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inevitably-johnlocked · 6 months

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i’m so sorry this is hyper specific…. any fics where john calls sherlock ‘WILLIAM!!’ when he’s in trouble or something?? i think it would be hilarious

Hey Nonny!

AHHHHHH eeeee I don't know if I have anything specifically for that, but over the years I have been asked for William Fics, so I'm just gonna use your ask to finally collect what I have <3 If anyone has anything more specific to Nonny's request, please let us know, 'cause Nonny's right, it'd be funny LOL.

That said, here is what I have for "William" fics, which I just did a search for his name and probably don't have any of them correct :( I pulled what I had on my MFL list as well to make this list a bit longer for you. Apologies ahead of time if they're not "William" focussed.

Please let me know if y'all have more!

SHERLOCK’S CALLED “WILLIAM”

See also: Sherlock Called William (Alexx's List)

Vale Mea by JohntheBlonde (G, 622 w., 1 Ch. || Implied/Referenced Death, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Pining Sherlock, Epistolary) – 'I, William Sherlock Scott Holmes...hereby...declare this my last Will and Testament.'

what’s in a name by flight815kitsune (NR, 1,285 w., 1 Ch. || Soulmates AU) – There were some things you just knew. The name, if you were lucky enough to get one, was one of those things.

Dear John by wendymarlowe (E, 23,031 w., 64 Ch. || Post-TRF, Online Dating, Pining, Epistolary, Cybersex, Long Distance Romance) – With Sherlock dead, John eventually (under duress) makes a profile on an online dating site. And falls into a long-distance relationship with an enigmatic partner who reminds him of Sherlock in all the right ways. (Hint: it turns out to be Sherlock.) Part 1 of Dear John

we have never seen a greater day than this by Lediona (T, 36,420 w., 7 Ch. || A Royal Night Out AU || WWII / VE Day, Prince Sherlock, Soldier John, Alternating POV, First Kiss, Bittersweet Ending, Homophobia, Dancing) – Peace. At long last. It’s VE Day and Prince William desires to join the celebrations. It is a night of excitement, danger and the first flutters of romance.

A Hundred Crimson Sols by elldotsee (E, 55,536 w., 16 Ch. || Astronauts AU || Mars Exploration / Space Travel, Slow Burn, Shy Sherlock, Scientist Sherlock / Biomed Engineer John, Alternating POV, Mutual Pining, UST, Angst with Happy Ending, Domestic Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Injuries, Suicidal Ideation, Zero-G Sex) – Will Holmes is a chemical researcher recognized widely for his contributions to the new Mars exploration program. Thanks to his ground-breaking developments, the IMMC (International Mars Mission Corporation) is one step closer to Martian colonization. Will and his team of scientists are headed out on the first of three manned missions before the first group of settlers arrive. Three days before launch, one of the crew has to be replaced. Will panics because...new people. The replacement is of course one John Watson, biomedical engineer and space hottie who was pretty sure he had retired from actual space exploration and was now content to work in the nice, quiet research lab. Can the crew survive this TOTALLY ROUTINE trip? Will they be able to endure each other for the looooooong trip in close quarters? Gonna be a wild ride... prepare for blast off. Part 1 of SpaceBois go to Space

MARKED FOR LATER

A Prequel of Sorts by foxy61 (G, 6,561 w. || Kidlock / Teenlock, Time Manipulation, Big Brother Mycroft) – William Sherlock Scott Holmes was born in a little cottage in the middle of a blizzard January 6th 1977. He was delivered by an ex-army doctor, one Dr. John Hamish Watson who apparently didn’t exist or at least not yet. Part 2 of A Blizzard Started it All

I Don't Need You to Like Me by Ranowa (T, 7,146 w., 1 Ch || Different First Meeting, Autistic Sherlock, Ableism, Papa Lestrade, Big Brother Mycroft, Child Abuse, Kidlock) – Greg's introduction to child abuse cases is a small, surly child with a broken arm named John Watson... and the even smaller, nonverbal boy that won't leave his side. The smaller, nonverbal boy named William Holmes.

To Belong Series by DrFish (T, 19,400+ w. across 4 works || Series WiP || Victorian / Mythical AU || OctoJohn, Scientist Sherlock, Attempted Kidnapping, BAMF John, Protective / Possessive John, Developing Relationship, Being Lost, Size Difference, Capital Punishment, Happy Ending) – William Sherlock Scott Holmes failed to graduate the University of Cambridge class of 1877. Adrift in London, he accepts a post as assistant naturalist on a scientific expedition to the Western Pacific Ocean aboard Her Majesty's Sailing Ship Frontier. Events do not proceed quite as planned and Sherlock finds himself cruelly cast away by his shipmates. Perhaps he will find salvation in the company of a most unlikely sea creature.

The Corvus That Calls at Night by S_IRIS (E, 19,834+ w., 4/? Ch. || Medieval Fantasy AU || Military John, Swordsman Sherlock, True Love, Historical, Politics, Falling in Love, Sexual Tension, Fictional Religion, Angst, Pining, Infidelity) – A final chance at forging peace between the kingdom of Brevaria in the south and the newly-seceded Brevarian Republic in the north hinges on a strategic but unpopular betrothal between the youngest brother of the Duke of Langley, the heir apparent, and Harriet Lily, the daughter of the Brevarian High Consul. Expectations are that a marriage alliance between Harriet and Prince William might soothe tensions on both sides of the border regarding the alliance and end the protracted civil war. However, Sherlock is only going up to the Brevarian moors in expectation of meeting Harriet’s older brother, the most talented military commander in over six generations. But behind John Watson’s legendary prowess in battle is a dark secret.

An Aftertaste Of Memory by Raithwithwings57 (M, 39,009+ w., 20/? Ch. || Post TRF, Rosie is in this Fic, Hurt/Comfort, Angst with Happy Ending, Amnesia (Sherlock), Torture, Scars, PTSD, Divorced John, Divorced Lestrade, Misunderstandings) – Sherlock Holmes was believed by most to have died by jumping to his death. A few people, Mycroft Holmes included believed he died in somewhere in Serbia, tortured to death, though his body was never found. Sherlock Holmes himself doesn't believe either of the above, obviously. After being extensively tortured in Serbia, he suffered a traumatic brain injury that left him with amnesia, and deafness. But the doctors say that the deafness is psychological in nature. It doesn't matter much to him. All he knows is that his name is William, and that he was once (and it seems he always will be) in love with a man by the name of John Watson. John has suffered much in the last eight years. Losing his best friend to suicide, marrying and then later being divorced by his wife, battling for joint custody of his child, and generally trying to forge ahead and figure out what the seemingly bleak future holds in store for him. But what he could never expect is Sherlock's sudden return. Nor the man's conviction that once upon a time they were madly in love.

Proper Manners by Jade5687 (E, 40,449 w., 2 Ch. || Medieval Royalty AU || Class Differences, Religion, Post-War, Master/Servant, Identity Issues, Period-Typical Attitudes, First Time, Light Bondage) – Sherlock Holmes is a charming—if somewhat eccentric—nobleman who often spends time with John, an apothecary’s son. When John is offered employment at King William’s castle, however, he fears he will have to say goodbye to Sherlock. But in the end, they might actually become closer than before. Part 1 of the King William's Castle series

Sehnenfäden by holmesian_love and Strange_johnlock (M, 67,879 w., 22 Ch. || Violinist Sherlock AU || Idiots in Love, Alternate First Meeting, Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Humour, Friendship, Friends to Lovers, Slow Burn, First Time, Nature, Music, Seclusion, Angst with Happy Ending, Non-Explicit Sex) – William Sherlock Holmes is a world-renowned violinist, uncompromising with his principles and his punishing schedule, pushed to breaking point by his manager. John Watson is a lost, retired army-doctor, returned to London with nowhere to live. Both men end up in situations which lead them to a secluded German village in the mountains, escaping from the unforgiving world around them. A chance encounter brings them together, sharing a friendship and understanding neither of them have found before. Will they be able to find a way to express their true feelings for one another, to find the path to be together, despite Sherlock’s chaotic lifestyle?

The Killing Principle by Vulpesmellifera (E, 104,593 w., 46 Ch. || American AU || Gay John, Serial Killer Mary, Bum Appreciation, Sherlock is William, Dating Difficulties, BAMF Sherlock, Slow Burn, Thriller, Confessions, Whump, Angst with Happy Ending, Minor Character Death) – John Watson served twice in AmeriCorps, married his high school sweetheart, and then entered med school. A sudden arrest and accusation of multiple murders ends his promising career, irrevocably altering his life's trajectory. Acquitted of his wife’s crimes, John spends the next ten years as the maligned ex-husband of convicted serial killer Mercy Mary. A job offer draws him out of hiding and back to Connecticut - the very state where the crimes were committed. He needs the money, and the job is a dream. Then he meets the brilliant William Vernet, and it seems like he has a second chance at life and love. But the past has a way of catching up.

Beyond Recall by elwinglyre & MrBotanyB (E, 110,201 w. || Apocalypse/Dystopia AU, Alternate First Meeting, Case Fic, Amnesia/Memory Loss, Hurt/Comfort, Slow Burn, First Time, Alternating POV) – Dropped into Cardiff on a mission he doesn’t remember, everyday he wakes to a past he doesn’t recall in a world torn apart by pandemic. William (Sherlock Holmes) finds purpose when John Watson finds him. For Watson, this man is a mysterious thief with the uncanny ability to see into people. But there’s something more to this man, and Doctor Watson helps William find the answers to his “magical” deductions. Is he a mad man? A serial killer? Or just damn clever? And what’s his connection to the epidemic that wiped out most of the world?

#steph replies #johnlock fic recs #sherlock is william fics #help steph find fics

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tales-unique · 4 years

Text

THIEF

Chapter 1

DATE NOV 14TH, 2042

TIME PM 05:17:08 :09 :10…

Deviancy had given Connor a new perspective on Detroit, one that he would forever be indebted to Markus for allowing him to achieve. As he entered the Detroit City Police Departments headquarters and ascended in the elevator to where the police offices were, now frequented by both human and android officers, he pondered various topics while deftly flicking his coin from one hand to the other.

To clarify, it had been four years since Markus had led his revolt in pursuit of freedom and equality for androids, both deviant and otherwise, and ultimately won the favour of those who had once been their oppressors. It had been an arduous journey, with many casualties, but ultimately their goal was achieved; androids were now a recognized people and were finally free. There was still much work to be done and in the years since those fated days, Markus had worked tirelessly to bridge a gap that many had deemed impossible to completely fill. So far it had all be favourable due to the determination of Markus to lead a peaceful revolution, one that had brought many humans around to their cause. Their plight had resonated with many who themselves had felt downtrodden and outcast, and Connor felt himself comparing it to other accounts in history where humans had turned on their own kind just as easily; it was in their nature to be this way, he would often remind himself, to keep any negativity in check. With a flick of his wrist, he captured the smooth metal coin in between his fingers, brow creasing briefly. A report had been filed; an altercation between two humans and an android with another human having been caught fleeing the scene. As the words flitted in his cybernetic brain he felt a small frown tug at his lips. Although there was much positive progress in the way of equal rights and liberties for androids there were still those who feared the changes, both human and androids alike. It was inevitable that there would still be clashes, as Markus himself had informed the people of Jericho, and soon the peoples of the world, but Connor felt somewhat calmer knowing that there was a conscious effort now to limit these instances. Especially as he was able to return to his previous occupation within the Detroit Police Force. Now a fully-fledged Detective, no longer attached to Cyberlife since its collapse, Connor now focused on being able to help Markus in the best way he knew how; by ensuring that androids contributed to society in a positive way. Pulling himself from his reverie as the metallic ding of the elevator doors opening sounded, Connor politely nodding his head to a pair of other detectives that entered the elevator as he left, his feet carrying him swiftly to the bright, open room where he worked. The layout and the design were still the same, with tables lined out neatly with each lieutenant’s name presented on a plaque, but now there was one more decorated desk— his own. “Good evening, Lieutenant,” Connor smiled as he strode to his desk, situated opposite the decorated, yet grizzled, detective and his partner of some time. “Hey Connor,” came a somewhat exasperated sigh, to which Connor’s brows furrowed once more, his head tilting a fraction as he assessed the situation. Hank looked tired, far more so than usual, and Connor noted with some shock that there were no traces of whiskey in the cooled coffee that sat forgotten in his mug. Ceasing his analysis Connor settled at the edge of Hank’s desk, glancing at a report the older man had been staring at for what he imagined to have been a while, judging by the way he seemed to have no focus on it whatsoever. “You look tired, is it a rough case?” Connor spoke out, inclining a hand to the report Hank possessed, expression becoming more perplexed when a gruff laugh was his response and a shake of the head. “No, no, actually, it’s pretty shit. Fowler thinks I ought to take it easy every once in a while, the bastard,” Hank almost snarled, soon tossing the report onto his desk without a care. He glanced up at Connor, who looked at it expectantly. Still something of a poodle, that boy was, and Hank almost missed the motion of his hand already waving to allow Connor a read. “Go for it,” he huffed, turning his eyes to his terminal, “just some burglary attempt, nothing major, he just wanted my input since the witness is— Hmph .” The way Hank abruptly ended his sentence didn’t go unnoticed by Connor as he took the report in hand to read what little had already been documented, eyes scanning over it wordlessly. He looked sour, like in those first meetings between them when all of this began, and it worried Connor. In truth, human emotion was still somewhat new for the android, though he was more at peace with it than some. Slipping from his perched position, Connor gave a small nod, setting the report back down. In seconds he had already gained the knowledge, the rest was a mere formality. “I believe the fact than an android is involved may be a reason why Captain Fowler assigned you the case,” he gave a small shrug, locking gazes with Hank. The older man only hummed in response, leaning back in his chair, giving the non-verbal hint for him to continue. “After all, we are still, technically, the best team for handling any deviant behaviour, isn’t that correct Lieutenant?” A small, chipper smile was given, and he could see Hank’s shoulder slack in acceptance. Connor could more often than not bring the old detective around to his way, in that same way a child always gets what they want in one capacity or another. With a grin Connor straightened his tie, falling into step with Hank as the two made their way to the interrogation rooms.

Connor had initially been indifferent to interrogating the woman that had been caught fleeing the scene. He concluded that she was a criminal, albeit not as dangerous as the android they were investigating who had been present, and thus deemed it another step towards completing the mission. He did find it interesting to note that it was statistically higher for men to be caught attempting burglary than women, but he still held the conviction that she was just a criminal. However it soon became clear to him as they continued that she was no ordinary burglar or indeed no ordinary woman. It had taken mere seconds, perhaps even less if that were possible, to hear her audible growl as her eyes narrowed on the mirror before her, one that she outed as being two-way and no doubt concealing the detectives within, an iciness to her tone that caused even him to stiffen. She spoke out harshly, daring them to come back and try to make her talk. It was this statement that caused Hank to groan as he stood at Connors side, hand dragging down his face; no doubt this was why he seemed so drained earlier— he’d already attempted to speak to her before. Before any other words were uttered Connor initiated a scan, one that turned his LED a consistent spinning circle of yellow. In truth he had been reluctant to remove it, becoming almost fond of the light at his temple, viewing it as part of his still-forming identity. Connor the android sent by Cyberlife still remained, he simply had evolved, but like other androids and even humans he wanted to still resemble some small part of the life that led him to this point. Instantly there came a mugshot photo of the suspect before him, her name suspended in neat lettering beneath it. VERONICA VORNE. The name intrigued him, mostly because of the alliteration of her name and its ease when being pronounced. He continued to sift through the walls of text, briefing himself on the basic demographics and the like that had been catalogued for her file before coming to her criminal history. Predominantly she was known for serial burglary, though one account of public assault coupled with resisting arrest had resulted in a two year sentence. Having ascertained such information he then moved on to the young woman herself. Shrouded in the typical dark attire of a thief she looked so stark against the white background, like a concise Rorschach inkblot. The clothes were thick, black sleeved shirt and denim jeans, designed to keep her well insulated and warm in the cold November weather, just as the solid boots on her feet did. As she lifted her wrists to flex them, testing the range of movement she had with the handcuffs, Connor noticed her fingerless gloves. He then moved to her leather coat, which was still zipped and dappled with wet patches from where snow had melted upon it. It seemed fitted to her shape, and Connor couldn’t help but wonder how she was able to evade capture long enough to have made it outside while wearing it. He noticed no hood nor cap on her person that would have obscured her face. It was then he recalled an officer with a black balaclava in hand, speckled with moisture in places, which was most likely hers. No doubt it was taken upon her arrest so they could identify her. It was in this moment that Connor took a moment to survey her face, taking in her features. Everything about her seemed to resemble the stark contrast between dark and light. Deep-coloured eyes, glowing a rich brown in the fluorescent of the lights were set against the bright whites of her eyes, though he detected the faintest of blood vessels there; from stress, he surmised. They were framed in long, delicate lashes that dared to flutter ever so lightly every time she heard movement behind the locked door. Then his gaze shifted to observe her skin, which was rosy to a degree, as he had seen from her mugshot photograph, yet the harsh light only exaggerated the pale undertones. Tilting his head minutely during the scan he noted the softness of the features themselves, their femininity, as his eyes looked over her dainty nose, to her lips. They were a dusty shade of pink, like the Spring Roses he sometimes saw in the park and would have looked warm and inviting had they not been pulled into a harsh frown. With a turn of her head towards the camera her hair gave a small flourish, having been released from the confines of her hood upon capture judging from the tousled look it held. Despite this frazzled appearance Connor noted its healthy condition and medium length, it falling in waves down her back. The colour of its strands resembled her eyes in its rich brunette colour and sported a gleam that eluded to her fondness for hair care. A well-kept thief, he noted to himself. With the rudimentary scan complete, the whole process taking less than a few seconds, Connor returned to reality, his gaze now looking to Hank once more, relaying the information he’d gathered as he so often did. “Veronica Vorne, born in downtown Detroit on—” “Relax, I know who she is,” Hank soon interrupted, watching with some amusement as Connor looked at him in confusion, his eyebrows soon raising upwards towards his hairline. “Not personally ,” Hank quickly added, “but our paths have crossed a few times, little shit.” The term was said with a fondness Hank didn’t show often, and even then it had only been picked up on because Connor was an android. Tilting his head, Connor silently willed Hank to continue, wishing to learn more, earning a deep sigh from the older officer and a roll of his eyes. “I’m not playing ball tonight Connor, so stop lookin’ at me like that! Just go, get in there, and let’s do our thing, Christ.” It was clear it grated on Hank’s nerves to be pulled into such a basic case, though Connor knew there may be more to it. He would pry into it at a later time, for now he tasked himself with following Hank’s lead, eyes falling upon the wayward thief once the door sealed behind him.

It was the sharp sound of the door opening that made Veronica’s eyes turn to them, eyeing them warily for a moment before widening in recognition; she'd almost expected it to be that asshole, Gavin, again. Hank’s name fell from her lips and Connor would have almost mistaken it for breathless if not for the fact she was not out of breath at all, at least according to his interface anyway. humans had such strange mannerisms, ones that were often contradictions to themselves. Connor took to standing back from the table, allowing Hank to sit opposite her, and for a moment all was silent. Both Hank and Veronica sat back in their respective seats, Hank with his arms crossed, studying the woman before him, and Veronica with an almost childish pout of her lips, eyes narrowed again as she attempted to formulate a way to be out of this predicament. Hank was the first to break their stalemate, shifting to lean forward with his arms resting on the table, gaze staring at her squarely. He read out her rights for a second time, to which she gave consent to waiver, and it was then that Connor learnt that she’d already violated the agreed terms of her bail once before. This, the android concluded, would result in jail time unless she cooperated with them on their investigation. Raising an eyebrow Hank regarded Veronica as her own brows knitted together for a moment, contemplating the situation; tell them what she knew and be a rat or continue her vow of silence and maintain a paper thin loyalty. The quote “no honour among thieves” suddenly came to Connors mind as he continued to stand with his arms folded across his chest. There was a soft sigh from the woman, tired and annoyed, as she looked away from them both. It was then that she finally opened her mouth to speak, and Connor felt himself perk up in anticipation of what she was going to say. “I don’t know anything about an android, or an android murdering anyone. I was just there to rob the place, alone .” To say that Hank was enraged by her statement was obvious from the way he slammed a hand down upon the metal table, causing the young woman to jump in her seat, eyes wide; startled. They bickered back and forth, starting with Hank’s low growl that she was spouting a load of bullshit and he was in no mood for it. Veronica, on the other hand, maintained her innocence in the matter vehemently, suddenly panicked. She claimed that she’d entered the premises alone with the sole intention of committing a robbery and had no knowledge that there’d been an android there at all nor that said android had been involved in a previous murder that they were currently investigating. However Connor could see from the subtle twitch of her eye that this was at the very least, a half-truth, to which he stepped forward and placed a strategic hand upon Hank’s shoulder, just at the moment he was about to lunge forward with another verbal attack. “Might I try, Lieutenant?” The request was simple enough, but Connor was unsure if Hank would allow him the chance to question Veronica, even though he was rather stressed by the whole situation. For a moment or two Hank regarded him, eyes narrowed suspiciously while he did so, before he gave a huff and a nod, vacating the seat. With a polite incline of his head Connor settled into it, briefly glancing to the door as Hank exited the room; perhaps it was better for all of them that he was given time to cool down. Throughout the whole thing Veronica had sat in relative silence, but as Connor turned his gaze to her, hands clasping together upon the table before him, he noticed how she looked almost distressed that Hank had left the room. With a calm smile upon his face Connor watched her closely, tilting his head slightly as he noticed how she seemed to retreat slightly within herself, her eyes becoming wide and almost fearful. Was she aware that he’d caught onto her bluff? Did she know she stood no real chance against him when it came to the interrogation? Connor was curious to discover the reasoning behind her fear but wanted first to calm her enough so that she would at least talk to him. “Hello, my name is Connor, and you are?” He started out modestly, casually, but it only served to cause her to stiffen in her seat. His smile faltered slightly into a small frown but he refused to give up. He would try a kinder approach before he would press her any further. Glancing to the mirror he sighed, looking back at her once more. “Lieutenant Anderson may seem coarse in his approach, but he means well,” Connor began, watching as Veronica shifted her gaze to the mirror briefly before locking her gaze to him again, following each movement he made. Taking this as a positive sign, Connor continued, even going so far as to lean in slightly, regarding her more. “He just wants to solve the homicide investigation and we think you may have crucial information—” “I don’t know anything!” The abruptness of her interruption caused Connor to pause, his LED flickering a circle of yellow before he straightened in his seat. He noted how Veronica then swallowed nervously, knowing that her outburst had convinced him of the opposite, that she did indeed know something about the case. Lowering her head down she forced her gaze downcast, settling to stare at her bound hands, form fidgeting slightly in her seat. Connor knew that he was close, something in itself that surprised him given how aggressive she’d been beforehand at times when Hank had been interrogating her. Clearly there was an emotional element that he had uncovered, or perhaps it was the fact that he was a complete stranger, and an android, that had shaken her resolve, and caused her to become flustered. Connor was undecided for the moment but felt the time right to begin to apply pressure to the situation. “You do realize that if you don’t help me you will go to prison,” he snapped suddenly, harsh and unforgiving, once again causing her to jump slightly in her seat. “Tell me, Veronica, do you want to go back to prison again?” His question was pointed and it caused her eyes to immediately fly up to meet his own, her hands splaying out on the table’s surface as she shook her head meekly. It was a slow process, but Connor soon began to pull threads of relevant information from her. It was interesting to find that she did indeed know nothing of the android that they were investigating, despite both having been reported to be in the same property, yet he did learn of another android, the one who she had been indirectly protecting all along. An older model, possibly an AF200 model judging from her limited description, discarded and left to shut down, that she had named Zen. Veronica had refused to let them go unnoticed, to be forgotten. She took the android to her home and, with what little she had, attempted to repair or rebuild what she could. Of course she wasn’t even remotely qualified for such a task, but attempt it she did and this led her to steal so that she could then purchase or trade for what she needed. Connor listened quietly, his LED consistently yellow, until her tone lowered and her voice faded into silence. Her eyes were downcast once more and held a forlorn sense to them that caused Connor to unclasp his hands, reaching one out to gentle cover her own. At the gesture Veronica lifted her gaze ever so slightly, acknowledging the contact. They were both silent for a moment before Connor spoke up, giving her hand a gentle squeeze. “I give you my word that Zen will not be hurt, but I need you to be honest with me. Do you know anything about the android? Anything at all?” He pressed further, and although she was uncomfortable she did give a small nod that was coupled with a sigh. “I know someone who might know about the android. He’s done a couple jobs with me in the past, runs with a small group in the area where the guy was killed,” she hummed lightly, and Connor could feel her fingers twitch slightly underneath his own, unaware she was tentatively brushing the inside of his palm as though to calm herself. Catching herself part way through Veronica sucked in a breath, pulling her hand free to the edge of the table, eyes pointedly looking to the side. “I’ll see what I can get out of him,” she added, briefly glancing to the two-way mirror with a glowering expression. “You hear that Hank?” Came her biting comment, voice raised, “I’m going to see what I can do to help your little case!” She huffed, dropping back against her seat, almost as though she’d deflated. It was amusing to Connor, who sat with grin upon his lips, which on increased when she turned her gaze to him and gave a small flicker of a smile. It seemed like she was fighting herself to do so however by the way she turned her head away and tried to pinch her lips together, eyes glittering despite only looking at the wall. With the interrogation over, Veronica was escorted by Hank to one of the holding cells until the information she had given them could be credited and what little information they had could be written up. It needed to be collated with the rest of the information from the couple whose home she had tried to rob. In truth, she was still in a lot of trouble considering she had violated the terms given to her at her last arrest, despite having given them a possible lead, but that wasn’t the main concern Connor had. Remaining a few steps behind as he followed the pair Connor silently contemplated what would happen to her once the investigation was over. Of course, his rationale told him that she would continue to be as she was and that he would most likely cross paths with her again following the next crime she committed, but he also found himself thinking beyond that narrow, professional viewpoint. He was concerned that there would be no saving grace for her next time, that she would be arrested and charged and ultimately end up in prison for more than her previous sentence. It was then he recalled the android, Zen, whom she had become fond of. Like a lonesome puppy, who would care for them while she was gone? Who would inform them of her absence? The questions, though trivial in comparison to his investigation, bothered him and it was noticed immediately by Hank, who had now turned back to the android after Veronica was settled into the holding cell. “You alright Connor?” The older detective asked, concern lacing his gruff voice, a hand coming to rest on his shoulder. When he was met with only a simple yes Hank’s eyes narrowed and he hummed his suspicions. Casting a gaze behind him he spotted Veronica watching them with interest, eyes bright and curious before she quickly looked away. With a small huff of a chuckle, he guided Connor away back to their desks, already surmising what the issue could be. He may have been old, but he wasn’t stupid. Pushing the android down into his seat Hank moved to his own, settling into it with a deep sigh. There had been the glimmer of hope that he would be able to leave work early for once, but that had been long extinguished. Flicking his tired eyes to Connor he found the poor android to still looking as perplexed as before. Leaning back in his chair he contemplated opening that can of worms and ultimately decided that he owed Connor that much at least, given all they’d been through. With as much of an expectant look as he could muster, Hank sat up straight, gaining Connors full attention at last. “Something on your mind, Connor?” He then asked, resting his arms on his desk, eyebrows raising when the android opened his mouth to speak, with some difficulty he noted. “I’m curious, Lieutenant,” he began, to which Hank hummed dryly, already having guessed as much already, “what will happen to Miss Vorne once her usefulness has run its course?” He asked almost innocently, somewhat shocking the older detective. When Hank didn’t reply Connor continued on, brows furrowed, hands gesturing along with his voice. “I only ask because it’s statistically proven that offenders will continue to offend unless prevented from doing so, and she’s already stated that she steals in order to help repair the android she saved, Zen I believe she called them—” “Focus, Connor,” Hank drawled, leaning his head against his hand. “Ah, yes. What I mean to say is that I believe we should, at least, try to help her in some way. Maybe we could utilize her as some kind of informant, perhaps? Her connections may prove useful in our investigations, especially if the lead she’s already provided us proves correct,” he concluded, pursing his lips as he studied Hank’s expression. Connor could feel a sense of unease cross over him and he also detected panic flare within him, which only intensified when Hank snorted sourly and shook his head. “Holy shit, you’re worried about her!” He exaggerated, eyes wide as he swivelled slightly in his chair to look at his terminal, incredulous. Releasing a deep breath Hank attempted to distract himself with his work before looking to Connor once more, who looked at him with a look of despair painted on his face, like a puppy lost off its leash. “Veronica’s fine , Connor,” Hank attempted to console him, “she’ll give us the lead like she promised and she’ll prance outta here like nothing happened and returned to that android of hers, okay? There, did that clear your conscience?” The sarcastic nature of Hanks comment didn’t go amiss and Connor gave a frown in response, LED oscillating between blue and yellow before finally settling back to its standard blue ring. “Actually, Lieutenant,” Connor began pointedly, mimicking his sarcasm, turning his gaze toward the corridor that housed the holding cells, “I don’t believe that it has.” He then turned his gaze back to Hank only to see that he now held his head in his hands and was groaning at the situation before him. He knew that he could stop it before it could properly start by demanding that Connor let it go, but he also knew that Connor wouldn’t be able to do just that so easily and would probably attempt to do something himself to help her. Thus he decided that the best action to take was to give in to Connor’s newfound humanity and let the little shit in on the fun. Pushing his chair away from his desk with his feet Hank stood up with a grunt, beckoning Connor to follow him with a flick of his hand. “Well, are ya coming or what?” He then called, smirking at the sound of the android scampering to follow him towards the holding cells.

Captain Fowler was, to say the least, not impressed by Hank’s insubordination. To have released Veronica without permission had annoyed him enough, but to then come into his office and request, dare he say demand, that she be given a probationary period to try as an informant for their case? Well, that was something else entirely. Ultimately, with a lot of convincing from both Hank and Connor, the Captain reluctantly agreed to allow Veronica to operate as an informant on the condition that she would report any and all findings she could to them in order to further their case and any other cases that she may find knowledge of. Any leads that produced breaks in the case would result in leniency to her prior charges, something that would no doubt tempt her into doing a good job. There had also been the warning that if she didn’t perform well there would be consequences, but Hank hadn’t the patience nor the care to properly listen, but Connor had. It hardened his resolve to ensure she did well, and remained safe, while she worked alongside them. Upon seeing Hank and Connor move to leave the Captain’s office Veronica stood straight, watching them expectantly as they descended the small set of stairs, hands in front of her as her fingers twisted around the balaclava that had been taken from her previously. “So, what’s happening? Am I free to go now?” She asked eagerly, bouncing slightly on her heels. She needed to hurry home to check on Zen, to make sure the android hadn’t gotten into mischief while she’d been gone. Her expression dropped slightly when Hank began to explain the conditions of her release but she ultimately came to accept them. Not that she had much choice. The notion of working with someone on the inside brought forth memories of infiltrating Jericho for Connor, and although it wasn’t all a positive memory a small smile come to his lips as he recalled the moment he finally came into his own and became deviant. It opened to him a whole new perspective on life, one that he was now determined to embrace wholeheartedly. Amidst his recollections he’d noticed that Veronica had fallen a couple of steps behind them upon leaving the police headquarters, the cool night breeze having ruffled her hair. He stopped to watch for a moment to watch as she brushed the waves back, bringing her hood up to trap them. When he finally caught her attention he felt his lips twitch upwards, motioning for her to continue at his side. When she accepted the offer by falling into step beside him Connor felt a similar feeling to the one he’d experienced back in the police headquarters; a slight nervousness blooming in the pit of his artificial stomach so to speak. Humans would often engage in small talk when walking with one another, or so he’d observed, and since Hank had decided to stop and do just that with another officer who was just returning, Veronica was left to his company, and his company alone, so he took the chance to engage her in conversation. Pausing on route to Hank’s car, Connor turned his head to Veronica, who looked at him curiously, stopping as he had. It was now that he could truly regard the difference in height between them. He was at a minimum a few inches taller than her, give or take an inch due to the thick heel on her boots, for he had calculated her at five feet and five inches when inside the station, again taking the heel size into consideration. He gave a small, polite cough, having realized that he had been staring, a small blue hue lightly dusting the tops of his cheeks. Wanting to distract from any uncomfortable instances, Connor felt it best to begin a conversation with her, noting as he did so the small tremble in her limbs. “It’s a rather cold night, are you alright?” Although her clothes were insulated, the lack of movement meant that the chill of the night air was able to affect her, and Connor wanted her to feel comfortable, especially with him. They were going to be partners, after all, and her well-being and morale was now something to consider. “Oh, no, I’m fine,” Veronica replied with a soft smile before her brows furrowed slightly, taking in his smart appearance. “Aren’t you cold?” The question caused his own eyebrows to raise upwards slightly and he opened his mouth to correct her, for androids couldn’t feel the cold as humans could, before deciding that he would take her concern as it was. Giving her a small smile in response he shook his head, smoothing his suit jacket down with his hands on impulse. “No, I’m not cold, but thank you for asking,” he then replied, eyes drawn to the way her breath created entrancing wisps of mist in the air before vanishing without a trace. There was still so much that enthralled him about humans, from their mannerisms to their very beings, which was to be expected from an android programmed to be as inquisitive and curious as he was. Silence then fell upon them for a moment before a cough drew their attention, Connor turning his head to see Hank stood, alone, with his arms crossed, watching him and Veronica with an inscrutable look upon his face. “Is something wrong, Lieutenant?” Connor questioned, though he couldn’t understand if anything would be wrong. He had just been idly chatting while Hank himself had done so. “Well I’d like to get home before I freeze my balls off , thank you,” came Hanks sharp quip in response with a roll of his eyes, though his gaze soon narrowed with a huff when Veronica snickered at the comment, shaking her head lightly. Connor watched the small exchange with some interest before he regarded Veronica again, once more looking at her with a curious, if somewhat concerned, expression. “How will you be getting home?” He questioned, his auditory systems noting the sound of Hank entering his car; the familiar creak of the car door and the slam of metal. “Might I suggest you share a ride with Lieutenant Anderson and myself?” It was a kind gesture and an appropriate one to make, judging from the way Veronica smiled warmly. Thus he couldn’t help how his brows knitted together in confused shock when she politely, and somewhat awkwardly, declined. Her reasoning was that she didn’t want to be any more of a bother than she already had been for the pair and that her home wasn't so far away that she couldn’t walk there. “Oh,” he replied after some thought, looking dejected amidst his confusion, “I see, but I’m afraid I must insist. A woman shouldn’t walk the streets alone, especially on a winter’s night.” His heart, though artificial, was in the right place, and he wasn’t going to allow Veronica to put herself in danger for the sake of a little burden. One that he calculated would only be around twelve or so minutes, if the snow held off at least. Connor wanted to remain respectful of her independence but the android was too chivalrous to be beaten, and after a small bout of back and forth banter Veronica finally gave in with a sigh, thanking him quietly as he motioned with his hand for her to make her way to the car. It was a relatively quiet drive, with only the melodies of the quiet jazz that Hank enjoyed filling the space of the car. An obvious difference from the Heavy Metal Connor was usually met with. The android rode shotgun with Hank at the wheel, while Veronica was settled in the back behind him. Stealing a glance at her through the rear view mirror Connor noticed how she had her head turned to look out the car window, a weary expression on her face, illuminated at regular intervals by the street lights. He studied her until they reached her address, or as near to as she felt comfortable with revealing, and then he watched as she shifted forward in her seat, eyes looking between them both. “Thanks for the ride, guys, I appreciate it,” she murmured, nodding her head in acknowledgement as Hank assured her it wasn’t too out of his way, her gaze then turning to Connor, who had turned in his seat to regard her. “Goodnight, Miss Vorne, and please refrain from getting into any more trouble tonight,” Connors' voice held a teasing edge, one that caused her to smirk lightly in response. “I make no promises,” Veronica countered with a small chuckle and with that she slipped out of the car. She gave a small wave as she then crossed the street, blending into the shadows as she walked the rest of the small distance to her home, leaving Connor to decipher his thoughts about her.

#Detroit Become Human #Detroit Become Human Imagines #Detroit Become Human Imagine #RK800 #RK800 Connor #Connor #(this is a looooooong boi and I apologize!)

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new2fivesauce · 4 years

Text

Please Don't Regret Me - 4. Lavender Sheets

4091 words.

No Warnings... I think.

Sorry for the looooooong wait. I hope this makes up for it. I think the ending sucks but I needed to get this out my head fast before I put it off again. Enjoy.

June 2018.

Nelle's departure from being 5 Seconds of Summer’s assistant had been abrupt, leaving her feel like she had left her job incomplete thus causing her to spiral through a series of emotions and phases she believed she hadn’t felt since she was a raging, hormonal teenager.

The day she had given her news, they all awkwardly arrived at the airport at the same time. In her haze of emotions, she had not changed nor cancelled her flight to Australia and since 5sos was also flying international, they were stuck in the same terminal. Luke and Nelle did not speak again since their elevator meet. Michael noticed their tension, but didn’t say anything. His saddened green eyes only flickered between the two as they both tried their best to ignore one another. It wasn’t how she wanted to leave Luke, but she didn’t want to get his hopes up.

Calum, however, was the first to come up to her and apologize, practically beg her to forgive him for being such a selfish, shitty friend. Ashton and Michael followed suit with their apologies letting bygones be bygones. They agreed to keep in touch; everything returning to somewhat normal although the guys still looked bummed walking towards their flight with their new assistant.

She’d spent a couple weeks in Australia, staying in the house duplex she and Calum had bought together with their first good paychecks, but had hardly used due to constant traveling. She spent time with her parents, visited the guys' families, cleaned their empty homes to not waste money on a cleaning service, and took the duties of taking care of Duke from Mrs. Hood. Nelle also hung out with a few old schoolmates but quickly regretted that choice. They all seemed to “remember” how good friends they were, trying to manipulate Nelle for favors or money only because she knew “certain” people.

Mali-Koa, Calum’s sister, came to visit one week. She’d heard the news of Nelle’s leaving, and insisted that she come back with her to London.

“Girl, you needed a break from those dweebs anyways.”

So she did.

Nelle didn’t last very long in London though. Word had been passed of Nelle’s whereabouts which caused a very weepy, distraught Michael to leave a lengthy voicemail about betraying them for Cal's bitchy sister. She wasn’t really enjoying her time in London anyway, leaving Mali about 3 weeks later. She made a quick visit back to Australia before deciding that perhaps living in her vacant loft in Manhattan wouldn’t be such a bad idea. She’d let Calum know that Duke was coming with her before departing to the Big Apple.

She’d only been in NYC for two days when she’d run into a childhood friend that was not Calum.

Sasha Hendricks had been Nelle’s best friend when their parents were in the Army. They’d lived on the same bases and traveled the world together before Nelle’s parents settled in Australia and Sasha’s in Texas. Every year, before Nelle took on her job with 5sos, the girls alternated spending summers with one another in their country. They hadn’t seen much of each other in more than five years so no doubt it was a huge surprise when they both walked into the same small, cozy café.

Sasha had derailed from her parent’s Army footsteps to become a model. Not in the big leagues with faces like Kendall Jenner and Gigi Hadid, but she was aiming to get there.

With Sasha there, she didn’t feel so alone in the big city. It made her move a lot easier to handle but also there was just something about the city of New York and all of its noise that made Nelle feel at her calmest. She hadn’t been in the city for more than a two weeks now but if she had to be completely honest with herself, this was the best she’d felt in a long time.

<<*>><<*>>

Duke pushed ahead of Nelle, clearly already knowing his way around their block. He sniffed along a passerby's shoe, received a compliment from a passing child, and then decided he has enough the outdoors. He led the way back to the loft.

Nelle had just passed her building lobby’s front desk, when the security officer called her back. She looked down at Duke, where he was already looking up at her as in saying Oh shit, what did we do?

“Padilla, right?” the officer asked her from behind his desk. Nelle nodded slowly. “A package arrived for you while you were gone. Delivery guy didn’t want to leave it outside your door.” He said this as he retrieved a rather large box from the floor next to him. He heaved it over the desk and slid it over to her. She glared at the box hesitantly, not sure if she could carry it up to the 5th floor by herself.

“It’s not as heavy as it looks.” Security said, noticing her expression.

She thanked him for holding her package, grabbed the box awkwardly… he was right. It was not as heavy as it looked, then proceeded, with Duke at her feet, to the elevators.

Nelle barely made it inside her loft with the enormous box. Sure it didn’t weigh a ton, but five floors was a long time to be carrying a box.

Duke ran in, going straight to his water bowl near the kitchen. He didn’t care when Nelle set the cardboard box next to him. She went into one of her kitchen drawers, pulling out a knife to cut through the tape sealing the flaps down.

There were five thin, but square shaped boxes inside with a thousand packing peanuts. She made sure to carefully remove the small boxes without making a mess of the peanuts. She couldn’t risk Duke swallowing one up. The thought of telling Calum if such thing happened nauseated her.

Nelle was in the midst of opening the first thin box, when there was a knock on her door. Duke peeked around the kitchen corner to look at the door suspiciously. He growled a bit as Nelle went up the door.

“Duke… it’s just Sasha.” She clarified after peeping through the door hole and swinging the door open.

Sasha sauntered in, wearing a very see-through top and what looked like plastic pants. Her feet kicked off the six-inch heels with a sigh of relief. One heel slid close to Duke; he growled at it.

“Yeah, pipsqueak. It’s just me.” Sasha stuck her tongue out at the small dog. Nelle thought she imagined Duke rolling his eyes at the model.

Duke was kind to everyone… well almost everyone. Sasha had accidentally stepped on Duke's paw on their first meet. Ever since then, he tolerated her. He let her pet him but for the most part, he just stayed clear of the tall brunette.

Without another word, Sasha found her way to Nelle’s bedroom, emerging ten minutes later in a pair of Nelle’s Halloween pajama pants that were slightly too short since she was taller than Nelle and a Led Zeppelin t-shirt that fit too big.

Nelle hadn’t noticed Sasha wearing the shirt until she came up beside her about to open the first of five packages. Seeing her friend in the shirt made her freeze, her throat closed around a sudden lump that made it almost too hard to speak.

“Hey Sash… where’d you get that shirt from?” Nelle croaked. Sasha shrugged.

“Your suitcase. Why?” the girl looked down at the shirt and suddenly a zesty whiff of it caught her nose. Sasha hardly hung out the boys, only when she been to Australia during the summers, but she knew a guy smell when she smelt it and by the way Nelle’s face had gone temporarily pale, she slowly retreated back to the bedroom because she now realized this was not just some random shirt. Sasha knew all about Luke. She knew it was a bit of a touchy subject. She quickly changed into another shirt that was lying around.

Finally, when Sasha came back into the room, Nelle opened the awaiting first package. The flaps of the skinny box opened fully until they were flat against the kitchen counter surface. Staring up at her were four familiar faces in various shades of yellow, violet, and blue. The word YOUNGBLOOD was written across the middle in a graffiti red font. Nelle carefully lifted the plastic entrapped vinyl record from the cardboard.

Sasha, hovering over her friend’s shoulder, whistled lowly. “Damn, you didn't tell me Cal looked that good now!”

Nelle snickered and threw back a playful hit to Sasha's side. “I've tried to hook y’all up multiple times. You two just hate love so much.” Sasha scoffed as she pulled the new record from Nelle’s grip. She flipped it over to see the back and the track listing.

“Oh, I’ve heard Want You Back just the other day. Was Luke singing about you?” Sasha mused as she put the vinyl down and helped open the other boxes. There were two more of the same record, two CDs, and finally at the very bottom of the original box under the packing peanuts was the band’s clothing merch to go along with the new era.

Nelle ran her hand over the material of one of the shirts that showcased the boys' faces. Her fingers lingering over Luke’s face. “Nah. That song was written before I left.”

Sasha’s eyebrow quirked up, but she shrugged her shoulders. She held up one of the CD albums. “Should we listen?” Nelle nodded. “Good, because we were going to regardless.”

<<*>><<*>>

Nicole: Welcome back everyone. If you’re just tuning in, we have 5 Seconds of Summer in the studio right now! They’ve just released their new album and they were thoughtful enough to stop by today to talk about it. Guys, why don’t y’all say hello again.

Michael: Hey, I’m Michael.

Ashton: I’m Ash.

Calum: Calum, here.

Luke: And I’m Luke. We’re 5 Seconds of Summer.

Ryan: We have a few more questions from our callers. This one is from Mary: Youngblood is obviously the principal track seeing as it’s also the name of the album. Did you know that that was going to be the name of it or was it like a damn, we forgot to name the album, quick, just pick a song to name it after kind of thing?

Michael: HA! Yeah, that last option. Without a doubt.

Ashton: No, really! It was. We had other titles that we were referring the album to during the recording session, but we had to scrap a bunch of songs and basically start over. The album wasn’t fully completed and to our satisfaction until just last month. We had the promo pictures, the whole works, and then they were like ‘Is this going to be named Untitled?’ and Mike was like ‘What’s our next single? Just call it that.’

Nicole: Woow! I guess your fans really know you, huh? So I’ve been listening to it pretty much on repeat and some of these songs are really deep, heart wrenching, very mature. Very different from your previous albums. Can you explain the writing process and how this album was not like the others?

Luke: With Youngblood, they gave us a lot more creative permission, I guess is the right way to put it. Our other albums were done when we were teens so lyrically and musically, they didn’t give us as much freedom as they did with YB. We had to take a break after the release and touring of the second album because we were just so worn down; our physical and mental health were at an all-time low.

Ashton: It just sucked, really. We couldn’t focus or concentrate on what was going to be our new album when we just weren’t feeling like ourselves. Halfway into our break, Want You Back just came to me. When I played it through for the first time to the guys, everything else just came naturally from there. I guess that would be the rawness and deep, wrenching sound you hear so different from our previous work.

Ryan: One of our listeners is asking if any of the songs are about anyone in particular. Girlfriend maybe?

Calum: Umm… no? Ha, I don’t think so. At least none of the songs that I input in aren’t about anyone. I mean… sure, we take from our past experiences and put them into song, but for me, that’s a no.

Michael: Cal is anti-love, everyone. I think, like Cal said, we take from our past experiences; we’ve been up, down, and around the world for a long time. That does it make difficult to be in a relationship with someone and actually make it work. I’ve tried, Ash has tried, we all have. It’s just not in our cards right now.

Ashton: Unless you count our personal assistant…

Nicole: Whoa! Personal assistant? Who’s dating the personal assistant? … … Listeners, everyone is looking at Luke.

Ryan: Aww, he’s blushing.

Calum: He’s not dating our personal assistant. What Ashton means is… our EX-assistant, who had been with us since before the beginning, ya know, quit on us just before we released Youngblood the single. We’ve never been with any other assistant than her. So, it’s been challenging to say the least and Luke, who’s probably the most dependent person EVER, has been having a grueling time adjusting without her here.

Ashton: Yeah, yeah! Nelle was the best! She was like f*cking top-notch. I think like Rihanna, One Direction before their hiatus, uhh, I want to also say Fifth Harmony have tried to hire her when she was still with us. She’s like the fifth member of the band. She’s the fifth Second.

Michael: Dude, that was lame. But so damn true. Funny story, she used to come out in a lot of our paparazzi pictures and the fans would just ugh, be so nasty to her because they thought she was one of our girlfriends or whatever. We had to come out with a statement saying like yo, chill, she’s just our assistant, she means no harm, she’s just walking me to McDonalds… Then the fans were like OMG Nelle has the best style and she’s so beautiful blah blah blah. So, she’s a Yale student now with one of those influencer instas… so make sure to follow @seeyouneller…

<<>><>><<>><<>><<>><<>>

The hotel room was tense. No one dared to make a sound as Luke paced back and forth. His fury running off him, his hands were clenched at his sides, his mouth in a scowl, his light blue eyes were dark as the ocean floor.

Calum nervously looked at his blonde friend, worried that even just glancing at him might cause Luke to erupt. The longest five minutes passed before Luke stopped walking. He turned his body to the cowering three. He inhaled and then signed the heaviest sigh.

“I swear, you have the biggest fucking mouth!” Luke exclaimed towards Ashton.

Ashton shook his head, his red locks bouncing around his head. The newly dyed red hair matched Ashton’s hot head nature and with Luke going off on his, Ashton didn’t know how much longer he could hold it in.

“It was just a statement! I didn’t exactly say Oh Luke is dating our ex-assistant because it’s not fucking true. It was just a quip. You two left off on… whatever the fuck ya’ll left off on, so… It was nothing, Luke.”

Luke glared at the drummer. His breathing was hard, making it look like his whole body was shaking. His fists were clenched at his side, knuckles white to the bone.

“Yeah, dude. I mean, it could have been me who was dating her.” Michael chimed in. “Sorry we looked at you. I don’t know what to really say… It’s just one interview of like a hundred that we’re going to do. No one is going to get anything out of it.”

Calum, who had remained quiet this whole time, suddenly cleared his throat. His friends all turned to him, Luke’s eyebrow raising in a bold way.

“You know we are in New York though.” Calum started. “And we were on satellite radio… You guys remember Sasha… Nelle’s other best friend. Would spend the summer with her every other year? Had braces for like ever then the last summer she visited, she was super hot?”

“Yes, we know you have the hots for her.” Ashton said exasperatedly. “What about her?”

“Anyway, she texted me. She heard the interview. Nelle listen to it. No biggie.” Calum tried to smile, but failed tremendously. Michael darted his eyes to Luke.

“We didn’t say anything bad about her. She’s fine, right? Fuck… I should text her. We should ask her to get dinner with us. She’s back at the loft, right?” Ashton pulled his phone out his pocket as he spoke. He was already tapping rapidly on his phone before anyone could answer.

Luke furrowed his eyebrows, cocking his head to the side. “You’ve been talking to her?”

At this question, Ashton slowly lowered his phone to his lap. He gulped audibly. His words were stuck in his throat. He hadn’t meant to slip up. It had been decided that he with Michael and Calum were not going to tell Luke where Nelle was living at. He had already tried to follow her to Australia once and London.

It had been unpredicted what each member would go through at Nelle’s departure. Calum was sad for a few days; he wasn’t sure what to do with himself without his travel buddy, but quickly adjusted to the new assistant. Michael, too, was upset, but he was adapting well. Ashton wallowed for a bit, maybe more so than Calum and Michael, because like Luke, he still crushed way too hard on Nelle. He knew that there was nothing ever going to happen between the two; he’d realized that Nelle did have feelings for Luke, so he had to get over it, and she was always a text or phone call away, so the adjusting wasn’t too difficult. It was just she was not there anymore, physically.

However, Luke went through a tantrum phase. Anything the new assistant did was absolutely wrong. He blew up at the smallest things. If he asked for room temperature water, but got slightly cool water, he would throw a bitch fit. He distanced himself from the band for a bit. He only spoke with them when they had shows or interviews. He’d stayed locked up in his bus bunk, hotel room, wherever they were staying at. He’d text Nelle and she’d never reply. He had tried to go Home whenever he’d spoken with his mother and she told him that Nelle had just left her house. He tried to go to London when he’d overheard Michael leaving a rather upsetting voicemail about her disowning them for Mali-Koa. The sudden vastness of her being not there threw him for a loop. This crush, intense liking, feeling for her was messing with him severely. If she’d departed the band at any other time, he knew he wouldn’t be reacting this way. She just had to leave when his emotions for her had just blossomed.

Fuck.

Calum suddenly raised up from his spot on the couch. He was nervously spinning his phone in hand, checking the time after every third spin.

Suddenly he stopped, facing Luke. Calum’s head tilted slightly, confused at once.

“I just don’t fucking get it.” He mused. This time it was Luke to look bewildered. “Why? Why are suddenly so strung up on Nelle? You’re acting so clingy and it’s weird. You’ve never shown any interest in her. We go on hiatus, start touring again and all of sudden you’re acting like her boyfriend. Giggling, sleeping in her room, fighting to sit next to her, inside jokes…”

“Ya know… now that you’re saying it like that, it definitely seems like Luke is keeping something from us.” Michael chimed in. Ashton’s head perked up towards the front man. Could Luke been harboring a secret this long, months on end? Luke was never good with keeping quiet.

Luke’s eyes darted around his bandmates. His scowl dropping, being replaced with nervous lip chewing and nervous hand twisting.

He inhaled and exhaled heavily.

“We kissed.” He blurted out after what felt like minutes of awkward silence and three pairs of eyes awaiting eagerly.

Michael clutched his imaginary pearls, his very exaggerated gasps filling the room.

“What? When? Where? HoooOOOOoOW?” he howled. Calum shot him an annoyed glance.

Calum was neither shocked nor upset about the statement. He just wanted to know what happened between his two best friends. He just wanted his band to go back to normal.

“It was when we were on break.” Luke exclaimed. Ashton’s eyebrow raised. He recalled him spending time with Nelle, not anymore than usual, yet she never brought up the fact that she had kissed one of his best friends.

“Well that explains fucking everything.” Michael stated sarcastically. “C’mon, there’s gotta be more.”

Luke sighed, shaking his head.

“I was supposed to be doing my therapy sessions, but every time I'd get in the car, I’d have these intense anxiety attacks that kept me from driving. I told Cal and he suggested he drive me… I said okay and on the next time I went to his house so we could ride together. He wasn’t there but Nelle was.

“She was supposed to be on vacation just like us but I explained to her what had happened and she insisted. She took me to my session and we got lunch afterwards. It was weird. We didn’t say much, just made polite conversation.

“On my next session, same thing happened. Cal forgot, wasn’t home, Nelle took me. It became a routine. She took me to all my sessions even after I objected to wasting her time and I could easily get my mom or one of you to take me.

“The day that Ash came up with Want You Back…” Luke paused, his cerulean blues looking towards Calum wearily. “After the session, I was reading the texts from you, telling me to all meet at Cal's because Ashton called a band meeting so we got there but obviously no one was there yet. Nelle invited me into her house. I’d never been inside but that time we helped her and Cal move in…

“By this time we had kind of become friends but there was this tension and I know she felt it too. Next thing I know we're making out… like full-on making out, with her pulling me towards her room. We get in there and we collapse on her bed. I remember black everything and lavender sheets. It smelled like her pop rocks smelling lotion with a twinge of weed. We're kissing. Intensely.”

Luke stopped talking again. All the boys were staring at him, in awe of the story he had been struggling to keep internal. Calum noticed the way Luke reached up to place a hand on his chest; he clutched the material of his gray shirt, a far off in the distance glassy gaze on his handsome face.

“She heard Calum’s car on the driveway before I did. I’d been so absorbed in her, thinking how the fuck is this happening? Is this really fucking happening right now! She separated from me so fast that I felt literally cold and empty. Then she acted like nothing happened. She didn’t say anything about it. Just went on like… as if it just didn’t occur.

“But I couldn’t forget. I tried to talk to her about it and she just acted like she didn’t know what I was talking about so I did the same. Then we started touring again and working on the new album and it was a distraction. A good one… until I realized that I liked her. That’s why I was getting to know her, bothering her, hanging around her. She couldn’t tell me no knowing that it would look suspicious to you. I think she gave in to me eventually because I know she feels the same. She feels the same way I feel for her.

“And I'm sorry. I’m sorry to all three of you for keeping this secret. For being a fucking asshole. I just… I think it’s beyond the like stage. I think I’m like… at the L-word stage.”

#5sos #5 seconds of summer #luke hemmings #calum hood #michael clifford #ashton irwin #please dont regret me #luke hemming imagines #5 second of summer imagines #5sos imagine

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harlot-of-oblivion · 4 years

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I just read your Fairies may cry story, oh my gawd it is freaking cute! I loved it! I couldn't help but be reminded of Oona from legend. I love that movie :) Please tell me you are gonna write more in the future, I wanna see how the rest of the dmc crew reacts and feels of the fairy and Vergil feelings develop.

Aww thank you so much, Nonnie! 🌹😍🌹

I loooooove Legend too! And I remember Oona...so cute! :3

And I’m totally writing more Fairies May Cry in the furture! I have a looooooong list of cute little prompts that I’m working my way through in between my bigger updates, so I’m definitely not done with all the pixie high jinks such as:

Meeting the rest of crew, who all have their own little pixie nickname

Bonding with Scruffy Boy after apologizing for eating all of his ice cream

Showing Scruffy Boy how a prank is really done

Learning what the term “girlfriend” means

All the pixie gifts, tiny treats, and flowery dresses

That’s only a small snippet for I have in store, so be sure to stay tuned for all your very pretty pixie needs! ✨🧚🏻‍♀️✨

#this series has the longest list #because this is my go to daydream while im at work #Lil Pea is just so cute :3 #vergil #peaseblossom #pixie reader #fairies may cry #harlot speaks

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kitten1618x · 5 years

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GoT Afterthoughts ep. 08x01 ‘Winterfell’(Part 2)

Okay, well now that I’ve gotten some sleep, let us continue, shall we?

So we left off with the Great Hall sass-fest between Dany and Sansa, who clearly have gotten off on the wrong foot. Not gonna lie, I’m enjoying this jealous, very snappy side of Sansa. Remember when I told you all last season that it would take the threat of Dany encroaching upon what Sansa perceived as hers — her home, her closeness with Jon and her place by his side — for us to start seeing her feelings begin to emerge? Well my friends, I believe its begun, and it’s only going to get worse as the season progresses. Sophie did say that Sansa’s fight this season was a more passionate one...

As for Dany’s reply? I’m sure that I don’t have to tell y’all how highly inappropriate it was. Not that i begrudge homegirl a saucy clapback, but that’s probably not the best thing to tell an entire room full of people who don’t particularly trust you yet, and know how dangerous and unpredictable your dragons are. And let’s not forget that the dragons actually have eaten people before, so it’s really nothing to joke and/or scoff about. For me, it harkens on Jorah’s comments in the season 7 finale regarding why the Dragon Pit was constructed...

“Dragons don’t understand the difference between what’s there’s and what isn’t. Land, livestock, children...”

So for Dany to make such a flippant statement just to get a one-up on Sansa isn’t a very bright move, imo.

We move out into the courtyard where Gendry has taken charge of the task of unloading the stock of Dragonglass. Tyrion watches him from the battlements, and spies Sansa and Lord Royce. Their reunion was always going to be awkward due to the circumstances they parted on, but I suppose Tyrion feels like there’s no time like the present to get it out of the way, and approaches them. Bless Lord Royce for watching out for Lady Stark. ❤️ He leaves only when she indicates that it’s alright.

They exchange some terse pleasantries, and Tyrion learns rather quickly that Sansa is no longer the meek young girl he once knew. While she remains polite, she doesn’t watch her tone nor shy away from saying exactly what’s on her mind. This is her home and he’s on her turf now.

They share a few barbs about the purple wedding and Sansa apologizes for leaving so abruptly. It’s really just a formality, and Tyrion knows it, judging by his reply. Is he resentful that she left him holding the bag? I’m not rightly sure, to be honest, and she doesn’t clarify on the circumstances she left under, either. He wasn’t back in season 4, but people do change, along with their perspectives.

“Many have underestimated you, most of them are dead now.”

Well if that isn’t some kind of ominous foreshadowing shit, I don’t know what is? It’s also the truth, so Team Dracarys beware!

Tyrion attempts to quell the fear he’s certain she must have about the Lannister army coming to Winterfell, and Sansa calls him out for trusting Cersei. He tries to explain that he believes this time is different because Cersei has something to live for now. I know everyone thinks this is a nod to the possibility of Cersei being pregnant — but what if it’s something else? What if it’s her revenge that’s keeping Cersei going? It has in the past... I mean, this is Cersei we’re talking about, and at this point I’m just throwing shit at the wall to see what sticks. lol

In any event, Sansa gives a subtle shake of her head and leaves him with some striking words that are sure to cut Tyrion deep in his pride (beings that he ‘drinks and he knows things’ and puts a lot of stock in his own perceived cleverness): “I used to think you were the most cleverest man alive.” Ouch.

My girl is really out here snatching these wigs left and right!

Sansa walks off leaving Tyrion to ice that sick burn... perhaps he can cool it with that frigid stare Bran is giving him from the courtyard below? Methinks something is amiss, and methinks Bran is gonna be pulling the receipts soon. Either way, it’s hard not to be a little freaked out by Bran, and Tyrion certainly looks the part here.

We move to the Godswood where Jon stands alone before the heart tree. He looks upset. I mean, he is Broody McBroodster and all, but what’s got my precious snowflake son so pensive? He did manage to secure ‘the greatest army the world has ever seen and two large dragons’ after all, and (supposedly) spent the last month ‘balls deep’ in his auntie D, so what could be troubling him? How long do you guys have? lol AND WHERE THE FUCK IS GHOST?

Arya sneaks up on him, telling him he used to be taller, and my heart just grew three times its size. 💗 They lunge into a hug reminiscent of the first season when they parted ways as young, naive Starklings, and dear lord, either I’m the grinch who stole Christmas, or I better call a cardiologist!! Jon even squeezes his eyes shut and looks like he’s fighting back tears! Gahhhhhhhh!!!!!

Of course Jon sees that Arya still has Needle. He asks if she’s used it yet, and she... omits the truth. For whatever reason, Arya isn’t ready to share this part of herself with Jon yet, and it makes my heart hurt so much for her loss of innocence. AND THESE MOTHERFUCKERS BETTER LEAVE MY REMAINING STARKLINGS ALONE IS2G!!

Jon shows off Longclaw, and jfc, these two dorks look so cute with their matching Ned Stark hairdos and their dramatic-ass eyebrows, here beneath the heart tree in Winterfell, and ahhhhhhhh! Okay, okay, I’m done gushing... for now.

Anyway, shits about to get a little weird here... Jon gestures with his hand then bends down, placing that hand on Arya’s shoulder and pulls her in as if he’s about to share a secret and asks where she was before, ‘cos he coulda used her help earlier with Sansa. I say weird because that’s the vibe I got, especially when Arya physically turns her head to look at his hand when he places it there, like she’s onto him or something. She even knows exactly what he’s referring to when she states very matter-of-factly, “she doesn’t like your Queen, does she?”

It’s all very condescending (and cut me some slack, because I’m not even sure that’s the right word here) — but his mannerisms, the way he sort of mocks Sansa about thinking she’s smarter than everyone, then seems taken aback when Arya defends her—when Jon, himself, knows damn well that Sansa is quite smart, and has even said so.

I was ready to climb into my tv and box Jonathan’s ears until it dawned on me just how isolated he must feel right now. The man has literally given up everything for what he holds most dear: his family and the North, only to be met with disappointment from those he cares the most about. And yes, especially Sansa, whom he constantly seeks validation from. His brooding in the Godswood makes a bit more sense now, as does his need to get his old confidant ‘sibling’ on his ‘side’—however immature it may be.

I could be wrong, of course, but my opinion only solidifies when Arya tells him that Sansa is only defending her family, and Jon suddenly drops the act and replies softly, “I’m her family, too.”

With a small smile, she pulls her needy validation-seeking big bro back in for another hug and tells him, “Don’t forget that,” as the camera pans back on Jon’s face and we see the emotional impact her words have on him as he squeezes his eyes shut.

We cut to Kings Landing where Cersei watches the arrival of Euron’s Fleet. Qyburn brings her the news that the AotD have broken through the wall, as to which she replies with an emotionless, “Good,” before we cut to Euron sharing words with the commander of the Golden Company.

He goes below deck to taunt Yara a bit — ‘blah blah blah, and balls and first I’m gonna fuck the queen.’ And I do love Euron, and I don’t know why, but he talks way too fucken much and doesn’t really say much of anything.

Cersei receives them in the throne room and is very disappointed that the Golden Company didn’t bring the elephants she was expecting. She dismisses them, but Euron has other ideas (as he expressed to his niece earlier on the ship). Cersei basically tells him to piss off with an excellent quote if I may say:

“If you want a whore, buy one. If you want a queen, earn her.”

But she’s not the only one prone to manipulating situations, and I get the feeling she knows that Euron’s loyalties are sketchy at best — and so we are given the impression that she relents, when she turns back, and Euron makes it past the Mountain unscathed.

Now we’re in Bronn’s room—whom I guess has taken up residence within the Red Keep? He’s about to get his 4-way on, but the girls keep chatting on about the Lannister soldiers that were maimed by Drogon in the field of fire 2.0 — specifically Eddie, a ginger boy who’s eyelids were burned right off. I assume this was one of the young boys Arya met on her way to kill the queen before she changed her mind? Probably Ed Sheeren.

Arya is not going to be happy about this.

Qyburn interrupts this tepid display of GoT sex (still hotter than floppy chicken sex) with a special request from the queen. He’s got the crossbow Tyrion used to kill Tywin, and a mission for Bronn. Will he carry it out? Change sides? Is this possibly how the kidnap!plot unfolds (for those of you who have considered it)? Only time will tell.

And speaking of such — I’m only 30 minutes into the episode and this has gotten looooooong again. Have I always been this long-winded in my recaps?

I’m gonna go ahead and publish this since it’s already a day late. Maybe I’ll have the whole recap finished before the new episode airs?! KIDDING! But seriously, I’m sorry guys... battling illness myself with sick kids and I’m trying here, I swear!!

#got afterthoughts #part 2 #got s8 #jonsa #political!jon #anti jonerys #anti targaryen restoration #anti daenerys #(not really but just being safe)#melissa rants #long post

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nanonaturalist · 6 years

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When I were a lad I had the unfortunate luck to sit on on a yellow jacket nest, step on another a week later and then a hornet nest a week later. I developed a phobia and now my heart races even if a fly buzzes past my ear. I have done some emersion therapy by walking in a lavender field while honey bees were working.. but I still fear bee-ish creatures. I love them and I plant them flowers, but I want to be less afraid. What can I do?

Hello, @keepcalmandcarrieunderwood, I’ve been thinking about your question a lot, and this is a really hard one to answer. The obvious first step in getting over a fear of anything is wanting to get over that fear. When you have so many traumatic experiences so close together, especially when you’re young, it will take a lot of work to train your mind to be more comfortable around black and yellow striped things. So first off, congratulations on wanting to be more comfortable about our stripey friends! The good news is, you can do it!

Warning: wall of text precedes bug photos! Also this got Looooooong sorry (not sorry)

Fun fact about me: I have a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology (from way back in 2005). And one of my favorite things about studying psychology was learning about classical and operant conditioning. You are probably already familiar with both of these.

In classical conditioning, two stimuli are paired (they may or may not be at all related), and your reflexive, unconscious response to one gets associated to the other. This phenomenon was popularized with Pavlov and his digestive experiments with dogs (dogs salivate when a bell rings in the absence of food, because the bell has been paired with food many times previously). In your case, the two stimuli are actually very closely related (seeing/hearing things that might be stinging insects, and being stung by stinging insects). Because many organisms rely on learning quickly about danger for survival, it can only take one such pairing to develop a very long-lasting response to something.

In operant conditioning, behaviors are punished or rewarded, which can result in an individual’s behavior changing given the right circumstances. The behavior change is not necessarily conscious. A lot of interesting stuff in our brains happens outside of view from us. Say you look into a cactus flower once and you see a really cool beetle. Neat! You’re going to start looking into cactus flowers a lot more often. And if you keep seeing neat beetles, oh boy those cactus flowers better look out. Even if those flowers start turning up empty, you’ll still keep peeking in them for a while, even if you are in a situation where it’s really not appropriate to keep peeking into cactus flowers (apologies to people on my last guided hike…). I’ll get back to operant conditioning in a minute.

You may have heard about a common treatment for anxiety disorders called Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. I’m a big fan of this method, because it asks you to re-evaluate your thoughts, as you are having them, to restructure your gut reaction to a situation into a less emotionally-charged one. In other words, you have a fear resulting from classical conditioning–it’s totally reflexive and unconscious, and you had no control over the creation of your phobia. The problem is, phobias can become self-sustaining with the help of operant conditioning. Basically: Bee > PANIC! > flee > relief! The act of removing yourself from bee-like insects will give you relief from the fear, and makes you more likely to avoid bee-like insects in the future. But, you don’t want to be afraid anymore!

The trick is: turn your reflexive, unconscious responses into thoughts. This can be really hard–I have a lot of generalized anxiety issues, and I don’t always know what (if any) actual thoughts are making me uneasy. But I think it is easier to translate reflexes into thoughts for phobias, even if they aren’t always logical.

In the case of a fear of stings from bees/wasps, there are several angles you can take:

Learn more about stinging insects and their behaviors, and understand why they sting. Take fear and reshape it into curiosity, use what you learn to avoid getting stung.

Not all that buzzes is a bee. Similarly for yellow/black striped insects. There are lots of mimics out there, who look like a dangerous stinging insect to protect themselves, when they are totally harmless. Learn how to tell them apart, so know which ones couldn’t hurt you even if they wanted to.

Not all bees/wasps can sting! Males cannot sting, and some species are completely stingless.

Desensitization through Education

First off, you need to know a little about stingers. What are they, exactly? Well, they weren’t originally stingers. Before there were stingers, there were ovipositors.

Ovipositors in katydids. Left two: common conehead katydids; Right: lesser meadow katydid

Ovipositors are tubes that some insects use to lay their eggs inside something. Insects who lay their eggs in the ground (but who aren’t burrowing insects, like katydids) will use the ovipositor to make sure the eggs are safely tucked away from predators. Some insects go a step further, and lay their eggs inside another organism (these are called parasites or parasitoids depending on whether or not they kill the host). These insects will lay their eggs either in plant tissues (gall wasps and midges do this, and I wrote a post about galls a little while back [link]), or in animal tissues.

Various parasitic wasps, Superfamily Ichneumonoidea. I have no idea who these are at the moment. iNat links: [Photo 1 Link] [Photo 2 Link] [Photo 3 Link]

These parasitoid insects tend to be wasps, and they tend to have some pretty fancy ovipositors. The larger ones tend to parasitize caterpillars, and before you gasp and lament the plight of the poor helpless babies, remember that every living creature in nature serves a very important purpose. Caterpillars can absolutely destroy a vegetable garden. These wasps make sure there’s still something left for us.

These wasps do not sting. The painful sting is a result of venom, and these wasps with long ovipositors do not have a venom gland.

But, as insects are wont to do, if there is a niche, they will fill it. The inside of the caterpillar is claimed? Well, you can just lay your egg on the caterpillar instead. This is a lot harder to do. With a long ovipositor, you can just hold on, stick it in, and go. But if you need to lovingly affix your eggs to the outside of a wiggling caterpillar, you’re gonna have a hard time. If only there was a way to temporarily paralyze it!

Meet Netelia. This is a genus of Ichneumon wasp. Notice her ovipositor? Kinda short, huh? That’s because it’s a stinger [link]. She stings the caterpillar, which is paralyzed long enough for her to beadazzle it with eggs, and off she goes. I don’t know much about the evolutionary history of ovipositors and stingers, but somehow, some species started living in large colonies full of sterile female workers and a stingless queen who laid all the eggs (think ants and bees). If you didn’t reproduce, you could make some pretty scary and painful stingers to protect your colony! Also: this means that only females can sting.

And this brings us to the issue: some of them DO sting humans and it is not pleasant!

Bees and wasps are similar in that the notorious species tend to live in large colonies, but they sting for very different reasons. Bees are defensive (their stingers are embedded into flesh and detach from their bodies–a nice way of saying they rip their guts out and die), while wasps are offensive (they can sting many, many times, and will do it when they feel threatened even if they are not under attack).

Left: Western Honey Bee; Right: Apache Wasp

Why are they so different? Bees are vegetarians, so they have no need to kill for food. Their stingers are the last line of defense for their colonies, because every bee who stings will die. A colony can’t survive if all the workers die, but it also needs to protect the young and the queen. But these bees tend to make fairly elaborate hives which serve as a good line of defense in addition to the army of stinging workers. Bees will sting if you are actively harming them or the hive, even if you don’t realize it. Remember those ridiculous wide leg raver pants (hey, I said I graduated from college in 2005, stop looking at me like that)? I knew a guy who wore those all the time, and one day his pant leg managed to fall over a single lady bee, and she… uh… Well, she felt threatened. Let’s just say I laughed. Yes, as it happened. I regret nothing. Bees do not want to sting you.

Wasps are also vegetarians (wait, WHAT??)–at least, they are in adulthood. Wasp larvae? Carnivores. Those evil wasps killing other bugs and carrying them off are taking them to their nest. They will lay an egg alongside their prey, which is paralyzed to keep it alive until the egg hatches (terrifying, huh?). What a good mother! Some wasp species are solitary, and their nests can be safe underground. But paper wasps, which you are likely more familiar with, have their babies literally hanging out in the open. Their delicious, nutritious babies. They are so vulnerable! They must be protected!

Paper wasps. Left: Apache wasp nest; Right: Common paper wasp nest

The only thing between a hungry predator and the life of those babies are the valiant wasps sworn to protect the nest. If they sense something which triggers the “hungry predator” switch in their brain, they will attack. Is their nest pretty low to the ground? Are you TOO CLOSE? Look out! Is their nest HIDDEN IN YOUR BALCONY WALL and you bump the side while enjoying a beautiful spring day? Are you throwing rocks at the nest? Do you smell like a bear? I don’t know what triggers wasps, but the only time I’ve been stung was when they secretly lived in my balcony wall. Thing with wasps is, when they’ve had enough, they will come after you. They can sting you to teach you to STAY AWAY and fly back to their nest.

But, if you don’t set off “hungry predator” alarms, and instead exist in their world as “irrelevant scavenger,” you can actually get pretty close to them. I was lucky to find this Common Paper Wasp lady making her nest on the underside of a pokeweed leaf in my backyard two years ago. I took these photos with my phone. I was inches away from her. Sometimes I had a headlamp shining in her face. She never once came after me. I started to recognize her foraging around my yard for paper fiber (ever see a wasp hanging out on your wooden fence, or landing on grass or dried dead plants? they are collecting building materials!), so I could get a really close look at her nest and the eggs inside. Look in the cells in the nest in the top left and bottom right photos. Those little white things are her eggs!

So there’s a bit of a Catch-22 here. If you’re not afraid of wasps, come up to them curiously, SHOVE A CELL PHONE IN THEIR FACE WHILE BLINDING THEM WITH A HEADLAMP, eh, they don’t care. But if you are afraid of getting stung… what are you going to do? Calmly walk away? NO! You’re going to swat at it, flail around, run, scream, etc. All things a predator would do. Same thing with bees. Sometimes, they will land on you for whatever reason. Maybe you’re wearing a fluorescent yellow shirt and you look delicious.

All this baby wanted was some nectar, and from her perspective, I was *clearly* advertising that I had bountiful nectar reserves. If I was not aware that they see UV light, and that this is how they find flowers so quickly, and if I instead thought that bees hate the color yellow and will sting you if you’re wearing it (this is what I was taught growing up… *sigh*), I would have thought I was getting attacked, and would have started with the flailing. This lady, who thought she was coming for lunch, instead now has to start fighting? She’s gonna be mad.

There is a lot to know about bees and wasps. I do not know that much about them, but I think they are very interesting and I love learning more about them.

Mimics Can’t Fool You!

Wow that first section was long. How about some pictures of things that aren’t bees or wasps?

Hover flies! Top: Left - Eupeodes sp.; Right - Copestylum sp. Bottom: Left - Palpada agrorum; Right - Yellow-shouldered Drone Fly

Longhorn beetles! Top: Neoclytus mucronatus (both photos) Bottom: Left - Zebra Longhorn Beetle; Right - Painted Hickory Borer

Robber flies! Left: MacQuart’s Bee-mimic Robber Fly; Right: Beelzebub Bee-Killer

Moths! Left: Sphinx moths; Right: Clear-wing mothsI know, I’m cheating a little here. These are specimens in the Texas A&M University Entomology Collections. They have an open house every January and it’s AMAZING!

Bee flies! (really!) Left: Poecilanthrax sp.; Middle: Exoprosopa fascipennis; Right: Villa sp.

Some clear take-aways here: (1) Flies are very into bees(2) Looking like a bee/wasp is a very successful survival strategy!(3) If it looks like a bee… it’s probably a fly (unless it’s actually a bee)

Stingless Fakers

There are two major groups of bees that don’t sting–Tribe Meliponini (Stingless Bees) and Family Andrenidae (Mining Bees).

Admittedly, I have not seen many of these. The two Meliponini species I saw were in Malawi (Africa), and those are the two photos on the left. Far left is a group going to their hive (they can make honey, too!), and center is a different species in their nest (a wax tube on the side of my cottage). These bees are so tiny you’d think they were fruit flies! Right photo is from West Texas, Mining Bees in the Macrotera genus (I love them! Little Valentine butts!)

BUT! There is another fairly common group of stingless bees: MALES. No male insect can sting (they can bite if equipped, but remember, stingers are modified ovipositors!). You may never see a male honey bee, but here’s what they look like:

Not the best photo, but you can see he’s shaped… kinda weird? His eyes are HUGE, which is probably the easiest way to tell him apart from the females.

You are more likely to meet a male Carpenter bee, however. How will you know a male carpenter bee?

Male Eastern Carpenter Bee above. I read the males have a white patch on their face (look! his nose!), and there were some other features, but really, WHITE! NOSE!

Another Carpenter Bee I see at home (and NOTICE because … well you’ll see in a minute):

Xylocopa tabaniformis Carpenter Bee. Many apologies for the TERRIBLE PHOTOS. These were from my phone before I had a Real Camera and they only *just came back* this year and I am way behind on photos sorrryyyyyyyy

Anyway, I don’t know how to tell the females/males apart visually (or if you even can). And this photo may very well be of a female, who knows. But the way you know the males: They will get in your business. That’s why I call this section “Stingless Fakers.” It’s because of these. I love them. This pink bush is right outside my front door. I walk around it to get to my car in the morning. And in the summers, there are always a few of these buzzing around. And the males are interested in protecting their (small underground) colonies, so they will COME UP TO YOU to see if you’re a threat. Or maybe to intimidate you because THEY ARE A BEE THEY COULD STING LOOK OUT!

Carpenter bees are distinguished from bumble bees by not being as furry. Carpenter bees will have shiny abdomens. Bumble Bees should be bumbly furry.

ANYWAY IN CONCLUSION Bees/Wasps are interesting, not everything is a bee/wasp even if it looks like one, and they don’t all sting. I wish you the best of luck in facing your fears and buzzing back at bees and hornets in triumph.

Posted (finally–sorry!) May 31, 2018As always, all photos are mine and most were taken in Texas. Exceptions are Netelia and Meliponini from Malawi.

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cookie-dough98 · 6 years

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“I hate that I love you >:(”

It’s been a looooooong time Sorry :[ finally the part 4 is ready! I hope you like it!

He didn’t know why, but almost always he had to be in the same class as Tank. As always they were sitting far away from each other.

He was really curious about the conversation Tank wanted to have with him... it was very suspicious. Why would Tank wanted to talk to him? Johnny was sure that it was a trap, but...

He was feeling so miserable, to the point that if it was all a trap of Tank and actually he just wanted to beat him to death ... he wouldn’t care at all. So, when the bell to go home rang, he decided to approach Tank.

-”Ok here I am, what the hell do you want to tell me?”

-”Well, could we go to a more private place?”

-”Why in private?”

-”Cause it’s a conversation just between you and me”

Tank tried to put the words in order in his head, he felt like if he had suddenly forgotten how to speak, somehow the word “sorry” had been deleted in his vocabulary, he just couldn’t find the right words to express what he wanted to say.

-”Uh... Okay, Smith I want to apologize for being so mean to you all this time, you didn’t deserve it, I was wrong and I'm so sorry... you are a really nice person and I wish I could undo the things I have done

You know that I admire my father and I want to be like him, but I don’t want to be an exact copy of him, I realized that to be like my father I didn't have to hate the same people he hates, I just don’t see the point on hating you anymore”

-”What? Are you feeling ok Tank? I think you are raving or something like that, Am I ok? cause I heard you saying that you don’t hate me anymore. Then, suddenly you decided not to hate aliens anymore?”

-”Well, yeah... I want to be a better person”

-”You will never change Tank, so stop saying stupid things. What the hell is wrong with you?”

-”I really want to change, believe me! I don’t want to fight with you anymore, I promise! please Smith, believe me, I know is hard to trust in me but I’m really sorry”

Tank looked completely desperate, apparently he was not lying ... but he shouldn't trust him! But... Tank didn't used to be so mean, at some point in his life he used to be a good boy, it was by the time when his mother dissappeared that he started to change. It is not Tank's fault being influenced by his father all the time, and the General is the worst person he ever had the disgrace to met. What if he really wanted to change? It's never too late to do it...

-”Okay Tank...”

-”Huh?”

-”If you said you changed, then prove it, just then I’m going to believe in you”

-”Really?!...

...I promise you will not regret giving me a chance Johnny! Thank you so much!”

-”Can you let me go? Don’t you have to go to your home or something?”

-”I’m sorry... goodbye Johnny I’ll see you tomorrow!”

-”Whatever, just go”

It had definitely been a crazy day, Tank apologized and also hugged him, never thought he would live to see that.

He just hoped he didn't have to regret his decision.

#I hate that I love you >:(#ts2 story #part 4 #tank grunt #johnny smith #sorry it took me so long

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kewltie · 6 years

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pls pls, gimme courtesan!deku set in edo period.

where deku’s family has been serving bakugou house for generations and they grew up side by side but an accident took inko’s life and had deku sold into a pleasure house. the childhood friends were then separated but never forgot each other even as deku grew up and is train to be courtesan.

deku never truly accepted his fate and is always dreaming of a world beyond the gates of this ‘floating city’ where he can never step out of it again. now, his life is in the hand of those who buy and barter his body... but deku is also a terribly BAD courtesan bc he is just really clumsy, awkward and bad at the whole subtle seduction thing. when he started training and learning the arts of the courtesan everybody realize how hopeless he is and normally that mean they would have drop him from the training but he work so hard on it bc even when he doesn’t want this fate deku can see the value and effort of these men and women who make a good thing out of bad position and they have a strong sense of pride in their job even as society dismissed them for their occupation. these people of the pleasure house (from the owner, the servants, and the other courtesans) become a sort of make shift family for deku and he loves them so much and wants to make them proud bc they could have dropped him anytime and sell him somewhere else bc he’s SO BAD GUYS SOOOO BAD AT THIS. but they love his kind heart and this shy kid who is so determine and stubborn that they knew they couldn’t give him away.

SO YEA HE SET HIS SIGHT ON BEING THE BEST COURTESAN EVER FOR HIS ‘FAMILY’ W/O ACTUALLY WANTING HAVING TO ACTUALLY SLEEP WITH PPL which his master (the one who is training him and also the number one in their pleasure house) is like LOL cute, BUT YOU WISH KID. his master is always constantly worry about him bc how is he going to fare in this super competitive and harsh reality of the courtesan’s world if he refuse to take a costumer for the night but as he grew older and into himself, surprisingly he got a lot of suitors bc for all his terrible efforts at being the best courtesan (lacking all the grace, skills, and finesse of the job) his quiet sincerity and warm heart won a lot of people over. so 6 months before deku’s official debut as a courtesan which mean deku is going to have to take customers (which he had been dreading) and someone is going to buy his official first night.

during this time that deku is training to be a courtesan, bakugou had been searching for deku for a long looooong time, never forgetting the boy with the green eyes. so bakugou is the heir to his clan, a daimyos house that is only second to the shogun in military power, prestige, and wealth. he’s loud and abrasive but man does he get shit done and is always fighting with the shogun’s son (todoroki). he is part of the new generation of kids of important figures who are going to reshape japan and as one of the powerhouses that everyone recognize ppl have huge expectations for him so when the rumor of the son of the bakugou clan became smitten with an insignificant courtesan the entirety of the city is in an uproar.

so bakugou never visit the pleasure quarter bc he’s literally to busy rearranging the political landscape of edo (the old generation are traditional and want to keep it as it is while bakugou and his group of allies want changes and kick the old guard out), for his birthday they dragged him to to pleasure quarter for the first time and that’s where he bump into deku again. even all these years that they haven’t met as soon as red and green eyes meet, they instantly recognized each other. to bakugou’s horror the clumsy and useless childhood friend of his is a courtesan in training and much to deku’s eternal embarrassment he doesn’t want to face bakugou like this SO HE RAN.

bakugou eventually find him again in his pleasure house but bc deku is still a trainee he can’t ask for deku personally so he pay for deku’s master instead so deku HAS TO BE THERE. and the first time they actually meet deku is so frustrated with tears by all bakugou’s effort to see him bc he wants bakugou to forget about him cuz he’s going to debut soon and he can’t have any past attachments, that he punch bakugou in the face when bakugou started yelling at him for running away DESPITE THEM MEETING AGAIN FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 10 YEARS.

which hilariously freak deku’s master out bc deku just punched the future head of the bakugou’s clan and the man who will become 2nd to the shogun. it did not calm deku’s master down when bakugou rises up and tackles deku to the floor and the next thing everyone see is the two of them wrestling like children until people start to pry them apart. the owner was told about all the commotions and came to apologize and about to send deku away bc obviously deku was the source of all the problem but bakugou level the owner a glare so ruthless it could cut a man down more than half his size. “if you dare touch deku and remove him from my side, i’ll rip this place to it bare bones to find him.” which is a dedication as any.

deku’s master is number one oiran in their house for a reason and told everyone to leave so the two can have a conversation in private which is never given bc bakugou is a costumer and deku is still a trainee and he’s NOT SUPPOSE TO BE ALONE W/ ANYONE let alone w/ a costumer. but everyone understood that this is important to deku so they let him have it.

with that time and space they managed to talk about their lost time and how deku got where he is now. deku admits that this isn’t the world he had dream of but he’s happy here with the ppl loves and cares for him and that they are his family now so bakugou doesn’t have to worry anymore he’s fine so bakugou can let him go now. bakugou is silent and eventually depart with the promise of coming back again to visit much to deku’s surprise???? he honestly thought that was the end of it bc bakugou had found him and know that deku is fine so why does he continue to be bother with deku anymore???!!!

so bakugou keep on going back to the pleasure quarter to visit deku and deku’s master play the interim by being the courtesan that bakugou’s request so he can see and talk to deku. the months come fast and hard and bakugou and deku slowly rebuilt their friendship till maybe something more but this also mean deku’s debut is coming closer and closer and deku will have to spend the night with someone. so even though deku’s heart belong to someone else he is going to give his body to another and that break his heart. he keeps it quiet and doesn’t tell bakugou so when his debut arrived and his pleasure house got a lot of efforts but with the help of his master, deku is guarantee to have a familiar face for his first night bc his master had arranged one of his regular customers to buy deku’s first night. this customer is someone deku had seen often enough while serving his master and they built a camaraderie b/t them that deku thinks he doesn’t mind it so much bc at least he knows the man will be gentle and kind to deku.

so when the night of his debut came, deku is mentally and emotionally prepare for it but also dreading it bc the one person he wanted isn’t beyond these doors. when he first step through and doesn’t see the face of the costumer his master had arranged but it turned out to be bakugou he is so shocked that he dropped to floors and cried. “hey, you’re going to ruin your make up and your master will yell at me for making you cry again,” bakugou murmurs as he crouch down next to deku’s trembling form.

apparently all of this was secretly arranged by the owner and deku’s master bc they love him so MUCH and was prepare to take a dent in payment if it mean deku was happy but bakugou had no qualm about throwing a fuckton of money buy deku’s first night.

“why are you here?” deku asks, once he’d stopped crying.

“bc if i didn’t pay for you nobody else would,” he grumbles as though DEKU IS HUGELY UNPOPULAR (which is a lie, there were a lot of offers but bakugou beat them to it lol).

anyway, they are still navigating the minefield of their feelings for each other so deku’s first night as an official courtesan??? THEY PLAYED CARDS AND GO ALL NIGHT LONG bc bakugou knows their first time won’t be force like this where deku’s emotion run high and he’s still a nervous wreck about it.

so from then on deku became a courtesan and is allow to take costumers now but!!! bakugou never let that happen. incidentally deku became the number 1 courtesan in his pleasure house after his master retire solely on the fact that of all the money bakugou invested in keeping deku from other costumers lololol. he quickly rises in rank in the pleasure quarter bc of it and became famous as the oiran exclusively owned is by the bakugou katsuki.

bakugou keep going to pleasure quarter to visit deku and since he can’t always leave his job behind he often bring his work when he’s spending a time or night w/ deku. which means deku become privy to the politics of the imperial court, underground rebellion against the shogun, and missions bakugou has to undertake and in doing so deku offer his advice and insight for bakugou which HELPS him tremendously bc deku spent more than half his life in this pleasure quarter so he knows all the best gossip and piece of information that flow in and out of the pleasure house and has all the shady connections bc how much ppl in there adore and are friendly to him. outside the pleasure quarter bakugou may be some one of import but here in this ‘floating city of hedonstice sins’ deku reigns supreme.

idk what happen next but im assuming that bakugou despite many LOUD protests from his inner family decide to buy deku out of his pleasure house and bring him outside where he hadn’t step foot in for a looooooong long time, bringing deku’s connections and knowledge of the seedy underbelly of edo with hi. bakugou eventually take him as spouse after a lot of trials and hurdles bc YOU CAN’T MARRY A FORMER PROSTITUTE WHICH BAKUGOU DISAGREE BC HE CAN DO WHAT THE FUCK HE EVER WANTS AND ALSO DEKU HAD ONLY TAKEN ONE COSTUMER ALL HIS ENTIRE LIFE AND WILL CONTINUE TO DO SO AS LONG AS BAKUGOU’S BREATHING.

so this is the story of how a prostitute became the spouse of one of the greatest figures of japan and the close personal friend of the emperor (i also assume deku wold eventually meet todoroki and they get along like a house on fire that bakugou get so pissed whenever he has to think about it lol).

#bakudeku #not!fic #whenever i think of deku decked out in full traditional oiran's attire #my mouth get wet and my hands get clammy he'll be so PRETTY OMG #courtesan au

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justanotherwinchester69 · 6 years

Text

Love, Castiel

Request: Nada. I stayed up until midnight writing an outline of this story so I wouldn’t forget it.

Pairing: Castiel x Reader

Word Count: 3021

Warnings: Language, thoughts/attempted attempt of suicide

A/N: Lemme just say, I hope you like this and I’m sorry it’s been so looooooong since I wrote!

“Hey Y/N. I’m going out to the store. Want me to pick anything up for you?” Cas said, popping into your shared bedroom.

“Well, maybe those mini Cadbury eggs. The ones I always get around Easter!” You replied, smiling, and completely unsuspecting.

“Alright. I’ll see you in a few. Have Sam and Dean called yet? They were on their way back a few hours ago.”

“No, but I’ll tell you if they do. See you later!” You waved, going back to your book. If only you had known then.

Now, Cas was stumbling into the bunker, trying to avoid you at all costs. Of course, a wounded angel isn’t that hard to see, nor hard to hear. You come running out of the bedroom and over to Cas. “What happened?” You ask, frantically trying to stop the bleeding. Truthfully, there wasn’t that much, but anytime someone other than you got hurt, the amount of blood multiplied by twelve.

“I’m fine, Y/N, really. I just need to clean them up.”

“Cas, they aren’t healing, meaning these had to have been made by an angel blade. What happened?”

“Demons,” He groaned out, you putting some peroxide on a particularly nasty cut.

“You can’t even go to the store without getting attacked,” You curse.

“About that-“ Cas began, but was interrupted.

“Hey Y/N! Cas, looks like those demons really got you!” Dean exclaims. “Maybe you and Y/N need us to come on hunts with you after all!”

“A hunt?” You ask, suddenly extremely angry.

“Y/N, I-“

“You didn’t take Y/N on the hunt?” Sam asks, setting down a bag.

“Take me on it? He didn’t even tell me about it, instead blatantly lying about it,” You growl.

Sam and Dean look at each other before leaving you two alone in the library.

“Y/N, I’m so-“

“What? You’re sorry? You lied to me about this!” You yell, throwing your hands in the air.

“Well, I wouldn’t have to if you weren’t so reckless!” He spits back, glaring.

“You didn’t even tell me you were going on a hunt! You lied and said you were heading out to the store! The store!”

“You would’ve insisted on coming with had I had told you!”

“Obviously you needed it!” You gesture towards his cuts.

“What, so I bring you along to take the hits instead? Because that’s real smart,” He snarls.

“And going alone was?” You growl, flaring your nostrils.

“Well, it’s better than bringing you along just so you can jump right in the way of a knife or a bullet!”

“Fuck you, Cas!” You yell, causing his eyes to widen in surprise, but then narrow in anger. “I can’t even trust you right now! You lied to me about a hunt! What else are you lying about?”

“Like you haven’t lied about where you’ve went,” He spits.

“No, I haven’t. Not to you, Cas. If I said I was going to the store, I went to the god damn store!”

“Yeah, and when you go on a hunt you’re bound to get hurt!”

“I can make my own decisions, Castiel. It’s my fucking life and if I want to go on a hunt, that’s my choice!” You snarl.

“Well, I’m sorry if I’m trying to protect you,” He shouts, kicking a chair.

“Protect me? You lied to me! What if you were to have died? Your lie almost cost you your life Castiel. I’m sorry if I’m reckless, but going on that hunt alone was as well, so stop being a hypocritical ass!”

“Hypocritical? You want to talk about hypocritical? Lies you’ve told Sam and Dean have almost cost you your life!” He growls, shoving his finger in your chest.

“Oh! So we’re going there! That was my fucking choice and you know it! So how about you go to fucking Hell!” You scream, storming off to the bedroom.

“Oh I did, honey! I dragged your ass out of there!” He yells after you. You kick the door, yelling in frustration at the memory of your time in Hell with Dean. And then, that night comes to you. You sit down on your bed, tears flooding your eyes. You see Cas’s trench coat and you grab it, curling up with it as the floodgates open.

“Hey guys! I’m going out. Do you need anything?” You asked, keeping your emotions under control.

“Where are you going?” Dean asked, turning to look at you. You quickly came up with a lie.

“Um, I have a date!” You smiled weakly.

“A date? I thought you were-“ Sam started, but you cut him off.

“I am, but I need to get over him Sammy,” You whispered, more towards yourself than to them.

“Well, have fun on your date!” Dean said, waving. “Should we expect you back tonight?” He asked with a wink.

“If things go right, then no,” You winked back. They had no idea of the meaning behind those words.

You left, walking for miles, until you found it. You sat down, legs dangling over the edge of the cliff, fits clenching and unclenching in your lap. You tossed a rock over the edge and counted how long it took. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, splash! Seven seconds. It really was a long way down. You think back to everything you’ve been feeling. The anger, the sadness, and the overwhelming surge of feeling like a mistake.

You thought back to your last hunt when you had been the cause of the witch’s escape. You thought back to the time before that when you accidently shot Dean in the shoulder. And the time before that when Sam had to carry you out of the warehouse because you got knocked out trying to stop a demon from hurting Castiel. You thought back to every hunt and all you saw was you messing up and letting the people you cared about get hurt. You let the tears stream down your face as the thoughts to jump off urged you to stand up and just… go.

You went to scoot of the edge when you heard his voice. “I knew I could find you hear.”

You turned around, looking at the angel you loved so much. “Cas,” You whispered.

“I remember you telling me how much you loved the place,” He said, sitting down next to you. You watched in silence as he grabbed your hand in his, and looked up. “You said how relaxing it was, especially during the night, when you could see all the stars. You then went on to tell me how much the stars meant to you.” He looked at you, and wiped the tears off your cheeks. “Have I ever told you about the creation of the creation of the stars?”

“No,” You whispered, looking up to the sky, upset that you let him see you cry.

“Gabriel and I made them. I felt really special, you know? My big brother and I doing something so important. He told me that he chose me to help him because I was different, my point of view was. He told me that our Father recommended my help, because the stars would mean something more to me one day, something more than just stars. I didn’t know what he meant, until not too long ago.”

“Why do they mean so much to you now?” You asked, smiling softly at his recollection.

“Because they mean something to someone very important to me,” He whispered, wrapping his free arm around your waist, pulling you into his side. “I love you, Y/N. I know I haven’t showed it, but I’m scared of my emotions. As an angel, they hit me hard, and my fear of losing you hit harder.”

More tears began to fall, and he pulled you tighter to him. “How’d you know?” You asked, voice breaking. He held up the note you sat on your bed, knowing the boys would check there in the morning. “Oh,” You whispered, looking down.

“I went to tell you everything and instead of seeing you on your bed, I saw this. I asked the boys where you went and when they said you went on a date…” He trailed off. “Please come back with me. You may not think so, but we would miss you, I would miss you, more than words can express.” You looked up, seeing tears forming in his eyes.

“I’m sorry,” You cried, looking down. “I didn’t mean to hurt anyone, I just-. I can barely even wake up in the morning, Cas. I don’t feel like I can do anything anymore. What if I mess up again and it costs someone their life? I just couldn’t live with that. I can’t live with that.”

“You won’t have to, not alone at least. Please just come back. Please?” He begged. “I’m not sure I could live with myself if you didn’t.” He lifted your chin and looked into your eyes. “Please, Y/N?”

“Okay,” You whispered. He pulled you into a hug, and for once, you felt everything go away. All the pain, all the hurt. Everything.

You wouldn’t tell him, but the only thing you want at the moment is him to be there, not his coat. You look over at the alarm clock. 5:32 pm. You sigh, realizing you have been crying for over an hour. You sit up when you hear paper rustling from by the door. Looking over, you saw a folded note sticking out from underneath the door. You walk over and pick it up, sitting on your bed to read it.

My dearest Y/N,

You probably want to be left alone, so I won’t go in there. I asked Dean and Sam how to apologize and Sam came up with the idea to write these letters to you. I don’t know if you’ll like them, but I wanted to do something. I hate it when you’re upset, and I hate it even more when I’m the cause.

I am so very sorry, Y/N. I know I shouldn’t have lied to you nor yelled at you like I did. You have every right to be upset, but I wish you weren’t and I wish I could take it all back. You mean the world to me. I shouldn’t have said the things I did, nor brought up the things in the past. It was so very wrong of me. Please forgive me. I love you Y/N.

Love,

Castiel.

You sit there, tears welling up in your eyes. You smile, sadly, loving his handwriting. You want so badly to forgive him but you couldn’t let it go, no matter how bad you wanted him to be right next to you. Instead of running to find him, you lay back down, curling up with his trench coat. About twenty minutes later, you hear the same rustling sound, and turn to see another letter. You go grab it and sit down to read it.

My Dearest Y/N,

I wanted to let you know that I made dinner. I don’t know if it tastes good or not, all I can taste are the molecules, but if it doesn’t I can make you a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I remember those as highly satisfactory. We are the only ones in the bunker. You don’t have to come get anything if you don’t want to, but it’s there if you want. Now, for the more important part.

Y/N, I love you so much. You might not believe me currently, but I do. The way your h/l, h/c hair flows so perfectly, and even after you wake up. I love the way your eyes light up when you see a child, and the way those children love you. Your smile when around them is beautiful. I love the way you sing in the shower when you think nobody is there.

I love how your e/c eyes sparkle when Sam and Dean make up from a fight. I love how you help them make up. I love how you seem to lighten up any room you are in. I love how you try your hardest in everything you do. I love how you try to atone for your mistakes. I love how you admit when you’re wrong. I love how you’ll stand up for yourself. I love how stubborn you are, even if it’s against me.

I love how you care about everyone close to you. I love how you go out of your way to make someone’s day, even if that means you skip your turn on movie night. I love the way your eyes and nose crinkle when you laugh. I love the blush that colors your cheeks when I complement you, like they probably are now.

I love you.

Love,

Castiel.

You sat there, blush still coloring your cheeks, which only caused you to blush more, knowing that Castiel knew you so well. You felt like you should go to the kitchen, go hug Cas, tell him you were sorry for everything, that you overreacted, and so much more. Maybe it was sheer stubbornness, or maybe it was trepidation, but you just curl back into a ball and cry some more.

You pull out your phone, trying to sooth yourself with some music. Hoping Dean isn’t around, you play your recording of him singing Lynard Skynard’s “Simple Man”. You smile, remembering how long it took you to convince him to teach you how to play it on guitar, especially hearing him play it. He’s the one playing on the recording, but at the time, you were watching, learning.

You almost jump when you hear another letter come through. You smile to yourself, realizing how much you wanted another letter. You stand up, wiping a stray tear, and pick up the letter. Sitting down on the bed, you begin to read the letter, tears continuing to fall. Is it even humanly possible to cry this much?

My dearest Y/N,

I don’t know if you’ve read the first or second letter I wrote, and if you didn’t, this one won’t be read either. If you are reading this, I want to continue saying how sorry I am. I know I shouldn’t have lied to you and I am so sorry. I just love you so much.

If you’re cuddling my trench coat, like you usually do when I forget my coat in there, then look in my pocket. The first two things should be pictures I had Sam print for me. There should be the one of us by the lake we went to on the anniversary of our first year of dating. The other is a picture I took when you weren’t paying attention. You were so beautiful that I couldn’t resist.

The third thing should be my cell phone. If you turn it on, the first thing you should be is my background. It’s the picture you sent me when I told you how much I wished I could be there to kiss you goodnight and hold you all night long. I keep it there for whenever I’m away.

Y/N, I love you more than any words could ever express. I’m sorry that I hurt you, and I know I was being hypocritical, but I just can’t bare seeing you in danger. Yes, I know being a Hunter means you’ll always be in danger, but sometimes the dangers you are in are unnecessary. I love you too much to lose you, Y/N.

Love,

Castiel

You sit there, stunned. You look at the pictures again, smiling at the one of you two by the lake. You can almost hear the laughter from Cas as you jumped off the dock, dragging him with you. You can almost feel him dragging you under the water as payback for splashing water in his face. You can almost see the smile on his face when you laid on his chest, staring at the stars. You jump up, running to the door. You’re shocked to see Cas standing there, fist raised to knock on the door.

“Cas, I’m sorry!” You blurt out, wrapping you’re arms around him. You smile, feeling his arms wrap around you too.

“Why would you be sorry?”

“I’m sorry that I put myself in danger that you deem unnecessary. But to me? It’s more than necessary. Cas, it’s vital!” He goes to interrupt you, but you put your hand up. “Let me finish. You can ask the boys. I’m not always so reckless. Most of the time I have to stitch them up. But when you come around? I lose every thought. When you hunt with us, I have to protect you Cas.

“And I know. I know you can protect yourself, but every time I see a blade come towards you, instinct kicks in. I have to stop that blade, even if it means I get hurt. I can’t let something hurt you, I just can’t. I can’t lose you Cas,” You whisper. “If I did, I don’t know what I would do.

“I would be nothing without you Cas. Sure, the boys are always there for me, but you were the one who found me, teetering on the edge of an abyss, my demons trying to lure me over the edge. You were the one thing that gave me light. Gave me hope and the will to live. And I’ll be damned if I’m going to let something take that –you- away from me, even if it costs me my whole life, because Cas? You are my whole life,” You finish, finally letting the tears stream down.

“Why do you think I hate you throwing yourself into danger?” Cas whispers, kissing your head.

“I’m sorry,” You whisper again.

“It’s okay Y/N, its okay,” He smiles, hugging you tighter.

“I love you, angel.”

“I love you too, my little human,” Cas smirks. You both burst out laughing, remembering the first time you called him angel, and Cas, unversed in the art of pet-names, called you human in confusion.

And every once in a while, Cas would write you another letter.

#Love Castiel #Castiel x Reader #Supernatural x Reader

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foreverfamilyforevervongola · 7 years

Text

Sibling Bonds

Rating: K+ Summary: The Vongola Guardians are a close-knit group. They are the ones who watch over Lambo and take care of him, and so it’s only inevitable that he begins to address them, one by one, as his siblings.

Stationed at the kitchen table with his crayons and paper, Lambo finished his drawing. He surveyed it proudly, and decided he created a masterpiece that Tsuna just had to see.

“Tsuna-nii!”

It took a minute for Tsuna to descend the stairs and answer the six-year-old’s summons. “What is it, Lambo?” he asked.

“Look at Lambo-san’s drawing! Isn’t it the best?”

Tsuna examined the colourful characters depicted in Lambo’s artwork. Based on how many stick figures there were, he figured it was a drawing of all the members of their household, though he could only identify a couple of them.

“It’s really nice, Lambo. Want me to put it on the fridge?”

Lambo nodded eagerly and Tsuna went over to the appliance. He found a spare magnet and used it to attach the paper to the collection of drawings that were already there, a combination of I-Pin and Lambo’s pictures. “There. Though we’re going to have to find a new place for your art soon. A fridge is supposed to be a fridge, not a museum.”

Lambo’s stomach rumbled and he promptly stuck a hand into his thick, curly black hair. He pulled out a bag of gumballs, but before he could stuff any into his mouth, Tsuna snagged it from his hands. “Those are Lambo-san’s!” he cried angrily.

“You can’t always be eating candy,” chided Tsuna. “If you’re hungry, I’ll make you a snack.”

He perked up at that. “Okay! Thanks, Tsuna-nii.”

Tsuna, who had started to search for a suitable snack in the pantry, whipped around, finally processing what the boy was calling him. “What did you say?”

Lambo gave him a weird look. “Lambo-san said thanks.”

“No, after that!”

“Tsuna-nii?” spoke Lambo innocently, and when the wide smile split across Tsuna’s face, he wasn’t quite sure why the brunette was suddenly so happy.

…

“Are you ready, Lambo?”

The seven-year-old made a fist and punched the middle of his baseball glove, his eyes narrowed in concentration. “Ready!”

Yamamoto gripped his baseball and got into his pitching stance. His natural instinct was to throw it as hard and fast as he could, and he had to remember to tone it down for the small child. “Here we go!”

The ball sailed through the air in a perfect arc. Lambo kept his eyes on it, shuffling his feet as he tried to figure out where the ball would land. He stuck out his glove, but instead of the ball landing neatly inside, it hit the ground with a thud.

“Darn.” Lambo’s face fell. “I’m not very good at this.”

“You don’t have to be,” said Yamamoto with a gentle smile. “We’re just having some fun. That’s what matters.”

“I guess so.” Lambo picked up the ball and tossed it back to Yamamoto, who easily caught it. He wound up for another pitch, but it went too high and sailed into a portion of the park’s woodland.

“Whoops!” said Yamamoto with a laugh. “Sorry.”

“I got it!”

Lambo wound his way through the trees, ducking beneath branches. He found the baseball nestled amongst the tall, unkempt blades and he hurried towards it.

“Rrrrrr…”

The soft snarl caused Lambo to freeze with his hand hovering over the white ball. He looked up to see a raccoon lurking in the bushes a few yards away, watching him with gleaming eyes, white foam gathered around its mouth. “Hey!” he shouted over his shoulder. “Guess what!”

“What?” replied Yamamoto in amusement.

“I found a raccoon! I think it ate some soap!” Lambo glanced back at the critter, who was now moving straight for the boy, hissing viciously. He scrambled back in fear. “Take-nii—!”

Yamamoto was already flying through the trees. Startled by the sudden, much larger intruder, the raccoon snarled and fled. Yamamoto glowered after it before crouching near the shaken boy. “Are you okay?” he asked urgently, taking Lambo’s arm and checking for any bites or scratches. “Did it get you?”

“Nuh-uh.”

“That raccoon had a disease called rabies,” informed Yamamoto, gripping Lambo’s hand and leading him out of the woodland. “If you ever see an animal with white foam around their mouth, stay far away from it, okay? They’re dangerous.”

“Okay.” Lambo pointed at the trees they had just emerged from. “Your ball is still in there.”

“That’s okay.” Yamamoto ruffled his hair. “I’ve got lots more at home.”

“Thanks for coming to get me. I didn’t know something was wrong with it.”

“Don’t worry about it. An older brother has to look after his younger brother, right?”

Lambo beamed. “Uh-huh.”

…

“Kyoko! Kyoko! I want ice cream!” whined Lambo, pulling on the hem of the redhead’s shirt pleadingly. “Pleeeaaassseee?”

“You can’t have ice cream this late, Lambo-kun,” said Kyoko patiently, tugging the seven-year-old along the street. “We should have been home an hour ago.”

The sky was black, their way home lit by the streetlights. The air was chilly and Lambo shivered. “All right,” he muttered. “But can we get some next time?”

Kyoko smiled down at him. “Of course.” She inspected his face and giggled. “You’re going to need a bath.” His cheeks were covered in patches of sugar dust and smeared caramel. “You’re all sticky from the candy you ate at the movies.”

It was almost eleven by the time they reached the Sasagawa household. Kyoko unlocked the front door and herded Lambo over the threshold. “Onii-san, we’re back!” she called, setting her purse by the stairs.

Ryohei stepped into the front hall, a disapproving frown on his lips. “You were supposed to be back an hour ago. I was just about to go out and look for you.”

“Sorry,” Kyoko apologized. “We were out later than we expected.”

“The movie was looooooong,” stressed Lambo.

Kyoko giggled. “Exactly.”

Ryohei’s stern posture softened. “Well, you’re back safe, and that’s what matters. But next time, if you’re going to be late, call.”

The redhead nodded. “Sure.” A yawn escaped her and she quickly covered her mouth. “Come on, Lambo-kun. Time for your bath.”

“I can do it,” volunteered Ryohei. “You go to bed.”

“I can do it,” protested Lambo.

“You can’t get all that EXTREME hair by yourself,” said Ryohei cheerfully, coming over and swinging the boy into his arms.

Kyoko smiled. “Thanks, Onii-san. Goodnight, Lambo-kun.”

“Night!” Lambo waved after her as Ryohei carried him to the bathroom. He set the child on the floor and turned the taps. Water gushed into the tub and Lambo frowned. “It needs bubbles.” He went over to the cabinet and peeked inside. He found the familiar, colourful bottle of bath bubbles that Kyoko saved just for him and I-Pin when they came over for sleepovers. “Bubbles!”

“Don’t put a lot in,” cautioned Ryohei. “We don’t want a bubble flood.”

Lambo uncapped the bottle and tipped it slightly over the edge of the tub. Purple liquid oozed out and splashed into the water, where it started to lather up and create a mass of white sweet-smelling bubbles. “There!” he said, proud that he did not overdo it this time.

“Good job.” Ryohei took the bottle and put it back where it belonged. “There should be enough water for you to get in now.”

“‘kay.” Lambo stuck his hand under the running water to test the temperature. Deeming it not too hot and not too cold, he wrestled out of his dark jeans and cow-print shirt. He yanked off his socks and was about to climb into the tub when he remembered something. “Oh, wait.” He shook his head wildly, and candy of all kinds tumbled from his curls, landing on the floor. His horns soon followed, and after a bit of tugging he liberated a large lollipop. “There!”

Ryohei stared at the pile of candy in amusement as the child eased into the water. “I wish my hair could EXTREMELY hold stuff.”

Lambo blinked. “It can’t?”

“Nope.”

“Maybe it’s because you don’t have curls.”

Ryohei laughed. “Maybe.” He knelt down by the edge of the tub and picked up the plastic pitcher. He filled it with water and used it to wet Lambo’s hair. “What did you and Kyoko do today?”

“We went to the park, and then we ate some yummy food, and then we took a walk, and we ate some more yummy food, and then we went to the movies which was really looooooooong.” Lambo used his hands to craft shapes in the mounds of bubbles that surrounded him. “And I-Pin couldn’t come because she’s sick.”

“I heard. I’m sure she’ll get better in no time,” said Ryohei, squirting some shampoo into his hand and massaging it into the thick black curls. “I think it’s time for a haircut.”

Lambo wrinkled his nose. “That’s what Stupidera says. I don’t wanna haircut.”

“If you let it grow any longer it’s going to cover your face. Then how would you eat?”

Lambo’s eyes widened. He hadn’t thought of that. “Um…well, maybe I’ll get a really small haircut. Maybe.”

After a few more rinses and a good dose of conditioner, Lambo was squeaky clean. Ryohei hoisted the child out of the tub and gave him a towel. “Where are your pajamas?”

“In my bag, in Kyoko’s room.”

“I’ll get them. You dry off.” Ryohei picked up Lambo’s stash of candy and left the bathroom.

Lambo scrubbed at his hair and face, trying to catch the water droplets before they hit the tiled floor. When he decided he was dry enough, he fit the towel over his head and pretended he was a ghost, moving blindly about the bathroom. The door creaked open a minute later and he shouted, “Boo!”

“What do we have here?” said Ryohei, playing along. “And where did Lambo go?”

“I ate him!” Lambo said in a creepy voice.

“Well, then I guess I’m going to have to make you spit him out.”

Ryohei swooped down and threw the towel-covered boy over his shoulder. Lambo squealed and kicked, trying to escape the teen’s strong grip. “It’s me!”

“Lambo?” Ryohei set the boy down and lowered the towel so the boy’s smiling face was revealed. “It is you. You make an EXTREME ghost.”

Lambo giggled. “I fooled you!”

“You did.” Ryohei handed Lambo his pajamas. “Kyoko is already sleeping, so how about you sleep with me tonight?”

“Okay.” Lambo wiggled into his cow-print pajamas. “But I’m gonna kick you if you snore.”

“Then I guess I won’t snore.” Ryohei lifted the seven-year-old into his arms and carried him to his bedroom.

Lambo buried his head into Ryohei’s shoulder. “Ryo-nii, will you read me a bedtime story?”

Surprised for only a moment, a soft, pleased smile crossed Ryohei’s face, and he nuzzled his nose into Lambo’s damp hair. “I’d love too, Lambo.”

…

Standing in front of the mirror in the bathroom, Lambo frantically tried to remove the half-eaten chocolate bar stuck to his hair. The eight-year-old thought nervously of Gokudera, who was somewhere in the house.

“Come on,” he hissed. His thick, unruly curls had been giving him nothing but trouble lately. It didn’t help that his hair remained his favourite hiding place for candy, causing stickiness and knots. Because of this, Gokudera had finally put his foot down—any more problems and he was getting it all cut off.

Lambo was so not okay with that.

“Scissors,” he muttered, opening up the medicine cabinet above the sink and rummaging around. “I’ll cut it out.”

Thump! Thump!

He froze at the heavy knocks that landed on the door. “Occupied!”

“You’ve been in there for a half hour!” snapped Gokudera. “What are you doing?”

“What do you think I’m doing?” he retorted, tugging even harder on the stubborn chocolate bar.

The door flew open and Lambo hastily scrambled back. Dang. Knew I should have locked it, he thought, his stomach twisting into nervous knots. Gokudera stared at the predicament the kid was in and opened his mouth. Before he could say anything, Lambo screamed, “No!” and charged past him, flying down the hall.

It took Gokudera a second to recover from his surprise and by the time he raced after Lambo, he was out of sight. Cursing, Gokudera glared at the open front door. He darted out into the afternoon sunlight and looked down the street. He couldn’t see Lambo, which meant the child was hightailing it.

“I-Pin!” he bellowed, and the girl quickly answered the summons, scrambling down the stairs.

“Yeah?”

“Lambo took off. He’s having problems with his hair again, which means I’m chopping it off.” Gokudera levelled the girl with a stern look. “Where is he?”

As Lambo’s best friend, she knew all of his hiding spots. Pursing her lips, she thought for a moment before sighing softly. “Probably at the park,” she said reluctantly. “There’s enough spots to hide without having to go far, and if he gets freaked, he can come straight home.”

Gokudera nodded and went in pursuit of the eight-year-old. I-Pin closed the door behind him and said, “Lambo! He’s gone!”

Stumbling into the front hall from the living room, Lambo let out a sigh of relief. “Thanks, I-Pin.”

“You realize the amount of trouble we’ll both be in when gets back?”

“I don’t want my hair cut,” whined Lambo. “I’ve always had this hair!”

“It’ll grow back.”

“I know…but I don’t want to be bald.”

“Who said you’re going to be bald?”

“Stupidera would think it’s funny to cut off all my hair.”

I-Pin shook her head. “Lambo, he’s not going to do something like that.”

“How do you know?”

“Because Gokudera-san cares about you a lot more than you think,” she replied. “I’m going back to my book.”

She headed back to the room she shared with Lambo, leaving him to think about what she had just said.

It was an hour later when Gokudera returned from his wild goose chase, and Lambo was waiting for him on the front step. The child flinched at the glower the teen sent him. “Um…hi.”

“I’m sure you thought that was funny,” snapped Gokudera, red in the face with rage. “I looked like an idiot, running around that stupid park calling your name. I should have realized I was tricked after five minutes instead of an hour.”

“Sorry,” muttered Lambo. He reached behind his back and held out the hair razor kit. “Here.”

Arching an eyebrow, Gokudera crossed his arms. “So after an elaborate plan to not get caught, you’re now willingly getting a haircut.”

Lambo nodded. “Yeah. Um…” He bit his lip. “You’re not gonna make me bald, right?”

“That’s what you were worried about?” Gokudera snorted. “No, ahoshi, I’m not going to make you bald.”

Lambo looked dubious. “Are you sure you know how to cut hair?”

“Get your butt in the bathroom.”

Lambo obeyed, hurrying inside the house. Gokudera followed after the boy, pausing only to holler, “I’ll deal with you later!” up the stairs. He entered the bathroom and set up the razor. “Ready?” he asked, pressing the power button.

Lambo muffled a groan as the razor started to buzz. “Uh-huh.”

“Did you take out all the crap?”

“Yes.”

Tilting Lambo’s head up slightly, Gokudera got to work. Lambo watched the clumps of dark hair fall to the floor in slight dismay. Though he knew it had to go, he was also going to miss it. He let out a soft sneeze as some hair tickled his nose.

“Don’t move,” chided Gokudera.

It wasn’t easy for Lambo to sit still for ten minutes, but he managed to do so with little wiggling. Gokudera put the razor down and studied his handiwork. “Yeah, that’s much better.”

Hopping up from his perch on the edge of the tub, Lambo went over to the mirror and peeked at his reflection. His hair no longer went all the way down to his chin. It ended just above his ears in a shaggy haircut. His curls were not as prominent, but still noticeable.

“I like it!” he decided with a wide smile.

“Good. Best part is you can’t hide anything in there.” Gokudera brushed some hair off Lambo’s shoulders. “I’ll sweep up after you shower.”

“Okay.” Lambo hesitated for a brief moment before leaning forwards and wrapping his arms around the teen’s waist. “Thanks, Haya-nii.”

Intense joy swelled within Gokudera, who had been waiting a long time for the kid to address him as such. Sniffing slightly, he ruffled Lambo’s new short locks. “Idiot. Don’t mention it. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got quite the lecture to give your partner in crime.”

…

Peering eagerly down the street, Lambo brightened when he saw the familiar figure finally come into view. He raced down the asphalt towards the girl. “Chrome-nee!”

Smiling contently, Chrome hugged the eight-year-old. “Hi, Lambo.”

“Are we gonna go shopping now?” he asked eagerly, already envisioning the sweets he would get to eat.

“Let’s try not to overdo it,” cautioned Chrome, knowing exactly what he was thinking. She took his hand and together they started off for town. “Tsuna won’t be happy if I bring you back with a sugar rush.”

“He doesn’t live at home anymore,” pointed out Lambo.

“Well, he still wouldn’t be happy,” said Chrome. “Why don’t we have lunch before we go shopping?”

“Yay! I’m starving!”

Chrome giggled. “We just have to meet up with Mukuro-sama when we get to the shopping district.”

Lambo’s enthusiasm dropped. “He’s coming with us?” he asked nervously.

He knew of Mukuro, though not much about him. All he knew was that he and Chrome shared the responsibilities of being Tsuna’s Mist Guardians. He also knew that Mukuro had done some not-so-nice things in the past, and as far as he knew the man hadn’t been out of prison for too long. Lambo met the tall, intimidating figure a few times, but tried to steer clear if he could.

“Is that okay?” asked Chrome, trying to sound casual but feeling anxious. She was hoping this outing would be a good way of getting the child used to her best friend. Mukuro was going to be around more and more, so it was important to her and Tsuna that Lambo got comfortable with their newest family member.

“Yeah.” Lambo nodded. He knew that Mukuro was important to Chrome and he didn’t want to make her unhappy.

“Thank you,” said Chrome, relieved.

“Think we’ll run into I-Pin?” he asked, trying not to sound too hopeful.

“Maybe,” said Chrome, though she knew Futa, I-Pin and Bianchi were out for the day in a separate part of town. Futa and I-Pin didn’t have too many problems adjusting to the presence of Mukuro, and they had been taken by Bianchi so that Lambo wouldn’t wonder why only he got to spend the afternoon with Chrome.

They reached the shopping district and Lambo immediately spotted Mukuro. The male stood out in the crowd, with his long black boots, purple hair and heterochromatic eyes. Gulping nervously, Lambo allowed Chrome to lead him over.

“Hi,” greeted Chrome. “I hope you weren’t waiting too long.”

“Not very,” he replied, voice smooth and deep. He shifted his gaze to the child that clung to Chrome’s hand. “Lambo.”

Lambo managed a smile. “Hi.”

“I’m going to go see where we can eat,” said Chrome, letting go of Lambo’s hand. “I’ll be right back.”

She skipped off and Lambo watched her go. Rocking back on his heels, he could feel the awkward silence wrap around them. Figuring he should make some attempt at conversation, he asked, “How’s Fran?”

“Insufferable, annoying, and hopeless,” replied Mukuro.

“Huh,” mused Lambo. “That’s what he says about you.”

Amusement crossed the teen’s face. “Really?”

“Uh-huh.” Lambo nodded. He then realized that perhaps he shouldn’t have revealed this bit of information. “Ooh. Um, don’t tell him I told you that.”

Mukuro smirked. “I’ll try not to let it slip out.”

Lambo squinted down the street, but Chrome was no longer in his sights. “Where’d she go?”

“Probably got distracted by shoes,” muttered Mukuro. But he knew what Chrome was trying to do, and he was both grateful and annoyed. While he still had some reservations about joining the Vongola, he didn’t want the child to be uncomfortable. Lambo had been there first, after all.

“I don’t think Chrome likes shoes as much as Haru-chan and Kyoko-chan,” said Lambo. He pointed at Mukuro’s feet. “She wears boots like yours.” He peered closely at the footwear. “Those are a lot of laces. Does it take long to do them up?”

“It would if I wasn’t an illusionist.”

Lambo tilted his head to the side. “How do you become an illusionist?” he asked, genuinely curious.

Mukuro thought over his answer carefully before he replied. “It takes a certain amount of talent, first and foremost. Not anyone can create illusions. You have to have the ability, and trust me, you know if you have the ability early in life. In order to control your ability, it takes a healthy mind and strict discipline.”

Lambo mulled over this for a moment. “That’s kinda cool. I’d like to be able to create illusions once in a while.”

“Well, you can control lightning. That’s pretty impressive.”

The boy flushed. “I can’t really control it. I can’t really do much of anything with it, actually. Apparently, I’m going to be in training for a long time.”

“You don’t get to be great by just sitting around,” remarked Mukuro. “It takes work.”

“Yeah, I guess so.” Glancing across the street, Lambo brightened when he noticed a candy display in the window of a store. “Ooh! I’m gonna go over there!”

Without waiting for an answer, Lambo charged across the street and pressed his face against the glass. He surveyed the wrapped candies and chocolate creations. “I want that one and that one and that one—”

“Hey! Rotten kid! Get your dirty face off my window!”

A set of strong hands shoved him backwards. Unprepared, Lambo hit the ground hard. Green eyes wide, he cowered at the irate shop owner that loomed over him. Acting on instinct, Lambo kicked out and nailed the older man in the left kneecap. Scrambling back, he quickly realized his error when the man’s face flushed with fury.

“You little brat—”

“Touch him and regret it.”

Startled, the shopkeeper stumbled back as a cloud of indigo and black mist appeared in front of him. Mukuro materialized, eyes glinting with anger as he stood in front of Lambo. “What…what are you?” the man croaked.

Mukuro smiled dangerously. “I suppose you could say your worst nightmare. Apologize.”

“Sorry,” the man rasped towards the bemused child. “It won’t happen again—”

“It better not.” Mukuro glowered. “Now get lost.”

The shopkeeper did not need to be told twice. Turning around, Mukuro held out his hand and Lambo accepted it, hauling himself to his feet. “Thanks,” he said softly, awe in his eyes.

“Don’t mention it. It was fun.” Mukuro smirked mischievously.

“Sorry I took so long!” Chrome called, crossing the street to rejoin them. “I found a good place for lunch.”

“Chrome-nee, guess what Mukuro-nii did!” exclaimed Lambo. “He saved me from a mean old man!”

Mukuro did not really hear what the child said next, for his brain was repeating what Lambo had just called him. It filled him with a strong warmth and pride, and he returned Chrome’s dazzling smile with a soft one of his own.

…

Walking across the bridge that served as part of his path home from school, Lambo found a familiar, small yellow bird fighting with a much bigger bird on the railing.

Hey…that’s Kyo-nii’s pet!

“Get off!” he roared, charging forwards and waving his arms. “Shoo! Go away!”

Startled, the big bird flew off into the sky. Lambo leaned over Hibird and furrowed his brow. “Guess he got a swing in, huh?”

Hibird chirped sadly, pecking lightly at his bent wing. Lambo held out his hand and Hibird hopped into his palm. “Since you can’t fly, I’ll bring you back to Kyo-nii.”

He had yet to refer to Hibari as his brother directly to his face. He knew the Cloud Guardian wasn’t a social person and Lambo, who feared Hibari’s rejection, did not have the courage to test his boundaries.

When he arrived at the apartment complex, he hit the buzzer to the apartment Hibari shared with Kusakabe. After a few seconds he was let in through the automatic metal gate. He entered the building and jogged up a flight of stairs. He rapped on the door and Kusakabe answered.

“Hi, Teriyaki,” Lambo greeted. It was a running joke between them, based on the fact that he had a horrible time pronouncing the man’s name when he was five.

Kusakabe smiled. “Hello, Lambo-kun.” He noticed the injured Hibird cradled in Lambo’s hands. “Ah, Kyo-san was wondering what happened to you. Come on in.”

Lambo stepped over the threshold and went for Hibari’s office. He’d been to his apartment a few times, when it was necessary for Hibari to watch over him while the others were busy. He knocked on the office door and he was answered with a curt, “Come in.”

Lambo pushed open the door. “Hi. I found your bird. A bigger bird was picking on him.”

Hibari’s eyes narrowed slightly at the sight of his hurt companion. “Where?”

“Near the bridge that I use on my walk home.” Lambo set Hibird on Hibari’s desk. Chirping, Hibird nudged his fingers affectionately before hopping to his master.

Hibari stroked Hibird’s head fondly. “You’ll need a splint for that wing,” he muttered softly. Glancing up, he added, “Thank you, small animal.”

“No problem.”

Lambo hoisted his bag further onto his shoulders and was about to depart when Hibari asked, “How was school?”

“Okay, I guess.” He shrugged. “Math was kinda rough today. I don’t really get it.”

“If you’re willing to wait, I can help you with your homework after I tend to Hibird.”

Lambo smiled. “Yeah! That’d be great!”

Hibari nodded. “You can review until I return.” He stood up from his office chair with Hibird in his hands. “I won’t take long.”

“Okay. Thanks, Kyo-nii.”

He froze. Oh, that was not what I meant to say.

Biting down on his bottom lip, Lambo stared at his feet as he waited nervously for a reaction.

After a few seconds, a hand fell onto his head and lightly ruffled his short raven curls. “You’re welcome, small animal.”

The smile that crossed Lambo’s face could have lit up a dark room.

#katekyo hitman reborn #khr #Vongola guardians #lambo bovino #sawada tsunayoshi #gokudera hayato #yamamoto takeshi #ryohei sasagawa #hibari kyoya #mukuro rokudo #forever family forever vongola #sibling bonds

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bulletforged · 7 years

Note

victoria x chris =)

SEND ME A SHIP // ACCEPTING.

This got looooooong so apologies to mobile users if read more things don’t work anymore.

Who’s more dominant: Obviously Victoria.

Who’s the cuddler: Chris has no shame; he’s 1000% an open, proud cuddler. Victoria is also a cuddler except she’ll probably give you a death glare if you accuse her of it. But Chris knows. And he’s smug about it. And her daughter knows too because family cuddle time is very important. Unfortunately for Victoria, family cuddle time also includes Chip and Mr Snuggles. We need to rename that damn cat. :’)

Who’s the big spoon/little spoon: Chris is happy to be either so I like to think they’ll switch it up sometimes, but he definitely mostly enjoys being the little spoon and Victoria seems to enjoy being big spoon so it’s a win/win. Again, Chris has no shame. Being little spoon is awesome.

What’s their favorite non-sexual activity: It’s definitely family time lbr. It doesn’t matter what they’re doing; just spending time together as a family is gonna be the best thing, whether they’re bowling, going for ice cream, going ice skating, taking the dog to the park. Anything. Spending time with their baby girl and watching her grow and learn and become the person she’s meant to be is their absolute favourite.

Who uses all the hot water: I mean they probably use it together so it doesn’t matter.

Most trivial thing they fight over: Lbr they bicker a lot over the most stupid things but fights don’t usually last long because Chris is very much a pushover. He’d rather just stay quiet and let her win and just quietly try to escape and ignore the issue ... which is probably really annoying ... so it probably causes more of a fight. I never said he was perfect. :’)

Who does most of the cleaning: It’ll just be whoever’s home more, but I feel like during the ‘canon s1/2’ era it’s mostly Victoria given the fact he’s out most of the time with his hunter squad or Kate.

What has a season pass on their dvr/Who controls the netflix queue: Chris doesn’t have a whole lot of time for getting into TV shows. Spending hours just sitting there doing nothing other than staring at a screen isn’t really his pace, cause he hates wasting time like that. He’ll only do it if it’s family time and he’s hanging out with his wife, daughter or sister, but he gets too restless. With that in mind, I’d say the dvr / netflix / whatever they have is probably under Allison’s control 90% of the time. Unless Victoria is secretly into trash TV while she has the house to herself in the daytime, in which case her husband is gonna laugh.

Who calls up the super/landlord when the heat’s not working: Chris will just fix that kinda thing himself, and if he can’t, he probably knows a guy. They have a huge network of hunter cronies. One of them will help him out.

Who leaves their stuff around: Chris is usually tidy by habit but he definitely has a habit of forgetting where he left things. It might just be a glass he leaves on the coffee table, or boots by the couch, or gun parts on the kitchen counter. I doubt his wife is very happy about it. Sorry honey. :/

Who remembers to buy the milk: Chris will remember if he’s texted about it while he’s out. If that counts. But lbr it’s Victoria who remembers everything like that.

Who remembers anniversaries: Neither of them will ever forget big things like anniversaries / birthdays / etc. They’re both ready every anniversary with gifts and a free day to enjoy some romance. ;)))

Who cooks normally: Victoria is the better cook, hands down. Chris ‘helps’. And by ‘helps’ I mean Chris can wash the ingredients for salad and pour the wine, and maybe hand Victoria things like a spoon or some seasoning or even a butter knife if he’s extra careful. On special days maybe he can even light the stove or like... stir something. He’s a good boy.

How often do they fight: I mentioned it before but it’s more like a lot of bickering about stupid things. The biggest fight would probably be regarding when to train Allison, and that’s gotta come up at least once or twice a year. But like I said, Chris avoids fights. He just won’t engage unless it’s something he really wants to fight for, like waiting another year to train Allison, for example.

What do they do when they’re away from each other: I think they both just get on with it tbh. They’ll text each other throughout the day and call each other cause Chris hates being away and I’m sure she hates when he’s gone too, but they can survive being apart. They’re not children.

Nicknames for each other: Just the usual couple-y pet names like honey; sweetheart; baby; etc. Chris is already a short enough name and Victoria doesn’t strike me as the kinda woman who’d like a silly nickname. Chris would rather just call her something cute and watch her stubbornly try not to smile about it instead.

Who is more likely to pay for dinner: They’re married. They share everything. All the money they have equally belongs to both of them so it doesn’t matter who pays. It’s coming out of the same joint bank account.

Who steals the covers at night: Tbh they snuggle so no one can really steal the covers.

What would they get each other for gifts: Anything and everything. Whatever they’ve seen that the other person has shown an interest in or anything they think the other might like. They know each other better than anyone so gifts are easy but it really depends on the occasion. Chris likes to bring home little things all the time anyway, like some flowers or chocolates or a nice bottle of wine for them to share. She gets at least one little gift per week tbh, and if she goes to the mall she’ll often come home with a nice new jacket for him or a few new shirts. They just bring things for each other as they find them. There doesn’t need to be an occasion for gifts.

Who kissed who first: Victoria kissed him first.

Who made the first move: Depends. Does it count as a first move if he stared at her and forgot how to function every time they were in the same place? He thinks it does. It’s called being charming and attracting her attention. By doing nothing. Other than staring. And forgetting how to speak. If by first move you mean actually doing something, then it was obviously not him. In his defence though, he did marry her so his technique worked in the end.

Who remembers things: I feel like I’ve answered this twice already. Depends on the thing.

Who started the relationship: Chris eventually figured out how to ask her on a date, but she kissed him first, so...... idk it just happened.

Who cusses more: Chris doesn’t really and I’m not sure she does either, so... neither.

What would they do if the other one was hurt: Chris panics and can’t really function. Victoria would worry but she’d be a lot better at keeping calm and doing what needs to be done.

Who is the dirty talker: Lmao I feel like they both are. Chris definitely gets into the dirty talking but Victoria is the dominant one so... it’s a joint effort.

A headcanon: They’re kinky af.

#long post #DYNAMIC // CHRIS + VICTORIA.#i loooooove them #victoria argent #chris argent #do they even have a ship name?#christoria #??????#idc what their ship name is #FILE // STUDY.#tobewhoimnot

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spectrumscribe · 7 years

Text

Left-ways

(Reposting because I deleted the original by accident!! Sorry!!!)

Hecka violent Mikey one-shot I promised. Trigger warnings apply, apologies.

(Violent impulses are a bitch, aren’t they?)

————————————————

There’s a point. There’s always a point.

There’s always a point where he just can’t care anymore.

And then everything slides left.

Soooooooooo far left that everything just flips-

-and then he’s right-side up again! Just like new!

Funny how that always works, just like dysfunctional clockwork!

Ha! Ha ha!

Mikey’s been sliding for that left for a looooooong while. Too long. Too long and now he’s on the very, very edge of the left, and wondering why he should tip back to the right at all.

He needs space. Space from his brothers and their tight, stuffy, confining home filled with too many memories and sad things. He needs space so he won’t slide left-ways around his brothers, because that would be bad of him to do. He shouldn’t do that to them, they’ve already got so much to deal with right now.

Mikey kind of really, really wishes he had a portal to Dimension-X. He slid all the way left-ways in there a number of times, and nothing bad came of it! Maybe it wasn’t so nice for the creatures and Kraang he met while he was in there, but hey! A guy has to get his kicks somehow!

Mikey bites his lip and taps his fingers and fidgets fidgets fidgets and tries not to slide too far left-ways while he’s at home.

He can’t stand it, though. The stuffiness. The suffocation. The stillness.

Mikey is the only one moving, while his brothers sit still and silent and oh so very sad because of their father and Mikey can’t.

He’s sad, yes. But he’s slipping too far left-ways to have room for sadness and he needs to go. Because if he stays, he’s gonna slip right on over that edge, and the time it takes to flip right-side up is too long much too long for his brothers to go through.

Leo is quiet in the dojo and Raph is punching his things and Donnie is building something small and ticky ticky ticky and Mikey isn’t noticed at all as he slips away.

Mikey misses his dad, misses having a whole family, and misses feeling like he wasn’t always edging towards the edge.

He’s left-ways and sideways and dancing over streets because there’s nothing else to do. He’s too wired for videogames, too careless for skating, so all he can do is leap and run and try not to slip without somewhere to aim it.

Maybe his brothers noticed him being gone, maybe they haven’t. They don’t see him slipping left-ways, but that’s okay! They’re not supposed to anyways!

Mikey wonders if Karai is better yet. She’s fast and deadly and her friend is fun too. Maybe they’d have something for him to do so he doesn’t slip left-ways all the way.

But he’s close. Oh is he so very close.

All the way left-ways and then upside-down to come back up right-side and feel like an okay person again that’s the plan that’s what’s going to happen if only he could find someone to aim it at-

Mikey stops, sharp and silent, and stares down at a building he’s passing.

Oh. There’s someone. There’s lots of someones.

Sometimes, with all the mutants and aliens and super ninjas- he forgets that the Purple Dragons even exist. Ha! Sucks to be them, so normal compared to everything and everyone else in New York.

Mikey slips over the edge of the building, and very nearly over his left-ways edge.

It’s buzzing in his skull, like a twitch twitch twitch that won’t stop till he either slides all the way left-ways or pulls himself back to the right. It twists and shrieks and makes more noise than Mikey can to drown it out and he hates it and he loves it because left-ways can be fun when he’s alone. When there’s no one there to stop him or distract him or get hurt in his left-ways slide.

His dad wouldn’t have wanted that, though. The slide, the slip, the flip off the cliff-

His dad would have been sad, disappointed, in Mikey for flipping all the way around and being left-ways the way he sometimes gets.

He’s at that point though. That point.

His dad is dead and their war is over and Mikey is sad and furious and bored.

He’s left-ways now, sliding through the open windows of the Purple Dragons’ hideout. Why they don’t move it, or at least defend it better, he doesn’t know. He doesn’t care. He doesn’t he doesn’t he doesn’t he doesn’t-

Oh, look, there’s Hun and his boys. Just like Mikey knew he’d be.

Mikey smiles, wide and gleeful.

He’s silent, swift, making his way from the rafters to the floor in perfectly timed rebounds off the wall and the machines inside the warehouse.

Hun and his gang- just a few men not enough men- are at a table. Drinking. Eating. Playing cards. They’re laughing and smiling and seem at ease with one another.

How lucky of them. How lucky lucky lucky that they don’t have a dark, sorrow filled home to go return to. One that’s too full and too empty and Mikey hates it more than he can even express, which is why he’s left-ways so far left-ways that he’s-

Mikey makes a final jump from the big cat statue, to the floor, and lands without a sound. His chains though. He lets them clink as he does, and splay across the floor with wonderful metallic clangs.

They didn’t make those sounds in Dimension-X much, not unless he was in a Kraang ship- and while he did love being in those great big metal ships and being so far left-ways nothing felt real until he wasn’t left-ways anymore- Mikey loves the concrete of his city and the way it lets him make just as much noise as he feels like. And no more than that.

All the heads in the room whip towards him- one, two, three, four - and Mikey smiles and smiles and smiles.

Not enough heads. But they’ll do.

Mikey slips left-ways, and over the cliff.

Crack crack crack crack crack-

How many bones does a hand have? Donnie would know, but Mikey doesn’t.

He likes the sound though. There are enough bones to make plenty.

Sound was fun and strange in Dimension-X. He misses that especially. Because Mikey could scream like he loves to do and oh the things that would happen when he screamed.

The man he’s holding is screaming. It’s not as good as Mikey’s Dimension-X screams, but he’s giving it his best.

Mikey is bored of it though, and tosses the man aside. The man skids across the floor, hitting the pile of boxes Mikey knocked over or maybe someone else had, earlier earlier earlier during the fight.

Not much of a fight, honestly. Mikey used to think these men were at least good for a work out. Now they’re all splayed out and quiet or quietly sobbing and god, so boring.

At least they’re good for itching the twitching in his skull! Mikey can appreciate that about them, even if they’re so pitiful, crying out and falling down and breaking breaking breaking so easily.

Mikey is jealous of Leo for getting to break the Shredder. Not fair not fair not fair- he wanted to do that, wanted to shred the Shredder and show him what it felt like to have a part of you so vital and needed and loved carved right out of your body.

Mikey misses his dad. Misses how stable everything felt with him around. His voice and presence and how he’d put a hand on Mikey’s head and everything would go quiet and he didn’t feel at all like he was sliding left-ways.

Mikey is left-ways. He’s upside-down. Mikey is smiling at Hun, who he chained up all nice like and tidy- look dad, I got something right!- and has been waiting so patiently for Mikey to be done with the others.

Hun was a bit tricky, but Mikey is just so much more tricky! Tricky tricky tricky like Donnie’s ticky ticky ticky-

Donnie has been so sad, so quiet these days locked in his lab and room. Mikey doesn’t like it. And Raph has been sullen and scared, scared of what he saw on that rooftop. Mikey liked it better when he was fearless. Leo has been scared too, of who he has to be now for all of them and he’s different for that fear of what’s to come. Mikey liked it better when being the leader was just a game.

He wants his brothers back just as much as he wants his father. Because they’re there but they’re gone gone gone too and he hates it.

Mikey lists to the right, skimming over the bright red puddle that reflects the warehouse lights so well, and skips over to Hun, humming a tune his dad used to sing when Mikey was too wired to sit still and just wanted to go play in the sewers with the rats and snap snap snap some things till he wasn’t bored anymore.

Mikey is bored. And sad. The upside-down is helping with those. Hun’s pale, scared face is helping with those.

“Please…” Hun says, begs, pleads pleads pleads to Mikey’s deaf ears. Just like all the other men had! Before Mikey had broken them like he wanted to break Shredder and the Shredder’s men and everyone else who wasn’t his family.

His brothers always say he never listens, and he guesses they’re right!

He hates listening to things he doesn’t like!

“You’re no fun,” Mikey says, bent over his knees and looking at Hun on the cold ground. “You gave Casey a hard time, why didn’t you give me one?”

Hun coughs, and Mikey hums sadly at how badly the man’s neck is bruised. Sometimes, Mikey gets a bit carried away. But that’s okay!

Mikey might be upside-down right now, but his dad taught him right! How to be right, even when he’s not right-side up! How not to kill things and people by accident!

Mikey’s laughter bubbles out of him, just like it has on and off all night and Hun makes a very funny sound at that.

His dad would be sooooo disappointed in him right now. Breaking and wrecking and being so mean without reason.

Too bad his dad is dead.

Mikey laughs, and laughs and laughs and laughs.

He’s smiling, and it hurts. Just a little.

Not as much as being home does, stuck not left-ways all the way or upside-down at all. Always right-ways always right-side up. Can’t be anything else around his brothers. His dad told him so.

“Be a good boy, Michelangelo. Treasure your brothers and their lives. Always love them, even when it’s hard.”

Mikey wishes his dad was here to say that, and not just Mikey whispering it under his breath.

Maybe being left-ways wouldn’t be so easy so fun if Mikey had reason to not be.

Hun is trying to drag himself away, and whoops- Mikey can’t have that!

“No no no noooooo…” Mikey says in a scolding tone. Like his dad would when he broke something he wasn’t supposed to. He stands up, and puts a foot on Hun’s back. Hun’s back has gashes and rips and lots of red that Mikey put there. Mikey thinks it looks better that way.

Mikey smiles down at Hun, who looks just so average without his glasses and perfect hair. Tsk tsk- how Casey ever had a rough time with this man, Mikey doesn’t know. He doesn’t care.

He doesn’t care he doesn’t care he doesn’t care he doesn’t care-

-twitch twitch twitch fidget fidget fidget-

“We’re not done yet!” Mikey says, cheerful and bright because this is fun! Fun like being at home isn’t and fun like training used to be.

Mikey is upside-down and all the way left-ways and he loves it and he hates it and-

-he wishes his dad was here to pull him back from it, because while it’s funny and bubbly and terribly wonderful like how so few things are-

-it’s lonely. And Mikey hates being lonely more than he hates being bored.

At least he’s not bored anymore! At least that!

Mikey laughs, and smiles, and enjoys being upside-down for however much longer it lasts.

He walks back into his home, that’s still silent still stuffy still empty and full and mixed with too much of everything-

And he doesn’t let any of that touch him, because he’s right-ways again!

Left is done it’s time for right instead. Just like his dad wanted him to be.

Mikey sees his brothers, counts their heads- one, two, three- and smiles at each one of them gathered around the television for a movie night. Donnie asks why he didn’t answer his phone, and Mikey remembers oh yeah, that sound I heard that wasn’t screaming.

Mikey’s chains are clean again, his hands are clean again, and he’s right-ways and right-side up and so he smiles at Donnie and says, “Whoops! Sorry about that, got busy with some stuff and I guess I forgot to turn it back on.”

That gets a round of shaken heads and fond scoffs, and Mikey is alright with those reactions. They’re good ones! The ones his dad wanted his brothers to give Mikey, and not the (fun) ones that other people have.

Mikey smiles and smiles and smiles and doesn’t say anything about slipping left-ways to his brothers.

He loves them, adores them, wants them to never see his left-ways upside-down self ever ever ever-

And he won’t let them.

“So what’re we watching?” Mikey asks, and smiles, and slides into place right next to all his brothers and doesn’t say anything about where he’s been or why his chains are so clean. He says nothing at all, and smiles smiles smiles instead.

Hun hadn’t liked his smiles much. Good thing that Hun will be busy in a hospital for a long while, and won’t have to see Mikey’s smiles anymore!

His brothers smile back at Mikey, soft and tired and sad, and Mikey gives them one that isn’t like the one he gave Hun, and instead the ones he only gives them.

His dad would be proud of this, at least. He has to be.

Mikey doesn’t know what else he can do, other than to smile smile smile…

Until he slides left-ways again, and then repeats the whole thing.

Next time though. Not now. Not with his brothers.

Never with his brothers.

Mikey smiles, and smiles, and smiles…

And stays right-ways, for his dad. For his brothers.

#my writing #second time posting it because the original got deleted #i was mostly asleep and someone distracted me and i mistook the original for a reblog #fuch #anyways #michelangelo #tw: violent thoughts #tw: gore #same as last time #Splinter #read at your own discretion #etc etc

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