided on some basic breakfast food and brought it back to Franklin’s place. The big windows in his kitchen would illuminate the room well enough, and Lamar could value the view from there.

“So tell me Lamar, why’s it you only wanna go see the sunrise? You never mention watchin’ the sunset dog.”

“Ion really know myself homie. One day I just started gettin’ up early wit’ Chop to go walkin’ n shit.”

“Can we watch the sunset sometime then? I am tired of gettin’ up at the asscrack of dawn.”

“That’s cuz you ain’t get yo 9 hours dog.”

“Man, shut the fuck up. Who the hell gets 9 hours at our age? Bozo.”

“I’m just sayin’ maybe if you got some normal sleep for fuckin’ once you wouldn’t be such a GD grouch.”

“Whatever you say bro.”

The two finished their food in comfortable silence, with Franklin scolding Lamar at least once or twice for feeding Chop table scraps.

“So whatchu wanna do now?”

“We could always go catch a movie or sum’, maybe go see that Meltdown movie ya boy Mike was talkin’ ‘bout.”

“Yeah, I never did get the chance to go see it, with all the chaotic bullshit goin’ on.”

They left Chop at home after a long goodbye from Lamar, telling him that as soon as they got back that he would get all the treats in the world and all that other mushy shit. Franklin mocked the high-pitched voice he used to speak to Chop, earning a smack in the arm from Lamar.

They arrived for a matinee showing at the the theater closest to Franklin’s house, getting a bunch of complimentary snacks and some drinks. The movie was awful, but in a way that it was enjoyable to watch. A movie so bad it was good. Franklin kept leaning in to whisper to Lamar how corny the whole thing was, saying that it was definitely right up Michael’s alley. He ignored the closeness between him and his friend as best as he could, but he still shuffled in his seat awkwardly.

“Hey uh, Frank. I’mma go to the bathroom real quick, stretch my legs n shit.”

“Aight, see you in a minute homie.”

His walk to the bathroom felt stagnant, and when he got there all he could do was look at himself in the mirror. What the fuck was his problem right now?

“Get it the fuck together LD. It’s just Frank, it’s nothing weird. Chill out.” He spoke aloud to himself.

He splashed water in his face and walked back to the room showing Meltdown. The movie was almost over and Franklin didn’t make anymore comments. Lamar sighed inwardly, just wanting to get out of there already, despite the whole going-to-see-a-movie thing being his idea to begin with. He didn’t know why he was feeling the way he did right now, and he didn’t know how to make it go away. Franklin leaned over to whisper in his ear once more, sending a chill down Lamar’s spine.

“Dog, this movie sucks and it’s almost over anyway, you wanna just get out of here?”

“Uh.. yeah, yeah. Chop’s prolly missin’ us right now anyway.”

Lamar drove them back this time, driving a lot faster than he should’ve been.

“Woah, homie slow down! What’s the fuckin’ rush for?!”

“I jus’.. Ion know I’m not feelin’ too hot right now and I really jus’ wanna get back to yo place. Maybe lie down or sum’..”

“That ain’t gon’ happen if we get in a fuckin’ car wreck though!”

He slowed it down a bit hearing Franklin’s concerned tone, frustrated by that feeling again. It was like an itch he couldn’t scratch. They pulled up into Frank’s driveway, Lamar nearly knocking over his recycling can, earning another disgruntled comment from Franklin.

“You been actin’ so weird bro, what’s goin’ on?”

“I honestly don’t know. Maybe the food we had jus’ not sittin’ right wit’ me.”

“Well, like you said go lie down or sum’. You wanna sleep in my bed for now? I’ll go take care of Chop or-“

“Uh sure, aight. I’mma go.. do that.”

Franklin looked at him like he had two heads, lifting a brow up in suspicion.

“Aight then, holla at me when you feel somewhat better.”

Lamar basically ran down the stairs to Franklin’s room, closing the door tight behind him. He slid down the door, looking straight ahead. Why did he feel so- so weird right now? He had a pleasant day overall with his best friend, what could possibly be bothering him?? He tossed his head back, making a small thud sound against the door. Groaning out loud, he did a walkthrough of today. He drove to Franklin’s, wanting to see the sunrise. Nothing unusual, this was a common thing they did. The sunrise was pretty, and lit everything up wonderfully. Again, nothing out of the ordinary. Franklin wasn’t entirely a buzzkill when they made it there, if anything he looked tranquil, the sun making his brown eyes glow. Then what? They got food, which tasted just like how he remembered from when Frank and him were just teens. Went to a movie which they basically talked the whole way through, Franklin continuously whispering in his ear. His voice so low and close made him feel hot all over, but it was just because whispering was like that no matter who was doing it. So what the hell was his problem right now? He must not have noticed how long he was in there, because he heard a light tap at the door.

“Lamar? You good homie?”

He rushed to stand up, pretending like he just woke from a short nap.

“Uh, yeah dog, doin’ just fine. Think layin’ down helped.”

“Good. You want me to take you home or do you wanna stay here?”

Part of Lamar wanted to stay just to be around Franklin a little while longer. The other part of him wanted to run right out the door. He thought it over, and figured he might need time to himself. He didn’t think he had it in him to be around Franklin after such a strange day. At least, a strange day for him. Franklin was thankful for the fact they had one normal day to hangout without shenanigans on Lamar’s part… besides the way he had been acting up to now.

“I think I’mma jus’ head back.”

“Aight then.”

The car ride back was silent. Lamar felt like the air was suffocating him, like any minute he’d pass out. He shifted in his seat to look out the window, familiar streets coming up. He didn’t want to look at Franklin for some reason, turning away from him.

“Hey, we here.”

He sat up, getting ready to get out of the car, until Franklin grabbed his wrist. Lamar felt like he was burning him with the contact.

“Ay man, what the fuck’s your problem today?”

“I already told you, it was the food or sum’, chill out dog.”

He loosened his grip, looking unsatisfied with his answer.

“Man fine, but if you hidin’ somethin’ from me I wanna fuckin’ know.”

“I’m not, I promise you.”

“You better not be, you mysterious bitch. Remember, you dragged me out of bed to hangout today.”

He winced, feeling guilty somehow.

“Yeah F, I know.”

Lamar looked back at his house, not wanting to get caught in Franklin’s death stare.

“I’ll see ya later or sum’ Frank.”

“See ya homie.”

He turned back, watching Franklin drive away. Torn between a relieved mood, and a pang of loneliness. As he walked inside his house, he slammed the door in frustration. Franklin and him were on the same page- he didn’t know why he was acting the way he was. Pulling his phone out of his pocket, he went to a last resort to get an idea of something. That stupid psychic shoutout website that was growing in popularity. At least it was free.

Hello. What brings you to Miss Marcy’s site?

fuck you think, lady. help me out here

What with?

some fuckin explanation for why i feel weird rn

Were you just with a friend?

uh yeah

kinda why i’m here to begin with

I see. How close are you to said friend?

well, he like a brother to me ig? idk

never thought 2 deeply abt it.

A family friend? Hmm… I’m seeing the letter F, or T.

damn, you kinda good. it’s f

Wait a minute, I’m getting another letter. L!

yeah! my name starts with l!

You wouldn’t happen to be… I see it now… Lamar?

woah, you really fuckin good lady.

Well, I know I’m a psychic, but I have a feeling I spoke to your friend already.

you did?

Since when did Franklin visit stupid sites like this? He felt a blush creeping onto his face, wondering if Franklin might’ve been in the same boat as him at some point.

Yes. I think I have the answer to your problem, Lamar

please.

anything’ll help

Are you absolutely sure you want to hear it?

When I spoke to your friend, he didn’t seem too pleased with what I had to say.

c’mon lady don’t be a cocktease rn i need help

Well… okay.

You love him.

uh duh

he’s my best friend

why wouldn’t i?

No, I mean

You’re… *in* love with him.

His jaw went slack. He stared blankly at the screen. What?

the fuck?

uh no

ain’t no way.

I’m seeing a long time friendship. Lots of pining.

you ain’t seeing shit lady

u got it wrong

I knew you would say this - you can be mad at me all you want, but think it over

seriously, just think it over.

SERVICE UNAVAILABLE. PLEASE TRY AGAIN LATER.

“Fuck.” He whispered to himself.

“Fuck!”

He tossed his phone across the room onto his worn down couch. That didn’t solve his problem. If anything, it just made it worse. Love? Franklin? Him? What the fuck was that bitch smoking? He threw his palms over his face, groaning. He didn’t wanna think about what the fuck she meant. Because there was no way in hell he was in love with Frank. He couldn’t be. That was his day one. His best friend. That would be wrong, right? He paced around his living room, mind racing too quick for his liking. That couldn’t be the explanation for today. No way. That’s just ridiculous. There’s no way… no way he-

Then he thought about it. Like, really thought about it. The gears in his head were running at full speed now.

“Oh shit.”

//end of pt 1!!!!! this is already long as is, and i think i’m gonna finish it in another part or so. apologies for any grammatical errors ofc 🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️

[justsomefluff]

Good Morning with Ateez

Summary: the title pretty much explains it all lmao

A/N: Sorry that I haven’t been writing! School has been crazy with everything going on, and I have to work as well. Hopefully, I will be able to write more in the coming weeks.

*Members after Joong are below the cut*

Hongjoong: 

ok, waking up in the morning with joongie is wild

If he wakes up first, he’s all giggly

bugging you

kissy kissy all over your face

he’s practically on top of you 

it’s not that he wants to get up or anything, he just prefers when you are awake at the same time

“Let me sleep, Joongie”

“but iM LONELY”

If you’re really tired though he’s gonna be cute with you and let you sleep all you want

he will just lay with you and stroke your hair and kiss your hands and ugh im soft

BUT

if you wake up first

he expects the same

so, if you wake him up with anything other than smooches he’s gonna whine and complain so much

“GIMME KISS”

“no, you have morning breath”

“so what you're saying is you hate me”

SO dramatic

if you manage to slip out of bed before he can trap you

he will jump out of bed and latch onto you

LEECH

tries to steal your energy through his hugs

but overall a cute bb who likes a calm, sweet wakeup with his love

Seonghwa:

(THIS GIF I CANT BREATHE)

So, our precious baby Seonghwa

ALWAYS awake before you

like how does he do it???

why does he do it???

whenever he wakes up, he’ll kinda check on you a little bit

make sure you’re in a comfortable position, give you a kiss and all that

but then he’ll slip out before you wake up??

rude.

And then you wake up and you're kinda grumpy bc why would he leave you cold and alone when you could be cuddling rn

when you find him, he’s halfway through making you breakfast

and that makes up for it

he always tries to do things for you to make your mornings easier

It’s his way of making up for all the things he can’t do for you while he’s working

When he notices that you're awake omigod the biggest smile

Will deadass abandon his cooking to come give you a squeeze

your eyebrows are all furrowed and you’re pouting and you're hair is just the worst but he’s so in love with you, you big dork

Gives you a kiss and then makes you sit down

serves you breakfast, all proud

if it’s something he doesn't normally make, he will watch you take the first bite and cross his fingers that you like it

which you always do

Mornings with him will pretty much always be domestic and sweet

Yunho:

McSquishy

When he wakes up, his cheeks go poof

anyway you usually wake up before him on your days off

but he will wake up soon after you

it’s like he senses that you're awake and wants to join in on the party

so when he wakes up, he feels you stretching and wiggling around

Will make fun of you if you make any of those awkward stretching noises

“UGHHHHH AHHH”

like hush leave me alone

isn’t hard to wake up but he will 100% drag you out of bed as soon as he can

mostly because he wants food

if you don’t get up right away he’ll just make you

like the recent video where he just picks up San and moves him? Yeah exactly

will also do that weird shimmy dance he did in that video too just to show you how excited he is

like a golden retriever no lie

so excited to be with you all the time

“Baby, let’s go” “baby, let’s eat” *smoochies*

and you just kinda let him drag you all over the place because he’s cute

isn’t one for morning cuddles in bed, but will still make you sit on his lap during breakfast and stuff just to have you close

cute squish who just wants to be loved aw

Yeosang:

clingy baby right here

Will probably wake up before you

but he’s not totally there yet, you know?

like his eyes are open but he’s dead

kinda flounders for a second trying to find you in the bed

when he does, he’s sticking to you and not letting go

probably falls asleep again because he’s so comfy and warm

so, it’s up to you to wake up before both of you sleep through the day

he’s usually pretty happy when he wakes up

lots of sleepy smiles

nuzzling into you like crazy

even though he’s groggier than you, he will be the first to get up

probably to pee or something idk he just needs to move

eager to start the day

If you’re still in bed 5 minutes after he gets up he’s gonna judge you

“How dare you let me start our day together by MYSELF”

when you do get up, all is forgiven

the kind of person who likes to go out for breakfast rather than cook it at home

it’s not that he can’t, he just doesn’t want to lmao

always excited to dress up a little bit with you for breakfast dates

the perfect beginning to your day together imo

San:

SO WHINY

obviously you’re gonna have to be the one to wake him up

waking up is San’s least favorite part of the day

will trap you in bed for the entire day if you let him

“San, I know you’re tired but we slept ‘til noon”

“Let’s make it 2:00″

literally goes through the 7 stages of grief when he wakes up

Denial: “not morning yet, bye”

Guilt: “I’m so lazy”

Bargaining: “BABY, two more hours, it’ll be great”

Depression: “they started the day without me and I’m lonely”

Upward Turn: “maybe I feel a little more awake now”

Working Through: “ok I can do this, just one more stretch”

Acceptance: “Im up”

Like finally

definitely likes morning cuddles though so if you didn't give him at least that, then he’s gonna hate you for the day

loves starting his day with you and if you don't help him wake up the way he wants

Grumpy baby all day

just snuggle him dammit

Mingi:

ok so he’s not waking up I don't care

when Mingi sleeps, he’s comatose okay

until he has a genuine reason to get up, he is parked

likes to cuddle, but not gonna sacrifice sleep for it

so, if you get up and start your day, whatever he’ll stay

like he’ll ask you to stay and cuddle but he isn’t gonna have enough energy to argue with you over it lmao

you deadass need jumper cables to get him started

if he has to get up to pee or something minor, he will try to do it without you noticing so he can go back to sleep

“SONG MINGI, I SEE YOU”

“NO” and then he sprints back to bed

cue wrestling in bed because once he is fully awake he can’t sit still

like you’re trying to get him up and, while he’s awake now, he just wants to make your life a little harder

pulling you under the covers and everything while you're begging him to come eat with you

he will eventually give in because food

but with him, you kind of just have to let him wake up on his own

if you want to get him started that’s fine, but it prolly won’t help lmao

let him sleep, he’ll figure it out

Wooyoung:

Wooyoungie babyyyyy

When I wake up in the morning...it’s not as sexy as you think

contrary to popular belief, Woo does not wake up sexily

he wakes up friggin adorable

when you wake up first, he just makes you cuddle him until he’w ready to get up, no arguments

but if he wakes up first, he’s wiggling all over the place

another one who just cant sit still 

will stretch and bounce and just be a nuisance until you get up too

he will definitely smack you in the face when he’s stretching and then just laugh when you glare at him

when really he should fear for his life like you did not just wake me up by SMACKING ME

but will definitely be kissing you everywhere because he always says he wants to start his day by seeing you smile

cheeseball fr

also he’s loud

in case you didn't know

“JAGIYA WAKE UPPPPPP”

“SHHHHHHHHHH WOOYOUNGAH”

but his volume is contagious and then you're both yelling and its insane

but then you're both giggling and kissing and hugging and its a good morning because

no time spent with Wooyoung is wasted

Jongho:

(How could I not use this gif I mean really)

Jongho is so hard to wake up

like at least Mingi will wake up to shoo you away

but Jongho physically cannot

You could squeeze an air horn by his face and he wouldn't even flinch

basically he’s a heavy sleeper

But as you have more sleepovers, you’ll figure out a way to wake him up more effectively

whatever your method may be, he will be smiling as soon as he opens his eyes

always excited to see you

bc he’s a sweet baby

will make you hug him for a little bit and he’ll kiss your head

after a little bit he’ll sigh and be like “okay”

that’s when you know you can both get up

will follow you around and do pieces of his routine as you do yours

you're almost totally in sync its kinda creepy

but then he will offer to help you make breakfast and always lets you pick what you want to make

just soft for you in general and he’d give you the world

hell, he’s definitely strong enough

[stonecoldjerseyfox]

Jersey on my mind (part 39)

“Okay, so… what’s the plan?” Mila looks at Daryl, while pulling the knitted cardigan over her shoulders. “You gonna interrogate him? Tie him up in a chair and go good cop bad cop on him?”

Daryl meets her eyes from the other side of the bed. 

“What, ya’ don’t think he’s gonna have to answer some questions?” He asks, while searching the floor for his shirt. 

The morning sun shines in through the windows in the bedroom and it looks like it’s gonna be another fine day.

Mila dozed off as soon as she laid down in bed next to Juri the night before; after she had a quick but violent shower to get rid of dirty gas station toilet-cooties, and didn’t wake up to Daryl coming to bed or to Jesus strolling into the house in the middle of the night. Baffled to say the least, Mila was therefore greatly surprised when she came out of the bedroom this morning, fifteen minutes prior around eight, and met Jesus who came out of the upstairs toilet.

“Good morning!” He said happily and disappeared down the stairs.

Mila, unable to speak, just gaped and waved back at him lazily, whereupon she closed the bedroom door again and turned to Daryl, who was in the process of turning his sleeveless shirt inside out.  

“Am I still sleeping or did Jesus just walk out of the bathroom?”

“Prolly.” Daryl said with a shrug. 

“Is he just-” Mila paused to find the right words, pointing at the closed bedroom door. “You know, walking around-”

“He escaped.”

“Oh.”  

How he’d freed himself from the townhouse basement no one could figure out, and he didn’t tell them either; Mila was sure they’d captured a wizard.

“I don’t get why everything has to be so hostile.”

“Ya’ gonna teach me ‘bout hostile?” Daryl raises his eyebrows at her.

“Okay fine-” Mila sputters, knowing very well what he refers to. “But this guy isn’t like that- that weird wolf guy. This guy is Houdini-weird, not dangerous.”

“Are ya’ some sort of expert now?”  

“Gut feeling.” Mila replies.

Daryl shakes his head at her words. Mila realizes that it doesn’t sound that convincing, but she gives him a steadfast look; she’s sure about her gut feeling. She looks at Daryl while he buttons the shirt. He must’ve taken a shower too before he went to bed. The brown hair looks tousled, as if he went to bed with it still damp. Her gaze wanders down to the unbuttoned, washed out jeans; he wears boxers underneath for once, something he probably started to do for the first time ever when he realized that there would be a snoring three and a half-year old in the bed too. Mila bites her lip as she rests her gaze at the edge of the boxers, right above his pelvic bone. Her sudden rush of desire, or blunt frantic horniness, is obviously visible, because Daryl frowns at her.

“Ain’t doin’ it in front of the kid.” He nods down at the bed, where Juri still lies asleep, bundled up in the sheets.

“We can put him on the bath rug in the bathroom.” Mila suggests half hearted. “It’s really soft. He’ll just think he’d sleepwalked.”

“Jersey-” Daryl walks around the bed and stops in front of her; softly he lets his fingers run down her hair, playing with it while contemplating under silence. “Fine.”

“About the rug or that you gonna go gently on him?”

“The latter.” Daryl mutters. “Dunno why you care-” He rests his cupped hand at her chin. “I won’t knock him, unless he’s being a-”

“Ap-ap, language.” Mila pulls his hand big to her mouth and gives his fingertips a featherlight kiss. “Thank you.” She places another kiss on his fingers. “I like you when you’re all soft and diplomatic.”

The slightly erotic gesture of tenderness is enough to turn the big man in front of her into water between her fingers. His breath becomes heavier, he exhales through his nostrils and the eyes become soft and the gaze deeper, lingering even.  

“Uhu?”

“Mhm.” She leans in, places her head under his chin and kisses his collarbone, while fingering on the half buttoned shirt. “You know- I’m a good rider, like… really-”

A knock on the door drags them both back to reality.  

“Son of a- what?” Daryl turns and looks at the door that opens slightly and Rick peeks into the bedroom. “Don’t ya’ fucking know how a door works either?!” Daryl mutters huskily.

On the other side of Daryl, Mila chokes a grin. Rick looks questioning, but says nothing about Daryl’s, to him, odd remark; of course he knows how a door works?

“We need to talk.” He just says.

He doesn’t even tell them about what; they already know. Reluctant, Daryl sighs and looks at her.

“Duty calls.” He says, while, discreetly, correcting the crotch on his jeans. 

“Be gentle.” Mila winks.

“Yes, ma’am.”

Daryl leaves the bedroom and follows Rick; to talk to him and Michonne about what to do about the ‘situation’ walking around freely in the house. Mila sighs; so much for that ‘ride’. Not even a quiet quickie in the bathroom. She turns, combs her fingers through her hair and looks at Juri, lying on the bed with his back against her. The blonde hair looks like a bird’s nest, the only thing missing is a couple of spotted round eggs. What a fun job I have in front of me to untangle that bundle of mess, she thinks to herself and kneels down on the bed. Softly she strokes the boy over the back; the pyjamas are so warm and soft and he smells cosy, a warm, sleepy scent mixed with fabric softener. 

“Prosypaysya, solnyshko.” She coos softly, tickles his warm neck. “Wake up, sunshine.”

Juri starts to move, softly pats his feet towards the covers and rolls over, to face her. He blinks, squints a little with his piercing blue eyes at her.

“It’s time to awake.” Mila says.

With the newly awakened boy in her arms, she then walks down to the kitchen, where she’s met by Jesus, sitting at the kitchen island.

“I’m not gonna ask how you got out.” Mila greets him and puts Juri down on the sofa, to awake at his own pace.

She doesn’t really believe in magic, but growing up in Russia, surrounded by ancient stories and with a grandmother who said she was a psychic and was convinced that she had seen both Baba Yaga and a vodnik, Mila’s quite versed in folklore; no sane Russian child disowned Baba Yaga. 

“Slept well?” Jesus replies with a polite, even hearty smile. 

Mila, still slightly bitter about the black eye and the cracked, aching lip he caused her, doesn’t answer at first; instead she puts a kettle with water on the stove and scoops up two abundant spoons of instant coffee in two mugs; the chances of her being in a better mood after she had some coffee is quite high. She needs that first sip of coffee to function. She throws a glance out of the window; where’s Carol? Her eyes are then drawn to a mint green tin can with a pattern of daisies around the brim. Smiling, Mila lifts the lid and peeks inside. Of course, Carol, she thinks with a smile. White chocolate chip cookies. She and Juri must have baked them the day before. She puts the lid back on and turns to the two cups with instant coffee. She awakes from her thoughts -mostly revolving around how unearthly tasty a really fucking strong, big salty caramel latte would be, instead of this sad, colored liquid that nowadays has to go under the name ‘coffee’- when she hears the water bubbling on the stove. 

“I think the water’s done.”

Mila peers at Jesus.

“Yeah I got ears-” She replies surly. “And eyes.”

“Not a morning person?” He asks. 

“I’m not super happy with you.” Mila peers at him as she pours the hot water into the cups and takes out two spoons from a drawer. “No offence, Houdini, but you gave me a black eye.” She hands him one of the cups and stirs around the coffee powder in the water. Not exactly a caramel latte with two extra shots, she thinks and sighs. 

“Sorry about that.” Jesus says. “You’ve ever thought about a career in wrestling?”

“I'm good at running, shooting and drinking-” Mila takes a sip of the blant coffee. “I haven’t got the muscles.”

“I’d say the opposite.” Jesus drinks and makes a grimace; there’s a pretty valid reason why everyone says no when she offers them coffee. According to everyone in Alexandria it’s like drinking tar. “At least you got the spirit.”

“Okay-” Mila sighs. “How did you get out?”

“Magic.” The man in front of her smiles. 

Over at the couch, Juri has finally awakened fully. He climbs down and hurries over to the kitchen and demands to be held; awake or not, he’s always in desperate need to be close by, just in case he needs a cuddle. Mila lifts him from the floor and puts him down on the counter.

“Ready for breakfast?” She asks and Juri nods eagerly. “Let me just finnish my coffee.” Mila looks at Jesus. “You can’t possibly be named Jesus.” She asks and raises her eyebrow at him. “I mean, I get why-” She nods towards his face, the beard and the long hair. “But-”

“Paul.” He smiles, a genuinely kind smile, and offers her his hand over the kitchen island. “Paul Rovia.” 

Mila looks at it, before taking it and giving it a firm shake; like a car dealer who’s just managed to sell a poor fellow an overpriced car. 

“Mila.” She replies and nods at Juri. “My son, Juri.”

With a bright smile Juri waves at Paul from where he sits on the kitchen counter in his pyjamas; Paul’s face bursts into a happy grin. Juri’s sunny demeanor usually has that effect on people.

“Any last name?” He then asks. “Just- you know. Formality.”

“Sergeyevna.” Mila says, takes the tin jar from the other counter, opens it and offers him a cookie; there, now they have put down the hatchet. “So, what should I call you? Sorry, but Jesus-” She grimaces and shakes her head. “Feels odd.”

“Paul’s fine.” He smiles as he takes a cookie and once again looks at Juri. “You’re a lil’ charmer, aren’t you?”

Juri nods and makes the ‘I know that’ sign with his hand, which makes Mila grin. Of course he knows he is, she thinks and takes out the big pack of Quaker oats from a cabinet. She pours the oats at random into a pot, covers them with water and puts the pot on the stove. It will be enough for both her and Juri. She looks up from the pot just in time to see Juri’s small hand being pulled away from the tin jar.

“No.” Mila says, takes the jar and puts it back on the other counter. “You get a cookie after you have breakfast.” 

Juri nods reluctantly, then gestures ‘okay’. 

“He’s mute?” She hears Paul ask behind her.

“He is.” Mila turns around in search of the salt. “Don’t need a voice to be the most charming rascal in the apocalypse though.” She smiles at Juri and winks.

“Is he the father?” Paul asks. “You know- the big guy?”

“Daryl?” Mila shakes her head as her eyes land on the pack of salt. “No, I don’t know who Juri’s father is.” She shrugs a little. “A happy accident.” She pauses and puts a pinch of salt into the pot. “Daryl’s-” 

Yeah, what exactly is Daryl? Mila doesn’t have to think for long. Juri tugs at Paul’s coat sleeve and places his thumb against his forehead, with his fingers outstretched. 

“Have you told Daryl?” Mila smiles at Juri while she opens a drawer and takes out a wooden spoon to stir the oats.

Before Paul can ask what Juri meant by his gesturing, the front door opens and Glenn, Maggie and Abraham enter. Mila greets them with a ‘morning’ and Juri waves frantically at everyone. From the stairs, Rick, Michonne, Daryl and Carl appear.

“Nice talking to you.” Paul winks at her, gets off the bar stool and walks over to the dining table, where they all sit down, looking at Paul.

Mila turns her attention back to her and Juri’s breakfast in the pot. Juri stirs the wooden spoon as she gets honey out of another cupboard and the home made oat milk from the fridge. She listens with half an ear to the conversation at the table while she portions the steaming oatmeal into bowls, puts a spoonful of creamy honey on top and then puts the oat milk over it. She places Juri at the counter next to the window, he likes to look out at the trees and the birds, and then starts to feed him; one spoon for Juri, then one spoon for her. He doesn’t need to hear the grown-up talk and Mila’s too tired to care, well, except for when Rick asks Paul how he got out.

“One guard can't cover two exits, or third floor windows. Knots untie and locks get picked.” Paul replies. “Entropy comes from order, right?”

Mila grins to herself while taking another spoon; it hurts to chew. Apparently he trudged around a lot during the night, peeking at their arsenal, their storage. Juri eats with a big appetite and has soon finished his breakfast.

“Bravo.” Mila praises and scrapes the last of her oats from her bowl. “How about-” She puts the bowls into the sink and turns back to Juri. “You and I hang out today, all day? I need to repay you for not bringing back those marshmallows.”

Excited beyond measure, Juri starts to clap his small hands, which causes the group at the table to pause and turn to look at them. Mila puts her hands around Juri’s and hushes softly, resting her forehead against his. 

“It’s a date.” She whispers and gives Juri a kiss on the nose. “Now- hurry upstairs, pick some clothes and pour a bath, I’ll join you in a minute.”

Smiling brighter than a sky full of stars, Juri scurries over the hardwood floors and starts to climb up the stairs while the group around the table gets up. Glenn, Maggie and Abraham leave, Abe gives her a cheeky wink and a ‘lookin’ sharp, lady’, probably referring to her ravaged face. Daryl gives the big, red haired guy’s back a squinting, dark gaze as he disappears out the door. For some reason she feels flattered about the ‘Dixon jealousy’ today; maybe because she feels anything but appealing. A confidence boost. 

“So?” Mila asks. “What’s been said?”

“He says he’s part of a community.” Daryl replies, referring to Paul. “Raises livestock and crops.”

“Okay. And?” 

“His job’s to find other communities to trade with.”

“That’s it?” Mila asks, slightly disappointed; given his Ninja-skills she’d at least thought he was part of a special force or something. “Okay. What’d you say then? We don’t have anything to trade?”

He thinks we may be in a position to help each other. They got livestock. Grows things.” Daryl pauses. “We’re gonna go back with him. To his community. Hilltop. See if he’s tellin’ the truth. If he does, we’ll see what they’ve got to offer. He also said they’re trading with other groups.”

Mila raises her eyebrows.

“They have contact with other communities?”

“At least that’s what he claims.”

“You think he’s lying?”

Daryl shrugs; apparently he doesn’t know what he thinks about it. On one hand; another community is something they, he and Rick, have talked about for a while. There had to be more people like them out there, other communities with survivors, they knew it. They had expected, or hoped, to be the ones who discovered the other group, not the other way around. The tables have turned and now they’re vigilant. Even though he doesn’t say anything, Mila sees exactly what he’s thinking. The thought has struck her as well. What if Paul Rovia belongs to the group they saw looting the arms deal?

“Does ya’ gut feeling say something ‘bout that?” Daryl asks with a wryly, barely noticeable smile upon his lips - sometimes it seems like they really can read each other’s minds.

“Shut it.” Mila shoves him softly. “No. No, he might fit in at that Harry Potter-school though. How else did he get out of the basement than by magic? I’m not convinced what he said before was the truth.”

“Magic ain’t real, Jersey.”

“At this point, I’m ready to believe it is. Living dead walking around, magic-” Mila shivers throughout her body; it’s as if her dead grandmother was in the room, taunting her for not believing in her wacko stories about trolls and other foul creatures. “You leaving soon?”

“As soon as possible.” 

She nods. 

“Ya’ coming?”

“I’ll pass.” Mila replies. She’s had it with adventures that, more often recently, ends with her getting bruises for a few days. Besides, she wants to spend the day with Juri. “Carol and I hold the positions here.”

“Good.” Daryl lightly strokes her arm. “Where’s she by the way?”

“Out, I believe.” Mila smiles. “You’re cute when you’re worried.”

“I ain’t.”

“Worried or cute?” She gets a light buff in reply to her cheeky question. “Carol’s fine on her own.” Mila ensures her big, worried archer. “Are you going to prepare for the trip?”

“Nah, I’m ready.”

Mila smiles faintly. Had she been Daryl, she would probably at least have changed her shirt to one with sleeves. He notices her smile, frowns a little.

“What?”

“I like that shirt.” 

“Ya’ flirting now?” 

“Yeah.” Mila nods. “Might be because of the concussion.”

“Ya’ didn’t have one last night.” Daryl says doubtfully.

“No, you’re right. But I am actually flirting with you.”

With an entertaining, barely visible, smile, Daryl takes her chin between his thumb and forefinger; a gesture that says more than he does verbally.

“Jersey-”

Mila sighs; she may well suppress the tingling in her body for a few more hours.

“Fine.” Mila pushes Daryl towards the door. “Off you go. Discover new civilizations, Dr. Dixon.” She proclaims theatrically.

In response, she gets a teasing middle finger over the broad shoulder, before Daryl disappears out the front door. Mila turns just as Rick scurries down from the upper floor, holding Judith in his arms. 

“You’re stayin’ behind?” He asks.

Mila holds out her arms; as if to show that her outfit says the most about the matter.

“Okay.” Rick nods. “Good.” He’s just about to say something, but Mila interrupts him:

“I’ll watch Carl too. Promise.”

“I think he’s sneakin’ out.” Rick says, while letting Judith chew on his finger. “He and Enid-”

“-Are teenagers.” Mila shrugs while putting the two coffee cups into the sink. “Be glad Carl’s not doing the shit I did when I was a teen.” She walks around the kitchen island and gives Rick an encouraging pat on the arm. “We’ll be alright.” She smiles overly excited at Judith. “Yes we aaare!”

As Rick closes the front door, Michonne comes down the stairs. As soon as their eyes meet, Mila grins broadly; her missing Jesus trotting into the house in the middle of the night was nothing compared to the disappointment she felt when she learned that he had stormed into Rick’s bedroom, only to discover that Rick and Michonne were lying naked in bed. Michonne raises a warning finger at her.

“Don’t-” She alerts. “Not a word.”

“Ohh I have a lot of words I want to say about it.” Mila chuckles. “How about; finally!”

Michonne says nothing, just smiles. As if Mila didn’t realize before that there was ‘something’ going on. They don’t have time to say anything else on the matter; they are interrupted by Paul, who emerges from the toilet.

“Ready?” Michonne asks him. 

“Yup.” Paul looks over at Mila. “Hey- I’m really sorry about the blackeye.” He looks sincerely sorry. “We friends?”

“Hm, fine.” Mila gives him a sharp gaze. “But I want my grumpy archer back. So no funny business while you’re gone. Then we’re friends.”

Paul nods gravely; hopefully, he doesn’t dare to pull any ugly tricks after yesterday’s haywire ride. In addition, Mila offered him both coffee and cake earlier, so he owes her. She follows them out of the house, still wearing her sleepwear; yoga pants, t-shirt and the knitted cardigan, to the motorhome. Maggie stands by and watches the motorhome. The young woman looks worried, deep into her own thoughts.

“See it as a honeymoon.” Mila suggests with a smile at Maggie as she approaches. “Minus the fancy hotel, the rose petals...” She continues jokingly, in an attempt to cheer her up.

Maggie smiles a little, but there’s obviously something on her mind.

 “Things don’t really go by the book ‘round here.” She replies. “I’m scared, Mila.” The green eyes look worried. “The crops, the baby, other people-” She sighs. Apparently she’s been pondering a lot lately.

“Hey-” Mila grabs Maggie by the hand. “Stop it. We all got days when everything feels like shit.” And those days you spend in bed getting jagged, Mila thinks to herself; that’s at least what she does. “But it’s gonna be alright.” She smiles. “We have made it this far. You’ve made it this far. See it as an- an adventure. And tomorrow is another day.”

Although Mila herself finds it difficult to absorb her own clichéd words, they seem to instill hope in Maggie; somehow Mila thinks that booze works better in her case. 

“Wow, where did the motivational speaker come from?” Maggie smiles, squeezes her hand warmly. “Thanks.” She looks down on her bump. “You know I’ll need all the help I can possibly get when this one pops out, right?”

“Yeah I know.” Mila replies. “But we’re not there yet, thankfully.” She winks. “I have to sober up until then. Well, off you go, adventurer.”

They part, Maggie walks over to Glenn and they get inside the motorhome. Daryl shuts the small hood and brushes off oil from his hands on his jeans. Mila wraps her cardigan tighter around her; she’s still in her tank top and yoga pants, standing bare feet on the hard asphalt.  

“Ya’ sure you’ll be alright?” Daryl asks.

“I’ll be fine.” Mila ensures. Honestly, she thinks, there’s not much that can go wrong when hanging out with a three and a half-year old. “Be careful.” She says and places a quick kiss on his lips. “Don’t punch people.”

Daryl gruffs in reply.

“Let’s chew up some asphalt!” Abraham hollers behind him.

“See ya’.” Daryl places a quick kiss on her mouth, before getting into the motorhome and shutting the door.

Mila and Carl, holding Judith in his arms, watch as the engine of the motorhome starts and it rolls away along the road, before disappearing. 

“Do you think it's safe?” Carl looks at her. “This other place?”

“Honestly, I don’t know.” Mila replies, while letting Judith grab on to her fingers and play with them. “But I hope so.” She meets Carl’s eyes, smiles and caresses his thick, brown hair. “Come on, let’s get inside. Juri’s having a bath-” Mila smiles at the girl on Carl’s arm. “You wanna bath too?”

Happily, Judith giggles; no sane toddler says no to a bath with rubber duckies and lots of bubbles.  

It turns into a peaceful, playful morning. Juri and Judith bathe for probably an hour under Mila’s supervision; over and over she has to push the floating rubber ducks under the water, for them to jump out of the water again. Judith laughs to the point of her getting hiccups. With one toddler on each arm, drenched in bath water from head to toe, Mila carries them both downstairs.

“Ah, great!” She exclaims just as Carl and Enid walk into the house. “Keep an eye on these two as I get dressed, will you?”

Mila disappears up the stairs before she gets an answer. In the bedroom she removes her wet clothes and drops them on the bathroom floor. She quickly puts on a pair of jeans, glances at the long scar that runs along her stomach, before hiding it with a t-shirt. At least that’s easier to hide than the blackeye. She puts on a pair of socks, sticks her feet into a pair of Birkenstocks and hurries back downstairs. Carl and Enid sit on the carpet in the living room with Judith, still wrapped up in a lilac towel with flowers, while Juri runs around, naked, wearing his towel as a cape.

“Come here you!” Mila sweeps the naked toddler from the floor. “What have I said about being naked Batman?”

Silently giggling, Juri tells her that she’s wrong; he’s not Batman, he’s Spiderman.

“Well, first of all, Spidey doesn’t have a cape-” Mila presses her mouth into his soft belly and makes a loud farting noise, while Juri cries with laughter, silently. “Secondly-” Mila says, while lifting her head. “We gotta find you some clothes.”

“There’s some folded stuff in the laundry room.” Carl gets up from the floor and takes Judith in his arms.

They help out to sort the folded laundry while finding clothes for the toddlers. Mila’s heart swells when she observes Carl with Judith; he’s so much more grown up, so wise and kind, than she ever would have been able to at that age. He dresses Judith, who sits still on top of the washer and calmly lets herself get dressed. Juri on the other hand is in a rowdy mood. Carol returns, stained with blood, in time to see Mila chasing a laughing Juri, dressed in underwear, socks and shirt, around the ground floor; she carries a bucket in her hand, filled with acorns. She catches Juri with her free arm, like a hook, and hands him over to Mila, who can finally put him in a pair of trousers. 

“Thanks.” Mila sighs and brushes her hair out of her face when she has closed the button in the small pair of jeans. “I hope he’s not this cheeky when he’s with you.” She looks at the acorns while Carol assures her that Juri’s usually very angelic when they hang out together; it’s probably just an extra exciting day. Mila nods towards the bucket. “What are the, the-” The english word seems to have disappeared from her vocabulary. “those for?”

Carol looks down at the bucket. 

“You’d be surprised what you could do with acorns.” She smiles, mysteriously. 

“And the blood?”

“An unpleasant surprise.”

“Ah.” Mila nods understanding; a walker. “The others left a while ago.”

While Carol puts the bucket down in the kitchen, Mila tells her about Paul Rovia and the others, Rick, Michonne, Abraham, Daryl, Glenn and Maggie, leaving with him to go to Hilltop. Carol receives the news with calm, a trait Mila loves about her; by now not much seems to surprise her. As Carol disappears to take a shower and change clothes, Juri wonders what they should do first during their extra special fun-day. Mila suggests crafting; Juri loved crafting when he went to daycare and always brought home necklaces, drawings and scrapbooking cards to her. When she was looking for new sheets in the house that belonged to Jessie one day, she found a whole lot of craft materials in a cupboard; Jessie wouldn't need it anymore, so Mila took it. 

They spread the material over the dining table, Mila picks out Capri Sun as snacks and starts to make beaded necklaces and bracelets while Carol returns back after a while, and starts to bake more cookies with the acorns. Deeply concentrated, Juri methodically places pearl after pearl on the small wire, with his tongue between his teeth. He makes necklaces and bracelets for his ‘big brother’ Carl, ‘auntie Carol’, Mila gets a necklace and for Daryl Juri makes a bracelet and a little pendant to hang on his crossbow.

“That will be very nice.” Carol assures as Juri holds up the pendant for her to see, made with beads in all sorts of shapes and colors. “Daryl will be very happy.” She smiles. “I will wear my necklace every day from now on, sweetie.”

While the cookies are in the oven, Carol quickly sweeps up a vegetable soup for lunch. Just in time for lunch, Aaron pops in and joins Mila, Juri, Carol and Judith around the table to eat. Mila sits in-between Juri and Judith and has a full time job making sure Judith doesn't play with her food and tells Juri to stop making another bracelet, this time for Aaron.

“You can finish it after lunch.” Mila says, for the fourth time, before Juri listens, but by then he’s already done and stretches over the table to hand Aaron the bracelet.

“Thank you.” Aaron looks tenderly at the bracelet. “The nicest gift I’ve ever received.” His genuine expression of gratitude makes Juri blush behind his second package of Capri Sun. “I’d love to have kids on my own.” Aaron looks at Juri with glistening eyes. “They’re amazing.” He sighs. “But these times-” He shakes his head.

“You can borrow mine whenever you’d like.” Mila suggests while scooping up the soup in her spoon, pouring it down her still aching mouth. “Besides, you’re already uncle Aaron.”

Juri nods at Aaron at the other side of the table; he’s got a lot of uncles and aunts all of a sudden. But only one big brother, he assures them through his gestures.

“Yeah, there’s only one Carl.” Mila agrees.

Juri points at Judith.

“And only one Judith.” Mila nods. “And since you’re older than Judith, you get to show how to behave at the dining table. Like, you’re not supposed to make bracelets while eating.”

After lunch, Aaron thanks Carol for the lunch and heads off to the construction site, Carol clears the table from bowls and spoons and leaves to go and hand out the still steaming warm cookies to the Alexandria residents. Mila takes on the mission to put Judith to sleep, while Juri finishes off his second portion of vegetable soup at the table, now fully occupied with his walkman. It’s apparently completely impossible to sit and eat without amusement; on the one hand, Mila understands him. She herself likes to have a book or a newspaper with her at the dining table. Before the outbreak, when they lived in Brooklyn, she loved to eat in front of the TV when she was alone; channel surfing until she found a channel with a program about 'tanks in the first world war', 'ancient sharks eating ships' or 'grown men running around in the dark looking for ghosts'. 

Softly Mila sings the girl to sleep while stroking the soft, light brown hair. She sings a Russian lullaby from her childhood, the one her mother used to sing to her when she’d had a nightmare; a heartbreaking song about a dying child. In hindsight, Mila’s surprised she could even fall asleep at all after hearing that song, but the way her mother sang it as they lied next to each other in Mila’s bed, was like being swept in a blanket of protection, a safe embrace from the bad dreams. Then it didn’t matter that Vanya died and was buried the next day. Mila softly strokes the now sleeping girl over her cheek, smiles and leaves the room. 

“Wow, two whole rounds of soup!” Mila exclaims, as she returns to the dining room and Juri, proud beyond measures, shows her two short, tubby fingers. “Bozhe moy, I gotta find you new clothes soon, you’ll grow like a sprout-” She says as she helps him down from the chair. “So, nap or no nap?”

Juri shakes his head; no nap today. Instead he points at the kitchen island, where Carol’s left a couple of cookies on a plate. With the big cookie in a firm grip, Juri announces that he wants to have a dance party. He’s high on sugar from the Capri Sun and needs to let off some steam, pronto! Said and done, Mila runs upstairs, again, collects their dear collection of cassette tapes, runs downstairs and puts a cassette in the stereo in the living room. Having small children is a single gym workout; never a quiet moment. Juri wastes no time and starts to jump around to Van Halen’s “Dance the night away” with the cookie in his hand. Her heart overflows with love as Mila, smiling, watches as the little person moves around on the carpet, making his sporadic, spontaneous moves to the music. Sometimes he takes a bite out of the cookie.

Carl and Enid return just in time to see Juri make a pirouette to “Mr. Blue Sky”.

“Hey, great moves, dude!” Carl greets him. 

They sit down on the couch and watch Juri dance, while Mila sorts the crafting supplies; she has a feeling they’re done making bracelets by now. Activities shift quickly when you’re a child and as a mother, Mila is left to clean up. But when “Dance in the dark” comes on she can’t refrain from wanting to dance; yeez Louise, she loves this song. She lets herself be dragged out on the living room carpet by Juri and shakes her head, making her hair dance. 

“Dance with us Carl!” Mila pants mid air. “You too, Enid!”

Slightly frightened by the invitation, Enid shakes her head so the brown hair swings around her face. Carl on the other hand rises from the couch, widely smiling, and starts to dance with them. It’s fun, liberating; just dancing around, jumping, making silly moves, while singing their hearts out. 

“Come on!” Carl grabs Enid by the hands and pulls her up on the floor. “Don’t be such a bummer. Let loose!”

“I-” Enid looks anything but pumped.

“Live a little!” Mila encourages; she herself feels very much alive at least. Her heart is pounding and the pulse is at ‘moderately working’. It’s actually quite exhausting to dance. She’s a little impressed that she used to go to parties and dance almost every weekend back in university - in heels, moreover. She looks down at her socks and Birkenstocks. 

When the song fades out and the intro to KC & The Sunshine Band’s “Give it up” they hear a soft thud from the upper floor; Judith must’ve thrown her plushie on the floor.

“I’ll go get her.” Mila says. She lets Carl and Enid continue to dance with Juri, and runs up and gets the now awake, well rested little girl. With Judith locked on her hip she walks downstairs again. Judith points at Carl and starts to wiggle her arms, spits out the pacifier and starts to babble.

“You wanna dance too?” Mila asks, while bouncing Judith on her hip. “Come on, let’s dance.”

With a squealing Judith in her arms Mila sways to the music, hops around and swings the girl around the air. But Judith doesn’t get Mila’s full attention for long; Juri, unaccustomed to competition, soon wants her attention, he also wants to dance in her arms. With Judith on one arm and Juri on the other she moves over the carpet, while the two toddlers laugh excitedly by her, a grown up, acting incredibly funny.

Carol returns from her walk around the community in the middle of the chorus to [song], when Enid has returned to the couch and Carl makes an impressive attempt at a moonwalk.

“I disappear for a moment and poof; I come back to a disco.” She laughs.

“Gotta raise the roof around here.” Mila pants and twirls around with the two toddlers locked at her hips. “Right, malysh?” She gets support from Juri, who strikes a disco finger for Carol to marvel at. “But I would actually need a break now.”

The break is accompanied by “Twistin’ the night away” and more Capri Sun, taken on the couch. Carl playfully fans Judith with the wide-brimmed hat and Mila twists her hair in a sloppy ponytail and curses her poor cardio; it’s gotten pretty bad all of a sudden. That uncomfortable nausea she’s felt on and off the last week begins to creep in and she trembles at what Juri wants to do next. “Ya izmozhden.” Mila says when Juri tells her, with sugar rushed excitement, that he wants to dance more. “I’m exhausted. Mummy’s old.”

As if Juri was going to buy that excuse. He answers her firmly that she’s not old, but that they can go out and draw with the street crayons instead. Mila throws a glance out the window. It’s sunny, looks warm. “Fine.” She replies. “Let’s go, Picasso.”

While sitting on the hot asphalt, drawing with the chunky, chalky crayons Mila’s struck by a feeling she hasn’t felt in a long time; it all feels almost as before the virus. It’s been a very normal day. Just as when Mila had her day’s off from work. On those day’s Juri didn’t go to daycare; instead they did all sorts of fun stuff. They went to the park and occupied the swing sets until some irritated mother asked Mila if she would mind sharing with the other children. On the days Jim had a day off as well they went to coffee shops, had coffee and juice and tried different pastries and cookies. Other days they stayed at home playing, or Mila invited her friends (none of them had children of their own) over for lunch and to watch a day-movie with her and Juri. 

Soon Mila puts down her pastel blue crayon and lies down on the warm asphalt, while Juri continues with his masterpiece; this time a zoo with green tigers and yellow monkeys.

“Right now, life’s pretty nice, right?” She exhales and closes her eyes. In the distance she heard the light, barely noticeable, breeze sweeping through the nearby trees. A gentle, soothing sound that mixes up with the faint sound from the walkman, lying on the ground next to Juri. “Pretty, damn nice.”

[onewfantaesy]

Ugh! The whole family sucks in MaIedictus. I can't wait until people start adding things up just like Jinki did. Can sooman be fired? Prolly not, but his image is done for. The boys be expelled? Prolly not but I'm sure they'll pay for potentially "endangering" students and hunting Taemin for a night.

Christmas break hasn’t even started before other students start putting two and two together. Taemin, the sweet first year Hufflepuff Maledictus who talks endlessly about his adopted father and uncles just disappears one day. Four of the Lee brothers from Slytherin had been the first to tell other students he was a Maledictus, were always caught bullying him and saying mean things to him, and were suddenly all in detention and banned from playing Quidditch for the rest of the year. Then the youngest of the Lee brothers, Jongin, was visibly upset and distressed the entire rest of the term, and was constantly in his father’s office to seek out some sort of comfort. Not to mention Professor Sooman himself was visibly on edge and clearly not in very good standing with the rest of the staff at the moment.

It wasn’t hard to figure out, especially after Chanyeol let it slip on a fit of anger over how harsh he thought his punishment was. News travels fast in a boarding school, after all.

��You stole and withheld another, younger student’s medically necessary potions,” the Headmaster says, all of the Heads of House present as he disaplines the four brothers. “You broke into the Hufflepuff dorms to steal said potions. Then you bullied and tormented and, from what I’ve gathered are your own words, hunted this student the entire night while he was in a very vulnerable state.”

“How vulnerable can a giant snake be?” Chanyeol scoffs.

“Chanyeol,” Sooman barks, and the fourth year at least has the decency to look somewhat ashamed.

“Not to mention you put your own brother and housemate into a body bind the entire night so he couldn’t get help,” the Headmaster says. Then he sighs and leans back in his chair and folds his hands. “Based on this one night’s events alone, I should expel all four of you.”

They’re in an uproar about that, all four of them yelling and shouting until Sooman waves his wand to force them all to sit down and be quiet.

“And you,” the Headmaster says, turning to Sooman then. “You’ve turned a blind eye this whole term, letting them say whatever they want, do whatever they want, never doing a thing even when your youngest tried to tell you they were bullying another student. I should fire you.”

Sooman keeps his lips sealed tight, afraid of what he might say.

“However,” the Headmaster states, “I think we all might stand to learn from our mistakes this term. So no one else will be leaving the castle today.”

Sooman loses his title of Head of Slytherin House, and the boys are all given detention, banned from Quidditch, and put on probation for the rest of the year. If they step one more toe out of line, it’s instant expulsion.

When Sooman leaves the Headmaster’s office, he finds Jongin still sitting in his, still distressed, still upset.

“Tell me what’s wrong,” Sooman says gently, kneeling in front of the couch where his youngest son starts crying again.

“I can’t feel him anymore,” Jongin cries. “He’s too far away.”

“Feel who?”

“My Taemin,” Jongin says, his voice straining. “All night he was so scared, and I could feel it, I felt like it was happening to me.”

“You can feel him?” Sooman asks, his voice low, unbelieving. “What do you mean you can feel him?”

“I dunno I just,” Jongin stammers, “I know what he feels when I’m around him. I just know. And all night - all night he thought they were gonna kill him and I couldn’t do anything to help him and I thought they were gonna kill him too.”

He’s crying and shaking and diving to hide his face in Sooman’s chest, but not feeling any better when his father hugs him.

“I remember feeling him when I was little,” Jongin admits. “And I knew if he was happy or sad or scared. And then he got really really scared one day and I never saw him again. And now he was really really scared last night and now I can’t feel him anymore and now I’m never gonna see him again.”

Sooman just sighs, and he tries to offer what little comfort he can. Twins. His twins. Who knew fraternal twins could have a magical bond like that? Certainly not Sooman, not until just now.

But he does remember the first day he ran into Kibum in Diagon Alley with little Taemin. It had been Jongin who wanted to go away from the toy store that day. It had been Jongin who pointed out Kibum, but Sooman is now realizing he must have been pointing out the little boy in Kibum’s arms. It had been Jongin who kept insisting he get to play with Taemin and become Taemin’s best friend.

Sooman can’t believe he didn’t realize it sooner.

Needless to say, Jongin doesn’t go to class that day, and Sooman has to cancel all of his.

Before the Christmas break is over, Sooman is summoned into the Headmaster’s office. Kibum is there, sitting with the Headmaster, looking every bit as angry as he did the morning he barged into his office.

“You and your sons are very lucky,” Kibum spits, “seeing as my best friend works in the department of magical law enforcement.”

“How is Minho doing these days?”

“He’s fine,” Kibum snaps.

“And just why did you not go to the aurors then?”

“Because my son didn’t want to,” Kibum says. “He doesn’t want to do much of anything these days; not after what your sons did to him.”

“Then why are you here?” Sooman snaps.

“Because my son deserves an education just as much as any other child,” Kibum tells him.

“I get it,” Sooman snaps. “He’s your son. He’s not mine. You don’t have to keep emphasizing it.”

“We three need to come up with a solution that will help Taemin feel safe and comfortable enough to return to school,” the Headmaster says, motioning for Sooman to come sit down. “Once we come up with a solid plan, we’ll bring his Head of House in to discuss with her as well.”

It takes a long time - almost an entire day - but they come up with a solution. At least a temporary solution. Well, they come up with three, and they’ll allow Taemin to pick whichever he feels most comfortable with.

And as it turns out, Taemin is most comfortable with their least preferred option, which Kibum has warned them was most likely to happen.

“He’s going to be using the floo to come right after breakfast,” Sooman explains gently to Jongin the day before school starts. “He’ll stay for his classes, have lunch, and then floo back home as soon as his last class is done for the day.”

“He won’t even stay for dinner?” Jongin asks, his voice cracking. “Not at all?”

“For now,” Sooman says carefully, “he’s most comfortable only staying for classes. But who know?” Sooman tries to sound lighter, and he smooths back Jongin’s hair. “Maybe he’ll realize how much he missed you and his friends and decide he wants to stay in the dorm again after just a couple days.”

“It’s all their fault,” Jongin starts to cry, “they tortured him and now I’m never gonna get to see him again.”

“You’ll still see him even if he only comes to school during the day.”

“We’ve only got two classes together!” Jongin cries. “And he’ll never let me sit with him at lunch, and he’d never come near the Slytherin table! I’m never gonna get to talk to him again!”

Sooman just sighs, unsure of what to say. He’s grateful when his oldest, Suho, comes in and takes over the role of comforting Jongin. The two have always been close, and the twenty-year-old spends the entire rest of the day helping Jongin feel better.

Meanwhile, hundreds of miles away, Taemin is panicking and crying while Kibum holds him and tries to comfort him. He’s terrified to go back to Hogwarts, terrified to be away from Kibum even if it’s only during the day.

“Don’t make me go, don’t make me go, please,” Taemin begs. “Please, please Daddy, please.”

“You’re going to be okay,” Kibum whispers, trying to calm Taemin down. “It’s going to be okay. It’s just during the day, just for classes.”

Taemin spends the entire rest of the day crying, but Kibum holds him the entire time.

First year is proving to be more difficult for Taemin than Kibum thought it would be.

[inkribbon796]

The Bee ‘n Boo Ch. 2: Spider Legs and Bumble Bees

Summary: Virgil is uneasy so he goes wandering the halls again, and finds nothing but trouble.

Chapters: 1, 2

The conversation with Logan sat wrong with Virgil and surprise, surprise he was having problems sleeping on this vacation as a result.

After a couple days he finally had enough. It was obvious the owners were watching them closely. Clearly looking for something from them.

Virgil decided he didn’t like the owners of this bed and breakfast, he really didn’t. It didn’t help that usually when he got an impression of someone he was typically right. So he started wandering the halls on their last night, unsure if he wanted to track one of the owners down.

He didn’t have to decide what he wanted to do for himself because one of the owners found him in a hallway.

The first hint he was being followed was the sound of a low buzzing, Virgil’s mind immediately recognized it as a bee or wasp buzzing. He looked around for the sound and saw Tubbo standing down the hall behind him, a single bee flying around him.

“Normally I don’t care if our patrons walk around the halls,” Tubbo sighed. “But I make a special exception for demon clientele, especially when Dream takes an interest in them.”

“I’m not a demon, I’ve been tested,” Virgil defended tersely.

“Yeah,” Tubbo scoffed at that. “Bet you have.”

The buzzing pitched dangerously and Virgil braced for an attack but Tubbo turned to glance behind him.

“Fuck, did you call for some type ‘a[1] backup?” Tubbo demanded angrily.

“No,” Virgil shot back, feeling nervous and looking around.

Tubbo whispered something into his hand and magic coiled around his hand, words visibly etched into the magic that read: “Ranboo, get over here!” and blew the magic out of the palm of his hand and it flew down the hall.

Then Tubbo looked around as he summoned a sword that had a blue and violet glow to it. He was looking around the hall as Virgil coiled magic towards him. He was inwardly cursing and chastising himself for coming alone. It had been a stupid decision he kept making.

“Underscore,” someone on Virgil’s side of the hallways came out, it was a legionnaire. That legionnaire froze when he saw Virgil. “Shit! You! Of course you’re working with them.”

Spurred on by his mounting anxiety, Virgil’s spider legs sprouted and he realized he was trapped between someone who was absolutely threatening, and someone who was vaguely threatening.

There was a crash of glass underneath Virgil and he looked down to see the effects of a potion waft up and Virgil felt his entire body charged with power.

Tubbo slid underneath Virgil and the anxious Side startled back.

“I thought I said we didn’t want any ‘a[1] you shitheads back in here,” Tubbo spat.

“Tubbo!” Ranboo’s voice called out to them as the legionnaire began to move towards them.

“There were already too many demons before you freaks got here,” the hunter spat.

“Back up,” Tubbo ordered Virgil.

“Boo!” Tubbo called out as the taller young man raced around the corner and over to help, deep purple magic buzzing around him.

“⎅⎍☊☍!”[2] Ranboo shouted as his eyes glowed a deep purple, his more human appearance almost decaying away to show that half of his face was black and the other side was bone white, long pointed horns coming from his forehead.

Tubbo dropped to the ground as a huge, purple pixelated portal appeared right in front of the assailant who seemed caught in it and then Ranboo closed the portal and the man disappeared. Magic shot perfectly in-between Virgil and Tubbo.

Ranboo was shaking and breathing heavily as purple magic buzzed around him.

“Nice timin’[3], bossman,” Tubbo smiled, getting up.

“Did you just kill him?” Virgil looked between them in horror.

“Prolly should’a,”[4] Tubbo scoffed as Ranboo returned to his more human appearance and walked over to stand next to him. “If Ranboo hadn’t showed up I would’a[5].”

Virgil saw the hardened look in Tubbo’s eyes and he immediately believed him.

“Nah, I can’t kill people with my portals, only send them somewhere else. Depends on how fast they’re going though.” Ranboo then turned and groaned at Tubbo. “Come on man, we just got this place, I don’t wanna[6] have to bail you out and have to deal with the bad press by myself.”

“I’ve dealt with worse,” Tubbo shrugged.

Ranboo looked like he wanted to say something but he just huffed. “You okay?”

“Yeah, big guy,” Tubbo smiled and patted his arm. “I got this now, just go and rest.”

“I don’t think I can sleep after that,” Ranboo commented. “Gonna go get started on that mountain of paperwork.”

“Be in there soon,” Tubbo promised and Ranboo nodded before walking away.

Tubbo turned to smile at Virgil, “Not too shabby,[7] you did pretty good.”

“It was just the one, and you two did all the work,” Virgil smiled bashfully, looking around the hallway to see if he’d done any damage. His spider legs slowly disappeared. “Sorry if I did any damage.”

“Nahhh, it’s all good, big guy,” Tubbo dismissed. “Least I can do. Like I said before, you’re still a payin’[8] customer and I don’t let people get away with shit in my establishment. If we meet outside and you’ve already turned in your keys, then it’ll be different. But right now you’re here.”

“Why help us?” Virgil asked. “Seems like a lot of work to go through for your enemies. Aren’t we the bad guys to you?”

Tubbo shrugged, “I don’t know, I don’t think good and bad people actually exist. It all depends on what side you’re on. Initially I was just plannin’[9] on raisin’[10] the alarm when I saw you, but then you said you liked my bees and you were really genuine about the whole thing—”

“Uh, that was Lo,” Virgil interrupted, before immediately starting to backpedal when he saw the confusion on Tubbo’s face. “Uhhh, I mean the bees are fine. They’re, uh, great. But I’m more of a spider-type guy. Not that the bees aren’t cool, I mean— not cool, who says “cool” unironically anymore? Ignore me, I’m rambling.”

The reason Virgil had started rambling was because Tubbo’s expression turned from confusion to a look of absolute horror. When Virgil stopped there was a grim silence between them.

“Holy shit,” Tubbo whispered, his tone tense. “Are you conscious in there?”

Virgil stood up, trying to put distance between them. “Umm, yeah? Why wouldn’t I be?”

Tubbo tried to lean up, as if looking for something in Virgil’s face, which only made Virgil even more nervous. “That’s fuckin’[11] demented. How alive are you? I thought you guys were like cardboard cut-outs of real people, but you’re actually alive?”

He was right in Virgil’s personal space, the only thing keeping him from being directly within biting range was the fact that Virgil was taller than him.

“Maybe I should go back to my room,” Virgil backed up.

Tubbo glared at him before he backed up, his expression guarded. “I guess you should, shouldn’t you?”

Then Tubbo left and hurried back up to his room. The other Sides were still thankfully asleep but something in Virgil couldn’t sleep that night, he stayed up the whole time staring at his ceiling.

They left the next day, Virgil sleeping in fitful bursts and starts in the car and everyone was asking if he was okay when he woke back.

Tubbo’s words stuck with Virgil like an insidious disease. He’d been mind controlled before. The anxious Side hadn’t liked it then and didn’t think he ever would. A question lodged so deep in his mind that he didn’t think he’d ever get it out: how would you know if someone controlled your mind?

The anxious Side lies that he was and was only just starting to calm down when they got to the house. He wanted to sleep under his weighted blanket and forget everything.

But then he felt a twinge of unease when Logan walked in, spiking Virgil’s innate anxiety back up.

It took Logan a little bit to realize what was wrong: Someone had been through their house! If it had been one or two things he would have chalked it up to Joan, but there was furniture that was ever so slightly moved.

Immediately the logical Side conveyed it to the other Core Sides and they contacted Joan who had been house sitting for them, and Janus to check if Remus had broken in again.

Remus hadn’t, but Joan said that something had been in their house and they had it under control. So with barely having time to start unpacking and sorting out dirty clothes, the suitcases were left in various rooms as they rushed back to the base where Nate, King, the androids, and several different heroes were waiting for them.

Logan however, threw up an arm to protect the other Sides when he saw what King had in his possession.

King was sitting in a chair, an old camera bound with spells propped on his knee and something in Logan twisted in rage and apprehension.

“I think it’s time we had that talk,” Nate warned Logan, his magic hovering over the camera.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Post A/N: Tubbo’s magical familiar is a bee, I will not be convinced otherwise.

Accessibility Translations:

1. of

2. Duck!

3. timing

4. Probably should have

5. would have

6. want to

7. bad

8. paying

9. planning

10. raising

11. fucking

[apex-academy]

Chapter 5: Caring Is a Hazard to Your Health (#27)

We keep shuffling through the room, and I make sure to check behind the file cabinet with Mahavir’s help, but nothing new is turning up. That’s all right. Wasn’t really expecting anything. 

“So, we good?”

“Yeah, I think we’ve checked everything.”

“Thanks for tagging along.”

“No prob, brah.”

“...”

“Are we going to rejoin the others? I’d like to rest for a bit, but that still requires a group, so to speak.”

“I wouldn’t mind settling down for a while.”

“Like, I still got sports ‘n’ stuff to talk about?”

“I might stick with that side ‘f things.”

“Okay. Guess we’re moving the groups around after all. Think you can make it to the gym, Mahavir?”

“Yes.”

Awful lot of trouble, but off we go. Yuki and, surprisingly, Aidan end up joining our “group” to split up in the dorms. All very exciting.

“...”

Guess I’ll be spending a lot of time in here. It’s roomy, at least. The bath’s fine. Conditions could certainly be worse.

Aside from the killing game.

It’s fine. I can’t see everyone respecting the lockdown rules 24/7, but if the opportunities to kill are still harder to come by... we shouldn’t have much to worry about, right?

...

Yuki, Mahavir, and I have our last cooking lesson for a while, with Tsunyasha hanging around to round out the arrangement. I’d like to think I’m getting better at this, but...

Considering where I started, that may not mean much.

...

“Hello, students! It is now nighttime, so, um! Don’t try to go in the cafeteria or anything, and don’t sleep anywhere but the dormitories! I-I’ll see you in the morning…!”

...

“Um, hello! Good morning! It is now 7:00, so the off-limits areas have been reopened! And, um! You have three days left if you want to save your loved ones! Everyone do your best today…!”

Don’t appreciate the countdown to death there. But I guess it’s also our countdown to going back to normal. 

Well, whatever counts as normal in this place.

Kind of have to wonder what “normal” would even be for us without all of this happening. Considering the people in this class, I doubt it would be any closer to “ordinary”. I can only wonder who’s supposed to be in that resident director office. Are they used to managing crowds like this? I’m sure Apex Academy has turned out its fair share of eccentrics, but it’s hard to imagine this class isn’t full of top runners.

Anyway. I’d better get to breakfast.

I ready myself for the day and head out. Guess I put the speed on today, because I’m the first one in the hall. Then again, half of us are seriously injured, so maybe I shouldn’t be surprised.

I start for the main set of doors and reach for a handle. My usual amount of hesitation may be a boon today, because there’s a holler from behind before I can touch it.

“Hey, hey, hang on!!”

I pull back and turn around.

“Good morning to you, too?”

Aidan, still only halfway through his door, pants for a second before wheeling himself farther along.

“Er, yes, that, too, thank you.”

“Anyway, I believe I stated we would all gather before leaving the dorm area for breakfast, so if you don’t mind...”

“Oh. Right. Sorry.”

I step back just in time for more of us to start filtering in.

“Goooooood morning, everybody!”

“Good morning...”

“Everybody ready to have A Day?”

“Do we have a choice?”

Tsunyasha, when she comes, attempts to shoulder past me.

“Excuse me?”

“If you insist. Consider this a pardon.”

“...”

“What? Do you truly expect me to kowtow to some sinner’s demands?”

“Yes, we do.”

“Goodness.”

“The foolishness in this building is even worse than I had imagined.”

“As fair as that might be, do you mind staying back for one more minute?”

“We only have one more person to wait on.”

“The legless one, yes? I’ve no particular need to greet him.”

“Rude.”

A sudden ripping noise makes me turn around. Aside from Aidan guarding the door with his back to us—guess it’s easier than trying to wheel himself around the other way—nothing seems off.

“Is everything all right...?”

“I think so?”

“Yes, as far as I can tell. At any rate, we might as well keep up conversation.”

“Okay! Does anybody wanna play a game?”

“I spyyyyyy...”

“There’s nothing to spy except doors and each other.”

“Yup!”

Well, he’s sure not disappointed, somehow.

Before he can try to stir up a rousing game of I Spy regardless, Tsunyasha goes over to Kaichi’s door and knocks loudly.

“Fool! Are you yet slumbering?”

So she... is cooperating?

For now. I’m sure she’ll give it up soon enough.

“Let the dude sleep if he wants.”

“Not an option at the moment, I’m afraid. Even if Mister Riseiin will have to go off notes, he is needed at the meetings.”

“Are we discussing x-rays today?”

“My ankle is fine.”

“I doubt that’s the issue.”

“Er, no, I only mean that everyone needs to be present. We’ve gone over this, haven’t we?”

“Uh...”

“I think so!”

Just before Tsunyasha tries to rip the whole doorknob off, Kaichi’s door opens.

“ ‘s there a fire ‘r something, brah?”

“No, you’ve a while yet before you face the pits of Hell.”

“Sweet.”

“Are all of the notes on your door intact, Mister Riseiin?”

Kaichi ducks back to check.

“Looks like?”

“Good. Are we all ready to go, then?”

“Ummm-hummm...”

She heaves a sigh. “At long last, yes.”

The procession heads to the cafeteria, then halves for the kitchen. Apparently Kaichi and I are the guest chefs today, with Yuki and Mahavir at their normal stations. Better than everyone trying to cook in here at once.

And certainly better than trusting Tsunyasha and Ichiriki to make my food for me.

Eventually we settle down for the meeting. Still have a lot of cooking to do after we get through the agenda, though.

“...”

“...”

“Are we... starting the meeting at some point?”

Aidan looks up from his toast.

“Of course! Excuse me.”

He clears his throat.

“All right! Is everyone ready to get down to business?”

“I do wonder, do you even intend to ask anyone besides yourself for announcements this time?”

“If you have anything that goes against our current emergency plan, then no, I would prefer you not announce it or otherwise go through with it!”

“But if there’s anything else of importance, by all means, feel free to announce it!”

“Hmph. What a farce.”

“Kay, if we’re, like, done bashing on each other for no reason?”

“IT’S SPORTS DAY, BABY!″

“A whole day, huh.”

“That’s correct! We’ll begin in the gym, with the possibility of moving on to some other rooms depending on how long the event lasts!”

“You don’t know?”

“We’ll pretty much have the event until one or more of us need to leave, so it’s hard to be sure, yes.”

“Considering certain parties, I’d like to hope we’ll at least be able to start on those terms.”

“By ‘certain parties,’ you mean Tsunyasha, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Yo, Tsuntsun? If you screw this up for us, like, I will beat the crap outta you. Just sayin’.”

“No threats!!!”

“Oh? Don’t you wish you could do such a thing, whelp.”

“Dude, I don’t care what kinda assassin you are, you’re totally not invincible.”

“Like, with all the fancy holy stuff prolly at least mostly? But not totally.”

“How impious.”

“It would be nice if you cooperated, though...”

“We don’t have that many opportunities... to have fun like this, you know?”

“Hmph. I need not bend to your whims.”

“Do you want some dorayaki...?”

“...An exchange could be suitable.”

What a trump card.

“Okay! Once we’ve prepared all our food for the day, we’ll return to our rooms for a few minutes before the sports begin.”

“So we doing, like, Jap’nese school sports festival stuff ‘r what?”

“That would be, like, super fancy?!”

“A bit ambitious for our current situation, I’m afraid.”

“We’ll just have some games that should be manageable for those interested in participating.”

“And plenty of room for those who prefer to watch.”

“Oh, oh!!! Are you gonna do the color commententating?”

“No. He is not.”

“...”

“Aw...”

“But yeah, we got, like, a list of stuff to try and go through?”

“Should I read ‘em off, or should it be a surprise? Hmm...”

“Considering the high likelihood we won’t get through all of them, it may be less disappointing to keep it a surprise.”

“Tru.”

“Is there any setup beforehand?”

“Not really. At least, not for the first event. There may be some setup after that, but we’ll have time to work on it then without keeping everyone waiting.”

I was more concerned about a group going off ahead of time, but I guess that answers the question.

“Any more questions?”

“...”

“...”

“...”

“All right! We’ll have a good deal of time left in the meeting to get the rest of our meals prepared, so if there are any other concerns or announcements, feel free to bring them up anytime!”

“Until then, that’s all I have to say.”

I turn back to my breakfast.

Sports Day, huh? I have to wonder what most of us can do in our condition. But I guess it’s not a bad idea. Get some team spirit going, or something.

Better than sitting around alone thinking about that little sliver of a possibility Monochap’s going to follow through on his threat if no one dies.

“...”

Well, it won’t do me much good to think about it surrounded by people, either. Let’s just keep moving.

[BACK] [NEXT]

[milks-writings]

could you do ushijima with a s/o that's sick?

✿.｡.:*☆.:*:*:.☆*.:｡.✿.✿.｡.:*☆.:*:*:.☆*.:｡.✿.

☆*.:｡.✿ 𝕡𝕒𝕚𝕣𝕚𝕟𝕘: Wakatoshi Ushijima x GN!Reader

☆*.:｡.✿ 𝕨𝕒𝕣𝕟𝕚𝕟𝕘𝕤: swearing, soft hours

☆*.:｡.✿ 𝕒/𝕟: hshsdas of course I can do that! 😎❤

I uh, sorry that I made you wait :( I still hope you like those and thank you for sending the request in!🥺❤🥳

and uhh,, idc if you wanted hc or a scenario so I did both!

☆*.:｡.✿ 𝕞𝕒𝕤𝕥𝕖𝕣𝕝𝕚𝕤𝕥

☆*.:｡.✿ Headcanons + Scenario:

Ushijima taking care of his sick S/O:

USHIJIMA:

First of all, I am 10000% sure he would do you a nice and hot soup to get better, and would kinda force you to eat it

He will bring a few of his sweaters since he knows that you love them but honestly,,, he is a little confused about why you do---

N E WAY

He will also def scold you a little for getting sick and making him worried

But in the end, it’s okay since he gets to take care of you <3

He is 100000 times softer for you than usually

Just have this feeling okay?

No cuddles, sorry but this man will not give you any cuddles while you are sick cuz he won’t get himself sick

Literally has a whole ass plan on what you should do oajsdfasd

It’s prolly: get up at 9 am, make yourself some healthy breakfast, take your medicine, text me at 3pm after having a small nap, I will come over at 8pm and check on you, but please eat at 2pm and take then your medicine as well, and if I will come over you will also take your medicine, check every hour if you have fever or not

I am not kidding, he would plan a schedule for you

So please follow it, he only means well for you!

Or at least try to follow this schedule aljsdfs

He even planned naps in and so on omg

N E WAY

He wouldn’t take off volleyball sorry, only if you are feeling really bad, then he would consider it

But if you only caught a cold with fever, sorry, volleyball is just as important to him :/

BUT!!!!

He will def always come after practice and call you while going over to your house!

Gives you also some notes if you are in the same class!

Sooo, back to what he does if you are sick:

He is the type who always brings medicine, and forces you to drink it in the sweetest ways

He treats you like you are sugar and it will rain soon, so he is so tenderly with you and does anything

He won’t let you move, not even one centimeter, he will do everything

If you want to drink something the glass will be in your hands already in the next second <3

Will always text you! Even while lessons! And while practice!

Yes, you are this important to him;;;

Scenario:

You were sick, thanks to leaving the window open in the night since you started to get sweaty. Your throat hurt, you had a slight fever and you caught a cold, it wasn’t much but since the evenings tended to be really cold in the last days, your mother told you to stay home for a few days until you would feel a little bit better.

Of course, Wakatoshi knew about it, and of course, he was worried than ever why you didn’t come to school. He spammed you, about why you hadn’t shown up, and even texted you while class to make sure to drink some tea. Though, he only skipped half of practice, to get to see you before you would head to bed. While lunch, he even made a whole plan on what you should do, and on his way to your house he got you some medicine.

And right after he got to your room, and you were about to throw hands around his neck, he gently shook them off “I will take care of you, but no cuddles” The sentence didn’t hit you hard, you knew he meant well, it was actually surprising that he would skip half of practice to get to see you. “Toshi, what will you do?” you asked, your voice cracking a little, and he immediately peeked up to face you. “I got you medicine” he put the bag down on your table, then got the things out he bought. Even a small teddy bear. “I can’t cuddle with you but maybe this will make you feel better” He placed the small stuffed bear next to you, before opening the bottle of the medicine, making you frown.

“Ew” you made a clearly disgusted face, and he could only sigh “Please, f/n, just take the medicine. After a few days, you will feel better than now.” so you took it, reluctantly, but you still took it and gulped the bitter liquid down your throat.

And the next second, a glass of water got stuffed into your hand. “Drink that as well.” His words were simple, and you knew that he meant every word he said, being the serious self he was, so you took a few gulps as well. “Your mother asked me to give you the soup she made, I hope you eat it, for the sake of your health and to make your mother happy” He was too sweet to not care about you and your family. A small smile played over your lips before you sneezed. And there, right after you opened your eyes a box of tissues was held in front of your eyes.

Of course, you took one and blew your nose, but just as you were about to get up, he held the small trash can you had in your room in front of your nose to you simply threw it in “Thank you Toshi” you sat up, your mind spinning for a few seconds but it soon got used to the new position. “It’s the least I can do for you.” He picked up the bowl he got from your mother and placed it gently on your lap, before starting to clean up a little bit in your room. Ever since the morning it was so messy, full of tissues, some blankets were laying around the floor, which he just folded so neatly and placed it down next to your bed.

“You don’t have to-” but he cut you off “I will do, after all, you would’ve done the same to me, right?” Beaming you a small smile, he opened then the window, looking over at you “If you feel cold, take a blanket, you should get some fresh air as well”

“Toshi” He looked over at you confused, raising an eyebrow. “I-” “No need to thank me” he quickly reassured you and patted your head. “No, I wanted to tell you that I like you”

He swore, if his heart wouldn’t have been attached, it would just fall out, from how sweet your words were. A small blush crept over his cheeks, and a smile formed on his lips. “I like you too, y/n, but please be more careful next time, okay?” Despite you being sick, he kissed your forehead.

“Okay” you agreed so simply.

Thanks to him, you got well pretty quickly, and you both were pretty glad about that since this only meant that you could cuddle again <3

[reciprocityfic]

when there are no wars to fight

title: when there are no wars to fight fandom: wonder woman, dccu pairing: steve trevor x diana prince rating: T summary: so she goes to america, the comforting weight of his watch constantly weighing down her pocket, a crumpled piece of paper clutched tightly in her fist that bears a single address, written in etta's neat script.

trevor ranch 1202 owl creek lane meeteetse, wyoming

(diana goes home for steve after the war, desperately searching for more answers about the man she loved.)

author’s note: yay for my second wondertrev fic!

i started this awhile back, but finally got the inspiration to finish it because wondertrev love week put my butt into gear. i wanted to finish it in time for their day three writing prompt: trevor ranch.

hope you all like it! let me know what you think.

xoxo, rebekah

read on archive of our own

when there are no wars to fight

Etta asks her, one early, gray London morning in a quaint cafe, over tea and baked goods that somehow pass as breakfast, rather than dessert, in this strange world of Man.  It’s been awhile, now, since victory was announced.  Celebrations have come and gone, soldiers have returned home, and life has become fairly mundane again.

And her - she’s been waiting for some sort of sign telling her what to do next.

She’s thought of trying to go back to Themyscira - at least, for a little while; she made a promise to herself that she would not abandon this world, and it is something she intends to keep.  A goal towards which she will strive for the remainder of her existence on this earth.  But she decides against it, not wanting to mar her bright, shining memory of home with the burden of reality she now carries.  Plus, she doesn’t want to have to say goodbye again.  She fears it will hurt even more the second time around.

So she’s been in a sort of suspended state, neither here nor there.  And it’s Etta, who finally asks her.

“If you don’t mind me asking,” she begins, peering at her over the rim of her teacup, “what are you going to do now that you’re not...y’know, fighting on the battlefield, saving the world, and the sort?”

She doesn’t answer right away, and Etta - perpetually polite to a T - puts down her cup, and begins apologizing.

“It’s not that I don’t want you around.  The opposite, actually - I quite enjoy your company.  I’m just wondering what someone...like you does when there are no wars to fight - “

When there are no wars to fight.

The rest of Etta’s words fade away until that phrase is all she can hear, ringing over and over in her ears.

“Is this what people do when there are no wars to fight?”

“This, and other things.”

“What things?”

She supposes that’s what she must now figure out.

“Oh, dear.  I’ve offended you, haven’t I?” Etta humphs, before taking a large bite of a scone and rolling her eyes at herself.

“You haven’t offended me,” she assures her, smiling softly.  Etta sighs in relief, and then cracks a joke that she doesn’t quite get because she’s still trying to figure out the ins and outs of society.  Humor will be one of the last things to come.

“Where would he have gone?”

She’s dodging Etta’s question.  She doesn’t want to think about the future and all the unknowns that it presents.  They’ve been gnawing at her brain enough recently, and she doesn’t wish to talk about them.  At least not now.

But that doesn’t mean her curiosity isn’t genuine, her inquiry insincere.  It’s been one of the main things on her mind, in fact.  What was his life like without war?  Who was he when he woke up to peace instead of fighting, safe in a bed instead of huddled inside a tent in some foreign land?  What would he have shown her, taught her?

What could they have been together?

“Home, I suppose.”

Etta’s answer pulls her from her thoughts.  She looks at the woman,  who stares back at her with her lips pressed together in a sad smile.

“Did he miss it?” she asks.  “His home?”

He never spoke to her of home.  She remembers his anecdote about his father, back in Themyscira.

“My father used to say, you see something wrong in the world, you can either do nothing, or you can do something.”

His father, whose watch now sits in the pocket of her coat.  She hasn’t let it out of her sight since she found it after her battle with Ares, sitting on a piece of broken concrete.  Somehow, it remained in perfect condition, just as it was as he placed it in her hands before marching off to sacrifice himself.  She ran her fingers over the leather of the band, the glass covering the face, watched the tick tick tick of the second hand, and vowed to never let it out of her sight.  

It was now the most important object to her, more valuable than any shield or sword would ever be.  She will protect it with her life.  And the constant weight of it has been one of few comforts over the past weeks.  A piece of him to carry with her, always.

And she can’t help but wonder what other pieces of him might be left behind.

“Where was his home?” she continues.  “His family?  Did he speak of them with you?  Have you met them? Have - “

“My, my,” Etta interrupts, “you’re like a question machine.”

She pauses, mouth still open around her next inquiry.  Feeling herself begin to blush, she closes her lips, bites down on the bottom one.

“I want to know him,” she explains softly, looking down at their table, fingers playing with the edge of the ivory lace tablecloth.

“And that’s nothing to be embarrassed about,” Etta assures her gently.  “Of course, I’ll tell you what I know.  It’s not much, to be honest - just bits and pieces.  He was a spy, after all.  But all the information I do have is back at the office.”

She nods, takes one more short sip of tea and then rises.  Because now she’s decided.  Her next steps in life are no longer murky; rather, they shine brightly in the surrounding darkness, beckoning her forward.  She doesn’t want to wait now that she knows where she’s going.

She’s going home for him.

Etta hurriedly gathers herself and rushes after her.

“You certainly don’t let any grass grow under your feet, do you?”

She smiles at Etta’s mumbling as she pushes the door to the cafe open.  She doesn’t quite get it - more humor and quirks in language that go over her head - but she suspects it’s supposed to be funny.  She’s about to ask Etta what it means when she’s nearly knocked over by two people passing on the sidewalk.

“Sorry, love!” the man shouts in apology, before laughing alongside the woman besides him.

She watches them as they continue together, their joined hands swinging between them.

“Why are they holding hands?”

“Probably because they’re together.”

She remembers the way her heart stuttered when she took his fingers between hers, so innocently that first time.  And then later, not so innocently - that night in Veld.

Her heart had skipped that same beat.

Now, her heart contracts, breaks for the one thousandth time over missing him so profoundly.  Cries as it watches the strangers turn the corner, moans miserably as the memory plays in her head.

And her smile slips.

* * *

She goes to America.

That’s where he’s from, after all; she’d known that much.  Etta confirms this for her, and soon after her tickets are booked and her bags are packed.

There’s no one there to see her off as she boards the ship to New York City.  Etta was starting secretary work for someone new the morning she was set to leave, so she made her dinner the night before and then said goodbye with a warm hug, grasping her hand as she walked out the door.

“I hope you find what you’re looking for, Diana,” she murmured.

She smiled, squeezed her hand back before letting go.

“I hope so, too.”

There’s no one to see her off, but she stands on the ship’s deck anyways, staring down at the crowd gathered onshore. She watches the people leaving wave to the people staying behind, shouting goodbyes and words of love that surely the other won’t be able to hear.  But they shout anyway, continue to wave even as the ship pulls away and those on land become dots on the horizon.

She goes to America, his watch always on her person, a crumpled piece of paper clutched tightly in her fist that bears a single address, written in Etta’s neat script.

Trevor Ranch 1202 Owl Creek Lane Meeteetse, Wyoming

She takes a train from New York to Cheyenne, and then takes a different, smaller one - one she’s sure isn’t really meant for passengers - to the town the paper in her hand denotes as his.

Meeteetse.

That’s all the sign outside the small train station says when she reaches her destination, painted in blood-orange capital letters against a dark wood background.  The only thing to signal that she’s in the right place, along with the railway worker’s word as he escorted her from the train.

“Yep, this’s Meeteetse,” he assures in a slow drawl.  “Doesn’t get many guests.  They’ll prolly throw a parade for you.”

He laughs at his own joke.  He’s a good deal shorter than her, his face covered with a thin layer of dirt.  She smiles back politely, but moves herself onto the station platform quickly.  She is ready to leave traveling behind.  Ready to get where she was going.

She’s ready to find his home.

She turns on her heel, starts towards the dirt path that leads to the tiny town, and the worker shouts as he reboards the train.

“Hope you find what you’re looking for, sweetheart!”

The words make her pause.  They’re the same ones Etta had told her as she left her apartment that last night.  She finds she misses the woman already.

She continues on, every step she takes kicking up a cloud of dust beneath her feet.  By the time she gets to the center of town, there’s a significant amount of dirt covering her black boots, just as there was on the railway worker’s face.  Just as there seems to be on everything in this town, at least from the outside.

It’s so different from London or New York, or even Cheyenne.  So quiet.  So full of nothingness.

She looks around, sees a car parked in front of a general store, a few horses tied up alongside a building that says ‘Saloon’.  She looks for some sort of center or government building - a town hall, perhaps - but finds none.  She chews on her bottom lip, not sure what to do next.  She turns to the other side of the street.

A single building stands in front of her, made of the same dark brown wood that seems to be the building material for every structure in town.  A sign, much like the one outside the train station, hangs over the door, painted with blood-orange letters that spell out ‘HOTEL’ this time, instead of the town’s name.

She decides it’s her best shot, and walks to the door.  As she opens it, a bell rings, alerting the man she sees sitting at a desk in the corner of the small lobby to her presence.  He looks up from the book he’s reading, a cigarette hanging between his lips.

“You need a room?” he inquires, voice low and raspy.

“No,” she answers quickly.  “At least, not right now.  Maybe later.”

The man at the desk tilts his head slightly.

“What can I help you with, then?”

She opens her mouth, but nothing comes out right away.  Instead, she realizes she’s still standing in the entryway, door swung open.  She steps inside, letting the door go.

“I-”

The door slams behind her, cutting her off, and she flinches at the loud sound.

“You’re not from around here, are you?” the man asks.

She smiles shyly, and shakes her head, twisting the toe of her boot into the floor.

She’s nervous.  She’s in a new place, with no one to guide her this time.  And it’s so different from all the other places she’s been in this world.  If anything, it reminds her of Veld.  A bit smaller, perhaps.

“Can you tell from the way I’m stuttering and stumbling about?” she jokes, hoping it will break the tension in the room.  She looks up at the man, and he puts on a friendly smile.

“That.  And there’s the fact that I know everyone in this town, and you’re not anyone I know.  Don’t get many visitors, either.  But when we do get ‘em, they don’t look nothing like you.”

He drops his cigarette on the ground, stubs it out with his shoe.  Then, he takes an extra one from behind his ear, rummaging around his desk and grabbing a box of matches.

“I am wondering,” he begins, as he strikes one and uses it to light his cigarette, “if I can’t get you a room, what it is I can do for you.”

“I was hoping you could help me find something.  A place,” she tells him.

He shrugs.

“Not many places ‘round here, but go ‘head.”

She clenches the slip of paper, still in her fist.  However, she doesn’t need to look at it.  She’d memorized the address only moments after Etta gave it to her.

“Trevor Ranch,” she begins. “1202 Owl Creek La-”

“I know Trevor Ranch,” he interrupts.

Her eyes light up, and she takes a few steps forward.

“You do?”

“Yep,” he confirms, sticking his thumb out towards the left.  “‘Bout ten miles down the road thataway.”

Ten miles.  A little far to walk, though she could manage, of course.  But if there was another way.

“Do you know anyone who could take me there?  Or…” she thinks, “a horse!  If you had a horse I could borrow, I could ride it there and -”

“Whoa there, slow down,” he interrupts again.  “Listen, I don’t have a horse for you to borrow.  But I see out the window that Johnny’s car is across the street in front of the general store.  He’ll drive you to Trevor Ranch.”

“He will?  How much does he charge?”

“He won’t charge ya anything,” he says, laughing.  “Jee, you’re really not from around here.  Just tell ‘im you want to go to the ranch, and he’ll take you.  Tell him Stu sent you.”

“Thank you so much,” she tells him as she turns to leave.  “Really.  Thank you.”

He laughs again, and waves at her as she exits the building.  She marches across the street towards the store, newfound confidence and excitement radiating through her.  There’s a man at the back of the now, loading something in.

“Excuse me!  Are you Johnny?”

“Jesus!” the man exclaims, jumping slightly and spilling a crate full of corn onto the ground.  “Warn a guy, won’t ya?”

The man turns around with a startled and slightly annoyed look on his face.  His eyes widen for a moment when he sees her, but then his brow furrows.

“Yeah, I’m Johnny.  John.  Who are you?”

“My name is Diana,” she begins, and motions towards the hotel.  “Stu, from the hotel - he said that you could drive me to Trevor Ranch.”

He frowns, and then bends down to put the corn back in its crate. He loads it in the back of the car, and then shuts the door, turning towards her.

“What do you wanna go there for?” he asks, looking her over suspiciously.

“I, uh -”

She pauses, looking down at her feet.  She’s still not good at lying.  She steadies herself, planting her feet in the ground and putting on a sweet smile before looking up.

“I know them.  The Trevors.  From a long time ago.”

“Huh,” he says.  “Like an old family friend?”

“Yes.  An old family friend.  Exactly that.”

He nods, rubbing his hand over his face.

“Get in,” he tells her.

“Thank you,” she says, breathing a sigh of relief.  “Thank you so much.”

She can feel her anticipation build as she gets in the car, as the vehicle starts and drives away.  Ten miles, he said.  Ten miles until she would be there.

She sits in the car, looks out the window at the scenery zooming past.  She can’t concentrate.  She feels jittery, but in a good way.  The way she felt the night before her first training with Antiope.  Her stomach turns in the same way it did in Veld, when he took her to teach her to dance.  She can barely sit still, bouncing her knees up and down, up and down.

Suddenly, John pulls off the road, and the car screeches to a halt.

Her face scrunches in confusion, and she looks at the man beside her.

“What are you -”

“I know you’re not an old family friend of the Trevors,” he begins rapidly, crossing his arms in front of him.  “I’m an old family friend of the Trevors, so I would know you, or at least have heard of you if you were.  Plus, because I’m an old family friend, I know for a fact that Dorothy and El have never been fifty miles from the ranch in their whole lives, and you sure as hell ain’t from around here.”

She gapes at him.  She’s been caught in her lie, and she doesn’t know how to escape now.

“Look, I’m not trying to be mean or nothin’,” he says with a sigh, “but I gotta be there for them now.  I gotta protect them.  I have been the past few years, and now that...now that Steve’s not comin’ back -”

The breath leaves her chest at the mention of his name.

“You know Steve?” she whispers.

“Yeah, I know Steve.  I’m an old family friend, I told you.  You know Steve?”

“Yes,” she breathes, nodding her head slowly.

“How?”

“We fought together in the war,” she answers, without thinking.

He stares at her like she’s just grown a second head.  She clears her throat, falls back on a lie they’d used before.

“He fought,” she says.  “I didn’t.  Obviously.  I was his secretary.”

John hums, and looks out on the road in front of them.

“What did you say your name was again?”

“Diana,” she says, swallowing once, praying that Steve had never mentioned Etta’s name.  “Diana Prince.”

“Diana Prince,” he says slowly.

He stares out of the front window for a few more minutes, a frown on his face, and then turns the car back on.  He pulls back out onto the dirt road and starts driving again, and she closes her eyes in relief.

“Do you have something for Dorothy and El?” he asks.  “For their dad?  Is that why you’re here?”

“No,” she says hesitantly, thinking of the watch in her pocket briefly before banishing the thought from her mind.  The watch was hers.  He gave it to her, and it was all she had of him - at least for the moment.  No one could take it from her.

“Then what’re you doing here?”

She doesn’t answer right away, carefully choosing her words.  Trying to convey her purpose without giving everything away.

“I was very...fond of him.  Steve.  While we worked together, we created a great friendship.  And I guess I just wanted to...get to know him better.  Even better than I did.”

“That...makes sense, I guess,” he tells her, still frowning.

She nods, smiling quickly when he glances over at her.

The rest of the drive is quiet, the car the only thing filling the space with noise.  She continues to stare out the window, but she doesn’t really see any of the scenery.  She’s too nervous now, the feeling churning in her gut closer to fear now, rather than eagerness.

The car begins to slow, and she sits up straight, becoming more aware.  Something outside catches her eye.  Another sign - made of the same wood as the town, but this time with white letters, instead of red.

TREVOR RANCH

As the car turns into the long dirt driveway, her heart stops, then starts again in double-time.

“Do they know you’re coming?” John asks her.

“No,” she answers.  “I didn’t...I didn’t have a number, or I would’ve called.  Is it okay?  That I’m here?”

“It’ll be fine,” he sighs.  “Just...be careful.  Be nice.  They’re not really in a good place right now, with everything that’s going on.  Especially Dorothy, and I don’t even want to think about Mr. Trevor.  El is okay, because she’s young, I think.  But the rest of them…”

He trails off as he stops the car next to a red barn.

“I just don’t want your visit to get ruined because someone gets offended or says the wrong thing.”

He turns the engine off and they both exit the vehicle.  She closes her door, looks out in front of her.

There’s a tiny white house about a stone’s throw away from them.  Her eyes widen as she takes it in - his childhood home.

She can’t help the grin that breaks out onto her face.  The fear in her stomach has swirled back into excitement, and she takes off towards the house, trying her best not to run.  She notices after a moment, though, that John isn’t following her.  Instead, he’s walking towards the barn.

“You’re not coming with me?” she shouts over her shoulder.

“Nah,” he says, shaking his head.  “Got work to do.”

He walks off, and she watches him as she prepares herself to continue towards the house.  He disappears into the barn, and her heart drops the smallest bit.

She’d become sort of attached to him in their short car ride - attached to someone who knew Steve like she did.  Plus, he seemed to believe her story.  She expected he would vouch for her when she met with Dorothy and El.

Dorothy and El.

She doesn’t know for sure who they are, but she suspects they are his sisters.  She wonders what they will be like.  If they’ll approve of her.  If they’ll believe her story.

If they’ll be anything like Steve was.

She starts off towards the house again, determination  in her every step.  Her heart pounds as she steps onto the front porch.  She stops in front of the door.  Before she knocks, she reaches into her pocket, runs her fingers over his watch.

Then, she steps forward, and pounds her fist gently against the door.

No one answers for a while.  In fact, she’s just raised her hand to knock again when the door creaks open with a soft creak.

A girl stands before her.  And that’s what she is - a girl, not a woman.  She can’t be any older than eighteen, in her best estimation.  She’s a whole head shorter than her, with long blonde hair and hazel eyes that look up at her curiously, her brow furrowed.

“Who are you?” she asks, her voice light and trilling.

It takes her a moment to respond.  She’s caught off guard - this isn’t who she expected to answer the door.  By the time she gathers herself and opens her mouth, someone else appears in the background.

“El, why are you standing there with the door wide -”

The other person - a woman this time, just as tall as her and seemingly around the same age - stops speaking when she sees her, walking up behind the girl and putting her hands on the girl’s shoulders.

“Who are you?” she asks, echoing the girl’s question, but not mimicking her curiosity.  Instead, she seems annoyed, almost.  Upset that someone is there, bothering them.

Again, it takes a moment for her to say something.  She’s taken aback again, this time for a very different reason.

This woman - she looks just like him.  Light brown hair, baby blue eyes.  She even has the same nose, and she’s taken back to when she first met Steve, hovering over him on the beach as he regained consciousness, studying his face.  He was objectively beautiful, she determined quickly, and this woman is, too.

Steve had only become more and more beautiful to her as she got to know him, as she learned his heart and soul.  She remembers that night in Veld, running her fingertips gently down his face, cherishing him as he leaned in and pressed his lips to hers.

“Hello?  Hey, lady!”

She’s pulled out of her memories by the woman’s voice.  She looks visibly bothered now, the impatience in her voice now displayed in the expression on her face.

“I’m sorry,” she apologizes quickly.  “I just…”

But she trails off again, not knowing what to say.  Should she be plain with the two people in front of her, and simply tell them the truth?  Should she attempt to play a part, like she did with John?  She wishes, again, that he had come to the door with her, that he could explain why she was there.

The woman, meanwhile, rolls her eyes.  She’s about to say something, but the girl cuts her off with her gentle voice.

“How did you even get here?”

She smiles softly, trying to convey some sort of friendliness.

“I met John in town.  In Meeteetse.  And he agreed to drive me here.”

“I’m gonna kill that guy,” the woman mutters under her breath.  “Look, I don’t know who you are or what you want, but we’re not really in the mood for visitors right now.  So if you could just...go, we’d really appreciate it.”

She turns, then, pulling the girl along with her, going to shut the door.  But she reaches her arm out quickly to stop the woman from closing it, utilizing some of her extraordinary strength to ensure the door would stay open.

“Please,” she begs.  “This is important!  I knew your brother.”

She feels the pressure on the door lessen immediately.  The woman’s face softens the tiniest bit.

“I knew Steve,” she says again.  “He was your brother, right?”

The two don’t answer, just stare at her.  So she keeps going, looking down at the girl.

“And you’re El,” she tells her, and then looks back at the woman.  “Then you must be Dorothy.  John told me your names.”

“How did you know my brother?” the girl - El - asks.  Her face is brighter now, and the interest in her eyes has grown tenfold.  “Wait - do you want to come in?”

“El,” Dorothy sighs.  “We don’t even know if she’s telling the truth.”

“She is!” El insists.  “I can tell.  You always say I’m good at reading people.”

“We don’t even know her name.”

“Diana,” she supplies quickly.  “Diana Prince.”

“And now we know her name,” El announces, turning to her sister.  “Come on, Dot, please?  Let’s just...talk to her.”

Dorothy hesitates, eyes darting between her and El.  Finally, she sighs heavily, rolling her eyes again.

“Fine.  Come in, I guess,” she says, opening the door wider.  Then she looks at her sister, mutters to her, “Don’t call me Dot.  You know I hate that.”

The two sisters disappear inside.  Before following them, she closes her eyes, lifts her head up towards the sky.

“Please give me the words to say,” she whispers to him.  “Please help them to like me.”

* * *

They lead her to a table in the corner of a tiny kitchen, newspapers scattered all over it.  Dorothy offers her coffee, and she accepts to be polite.  She doesn’t really like coffee; it’s too bitter for her taste.

She sits down with El, and Dorothy comes over a moment later, handing Diana a red mug full of the hot, brownish-black liquid.  She pulls out her chair and sits down, gathering up the newspapers and tossing them onto the black and white checkered linoleum floor.

“So,” El begins, smiling at her.  “How did you know my brother?”

She smiles back at the girl, glances at Dorothy out of the corner of her eye.

“Well, I was his secretary during the war,” she explains.  “We worked closely together on many occasions.”

Dorothy hums, and takes a sip of her coffee.  She looks over at El, and sees the girl’s face has fallen just a bit.

“His secretary?” she asks.

She sounds confused by this, and Diana feels her palms begin to sweat, fearing El has somehow caught her in her lie.

But before she can try and answer, Dorothy speaks.

“Yeah, El.  Remember he wrote about a secretary in one of his letters?  She would organize his missions, and stuff like that.”

El still hesitates for a moment, staring at her strangely, before plastering on a pleasant smile.

“Oh yeah,” she murmurs.  “I forgot.”

“He would write us letters,” Dorothy tells her quietly, “especially at the beginning, when he first enlisted.  But then the war dragged on and on, and the letters came less often.”

“It’s not because he forgot about us, or missed us less,” El chimes in.

“Of course it wasn’t,” Diana agrees.  “He was just more and more busy as the war continued.  And he was a spy, of course, so it’s not like -”

“He was a spy?!” El shouts, half-standing from her chair.

“El!” Dorothy reprimands.  “Stop shouting.”

“Oh!” Diana exclaims lightly.  “You...you didn’t know that?”

“No,” El humphs.  “They barely told us anything.”

Diana looks between the two of them as they quietly absorb this new information.

“Well, at least we know why, now,” Dorothy murmurs, then turns to her.  

“Was he...good at it?  Being a spy?  I can’t see him as a spy,” she says, a slight smile appearing on her face, memories of her brother flooding her mind.  “It seems like he would be...too virtuous, or something.  Too earnest.”

“He was virtuous.  Eager to do the right thing,” Diana agrees.  “But that meant he was willing to do anything to make the war end and bring peace, even if that meant being a spy.  And he was a brilliant spy.  An admirable soldier.”

She hesitates, not knowing how much she should tell them about his death.  She doesn’t know if they’ll want to hear about it, nor does she know if her heart can take speaking about it again - it seems to be getting harder, rather than easier, with time.  However, she feels like she needs to tell them.  They must know truly how admirable he was.

“I don’t know how much they told you about his...death,” she begins softly, “but I want you to know that he sacrificed himself to save many people.  Thousands, perhaps.  And that is the most honorable sacrifice one can make - to give their life, even for people they do not know.”

The room is quiet for a moment, as they remember their loved one - his life, his death, and his legacy.

“He was a very good man,” El says quietly.

“More than that,” Diana counters.  “More than good.  Extraordinary.”

“They sent us a letter when he died,” El explains, “but again, it didn’t say much.  The only other thing we got was the story in the paper.”

She reaches down onto the floor, picks up one of the newspapers that Dorothy had gathered up earlier, and flips through the pages.

“These are from Cody,” Dorothy explains.  “Mr. Stewart from the hotel picked some up for us when he was visiting relatives.”

“Who is Cody?” Diana asks, as El finally opens to a page and hands the paper to her.

“Cody is just another town.  Bigger than Meeteetse.”

Diana doesn’t respond, because she’s too captivated by the newspaper in front of her.

VFW HONORS LOCAL HERO

There’s a picture of him staring back at her, a smile on his face.  He’s young in the photo; it must have been taken when he first joined the army.  She can tell not only by his physical appearance - there are less creases around his bright eyes - but also by the expression on his face.  It’s innocent, almost. Naive.  One that hasn’t witnessed the horrors of war and man.

She imagines it’s an expression similar to the one she wore, when she boarded the boat to leave Themyscira.  Brave, but unsullied by the realities of the world.

She runs her fingers over the photo in front of her, traces the planes of his face and body with the tip of her index finger.  She wishes that she’d know him then.  That they’d grown up together.

That she’d been there for every moment of his life.

She smiles, but she can feel the pressure of tears start to build behind her eyes.

“You can keep that if you want,” El offers.  “We have extras.  Mr. Stewart brought us a lot of copies.”

“Thank you,” Diana breathes.  “I think I will keep it.”

El smiles kindly.

They’re all quiet again for a minute.  Then, Dorothy gets up.

“I have to get started on supper,” she says.  “Dad will be getting hungry.  El, why don’t you take Ms. Prince and show her around the ranch?”

“Please, call me Diana.”

“Alright then, Diana.  Come on, let’s go!” El tells her as she gets up and walks out the front door.

Dorothy chuckles.

“She has too much energy for her own good sometimes.”

“How old is she?” Diana asks.

“Seventeen.”

“So young?”

“She was a unexpected surprise,” Dorothy explains, “long after Mom and Dad thought they were done havin’ babies.  I was seventeen myself when she was born.  Steve was fifteen.”

“May I ask where your mother is?” Diana inquires.  “John said something about your father being here, but he didn’t mention your mother.”

Dorothy looks out the kitchen window for a long moment before answering.

“She died during childbirth.”

“I’m so sorry,” Diana murmurs.

“At least we have El - Eleanor.  That was my mom’s name.”

A silence settles over the kitchen - Dorothy remembering her mother, Diana thinking of and missing her own mother - before Dorothy eventually speaks again.

“You better get out there.  She’ll come looking for you soon.”

Diana smiles, and rises from the table, tucking the newspaper in her coat pocket alongside his watch.

* * *

El gives her a brief tour of the grounds - shows her the cattle and the corn crop - before losing interest, and leading her to what she calls a “very special place”.

After about five minutes of walking, Diana speaks.

“Where are you taking me?”

“We’re almost there,” El promises.  “And I told you, it’s a special place.”

They walk for a few more minutes, and then come across a small river.

“What is this?” she asks.

“Owl Creek,” El tells her.  “Me and Steve used to come here when I was little and play.  It’s not deep enough to swim, but we would wade in it when it was summer, and he taught me how to skip stones on top of the water.  Do you know how?”

“I don’t.  Will you teach me?”

“Of course,” El says, and gets to work finding smooth stones to try and throw.

The talent comes rather easily to Diana, as most physical capabilities do to her, but she tells El it’s because she had such a good teacher.

El shrugs.

“Well, my brother taught me, so that must mean he was a good teacher.”

Diana smiles softly, and nods her head.

“Yes, it does.”

They spend a few minutes like that, quietly skipping stones together, memories of Steve running through their minds.

“I know you weren’t my brother’s secretary.”

Diana freezes.

“In one of his letters,” El continues, still skipping stones, “he said the name of his secretary.  Dorothy must not remember, but I do.  Her name was Etta something.  Candy, maybe?”

Her stomach drops.  She doesn’t know what to do, so she waits.  Waits for El to yell at her, to scream for help, to run back and tell Dorothy.

But she simply stands there, looking out over the river.  Diana decides to mimic her calm behavior, and skips the next stone in her hand.

“Why didn’t you tell you sister?”

“Because I knew she would tell you to leave,” El says, like it’s the most obvious thing in the world.

“Maybe she should have made me leave,” Diana tells her, panic beginning to creep into the edges of her voice.  “Maybe that’s not all I’m lying about.  Maybe I never even knew - “

“You knew him,” El interrupts.  “I know you did.  I can tell.”

“How?” she asks.

“By the way you looked at that picture of him in the paper.”

She feels the pressure of tears behind her eyes again.

“How did I look at him?”

“Like you love him.”

She closes her eyes, but a tear still manages to escape the corner of her eye, falls down her cheek and catches the line of her jaw.

“I did love him,” she whispers.  “I still do.”

“And that’s how I know you’re a good person.  I mean, I could tell even when I met you, because I’m good at reading people.  But I can tell even more now.  If you knew my brother, and love him, you have to be a good person.”

Diana opens her eyes, and the liquid in them shines in the early evening sun.

“I knew if I told Dorothy you were lying,” El says, going back to skipping stones, “there’s no way she would’ve let you stay.  Even if there was a good reason for your lying.  Maybe you were a spy, too.”

“I’m not quite a spy, but I did fight alongside your brother in the war,” she reveals.

“How?  I thought women weren’t allowed to fight in the war.”

“Where I come from, girls are trained in fighting from childhood, to prepare them to defend themselves and the people around them.”

El considers this, tilting her head to the side.

“That sounds pretty amazing.”

“It is,” Diana confirms, a light laugh escaping her chest.  “It’s pretty amazing.”

They look at each other, an understanding forming between them.

“I won’t tell Dorothy that you’re not Steve’s secretary.  It’ll be our secret.”

Diana nods, placing a finger over her lips.  El chuckles.

“Besides, she’s taken a liking to you now.  We don’t want to ruin it.”

“I didn’t think she was going to let me in the house when I first knocked,” she admits.

“Nah, Dot’s not that tough,” El tells her.  “She pretends to be, especially since Steve died, but inside she’s a softie.”

“I thought she hated when you call her Dot,” Diana teases.

“No,” El says, getting quiet.  “That’s just what Steve used to call her, so she’s...sensitive about it now.”

“Oh,” she murmurs.

El smiles slightly, and turns her head down, her long blonde hair falling into her face.

“He used to call me Ellie.”

Diana takes a step towards her, reaches out her hand and gingerly places it on her shoulder.

“I’m so sorry, El.”

She feels the weight of his watch in her pocket, more heavy than normal.  Hesitantly, she takes it out, looking it over, swiping her thumb over the glass.

El looks up, sees the watch in Diana’s hands.  Her eyes widen.

“My dad gave that to my brother when he left for the war.  How did you get that?”

“Before he died,” she begins, “your brother gave it to me.  And I cherish it.  I always keep it with me, no matter where I am or what I’m doing.  It reminds me of him and everything he showed me.”

“It’s important to you,” El says.

“Yes, but...you can have it, if you want it.”

“Don’t you want it, though?” she asks, confusion coloring her features.

“I do,” Diana admits, “but you were his family.  His sister.”

El looks up at her, and then reaches out and takes the watch.  She turns it over in her hands, and then hands it back to Diana.

“No,” she tells her, shaking her head.  “You take it.  He gave it to you, which means he cared about you a lot.  Probably loved you.  Which means you’re his family, too.  Plus, you need something to remember him by.”

Taken aback by the young girl’s kindness, Diana takes back the watch.

“Thank you, El.”

“You’re welcome.  Now, come on.  Dorothy’s gonna be looking for us.  Supper is probably almost ready.”

She takes off towards the house, and Diana watches her leave.  She places his watch in her coat pocket once again, feels comforted by weight and how it balances her.

Then, she follows El.

* * *

The three of them have a nice dinner together - steak and mashed potatoes and corn.  They speak on and off, the sisters telling her stories of Steve when he was young and mischievous, causing trouble on the farm.  Letting the cows get loose.  Almost ruining one year’s corn crop.  So much.  So many memories.  They spend more time laughing than they do crying, although the tears do come.

She asks if they have pictures, but they don’t, unfortunately.  They never owned a camera growing up.  The only ones of him that exist are the ones taken by the military, and that one taken of them in Veld.  She doesn’t tell them about that one, though.  She doesn’t know if she’ll ever see it herself.

By the time they’re done talking, John has come in from his work, and Dorothy prepares a plate for him.  After he’s finished, the four play cards until the dark of night settles outside.

“I really should be going,” Diana says, regretfully.  She really doesn’t want to leave.  She feels closer to him here, and feels a kinship with all of the people here.  A sort of bond formed from the light Steve carried with him through life.

“I’ll drive you back to town,” John offers, and stands up, going outside to start the car.

“Will you come back someday?” El asks hopefully, as the three of them rise from the table.

“I think I will, if that’s alright.”

El nods eagerly as she looks to Dorothy for conformation.

“Yes, you may come back,” the woman says.  “We’d be happy to have you.  I’d offer for you to stay tonight, but we don’t have an extra room.  I don’t want to make you sleep on the floor.”

Diana laughs with Dorothy.  The truth is, she would sleep on the floor - even in the barn if they insisted - but she doesn’t want to push her luck this time.  There will be other occasions, more visits.

She looks at El.

“And I’ll bring a camera with me next time, so that we can take pictures of all the memories we make.”

She expects El to laugh, or smile.  But instead, she rushes forward, wrapping her arms tightly around Diana’s waist.

“Thank you so much, Diana,” she murmurs into the fabric of her shirt.

She smiles gently, hugs the girl back, runs a hand over her long blonde hair, smoothing it.

And she feels a tiny bit of the gaping wound in her heart begin to heal.

“Always,” Diana murmurs to her.

“Okay, El,” Dorothy groans playfully, “let her go.”

El squeezes her tighter for a moment before letting her go.

“Why don’t you go get Diana’s coat from the bedroom?” Dorothy asks the girl, and El turns with a drawn-out ‘fine’, taking off down the hall.

“I’m sorry that my Dad couldn’t visit,” Dorothy says as the two walk towards the front door.  “He’s just...really sick right now, and Steve’s death has only made it worse.”

“I understand,” she assures her.  “I wish him good health and prosperity.”

They reach the entryway, and Dorothy leans against the doorframe.

“El told me about the watch,” she begins.  “And I agree that you should keep it.  Dad told Steve to die with that thing - to take it down with him.  If he knew he was going to die, and gave it to you instead - that means something.  He wanted you to have it.”

“Thank you,” Diana says quietly.  “You truly don’t know what that means to me.”

Dorothy hesitates, and then reaches and takes her new friend’s hand.

“Be well, Diana.”

“You too,” she tells her, tightening her hand around hers for a moment before letting go.

El reappears with her coat.  She shrugs it on, reaching into her pocket, where she finds her two treasures; his watch, and now the rolled-up newspaper with his picture in it.

She walks down the steps to the porch after one more hug from El, across the way to the car, still parked next to the barn.  She climbs in, where John is waiting for her.  The car starts off down the driveway, and she watches the two sisters standing side by side on the porch until they disappear over the horizon.

“You have a nice visit?” John asks her.

“I did.  Very much so.”

She puts her hands in her coat pockets when they pull out onto the road, finds the watch and newspaper of course, but she feels something else in the opposite pocket.  She pulls it out, looks down, and smirks.

It’s the piece of paper Etta gave her, with his address.  She unfolds the paper, now crunched into a ball, and reads the words and numbers written on it one more time.

Trevor Ranch 1202 Owl Creek Lane  Meeteetse, Wyoming

“You find what you were looking for?”

She smiles fondly.

“Yes.  I think I did.”

A/N:  there might be more chapters to this? i'm not sure though. again, let me know what you think!

[husky-twst-and-obeyme]

Tables have turned...(Genderbent)

The POV is from Husky! My MC , if you wish to invision yourself or your MC, go ahead!

Note: it’s slight Husky x Asmo near the end

Warnings: none

It was a calm morning , I was resting in bed on a free day from RAD. It’s always exhausting, I’m so glad i can finally take a break. Though i feel weird... it’s probably nothing much but i barely feel any weight on me, it’s like i became lighter! Soon i rise from my bed and head to the bathroom to freshen up. I was not prepared for what i was about to see..

I get my usual stuff out, brush, face scrubs, face cream and toothbrush. I moved my hair out of my face... to be met with a guy in a mirror...

“W-what...?” I spoke but my voice was deeper and i quickly covered my mouth as the mirror reflect what I did with the boy. “Am I.... did I ...?”

What’s happening!? No wonder i felt strange!! Did i eat something? Is this a prank from Diavolo!? Whatever it is, i don’t like it! Not that being a boy is bad , i just don’t know how to feel or what to even do! Satan! Maybe he has a book to help with this! I quickly got ready as fast as i could without looking like a mess. But after I left my room, I left a hand on my shoulder and i reconized the glove, Lucifer.

I thought to myself (he probabyl thinks I’m a lesser demon that came in here to probably break in or something! Quick explain)

“Husk, yoy seem bright and early today, you usually stay in your room for a bit” the voice was stern like Lucifer but more.. Feminine

I looked toawrds him? And saw there before me.. Lucifer in a more feminie body and dress.

“Lucifer..?”

“? Husk, Dear. It’s Lucy. Why would i Have a male name?”

Why is he- or maybe in this case she? Acting like this is normal!? Am i in an alternate timeline!? This just comfirms my suspicions! Dammit Diavolo! Then “Lucy” snap me to reality

She was snapping her fingers “what is with you..? Now hurry along, you’ll miss breakfast” she turned to walk to the dinning room and one thing i won’t complain.. Lucifer is hot as a girl- this sucks because i am Bi as hell- help.

Anyways, i walk to the dining room after her and sadly but not surpised.. everyone else was a girl.

“Mammonia! Guve me my Rurin -San figure back!” Levi shouted, it was easy to guess it was him

“Ay relax Levavi, i didn’t even touch him! You prolly just placed him somewhere else!” That smug girl is definely Mammon

“Will you two knock it off? I’m trying to read here...” That’s Satan for sure, he - *cough* she looks pretty Irritated

“Satatiana , do you honestly expect anything else from those two ? They might as well do this every morning~ “ She flips her hair up a little “As long as I, Asmorua , am not involved, I don’t care~” Asmo. For sure

Then the last two are obviously the twins, they just look so cute!

“Here Beelzia , you can have the rest of my food. i’ll full “ Belphie said as she placed her plate to Beezia, which is Beelzebub obviously

“*munch* thanks Belphie “ Beelzia muched on the food she was given

Wait.. is Belphegor the only one who’s name didn’t change? Or is the name similar to Belphegor- whatever, what matters is that, this is a mess...I walk in and sit in my seat next to Asmo- i mean, Asmoura. Well she can still be called Asmo-

“Husk dear!~ good morning~ “ she beamed brightly

“Hey.. Asmo”

She tilted her head “are you ok? You seem worried.. you shouldn’t frown! It’ll cause wrinkles! I told yoy that so many times!”

“I know I know but-“ then i felt my arm grabbed “huh!”

“Ay! There’s my favorite human! “ Mammonia hummed “you got a few grimm i can borrow?~ pretty please?~” much cuter but same bullshit- typical Mammon

“Don’t do it Husk! She won’t pay you back since she still hasn’t pay ME back still! And I’m not done with yoy about Rurin San!” Levavi shouted

Mammonia rolled her eyes “I said i had no to do with him! Why you gotta assumed i sell all of your stupid stuff!”

Satan blows a fuse “will you two shut up!?” She slams her hand on the table

Lucifer- sorry Lucy, stood up from the table “Satatiana ! You need to calm down- “food was thrown at her “why don’t YOU calm down!?” Satatiana remarked

The twins in Unison “uh oh-“ Everyone ducked and covered , hell literally broke lose as Satatiana and Lucy broke into their demon forms, which is not too different from the male looks. Mammonia and Levavi were still arguing, Satatiana and Lucy are brawling while Beelzia and Belphie were just watching and Belphie kinda dozed off. Then i was pulled away from it all. It was Asmo, she pulled me out of the dining hall into the living area

“My goodness, thise girl need to get a grip! They almost made me break a nail!” She whines a little

I laughed a little , still forgeting I’m a male now with a deeper voice. “That’s a very Asmo thing , worried about your nails and not about the war going on here “

“Well I always have to put myself first you know~”

I sigh , it true she does, it’s a fact at this point. I sit down to relax from what’s happening because I’m still in the middle of process what is even happening.. then, Asmo sits on me while facing me “uh-“

“Now that we’re alone ... why don’t we have some fun..~~ “

“A-Asmo..!” I was really flustered

She pouts “what’s wrooong?~ don’t you wanna spen time me with?” She purposely puts her chest against mine , making me turn red.

“I-It’s not that! I-It’s just..” I stuttered

“About getting caught? Don’t worry.. everyone’s gonna be distracted for a bit.. so let’s just have this time to ourselves~~”

She was about to kiss me and then faintly

“Husky.... Husky!”

My eyes jolt awake “h-huh? “ my face still felt red

I got up , first i felt my body to make sure it was female, thanfully it was, thank god! Expect for now having weights on my chest again

You heard a giggle “were you having a naughty dream dear?~”

You turn to see Asmo, Male now. Ifelt relief but weirded out aince Asmo was the last thing I saw... in my dream?? That’s the only thing i can think of what that was.

“You didn’t wake up for breakfast , so i was sent to wake you up , i came in and all of a sudden i heard my name~ “

“Oh that uhm..”

“It’s ok Husky! We all have wet dreams once in a while!”

“It wasn’t!” It really wasn’t!” All i did was just get seduced by female Asmo in my dream!

“Mmhm~ sure sweetie~ well you better get ready soon or we’re just gonna have breakfast without yoy~ “ he kissed my forehead and left that room

“... i guess i still got my kiss technically-“

(Hope you enjoyed!)

[another-wolf-blog-yippy]

•J.A.W.S.• Teals soul

Chapter 1

•A drop in the ocean•

•The day it happened was clear, not a single cloud hung in the sky, it had been a long and dry week, and mama and dad were busy with chores on the farm, so we did what any bored young pup would do.

We went down to the lake.•

------•

The idle noises of bird song and the hush of the wind, Teal raced down stairs and sat eagerly at the table right next to Sapphire, her loud sister. The two looked at each other and held their paws over the table, beating down in unison to create a rhythm as they began to chant "we want breakfast! we want breakfast!"

This had become a morning routine over the months and it was starting to wear on their mother's nerves, still, the pups enjoyed making noise together, the one thing they could agreen on was harmonious and spontaneous singing and dance, even if they hadn't the voices for it.

"Mama! Can we go down to the lake after breakfast?!"

Sapphire said standing in her chair, River gave a long sigh and then nodded as she sat two plates in front of their respective pup.

Teal began to eat her meal instantly but Sapphire seemed to have something else she wanted to say.

"Can we help dad with the chores? I wanna harvest wheat!"

"No, you're far too young for that kind of work Sapphire, now hush up and eat your food for' it gets cold..."

"Yes ma'am."

Bite after bite Sapphire got over her mothers tone and got more excited about going to the lake, she wolfed her food down so quickly that Teal had to do the same before Sapphire ran off without her.

One last bite and the two were off, laughing as they ran down the hill, they followed the trail down to the dock and began to splash about in the shallows.

"Hey look at that!"

"What? What'd ya find sis!?"

Teal hopped over to Sapphire, who was standing on her tippy toes to keep her head above the water, Teal carefully made her way beside her sibling and found it a bit difficult to see below her without sticking her nose into the water.

"What?"

"I found one of the leggy water bug things, the ones with the pinchers!"

"Oh wow! Do you think we could catch it for dad? He'd like that."

"Maybe, but its in the deep parts..."

"Oh, thats okay, lets go back to the shallows, its hard to stand here."

"Okay, beat ya!"

They slowly stepped out of the higher water and back into the shallows, then began to hop around again, splashing at each other laughing, barking and playing pretend.

It didn't take too long before they got bored of this game...

"I'm done..."

Sapphire said in the longest drawn out sigh, she sat down creating a small tidal wave, Teal paused her splashing, looking back at the dock and pointed towards it.

"We can sit down and dry off, then maybe we can see what dad's doing, maybe he'll let us help him."

"Mama said we can't help with chores... not the fun ones anyways... but okay."

Teal started the walk to the dock, making sure Sapphire was following before speeding up a bit. It was a quiet walk as the dock wasn't too far away, still Teal wondered if Sapphire was in a mood.

"What are you thinking about?"

Teal asked a bit softly, though she was smiling.

Sapphire flicked an ear back and nodded, her tail stood tail and stiff, wobbling as she walked. She looked proud.

Teal wagged her tail and shook off the extra water, Sapphire's proud smile wavered and she paused mid step to shake off entirely, spraying water everywhere and getting Teal wet again.

"Hey!"

"You got me so I had to get you back."

"Fine, but I'll get you for that later."

"No you wont, cause I'll get you right after."

"Nuh-uh!"

The two bickered back and forth until the made it to the dock, laying down and playfully growling at each other as they continued to yap back and forth.

Though before Teal could realize they both fell into a nap.

------•

The sun hit Teal's eyes and bothered her awake, she sat up and shook her head, wiping her eyes.

"Sapphire we fell asleep, wake up."

Sapphire blinked her eyes open and covered her muzzle and eyes with her paws, swishing her tail.

"Sapphire dad might be done already, get up."

"Who cares anyway he'd just say no, ma' prolly already told him we'd ask."

"You still need to get up, lazy no good-"

"Don't you DARE call me lazy!"

Sapphire jumped up and leapt at Teal, causing a scuffle.

Teal batted back against her attacker and Sapphire snapped at her ears and paws, the two rolled around for a bit, batting and biting and growling, Teal was able to stand up and push Sapphire back a bit, though before she could even open her eyes she new something wasn't right.

A splash and the gargling of Sapphire's screams shook her core.

Teal ran over and held out her paw, stretching it as far as she could.

"SAPPHIRE!!"

"Gra-hmm, Teew, geb mom!"

Sapphire couldn't reach the dock, her legs were just too short and she was drifting to far out to try and swim back, she had fallen into the deep end.

Teal hesitated for a bit as she was desperate to try and grab Fire's paw, but after another failed attempt she turned and ran, as fast as her legs would go.

She ran up the hill and into the house, screaming, "HELP!"

She ran through each room not even stopping, she was searching, hoping, praying that someone was inside.

"HELP! Some one HELP!"

She caught a glimpse of her dad who looked a bit tired and ran up to him, tugging at his leg.

"DAD, dad dad help, please help!"

"Whats going on Teal, this is no time to play jokes on me."

"Please! Please help!"

"Whats the rush, whats happened?"

"Sapphire!"

Teal didn't wait for him to answer or ask anymore questions, she ran, she bolted out the door and back down the hill, half way down she looked back to make sure her dad was following, luckily he was and he looked a bit more serious, Teal picked up her pace and dashed once she saw the dock she B-lined it and stopped just short of the edge, her father stopped beside her in a huff and looked around.

"Whats all this about dear? Whats happened?"

Teal looked over the water and couldn't see anything, the splashing and muffled screams were gone, nothing but the stillness of the water and the eerily calm sounds of summer.

Though once her dad saw how she was staring at the water he took one look and jumped in.

Teal leaned in over the edge watching the blurry dulled shape of her father swimming around, almost as soon as he went under he rose back up, a limp and sopping figure in his jaws, Teal knew, she ran over to meet her dad at the shore line, he had thrown Sapphire onto the ground and started to press into her side, water came sputtering out of her mouth like a bucket had fallen over. Still she hadn't moved a bit.

"TEAL!"

"Yes?!"

"Why didn't you come get me sooner?! You damn, how did this happen?"

"I-we... we took a nap here after playing and-"

"NO TEAL! How did your sister fall in the water!? She can't swim you know that! I know damn well she didn't jump in herself!"

"I!... we got in a fight and.."

"So you pushed her in?"

Teal felt a jab shoot through her heart, he was seriously accusing her of drowning her sister, but she didn't.

"NO! No no no! I only pushed her to get off of me! I swear it!"

"WELL YOU CAN SWEAR ALL YOU WANT BUT YOU CAUSED YOUR SISTER TO FALL IN AND NEARLY DROWN!"

"IT WAS AN ACCIDENT I'M SORRY!"

Teal screamed back, she felt horrible, she wasn't lying, but her father was far too angry to listen.

"Go get your mom, hurry!"

Teal could feel her legs shaking under her weight but didn't try to stick around, she bolted back towards the house, tears in her eyes and a lump in her throat.

Every step felt like it took longer then the last, but she kept running, Sapphire was in trouble, she nearly drowned and Teal couldn't think of losing her, not today, not ever!

"MOM!"

"What is it? Where's your dad?"

"Mom dad needs help, sapphire fell into the water and won't wake up!"

Teal could feel the burn of a thousand bee stings on her pelt, her mother's eyes had so much anger and pain and disbelief in them, looking down on Teal as if she had misheard her.

"Mama please dad needs help, he's trying to wake sapphire up but she's not getting up!"

"Did you do this?!"

"NO! I didn't do anything! She fell in, hurry please..."

With a glare mother followed Teal outside and down the hill, running with her until they saw father by the shore, then mom ran full speed, leaving Teal behind.

I didn't mean it, I didn't do it.... it's not my fault... is it?

------•

[creative-robot]

This is my request for more work stories!

Oh absolutely! 

For a little clarification, I’m a Host in the Restaurant part but the big main part of the building is the attached bakery/retail area up front so theres like, 5 different kitchens alone, I’ll refer to them by how I know them which is the Mixing kitchen, the Restaurant kitchen, and the other three that do baking stuff as the Baking Kitchens

This is in no special order at all just the order I remembered them

As a Host you would think I’d be on par with the servers but the truth is If the Manager isn't right there I'm pretty much in charge of the restaurant and do my best with what I have, which means I have to move. fast.

I just learned earlier this week that the entire packaging department can't remember my name so they just call me ‘The Speed Demon’ and honestly how dope is that I get complimented/shocked reactions to my speed every shift I don't know man I'm just gay and have shit to do

We once had a really confused drunk dude come in on Saint Patricks Day who seemed completely baffled by the idea of a restaurant so since it was hella dead and I was bored as all hell I entertained his drunk questions for like 45 minutes explaining how a restaurant works and what we make till he said bye and wandered out looking mildly bewildered still

We also had a drunk dude come in on a random dead Saturday (which was weird and I think it was while the GOT finale was airing, we have no TVs so I was. dying. from boredom), this was not a fun drunk and we had to call the cops on him for being creepy and after he was kicked out he walked around the parking lot and kept jumping to himself before circling the building a few times and leaving once the cop showed up. Cleaning the bathroom was disgusting after he left lemme tell ya

The dish manager and the kitchen manager are ALWAYS at odds with each other no matter who the dish manager is that month (Staff rotates real quick back there) and there's always shittalk being thrown across the hallway between them and occasionally a bottle, I once scolded both of them to stop acting like children cause a bottle smashed and it was loud and close enough to make my hearing go out for like three minutes and when they both just brushed me off I went straight to the owner and now it's pretty rare for glass, at least, to get thrown

Theres a stairway that leads to the upstairs offices and everyone just knows that they're either cursed or haunted, we don't talk about it but only the managers go up there and I've only been up them once and it was incredibly gut-churning so I haven't ever tried again

Life tip: Always be nice to your HR folks, they can help you

One of the baking kitchens kept stealing everyone else brooms and one day a server had just had ENOUGH and stormed back there to tell them what for. I didn't get to see what happened but I'm told the poor dudes back there were pale by the time she was done and now we have a cool new broom and dustpan that's labeled for the Restaurant and no more broom thefts for a while

Kids just like my aura or something cause everytime there's a kid in the restaurant they flag me down to chat a little and sometimes kids walk past an entire bakery of employees to ask me for help instead of them, I always pause to help them before adults or give them a little time to chat even when we’re busy and all the servers goodnaturedly tease me about it

What happens in the break room stays in the break room and anything said after someones clocked out won't be repeated, it's hilarious to watch the bakers calmly walk in, clock out, scan for someone in management, and then explode with frustration to whoever's in there. please be nice to cake bakers and decorators specifically they have to put up with SO MUCH SHIT BEHIND THE SCENES

Sometimes there’ll be free stuff in the Break Room ala extras, unsolds, or fucked up treats that are fine but they don't look sellable. This is rare for the front of house restaurant staff to get their hands on since we don't get lunch or proper breaks so retail always relays when there's goodies and we’re all enemies for a good five minutes as we grab stuff and shove it in our lockers before returning to normal but everyone goes feral for the breakfast sandwiches 

I’m unofficially Head Host so I know most of the regulars and they know not to pull shit on me and several of them take enjoyment watching me deflect non-regulars bs and often butt in when they won't give up to tell them to shove it since I just won't break or give in

The retail folks regularly use their lunch breaks to go scream in the big freezers and this is just expected and accepted

The Bakers also regularly go scream in the oven rooms, this is also just A Thing no one questions  

Theres only a little waiting room area between me and the bar so yes, I have been hit with wine corks before when they go flying and the newest bartender is already at three hits but honestly, I don't really care so whenever it happens I just say a random number of points and toss the cork in my trash

Someday I hope to catch it all cool and suave and that's prolly not gonna happen anytime soon but god I want to SO BAD

I once had a woman walk in with an entire soccer team and I had to be like ‘Lady we don't even have enough tables for all of you normally much less right at noon are you nuts’ and she refused to believe me or sit outside so when I quoted her an hour and a half she was PISSED and asked for my manager (who had been hiding behind the bar cause good lord do we get Karens a lot) who came over and explained that there was no way we could seat them and to have a good day and she went RED and stormed out with the team trailing behind her looking embarrassed. She attempted this three more times that week I'm not even joking 

White haired old ladies are constantly amazed and curious about us young’uns styles and while the servers get most of the enthusiastic questions about their gauges and tattoos and hairstyles I have had a few ask me what was even happening with my hair bc they loved it but ‘it's so different!’ (I have an all around undercut with only hair on top that goes down to my chin so I braid it up for work, it's baffling I guess lol) they genuinely love hearing about it and I’ve given a few of them tips for their kid's hair and style names, I just love it and had to mention it

Some of this is just me rambling lol but yeah my work is wack

[malakhai-ozera]

 Discord Text Thread || Khoman  ♥  

Discord thread featuring: Khai and Roman @romanbeckett

When:  December 24th (day & night)

Mentions: Landon Davies @davieslandon

Description: Roman texts Khai to forgive him after his voicemail. They start texting again later in the day and Khai is beyond fucked up and Roman once again expresses his concerns for him.

Trigger Warnings: HARD drug use, drug mentions, light sexting and dirty talk.(sorry this one is kinda looooong)

Roman. babe. You’re forgiven. Shit happens. I just worry...which is one of my issues. I worry constantly about everything. Always afraid something will happen to you.

Khai. I know, and I’ve been real careless. I didn’t mean to be a shit I was just... being stupid and fucked up I hope you know I really don’t have a problem with you staying with Landon. Idek what my deal was

Roman. are you sure it doesn’t bother you?

Khai. I’m sure baby. I just want you two to have fun

Roman. I’ll still see you there tomorrow right?

Khai. of course you will. Fancy pjs and all lol

Roman. oh my god I can’t wait lol

Khai. me either. It’s gonna be an amazing day for sure

Roman. I’ll be off work soon and I’ll bring us dinner

Khai. I look forward to it! I’m starving plus I really wanna kiss you

Roman. I reallllly wanna kiss you too. Maybe we can sneak in a quickie

Khai. maybe huh?

Roman. okay definitely, because I want lol

Khai.

hahaha well I’m always down baby. You know I can’t keep my hands off of you.

- Later that same day -

Roman. I miss you already

Khai. Miss you too

Roman. dinner and messing around was fun though. Best Christmas gift ever.

Khai. it was fun indeed! I couldn’t agree more

Roman. are you okay?

Khai. yeah I’m okay why?

Roman. idk just checking. I feel guilty now that I’m not there

Khai. don’t feel guilty. I have my drugs and hot chocolate to keep me warm haha

Roman. ooo what drugs lolll

Khai. Just the usual. I also have my tequila so I’m set lol

Roman. damn. I do wish I was there

Khai. I always wish you were here. But it’s okay. We will make out all day tomorrow

Roman. yesss. Can we cook a late night breakfast for dinner together and watch Christmas movies

Khai. absolutely! We can do whatever you want baby

Roman. I'm having wiiiine

Khai. mmm what kind?

Roman. it's a good ass Pinot

Khai. oooo im jelly I’m half way through my tequila advent calendar haha I got behind

Roman. Lmao omg babe!!! How much have you has?? lol

Khai. like 6 so farv ? Lol

Roman. FARV 😂

Khai. oops haha

Roman. I am laughing. I love you lol if I was there, I’d be in your lap right now.

Khai. I love you mooooore yeah you would

Roman. thighs on either side of you, straddling you with my forehead against yours, running my fingers through your hair...

Khai. damn baby... don’t make me come there and crash your party

Roman. SHSUSJEJEJEJENEJDJJE why is my boyfriend so HOT

Khai. because you were a good boy this year? haha

Roman. well we both know THAT isn’t true lol

Khai. hahahaha well then idk. But my boyfriend is pretty fucking sexy too though and lord knows I’ve been baaaaad

Roman. we got lucky  now if we could just keep our damn apartment

Khai. I know... that would be nice wouldn’t it? can’t have it all though I guess lol

Roman. I still haven’t found a place and I’m stressed

Khai. yeah, idk where I’m going either. Maybe we can go look together after Christmas

Roman. yeah, let’s do that. Bleh. Anyway, don’t wanna bring down the mood!! How ya feelin?

Khai. I’m feeling goodz how you feeling?

Roman. goodz too  I feel all warm and buzzy

Khai. hahaha dammit I’m glad baby. I want you to have fun just not to mush fun haha

Roman. I won’t have too much fun. Not without youuuu

Khai. good. Cause J like the sound o g that

Roman. babe you’re wasted aren’t you

Khai. yes I am ll I misssh you

Roman. omg mish. That’s so cute omg. I wanna hear you say it

Khai. nooo hahaha

Roman. mish mish mishhhh

Khai. you’re so mean lol but I love youuu

Roman. noooo I just think it’s adorable lol I love your typos. They make my life better.

Khai. Mhm you mage my life begetter. I should prolly stip drinking now hahaha

Roman. You probably should babe

Khai. that tot out of hand fasty lol oops

Roman. fasty omg you’re SO cute

Khai. lmao wow I gives up

Roman. I’m just imagining you saying all of this outloud, and it’s like making my night

Khai. hahaha I’m glad. I’m imagning you laughing and it’s making my nifht too

Roman. my squawking laugh  god

Khai. nooooo it’s the bstes laugh wver and beast smile too

Roman. I would argue that YOU have the best smile my love.

Khai. Nope nope

Roman. UM *picture of Khai’s smile*

Khai. I look liek a weirro

Roman. WHAT you’re crazy lol

Khai. I’m crazy anout youuuuuu I wanna snugs you

Roman. me too. I love snuggling with you every night and it’s so weird when we don’t like !!! I’m so used to going to bed with you.

Khai. it is weird. Indint like it but Im gonna sleept in y it bed

Roman. sleep in my bed any time you want love. You’ll like the new book I have

Khai. ooooo I wish you erre here

Roman. I know. I do too. I miss those eyes. I also miss your scruff. That sounds so dumb, but I love the way it feelssss

Khai. I love yyou I’m gonna scrufff you up when I se you

Roman. scruff up the inside of my thighs PLEASE AND THANKS

Khai. you know j will

Roman. god I love when you give me beard burn

Khai. I thinks that the hottest thing yku ever said to me I want you sinebws

Roman. what can I say? I just love your head between my legs

Khai. I love it too baby. I luv makings you deel good

Roman. ugh I’m starting to get buzzed now lol

Khai. hahaha dinally this whol room is so pinky spiking lol yup nvm haha

Roman. it’s so what?? Hahaha spinning? Lol

Khai. yessum Jm good

Roman. bleh I worry about you.

Khai. I’m oka I promisee I hust miss you

Roman. I miss you too. So much baby. Keep talking to me so I don’t have to miss you even more.

Khai. what ya wanna talks about? Tell me ykyr favorite chrismas present

Roman. you won’t believe me if I tell you lol

Khai. yesss I whll

Roman. everything you got me. You know me so well. I’m obsessed with all of it. Ugh. The jacket, the shoes?! The freaking clock. You really did so good.

Khai. really? I’m so hapy you love it. I just wanted you to gave the best. You lok so good in those shows too

Roman. you know exactly what I like and feel good in.

Khai. cause I lover you

Roman. I love you too. How are you feeling?

Khai. sleepyyy but good gaga

Roman. baby I’m worried about you.

Khai. why? I’m fdine im jus laying in bed

Roman. i don’t like that you’re doing heroin

Khai. romsn it’s ojay

Roman. but you’re not even making sense

Khai. I ehould jus got to bed

Roman. maybe but bleh idk I’m worried and I should be there

Khai. no no, eont worry. I wsnt you to have fun.

Roman. I know but ugh. I love you.

Khai. I lowe you too idknt wanna hpset you

Roman. will you promise me you’ll try to stop?

Khai. fan we talked about tbis latr?

Roman. yeah of course

Khai. I jus imn so tucked up byt I wanba talk

Roman. I know

Khai. I love yky so mhch

Roman. I love you too.

Khai. I relly sm sorry. Ilm do better. Pleas have fhn tonight okay

Roman. I’m worried to death about you

Khai. I orimse Jm ok. I just nee to skep it off

Roman. okay

Khai. Smile is chrismaaaas

Roman. lol okay, I smiled

Khai. good boyyy

Roman. lol hate you!!

Khai. I knoooow but you lve me

Roman. I definitely love you

Khai. you’re my everything

Roman. Khaiiiii. You’re making me smile so much it fucking hurts lol

Khai. I mean itttt you’re all I ever need

Roman. god I think my heart is gonna explode lol you constantly wanna kill me

Khai. nooo baby. I just want you tk know how mych I love you and I am feelig better so thahs good well jot better but less high lol

Roman. lol!! Well. Bleh. Scared me there, not gonna lie.

Khai. I’m sorry baby I know I newd to stop it’s jus hard

Roman. i know.

Khai.

We can talk about this after the holiday tho. I don’t wanna ruin it for anyone

Roman. you’re not ruining anything for me. I promise.

Khai. I hope not cause I’d never forgive myself

Roman. babe. Don’t be silly. Everything’s okay *heart emoji*

Khai. you’re the best do you know that?

Roman. I’m not. But I’m glad you think so

Khai. I know so.

[notesofarichlycolorednight]

but like if Diana was suddenly Alive, how would she react to Luke and Tori's relationship, both pre-war and during it?

hey, thanks for being so patient with me on this!

i had to flesh Diana’s character out a little more so i could get inside her head and think of how she might respond to Tori’s relationship with Luke

so without further ado, hcs below!

so Diana is suddenly just…like Alive, prolly the year that Percy comes to camp, let’s say (which means that Luke has already stolen the lightning bolt and helm of darkness, but it’s like mid-january, just for timeline reference)

she wakes up in a hospital, the doctors say she came out of a coma but she’s pretty sure she died

she can’t remember where she was during the interim, and the doctors can’t recall how she ended up in the hospital or who was even paying for her to remain on life-support for so long

whenever she asks, they stutter a response before going completely silent and getting a glazed look in their eyes for a few moments only to come out of it, smile, and change the subject

she’s discharged from the hospital after a abt a week (idk if that’s even realistic lol) of monitoring and recovery

and as she’s getting dressed, a million thoughts race through her head abt if she still has a place to live, if she has a hospital bill that will kill her again, where her children are

and once that thought pops into her head, that’s all she can think abt

so even with all those other worries she finishes dressing and jumps off the bed, heading straight to the front counter to check out

but she pauses when she sees a familiar-looking man flirting with the nurse at the desk

she wants to confront him immediately, but doesn’t want to look crazed in front of the nurse so she shoves him out of the way, interrupting their flirting session

“i’m Diana Williams, checking out, is there anything i need to do? sign?”

the nurse is miffed and has enough dignity to look ashamed for ignoring Diana before grabbing a clipboard and pen for Diana to sign, explaining info abt bills and the like

Diana can barely hear, she scans the paper and signs before handing the clipboard and pen back to the nurse

she turns to face the man then

it’s Apollo if you haven’t figured it out yet

he’s abt her age, with brown skin and hazel eyes, short curly brown hair but she knows its him, she’d be able to tell from a mile away

he opens his mouth to say smth, but she grabs his arm and pulls him outside

“where are my children?”

flashing sideways to Tori, she’s at camp, totally oblivious to what’s just happened, as is Dan (still not claimed btw)

the next day they’re called to the big house before breakfast with no explanation

Diana is waiting with Chiron, in his wheelchair form, in the front room

Diana’s always been good at making friends, so she’s chatting with Chiron easily and honestly he’s more uncomfortable abt this whole situation than Diana

the doors swings open and Dan comes in first, quickly followed by Tori

they both pause when they see their mom and Diana stands, flattening the wrinkles in her dress and smiling nervously at her children

Dan rushes forward and pulls her into a hug, tears flooding his eyes

Tori is still frozen at the door, afraid this is some cruel dream or hallucination

when Dan is done hugging Diana, he pulls back, keeping one of her hands in his and turns to face Tori, who is still frozen at the door

Diana smiles softly and holds out her free hand, and like two magnets, Tori’s hand raises and she slowly approaches Diana

when their hands meet, Tori breaks down into tears and Diana rushes forward to throw her arms around her daughter as they both sink to the floor

it’s harder for Tori than it is for Dan, bc she was there when their mom died

Tori is afraid to let go of Diana’s hand or lose sight of her bc she’s so afraid Diana might just disappear, revealing that this was indeed some weird dream or hallucination

they settle into the front room of the big house and talk to Chiron abt this whole situation

he knows as much as Diana, which is not much and the gods sure as hell aren’t saying anything

when Chiron brings up the fact that they could just be summer campers, Tori hesitates and Diana notices

Dan looks away, annoyed but doesn’t say anything as Diana asks Tori what’s wrong

Tori blushes and looks away but doesn’t say anything

Chiron excuses himself and asks Dan to accompany him to whatever task he’s just made up. Dan goes reluctantly

Diana takes Tori’s hands into hers and says, “someone special?”

despite how much fear fills her that she’s going to blink and Diana’s going to disappear, it’s amazing how easy it is for Tori to fall back into this relationship with her mom

“his name is Luke.” Tori mumbles. “i don’t even know if he likes me back, but…well we’ve grown close you know over…well, over sh-shared pain”

Diana doesn’t meet him then bc everything is still settling, with her being Alive again and all

Diana reluctantly goes home, but promises to IM them that night and tomorrow (Apollo’s provided her with some drachmas)

Tori’s claimed that night bc Apollo got a stern talking to after Diana found out he hadn’t claimed her yet

but Tori sneaks over to the Hermes cabin that night to talk to Luke abt this whole ordeal

he’s not sure what to think, honestly, but some small part of him is afraid he’ll lose her now that her mom is back. and it’s stupid and irrational, but he can’t help but feel that way

but he lets Tori decide if she wants to go home until the summer (she ends up deciding to stay bc she knows smth is up with Luke)

Dan leaves for home

Diana IMs Tori any chance she can get thru those months leading up to summer

bc of his irrational fears of losing Tori, Luke confesses his love for Tori sooner, when summer begins (rather than right before he leaves for Kronos’ cruise ship)

so when Diana visits to drop Dan off for the summer session, Luke meets Diana

tbh, Diana’s shocked when she sees Tori holding hands with a white boy but she hides it behind a smile as Tori and Luke walk down half-blood hill, outside the barrier

Luke is nervous af but he also hides it behind a smile

Dan says goodbye to his mom before heading up the hill, not wanting to be there for the meeting

Diana and Luke shake hands

she looks at Tori and says, “oh, he’s quite handsome for a white boy”

Tori stares at her mom and Luke jumps like he’s been shocked before his entire neck and face go red

“oh, and he’s sensitive too, that’s good” (and she means it; i’m not trying to make it sound like some kind of jab to his masculinity or whatever)

when it’s revealed that Luke was the lightning thief and he goes off to kronos’ cruise ship, leaving Tori at camp, Tori goes home for that winter

of course she tells Diana everything and Diana just wants to tell her that he’s trouble and Tori shouldn’t be with him anymore

but Diana can also see how heart-broken she is and doesn’t want to make it worse

until Tori decides she’s going to go find him and convince him to come back to camp that next summer

“you can’t save those who don’t want to be saved”

“you don’t know that he doesn’t! i have to at least try! i owe him that much”

Diana can tell how much Tori loves Luke, and she’d hate to take such a thing away from her, but Diana’s scared that Luke is going to get Tori hurt, right after they got each other back

she wants to tell Tori that sometimes love is just like that

she loved Apollo, still does, but had to let him go bc he’s a god

they have a bit of a falling out right before Tori goes to find Luke bc of this

Diana tries IM-ing Tori while she’s on the cruise ship but they aren’t going thru and Diana starts to worry

she contacts camp but Tantalus and Mr. D are no help; the only thing she can do is talk to Dan

she feels utterly helpless so she starts praying to Apollo; she’s not sure what good it will do, but she does it anyway bc all she wants is for her children to be safe

Tori IMs Diana when she decides that she can’t stay on the ship, and that maybe Luke doesn’t want to be saved after all

she’s sobbing as she tells her mom this, and although Diana is relieved to hear that Tori’s coming back, she comforts her daughter and avoids any “i told you so’s”

but then Tori is stabbed by Kelli

Diana finds out bc Tori IMs her the night that Luke trades his life for Tori’s

when Diana learns this, the cold realization dawns on her that this isn’t some summer fling that she’s seen all her friends have before

it’s not even akin to what she and Apollo share

Tori and Luke’s love for each other goes far deeper and is the type of love that can’t be expressed with words

and when she realizes this, dread fills her entire body and she feels the most helpless since this whole ordeal began

Apollo’s told her abt loves like those in greek mythology; during their late-night talks when they were together

but she never imagined one of her own children would have found smth like that; it’s almost cruel bc greek myths rarely had happy endings and she’s afraid that smth may happen to her daughter

she can’t sleep for days afterward, IM-ing Tori as much as possible just to see her tho she doesn’t know what to say

Diana knows now that there’s no convincing her daughter to come back home or to give up on Luke

she continues to pray to Apollo

one day, tired of feeling helpless she IMs Luke and to her surprise he answers

she’s angry as soon as she sees him, but she doesn’t precisely know why bc he saved her daughter’s life–his love is strong for Tori and that should mean smth to Diana, but it only makes her angrier

tears fill her eyes as she spits out, “you swear on the styx you will protect my daughter, no matter what, do you understand? you are not to let any harm come to her”

and bc he loves Tori, Luke swears

she hates him after that point, but she loves her daughter more

and as long as Luke keeps his promise, then there isn’t much else Diana can do

Tori makes sure not to tell Diana any details abt what goes on as the war ramps up

some small part of Diana wonders how Tori could love someone such as Luke

but she also wonders if she could ever fall in love like that and with someone like Luke--can she really blame Tori?

Tori goes home after the summer that tbol takes place and Diana is there with open arms, esp bc Tori is devastated that she’s lost Luke

some part of Diana feels like its her fault bc she made Luke swear on the styx to protect Tori

but another part knows that Luke would have with or without her prompting; she’d done it bc it was the only thing she felt she could control at the time

Diana avoids talking abt Luke too much, just lets Tori vent as much as she needs

being home allows Tori a much-needed break, and Diana tries to encourage Tori to find the strength to keep fighting (heavily implying Tori needs to find the strength to move on from Luke)

Diana tries to stop Tori from going back to camp that next year bc a war is coming, but Tori feels she’s responsible for letting it get that far and Diana doesn’t argue despite being scared sick that Tori may die

she begins to pray to Apollo again bc both Tori and Dan feel obligated to help chb in some way during the war

when it’s all over and Luke dies, some part of Diana is relieved

but seeing how badly Tori takes it evokes that same anger toward Luke

Tori clearly deeply loved him but with him gone, he broke her heart and his promise

and Diana resents him for that

some small part of her wishes that Tori had never fallen in love with him in the first place

he was nothing but trouble

well, almost

bc it was clear that he made Tori happy

and Diana wishes nothing more than for her children to be happy

i hope that’s kind of what you were looking for

thanks for sending this in!! ^_^

FEED ME SEYMOUR

[roswellroamer]

Mukolo Camp, Namibia to Maramba Lodge, Livingstone, Zambia. About 320km. 4/28/19.

Today we agreed to leave a little later than we wanted to accommodate our lovely Lola that took care of the camp. We hung out outside our tents before 7 since we had gone to bed fairly early the previous night. While we were talking a Mavic 2 drone came overhead and was watching us. The pilot then backed up and flew it right into a tree. It turned out to be other guests at the camp on the "camp" side. When he did the walk of shame to fetch his drone out of the tree and shook it loose, I might've mentioned something about karma. We had a nIce breakfast and left around 10. I gassed up in Divundu since I was down to one bar (our of five) on my gauge and we had about 120km to Katima Mulilo. Straight shot on the tar with one rest stop on the way and Incaught up to the rest of the bikes in short order. To this point there were basically no speed limits nor police enforcing much of anything on the roads. The mich discussed Zambian border crossing was just a few km past Katima and we went through the relatively easy process of exiting Namibia. Just a couple stops, a stamping of our previously acquired foreign vehicle tax receipt and we were off to the Zambian side. We did rise right by a line of trucks maybe half a km long. Some trucks may take days to get across the border. Some things in Africa are just not handled that efficiently. But, we proceeded uneventfully through the Nam exit and into the Zambian side of the border.

The Zambia border crossing was a bit crazy. First a health stop where I showed my yellow paper documenting my immunizations including Yellow Fever. I got a "go" tag from them. Nobody else to my knowledge had one and I think it cost the Aussies about $20 to buy their way through that stop. Then a long line for immigration. I had prepaid this through the surprisingly efficient web portal (I can say this now having navigated an incredibly cumbersome process in person) to the tune of $50. Then the next stop was to pay $20 for some sort of vehicle fee. Can you believe the guy wouldn't even take kwacha (Zambian currency) but demanded US dollars?! He must trade them for money... Then a trip to another office where you trade in the registration paper to a friendly guy who gives some more paper with a stamp. Then back to the office to a customs window. Fill out a ledger. Move to another window. Pay 70 kwacha there. Rod loaned me that as I hadn't changed any money yet. Filled out a very detailed form and got another receipt. Then we though we were done. But nooit! After we left the building we were told we needed to get insurance. The SA guys thought they had bought coverage for Zambia but the authorities here require you to buy a months insurance. It was 522 kwacha. Just over $41 if you were able to exchange at an ATM... With the hordes of local currency traders pestering you every time you leave the building I was able to negotiate 550 kwacha for a $50 bill. Exchange shows 635 is what I should get but not surprisingly the only ATM was out of cash and they don't take credit cards. So this whole process has taken a few hours and about half our group is through as of now. I'm writing this in the building while it is fresh in my mind. A fantastic model of government inefficiency with no legible instructions as to the order or where you should go after you successfully fill out ledgers, forms and pay at each windowed station. Trial and error. Anyway the SA guys knew it would prolly take a while and it most definitely did. About $120 paid out so far just at the captive station. I feel like they are taking maximal advantage of tourists here. Then just when we thought we were done.... we had another guard stop and were told to get off the bikes. Then we were told we had to pay a 30 kwacha fee for the shire (some sort of local tax, I don't think it was related to the Lord of the Rings). Then on the bikes again and to another border stop. AK-47 in hand like many of our stops today. We dismounted and had to provide our papers to be entered into yet another ledger. I'm quite sure they're not gonna be digitized any time soon! Some of the SA guys were truly pissed by this point. Frankly I found it a bit comical. Nothing to do but laugh it off since the inefficiency was just so blatant. All this could have and should have been done at a few windows like the rest of the world. 11 windows/stops and separate forms, ledgers, payments, etc. close to $150 all in.

We then finally proceeded into Zambia. Immediately noticing the density, poor conditions and throngs of people selling things. We stopped just over the Zambezi river bridge at a turn off and had some hydration. We discussed the stricter speed and law enforcement in Zambia as well as the expected poor road conditions on the way to Livingstone. The police bakkie went out with blue lights flashing ahead of us shortly thereafter. However fortunately he want after any of us. In fact we followed him for maybe 40 km or so. Turns out he was responding to a cow that had been hit on the road and had bled out on the road. Lots of people were headed to see what the commotion was as we rode by. We also stopped at a bridge about 50 km into the rough section and a couple guys talked their way into a picture with the local cop, his AK and some other local men on a bridge by a river. The condition of the toad was abhorrent. Potholes on top of potholes fo about 100km of the 200km from the border at Shesheke to Livingstone. Some guys went off the road to ride an impromptu dirt access road the local had created so as to try and save flat tires or worse. At least a few trucks were stopped to repair flats. A few bicycles as well were tending to popped tires on the rough and jagged potholes. We slowed down and tried to zig zag our way through. Luckily we all passed this section without a flat! 🤞 about 15km outside of town we entered a nature preserve and everyone spotted a small herd of small deer on the left. I was sweeping and less than a km after that I looked to my left and couldn't believe I saw a large giraffe munching down on a tee right by the road. I swung around and went over towards him. He was wary of my and moved away a bit. Then I saw another big one off to my left. I took a few shots and a short vid and loved it. As I rode away I saw the rest of the family with a couple smaller adolescents and another adult. We met up at a main intersection in Livingstone and then after some more currency trader heckling we rode the last few km to this beautiful lodge which is just a couple km from Victoria Falls. A troop of monkeys waited for us and scampered across the lawn. Some climbed up a tree and sat over our bikes. But they seemed curious and wary of us. I as has been my habit she's my kit and headed for the pool. Now at least I am keeping my bathing suit on the bike. You know it has been hot when the temp fell to 33°C on the bike and it felt cool or at least cooler. Pool was great and I must've chugged 3 pony sized Cokes with ice from the bar in about 5'. A delicious dinner ensued and I opted for the in-African combo of samosa and spaghetti puttanesca along with a nice house salad. Enjoying my nightcap of Amurula here at the bar now and everyone else went to bed an hour ago. Gotta get some sleep because a big rest day tomorrow is planned. Stay tuned! Kameelperd is Baz' word of the day. It means giraffe in Afrikaans and literally translates to camel horse. 😴

[lore-a-lie]

Chapter 3, Act 8: Acknowledged Accidentals

Daily Life

Regardless of what she was trying to process, Kaede still managed to get to breakfast early that day. Or it felt like it, as it was early enough that the only other person there was Kaito, who kept glancing at a pair of tablets someone had left in the middle of the table. ( Which means he’s probably not the first person to get here today. Maybe some folks got here before us and got bored waiting for everyone else? )

With a bit of prompting she got him to actually see whose videos were there, and was surprised to realize they were Ryoma’s and Kiyo’s. The implications the auditions contained were even more concerning though.

Two murderers, who both seemed to have never taken a life before this game. One with a lover who could be real, but under very different circumstances, and another whose wasn’t, but meant the trauma of losing a close sibling was still real enough to die for. ( Both people whose auditions show they weren’t as terrible as I was, no matter what they think of themselves now. )

“Who do you think left these out here?” Kaede asked Kaito, in order to break the smothering silence.

“Probably Ryoma and Kiyo. Monokuma would have definitely given it to them first. I mean, I got mine this morning. It’s… kinda a doozy.”

“Yeah, I get it. Mine was too. I don’t think I’ll be adding mine to this pile, not before having Kokichi check it or something.” ( And if he won’t maybe Gonta will be willing to try. I hope neither of them think less of me for this though… )

“Not a bad plan, assuming he can tell how much of these things is legit. But I’ll just keep mine on the backburner for now, it’s prolly all BS. I don’t wanna worry him any, and he might try fucking with me.” Kaito sighed as he scratched at his head, making a face at the thought that got a laugh out of her.

“If he does start teasing me about mine at least it’s not anything super serious. Might accuse me of being victim to a “bitch-be-gone” spray or something at the worst.” ( Saying that’s not a major lie or anything. )

“Oh god I’d love to have me some of that right now! Kiyo’s sister will be the death of me, I’m telling ya,” Kaito said with a hollow chuckle, before turning more serious. “I don’t suppose it’d be too much to hope that Kiyo seeing this might have made her disappear? Things might be rough if it didn’t.”

Yikes. There’s a thought. It’d be easier on all of us if she’d just go away, but with a motive involved…

“I doubt it,” Kaede started, and resolved to make a minor confession. “When I visited Gonta the first time we had him keep an eye on Kiyo I asked him why he talked about his sister in the present tense before we saw his motive video. He said he honestly didn’t know she was dead, like what happened with Kirumi’s previous… “master”. I don’t think he was lying, so his “sister” shouldn’t have been talking to him before then. Wouldn’t make sense for one killing game motive to undo a previous one right?”

Kaito was unnerved by what she said, that much was obvious, but there was also a level of relief there. Kaede chalked it up to giving more backing to the idea this wasn’t some possession after all. But the relief was followed by guilt soon enough. “Fucking hell man. No wonder he was such a mess back then.”

Not really in the mood to continue that train of thought Kaede made a noncommittal noise and got up to get some breakfast instead. At least that way neither of them would feel pressured to talk until the others arrived, even if she wasn’t all that hungry.

It didn’t take too long for others to show up at least, as Gonta and Kokichi arrived before she finished. Though judging from how uncomfortable Gonta looked, he had also seen his video and it unsettled him.

Kokichi’s mood was harder to tell, which was hopefully an okay sign. It’s not like he was easy to read on his good days either. But seeing the liar gave Kaito an idea.

“Hey, just the twerp I wanted to see! Wanna give something a look-”

“Nyo.” Came Kokichi’s immediate rejection, and threw the space cadet for a loop.

“But you love being nosey! Come on, just help a guy out. I just wanna know how legit these things are,” Kaito tried again, taking one of the abandoned audition tapes in each hand as he waved them in front of his face. And got an even huffier and cutesy “nyo”s for his efforts.

“Why not? Kokichi look at Gonta video-”

“So what, now I gotta watch everyone’s dumb ol’ lying mugs? What I get out of it?” Kokichi waved Kaito off, but Keade could tell he was just being difficult for the sake of it, rather than offended by Kaito asking for his help.

“Blackmail material?” Kaede suggested with a sly smirk to “speak his language” and keep the bit going. Which Kokichi gladly accepted hook line and sinker.

“What sort of blackmail? Whatchu got?” he asked with an eager evil smile.

“I dunno~ Maybe a stereotypical blonde bitch? What you got?” Kaede gave as a half-truth.

“A whiny dork who had eyes bigger than his stomach.”

“So… No change then?”

“No more than you did, you mean ol’ blondie!” Kokichi laughed back at her lighthearted teasing.

“We also have a certain tennis star and anthropologist’s videos too, if that sweetens the pot?” Kaito tried to play along, though while Kokichi did seem surprised both were here without their owners he looked warier of how Kaito didn’t say anything about his own. Gonta, on the other hand, was just confused.

“How Kiyo’s here already? Gonta stop by Kiyo’s room and no hear Kiyo when he knock. It weird he sleep in today, Kiyo normally early birdy. And door was still blocked when Gonta come by so he no leave early.”

“Maybe he never got his at all then? I mean if Kiyo can’t get out maybe Monokuma couldn’t get in?” Kaito suggested.

As nice as that could have been Kaede doubted it. “Nah, I don’t think there’s anywhere in this school Monokuma can’t get to aside from maybe the sim. But maybe Kiyo asked him to put it out here instead? Monokuma might have done him a favor like that to see what we’d do. So there is a chance he hasn’t seen it yet in either case.”

“That wouldn’t explain Ryoma’s though, unless he left this out here himself. Not even Angie tried to lock him up, yeah? So what, he just left this out here all on its lonesome?” Kokichi asked.

“I guess we’ll just need to ask him later. Still, do you think you could help us out? I mean you can tell if we’re lying, right?”

“Fiiiiiine,” Kokichi sighed as he started getting a case of grabby hands so Kaito would hand him the audition pile. With a bit more pestering he got Kaede to hand hers over too, and Gonta dropped his own into the mix right after. But Gonta looked fairly concerned when he saw Kokichi add his to the bottom of the group, and his brow only furrowed further when he caught that Kaito’s video was still absent from it.

Kokichi was miffed about that detail too, he made no effort to hide that. But Kaito wasn’t budging so he quietly let it go for the time being in favor of analyzing the others, starting with Kiyo’s to prove he could.

And even from the start he seemed to be having trouble. Not that Kaede wasn’t expecting him to, she had tried warning him that Kiyo was “off” in more ways than normal. But nooo. “All the better to start with him,” he said. “It’ll be fine, even Gonta could handle this,” he said.

With how tense Kokichi’s posture was as he crouched over the small tablet and his refusal to respond to anyone until he was “sure” of his answer he could feel Kaede’s desire to pull an I-told-you-so. But she was too mature for that sort of thing. Obviously. He was just being paranoid again.

The fact he knows it is more than enough for me~ It’s nice to see him be so careful about it! I definitely prefer him being comfortable with his deduction than feeling he has to lie because of the pressure.

Gonta did still try to help, as much as he was able to see past Kokichi’s tiny frame. Kaede didn’t really get what they were saying so she kept out of it, which seemed kinder than how Kaito kept trying (and failing) to butt in and distract them.

But ultimately both agreed that while this Kiyo was different he was mostly telling the truth as far as he knew at the time. Most of the lies were about how open he was to really being made a villain and his “hopes” for the Kiyo everyone knew now, which wasn’t comforting. His anxiety gave them some confusion in other areas, but he did show the type of ticks Kokichi had come to expect from Kiyo so he guessed they were false positives.

However, depending on how much of him was lost to his requested “erasure” it would be impossible to know for sure without a larger sample of how he had been. And that could apply for all of them, even if it turned out Kiyo’s was meant to be (or at least wanted to be) the most complete overwrite.

Ryoma’s was easier at least, even though it started halfway through when Kaito hit play instead of looping back to the beginning the first time Kaede and he watched it together. It didn’t seem to matter for Kokichi’s estimate though, as the only major lies Kokichi caught were whenever he started bragging or attempted to “sell” his joke-of-a-jock concept. Since he didn’t notice any other oddities Kaito kept quiet.

Gonta wanted to think the lies meant more of the Ryoma they knew was real, but Kokichi shot him down. Occam’s razor, the simplest explanation was probably the correct one.

And the simplest reason for the other Ryoma to feel he was lying was if it really was just an audition.

Auditions work best if you’re knowingly exaggerating parts of yourself after all. It’s no fun if the people involved are too “bland” or “normal,” so you need to give yourself some pizazz. And that’s what he did.

I really hope that’s what the other me did too.

Ryoma’s did beg the question of if some of her friends had known each other before entering the school. And if his “girlfriend” character could have been unknowingly based on one of their female classmates.

Kaede didn’t want to linger on that for long though, with how easily that could mean he may never be reunited with her. ( But that does explain why he turned it off so soon after his “real” girlfriend came up. Poor Ryoma. As if losing one girl he loved wasn’t bad enough, he might have lost the same girl twice. )

But before Kokichi could give Kaede’s a look or share his thoughts on Gonta’s video he was interrupted by Tenko’s laughter, as she, Angie, and John made their own late arrival. Angie stopped telling the story that caused it when she saw the tablets in Kokichi’s hands.

“Alola~ Oooh, what’s this, what’s this? Did someone paint their Monopads? Atua approves!” Angie exclaimed after snatching one from Kokichi to give it a complete once over, but didn’t try to turn it on.

“Hey! Mine! You got your own, Angie, paws off!” Kokichi whined as he swiped it back and hid behind Gonta for “security”, though his bodyguard seemed to enjoy watching them play.

“Huh? What’re you talking about this time? I didn’t see anything like that in my room. Where’d you find these?” Tenko asked, and even John mimicked the confused look on her face as much as a pigeon could. But she left her alone in her birdie confusion as Tenko started to scowl and get defensive. “Are you lying just to mess with me again?!”

“Really? We found ours in our rooms, just like the second motive. Neither of you got any?” Kaede asked, very worried about what that could mean.

I mean they aren’t lying, right? Why would they? But with how late they got here maybe they bunked together again, so Monokuma didn’t drop theirs off? If they did get their auditions, how bad must they be for both of them to try and trick us like this? Are they plotting something- No, they can’t be! Nothing could be that bad, even if Angie would Tenko wouldn’t! Maybe they just don’t want Kokichi involved.

“My, how curious! Yet another mysterious mystery! Could this be a part of Monokuma’s motive too?” Angie proposed, squishing her cheeks to emphasize her “shock”.

Kaito nodded at that theory. “Possibly. Could be trying to make us doubt each other more by staggering out motives from this point on. Let me guess, neither of you care what these have to say either, do ya?”

“Obviously! Why you’d guys even bother watching these things, you know they’re dangerous!” Tenko chided, crossing her arms and shaking her head at their decision. Her expression softened as she went on to ask Gonta, “You all okay? It wasn’t too rough on you, was it?”

“Y-yeah, Gonta think everyone fine! But we found Ryoma and Kiyo’s alone, so Gonta worried. Not sure how Kiyo’s get here yet. Hopefully Ryoma okay, his video not bad at all!” He answered, and got excited to tell Angie about one of their discoveries. “Oh, but videos agree with Atua! They say that Kiyo and Ryoma good people made to think they do bad things! Probably?”

“Nyahaha~ Told you so! Never doubt Atua’s divine judgement!”

“Not sure I’d say they were both “good people”,” Kokichi said with a shrug, “But yeah, the Anti-Kiyo probably just had a case of survivor’s guilt or something. They all also say we agreed to be in this game. So that “Kill or be killed” motive at the start might have been a bluff if we were all “willing” participants.”

“I see. Shame Shuichi couldn’t have known that back then,” Kaede mumbled, which got Tenko to give her a comforting hug.

“Well, at least the risks you all made paid off then!” she said with an assuring smile. “If they were too scared to just kill us all right at the start that means any later motives of that type are also fakes, right?!”

“Yeah!” Kaito happily agreed. “So that should help keep some tensions down.” He looked off to the side as he continued. “Doesn’t mean we can stay here much longer though. We still need to get outta here.”

Kaede had no hesitation agreeing with him, and Kokichi and Gonta quickly followed. But Angie and Tenko didn’t seem convinced. Luckily there wasn’t a chance to argue as Kibo and Tsumugi walked in.

“Hello! Sorry we’re late, Tsumugi and I lost track of time in the computer lab. How’s everyone been?” Kibo asked, chipper as ever. Though despite his high spirits Tsumugi looked uneasy beside him, and her gaze kept going back to the space above his head. ( Oh hey, Kibo actually tamed his cowlick thing! Lucky. But why would Tsumugi be bothered by that? It wasn’t a part that broke off was it?! He’s acting okay... Maybe it's just something silly, like one of her anime things again. )

Kaede got straight to the point. “Well enough, did either of you two find these brown tablets in your rooms this morning?” She gestured to Kokichi who waved one with one hand and held the pile with the other. “Kaito, Gonta, Kokichi, and I did, and we found Ryoma and Kiyo’s here without them, but Angie and Tenko say they didn’t get any motives this time.”

“N-no,” Kibo answered a tad too fast to feel honest. “I didn’t at least. What about you, Tsumugi?”

“Nope, not at all. That’s odd…” ( Okay. So Kibo’s lying, and Tsumugi’s trying to help cover for him. This means Angie and Tenko are probably also lying about not getting them. Maybe they all met earlier and hid their videos together? They were all part of the student council, maybe it’s not as dead as I thought. )

“O-oh well! Not like it should be anything to worry about. We’d probably be better off not watching any more motive videos anyway.” Kibo hurriedly tried to move on.

“I dunno, I mean we already started some and I think I’m pretty good at picking out what’s real in them. And who said they were videos, Kiiboy? I figured they would have been games this time, to change it up,” Kokichi teased, clearly enjoying cutting Kibo’s lie to pieces even though he knew he didn’t need to.

“Uuuh... You can play games on these things?” Kibo nervously asked, trying to cover up his slip of the tongue. “I had no idea. I’m not good at touch-pad things, so I just assumed they’d all be videos or maps.”

“Yeah, and it being a plain ol’ map of the school wouldn’t make too much sense! Since we’ve basically unlocked everything by this point,” Tsumugi cheerily offered to help him. “Still, he’s right, why bother?”

“Yup yup! That’s what Tenko and Angie were saying! Even if things seem helpful it’s too risky to just play along with any more of Monokuma’s games.” Angie skipped over to them and gave them both hugs.

“A secret map would have helped narrow down the mastermind though, if Shuichi’s plan did fail back then,” Tenko said with a tilt of her head, as if considering where having that as a motive could’ve led.

“Or help give us an alternative means of escape,” Kaede suggested and sighed. “That’s probably why we got these auditions instead. Both would encourage paranoia, this gives us nothing concrete to help us.”

“What else is new?” Ryoma’s voice came from the cafeteria doors, leaving only Kiyo absent. He found himself a seat, nodding when he saw the pile of brown Monopads in Kokichi’s arms but made no attempt to explain anything - and seeing this acknowledgment without comment bothered Kaito.

“Hey, you didn’t stop by Kiyo’s room did you? Gonta said he tried getting him up earlier but couldn’t.”

“Nope, why would I? I didn’t know,” came the pro’s muted response with a shrug, which only seemed to worry Kaito more.

“Okay, guess I’ll go get him then. Stuff in front of Kiyo’s door ain’t that tough to move from our side, right Gonta?” Kaito asked as he started heading out the door to the patio, missing Gonta’s answer that it was. Still, even if he wasn’t about to make an idiot of himself Kaede went after him anyway.

( Not because I’m worried about Kiyo as much as I’m worried about leaving Kaito alone with someone so spooky, of course. And I’m definitely not entertaining any worst-case scenarios for Kiyo’s unusual delay. )

At least Kaito didn’t seem nervous when she caught up to him, and he appreciated her company without question. That helped settle some of her own nerves as they got past the outer eating area.

When they got back to the dorms the first thing they noticed was how Kiyo’s door was open now. Not much, but enough you could tell from a distance. ( Almost like someone did visit him already, despite what Ryoma and Gonta said. )

Kaede would be lying if she said she wasn't fearing the worst at that. She'd be lying even more if said a part of her hadn't been wishing for this earlier. But that was different.

Kaito didn't have the same reluctance, though he did have similar suspicions, as he knocked on the door. When it swung open from the impact they found some of their fears were well-founded.

Everything was dark and a mess. Scattered and torn pages, books left as if carelessly tossed aside, and even what looked like scattered strands of hair could be seen nearly everywhere.

And in the center of it all was Kiyo. Or it should be him at least, as he looked a lot different now. He was more of a mess than at Maki’s trial, despite there not being so much as a drop of blood on him this time.

He was just sitting there at the edge of his bed, like he couldn't be bothered to notice them. Or like he didn't see anything around him at all, beyond what he had in his hands.

It was just a bundle of red rope, but the way he was focused on it made it seem far more dangerous than that. The look in his eyes as he coldly took note of his guests only made it worse.

They'd seen enough death to know what a person's eyes looked like after they died, but this was the closest she'd seen to someone alive having that same look. It was so uncanny Kaede almost didn’t realize how much shorter his hair was now, which explained the crudely cut clumps around them.

It almost looks like Himiko’s bob, just a lot messier. Is that related to what happened in here?

There was definitely a struggle, but now she wasn't sure there was anyone else involved. Just like she wasn't sure this was Kiyo anymore. But even if it wasn't it didn't stop Kaito from rushing forward to take the rope.

“Woah woah woah, what the hell do you think you're doing?!”

“I imagine that should be obvious Kaito. Is there a problem, or may I have that back?” They asked, and from the tone Kaede guessed it really was Kiyo right now. No matter how much hoarser it sounded. Like he had already strained his voice too much, even before the morning announcement had woken her or she saw her video. (Assuming his room doesn't have some means of soundproofing I haven't been able to notice yet. If not, I should have heard something before, right?!)

How long has he been thinking like this!? He hadn't already tried to do anything before we got here, did he? Gah, I don't even want to know. I'm almost happy his mask covers his neck. Even if it means he could be hiding bruises from us. That is all we should worry about right?! I don't see any blood, but he covers so much of himself all the time... Are some of those scars we saw before self-inflicted? Has he... had thoughts like this before, and we just didn't notice? 

“Hell no! What the fuck, why even ask that?! Of course there's a problem here!”

“How so? Is it not to everyone's benefit to have me gone if I no longer wish to be here?”

“That's not the point! You can't just expect a person to see you like this and not stop you! What the hell happened?”

“I thought Ryoma took my “audition” with him to show it to you all. Was I mistaken?”

“So that's why your video was with his in the dining hall? He said he didn't see you today.” Kaede interjected. “He only just got to the cafeteria too, are you saying this happened before Gonta came by?”

“So he lied. This shouldn't be so surprising at this point, Kaede. Apparently we all have. In more ways than one.” Kiyo replied with little inflection as he gave Kaito a scornful look. “But Ryoma was my first and only visitor, though I believe I heard him speaking to Gonta outside my door after he stopped by.” ( So they both lied to us today? Did Ryoma know that Kiyo was considering- No. No, he couldn’t. He wouldn’t! Right? But why would he have Gonta lie to us on top of that? What’s going on with you Ryoma? )

“That doesn't give you the excuse to act like a coward!” Kaito yelled, focusing on the matter of Kiyo’s audition.

“Kaito! That's not what this is-” Kaede tried to scold, before Kiyo cut her off to attack the accusation.

Kaito’s words brought a fire back to their dull eyes, but only with fury. “What exactly is more cowardly to you then, Kaito: Running away or hiding? The former is what you're considering my actions, yes?”

“... What the hell are you talking about?”

“There's a difference between escaping a situation and taking responsibility for one's actions. A coward is hardly what you can call one ready to face death I think, with how terrifying the unknown is to most. Particularly when it comes to the fate of those who are guilty of crimes unforgivable.”

“Stop making excuses for yourself and think about what you're saying dammit!” Kaito shouted and it looked like he wanted to try to literally beat some sense into the boy.

But when he threw his punch Kiyo caught it, wrenching Kaito’s arm behind his back as he finally stood up.

“Just because you can't stop your own death doesn't give you the right to judge what the rest of us do with our own lives.” Kiyo hissed in his ear, as if that would keep Kaede from catching it. But it didn't.

And those words hit hard enough to knock the wind out of her.

What Kiyo said didn’t make sense. It couldn’t.

“What is he talking about, Kaito?”

“N-nothing, he's just bullshiting-” Kaito tried to say before Kiyo twisted his arm, causing the boy to cut himself short.

Seeing as Kaito was going to continue to try and wave away Kiyo’s accusation his (or is it their?) patience finally gave way and he launched his own frustrated tirade instead.

“Did you honestly think I wouldn't recognize the disease that killed my sister? Obviously the lack of medical attention and stress has been making your symptoms progress faster, but the stages are the same. How many days do you have left Kaito? You can’t have more than a week by now, I imagine.”

“... What?” Kaede barely heard herself ask distantly.

“I told you, it's not-” Kaito began to object before Kiyo kneed him in the stomach and triggered a coughing fit.

One that caused blood to cover his hand as he tried to hide it. Too much to have come just from the impact. Just like Shinguji’s fit from Kiyo’s literal “motive” video.

“So, who here's actually the coward, Kaito? Because I don't think it's me,” Kiyo coldly stated, but the look on his face wasn’t matching how harsh his words were. There was too much sadness there, like he was actively regretting what he was doing. ( Or maybe it’s just because he has a witness while he did it. )

“S-Shut up, dammit! I'm not the one trying to give up on everything!”

“You say that like living is always the better option. The “braver” option.” Kiyo mocked as his voice began gradually raising in pitch, before his tone changed to one much colder. “Don't be so naive, you brat .”

“What are you saying, of course it is! Do you think I wouldn't do anything to stay a bit longer, with so many things left to do?” Kaito shoved him as he got to his feet again.

But it definitely wasn't Kiyo he was arguing with anymore, as a hand tore the mask away.

“The only reason you can say that is because you can't ! You don't have any idea what it feels like to be forced to stay alive! Do you have any idea how long it took to convince him to let me die? Can you even imagine how much agony I was in because he was too scared to let go?! Not even the blood in my own veins was mine after so many damned transfusions! And here you act like I was the coward, not him?”

“I-… Well!... That's… That’s different.” Kaito tried to argue, but his voice was too weak to continue.

“Is it now? Because it sounds the same to me. Just a scared little boy refusing the reality that at some point the best choice is to accept defeat. Particularly against death. No one can truly best it for long. And those that try never get the benefit of a graceful or painless exit.”

“P-please, can you both stop fighting? Why not you just come to breakfast with us for now? Kaito crossed a line sure, but he was right about not leaving you like this. Er, either of you.”

“... Fine. As one of the lives most endangered by us, your words have a lot more weight to them than his do. If you can honestly say you don't think we should do it.” They said, almost taunting her into agreeing with… To that, and honestly Kaede couldn’t be sure which sibling was speaking anymore. The mask was off, but the fact they needed her to “convince” them inclined her to think it was Kiyo for now.

But still, why did he have to ask me that?! That's wrong, but this is so complicated! What do I say?!

“Of course not! Not… Not like this at least. There's no need for this yet! At least… At least wait for us to get out first, okay? Please? No one should have to die in this place. That's just what they want us to do.”

“Ah, spite. The most basic of motivators. But you do make a fair point.” He (they?) conceded, and had no further objections to being escorted to the dining hall.

Kaito rushed ahead upon seeing their destination, probably to give the others a quick warning before they saw the condition Kiyo was in so Kaede didn’t question it. ( I mean something like… this is rough to just have sprung on people. Though if Kaito’s hoping we’ll be nicer to this guy he might be out of luck. )

Kiyo didn’t respond much to his running off either, but Kaede couldn’t tell what was going on in his head at all. So the two just walked in an uncomfortable silence as they followed after him.

Whatever Kaito’s plan was he was still talking to Angie and Kokichi about it away from the table. Kokichi had no interest in playing along with “trying to make Kiyo feel like part of the group” from what Kaede could overhear but Tenko stepped in for him. Which did not bode well.

“Hey, I uhh… Like what you’ve done with your hair?” Tenko nervously said, but her self-doubt made it sound like a question rather than an observation. Self consciously Kiyo paused to comb his fingers through his now almost shoulder length hair as if only now registering what he had done to it. ( Unless it’s not Kiyo right now who's seeing the damage he did earlier. )

“TENKO!” Tsumugi quietly hissed as she learned to the girl’s ear, “This isn’t the time for backhanded compliments!”

“But I do! He might be the creepiest guy on the block but his hair’s always been really pretty. And shorter styles are supposed to suit boys more aren’t they?” Tenko asked, clearly at a loss for how to defend herself.

“Yeah-huh, suuure that’s what you mean. Definitely not projecting Himiko onto him or anything.” Kokichi quipped, though Kaito looked ready to cover his mouth if he had to. “If you are I’mma go steal her effigy to protect her from you~”

“I AM NOT! I’m trying to be nice and you’re not helping! Do you know how hard it is to cut hair by yourself?! Yeah the cuts are a bit choppy but that’s an easy fix and he still got it kinda level.”

“Oh, that’s a good point. After breakfast I guess I could even it out for you if you’d like? I’m not exactly a hairdresser but I’ve had to cut wigs before so that should be similar enough.” Tsumugi offered, after a nudge and some whispers from Kibo. ( Was that his idea? Having another pair of scissors near Kiyo’s neck isn’t the brightest idea right now... )

“I can even add this look to your virtual world’s avatar if you’d like?” Kibo chimed. ( Okay yup, definitely his idea. He’s hoping Tsumugi can buy him some time for what would hopefully be a quick fix. It’s a good effort I guess. Still, I’m not sure Kibo recognizes how dangerous this could be, for any of them! )

“... I’d like that I think, thank you.” Kiyo mumbled out, which made them both smile a little but his own expression was harder to read. “I think it’d be good for my sister and I to not look so much alike in there. Though while I’d appreciate being able to see my handiwork, perhaps someone else can do the cutting?”

He didn’t elaborate why he didn’t want Tsumugi’s help, but he didn’t need to as Kibo took over the role.

“Trouble in paradise?” Kokichi started to croon, but between Kiyo’s violent flinch and Kaito’s clear warning he wisely shut up, leaving a chance for Gonta to ask a question.

“Kiyo no use mirror for hair cutting? Why not?”

Kiyo was silent for a pause. “It stopped working.” (That's one way to say "I broke it" I guess. God, that mess looked like it came straight out of a horror movie.)

“Huh? Mirrors can do that?”

Kaito sighed, “No Gonta, he’s just teasing you-”

“Have you tried giving it a good smack?” Kokichi asked to play along with Kiyo’s joke, which Kaito didn’t appreciate in the slightest.

“Yes, and alas no luck no matter how hard I tried.” Kiyo replied with an air of sarcasm, which made Kaito back down to see how this back and forth would go.

“Did you make sure it’s plugged in?”

“Indeed it is, and there was no unplugging it either.”

“Psssh, noodle arms.” Kokichi snickered “Have you tried turning it off and on again?”

“Oh heavens, it never occured to me, “ Kiyo jokingly gasped, “I’ll try that later tonight.”

“Rrrright, you do that.” Kaede nervously laughed as she went back to her previous seat.

After Kiyo got back from getting some food for himself Kaede couldn’t help but notice how he kept alternating between hugging and clawing at himself through his clothes in his solemn seat away from the others, and she had no idea what that meant for him mentally. ( I mean before the hugs seemed like they might be more his sister “comforting” him than his own quirk in hindsight. Are they fighting in there? Or is he just really that uncomfortable being around us right now?)

With a concerned look to Angie for help, as the artist also noticed his odd behavior, the smaller girl nodded at her and leapt to action.

“Hmm, okie-dokie!” Angie said and hopped her way over to sit across from Kiyo, and sat with her hands put together as if in prayer under her chin. Before anyone could voice how suspicious her mood swing was she tried her chosen conversation starter. “Teach Angie about hookers!” ( WHAT THE FUCK READ THE ROOM- fuck it, let’s see where she’s going with this. It’s not like this could make anything worse, right? )

Kiyo was stunned speechless for a fair beat before he settled on sarcasm to answer Angie’s very poorly phrased request. “When a client’s libido and another person’s wallet love each other very much….”

If Kaede hadn’t seen it she could have sworn that keening noise followed by a loud thunk was her final horribly abused brain cell dropping dead, rather than Tenko’s attempt to restrain herself by slamming her head on the table. Seeing Tenko try to follow Kaito’s request made her feel proud, after she quietly smothered the disappointment that reared its ugly head up whenever being nice to Kiyo got involved.

“Not that, historical hookers! Angie doesn’t want to talk about home, so she thought letting you talk about weird stuff would cheer you up too! So Angie wants to learn more about the art of the Geisha.” She elaborated, and Kaede noticed that talking did get Kiyo to stop clutching at himself as he did before.

“... I’m confused. Do you want to learn about Geisha or do you want to hear about actual courtesans? They aren’t the same thing you know. Even Geisha who had affairs with their clients on the side were of the minority. At a glance they were also easily distinguished; Geisha’s robes were tied from the back while Oiran always have their obi tied in front of them. To aid in the act of dressing and undressing you see. Apologies if you are trying to refer more to general prostitution, my forte is more fable than fact, though there were yokai that could masquerade as being of either profession, such as the Jorugumo.”

“... Yes yes, Angie knows!” Angie fibbed, but her goal of getting Kiyo out of his head like Kaito technically asked them to do did seem to be working. “So, so so… What’s the weirdest bits Kiyo knows? Tell me, tell me!” She continued prodding like a child, trying to make her face darkly serious. “Atua demands trivia~”

“Geisha were originally a mostly male profession focusing on playing music, while Kabuki as an artform was started by a woman known as Izumo no Okuni. Kabuki switched to male exclusive performances in an attempt to stop the actresses from selling themselves on the side after the show.” Kiyo rattled off, sounding marginally more like himself again. He even snickered a bit as he got to his own little side note. “Obviously this failed to take into account that instead of stopping the buffet all this would accomplish was change what was “on the menu” so to speak. We were rather like the Greeks in some regards.”

Kaito looked down at his own shirt’s Kabuki inspired design before looking offended at Kiyo for this information. The face he was pulling was enough to get Tenko to start giggling, despite of how easily their situations could have been reversed. ( Assuming she was self aware enough to realize that… )

“Kiyo” stopped being the one talking the moment they noticed Kaito’s discomfort to twist the knife. “Serves you right for not learning your own history first, if you’d let it disgust you so. That is an imported value, as any respect for your roots would show. I believe Ihara Saikaku phrased it in Life of an Amorous Man as “How sad it must be, to restrict yourself to one or two dishes in life’s banquet”. Maybe a lesson about the history of actual Okama will help keep you from making future assumptions about others-”

“Heeey, no fair, no fair! Angie wanted to talk to Kiyo, Ukiyo should wait for her turn!” ( ... Wow, wasn’t expecting a name meaning “purity” to be twisted into the nickname of Edo’s red light district. Clever. )

“Stop calling me weird things like that already!” The banshee practically shrieked at Angie before catching herself, embarrassed by how her temper was still in as much disarray as Kiyo’s emotions were.

“But the set up for the pun was so divine, wasn’t it? Atua must have willed Angie to call you that!” Angie replied without missing a beat, happy to have a new way to needle at least one of the Shingujis.

“He must be eager to take you back then,” Shinguji spat, before she needed to stop her own hand from hitting herself across the face. Given her expression that wasn’t really “her” hand she stopped either.

Because that doesn’t make this whole mess with them any less terrifying, no siree. How do we fix this?! … Also wait does this mean Kiyo seriously just tried to slap her for acting up? Is… Is this a good thing?

Tenko stepped in before things could turn any more violent, diffusing things best she could. Which in this case basically meant selling a trip to the virtual world to give the “siblings” (or whatever they really were) space to calm down. With herself as company for his sister as she’d been apt to offer as of late, though she seemed distressed when Angie expressed an interest in palling around with Kiyo instead.

Though admittedly Kiyo seemed equally confused and suspicious of this change of attitude, blissfully unaware of how Kaito puffed up with pride that he actually got Angie of all people to take his request seriously. So proud in fact that not even Tenko’s attempts to give him the stink eye gave him any pause.

Kiyo still accepted Angie’s offer, in hopes to glean more of her own culture for a change, but he did so with his own terms first. Specifically he insisted on Kibo making the changes to his avatar to match his current appearance first, so that he and his sister would be more obviously distinct.

During the time needed to make the changes Tenko, Angie, and Ryoma could enter the sim early, while Gonta made sure Kiyo didn’t do anything suspicious with Kibo. Though it was then Kaede noticed Kaito had refused to acknowledge Ryoma since they got back, still angry about Kiyo's earlier implications.

This was probably the only time Kibo hadn’t felt he needed to try and argue to let the two of the siblings stay in there alone, since a falling out meant unsavory activities were less likely. Hopefully. Or maybe he was just worried leaving the two alone like this would have been unjustly cruel unlike the times previous.

Gonta refused to let Tenko act as Shinguji’s overseer after hearing her threaten Angie, so he went to perform that duty for her instead. With Gonta down Kibo offered to keep an eye on Kiyo so neither Tsumugi or Kaede would need to try, but Ryoma surprisingly offered to help pick up the slack and help entertain Angie so Kibo could have more time to tinker if he wanted to continue after the avatar changes or simply see if he had any future as the world’s first robot hairdresser while fixing Kiyo’s botched bob.

Kaito passed in favor of wanting to go look through Shuichi’s lab a bit more, and by necessity got Kokichi roped into his plan since the liar couldn’t make a convincing excuse to get out of it. When he asked Kaede herself if she wanted to join them, she decided not to though. And not just because everything about the place was starting to make her more and more frustrated and sick by the day.

With Kaito being there she knew trying to have Kokichi tell her about her audition tape’s lies would just be uncomfortable and raise tensions between the two. It’d be better to leave them alone, she thought, and maybe let them sort out why Kaito was so wary of what Kokichi could see in his on their own.

No matter how it may have frustrated her knowing Kokichi’s offer was on the table and Gonta likely already had his video looked over. But it wasn’t like they wouldn’t have time to do it later or something.

Instead she asked Tsumugi if she just wanted to hang out for a change of pace, to make up for how she abandoned her with Kiyo and Gonta before. ( I don’t want her to think I only hung out with her because I wanted something! And this time there won’t be any dangerous people around to sour the mood. And if she wasn’t actually insulted by me bailing on her in the first place, even better. And this should help me calm down some after what happened in Kiyo's room. )

It was fun, spending time with her. Tsumugi even suggested bringing down some of her cosplay outfits so they could do it in Kaede’s cozy little lab instead of her massive expanse. Not that Tsumugi did much to hide her disappointment that Kaede’s music collection failed to have anything anime related after they finished transplanting some of her “relevant” outfits for the room’s theme, betraying her real goal.

Little surprise there. But still, it’s nice to know anime does encourage musical talents in their own ways! And it is probably a good lesson for me to try harder to keep up with newer music as well, so I can grow.

For someone so “plain” and boring Tsumugi had a bit of talent when it came to playing, much to Kaede’s surprise. Though Tsumugi kept insisting it was just a part of her “getting into character”, playing the part of a pianist character called “Nodame” or something, and hearing her disregard her skill was kinda sad.

Regardless, Kaede was ecstatic to have someone willing to listen and learn with her, if only for a little while. ( And it’s good practice for when Kaito and Ryoma want to try too! Maybe she can even join us. Unless she’s too busy with Kibo again or something, they seem to have been hanging out a lot lately. )

Certainly better company than Angie “Let’s collab together!”-only-to-fall-asleep-to-an-upbeat-song Yonaga or Kokichi’s intentionally mixed signals I've had to deal with before at any rate.

Which made Monokuma’s televised interruption all the more jarring. Though with how late it must have been getting they should have been expecting the nighttime announcement, so that was their own fault.

But when the numbness of their shock subsided, horror took hold and both girls ran to the door.

DING-DONG, DONG-DING

“A body has been discovered!”

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[deathsteel]

30 day fanfic challenge #12

Prompt - Children

This was torture.

Or at least Dean was pretty sure that sleep deprivation was still classified as torture. Cruel and unusual punishment? Bullying?

Whatever the hell it was. At the very least it was mean and it was intentional and it was the fucking worst.

“S’your turn,” Cas grumbled, rolling over in their shared California King enough to smack his hand into Dean’s face.

Like he hadn’t woken up the millisecond that Claire had started wailing.

And it wasn’t Dean’s turn, not by any stretch of the imagination. But Cas hadn’t gotten home from the restaurant until almost 3 in the morning so Dean could take pity on his husband when it was deserved. But he was definitely making a mental note to demand Nutella crepes for breakfast when the other man finally rolled out of bed.

“Yea,” Dean grumbled, snatching up a (probably dirty) shirt from the hamper to go with his pajama pants before he padded out of the Master bedroom and down the hall towards Claire’s bedroom.

It was still early, the room taking on the soft, grey glow of the soon-to-be-risen sun. Stars were projected on the ceiling, emanating from the trunk of a plastic molded elephant which Dean hadn’t picked, but had caved on when face with the combined puppy dog eyes of his husband and his little brother.

Claire was standing up in her crib, a new development that had her riotous curls peeking out over the top of the railing as she gazed at him with her big blue eyes through the slats of her crib.

Dean silenced an eternal groan, there would be no getting her back to sleep at this point.

Unless…

“Hey there booger bean,” Dean called softly, smiling when Claire raised her arms and reached for him in reply; smiling a gummy smile and patting at his face in a way that was not dissimilar to how her Papa had unceremoniously thrust the duties of parenthood onto Dean just moments before.

“Let’s change that diaper and get you a bottle,” Dean narrated, swinging towards Claire’s changing table and beginning the process of peeling her out of her footie pajamas.

“Baba?” Claire asked, too distracted by the offer to try to roll over while Dean did a lightning fast diaper change.

“Yea,” he confirmed. “A baba from Dada. Can you say Dada?”

“Baba,” the infant repeated seriously.

Dean shrugged, “Close enough. We’ll get you a baba and then you can come cuddle with Dada and Papa.”

“Baba!” Claire shrieked triumphantly.

A few minutes later Dean was jiggling Claire on his hip as he waited on the bottle warmer to do its thing. He was most definitely not singing that annoying ‘Baby Shark’ song to keep the baby calm (he definitely was).

“Daddy, you gotta do the dance!” A small voice all but shrieked, causing Dean to flinch so hard that he banged his elbow into the counter as he whirled around.

Jessie was standing defiantly in the doorway, hands on his hips and glaring at Dean with the same intensity as the battle-ready Captain America logo on his pajama top.

“Shit--take mushrooms!” Dean almost cursed, feeling his elbow throb in sync with his racing pulse. “You can’t sneak up on me like that, bud.”

Undeterred, Jessie extended his arms and clapped them together. “You gotta do the dance for the shark song, daddy!”

The sentiment was punctuated by the bottle warmer announcing that Claire’s bottle had finished warming with a shrill, overly-long beep.

“Well, buddy, you’re right,” Dean conceded to the four year old as he juggled screwing on the nipple of Claire’s bottle while also dodging her attempts at trying to stick her fingers up his nose. “But my hands are a bit too full to do the dance right now.”

“Oh,” Jessie replied with stunned blink, his little brow furrowing in concern for a second before his eyes widened in realization. “Daddy, you sing the song and I’ll do the dance and Claire can see how to do it from me!”

“Sound great, Jess,” Dean agreed quickly, lowering his own voice in the hopes that his son would stop shouting before it woke up Cas. “Let’s go show Claire in the playroom, huh?”

“Yea!” the little boy shouted excitedly, taking off down the hallway towards the opposite side of the house. “COME ON DADDY!”

Dean winced, which turned into a yawn and that earned him a sympathetic little pat on the cheek from Claire who was really just trying to push him out of the way to reach her bottle that Dean was holding in his other hand.

He let out a sigh and passed over the bottle, settling the baby in the crook of his arm as he made his way to the playroom where Jessie was already wearing a cape and assembling a stuffed animal audience that he could perform for. Dean stepped over the row of assorted teddy bears and stuffed giraffes to seat himself in the room’s antique rocking chair with Claire and started up a slow pace that he hoped would still lull the baby back to sleep.

He was slowing losing hope about that as Jessie unearthed the maracas from the murky depths of his toy chest and sprung to front and center of his captive audience.

“Okay bears and Claire, Daddy and I are gonna do the shark song and you’re gonna learn the dance and then when Papa gets up we’re gonna show him all together. Okay?”

The last part was directed at Dean who nodded in reply, “That’s right, bud.”

“Good. Now, Daddy, sing!”

“Baby shark, doo doo doo, doo doo doo doo doo. Baby shark, doo doo doo, doo…”

~~~~

Castiel blinked himself awake because it was too quiet.

Now before having children, Cas never would have imagined that there could be such a thing. But now...quiet meant that kids were tangling themselves up in toilet paper or using your favorite whisk as a toilet brush. He’s stopped trusting quiet.

He patted Dean’s side of the bed first and of course his husband was already up. Lately Dean had been getting up with the kids so that Cas could catch a few more hours of sleep and Cas had a suspicion that it was starting to take its toll on his husband.

Next, he check in the kids room and it wasn’t until he didn’t find them that he really started to get worried.

“Dean?” Cas called, ducking his head into the kitchen just in case his husband was in there eating breakfast with the kids.

Nope.

“Dean?!” He called again getting even more alarmed, almost running across the house as he slammed doors open and looked for his missing family.

“Papa, shush!” Jessie scream-whispered popping out of the playroom with a set of fairy wings on over a Batman cape. “The baby’s sleeping!”

“Ohhhh,” Cas said, clutching at his chest in an effort to calm his racing heart. “The baby’s sleeping, yea. So we better be really quiet. Where’s your Daddy?”

“Daddy’s sleeping too,” Jessie not-really-whispered in reply. “In here.”

Castiel followed his son as the boy tip-toed back into the playroom and pointed to where Dean was laying on the floor in the middle of the room; his head pillowed on an oversized, stuffed giraffe and Claire asleep herself and drooling peacefully on his chest.

“He was really sleepy,” Jessie said seriously. “After we teached Clarie the shark song.”

“I bet he was,” Cas replied, settling his hand on his son’s head and carding his fingers through the boy’s shaggy hair. “We should probably let him and Claire sleep.”

“Prolly,” the boy agreed with a nod before turning sharply towards Castiel. “Hey, Papa can we make the blueberry cakes that Daddy likes for when he and Claire wake up?”

“We sure can, buddy,” Castiel agreed, gently steering his son towards the door of the playroom as Jessie started to dissolve into rapturous exclamations over the promise of blueberry pancakes.

Cas was exhausted after only about 4 hours of sleeping after his 14 hour Saturday shift at the restaurant, but as his son helped him gently drop berries onto the bubbling pancake batter Cas heard Dean and Claire stirring awake through the baby monitor that they kept in the kitchen.

And he heard Dean singing that stupid Gilmore Girls theme song that Claire loved so much (the one that the other man swore he had never even heard before despite Cas knowing that Dean had queued and watched every dam--darn season of the show because they shared a Netflix account for goodness sakes) and his heart just felt too full. Too full of love and too full of gratitude for every choice in his life that had led to this point. It was possible that he just felt that way because he’d just finished his first cup of coffee. Probably not, but maybe.