#...also in the time frame between starting this and finishing this i got ANOTHER HECKING DRAW IDEA for this AU

[cherryatiny]

𝐃𝐚𝐝! 𝐀𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐳: 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐛𝐚𝐛𝐲 𝐛𝐮𝐦𝐩 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞

𝑊𝑎𝑟𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔: 𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑒𝑠, 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑑𝑢𝑚𝑚𝑖𝑒𝑠, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑤𝑒 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑐𝑢𝑡𝑒 𝑑𝑢𝑚𝑚𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑒ℎ𝑜𝑙𝑑 <333

𝐺𝐼𝐹𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑒, 𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑡 𝑔𝑜𝑒𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑜𝑤𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑠

⩥ 𝐊𝐢𝐦 𝐇𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐣𝐨𝐨𝐧𝐠

Letting the last droplets of water fall on your exposed shoulders, you turned the water off, putting the showerhead to its previous place after showering the bubbles of your body. Drying your body with a soft towel you prepared beforehand, you slipped into your underwear, opening the bathroom door and going to the bedroom, being met with the sight of your husband Hongjoong, who was currently laying on your shared bed, watching some things on his phone with headphones plugged in.

His eyes peeked on your exposed figure and as they landed on your stomach, they immediately widened, you could see how he swiftly jumped from his place, falling on the ground from the unsuccessful jump. Collecting himself, he got on his knees in front of you. „What the fuck are you doing Joongie?” Hongjoong was switching between looking at your belly and looking up at your face.

„Oh my, you grew a baby bump, oh my god, that's my baby inside you.” His hands cupped the bottom of your belly, poking it with amazement in his eyes, trying to find out if it's really a baby growing inside of you. „Waah, neither of these feel real, whether the fact that there's a tiny clump of cells growing inside of you, that will eventually turn into a human being or the fact that you're so fucking cute with this cute little bump. Literally, how did a deserve you?“ letting out a small chuckle at his words full of amazement, you kneeled to be on his eye level, looking deep into his sparkling dark eyes and pecking the tip of his nose, putting your hands on top of his. „I have the same question, Kim Hongjoong.“

⩥ 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝐒𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐡𝐰𝐚

Stirring the veggie mix in the wok, you rummaged through the cabinets, looking for soy sauce to add to the vegetables. Humming to a random song you heard on a radio a few days ago, swinging your hips to the rhythm. „What are you cooking, darling?“ Almost jumping from your spot as your husband Seonghwa unexpectedly wrapped his arms around your waist, you tried to calm your breath still shocked from the unanticipated touch.

„Hwa, baby, you should work on this awful habit of yours, I felt like my heart was about to jump out of my chest. Please let me know beforehand before you talk or hug me from behind. Stirred veggies with rice and tofu.“ Nuzzling his face into your neck like a hurt puppy, he apologized for scaring you in a tiny barely hearable voice.

Embracing you in a tight hug that kept you close to him as you cooked. „Hm, wait, what is it?“ Turning your head around to look at his confused face. „What do you mean?“ His hands started to caress your lower stomach, poking and pressing on it. „What are you doing Hwa? It tickles!“ Not stopping his actions you slipped out of his embrace, turning your body around to face him.

„Wait, let me touch it again, I swear it changed,... like the structure of your stomach, it's different.“ Kneeling in front of you he lifted your t-shirt, looking at it and resuming his previous actions. Squirming from the tickling touch of his fingers, you let out soft squeals. „Oh my god, Y/N, it really changed. Could it be the baby? Oh my, right, it must be the baby, your lower belly is rounding.“

„You weirdo, examining the changes in the structure of my stomach.“

⩥ 𝐉𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐘𝐮𝐧𝐡𝐨

As you finished cutting some fruit for the boys, you placed the bowls on the coffee table in their living room. Your husband Yunho sitting on the couch watching as you took care of his friends, his hand wrapping around you and pulling you back to his lap, your back falling onto his chest. „Rest baby, you don't need to take care of them, they're adults, even though they sometimes don't act that way.” nodding and smiling at his playful advice. „But I want to, you know I have to train these motherly skills for our baby.” whispering into his ear for only him to hear, you turned around to face the boys who were half-arguing about who's the best character in a show they're watching.

„Eat up, I cut those fruits for you, you need vitamins.” before you even finished your sentence, Yeosang was already stuffing his mouth with watermelon, making you all burst out laughing. „No worries Y/N, you should rest, also can I ask you something?” nodding to Hongjoong's hesitant words, he asked you the question he was referring to.

„I don't want to come off rude or anything, so please don't take it that way, but isn't your baby bump showing already?” the man underneath you quickly straightened up, bending down to look at your stomach because of his hyung's words. „Oh my god, Y/N, why didn't you tell me your baby bump is showing.” turning around to face Yunho's surprised face. „I thought you noticed..?”

Wooyoung and San let out loud laughter at how flushed Yunho was. „Yunho you should've seen how you looked right now, you really didn't notice Y/N's baby bump? I can't with you. Try to use your eyes sometimes. But to be honest, who would've thought that your sperm would grow to this size, impressive.” Those two couldn't stop laughing, Yunho only put on his expression of a hurt puppy as you pecked his nose with reassuring words. „Don't worry Yuyu, it might work out next time.”

⩥ 𝐊𝐚𝐧𝐠 𝐘𝐞𝐨𝐬𝐚𝐧𝐠

When Yeosang found out that you're pregnant, he couldn't hide the happiness. He was so excited but so scared at the same time. Buying a lot of educational books and attending workshops, to know how to become the best dad. At the same time, he wanted your pregnancy to be memorable so you two can have lovely reminiscences to remember in a few years. Apart from the basic medical record, you two built up a habit of taking pictures every week, to see how your body changed as the weeks of your pregnancy passed.

„Okay okay, go there Y/N, keep still as every week.” Snapping the picture of your figure standing in front of the white wall from side and front. You sat down on Yeosang's lap, arms wrapping around his neck as you looked at the screen of the camera in his hands, switching between today and last week's photos. „Wah, Y/N look! Your baby bump got visible since the last week. Aww, our baby is growing well inside you.” smiling at his adorable attitude. „Aww Yeosangie, are you crying?” Amazed at how quick you noticed it, he swiftly wiped the tears off his eyes. „No I'm not crying, it was just dirt in my eye.”

„One day, when our baby will be older, I will tell it a story about how its father teared up when it was growing in my womb.“ Giving you a death glare, Yeosang turned off the camera with the photos he took. „Try to embarrass me in front of my child and I'm going to sublime into another galaxy.“ Chuckling at his sarcastic remark you hugged his muscular frame. „Please don't, I'd have no one to tease then, Sangie.“

⩥ 𝐂𝐡𝐨𝐢 𝐒𝐚𝐧

Looking at yourself in the body-length mirror, you examined your body, hugging your frame and trying to cover the parts you didn't like. Especially the gained pregnancy fat on the lower stomach. Turning around, trying to find the angle you looked the best in. Not aware of your husband San observing your movements, while leaning on the door frame. His voice scaring the heck out of you, as he spoke. „What are you doing, darling?“ Turning around you looked at him, your hands wrapped around your body to cover as much as possible. „I- Don't you think I gained weight, Sannie? Especially some fat on my stomach and I'm not even that far in my pregnancy. What am I going to do? I feel so bad.“ San put on his pout at your negative remarks, approaching you, he stood behind you, looking at you in the mirror.

„Baby, I can't explain how much it hurts me to hear you thinking this way of yourself. You're absolutely gorgeous Y/N, darling, it's not any belly fat, and even if it was, it doesn't matter, it's your cute little baby bump. That's our baby that's showing and you shouldn't talk so negative about it.“ Kissing your temple and shoulders, he dropped on his knees, hands falling onto your bump, caressing it and letting his lips brush against your skin, giving it small pecks full of love. „Please Y/N, I'll do anything I can if it helps you overcome your insecurities. You're the most beautiful woman I've ever laid my eyes on. You're also the woman that carries my child, and you have my full respect for that. And this cute little baby bump makes you even prettier honey. Now, should I make you some snacks? You need to eat meals with a lot of nutrients so you and our baby can be healthy.“ Smiling at his heart-warming words, you took his hand that tugged you out of the room, taken aback by how did you deserve a man like this.

⩥ 𝐒𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐢

„Mhm Y/N... I'm so exhausted“ your husband Mingi whined, coming out of the shower after working out. „Do you wanna watch a movie? Come on, lay yourself on me and relax, Mingi. There won't be as many opportunities to do this from now on, so lay down.“ Nodding the tall figure of your husband approached you, sitting down on the couch, you spread your legs to create a space for him to lay in, before turning on the TV with your favourite series playing. As Mingi was about to lay his head on your lower belly, he noticed the slight change in its size. Lifting your t-shirt he saw how your lower belly rounded.

„Oh my god- Y/N! Why didn't you tell me your baby bump was showing omo! Y/N Y/N, that's my baby!“ chuckling at his excitement over your belly rounding, you agreed to his words. „Yes, Mingi, that's your baby. Now lay down please, so we can watch the series.“ Brushing your fingers through his brown locks, you tried to softly push his head to lay in your lap. „I don't want to Y/N. You lay in my lap, I don't want to lay on your belly, what if I hurt the baby? Oh my, that would be horrible, I'm sure that since the baby is growing already, it would feel suffocated by my head laying on your baby bump.“ Raising your eyebrows at his gibberish, trying to hold back the laughter at his cute dumbness. „Mingi, please, respectfully shut the fuck up and lay on my lap, you don't want to anger a pregnant woman by not agreeing with her. You won't hurt the baby, so lay down.“ Putting on his 'scared puppy' expression, he listened to you, laying carefully on your belly, your fingers playing with his soft hair, making ponytails and braiding them as you two watched the series.

⩥ 𝐉𝐮𝐧𝐠 𝐖𝐨𝐨𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐠

Clipping your fancy earrings and necklace set, you finished adorning your look with accessories. Looking at your figure in the tight-fitting velvet dress, that perfectly fitted the occasion of Wooyoung's business gala. Your eyes dropping at the baby bump that was getting more visible as the weeks of your pregnancy went on, especially in this dreses. But maybe it was just your detailed eye since no one appeared to notice, not even your husband.

Walking down the stairs to the living room where your husband Wooyoung was, already dressed in a well-fitting tuxedo. Playing some games on his phone while waiting for you to finish dressing and stuff. „Woo, I'm done.“ He turned around to look at you, his eyes widening at the ethereal beauty. „Waau, baby, that dress is breath-taking, absolutely worth the money. You're gorgeous, you look like an absolute goddess. Can you turn around?“ Turning around on your heels, showing off yourself in all angles for him to see, his cheerful clapping, like he was your number-one fan, let you gain confidence in yourself. „I don't remember marrying a model, but you for sure look like one.“ coming closer to you his arms wrapped around your frame, one hand falling onto your lower stomach. Leaning closer to you, Wooyoung whispered into your ear: „Especially with that baby bump, you look so cute, it adds to your beauty.“

„I didn't know you noticed...“ Wooyoung pouted at your words because he didn't know that was what you thought of him. „Of course I noticed, what do you take me for?... I just didn't want to mention it, because I didn't know how you felt about that and didn't want to make you insecure by mentioning your baby bump growing, but I just couldn't help myself, it looks too cute on you.“

⩥ 𝐂𝐡𝐨𝐢 𝐉𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐡𝐨

Work tired the heck out of you and Jongho couldn't watch your soulless state full of stress anymore. So his surprising gift for you in a form of a wellness trip was very appreciated. Having a week to spend to focus on yourself, your husband and the little bundle of joy in your womb, was the best thing he could give you. So as you two packed your belongings, and Jongho drove you two to the wellness hotel you could finally breathe out.

„Come on Y/N, let's take our luggage to the hotel room and then dive straight into a hot tub, I feel like my muscles are as stiff as rock.“ taking the luggage out of your hand, Jongho took them to your hotel room, your body fell on the soft mattress of your king-sized bed. „Get up, princess, we gotta go swimming and then we can go to a hot tub. Light exercise is important for a pregnant woman and her baby.“ groaning, you took the swimsuit Jongho threw at you and went to the bathroom to change, putting some dress onto it so you're not bare when you walk through the hotel.

Taking a deep breath after the hour of swimming, you thought you'd collapse from how exhausting it was. „Jongho I'm gonna kill you, you told me that we were gonna rest the whole week.“

„But exercising is resting as well. Okay then, if you're so exhausted, you can be glad that you have such a caring and strong husband, who has no problem with carrying you to the hot tub.“ Glaring at him, you could sense that he was just teasing you with his words. You yelped as he suddenly picked you up, carrying you bridal style, before getting into the hot tub with you still in his hands.

As he sat down with you still in his hands, you wrapped your arms around his neck, nuzzling yourself into his chest. Not aware of his eyes glaring and examining your stomach. „Baby.“ raising your eyebrows at him, thinking he wanted to tell you something, since baby was one of the many nicknames he had for you. „Baby. There's a baby in you. I can see it, oh my- Can I touch it?“

i couldn't find Mingi's gif from this set, i'm gonna cry

[lightkrets312]

wowie I did an art

@shinyzango @themarginalartist

(I started this about 3 days ago, drew something else, forgot about this, and then a few days and a haircut later came across the rough sketch and finished it. And this was originally just gonna be a pencil drawing. Art processes, man…)

(Bonus doodles and art process under the cut.)

Sketch

(...plus bonus commentary)

Rough lineart! (...finished like 3 days later)

...and then the ever important question...

End decision: Ink. Started some of the “color” before I took the picture, whoops.

And the rough finished product!

“Hey LG how did you decide whether to do ink or not?”

With a bot of course. That whole “making decisions yourself” junk’s a bit overrated if you ask me. what do you mean i’m indecisive psssh naw

(If y’all want to find it, the Discord bot’s Tatsumaki. Good commands. Fun bot. Less fun when you’re making decisions for a DND style thing and your character ends up beaten up 10 ways to Sunday. Thanks Tatsu.)

[clubyukhei]

[1:15PM]

“yangyang? do you like that girl?” 

babysitter!yangyang nearly chokes on his americano at how that question came out of nowhere. 

the toddler in the baby carrier strapped to his torso, wei, bursts into giggles as he looks up at his uncle coughing hysterically. across the table sits a five-year-old girl, yun — wei’s older sister and yangyang’s beloved niece — who’s also giggling while watching her uncle struggle.

“what girl, yun?” yangyang asks, letting out a sigh. he knows damn well who she’s talking about.

“the girl who brought the food to our table!” yun smiles, taking a bite from the madeleine between her fingers. “you like her?”

“no, i don’t.” 

she stares at him for a few seconds as she chews, observing her uncle closely. then a huge, cheeky grin begins to spread across her tiny face. 

“why didn’t you look at her just now? when she was talking to you.” she questions. 

“i did!” 

“nope. you didn’t.” yun shakes her head. she reaches for an eclair from the plate of pastries on the table. 

yangyang lets out a huff of surprise to mask the now bubbling pit of anxiety in his stomach. why is he sitting here allowing himself to be interrogated by his five-year-old niece? 

his eyes wander to a distance away and fall onto you. you’re behind the counter once again, smiling brightly at a customer who also has a toddler in their arms. the same smile yangyang saw up close and barely survived. 

he also barely survived hearing your voice and laughter. and the sight of you cooing at wei. and the way your hair frames your face and how you manage to look so pretty even in your work uniform. and the fact that you gave him a free cookie to go with his americano.

“papa says that sometimes, when a person likes you, they can’t look at you because they’re too nervous.”

“your papa just says things.” yangyang deadpans, making a mental note to nag at kunhang once he gets back home. that’ll definitely be a conversation from friend to friend — not brother-in-law to brother-in-law. “i don’t like her.”

cut the crap, whines a tiny voice in yangyang’s head. he doesn’t just like you a little, he likes you a lot. heck, he is head over heels in love with you — someone he met literally not even an hour ago. and if you spare him just another second of your attention, he would probably earn the title of the world’s happiest man alive right away.

if it was any other day, he’d attempt to strike up a conversation or tell you one of the three stupid jokes he has memorised by heart. but the circumstances of today are simply pathetic. yangyang cringes just thinking of how lame he must look, sitting in a kids’ cafe wiping baby drool off his jeans and making the silliest faces to keep wei entertained. 

“hmm. but i think… she likes you too.”

“sure.” yangyang mutters. 

yun gasps. “let me go ask her!” she puts the half-eaten eclair back on the plate and slides off her seat. 

“no!” yangyang hisses in panic, the star-shaped cereal puff he was about to feed to wei falling onto the ground. “get back now!”

but it’s too late — the little girl is already running to the counter and getting a hold of your attention. glued to his seat, yangyang watches the entire scene in horror. there’s no saying what yun will blabber to you now. maybe it’s better if he doesn’t know.

then he catches you laughing at something yun has said.

it’s over, yangyang thinks. two girls laughing at him — one of them the girl of his dreams and the other a literal child. it can’t get worse than that... but it does. as if yun had just heard his thoughts, she turns around and points her finger in his direction proudly.

yangyang could seriously cry. why is this happening to him? 

he looks down at wei, muffling a groan into the knitted beanie sitting on top of the toddler’s head. oh, to be a toddler munching on cereal puffs, peacefully unaware of what’s going on. 

when yangyang steals another glance, he finds you already staring at him. LOOK AWAY NOW, he screams internally. but he can’t. 

it feels as if the world has stopped moving just so he can fully appreciate this moment and everything about it — how your eyes sparkle under the rays of afternoon sunlight, how the most beautiful smile he has ever seen stretches across your lips… yangyang doesn’t even realise he has frozen altogether until wei starts squirming around, tugging the strings of his hoodie with his tiny fists. 

in a matter of seconds, he circles his hands around wei’s hips and starts bouncing his knee. when he looks up this time, he spots you grinning as you grab a marker and a small piece of paper. you shake your head to yourself, that silly grin never leaving your face as you pen something down and hand it to a very excited yun who’s tip-toeing against the counter.

“yangyang!” yun exclaims after finishing her marathon from the counter back to their table. she’s waving the folded piece of paper in the air like it’s a golden ticket to willy wonka’s chocolate factory. “look! i told her you like her!”

yangyang snatches it out of her hand, his heart pounding as he shakily unfolds it and comes face to face with a series of letters and numbers written in red marker ink. no fucking way.

for the cutie. (the baby. or... you ^^ )

XX-XXXX-XXXX 

“i think she really likes you! papa and mummy got married after she gave him her phone number.”

“oh my god.”

-

[equestrianwritingsstuff]

Fugitives Part 2:

Part 1

@teheranb I apologize this took so long.

Warnings: mentions of IV lines, mentions of medicine, self-hating/chastising, animal death, gross food (rat meat), fever, starvation, dehydration, trapped in a cave, talk of death, pessimism/lack of hope, needles

~

They were running... again.

The IV lines, the old medicines... how could Hero be so stupid? Of course a cabin in the middle of the woods would be an old hero base. Well, not of course, because it is not entirely common to have a base nowhere near any known civilization and of that small size, but still. She should've scouted the building, looked for homeowners, predators...

And cameras. Cameras watching them like a fox does to a rabbit.

A quite obvious one too. A blinking red light, stuffed into a corner. Classic, so classic that Hero actually considered the possibly of having to have her mind restarted like a computer.

But of course that sci-fi fantasy was not real, or possible. Yet. If a rottin cabin could be a base, then a way to restart the brain could be quite realistic if scientists worked on it.

The dilemma between whether or not shutting down and rebutting the brain was a possibility was not the most important thing going on at the moment, however.

Hero was running, as stated above, with an injured villain in her muscular arms. And, if you have not guessed it, she was running because there were heroes, her old allies, running after her.

"Take a left," Villain hissed suddenly, his voice spoken with such clarity that it nearly sent Hero to her knees. But nonetheless, Hero dove towards her left.

Sure enough, the villain led them to a deep ditch. Hero jumped into it and started to run, thinking about how lucky she was to have grassroots covering her-

A bullet whizzed past her ear.

Hero ducked, covering Villain as she fell. The villain hissed, but said nothing else- not even a whimper as his shoddily stitched wounds brushed against sharp rocks.

Hero resumed a crawling position as she helped push Villain to his hands and knees.

"Can you crawl a bit?" She asked.

"Cave 'head," Villain answered, lazily and slurred with no strength left in his voice. Telling her to turn absorbed the last of the remaining strength like cat litter on an oil spill.

"Yeah, yeah I see it," Hero replied and helped guide Villain over various rocks and tree branches.

The cave ahead of them was small. They would have to crawl to get inside, and given that, they would have to block the entrance and then not have an escape point.

They would be starved out, but the cave was the only hope for safety at the moment.

Villain went in and immediately collapsed on the ground in a tangled mess of limbs. Hero stiffened when she saw one of the bullet wounds begin to bleed again. Not now Hero, she told herself. Grab a boulder.

Using her superhuman strength, Hero grabbed a hefty boulder and pulled it into the building's entrance, leaving the villain and hero in complete and utter darkness.

"Are you okay?" Hero asked and blindly ran her hands over Villain's body. She felt his muscles move in an upward fashion. He nodded, or so she thought, but whether he did or not, it still equaled the same answer.

He was not okay. Not one bit.

She could tell by the way he just laid there, exhausted. Hero crawled right up next to him and coddled his head close. He didn't resist as if his joints and ligaments were made of fluid- which also worried Hero. If he got sick, if infection set it... would she be able to sacrifice herself for his well-being?

That wasn't even a question. There was no "sacrifice of the mighty". If she gave herself up, both she and Villain would be captured and killed.

He couldn't get sick. There was only one way out of this and that was him staying alive on limited resources.

How hard could it be? Hero thought with a cold shiver sliding down her back.

《~~》

Day Five:

Hero shivered as she snuggled close to Villain to preserve body heat. Periodically, she would jab him in his side in an attempt to keep him lucid as possible. But, eventually, the need for sleep got too overwhelming that even her persistent taps couldn't keep him awake.

They were beginning to starve.

There was no food in the cave, just murky water that drippled off the sides of the cave droplet by droplet. Heck, not even a puny mouse had visited them yet.

Hero pulled Villain in until her weakening muscles started to ache. His stomach had heat radiating off the two wounds, as did the rest of his body.

"Hey bud," Hero murmured, shaking him. "You up?"

"Mm," Villain replied, not really waking up.

"Cold?"

"Mm."

"Is that a yes or no?"

"Yeh."

"Okay."

Fever. Why did he have to have a fever? It wasn't like the current conditions could permit such a miracle to happen, but it still was very unfortunate.

Day 6:

Hero placed a piece of moss on Villain's forehead and around his neck. He didn't wake up that morning, just tossed and turned in fitful slumber. In the dim lighting, Hero could just make out scabbed over abscesses on his stomach.

He wouldn't make it two more days in this condition, Hero realized with a gut wrenching pang as she tried to cool and warm Villain at the same time.

Hero pursed her lips, draining a soaked piece of moss into Villain's mouth. He opened his mouth, but didn't swallow- not that it mattered, there wasn't enough to swallow anyways.

Hero's own hunger pangs and need for water disappeared within the first couple days, though she feel could her own body weakening as fatigue started to get to her.

Later that day, Hero heard a squeak. Glancing around wildly, she saw a rat sniffing her moss operation in the light. Slowly advancing, Hero proceeded to catch the thing.

She did, hands wrapped around the body and Hero ended its life by smacking its head against the wall. Quickly, she used her fingers to dig in...

"Villain!" She called, her voice hoarse and slurred, as she shook him awake. His eyes blearily opened. Hero didn't waste a second. She tore some of the flesh off the thin bones and chewed it up before regurgitating it and placing it on Villain's tongue- he was too weak to chew through the tough meat.

He numbly gnawed at the flesh and swallowed before his eyes started to drift closed.

"No stay awake," Hero shook him again. "You have to eat."

Villain mumbled something and Hero jostled him again, but he was lost to the world.

"Crap," Hero whispered and took a bite of the sour food herself. She ate only a few bites- you never knew when another opportunity would come along.

Day 7:

Hero woke up late that morning, or at least she thought she did. Villain's head was on her stomach where he laid curled up in a tight ball. His fingers grabbed at her dirty shirt with such intensity that Hero was genuinely surprised.

The rat laid next to them, right where Hero placed it to protect it from scavengers. She woke Villain up and helped him once again to eat.

It was disgusting. More than disgusting. Revolting even, but it was the only thing keeping them from starvation.

Villain fell back asleep immediately after finishing his meal. Hero took the time to look him over. Infection was running rampage. Thank God there was no flies or his body would be eaten alive, especially with the intoxicating smell...

Hero pulled his shirt back down and wrapped her arms tighter against his frame. He wouldn't be alive much longer, so she might as well comfort him for as long as possible.

Heck, she wouldn't be alive for that much longer if that rat was the only source of food in the whole cave.

Day 8:

His breathing was shallow and he didn't even wake up that morning. Hero let herself cry, murmuring into Villain's ear and she held onto his limp body.

"Please stay with me," she whispered. "We can't fight this together."

But the villain didn't move, nor woke up to say that everything would be okay.

Because it wouldn't.

How could it be okay? He was dying and she wasn't too far behind.

Hero sobbed, tears streaming down her face and into his grimey hair.

"Please," she shuddered, but it was no use. He was losing the fight, his breaths slowing...

"Quick give him this!"

Hero jerked herself around to come face to face with a masked stranger. Hero wrapped her arms around Villain protectively.

"Who are you?" She spat.

"It doesn't matter."

"Yes it does. For all I know, you could be working with the heroes."

"I'm not," the stranger chuckled. "Give him this. It'll give his body some strength until he can properly take care of him."

Hero looked at the needle in the stranger's hand.

And then back up at his masked face.

"Okay," she said and administered the liquid.

[zombryz]

Could you do a Vegeta x Reader where the reader is short & petite like 4’11 but has an attitude 🥺

Or

Trunks x reader where trunks is taking care of reader who has like a cold or something

Hi Anon! Your wish is my command, please enjoy 😉

“Could you do a Vegeta x Reader where the reader is short & petite like 4’11 but has an attitude 🥺”

(I apologize in advance for the layout. Next time I’ll copy from my computer… tumblr mobile must hate me lol)

P.s. I’ll also write the trunks request on another post so be on the lookout for that (-:

~

“Ugh! That’s not it.” You huffed as you threw a random toaster out of your way. With a loud sigh and a scratch of your head you thought “where could they possibly be?” You were becoming very frustrated in your search.

Bulma had given you a task to find some old blue prints from a project she worked on many years ago. She sent you to a storage room filled with piles of junk and had promised that they’d be in there. You often wondered how she remembered exactly where stuff was and why she wouldn’t get it herself if that was the case. After working for Capsule Corp for 3 years, she began to trust you with more and more information. You’ll never forget when she introduced you to Vegeta and Goku, two of her friends who happened to be saiyans. Over the years you became a very loyal assistant and she would give you small projects to work on on your own. She even taught you how to work the gravity chamber and make repairs if needed. Repairs were needed often for Vegeta and Goku after an angry training session. Goku was super fun to be around and became one of your close friends. He was so silly and could make you laugh at any moment. Vegeta on the other hand was more rough around the edges and overall hard to get along with. You tried to be friendly towards him for Bulma’s sake but you found yourself rolling your eyes around him all the time.

You looked down at the layout of the storage room that was sloppily drawn out by Bulma. In that moment you realized you were holding it upside down.

With a face palm you excitedly said, “Ahhh, okay now we’re getting somewhere!” You looked up in the corner of the room and saw the blueprints under a few storage bins on the very top shelf. Shoot! How were you supposed to get up there? You looked down at your feet confirming how short you actually were. You were about 4’11 and pretty tiny. The last thing you want to do is ask someone for help.

Almost on queue you spun around to see Vegeta leaning in the doorway holding a towel to his temple wiping the sweat from the training session he must’ve just finished. You couldn’t help but jump a little not expecting to see him there. He was unphased and had his usual mean mug plastered across his face.

“I didn’t scare you did I, woman?” His stern voice sent shivers down your spin. There’s no way you were going to ask Vegeta for help. You’ve always hated having these one on one encounters with him.

“No, you didn’t,” you answered plainly, crossing your arms and popping out your hip. You didn’t want him to have the satisfaction of spooking you. “And stop calling me woman! My name is y/n” You rolled your eyes at him and spun on your heels back towards where you were standing previously.

“Bulma said I’d find you back here. The gravity chamber needs repairs” he stated, ignoring you per usual. He wrapped the towel around his neck and leaned back further into the doorway not planning to move until he got a confirmation that you’d drop what you were doing and go fix the chamber.

“Yes your ‘majesty’” you replied with air quotes hoping to actually piss him off. It must’ve worked because he pushed himself off the door frame and further into the storage room.

“What did you say, weakling?” His brows furrowed and he grabbed your arm roughly forcing you to face him. You tried to wiggle out of his hold but he wouldn’t let you. You decided to keep your cool knowing you had gotten under his skin.

“Oh, nothing… Prince Vegeta,” you replied with a flirtatious tone and a smirk, surprising both yourself and Vegeta. You couldn’t tell if he became flustered, before it could go further you finally pulled away. “Fine. Let me just grab these real quick then.” You spot a chair on the other side of the room. You grabbed the chair and brought it over to the shelf holding the blue prints. In one swift motion you stood up on the chair and reached out to grab the blue prints. You couldn’t believe it, you still weren’t tall enough. Your face became red when you realized Vegeta was still in the room. Crap.

There was silence and then a deep chuckle, Vegeta couldn’t hold it in. This was the first time you’d ever heard him laugh. “What were you planning on doing with that, woman?” He kept laughing which annoyed you more. You dropped your head in defeat, your hair fell to the sides of your face. You almost broke a sweat trying to get those damn blue prints.

With a brief pause, “Vegeta… can. you. help. me…?” You hated that you even had to ask him for help. This was so embarrassing. You couldn’t look over at him, part of you hoped he had left the room. You didn’t even know if he’d actually help, you wouldn’t put it past him. You heard his foot steps as he walked towards you. He didn’t say anything as he approached you. Stepping down from the chair you finally looked him in the eyes as he got closer. He looked you up and down once more before leaning down, picking you up wrapping his arms around the back of your knees so that his head was flush with your chest and his arms support your butt. This is not what you expected. You also didn’t expect for Vegeta to give you butterflies, why the heck were you feeling this way? He held you up high so you took the opportunity to reach for the blue prints. Finally! You tapped him signaling for him to put you down. Instead of letting you back down the way he picked you up, he allowed you to slide down his body causing your shirt to come up a bit. His onyx eyes were still locked on yours.

You pulled away from him clearing your throat and fixing your shirt. There was so much tension, you weren’t sure if he felt it too.

“Um, thanks,” you produced a fake smile in hopes he wouldn’t catch you blushing.

Vegeta closed the space between you again, he decided this time to pick you up so that your thighs were wrapped around his waist. Before you knew it his lips were on yours desperately trying to relieve the tension between the two of you. He carried you over to the nearest wall shoving you against it causing you to drop the blue prints you didn’t realize you were still holding. His gloved hand ran his fingers through your hair as he started placing kisses down your neck. A moan escaped your lips and that’s when you heard Bulma talking down the hall, you assumed she was looking for you since you’d been gone so long. Vegeta pulled away leaving you wanting more. Without saying a word to you he left the room.

On the way out of the door you heard him call out, “That woman needs to fix her attitude.” You we’re so confused. Before you had a second longer to think about it Bulma had turned the corner. Her eyebrow was raised as she smiled at you.

“Let me guess, the gravity chamber is broken again?” She giggled. You couldn’t hold it in, you started cracking up with her and eventually both of you were rolling on the floor laughing.

[pinklacedarling]

🍙 MEMORIES OF YOU 🍙

🍙 Pairing: Osamu x F!Reader 🍙 Summary: Osamu fondly looks back on your years together. 🍙 Contents: Fluff, Post-Timeskip || 🍙 Word Count: 1.8k 🍙 Masterlist: Link

Osamu liked to look back to when the two of you were still in high school. He remembers how you two met, being partnered together for a project in your first year, and quickly took notice of everything. Everything that is you, to be precise.

Everything from your cute, little mannerisms to how your soft hair framed your face, and especially how your eyes seemed to sparkle whenever he got you your favorite drink from the vending machines. He couldn’t pinpoint why you had fascinated him so much, but Osamu made it a point to learn as much as he could about you. 

He remembers the first time you hung out together, just the two of you. He had taken you to a food fair, finding your company pleasant as conversation flowed between the two of you with ease. He remembers how you laughed at him when he put too much spice on one of his snacks - you teasing him while he proceeded to chug down two bottles of water - before snatching it away to happily finish the rest. Osamu learned the ungodly amount of spice you could handle that day.

Osamu managed to convince you to attend one of his volleyball matches one day. When you admitted to him, over video chat that night after the match, that you knew nothing about volleyball he spent the entire night teaching you about the sport. He was afraid that talking to you about something you had no interest in would push you away, but he was pleasantly surprised when you started asking him about stuff you didn’t understand. It was such a small thing, but seeing you take an interest in one of the few things he liked did weird things to his heart.

It didn’t take long before you were regularly attending his matches - you even took a selfie every time, your face on one side of the frame while the court was seen from the background, and sent it to him as proof that you were there to cheer him and his team on. He could still remember how much Suna had teased him when the middle blocker found out that Osamu had saved all your selfies in a folder on his phone.

The day you got your heart broken was a day Osamu would never forget. He remembers skipping practice, much to his twin’s annoyance, and walking you home. You were quiet during the walk, opting to keep your head low as your cheeks still sported some redness from your crying earlier. He was quiet too, silently cursing the guy that rejected you and wondering why. 

It wasn’t until the two of you were at your front gate did Osamu break the silence. 

“Go out with me instead,” he said, “I can treat ya way better than that scrub.” 

He took you on a date the following weekend, and he could still remember the mixture of emotions that filled his heart when you told him at the end of your date that you were glad you got rejected. 

“S’fine that he rejected me. It’s good, actually, cause we might’ve never gone on this date otherwise...” You had said in a soft tone, eyes refusing to meet his as a blush settled on your cheeks. He remembers how cute you were at that moment, shuffling nervously as you both stood outside your house. He also remembers how you suddenly pulled him down and gave him a peck on the cheek before shouting and promptly slamming your front door in his face. 

“I really like you, and I’m real lucky that you like me too, Mu-mu!” 

Osamu really likes that nickname.

He remembers how you came rushing into the gym one day after he had another fight with Atsumu. He told you that he was fine, but you kept worrying over him and even got him some snacks to make him feel better. He remembers his twin’s voice ringing out, accusing you of playing favorites even though you also got the blonde setter some snacks of his own.

“You’re not my boyfriend, Miya. Mu-mu is!” You had replied, putting emphasis on their surname before sticking out your tongue at him in a childish manner. Osamu would never forget the look of shock and disgust on his brother’s face, nor the fact that you just called him your boyfriend for the very first time. 

He also remembers your first kiss. He had jokingly asked for a good luck kiss before one of his games and was surprised when you agreed. Osamu still felt some embarrassment over it, remembering how, in his nervous state, knocked your foreheads together so hard that it took you both a minute to compose yourselves. You both laughed about it afterwards and got it right on the next try. 

Ever since then, Osamu always asked for a kiss before a game, and you happily obliged. 

The first time you told him you loved him was also an important memory for Osamu. He remembers how distant you’ve been the week prior and it worried him to no end, thinking he might’ve done something to upset you or worse, that you were getting tired of being with him. He managed to corner you after a match, catching you before you managed to get lost in the crowd and leading you two somewhere more quiet. In hindsight, he should’ve asked you calmly instead of demanding what was wrong. 

He remembers panicking when he saw tears in your eyes, shooting out apologies for shouting at you so suddenly. Turns out it was all just a misunderstanding. You explained to him, through your tears, that you were having a hard time with your homework the past week, and with a match coming up you didn’t want to bother him about it. Osamu instantly felt guilty for your tears, but also felt relief wash over him. 

“I thought ya might’ve been gettin’ bored of me.” He admitted as he held you close, wiping away the last of your tears. 

You pouted, confusion written all over your face. “Osamu, you idiot, I’d never get bored of you! I love you, after all!”

Osamu froze at that, his brain trying to process what you had just said, so casually too. He didn’t respond for a while as he stared down at you, watching as you tilted your head at his silence. 

He managed to stutter out an ‘I love ya too’ after a while, the tips of his ears growing red, and you wouldn’t stop teasing him for a month about how he stuttered so cutely - one that he vehemently denies every time you bring it up.

There were so many memories of you that Osamu would always let his mind freely wander through them, daydreaming about anything and everything that is you, no matter where he was. Perhaps that’s why you were currently snapping your fingers in front of his face, a worried expression on your features as he focused back on the present.

“Mu-mu, is everything alright?” You asked, brows furrowed as you sat at the bar of an empty Onigiri Miya. There was an empty plate sitting in front of you, telling him that you had finished the extra spicy onigiri he always made for you. “You were spacing out. You’re not overworking yourself again, are you?”

“M’not.” He says, all too quickly for your liking, before taking the plate and cleaning up. 

“Liar!” You accused, and he could clearly see the cute pout on your face despite having his back to you. “Y’know I don’t mind helping you clean up at closing time, right?”

“S’fine, I can handle it.” Osamu made sure everything was in order before circling the counter, wrapping his arms around your waist as you stood from your seat. “Besides, yer tired too, aren’tcha?” You guiltily avoided his eyes, making him chuckle. “You comin’ to pick me up every night is more than enough.” 

He leans down to give you a peck, but immediately recoils once he tastes the spice that still lingered on your lips. “I thought you’re fine with spicy stuff now?” You giggled, watching as he tried to shake it off. 

“I can handle it, but yer on a whole different level when it comes to spice.” He grumbles, ruffling your hair and placing a kiss on your temple before letting you go, opting to hold your hand instead. His eyes flickered down for a second, catching the glint of the golden band that circled one of your fingers.

He smiles. 

You giggle, pulling him outside and humming to yourself as he begins to lock up. “Oh, by the way, ‘Tsumu called me earlier.” He hears you say, “He said that you weren’t answering his messages. Something about attending his next game so he could have free onigiris right after his match. Seriously, your brother’s such a handful!” 

“In a few months he’s gonna be yer brother too, y’know.” Osamu retorts, amused as a look of horror crosses your face.

“Ah, you’re right!” You wailed, dramatically putting a finger under your chin in thought. “Maybe I could still get out of this…” 

Osamu laughs at that, trapping you in his arms. “No way. You already said ‘yes’ so there’s no backin’ out now.” 

He hears you whine, but you snuggle closer to him. “Mmm, you’re right. I’ll tolerate him for you, Mu-mu.” You laugh, “Plus I love you too much to ever leave.”

His heart swells at this. 

“You love me too, don’tcha?” You ask, looking up at him with a cheeky smile, and he takes a moment to appreciate how, even after all your years together, you were still able to mesmerize him with your entire being. 

“Yeah,�� he smiles, watching as your cheeks turn pink. “I love ya.”

“Lots and lots?” 

“Lots an’ lots.”

Osamu takes your hand in his again, giving yours a light squeeze before leading you both back home. His mind begins to wander again, to everything the two of you had been through together, and he glances at you beside him. This too, would make a good memory, he thinks. Nevermind how seemingly boring or mundane it was. Any memory with you in it was worth remembering, down to the very last detail.

His mind wanders, and this time he finds himself thinking of the future. Osamu smiles to himself as he thinks about your upcoming birthday, that trip you two had planned together, and even your wedding day. Heck, he even thought about when you might have a child together.

There were so many memories waiting to be made with you, and he’d be lying to himself if he said he wasn’t excited about every single one of them. But there was no need to lie to himself, was there? After all, Osamu loved you, and he’ll continue to love you for years to come.

A/N: My first post! Admittedly I was only going for a drabble, but before I knew it I had typed down so much so I hope whoever reads this likes it!

[neverthrive]

Just gonna leave this old ass fanfic here

Adventuring is a rewarding occupation, providing an abundance of wealth, the respect of peers, and even a fulfilling sense of self worth. Even so, the constant action takes its toll, and every once in a great while an adventurer has to take a step back, breathe in deeply, and just get away from it all. Which is exactly what Jake had been planning for himself and his human brother.

It was a simple idea; take a break from their regular schedule of evil slaying, butt-kickery and all around, nonstop awesomeness. Find some remote location that holds nothing but tranquility in store for the duo to just chillax at for a few days. Just the two of them, a dog and his boy. It was perfect, but like any other well laid plan, there was a monkey wrench destined to find its way into the cogs of said perfection and jam Jake's precise synchronization up something awful. This particular monkey wrench goes by the name of Marceline.

"What are you dweebs up to?" Inquired a melodically cynical voice that belonged to none other than the ancient noirette in question. Marceline stared down ever curiously at the mixed species siblings and their growing mess as she liesurely drifted on the air over their heads. From what she could tell, her mortal friends appeared to be gathering heaps of useless garbage and stowing the junk in their already cramped luggage, for some reason or another.

Finn took a moment to acknowledge the vampire's presence, looking up from his loaded pack to face her. "I'm not actually sure, myself... Jake just told me to start packing my crud, and I guess that's what I'm doing, so does that answer your question?"

"Not in the least." she replied curtly before turning her now suspicious gaze in Jake's direction. The dog paid Marceline no mind as he continued to toss his various and mostly useless possessions into a sack. A rubber duck, a length of rope, a jar of peanuts, a pair of socks... Finally, he stored two empty glass bottles and closed the sack, still oblivious to the vampire's questioning stare. "Jake, what the plum is with all the hullabaloo?"

"Nope." Jake snapped, mildly irritated.

"'Nope'? Nope what?" She pressed him, ignoring the dog's tone.

"No. I'm not gonna tell you because you'll just want to come with us and muck it up. It's s'pose to be just me and mah bro, and you have no part in it. So no, Marceline, you can't come camping with us." Jake retorted in his best attempt at sounding authoritative, but in trying to iterate just how serious he was, the fact that he was suppose to be withholding information had slipped his mind a tad. He soon realized his mistake and growled in frustration. "Forget I said that last part!" But ironically, that last part about ignoring that previous last part was ignored by both teens.

"We're going camping?" Finn and Marceline asked in unison, excitement bubbling up in their throats.

"Yes, Finn, WE are. And no, Marceline, WE are not. Got it?" Jake answered pointedly. "It's camping time with Finn and Jake. I didn't hear Marceline anywhere in there, so step off sister!"

"Well fine! Maybe I didn't want to go on your stupid trip anyway!" Marceline pouted sorely and turned to leave, but Finn, being the model peacekeeper he is, blocked his friend's exit. "Get out of the way, Finn. I'm obviously not wanted here anymore." The vampire queen tried to push the boy aside, but no matter how hard she shoved, the squishy blob of flesh and heroism persisted to keep her from leaving.

"Come on, Jake's just being a butt. You don't have to leave on account o' him bein' a Mr. grumpy pants." Finn gently wrapped a hand around Marceline's forearm and began to lead her back over to his brother so as amends could be made.

"He doesn't even wear pants, dude." she huffed out in retortion as she let herself be pulled back towards the junk heaps that the magical dog was still busying himself with sorting through and packing into napsacks and suitcases and the like.

"Jake..." Finn verbally nudged his brother to outstretch the olive branch to Marceline, but an apology seemed hesitant in forthcoming. "Come on, man. You know you done bad in yourself bro, and I know you know how to make it right again." Finn's prompt appeared to have worked this time, eliciting a defeated sigh from Jake.

Dropping his bags of assorted and worthless loot, Jake turned to face Marceline who now had her arms crossed over her chest and was avoiding eye contact with him. "Look, I'm sorry, alright?" Marceline untensed a bit at that. "It's not you, It's just that I really wanted to have some bro time with Finn, y'know? To recapture those times we used to share when we was wee pups." Jake inhaled deeply, breathing in the musty scent lingering about from the, until recently, long forgotten contents of that once overstuffed closet in the corner. He had a feeling in his gut that he'd regret this decision later, and his gut was almost never wrong, but he couldn't ignore his guilt and empathy for Marceline. She just wanted to hang with her friends. "So... You want to come with us, then?"

The vampire's sour mood dissipated immediately, her pout rapidly shifting to a grin stretched from pointed ear to pointed ear. "Heck yes I wanna go camping with you guys! So when are we leaving?" Marceline asked almost giddily.

"Well I guess since you're coming with us, we probably shouldn't be heading out 'til just before sundown." Jake answered thoughtfully. Having so much time before they were to depart allowed Jake some spare moments to cool it with all the preparations and freed up his thinkin' schedule a bit. Suddenly, a thought pervaded his mind that the dog rather took a shining to. "If we're bringing guests along now, Lady Rainicorn's coming too!" and with that, Jake took off to go inform his girlfriend of how he'd decided she would be spending the next few days. The matter was entirely non negotiable.

Finn and Marceline stood idly by as Jake hastily absconded out through a nearby window. The young hero turned to his immortal friend "You know, he actually does wear pants..."

"Really?"

"Yup."

A quarter hour before dusk would settle in, the four campers had reached the landing Jake scouted out beforehand. It was a small pocket within the forest, not too far from a river, vacant enough to comfortably fit everyone but with a dense enough canopy to shade any vampire from daylight at high noon. Having acquired a suitable base of operations, the only thing left standing in between Jake and his cherished relaxation was setting up camp. The duties were divied up between two groups.

"So Lady and I are gonna pitch our tent, by ours I mean hers and mine. I don't know what either of you are doing so... Sleep under the stars or whatever. But also, we need a campfire, so you guys should maybe gather some sticks and twigs and stuff, and it'll be math. 'Kay." Jake then spoke something in a language neither Finn nor Marceline could comprehend to Lady, who laughed in response, and the two magical creatures diligently began piecing together the frame of their shared tent. The rainicorn giggled lightly every time Jake slipped a tent pole into the corresponding connector she held.

Marceline narrowed her eyes at the spectacle and made a face. "Gross..." She thought it best to linger around the couple and their disgusting adorableness as little as inhumanly possible and began to head towards the surrounding thickets. Finn soon followed suit, tailing behind his friend into the thick of the forest to gather materials for their fire.

"So like, sticks, huh?" The human remarked as he bent over to scoop a discarded twig from the earth.

Marceline turned to see Finn's pitiful offering. Their fire would need a lot more fuel than some measly green branches. "No man, we need bigger stuff than that." she explained. "And preferably a little more dead." she added.

"Bigger?" Finn thought it over for a moment. "Alright, bigger." Turning to face a tree, the stout teenager grappled the trunk and with all his might attempted to pry the poor unsuspecting eudicot from the soil. "I need your wood, tree! Give it up, yo!" Finn continued his struggle while Marceline cackled at his random act of foolishness.

Seeing no sign of Finn relenting any time soon, his undead friend intervened. "Finn, we don't need a whole tree. And you most def don't gotta yank one out'a the ground. C'mere, ya goober." she beckoned while barely supressing her laughter. Finn looked from Marceline then back to the tree in his grasp, releasing the bark from his grip and gaining nothing from his efforts but sore arms.

"Look," she pointed to a fallen branch that looked as if it'd been laying on the forest floor for a few seasons now. "This is the kind of stuff we're gonna need. Big enough to burn, and not impossible to pick up, got it? Now get it." Finn did as instructed, bending to take the dry, rough chunk of high octane campfire fuel in his arms. "Alright, now just find a lot more like it and we're good to light 'em up."

"How many more?" Finn asked wearily.

"I don't know. Lots, I suppose. Have to keep it going for a while." she replied, venturing deeper into the woods to search for any more decent firewood she might per chance stumble upon. Figuratively, that is, it's hard to sumble when your feet don't touch the ground.

"Bleh..." Despite his contempt for such menial labor, Finn once again followed the vampire to gather what they needed. It was an easy enough job, but way too dang boring for a man of action. Finn needed excitement, and lugging sticks around wasn't providing.

When they'd finished gathering the firewood and the time came to actually light the fire, Finn demanded he be the one to do the deed. And so there they sat across from one another, a neatly arranged pile of dead wood between them. Finn furiously stroked the sticks together in a fruitless attempt to catalyze a spark.

"This usually works! These things must be broken, or something..." Finn pouted and heaved the useless wooden shafts into the nearby shrubbery in frustration.

"Here," Marceline moved herself closer to the bundle and spawned a small flame in the palms of her hands. Touching the flame to the tinder, the pile of miniature lumber and bark ignited almost instantly. Finn stared down at the blazing fire, then glanced up to Marcleline, a smug, toothy smirk plastered across her face.

"You cheated!" he yelped, pointing accusingly at the girl who succeeded so easilly where he so miserably failed.

"Finn, don't be jelly of my totally sweet vampire powers." Marceline replied, her expression never faltering.

"I'm not jelly! Maybe jam, but not jelly. Just admit you cheated! Vampire powers is cheating fo' sure." he insisted.

"Nope." The vampire playfully let her forked tongue slide out from between her fangs, mocking the disgruntled human.

"Whatever..."

"Hey, you guys made the fire! Rad!" Jake exclaimed as he padded his way over to the two from his now fully assembled tent.

"Yeah, we totally did it! 100% group effort here." Marceline chimed almost sarcastically. "So who wants to roast marshmallows?"

"... Then the puppy looked under his bed, and saw two glowing green eyes! The pup was so scared, it almost wee wee'd!" Finn stood over his three friends, the crackling fire below lighting his features in distorted illumination. He raised both hands above his head, digits stretched and curled as claws in the most menacing display the boy could muster. "The nebelung under the bed reached out to the scared little puppy and..." Finn paused, turning to Jake who'd heard the story right along with Finn in their youth and knew what came next. "TICKLED THE PUPPY!" Finn pounced on his brother and poked his wriggling fingers into the dog's soft flanks. Jake snorted and snickered at the human's tickle attack as the two women watched on. Lady found the sight to be quite amusing, adorable even. Marceline just sucked the red from a can of kidney beans in stark indifference.

"If you two are done with your brotherly gropefest yet, maybe I could tell a real ghost story?" Marceline cut their fun short and assumed her position over the campfire as current story teller as the brothers returned to their seats. "This isn't the first time I've been in these parts of the woods. I came through here some years back, how long ago exactly is a little fuzzy. But I wasn't alone. No, I had friends with me, just like I do now, and just like now, there was a dog among my group.

"We were just hiking through, you see, we had no intentions of staying. No, that would be foolish! We knew better, we'd heard the stories of what happens around here after dark. Weird stuff... Spooky happenings, y'know? But the dog, he got lost-"

"Oh no! Not the dog! The dog always dies first!" Jake interrupted with his sudden fearful outburst.

"Well anyway..." Marceline shot him a scornful look, and continued. "The dog must have started straggling, because when we stopped to rest, he was nowhere to be found. Of course we looked for him, we stayed together as a group, we weren't about to split up so we'd all be lost in 'The Forsaken Forest'. But no matter where we searched, there was no sign of the poor lost doggy. It wasn't 'til well after dark when we found him. He was huddled in a bush maybe twenty or so yards from where he was last seen, shaking uncontrollably with his face in his hands.

"He wouldn't show us his face. He just kept on mumbling some nonsense about 'whispering trees' and 'eyeball rockets'. When we finally pried the dog's hands from his face, he had no eyes! Just two gaping sockets where his looking globes used to be! Once we got him to calm down, he told us the whispering trees of the forsaken forest used some hoodoo to turn his eyeballs into jet packs and they flew right off of his face. Wait..." Marceline stiffened and tilted her head to one side as if intently listening to some faint noise off in the distance. "Did you guys hear that?"

"Hear what?" Jake squeaked, cowering into his girfriend's embrace. Cuddling with Lady Rainicorn made him feel secure, but it wasn't enough to make him totally forget he was in the alleged 'Foresaken Forest'.

"It sounds like..." she leaned in toward Jake, and with a completely straight face, with a hint of what might pass for something distraught in her tone, answered "Whispering."

That's all Jake needed to hear. He gave his friends a surprise performance of his scream song and tore off to his tent as fast as his four legs would carry him, separating himself from the 'evil' trees outside with a thin layer of nylon. No way in the flippin' Night-o-Sphere was he letting some piney mischief makers steal his precious eyes. Lady chuckled and followed after him, knowing Jake wouldn't be able to sleep alone tonight after that fright.

Finn and Marceline shared a laugh at Jake's expense. When their howling merriment subsided, they realized they were alone once more. Finn fed a few more branches from their dwindling supply into the blaze, stoking the flames.

"So, have you really been out in these woods before?" The boy asked, now feeling uneasy not knowing if the vampire's story was true or not. Finn'd witnessed stranger things, so believing tall tales came easily to him.

"Yeah, I have. But not how you're thinking I did, that story was bogus." Finn was relieved. "Naw, my old man took me camping somewhere around here when I was younger, before that whole 'fry incident' happened. It's one of the more pleasant memories I have from my upbringing." Marceline sighed and watched the flames consume their fresh meal through hazy, half lidded eyes. The age-old young woman contently recalled the time she and her father shared out in this forest so many years ago.

"Is that why you like camping?" Finn pulled her out of her train of thought. "Becuase your dad brought you?"

"Yeah, probably." she admitted. "It's just nice to chill out in the wild, with some friends or family or whatever. It's kind of peaceful. So how 'bout you, Finn? Have you ever been camping?"

"Well, once pop took me, Jake and Jermaine out for a weekend of fishing. Y'know, a father and his boys." Finn still missed his parents, they were such kind old folk. No one else would look twice at the human freak, but they raised him as their own. "But it was actually just the back yard, there was a pond there too, and we were told we couldn't go inside the house 'til the weekend was over. Dad made us some sort of little shelter out of some dead trees and ferns and all we ate was the fish we caught, but Dad made sure to stock the pond with lots of fish beforehand, so we had plenty. It was a pretty good time, even if it wasn't the wilderness like this."

"It's not where you're at, Finn, all that matters is who you're with." Marceline asserted, and felt a certain truth to her words resonate. In her experience, this was an immutable fact, in good company, fond memories could be made anywhere. Finn always seemed like good company, and he'd given the vampire an abundance of fresh memories she hoped would not fade any time soon.

"Yeah," Finn nodded gingerly. "that's deep." The human stretched his arms wide and yawned in deeply. It was getting late, and an adolecsent boy needs his sleep. "I'm gonna hit the sack."

Finn took a few paces away from the campfire and found one of the various packs he'd brought with him on this excursion at the base of a large tree. Opening the zipper, he reached inside and withdrew a very large, very new looking gortex sleeping bag and unrolled the bundle of fluff and warmth, laying it across the ground. The tuckered hero wasted no time before hopping into the over sized, silky feeling cocoon, but before he could drift of to the land of Sweet dreams, he was disturbed by a familiar voice.

"Where am I supposed to sleep?" demanded the very abandoned feeling vampire queen.

"You're nocturnal." Finn retorted bluntly before rolling over to face away from the dying fire.

"But I've been up all day!" she protested. "My sleep schedule is wack, and it's pretty much entirely your fault."

"Hey, it's your own choice to pester us during the day. You made your bed, now you gotta sleep in it. Hehe." Finn laughed at the irony of that figure of speech used in this particular instance and noted that he's not exactly one to be clever with irony, and it was mostly just coincidence, but an awesome coincidence at that. "Can't you just like, sleep hangin' from a tree or somethin'? Bats do that all the time."

"No! For one, that's actually an insulting generalization, and two, I don't think I can maintain myself in bat form while I'm sleeping." Marceline explained. It sounded logical enough of a reason to rule out sleeping in trees, and there was no way she was about to sleep atop the cold dirt. "Scootch over, I'm getting in with you." she ordered.

"No way! Why didn't you bring your own sleeping junk?" Finn countered.

"Because I didn't think of it and vampires were never bestowed with the gift of foresight, now make room!"

"You can't!" Finn barked.

"Why can't I?" she challenged.

"Because... You're a girl..." Finn's face brightened with reddish hugh.

"Are you saying you'd rather sleep with a boy?" Marceline asked slyly, raising an eyebrow in playful inquiry.

"Well no... But..." Finn sputtered, "This isn't fair!"

"Life ain't fair, get used to it," the dead girl shot back while making her way to Finn and his comfy looking sleeping bag that he was being oh so greedy trying to keep all to himself. Finn hesitated, but after seeing Marceline was dead set on gettin' all up in his bag, he reluctantly relented his opposition and allowed her entry, slipping in beside him.

Marceline noticed how spacious it was inside, still comfortable enough even with the both of them fully encased up to their necks in the puffy fabric, and she almost couldn't help but to be suspicious that Finn's end game was to share this sleeping bag with someone all along. Silly human, he'd only have to ask, no need for reverse psychology and mind games. But then she realized this was Finn she was thinking about and how his intentions never run any deeper than face value. Marceline couldn't see Finn, the genuine goober he is, devise some elaborate plan entailing sleeping bags and psychological warfare all to result in getting her to sleep with him, speaking only in the most literal sense of the term.

Then Marceline realized something else. She was dreadfully uncomfortably laying in this position. "Finn. I need a pillow." she informed.

Disturbed once more from the verge of slumber, Finn exhaled audibly and cracked his sore and crusty eyes. Scanning about the surrounding darkness for something that might sate the relentless vampire's pestering, Finn peered a fairly large, stout stone not far from where they lay. Removing his arms from the confines of the sleeping bag he was now being forced to share, he grabbed hold of the rock and placed it by Marceline's head with a dull thud. "Use that." he instructed coarsely before returning to his previous position and trying once more to sleep.

Marceline stared at the rock in awe for a long moment before deciding it was a horrible candidate for a pillow. No, she'd need something softer, with some give. Something... Squishy. And per chance, it just so happened that there was something exceedingly squishy laying right beside her. So with no further thought or reasoning, Marceline curled herself around Finn and layed her head on the softest point she could find between his shoulder and chest.

"What the flip are you doing?" The hero questioned when feeling his friend's arms snake around his body.

"Shut up." she hissed, momentarily lifting her head from his chest to make eye contact. "You're lumpin' comfortable, so deal with it. Now lay there and be quiet like a good pillow." And with that, she nuzzled back into the fleshy swells of Finn's torso.

As awkward as this situation was, Finn couldn't deny that it was maybe even a little pleasant. But also mostly uncomfortable, for him at least. So to right this, Finn hauled his arm out from beneath the cuddly vampire and repositioned it around Marceline, so now they were in some ungraceful, and clearly completely platonic embrace. Nope, nothing going on here, just a couple o' bros in a sleeping bag is all. Snuggling? Naw, none of that going on here, bro.

Feeling Finn's arm wrap around her back and rest somewhere near her waist, reciprocating her cuddle, Marceline grinned into the adolescent adventurer's chest. "I know you're enjoying this, probably more than you're letting yourself believe, but don't expect it to happen often." She took a moment to glance back up to meet Finn's embarrassed gaze. "You just so happened to have been the most comfortable place for me to spend the night." Reaching up to play with the ears of Finn's hat, she added "Y'know, you're no Hambo, but you're quite the snuggly little bear."

Finn's face flushed skarlet, or maybe it never stopped being that color, he couldn't tell. But either way, he definitely felt significantly warmer around the collar after that remark. He wasn't too sure he liked being Marceline's 'snuggly bear', he imagined it might be something reminiscent of what Lady Rainicorn would call Jake, if she spoke english. And Finn for sure didn't think he was ready to have with Marceline what Jake had with Lady. But here they were, closer to any other girl than he'd ever been, unburnt by her touch and unscalded by any callous words that carelessly fell from her mouth.

Finn gave some thought to this and realized it wouldn't be so bad to be more than simply friends with Marceline. She was probably the greatest gal he knew, and almost certainly the least complicated, even if that's not saying all too much. But he could easily envision their relationship taking a turn for the romantic. By the time he'd worked up the courage to profess that thought to her, a rather obnoxious snore seized his attention. Finn snapped his eyes down in his bed buddy's direction to find she'd already fallen fast asleep. So, the adventurer, pushing all silly thoughts of relationships aside, closed his eyes for what seemed like the umpteenth time that evening and was finally allowed rest.

It wasn't the muted sunlight shining through the leaves overhead, ticking at his eyelids, that woke Finn that morning, nor was it the stirring of the girl still in his arms. It was the earpiercing shriek of utter shock and surprise let loose from his older brother's agape maw. Finn's eyes shot open, sitting up quickly and turning his attention from Jake to Marceline, taking in the situation and how it might look to anyone outside of the sleeping bag.

"This probably isn't what it looks like!" Finn piped up defensively almost without thinking. His brain kicked in and told him that whenever someone says those particular words, it's almost always exactly what it looks like.

"Oh my grawd, dude! You guys didn't... Did you?" Jake gasped, flabbergasted. "Just tell me you kept it PG13, please."

"Dude, what the hey! We're both fully clothed, okay!" Finn stepped out of his sleeping bag to prove he was, in fact, not in the nude. "She just forgot to bring any camping gear, so I shared. Alright?"

"Yeah, alright... I guess I might have been overreacting a bit..." Jake mumbled ashamedly, averting his gaze from his two friends he just so blatently accused of indecency.

"A bit?" Finn chuckled. "It's a'ight man, let's just forget about it." Finn's stomach let out a low growl. "So what's for breakfast, homie?"

Jake felt a mite cheerier now that they'd moved on past that terrible misunderstanding. What an awful, horrible revelation to wake up to first thing in the morning. "Canned food, yo. It's all we got since we pollished off the marshmallows last night."

"Sounds good, man." Finn responded with a nod. He looked back to his vampire friend who was still wrapped in his sleeping bag. She was in a sitting position, watching the two brothers, holding the poofy top of the bag up to under her chin with strangely bare arms. "C'mon Marcie, stop being a lazy butt. It's time to get up." The human coaxed.

"Remember that thing you said about how we're both fully clothed?" she asked with a bashful smile. "If we've learned anything this morning, it's that you guys are great at jumping to conclusions." She motioned with her eyes, directing Finn and Jake's attention toward a pile of her discarded flannel shirt and ripped jeans.

"What the flip, Marceline!" Finn cried out, bordering on the hysterical.

"What, I got hot! Besides, it's not like I'm completely naked. Glob Finn, don't be such a perv!" Marceline huffed indignantly, floated up from the ground sleeping bag and all, snatched the shirt and pair of jeans from where they lay and was gone into the dense forest, presumably to get dressed.

"What in the flip just happened, Jake?" Finn asked flatly as he continued to stare dumbfoundedly out into the woods where he last saw the lunatic who wore his sleeping bag like a toga.

"Sounds like you're having girl troubles, bro." Jake answered, gingerly giving the confused human an empathetic pat on the back.

[sacklerscumrag]

Part I of III: Stay With Me Series

Notes: Hey ya’ll so i decided to do a little three part Clyde series with some fall vibes! I’ve been feeling a little off lately so i wrote this last night to take my mind off things :) hope you guys like it, I'm already halfway through part 2 and its a long one 😅 There's something about Clyde and a bookstore that just gets me going. Enjoy :)

Summary: Moving to Boone County, West Virginia a year ago today, your entire life has changed. With owning your own bookstore and your favorite holiday around the corner, could love also be in the books for you?

Wordcount: 1.6K 

      The air was cooler, and the leaves had already changed. It was official, Autumn had arrived in Boone County, West Virginia. It had been a year since you moved here and started helping Sam out at your favorite bookstore. Until about a month ago, when he decided it was getting to be too much work for him to keep up with, so he asked you to take over. You headed to the bookstore early that morning to start decorating for Halloween and take in some new inventory for the holiday season. Hanging some orange twinkling lights along the frame of the windows and doors and setting up pumpkins with black tinsel on the bottom of the large window out front to display some books. The store was small and cozy, so there wasn’t space for much.

     You weren’t expecting too many customers today, seeing as it was Sunday, so you settled behind the counter with a good book and some coffee. Flipping through the last pages of your Frankenstein novel, you heard the door chime at around 11:00 am.

     “Good Morning, welcome to Sams” you said barely peeling your eyes away from your book long enough to see who came in. You stood up, setting your coffee down, and walked over to the entrance.

     “Good mornin’ Miss, uh is Sam around?” you turned your gaze to him, about to give him an answer but were taken back by the man standing in front of you. He towered over you with long, wavy, dark locks drizzling down to his broad shoulders that you just wanted to wrap yourself around and never let go. He had dark, sultry eyes with the most exquisite nose you had ever seen, his lips were full, plush, it made you want to drown in them. You noticed his mechanical arm but paid no mind to it, how could you when the man was built like a Greek god. You were sure you had never seen him in the store before, you definitely would’ve remembered.    

     “Ya alright there Miss?” his deep voice snapping you out of your thoughts, you didn’t even realize you were biting your lip, almost tearing at the skin.

     “Yeah sorry I-uh Sam’s not working anymore so I’ll be taking over. Is there anything I can help you find?” trying your best to compose yourself, interlocking your index fingers behind your back.

     “No ma’am its alri- well actually ya got any good books for Halloween? I’m always lookin to read somethin good for the holidays” he put his hand in his pocket, keeping the mechanical one tightly to his side.

     “Of course, follow me” you guided him through the bookshelves, his heavy footsteps following closely behind you. He was slightly hunching over to fit himself in between the shelves before you reached a small, black table decorated with spiderwebs in the back of the store.

     “These are all my favorite Halloween books I’ve read so far” stepping to the side to give him a better view of the array of books.

     “Ya read all o’ these?”

     “Yeah, I guess you could say readings a hobby of mine” you turned to give him a smile only to see he was already smiling at you. “If you need anything else, I’ll be by the counter” quickly walking away before he could see the heat rising to your face.

     About an hour or so later, he came back with two books in his hand and placed them on the counter along with a crisp bill.

     “On the house” you said pushing them back towards him.

     “I can’t let ya do that Miss I-“ he placed his hand on the books but you cut him off by putting your hand on his.

     “The only form of payment I’ll be accepting is your name” he swallowed hard, looking down at where your hands were still touching then looking back at you.

     “My name’s Clyde” you withdrew your hand from his, already missing the warmth, and settled back behind the counter.

     “It’s nice to meet you Clyde” you told him your name as he stuffed the money back in his pocket.

     “Well, that’s a beautiful name. It’s nice to meet ya. I better head on out then. Have a nice day, and thank ya again” you gave him a smile, noticing the flush in his cheeks.

      “Have a nice day, Clyde” he grabbed his book and headed out the door. It wasn’t until after he left that you realized how flustered he made you, releasing a breath you didn’t even realize you were holding.

      The following week flew by and as Halloween approached the bookstore got busier. Finding yourself with less time to daydream about Clyde and those alluring eyes of his, you were dumbfounded as to how such a large man could be as shy and reserved as Clyde was.

     When Sunday rolled around, you were looking forward to seeing him again. You woke up that morning, did your hair and applied some light make up. Wearing your favorite pair of high waisted black jeans, throwing on a long black sleeve with a ghost in the center, and your black boots as you grabbed your coat and headed out the door.

     A few customers passed through in the morning, still giving you time to read through your book and tidy up the store a bit. Clyde came in at his usual time, looking as handsome as ever.

     “Mornin” your name sounded like honey coming from his mouth, you could listen to that man talk all day. He stood by the door, hands fidgeting with the sides of his jeans.

     “Good Morning Clyde, how’s your day going?” putting your coffee down to look at him.

     “Gettin much better now” he said looking down, a slight smirk appearing on his face “I loved the book ya recommended for me, finished it last night.”

     “I’m glad you liked it, are you back for another?” you made your way around the counter, suddenly needing to be as close to him as possible.

     “Yes ma’am, do you happen to have Frankenstein? Saw the movie last night n I been dyin to read it”

     “I just finished reading that one actually, it’s a classic. Did you see the original black and white film? That’s my favorite”

     “Yeah, it’s the only one I’ll watch, I love all em black and white movies. Thought I was the only one.”

     “Not at all, those are my favorite too” you said pacing towards the bookshelf, scanning it. “We actually don’t have that one in stock but” walking to the counter, returning with the novel. “You can borrow mine if you’d like”

     “Ya don’t have to, I’d hate to cause ya any trouble.”

     “Clyde, it’s no trouble at all” you said handing the book to him.

     “You have any favorites you can show me? I really wanted to take home more than one today” he clutched the book you gave him close to his side. You both made your way over as you showed Clyde your favorite section of the store. It seemed like hours passed as you both discussed your favorite books and authors. The more you talked, the more you realized you and Clyde had much more in common than you thought.

     After some time, Clyde paid for his book, mumbling something about being late to work as he walked out. Your heart raced watching him nervously fumble with the books in hand.

      Another week went by with Clyde on your mind. Before you knew it, it was another chilly, Sunday morning. You had picked up some cookies and pastries for some of your loyal customers and settled in with your book behind the counter. You saw Clyde’s truck pull into the parking lot a bit earlier than usual.

     “Mornin” Clyde walked in with a book under his arm and two coffee cups in his hands. He was wearing a navy-blue button-down shirt with a black undershirt and jeans that were too tight for your own good.

     “Good morning Clyde, back for something new?” he chuckled lightly at your response while walking towards you.

     “This if for ya” he places the book and a coffee cup on the counter “For lending me this, I appreciate it” the way he smiled at you making something ignite in your core.

     “You brought me coffee? Thank you, Clyde” you damn near melted at this gesture “Anything I can help you find today?”

     He approached the counter, arms tightly at his side and chewing on his lip. You could tell whatever it was he had to say was making him nervous. He placed a hand on the counter and took a deep breath.

     “I just came by to ask ya something. M’ sorry if this is too forward o’ me or if it makes ya uncomfortable but will ya do me the honor of goin out on a date with me? I been meanin’ to ask ya since the first day I came in. I know a girl like you can do a heck of a lot better than me but if you just-”

     “Clyde, I would love to go on a date with you” his eyes darted to yours, almost like he couldn't believe what he was hearing.     

     “How bout a movie then? At the drive-in? Their showin a black and white movie, Frankstein like the book ya been readin. Tomorrow at 7?” he cleared his throat, worried he sounded too eager as soon as the words left his mouth.

     “That sounds wonderful Clyde” he smiled at you before looking at his watch.

     “I gotta go Darlin but I’ll pick ya up tomorrow at 7 then” you nodded as he turned and walked out.

     Tomorrow couldn’t come soon enough.

[callsign-hummingbird]

I’m not Your Indian Princess

Pairing: Dean Winchester x Fem!Native American Reader, Sam x Fem!Native American Reader(platonic)

WHAT DID I JUST WRITE???

Warnings: Triggers of racism, Strong Political Themes(most of you Natives will understand what I’m talking about), A bit of sexism, crack story..., Cas is not in this one. Sorry!

WARNING! IF YOU STRONGLY DISLIKE NATIVE AMERICAN PEOPLE, PLEASE LEAVE AND DON’T LEAVE ANY MEAN COMMENTS. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! IF i DO FIND ANY OFFENSIVE COMMENTS, I WILL BLOCK YOU AND DELETE YOUR COMMENT(OR FIND A WAY). ALSO YOU MIGHT HAVE JUST GOT A WHOLE TRIBE OR FEW AFTER YOU. YOU WERE WARNED!!!!!!!

A/N: This one is for @tinymoony​!  hope you like! It’s sort of weird, so please forgive me.

 The night was dark and the moon was out. It was almost a full moon, which meant that werewolves could be out right now, well metaphorically speaking. Tonight, there would be no werewolves and there most certainly would not be any werewolf hunting either. Tonight was Halloween and we would get a break from the storm that we called our life. Tonight we would rest and then start again tomorrow because tomorrow is when all the real monsters came out to play.

I scanned the page that was pulled up on my computer. Not a hunt in sight so far. I just finished my last hunt with a Wendigo and now I needed to find another one. It’s not that that I wanted to, but I needed to. I needed to keep my brain occupied or else it would drift back to that dark memory of the night I lost my cousin. Dark memories of that night flashed through my mind. I did not want to talk about it, nor did I want to speak about it. All I wanted to remember was that it happened that night and I needed to find the monster that killed my cousin. Along the way, I found a few more things to hunt and learned a few new things. I also found two tremendously good hunters as well. Their names were Sam and Dean Winchester and they wanted to hunt with me. Something about me being Native and helping them with the cultures and lores. I told them that I was only one tribe though and that there were many tribes that represented themselves as Native American or a better term would be Indigenous. They didn’t mind anyways and said that I could help with getting in with the tribes anyways. Apparently from what Sam has told me, it has been hard for them to even get some of the Indigenous people to help them. I told them that it was probably because of what happened back when America was being colonized and not to be offended by it- just learn and move forward. Ever since I joined them though, more Indigenous people have been more open to telling us things and opening up a little more. 

“Hey (Y/N).” I looked up at the person calling my name, meeting beautiful, forest green eyes. The man with the beautiful, forest green eyes was named Sam Winchester. He had beautiful short brown hair that he spent hours on and a tall, towering frame that  made him bigger than most. Even though he was tall, he still had the personality of a playful puppy. I smiled at him. “Yeah Sam?” I asked, looking back at my computer. “All you do is work, you need to just relax tonight.” I sighed and ran my hands over my face. He was right after all. I had to get away from the computer and start having a little more fun. If not for Sam, then for Dean. Dean... Dean Winchester was the  oldest out of the two and he had me whipped. I loved how his eyes sparkled in the sun and how they complimented his face shape. I also loved how he styled his hair and how he looked so put together with the various hairstyles that he did. Oh and his voice. It was like warm, dark chocolate melting in  my mouth. He did things to me, but it was not not just the physical things, it was also the things unseen as well. His personality was was a mix between a cute, little, feisty kitten and a ferocious tiger. Some of the girls that I have talked to have even compared him to a sex god. I wouldn’t go that far to describe him though, even he might and probably was good in bed. 

I sighed and turned my head just in time to see him sitting at the bar, talking to a girl dressed in an offensive Native American Costume. The costume consisted of cheap brown fabric that tried imitating buckskin, but failed miserably. the skirt came up above her knees, showing all of her leg area. Her feet was cladded with brown boots that failed to be moccasins, while her chest area was on display as she leaned over and talked to Dean. She also had her blonde hair in two loose braids, while she had a beaded head band on and fake colored feathers in the back. With a revealing outfit like hers, there was literally nothing to the imagination. To make it worse, almost all the guys in the bar were gawking at her. 

I shook  my head and turned back to where Sam was sitting. Sam looked at me and then where I was looking a few minute ago. He just smiled at me knowingly. “(Y/N), that girl will never be as beautiful as you in such clothing.” I sighed and looked at him. “I don’t care if the girl holds a candle to me in that clothing, Sam. It’s outright disrespectful that she would even wear such a costume.” I said concernedly. The smile that he had on before was quickly replaced with a smile. “what do you mean?” he asked. This answer alone just made me frustrated. I sighed and got up. “You know what? Watch and learn.” I said and made my way out the barn. I would show him. 

A few minutes after I left, I heard a voice calling out to me. It was Sam again. “(Y/N)! Wait up! Where are you going?” I huffed a little, turned around and looked back at him. “Do you want to know what a real Native American looks like? Because that is sure as heck isn’t it!” I started yelling. He looked down at the ground. “I’m sorry if I offended you.” I looked around and took a deep breath. “It’s not your fault Sam. It’s just...” “Just what?” He asked, trying to look for some explanation from me. I sighed again. I’ve noticed I have been doing that a bunch lately. I looked at him again. “ It’s just that I can’t believe after all that I have taught Dean about Native American culture, he still has the mordacity to look at that girl who doesn’t even know what any of that stuff that she’s wearing even means. It’s literally a slap in my face and a joke to all Indigenous women out there.” I said, in a frustrated tone. 

Before I even knew what was happening, I felt big arms make their way around my body, engulfing me in a hug. “I am so sorry.” he said. I wrapped my arms around him and hugged him back. “It’s ok.” I said in a whisper. He pulled away immediately and looked at me. “No it’s not! You’re right! With all that has happened with the Native American nation, Dean and I should be more respectful!” He pulled my hand and started pulling me back into the bar. This gesture made me confused. “Wait Sam, what are we doing.” I asked. He looked back at me and smiled. “I have an idea.” He said, mischievously.

After that, we went back in and got Dean. Dean was really disappointed, but Sam said that it was very important. The girl, who was with him looked very upset and gave me a mean look. Then she walked off and started talking to some other guy. Afterwards, Sam pulled us both back to Baby and we were off. 

In what seemed like thirty minutes, we were back at the Bunker. Sam got out of his seat and with in minutes was opening my door. I was so very confused, but did not question that big genius in front of me. If he had a plan, he had a plan and I trusted that he had a plan. 

As soon as we got into the bunker, he told me to get my stuff that I usually used for pow wows(for the sake of this fanfic, reader is a pow wow dancer. If you don’t know what that is, look it up. There’s too much to explain.). I stopped cold in my tracks. “Why?” I asked, looking at him. “Remember how you said that there was a cultural dance or pow wow near us that was happening to celebrate Halloween?” I just nodded. “But then I said that it was ok if we didn’t go because Dean wanted to do other things anyways?” I added in a question. Sam nodded and smiled. “Well, I was thinking that we could go to it and we would learn what real beauty an actual Native American girl has, instead of the crazy getups that those girls that Dean hangs out with wears. “ This answer made my lips form an O shape, while nodding. I just smiled and started to my room to get my stuff again. 

 As soon as I got into my room, I started packing my stuff. Dean, nor Sam have ever seen me in my regalia. I only just told them about this hobby of mine and how much it meant to me, but to see me in action? This would be weird and crazy, but I was going to trust Sam on this. 

I continued to pack my stuff and then got my makeup that I usually wore for pow wows. Did I mention that Sam and Dean have not really seen me in a face full of make-up either? I mean, I touch up my brows a bit, wear a few swipes of mascara, and occasionally, maybe a neutral lip color, but that’s about it. I zipped up my suitcase and started for the front door of the bunker, while meeting Sam on the way. “Ready to show Dean what a real Native American looks like?” He asked. I nervously smiled and nodded. Let’s do this. 

----------------------------------------------------------

It was a long drive to the gym where the pow wow was being held. Occasionally Dean would ask where we were going and Sam would just respond with a “You’ll See”. As soon as we came into the parking lot of the gym area, Sam stopped at the front and dropped me off. “Good Luck (Y/N).” He said, and then they were off, with Dean in question. I waved and then I started for the door. When I opened the door, the pow wow music filled my ears, making me want to cry. It had been a while since I have been to one, nevertheless competed in one. This would be my first time in a while, since dancing in a pow wow again. 

I started towards the bathroom, where al the girls were going to get dressed. Flashbacks and memories of my family filled my mind. During another time, I would go with them to these things and dance with my siblings. We went to as many as we could when I was a child. Though, when my cousin got killed, I stopped going to them and started hunting, leaving my family behind. They thought that I was going to college, but I wasn’t and only I knew that. I couldn’t tell them because if I did, I risked getting them hurt or even killed, like my cousin. 

As soon as I reached the bathroom, I went into the first stall that was occupied and started getting dressed. I put on my dress, belt, leggings, and moccasins and then started braiding my hair. The thought of Dean came into my mind. I didn’t know what his reaction would be, but let’s hope good? A part of myself told myself to stop thinking about him and to think about the things that I should be thinking about which were good things for myself and my family. 

In no time, I was dressed and out of the stall, now focusing my head accessories, which included my head band, hair wraps, and a feather. Not the fake one, like the girl at the bar had, but a real one. Then I started on my makeup, fixing it to perfection. 

The outfit and hair.

The full makeup look, besides the lips.

The lips.

As soon as I was done with everything, I took one last look in the mirror. Everything looked as good as I could get it, so I made my way out of the bathroom and to the gym area, where the music could be heard. Time to make a statement. 

When I walked into the gym, all I could spot were native people just like me and the occasional Caucasian going few that wanted to immerse themselves in the culture. My eyes roamed every area of the gym, until they landed on a guy with naturally, short, wind blown hair shaped to the said and another guy with long hair, tucked behind his ears. They were looking at what was happening at the dance floor. I started walking over to them, when all of a sudden my category was called, which was women fancy shawl. I turned around and started  making my way to the dance floor. As soon as I stepped into the floor, I made myself comfortable with all the other girls in my category. The thought of Dean and Sam and what Dean would think pushed all the way back into my mind. It was time to get in the zone. 

I held my shawl close to my body, as the Mc started talking. He was just giving updates for a little while and he asked one of the drum groups to take it away. The music started and I closed my eyes. The beat filling my ears as I started dancing. Everything being pulled away from me as a I had the time of my life. 

-----------------------------------------

Dean’s P.O.V

 I watched as (Y/N) started dancing. Wow, I did not know that she could move like that. She looked so graceful and just breath taking. Everything about her was breath taking. She looked so much better than the girl in the bar. If I could compare her and the girl, that girl does not stand a chance against her. She was like what you saw in the picture when you ordered from Amazon and the girl was like what you get instead. (Y/N) was authentic and beautiful every way, in her culture or not. I turned to Sam, my jaw dropped. “She looks awesome.” was all I could manage Sam just smiled and nodded. “She’s beautiful.” He stated.

-------------------------------------

The music ended and made my final pose. I took a few deep breaths to catch my breath and then I stood straighter and started walking to the entrance of the dance floor, while the other girls stood in line to be judged.

As I made my way outside of the of the dance floor, I immediately spotted Sam and Dean standing by the bleachers. At first, I was surprised that they even came in, but then I remembered why they were here. immediately, I turned around and started walking the other way. Thoughts of Dean not wanting to be here in the first place and him probably getting frustrated with me came into my mind. He probably was dragged in here by Sam. What would  he think of me? He probably was going to think that I was just trying to impress him and that I like him because of it. That was not it at all though! I just wanted to make a point that, that girl in the bar was just a “clown” as everyone would say today and that Indigenous Women were more than what she was portraying. 

 As I was walking away, I heard my name being called through the loud music. I started walking faster, until I was almost running now. I pushed through a crowd of people lined up to get food and quickly said sorry. Then I was running again. The person kept calling my name and now that we were away from the loud music, I knew who it was. 

Dean Winchester was calling my name, while I ran away from him. He was running after me trying to catch up to me. In any other setting this would be a dream come true, but this was just not the setting. I wanted him to effortlessly fall for me. I didn’t want to force him, just because I showed him a part of me that was different. A part that he didn’t get to see every day and that showed a part of my inner beauty(Sam’s words, not mine). 

I finally made my way, running outside and stopped until I was at the end of the parking lot and stopped. I bent over, while my hands went to my knees. My breaths came out in deep spurts every now and then. Dancing and running afterwards was not a good combination. I put my hands behind my head and tried to control my breathing. 

As I turned around to start walking back, I stopped in my tracks. There in my peripheral vison stood the very man that I didn’t want to see right now. He was looking me up and down with a look of awe. “Hi.” he finally said, after a little bit of silence. I looked down at the floor and didn’t say anything. “(Y/N).” he said again. I signed and looked back him, meeting his beautiful, green eyes. “What?” I said a little harshly. This shocked him and made him step back a little. “You want me now, after you just saw me? You didn’t want me back at the bar, while you were hanging with that skimpy girl, who was making a fool out of herself, while she was trying to imitate me!” I yelled. I wasn’t even trying to hold it in anymore. It was too much and I needed to let it out. “(Y/N), I-” I cut him off. “No, you listen Dean Freaking Winchester! You are a disrespectful jerk.! You know that!” His eyebrows were scrunched, while a look of confusion washed over his face. “Why am I a jerk?” he asked. I sighed, trying not to lose my composer. “You don’t have any respect for my culture at all!” “Why do you say that? I have the utmost respect for your culture! I just stood in there and watched you dance! I was entranced by you! Why would you say that?” He was now yelling and pointing at the door to the gym. 

Tears started making their way down my face, probably ruining my makeup. “BECAUSE!” I screamed. This made him shut up and look at me. There was a moment of silence between us. He looked shocked and I am pretty sure that I looked terrified. “Because.” I said, more softly. “You were staring at her in that stupid outfit and that outfit shows so much disrespect to me and the people that I represented tonight. I expected more from you Dean.” My head turned away, while I closed my eyes. Tears kept coming out, probably washing all my blush, concealer, and foundation off. “(Y/N), I would never-” I cut him off again. “Save it.” I said, making my way past him and back into the gym. 

From what I could remember, he didn’t even call my name after that. He didn’t even run after me. Part of me wanted him to, but the other half was just frustrated and heartbroken with him that I didn’t have the motivation to care. 

I went inside and found Sam waiting for me. I think he knew what happened because his arms were in the form of wanting to give me a hug. I let him engulf me in a big bearlike hug and then I pulled away. He smiled sadly and wiped my tears away with the pad of his thumb. “You looked amazing out there tonight.”he softly spoke. I sadly smiled and pulled him in for another hug. “Thank you.” I said into his chest and then pulled away again. “Can we go now Sam?” He just nodded and let me go get changed. 

I quickly got changed and put everything back into my suitcase. I took my accessories out of my hair and slowly undid my hair, while looking at myself in the same mirror that I got ready in before this all happened. I looked at myself and smiled. “Everything is going to be ok.” I whispered to myself. 

From the corner of my eye, I saw an elderly women all girded up in buckskin walking towards me. “Shiyazhi, you are going to be okay.” she said, touching my shoulder. From the word that she used, I could tell that she was Navajo. The only reason that I knew that was because I had a friend(or if you’re Navajo, just disregard this sentence.) who was Navajo. The word meant baby or my baby- she was just trying to be nice. 

I smiled at her and then took the top of  my suitcase and made my way out. Before I went though, I turned around to her and said thank you. She smiled and nodded. 

I opened the door to the bathroom and made my way outside, seeing Sam waiting for me while watching the dancers still. I came up to him and set my suit case down. “Are you ready?” I asked, seemingly knocking him out of his thoughts. He turned away from the dance floor and nodded. Together, we walked out of the gym and started walking towards Baby. This was going to be one awkward ride. 

---------------------------------------------

As soon as we got to the bunker, I quickly got my things and made my way to my bedroom as fast as I could. As soon as I was in my bedroom, I closed my door, set my stuff down and tiredly made my way to my bed. I fell down and as soon as my head hit the pillow I was out.

---------------------------------------------(The Next Morning)

I heard someone knocking on my door, telling me to get up. Lazily, I turned the other way and pulled my blanket over my head. The knocking still continued. I groaned. “Not Now.” I grumbled, while I turned the other way and did the same thing. The knocking still continued and this time someone was yelling on the other side of the door to get me up. 

I sighed and shoved off my blanket, making my way to the door. I opened the door and came face to face with Dean. He was already dressed and cleanly shaved. “Get up Pocahontas, we’re going somewhere today and you can’t say no. Oh and by the way, could you put your hair in two braids?” he asked. This made my nose scrunch up and open my bedridden eyes at him. “What?=I said sassily. He smiled at me. “You just looked so cute last night and I have a cowboy fantasy that I want to fulfill with my Indian Princess.” I sighed and shut the door. “I’m not your Indian Princess.” I said as I made my way into the bathroom to get ready. 

I took a shower, taking my time because I didn’t want to even see Dean today. I got out and put on some underwear. After that, I pulled on a cute white shirt that read “best friends” with a cute puppy and kitty on the front, a shirt skater skirt, and white shoes to match. I wasn’t going to indulge Dean in his stupid cowboy fantasy, so I put my hair up into a loose bun, with strands hanging out from the sides. I grabbed my black, silky backpack with everything that I needed and then I went outside to meet Dean by Baby. 

He was leaning against the shimmery impala, with his  hands in his pocket. “Dean.” I called out to him. He looked up at me and smiled, showing no disappointment to my hair in a bun. He came around the passenger side, following me. Opening the door for me, but before I could get any further, he pulled me close to him. He shut the door and pressed his body closer to mine, until there was no space in-between us. His arms wrapped around my waist, locking me in. Green eyes met (e/c)(I once saw a Native with blue eyes, so you never know.) eyes. “Dean?” I questioned looking away from him and down at where his arms wrapped around my waist. “(Y/N), I wanted to say that I’m sorry for disrespecting you and your culture. I was only talking to the girl because I imagined you dressed up in her costume. To be honest, I think I have a thing for Native American girls(I feel like Dean so would!).” He said. I looked down, trying to ignore him. I really didn’t want to  hear this right  now. “I didn’t think that me staring at that girls outfit and imagining you in it would be disrespectful to you or your culture.” Tears starting coming down my face as he said this. He unwrapped his arms from my waist, and brought  his big, rough hands up to my face and started wiping my tears away with the pad of his thumb. “What’s the matter baby?” He asked. I looked up at him with tears in my eyes. “You don’t get it. do you?” I said, pushing him off with as much force as I could muster. Once I finally did, I started towards the garage door that led outside. I needed to walk this off. 

I heard hard boots clonking behind me. This time, Dean caught up to me and walked in front of me to keep me from escaping. I huffed and put my hands on my chest. “Tell me! “ He practically yelled. “Teach me what I don’t understand! I’ll never know if you won’t teach me!” I laughed sarcastically in his face. “You’re one to talk!” I said. He growled and put his hands up in the air. “You are so stubborn! Just tell me! Please!” he shouted at me. I sighed, looked down at the ground and then back at him. “You want to know why it’s disrespectful to me? It’s disrespectful to me because Native girls, like me don’t ever dress like that! I each culture, we have a standard of dressing modestly and keeping ourselves well groomed! Also, not all tribes wear buckskin! Not all Native Americans are the same! We all don’t dress like that!” I shook my head at him and turned away. “I’m not a whore like the movies make us out to be. “ I said softly. “I’m a girl too. A human being just like the rest of you, with feelings. I’m not here for any mans pleasure and to be objectified.” I turned around and looked back at him. “ Native Women are held with the highest regard and respect in Indigenous culture. Not what has been shown on tv.” 

When he heard me say this, a look of guilt washed over his face. He came over to me and engulfed me in a hug. I let the tears flow as I was pulled closer into his chest. “Wow, (Y/N). I didn’t know. I’m so sorry for ever doing that. Because I didn’t mean to.” I pulled my head out of his chest and looked ot the side. “That’s why Sam decided to go to the pow wow. So that he could show that he respected me and show you that I was more than just what that outfit interpreted.” He sighed and rested his chin on the top of my head. “Well thank you because baby, you were so beautiful and showed me how beautiful Native American people are.” He pulled away and smiled at me. “I will never ever think about disrespecting you or your culture ever again because that’s part of what makes you you and since that is a part of you, it also makes you beautiful.” I smiled at him. “Thank you Deano.” He smiled at the nickname I gave him and started to lean in. 

I closed my eyes and tilted my head, allowing him access. I felt warmth bubbling in my chest and excitement go through my body. Dean Winchester was about to kiss me. 

After a moment of anticipation, I didn’t feel his lips on mine. I opened my eyes just enough to see him contemplating. “What is it?” I asked him. He laughed a little nervously and looked down, blushing a little. “Can I uh... Can I kiss you?” He asked in a shy voice. I smiled and nodded, bringing him back in for our kiss. 

-----------------------------------------------

A/N; So this didn’t really go as planned, but for my Indigenous girls, I hope you liked it! I just kind of chose a pow wow setting because pow wows are universal for all tribes, so don’t hate me. Um, if you want to request you can or you can just pass by, either or... Haters stay off my page and do  not comment if you don’t respect the Indigenous people. I don’t condone racism or any bad themes talked about in the story. We are all children of God and he loves us. Thanks for reading! 

[jae-canikeepyou]

| hey m.v.p. | j.jh

pair: jaehyun x fem!reader

genre: fluff

a/n: okay. this is not the first that i’ve written a scenario based on basketball, so i hope this can maybe(?) make your hearts giddy again? also! it’s really not proof read nor well written but please do enjoy reading! hehehe 🥰 ~j.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

the continuous, long, ringing sound of the impact from the bouncing amber colored ball boasted its decibels at the outdoor mini court.

today was another date with your boyfriend; a varsity basketball player of the university. unlike most couples, girls would wait for their darlings to finish a game. for you however, would join him for a one-on-one match. serious or not he’d always let you play; not because he would go easy on you, but because you knew how to take on his challenge.

jaehyun called a timeout, noticing how heavy you exhaled and your lungs struggled to catch breath. he tossed you a bottle and you gladly took it to quench yourself. he watched you standing at the center of the mid-court, the sun’s rays acting like your glowing background, defining beauty and a heaven-sent figure he was blessed to have.

feeling squirmy and shy around you was something he couldn’t resist to feel out in the public. he was affectionate with skinship and you didn’t mind that at all.

“baby!” you jogged towards your boyfriend, helping him wipe the rolling beads of sweat by his temples and forehead. “teach me how to nail a through-the-leg shot.”

“why?” he interlocked his fingers behind you so you wouldn’t escape.

he copied and mimicked your whines because it was the nth time you have asked him, and he always refused to teach you. “but every time i do it i miss a shot-” your words close to inaudible but jaehyun understood what you meant and he pressed his lips. “-or i end up falling.” you shrugged.

“y/n. your form’s okay. it’s just your jump landing and timing.” he pinched your cheeks lightly. “i wanna teach you but i don’t want my baby to get hurt, so no.”

you took the towel that was placed on his head as he took the ball, feeling bummed that this time yet again he wouldn’t teach you. he gestured you to go to him and you obliged no matter how salty you slightly felt towards him.

a short break was enough for you both to continue with the sport. with all the small matches you’ve played against him, there was one thing you’ve always known: jaehyun was very competitive, so whatever ball game or any game you both played, he was always, always going to play it better. you loved how concentrated his eyes were, the tiny smirk when you were open, the deepening of his dimples once the ball went in the hoop, and the victorious stretch of his arms as he celebrated.

he dribbled the ball and you tried to steal it away from him, but given your smaller frame with his, he probably held himself back and went a little lenient to you. “there’s a game that mark taught me. it’s called h.o.r.s.e. we played it for at least thirty minutes. wanna give it a shot?” he stopped moving and spun the ball on his pointer finger.

“okay!” you cheered, making him smile wider at the willingness you showed. “how does it go?”

“i’ll do a move and you follow what i do, but you’ll gain a letter if you failed to shoot. the game ends when either of us reaches ‘e’.” he tossed the ball to you. “i’ll let you start.”

“hold on, i feel hot.” you dropped the ball to hold in between your feet, and removed the thin layer of jacket sticking to your skin. you wore a loose white crop top over the new sports bra you bought and grey sweatpants.

jaehyun averted his gaze although he blushed unnecessarily at your carefree action. he cleared his throat from thinking of unnecessary thoughts entering his brain. he tossed you the ball again and the game started with you doing a simple free throw; followed by his layups and double clutch. the punishment were always the same; buy food for the other. this time you didn’t want to lose and made sure you make the shot while he misses.

he began to smirk, something he’d usually do to signal you. the battle was on. there was no way he would lose this, so he went for a move that he knew you wouldn’t do. you guessed it, the through-the-leg shot. however he groaned right after he realised what he had done, and was too late when you got the ball in your palms.

you attempted the move and just when you thought you had it, the ball missed the ring and fell— so was the view before your eyes, you were falling too. the good thing was you managed to get on your toes, but collapsing on your knees afterwards.

“aww, that’s an ‘e’ for me.” you hissed and laid down on the ground, defeated again.

“it’s okay.” he helped you up and hugged, but you immediately pulled yourself away from him.

“tsk, you’re sticky.” you ran towards the bench, to no avail he picked you up and turned you non-stop. “put me down jae.”

jaehyun loved spoiling you the way he could get his chance upon, that included almost every little thing you did— from the pursed lips when you were feeling embarrassed to your breaking smile that sent his heart flying everywhere. however, he wasn’t the only one you sent his heart flying and bursting in the sky.

it was a given that in the campus, you weren’t part of the ‘visual spectrum’ the students have created, but it was your beautiful soul and kind-hearted personality that attracted them to you. and jaehyun was pulled to you like a magnet once his friends continuously nudged each other that one time at the locker hall. since then he was one of those secret admirers who skilfully and secretly left you letters after class, a carton of juice or milk in your bag, and offered you an umbrella on rainy days.

you didn’t like the attention, in all honesty you weren’t even craving for some. there were worries whether if you had done something wrong that caused them to talk about you all the time despite being a transfer student of the creative media department. so that one day when your friend invited you to watch a basketball match, it was when you saw jaehyun for the first time.

the team noticed your existence at one area of the blenchers. imagine the impact they gave when they all stared at you like meerkats and yet smiled like adorable quokkas. one certain quokka however got your attention, well not because he had dimples, but because he was hit in the face with a basketball.

let us all say you became friends and he invited you to be in his group project. great chemistry and ideals for each other. what made jaehyun fall for you even more was that, you played basketball, just like him.

the memory of that time was interrupted with jaehyun leaving you at the bench, off to somewhere the heavens knew where. as you waited, your eyes led to the ball, tempting you to try out the skill you’ve always failed at. this is the chance, you thought. dribbling the ball several times, your attempts to try it failed miserably again.

you stood right at the arc of the lines beneath your shoes. determination fired your eyes and felt like goku from the dragon ball animation. the repetitive sentence echoed your ears, telling yourself ‘you could do it’. however that was stopped when players you’ve never seen before circled around you, almost hovering your small frame.

“hey, mind if we.. teach you?” they offered, but their intentions were very transparent. and you should’ve worn your jacket.

“no thanks. i pretty much can handle it myself.” you picked the ball up and went back to the bench, only to be stopped halfway when one of them grabbed your wrists. “let go.”

a smug look on their faces had you stepping backwards. “little miss killjoy, we’re offering you help-”

“she’s already gotten help.” jaehyun soon came behind you and your back hit his chest.

“who the heck are you?” they asked as if putting up a front would scare him.

“i’m her boyfriend and i’d appreciate it if you lot stop staring at her like that.” he let you sit on the bench once they scurried off, placing his towel on your head that was large enough to reach your lap. “from now on you’re wearing my my jacket and don’t take it off.”

you gulped when he stared into your eyes, full of worry and as if he sent protective shields to wrap around you. “the weather’s getting hot jae, and do you want me to die out of so much heat?”

“it’s better than getting your skin so exposed like earlier. you know you attract guys in the way i can’t tolerate.”

ah this argument again. more fingers and toes were needed to count because this wasn’t the first time jaehyun has been protective of you; although you couldn’t really blame him as to the whole campus— maybe to the majority of your admirers, he did win your heart. it wasn’t that you hated that side of him, you couldn’t bring it up to tell him that it limits you to be free.

a sigh was heard from your lips, catching his attention and he knelt down to see you properly. “but i’m not hiding anything!” you whined, removing the towel and jacket all at the same time, jaehyun startled at your childish response.

he arched his brows like he had something up in his sleeves. “really? you’re not hiding anything?” his palms reached for the ends of your sweatpants. he pulled and rolled them up until the fabric reached your thighs.

“what are you- look jae i swear i’m not hiding-” you then hissed at the pain soon as the wind hit your wounded, scarred knees.

“well?” he asked, tearing off the plaster packaging with his teeth and cleaned the wounds on both. “you’re not good at hiding something like this though.”

a spread of heat and embarrassment crawled your cheeks. “how did you know?”

jaehyun let out a soft chuckle. “you’re easy to read, honey.” he planted a kiss on your forehead and sat beside you. “you should’ve told me you’re in pain- why are you staring at me like that?”

he saw how your eyes widened and they asked for a quick stare contest. he was definitely lured into you, and that wasn’t new to him. “what?” he questioned again.

“ugh no good. i can’t read you at all.” you defeatedly laid on the bags. “i was confused why you left so suddenly. i thought you felt guilty because i lost the game and that you bought us snacks. i didn’t know you went all the way to tend me.”

“at the beginning of our relationship i told you i’ll treat you like a princess.” he pulled you close to him. “so let me treat you like one.”

“i’m no damsel in distress.” you rolled your eyes, a faint smile curving by the corners of your lips.

“uh clearly you were? i saved your butt from those guys.”

“and you saved me again with this.” you pointed at the carefully-plastered knees of yours and nudged him. “m.v.p.”

jaehyun felt you kiss his cheek, stunned with the title you named him. “i call you all cute nicknames and that’s all i’m gonna get? and you know i’m already the m.v.p.” his bummed voice caused you to giggle.

“not in basketball.” you reasoned.

“you expect me to play ‘guess the word’ now? because y/n, i’m not in the mood for-”

“you’re my valiant prince. m. v. p.”

jaehyun now laid on your lap, covering his ears at sudden nickname; obviously was awestruck and have never blushed so hard in his entire life.

[remember-the-fanfics]

Collage, tears, and family

This is before Della comes back. I'll have a storyline for this completely one day.

-

• "What if I want to learn law? Also with business." You said to Scrooge one time

• Ending with you finishing law before business because who wouldn't want to know how to lawfully get out of things

• You're in you're last year of collage at 18, being younger than a normal person but you speed though high school.

• Mrs.Beakley had to cut the internet off so you would take a break. Also getting Webby to distract you sometimes.

• "I wanna show you my McDuck family tree!"

• "You've shown it to me before, Webbs." You say but following her anyway.

• You're usually Scrooge's personal lawyer when someone try's to sue him or frame him for something.

• Like that one time you had to mention to a certain fox that because one of Scrooge's relatives couldn't deliver the marbles does not mean Scrooge owes him anything because he does not have to pay for something his relative did.

• "Also if I see you trying to mess with my Uncle again, I will personally make it were you will not be able to set foot in Duckburg again." You told him with a cheerful smile.

• You start helping Donald on the financial situation he puts himself in sometimes.

• "Nah, you don't got to pay me, you're family." You tell Donald as soon as he tried to pay you.

• "It's the least I can do since you've dealt with my brothers for years by yourself." You say.

• Close to the boys first Birthday, you were crying for a reason you do not remember and Donald found you.

• "Why are you crying alone, (Y/n)?" He asked nervously approaching you.

• "I don't want to bother anyone-, I don't even know why I'm crying." You sob and there were tears.

• Donald rushed to comfort you, knowing why you were crying.

• He never knew the full effect it would have on you, he thought you didn't remember. But you know enough to cry about.

• "You want to come with me to get some comfort food?" He suggested.

• "Ya." You mutter following him to the kitchen.

• You were enjoying the mess of a milkshake that Donald made for you along with fries because they are the best combo.

• You chatted with Donald while he cleaned the mess he made.

• "I didn't think you would even remember her." He said as a side comment to himself but you heard and started to cry more.

• "I should work on my class work now, thanks uncle Donald." You said taking the Milkshake and fries and ran to your room.

• Where you stayed the rest of the day, finishing the rest of the last semester of school work. Kept your door locked.

• Scrooge and Donald then had a long, long talk.

• Then it was the boy's birthday!

• You baked the cake, got decorations, and gifts you thought the boys would like.

• You did not sleep the days in between the days.

• "It's the first birthday of yours that I'm here for! And that I know you exist!" You tell them.

• You got Dewey one of those on the go cameras, Huey got an note book that looks like the JWC handbook, and Louie got a small safe.

• You were running on Coffee, Energy drinks, candy, soda, and pure sugar.

• Sooner or later, you were bound to pass out.

• And you did, leaning on a wall watching the kids have fun, with a drink in your hand.

• Webby caught you quickly and with Mrs.Beakley help got you to bed.

• The boys thought you died for a second.

• "No, they haven't slept in a few days." Said Mrs.Beckly, coming back. "I'll save them a piece of cake."

• You woke up feel sore as heck.

• "Ugh, I haven't felt like this since the first semester of collage." You mutter getting up and stretching. Seeing a piece of cake on your desk with a note.

• 'Congrats on finishing college.' - Mrs.Beakley

• Of course she would know.

• You had finished astronomy while planning for the boys party. So you were completely free from college.

• You just need to tell everyone else.

• You had to get Duckworth to gather everyone at the dinner table.

• "So hi! Sorry for passing out I've had a busy few days but I have good news!" You say.

• "You need to take care of yourself better if you want to finish your classes." Said Scrooge.

• "I finished the last of my classes. I'm officially done with collage." You say.

• "Oh that's- what? There was a good few months left for you!" Said Scrooge.

• "What do you expect me to do when I wasn't sleeping? Lay there? Nope." You answered.

• "We should have another party!" Yelled Dewey.

• "I don't do people but you can get me candy!" You say.

• You would graduate between season 1 and 2.

-

8/8/2020

I've been up since 12 am and I've had two cups of coffee with a large amount of sugar in it! Need sleep probably

[afterthelastreset]

Rules Of One’s Soul Ch25 Ending

(Hey everyone. I just wanted to thank everyone who read this far and liked my story enough to read it to it's end. I had a lot of fun writing it and it makes me happy knowing some people loved it enough to read it fully. Thanks to everyone for reading this, adding it, or leaving a nice comment. And thank you to Toby Fox for creating such wonder characters for us all. Mak belongs to @alois-toussaint)

It was...just as they promised.

Rouxls took the last day off, with supervision of course. After that little scare both Seam and Jevil insisted that he stayed right there with them so they could keep an eye on him incase anything happened. So, Seam (forced him to sleep in) offered Rouxls his bed for the night, and he at first refused, but he was too mentally exhausted to argue for too long. So he took his offer, and fell fast asleep. Probably one of the most peaceful nights he had. He slept in rather late as well, because when he woke up he saw the blurry vision of Seam STILL sewing the black cloak he had been working on for a while now and Mak passed out lightly snoring on the couch, still wearing the small purple suit but now it was wrinkled in their sleep.

"So you're awake I see" Seam said with a smile, not even looking up from his sewing. ''I hope you slept well."

The worm groaned and reached up a blue hand run through his messy shiny hair. Slowly sitting up and looking to the cat with a tired grin. "...Yes. Thank thee." The blankets were tossed over, and his legs swung off the bed, And he slowly stood to his feet. Slowly stretching out his dark blue body and still Seam didn't look at him when Rouxls looked in his direction. "And howest didst thou sleep?"

"I slept rather well, thank you. But you must've been more tired than myself as you slept in rather late today, it's almost afternoon." Rouxls ground and reached to grab for his suit coat hung up on the bed post. Seam busying himself by doublechecking the stitching he had just done, bringing the black cloak up to his one good eye to peer at it. He was almost finished really, he just wanted to double check on everything before he decided to wear it. "So when does this celebration start if I may ask?"

Rouxls had just finished buttoning his coat shirt and sighed. "Tomorrow afternoon at five o'clock sharp. I musteth leave tomorrow to make sure all are according to plan-"

"After you're break today. You did promise us you would take time off today after all, and it would be rather rude to go back on your promise."

The worm paused what he was doing and despite him wanting to go and deal with the nonsense and chaos coming to prepare for the ball..He sighed in defeat. "Very well. Thoust shall havest mine word on it, but has thou been up to now?" He finally turned to the duke, who was currently running his hands through his head to try and tame his wild bed head but nodded to the cloak in his paws. "Thou haseth been working on that clothing for a longe time. What ever tis it for?"

"Oh this?" He held up the cloak and the duke nodded. "Oh, it's just an old coat I plan on wearing tomorrow on our little outing. It just needed some fixing from all these years, but it'll do in a pinch. But that also begs another question, what do you plan on doing until tomorrow afternoon?"

"I shallst keep to mineself and reopening mine shoppe for today." A smile came over the duke's features and he chuckled. "Who knowest how many Darkners forgotten to gettest their special someone something last minute.~ Mine profits and funds shall rise substantially."

He hummed and went back to sewing his cloak again. "I see. Are you planning on doing that for the entire time you're waiting?''

"...N-Nay. I'm also going to best thinking about f-future events, and ..a-and what wouldst be best for mineself and Lancer."

"And have you decided yet?"

A pause...And he heard footsteps walk past him and glanced up to see Rouxls stand in the doorway but smiled and looked back to him. "N-Not yet. B-But I havest plenty of time to thinkest it over. A-And perhaps a new speculation on mine life is just what I needed for a long time."

Seam chuckled again. "I suppose we could all use a fresh start every so often, but I want you to know duke. I'll support your descicion whichever you decide."

Rouxls smiled wider. "Thank thee. I shall seest myself out. I shall pick thee up by four thirty sharp tomorrow."

"Just be sure to be ready by that time tomorrow. I'll be expecting you, Mr. Kaard.~"

It seemed the whole day and a half of waiting for the two went by in a blink of an eye. He wasn't sure what Rouxls was doing within that time frame, but for him he was quite busy. More busy than he has been in a while. It took most of the rest of that day to finish sewing up the cloak back to it's former glory and it...it still smelt musty so into the wash it would go. Mak woke up not too long after Rouxls left and awakened with a snort and looked up at him. "Breakfast time??" He chuckled and offered to trade a giant diamond to wash the suit they were wearing and they happily agreed seeing the baseball sized diamond in his paw. Ok. So he got the laundry to go, what else could he do to prepare? ...Well what else to do but do what he usually did to pass the time in his life, he opened his sheap for a limited time this day. So he took down the closed sigh from his flap, gave Mak some food they gobbled down, and sat down at his usually spot behind the counter and waited. It didn't too long for three panicked Rudinns to come scurrying in and frantically looking around for anything they could grab for...the holiday he guessed, and came up to the counter. Each having a small bag of dark candy and one also grabbing a can of food along with it and the three threw money at him before slithering off just as fast away from the sheap....Well. If this is certainly how Rouxls said it would be, things just might be a bit more busy around here in the next few hours. AT least that's what he thought as his paws calmly went and picked up all the darke dollars thrown at him and he got up to pick up the few that fell onto the floor. Yep. It was looking to be a profittable time. And he wasn't wrong. Throughout the one day alone more darkners, mostly Rudinns with the occasional hathy or club, would make their way in and look around for what exactly they needed before exiting just as quickly with what they wanted. Most of it was tiny bags of dark candy, but their was also the occasional darkburger, tea mix, and at one point he even finally sold his spooky sword to a hathy. She said something about her husband always liking edgy looking things. Whatever the heck 'edgy' meant. But it wasn't over crowding, the most everyone would be in there was maybe four or five at a time and they'd leave just as quickly. Mak certainly wasn't enjoying the big crowd and just stayed in the back while occasionally poking their head out to ask a few questions.

"When's Jevil coming back?" "Lunch time now?" "Is my suit done yet?" "Where's my crayons?"

He chuckled and sat there and did what he normally did, meditate the hours away until someone else dashed in and he'd watch them scramble, buy, then leave then start his whole process again. The hours ticked passed and when a small period went without anyone, so he thought it'd be a good time to close up shop. He just got done sealing the flap of the sheap with the closed sigh hanging up, when he heard the familiar sounds of Mak's maniac laughter which could only mean one thing. He smiled as he walked back into his home and sure enough the sight of a very tired Jevil sat upon the couch and Mak was happily showing him their new giant diamond Seam gave them. The imp smiled and patted them on the head before flopping back into the couch's soft cushions.

He chuckled as he walked in and made for the armchair he always sat in. "Well, how was your day of work and playing with the little king?"

Jevil didn't even look up from his tuckered pose position. "Exhausting, exhausting. Rouxls, Rouxls has much to do around the castle and watching a child, child while practicing tricks is not easy, easy work at all. Even for myself, myself."

"Says the one that can do anything?," he chuckled as he sat down across from him.

Jevil chuckled. "I never said I couldn't, coudn't do it. Only that it wasn't easy, easy. But where is Rouxls, Rouxls?"

"He's at his shop resting as far as I know. He said he'll be back here tomorrow to escort Mak and myself to the castle, but how is that routine coming along? I would've helped but I vowed to retire from that life long ago."

..Jevil sighed before smiling wider and finally opening to look at him. "I respect, respect your descision old friend. But I will be able to perform tomorrow, tomorrow if I sleep all night tonight. If it means Rouxls, Rouxls and you will like it."

He chuckled. "You know I've always loved your tricks my dear friend. I wouldn't miss it for the world."

"Thank you, thank you." He smiled at him...before his smile disappeared for a moment and he turned his gaze to the ceiling. "Seam, seam?" He hummed and Jevil deflated a little with a sigh. "You know I can never, never apologize enough for my actions all those years ago, and I may make up, make up for my mistake...B-But if Rouxls chooses you or neither, neither of us...Would you mind, mind if we were still, still......I mean..Have, have a second chance at what once was between us, us?"

A silence followed and the cat was staring in surprise at the nervous form of jevil silently laying on the couch awaiting the cat's answer with fear as to what he might say. There was no way he wanted to be left alone after all these years of having no company except for guards delivering food or Lancer occasionally, and after he had discovered he had two soulmates he made peace with. But...it all depended on their answers. He was still dreading what Rouxls would eventually pick, but Seam-...He feared more. But as the cat Chuckled he squinted his eyes shut, fearing the worst.

"But of course. I couldn't imagine life without you again."

Like a spring his eyes snapped back opened and looked to the cat in disbeleif. "WHAT?!"

He just calmly shrugged and smiled. "I already forgave you, you apologised, and life is as normal as it'll be under the circumstances. Why wouldn't I accept an invite like that from my dearest and oldest friend- OOF!!" He didn't get a chance to finish before a purple blur suddenly jumped on him in the form of Jevil hugging the much larger cat as best as he could, Seam freezing up for a good moment or two, before chuckling and reaching up to pat the gremlin on the back.

"Thank you, Seam, Seam."

"Of course. But perhaps we both should get some sleep now. We both have a long day ahead of us tomorrow."

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

Seam awoke the next morning to Mak asking for Breakfast and Jevil gone. Guess the royal jester was needed for rehearsal and all that with a ball. Which suited him fine. Not only did he himself had to get ready, but it was going to be difficult to convince the child to do anything of the sort, and he couldn't very well leave them here by themselves. They would've probably been ok, but he would've been a bad caretaker if he left the child there alone by themselves. First order of business was coaxing them into a bath, but of course like any child they refused and he had to brib them by offering them more shiny objects for their collection if they did so, which thy did reluctantly but they didn't like it. He'd make it up to them later when he was finished grooming himself....He was not fond of baths himself. One being because it was a cat thing, and another reason being because whenever he did take a bath his cotten always felt weighed down by all the water soaked into it and his stitches always strained. Nothing a magic drying couldn't fix, but that always left him rechecking all his stitches and brushing all his fluffed up fur. Especially the orange tuft of fur around his neck, it always fluffed up to make him look like some kind if lion, Mak laughed when it happened this time as he rain his claws and brush along the dum mane of hair and the rest of himself, repatching stitches and sighing after the amount of work fixing himself always took. Mak wasn't any better. They would let any part of them be brushed and even after he offered them something in return, only let him fix up the top of their head before clambering back into their suit and letting Seam fix them up and straighten their bowtie back into it's proper place, before throwing on his own black cloak. It had been slightly over a hundred years since he wore it, so he wasn't surprised when it was kinda snug, but it still fit fine all the same at least. He straightened out what he could and even dawned a fancy dress pants to match with it. When he was finished he summoned a mirror with a snap of the fingers and took a look at himself. The cat in the reflection smiled back as he inspected the cloak around his shoulders. The smooth black velvet had gold stitchings on the shoulders and hem and while it didn't go all the way down to his feet, it was still long enough to sheild his arms from sight unless he poked them out, and two large buttons were sewn to the left side of the suit with golden strings attaching them to the other side. Why- He'd say he'd look just like he did nearly a hundred years ago in this, even after his accident which left one of his eyes to be replaced by a button, minus all the patches he had now. Below him Mak was smiling and messing with their bowtie as if still readying themselves for the giant event. He chuckled and patted their head before snapping away the mirror.

"Are you nervous about the party?"

"Nah. Just hungry."

He chuckled again and made for the armchair he was all so familiar with. "Well just remember to behave yourself while we're there, and don't cause trouble." He sighed as he sat down into the comfy armchair and relaxed back into it's soft seat. Snapping his fingers to summon a flame before throwing it into the fireplace, lighting a fire in it's place. The kettle over the fire slowly starting to heat up.

They didn't have to wait too long. Time flew by as he sipped his tea and Mak..was playing with whatever shiny object they had collected recently, but there was no mistaking the sound of the flap opening and fancy heeled footsteps approuching the backroom. Seam hummed and looked to the old clock against the wall. Four thirty sharp. Well the duke wasn't a lier, he did show up to get them at four thirty sharp, and he smiled and turned to the doorway- And blinked in surprise at the sight before him. This could NOT be the duke. This fancy dressed up make up wearing beautiful GODDESS!! Could not be the duke. The blue man that was standing there was wearing fancy white, shiny heeled boots that stopped by his knees, fancy black dress pants and an even fancier blue and white velvet coat shirt. Gold shiny buttons shined from the coat shirt and the long elegant blue cape drapping over one of his shoulders and flowed down until it was a few inches away from the floor. Black spade markings lined the coat and white velvet gloves pushed the coat away for a moment. A small necklace hung around his neck with a shiny black spade and matching earrings were hanging from his pointed ears, but all that was nothing compared to his face. The shiny white hair that usually drapped down his back was now styled in an elegant braid drapping over his left shoulder and any left over small strands were curled framing his face. His eyelashes, looking like they had been curled, brought out his pretty mitchmatched eyes as they fluttered at him and Rouxls smiled. The worm quickly took notice of the cat's staring and the small pink to his cheeks, he's always had this effect on people, but this somehow made him feel more...bashful as the blue man looked down and reached up to push one of the white curls away.

"Art thou pleased with mine look?"

Seam didn't respond at first but coughed before giving a polite smile. "O-Of course. You look rather handsome tonight, Duke." Despite his initial shock at first, he calmly stood up and Mak poked their head out of their corner. Upon seeing Rouxls, they clambered out and bounded over by Seam's side as he rose a hand and snapped his fingers. The fire instantly disappeared and Seam turned back to him. "Sorry. Have to take precations."

Rouxls just bashfully cleared his throat. "T-Thank thee. Art thou r-ready to go?"

Seam patted Mak's head. "Yes. Are you ready to take us?"

His Only answer was smiling and held his hand out. Seam reached down to pick up Mak and calmly put the child under his arm before his bigger paw grasped onto Rouxls's and for a moment the two stood there and flushed, before he felt a sudden build up of magic and a blinding white light captured them both. It was a very strange and weird feeling to be sure, the light bodied nothingness feeling just felt..Strange. So when the three of them landed down on a path, thank goodness, instead of hard stone of the castle and much to his embarrasment, he fell over flopping softly onto the ground and coughed a few times. Blinking away the bright white light and staring up to the dark sky as feeling came back to his body and he realized his fur was standing on end. Mak grunted and crawled out from under his arm and shook the dust off themselves, just as Rouxls leaned over him with a concerned look over his face.

"Oh my. I amst so sorry! A-Art thou alright?"

"Yeah. I'm good." He grunted as he sat up and Rouxls comically pushed his back until the taller cat stood to his feet. The nervous worm quickly dusting him off and he shook his head, feeling slightly embarrased he fell over like a goober. Rouxls's way of teleporting was MUCH more different than Jevil's. He was used to the tight compact feeling of Jevil's twisting teleporting, but he guessed even Rouxls's way was more fancy of doing it. But he paused as Rouxls was still dusting him off and moved to the front of his magnificent cloak. And paused. "Oh. We're here."

The giant looming figure of the Card Castle's shadow towered over them as the cat stared and his button eye spun. He didn't even realize Rouxls had grabbed his paw and began to pull them forwards towards the castle's grand entrance. And Seam only watched as the castle grew closer with Mak bouncing at his heels, the front doors being guarded by two giant Rudinn Rangers who lowered their weapons once the duke waved them away. It was almost like nothing changed. The pathway was still as stone cold as he remembered and the anxeity of all those eyes possibly on himself again for being the old magician. Would everyone look at him funny? By being the duke's date he was bound to get some attention, but that was the least of his worries. WOuld the kings be displeased to see him? It had been quite a while and he wasn't sure if Rouxls told anyone of him being his date for this whole night, but it was still terrorfying. Even if noone knew or remembered him, he was sure he would get some attention for just being on the duke's arm, or more likely the duke being on his arm, but it still made him nervous. And when he blinked, brain catching up with him, he finally noticed they were in the castle. The many, MANY red and pink decorations lining the other wise drab hallways. A lot of giggling and smiles from the many staff and guards were a refreshing sight and calmed his nerves even if only a little bit. Mak was giggling and running around startling some of them and eyes wide at all the shiny decorations, and startling a few of the people watching the child floating around. But no one was looking at him, but he noticed a few people gazing towards the duke then away again. Despite his calm and polite smile, he felt a bit of annoyance at seeing the smiles sent Rouxls way, guess he couldn't help it. Despite what Jevil said, he wasn't the best or young looking. Scars and patches here and there. One eye. Stitches. He was only a few years older than Jevil and a few they were both older than Rouxls by a few more, but he still gave off the aura off being much older. Jevil was always saying it was because of how wise and patient he was, but he always knew it was more his appearance. But he was most surprised when the pair turned a corner and ran into two tall darners wearing suits and with professional faces. He was sure with his limited memory this was the rather large throne/ball room and by the way Rouxls was smiling excitedly at it, his gut feelings was correct. The worm suddenly stopped when Seam did and looked over his shoulder, white brow raising in confusion. The cat had grabbed the stuffed bat for a moment and kneeled down eye level with them for a moment.

"Now do you remember what we talked about?," He questioned and they nodded. "And what did we talk about?"

"No biting or scratching."

"And behave yourself. Can you do that?" They nodded again and he patted their head before standing back up and letting them run ahead to the doors. ROuxls excitedly lead him to the doors and nodded to the two in front of the doors as the child bounced excitedly at the doors waiting for them to open.

At Rouxls's nod, the two Darkners in suits both reached over and grabbed a door each and pushed them open. Seam was NOT prepared for what was on the other side of the doors. His good eye widened and his button one spun about as the doors opened and bright candlelights lit the room and bounced off the many MANY giant glittery decorations lining the wall. His ears twitched towards the left where a band was playing ballroom dance music even though no one was dancing(yet) and he couldn't beleive he just now noticed these sounds. Even though they were around half an hour early arriving, their must've been around at least fifty fancy looking darkners around them wearing glittery jewelry and other fancy things he didn't care for, but it seemed Mak did as their eyes widened before they ran off in a seperate direction giggling to themselves and disappearing into the crowd. Not that the two noticed. Seam was still star struck at the incredible sight of it all. Over to the far left near the winows was a very VERY large and long tabled filled with food: two gigantic roasts, a giaint salad, a chocolate fountain with bowls of fruit around it, a few cakes king sized, a punch bowl, a...giant bowl of Salsa(??), some platter of some kind of cookies(they were shaped like something but he didn't know what), another giant bowl full of dark candy, and a few other things he couldn't make out from the crowd clocking it. And there sitting on the thrones, were the kings and Queens themselves. Ah! He remembered them well. The Clubs were talking to their four headed queen. AH! King Heart and his beloved Queen Amory, the two looked so loving together as Mrs. Hearts fed her husband one of those strangely shaped cookies, and the Diamonds-...Well. They still looked as unhappy in their marriage as usual. The giant Rudinn was rubbing his temples and Mrs. Diamonds was glaring boredly at her surroundings. He chuckled- Until he saw him! The little jevil himself! There was a few wooden stands were in the middle of the floor a few feet above the audience with 5 performers. Four of them were simple jacks. 2 juggling a couple of harmless pins to each other on the stands above the crowd, the third a contorshonist curving his body into impressive poses impossible to most, and the last one laying on a bed of hot coals. The coals safely inside a suspended fireplace for everyone's safety. And in the middle stand of them all was the man of the hour themself. The purple menace hand't noticed them at all yet and wore a jester outfit similar to his regular one, only this one was made of black and gold velvet. The gold parts shiny and flashing brightly thanks to the devilknives he was juggling....and the devilknives were on FIRE!! He sat cross-legged in mid air and easily juggling four devilknives on fire, smiling widely and cackling at his work-

"Sir Duke and Royal Advisor Rouxls Kaard of Puzzles and Card Castle!!...And his plus one Retired Royal Court Mage Seam!!" Seam flinched as someone inside the door way called out Rouxls's official title and a LOT of people turned to see them, the kings included...He guessed someone told them about him too. Rouxls gave a smile and squeezed his paw almost comforting as he gently pulled the startled cat along into the room.

At the announcement of them two specific people caught their attention. Jevil snapped he smile over to them and paused. His yellow eyes widened first at Rouxls. The worm's hair and eyelashes naturally glowing and lighting himself as his fancy eyes met Jevil's and he bashfully smiled back...Jevil's hands didn't stop that expert juggling as he had developed to perform as second nature but he visibly gulped and his eyes slowly widened and had a pinkish hue to the bottom of those yellow orbs. But they started to become fully pink when he turned to Seam and saw the outfit he was wearing. The old but fancy magician cloak was simple compared to Rouxls or his or anyone else's outfits, but it suited him to a T and all the happy memories of him and Jevil performing and being happy came rushing back- And his smile came back even more wide as Seam calmly smiled at him too. His cackling growing as he juggled. The second person jumped up on their throne as soon as Rouxls's name was announced before jumping off said throne and began zooming through the crowd towards them. Pushing past others and excitement dripping over their young face.

"LESSER DAD!!" Rouxls's head snapped to the left and smiled widely kneeling down and holding his arms out just as Lancer grunted and squeezed between two darkners before coming free and running towards the worm who easily captured the young boy in his arms and happily brought the giggling boy up in his arms. Seam smiled and peered curiously at the small boy in the duke's hold, finally getting a look at this famous young king. The child was dressed in a small fancy uniform and cape, with a white crown on his head. A blue tongue stuck out of his mouth as she giggled and his tail wagged happily as his face hole that was apparently his face stared at his father. "Where were you? I thought your break was over."

Rouxls chuckled and bounced him a few times. "I waseth...a bit busy with a fewest new things and visiting someone." He turned to Seam who reached a paw up and waved to the small pup who tilted his head at him. "Lancer. Tis a friend, Seam."

"...You look really fluffy and tall Mr. Grandpa cat!"

Seam's brow rose, not expecting that kind of reaction from the child, but chuckled either way as Rouxls groaned softly. "Well, I'm happy you think so, Young King. " He bowed. "And what a brave little man you are."

"YEAH!! Lesser Dad is my noble steed too!!...Whatever a noble steed is." He said proudly and both men couldn't help but chuckle.

"Were you good while I was gone?"

He nodded. "YEAH!! I got to play with Uncle Jevil, and he made sure I got all the food I wanted, and he let me watch him practice, and he made me do boring homework with the teacher guy, and then I had to take a bath." He sucked in a breath to keep going. "And then I had to wear this itchy suit, but I got to eat ice cream for breakfast today!!" He took a moment to look at his father. "WOW!! You look really pretty, Dad!"

Rouxls rose a brow at him at the ice cream bit, but still smiled at the compliment. "Thank you, and you look as handsome as ever." He gave him a kiss to the forehead to which the child giggled at but shook his head.

"And Ralsei's coming!! I don't know when because his letter said his parents were busy, but he promised he would come!!"

He chuckled. "I look forward to meeting this Prince officially. We haven't been properly introduced since mine encounter longe ago with thine Lightner friends."

"This young uh..Prince wouldn't happen to be a small white darkner with glasses would it?" Seam asked curiously and Rouxls blinked at himbut Lancer answered before he could.

"YEAH!! He really cool!! Not as cool as Susie, but he can do really cool magic and is really nice!!"

He hummed and smiled again. "Well then I remember this Prince of Darkness. He and his friends visited my shop and fought Jevil. I was honestly surprised they made it out in one peice."

Rouxls blinked..before scowling. "What?..Art thou telling mineself that Jevil battled against children and thou let them?!"

Seam paused sensing Rouxls's now displeased scowl and shrugged nervously. "They lived, and aren't you the one who tried to stop them using puzzles and a powered up K-round?"

His frown deepened. "Mine puzzles were not thine best true, but they were made to trap and not harm and mine control crown -before it was destroyed by thine lightners- made thine K-round under mine control and I waseth going to stop it once it weakened thine lightners enough to store them safely within thine dungeon....I was NAY!! Intending on causing any harm or did so so carelessly, Seam." The cat didn't say anything this time and Rouxls sighed. "We and Jevil are goinge to have a longe talketh about this later." He quickly turned back to a small smile to Lancer and chuckled. "Now. Art thou having fun?" Lancer shook his head no. "Nay? What ever is thy matter?"

"Ralsei's not here and Uncle Jevil's busy...and everyone said I couldn't bring ANY toys and I have to sit on the dumb chair until Uncle jevil does his trick Routine." He pouted and leaned against his father.

"Oh? And when is Jevil going to entertain us?"

"He promised before my bedtime but it's taking too long!!"

Rouxls chuckled at his pouting and nodded to Seam to follow. "Well then. Now that I'm here, why don'tst thou wait with me while you wait for thou's friend, and gettest to know Seam better?"

"Is he cool?"

"Very.~ He was a magician."

Lancer's interest spiked up at magician and the pup stared past Rouxls shoulder up at the stuffed cat as he followed Rouxls back to the giant thrones. He was pretty anxious to be stepping up in front of the kings and queens no less, but to his surprise and absolute releif, none payed much attention then the usually 'Oh, I remember you. How are you these days?' kinda talk. Two of the four kings were too busy making googoo eyes at their partners anyways and one was busy trying NOT to notice the giant lady Rudinn they were married to. Lancer looked up at the kissig faces and made a 'yuck!' face and pointed at his mouth. Seam chuckling at the sight. Such a innocent child. Rouxls set him back down on the chair and Lancer groaned, falling back into the comfy seat as the other royals greeted the duke before going back to their regular business. Despite being next to the gigantic royals, Seam's attention was on the crowd. His good eye scanned the many, many couples swapping small hearts or giggling with red faces. One or two kissing each other. He thought he saw a flash on Mak every few seconds but couldn't be sure, and his eye went to Jevil the imp smiled seeing him look at him juggling before doing a flip in mid air looking like he was doing a hand stand without using his arms to stand and looked at him upside-down without stopping juggling and winked at him. Seam chuckled and waved back over to him- He hummed and turned back to the throne. Rouxls was now sitting in the throne with Lancer in his arms and said child was tugging his cape with interest.

"Are you really a magician?," he asked.

He chuckled. "A used to be. But I'm retired now."

"What does 'retired' mean?"

His paw came up to pat his head where his crown wasn't. "It means I don't work that particular job anymore. Now I own a store."

"Like Lesser Dad?" Seam nodded and Lancer smiled wider. "Uncle Jevil said you used to do tricks too!" His tail thumped wider in excitement. "Can you show me?! Please!!"

Seam hesitated for a moment, he hadn't really performed persay any tricks in a long time. But one look at Rouxls's smile encouraged him. After all, Jevil had made peace with their soulmates child, it was only fair he made a good first impression too. So he leaned down and held out his paws, both empty and not wearing sleeves. Lancer glanced at them curiously but jumped when Seam suddenly clapped them together, and slowly opened them to where he was holding a small toy in his paws. Lancer gasped at the cute teddy bear in his paws and reached out excitedly for it as Seam handed it over. Lancer was happy to examine the new toy before holding it to him in a hug and looked back to him bouncing and saying: 'Again! Again!' Rouxls was smiling wide now as was Seam as he performed another trick for the small pup. This time reaching behind his crown and then suddenly pulling out a single dark dollar, to which Lancer gasped in wonder and also took it when Seam offered it to him, shoving it into his pants pocket and asking for him to do it again. He smiled and happily performed a few simple tricks he remembered. Pulling a strand of tied together hankercheifs out of nowhere, which lancer also reached for excitedly. Making a small flame appear and turning it into different simple shapes like a circle, cube, flat surface, etc. Pulling a button out of his ear seemingly. And a few other harmless little party tricks a child like Lancer found amazing, the child was just fascinated with magic and he chuckled at his excitement. In the meantime Rouxls watched lovingly as Lancer was giggling and enjoying himself as Seam bowed as he clapped at his small performances. While this was going on every so often the announcer would shout out another name as more guests arrived.

"Princess Clover Clubs of Card Castle!!" King and Queen Clubs were excited and babbled as their small three headed daughter came up to them wearing a small crown for each head but that was about it. "Baron Mr. Elegance and Mr. Society of Great Bourd Pass!!" Two strange all white darkners made their way in about thirty minutes later and mingled with the crowd. Thirty minutes later."Royal Court Healer Ms Valen and her Husband!!" A slightly bigger than average blue hathy couple. Seam was starting to get the impression that most of the folks here were important court members and their plus ones/partners or just important people invited to the royal shindig. As the next ones also arrived around thirty minutes after the last. "General of War Sir Punch-a-lot and his husband!!" A VERY scarred up red rudinn ranger slithered through the doors with a slightly smaller green one and the red one gave a grumpy look around before rolling his eyes and letting himself be dragged in. Thirty minutes later. "Head Of Treasury and Staff Ms. Royal Coat Jack!!" A strange looking jack came in, but she just looked nervous and skittered in without another word. Huh. Guess she was the secritary Rouxls often referred to helping him. But the next announcement made Lancer perk up from his new teddy bear again thrity minutes later. "Esteemed Guest and Hero of the Darklands Prince Ralsei Durrmee of the neighboring Durrmee Kingdom!!"

This time a LOT of attention was focused to the doors as they opened and Seam looked too, wanting to get a look at this hero once again, and a small hush came over the crowd. Behind the doors strode in a teenage darkner. He looked-..Well exactly how Seam remembered. Same outfit too. Green cloak and hat, wide circle glasses, and red scarf. The nervous looking boy paused looking at all the darkners suddenly staring at him and he smiled nervously before waving a paw.

"Uh...H-Hi, Everyone." He quickly excused himself and made his way towards them. It seems the only ones who didn't stop were the band and performers, taking their jobs seriously no matter what happened. The nervous goat monster made his way through the crowd and Lancer's tail wagged even more as he came closer. "Excuse me. Excuse me. Pardon me, Ma'am. Oops! Sorry. W-Watch your footing, Sir." He said as he walked even closer to the royals who were now looking with smiles- Except for Queen Diamonds who seemed more interested in her jewelry. But the boy still bowed once he got close enough to the giant thrones and their occupants. "U-Um..Greetings, Everyone. I hope I'm not too late-"

''RALSEI!!" Lancer happily jumped off the Duke's lap and made for the teen still holding his teddy bear, said goat prince looked up just in time to watch the small spade pup hug one of his legs and giggled. Tail wagging. "YOU'RE HERE!! NOW IT WON'T BE ALL MUSHY AND BORING!! YOU WANNA PLAY WITH ME?!" All the adults (minus Queen Diamond and Clover) awed at the adorable sight of the teen giggling and patting his head in response. Clover's three heads were staring at the small goat teen with blue blushes even though each head had a different face responding to the blush. "Sure. If your dad doesn't mind." He looked back up at the duke still sitting in the throne smiling and watching, and waved a paw at him. "Um. H-Hello Mr. Kaard. Wow. You look really nice tonight. All of you guys do too."

Clover flushed deeper at that and Rouxls chuckled. "Nonsense. Thou arrived with plenty of time to spare. How waseth thou's trip?"

"F-Fine thanks." He straightened his glasses before looking down to Lancer. "And if he doesn't have any other duties, I'd be happy to catch up-"

"HEY!!" Most everyone jumped up at the sudden shout from one of the clubs princess's heads. "YOU PROMISED YOU'D BE OUR DATE TONIGHT!!" "I-It's fine if he wanted to spend time with him instead, I'll just be a little sad." "OH! I'm so excited! Our first date with a cute fluffy boy!"

"Uh..." Ralsei glanced to Rouxls for any help on the matter.

All of King Clubs heads looked displeased and about to say something a whole lot of somethings before his wife's heads spoke up. "Dearest we talked about this." "J-J-Just...l-l-let her have this moment..ok?" "Im fine with anything really." "HEY!! SHE'S ALMOST SIXTEEN!! GIVE HER A LITTLE SPACE!!" The five heads of his majesty stared at each other for a moment...before grumbling and not saying anything. "THAT'S WHAT I THOUGHT!!" "Thank you, Sweetie." "T-T-Thanks." "Im still fine with anything really."

Ralsei still looked quite unsure before looking back to Clover. "U-Um..Ok. C-Can Lancer come too? I promised to spend time with him too."

The three heads looked at each other before the middle one spoke. "Would that make you happy and like us more?"

"Uh," he said still really unsure and looked at Lancer who nodded eagerly. "Yyyyeesss??"

"OK!! We can start by getting some roasted tree!!" She shouted before standing back up and walking towards him.

"Roasted what?"

He was nudged away by one of Clover's heads and Lancer happily bounced next to the two (or five if you counted each of Clover's heads as an individual) teens. King Clubs still not looking the tiniest bit pleased at his daughter's 'date' for the night at all.

"Do you think we're pretty?" "I thought we looked nice." "OF COURSE WE ARE!! WE HAVE STYLE!!"

"Uh..Yes?"

The last Seam heard of THAT conversation was Clover happily squealing to herself and still pushing the poor boy off with Lancer at their heels. At least the boy would be around two other kids and get to spend time with someone closer to his age group. But speaking of food, Seam gazed over to the table full of goods and wondered if there was anything to his liking. He didn't really have to eat being made of cotten, but anything he did eat was converted into extra magic later and who knows when that might come in handy? Rouxls seemed to mirror his same thoughts as he stood up and bid good morrow to the giant royals before turning in Seam's direction and gesturing to the giant food table in question. Seam nodded and the two began their way there, with Seam politely offering Rouxls his paw and the duke gladly taking it with a smile. The two made their way over past the others in the room and finally his one good eye was able to make out all the stuff on the table that was previously blocked from veiw...and his smile disappeared as he blinked. The last table sat a ....bowl of roasted tennis balls covered in cheese and-...a atcually honest to lightner tree that looked like someone tried to burn it but didn't do a very good job. Clover was there sitting on her hind legs and her front paws held a plate with ease. The giant plate had a couple of the tennis balls and a chunk of what he could only guess was this 'roasted tree' she was so excited about. One of her heads was jabbering to Ralsei while another one scarfed down what was on the plate. Poor kid was smiling nervously holding a plate with a single cheese covered tennis ball, obviously trying not to be rude...and LAncer was bouncing one of said tennis balls getting cheese all over the floor. The cat chuckled and shook his head. The poor kids. The duke and him at first stuck together looking at things but as soon as his eyes spotted the mac n cheese bowl he lit up and made a beline for it, leaving seam chuckling and looking around at all the other foods. He wasn't really that picky but none of it was really appealing to him yet. The roasts looked too hard and chewy, and he was never a big fruit or salad fan. And all the deserts looked too sweet for him. And there was NO WAY he was about to eat cheese covered tennis balls or burnt trees- And speaking of deserts. He chuckled when he finally saw the strange cookies and now understood why they were called 'Lancer Cookies', because they were all decorated to look like the young boy. He sighed and shook his head, going to move past the punch bowl since he wasn't really that thirsty....But paused when something...(or someone) slowly rose out of the punch bowl making a few darkners around them cringe in disgust.

It took him a few moments of blinking and staring to realize who it was, and when he did he sighed. "Mak. WHY are you in the punch bowl?"

The child blinked back. "I got thirsty."

His brow rose. "And so you decided to go swimming in the punch bowl?...And where did you get those sunglasses?" He now noticed the new and shiny sunglasses on top of their head. And he sighed. They were all sticky and wet now.

"Waiting for the surprise."

He blinked. "Surprise? What surprise?"

Before they could answer the same announcer that was shouting everyone's official statuses shouted out his voice from near the king's throne and he turned to look. In the meantime Mak slowly drifted back down into the pink punch and disappeared. "ATTENTION!! THE ROYAL PERFORMERS SHALL BEGIN THE SHOW!! PLEASE STAND CLEAR FOR THE CENTER STAGE!!"

Seam looked confused for a moment, but then sudden flashbacks of his old shows reached his mind. The audience of around a hundred darkners all gasped and stood aside when the jacks all stopped performing including Jevil as he caught the devilknives that he had been juggling this whole time. Each one being put out as he did and he watched in mid air as the five jacks jumped from their set up stages and began to push their own stage towards the middle one Jevil was sitting above. The five giant puzzle peice designed stages coming to fit perfectly with one another as he remembered it would and a small smile reached his face. Well, well. It had been quite a long time since he'd even seen a royal performance. Now was a good oppurtunity to witness one. Rouxls walked up back next to him watching curiously as he ate and the lights dimmed out until only two spotlights remained, one on the band that had gone silent, and one on the stage where all the performers including jevil had hopped off.

"ANNOUNCING LADY PAPER DOLL AND HER WONDEROUS BALLERINA DANCERS DOING THEIR FAMOUS WATERFALL DANCE!!" The man announced. "PLEASE EVERYONE STEP AWAY FROM THE DOORS!!''

Most everyone scrambled out of the way as the band started up some ballet sounding waltz music starting with violins at the same time the doors opened and in came not one but FIVE different all white white some black thin looking darkners dashed in through the dark. Making the audience gasped in surprise as they all jumped expertly and easily onto the table and could now be all clearly seen the spotlight. The biggest one was all white and stood in the middle as the black and white ones, four of those, all stood around her. All made similar ballerina poses as the music faded for just a moment before starting back up again, them moving along with it it gracefully. With the four smaller ones standing on their tip toes and slowly swaying their arms going a few yards away from the bigger one (the stage was fairly large and well built for such things) as their leader stood on one leg and reached her hand up as the soft flute music slowly died out once again and the other four stopped in a pose which left them on their tip toes and their arms pointed to their middles. They could hear the music conductor tap his music sheet stand and begin to wave his hands. Trumpets and violins started to play and they moved. The four began to move in similar motions, twirling themselves in circles while also circling their middle leader in a bigger circle as they spun, and who he assumed to be Lady Paper Doll moved as graceful as one would expect. She expertly brought her leg up high to stand on one leg and twirl around before taking a few graceful steps forwards the edge of the dancing circle before stopping, hand to her chest in fake distraught befor doing the same thing towards the other side before holding a hand to her forehead and dashing back towards the middle twirling a few more times before expertly 'falling' to the floor and laying limp like a ragdoll in a fake faint.

Seam hummed and leaned down to Rouxls to whisper. It was easy to see the worm as his white hair and eyelashes easily glowed in the dark giving him a beautiful aura. "They're very good. This Lady Paper Doll is quite graceful."

Rouxls nodded without looking at him. "Tis based on a true story about what someone sometimes experiences."

"Oh really?"

Rouxls nodded and pointed to Ms Paper Doll who had just now sat up to her knees and was fake sobbing and twirling her upper body in graceful circle motion to the music. "She represents the struggle someone goes througheth with their sad emotions when something devastating happens. And the four dancing around her-" He gestured to the still twirling ballarinas still doing circles while encircling her. "-represent the obsticles and circle of emotions thoust tis feeling. Which is why she's also metiphorically trapped within thine middle. Trapped within her own emotions and problems, which only go downwards as if one tis in a waterfall. Hence thy name Waterfall Dance. They're truly a remarkable group."

Seam didn't doubt that as he looked back to the lit stage from the dark audience. Lady Paper Doll then expertly held her hands up and pushed herself up onto her toes that resembled someone lifting a limp puppet. Twirling around a few more times before she blinked and held her head up to the light. Pretending to just now notice the light shining down on her. Reaching a hand up towards the spot light before she flinched and curled in on herself head down in fake shame. The four dancer had now stopped twirling and were facing her, the for gracefully ran up to her and held their arms above her as if metiphorically holding her down- Before she suddenly snapped back up. The four smaller dancers recoiled and treated back to their circle. This time running back to their circle, but instead of their twirling from earlier, they gracefully lept and ran around in a giant circle as the middle tallest dancer twirled a few more times before stoppong in the middle and striking a proud pose of her chest out, arms back and head held high. Rouxls smiled excitedly next to him.

"This is thine best part, the next steps represent her tossing the stress and thinges away from her and crumbling in sweet defeat and rising to thine goals!" He sighed. "Such beauty tis a work of art.~"

He had to agree. She stood in that pose for the longest time as the four others encircled her before she suddenly pirouletted and pivioted to the middle of said circle of ballerinas before stilling. One ballerina suddenly breaking the circle the circle and running towards her gracefully, the taller woman easily caught her and held her up in the air, the two doing a graceful pose before she let go mid spun and the smaller ballerina expertly 'fell' to her knees and slid a little away, hand to her forhead before 'falling' to the floor in defeat. Followed one by one of the other three who slid away and laid down in similar defeated poses which the audeience awed at and even Seam had to confess the ladies' were experts at their job. Leaving the spotlight on just the tall one and watching as the depressing and exciting music from earlier suddenly became more happy sounding and she prirouletted and spun in other dance moves he couldn't name as the song came to an end spinning happily and doing the same proud pose from before with her head and arms pointed backwards as the happy music finally ended and left. There was silence for just a few seconds before cheers and applause came from the audeince watching all around the stage and the other four ballerinas stood from their position on the floor to go stand next to their leader as they all curtsied to their audience. Seam found himself clapping along and smiling at the performances the ladies did for them. One by one they jumped off the stage and gracefully leaped back to where they came from. The balloroom still quite dark other than the two spotlights on the bandstand and huge stage. He almost did hear the announcer shout the next performers.

"UP NEXT!! THE JACK BROTHERS AND THEIR AMAZING BALANCE ACT!!"

The same four jacks from before all flipped and jumped from different parts of the audience onto the stage and struck a pose. Everyone clapping excitedly for the next act. Except for Seam. He recognized these old jacks and already knew their whole routine, if he remembered right they would start out with two of them standing on top of each other balancing on a ball and two others throwing juggling pins over the two flipping on the ball. And wouldn't you know it, one made a giant green ball appear, so Seam busied himself by turning around and grabbing one of these lancer cookies as the four performed, the audience including Rouxls watched captivated. Upon eating the cookie, he discovered it was just a regular sugar cookie with icing. He still didn't watch the performance when the audience gasped when one of the jugglers suddenly jumped onto the ball with the other two while still juggling back and forth with the one on the ground before they jumped, and was suspended onone of the bottom jack's held out arms, the entire time two jack's still juggling but now they were rolling the ball around moving around on the stage as they rolled around and juggled with expert balance, making the audience awe in disbeleif and he had finally turned around to look around at the crowd. It was dark but he was used to seeing everything in the dark besides lanturn light or his fireplace. He was looking for one small purple gremlin dressed in black ang gold in particular but he didn't see him anywhere. Now where could that little rascal have run off too this time? He was wondering if Jevil was planning some kind of grand entrance to the act, most likely. He always liked showing off to others around him. The four jacks was bouncing on the ball now, up and down a few times before one by one they jumped off the ball and the two juggling caught the pins and did poses with the other two. The audience roared again with excitement at the second performance as the four bowed to the watching crowd. Seam did too, more out of politefulness of the situation than actually watching the performance, but the four hopped off the stage and disappeared somewhere within the crowd not to be seen again for the rest of the night.

"NOW FOR OUR FINAL PERFORMANCE!! LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!! PLEASE WELCOME THEE ROYAL COURT JESTER SIR JEVIL!!"

The crowd both gave a mix of excited and unsure faces but all that changed once a giant puff of smoke exploded on the stage and Rouxls's and his smiles became wider. A small BOOM! noise also went off and gold confetti shot out everywhere. Some landed on the stage but some fell over the crowd, shining thanks to the spotlight. Happy cackling was heard as the dust cleared and there was the purple jester in all his glory, he giggled to the crowd and bowed. The bells on his hat jiggling to his movements, the gold parts of his outsit shining in the light. Here we go. They were in for quite a treat.

"Ahehehehehe!~ Welcome, welcome!! Let there be chaos, chaos!! Fun, fun!! But a word of warning, warning!" His held up his hands. "Please, please do not try to do what my chaos, chaos brings at home, home! They are quite dangerous, quite dangerous!!" He snapped his fingers and suddenly the band started playing some kind of upbeat circus music and the audience's main focus was on the clown as he Suddenly whipped out a metal hula hoop. He sucked a deep breath and his cheeks puffed out, Rouxls recognized it as the face he made before he blew fire. And sure enough flames came forth from the fool's mouth and the hoop caught fire. The iron circle was tossed away from him quickly after that and they guessed he must've been using magic to make it suspended in mid air on the other side of him, before he yet again reach behind him and summoned more devilsknives, around five. He was floating now and stood on the stage. Really showing how small he was compared to Seam and Rouxls. Without so much as a warning he began to easily juggle the sharp looking weapons as the flaming hot hoop came shooting at him. While STILL juggling, he easily jumped up a foot and jumped right threw the flaming hoop's middle, the hoop stopped before it could even reach the other side of the stage and they guessed Jevil must've been using his magic to make it go back and forth as he still jumped threw it whenever it got close enough and still juggled those devilsknives, cackling and happy all around at everyone marvaling at his skills. Bells jiggling wildly. "This is fun, fun!! But more excitement should be expected, expected!!" Without warning the devilknives were all grabbed by him one by one and shoved back into his black cloak disappearing while he still jumped through that flaming hoop, when the last devilsknife disappeared, he reached a clawed hand out and caught the flaming circle. Giving it a few shakes until it was completely put out and he held it up, showing it off with a smile.

Everyone clapped again including them and Seam chuckled. "An old but classic. I wonder if he shall do his famous No-throat sword swallowing trick or fire images."

Before Rouxls could answer, Jevil had already bounded to the other side of the stage before reaching over into the dark real quick as someone (one of the jacks most likely) handed him what looked liked a couple of long rods wrapped in an old cloth, he nodded to whoever handed him the thing before he made his way back to center stage, the audeince watching in silent anticipation. With his back towards the half of the audience that his two soulmates were and only stood back up when he unwrapped said cloth on the floor, a metal SHING!! sounded off as Jevil produced a shiny average looking sword in his hands and showed it off to the audience. "Again, again! Please do not recreate what you are about to see at home, home! Sword swallowing and playing with fire is a very, very dangerous skill even for me, me." The sword was tossed up without another word and it was suspended in mid air by his magic. One person in the band gave a drum roll as it slowly desceneded dowwards and to everyone's shock, the fool's head sprung off his shoulder with a spring and he opened those jaws wide. Rouxls's jaw dropped to the floor as his mousetrap jaws opened and the sword continued it's decent down and THROUGH IT!! The audience gasped when the sword seemingly disappeard into the void of his mouth until the handle was left and his spring neck wobbled. WHERE WAS THAT THING EVEN DISAPPEARING TOO?! Seam chuckled. He knew, Jevil was using teleprtation magic to give the illusion it was going down his none-existant-for-the-moment throat and instead most likely making it appear under the stage where the audeince couldn't see it, but it was still amusing to see their surprised faces. Especially Rouxls who looked at him bulged eyes. The drum still played when Jevil's hand flicked it back up and the sword began to retreat out of his opened jaws. As soon as the last few inches of shiny metal left his teeth, there was a crashed of symbols from the band stand and his neck sprung back down to his shoulder. Instantly like it never happened and he did another pose as the audienc roared again in applause, the sword dropping and being caught in his hand as he presented it back to his fans. Before setting it back down to his feet when another long metal thing was picked up by him. This time it was a long metal rod with some kind of giant fuse at the end. Like a long torch. The same hissing breath and puffed out cheeks signaled the flames before it erupted from his throat, blowing onto the end of the rod and catching it on fire just like a torch. He smiled and giggled at his handywork, holding it up and he looked around to the darkened audeience! "Hehehehe!~ Forms and shapes I make with flames, flames. But helpers I need to pick, pick what to form and dazzle you all!!"

Seam leaned closer to Rouxls. "He means he's going to pick a few people from the audeince to choose what magic picture he'll make with fire."

Rouxls gave a small oh and watched as Jevil tapped his chin and looked over the watching crowd. "Now, now! Who shall I pick to choose the first picture-"

"DO ME!! DO ME!!" Jevil's head snapped to the right and Rouxls suddenly groaned as Lancer was jumping and waving his arms a few feet away from the crowd in a very unkingly manor. "PLEASE! DO ME!!"

Jevil chuckled and bowed in the boy's direction. "But how could I refuse, refuse a request from our beloved King, King?" Everyone watched as Jevil turned his face and the flaming rod up towards the stone ceiling and sucked in another hissing breath, though this one seemed to take longer as his chest expanded at well- Before it all broke loose!! A large stream of flames shot out from his mouth and hit the rod as the flames' path widened and a HUGE wall of flames shot out above the audeince and spread out into lines forming the shape that was similar to the Lancer Cookies clearly intending to be the small boy. The audeince's eyes sparkled as the flames fizzled into nothing after a few seconds and immediately applauded the clown as he bowed his head, Lancer giggled and clapping his hands together from seeing his flame protrait. "Hehehe!~ Thank you, thank you!! As tradition I shall take four more requests, requests to equal five!! Who shall, shall request next?!" This time a lot more people raised their hands and shouted requests to the purple imp! And he slowly did them one by one. A rabbick for a Noble. Another flame portrait for Mr. Society. A lovely flower for King Hearts dedicated to Queen Amory, Rouxls awed at the romantic gesture King Hearts made towards his wife who herself gushed at the sweet thought. And lastly a diamond shape after Queen Diamond ordered it of him. Well...He couldn't disobey the Queens but King Diamonds looked rather embarrased as he held a hand over his face when it all happened. The rod was put out when Jevil stuck the entire flaming end in his mouth- Before removing it quickly and a fire giant stream of hot flame was shot over one part of the audeince who leaned away and gasped before applauding his efforts again. "Now for some old classics! But first please, please welcome by adorable asistant, asistant!!" He snapped his fingers and another bang and small explosion of smoke appeared something purple and grey shot out of the smoke cloud. It slid up to him in the form of Mak wearing those sunglasses and a kazoo in their mouth, blowing on it before posing and a poof of confetti went off behind them. "Now we shall begin, begin the fun!!''

The rest of Jevil's tricks were pretty basic tricks, He would summon props he needed or someone would hand him what he needed from the audience, and Seam watched as it went as followed. The disappearing box. The classic (fake) sawing someone in half. And the classic having Mak stand against a wooden wall while he threw small show daggers at them, expertly missing. And at the end the two did a pose at the end as everyone clapped for them and Jevil looked to the two soulmates standing to the side by the table. Giggling and-.. blowing kiss in their direction. Rouxls froze with a small squeak sound, immediately turning a darker blue and Seam chuckled at both their reactions as he and Mak bounced off the stage. The candles were relit and staff quickly rushed over to grabbed at the stage, pulling the puzzle peices apart and beginning to pushing them towards the front door the dancers had run through before, making more room in the large ballroom for one obvious reason. But they would get to that in a moment, right now everyone was starting to chatter to each other excitedly about the performances that had just been shown to them while others made their way for the food table. Seam felt sorry for all the folks drinking the punch, and the band started up with the calm ballroom music again. And Rouxls turned back to him with a wide smile.

"Thine Jester's performance waseth astounding!!" His wide grin and excited tone made Seam chuckle.

"I told you. Jevil's magical abilities are quite impressive."

A stream of maniac giggled from behind Rouxls made the worm jumped and whirl around and blink at the side of Jevil smiling, sitting in mid air, tail wagging behind him happily. "Really, really?!" He giggled more at the worm's slightly spooked face. Dark purple rushing to his cheeks as his head fell to his hands staring at the two of them lovingly. "Thank you, thank you. You both l-l-look so lovely, so lovely.~"

Rouxls cleared his throat and gave a polite smile and bow. "Thank thee. Thou art looking splendid as well. Thine performance waseth wonderful!!"

Seam nodded. "I agree. You're performances were just as magical as I remember old friend."

Jevil giggled even more and if Seam didn't know better, he would say he was flustered in the presence of both him and Rouxls dressed up in fancy clothing. More purple coming to his cheeks at the compliments, but what perked the old cat's attention was the sudden start up of exciting violins and the excited gasp King Hearts made. He watched as the giant hathy pushed himself off from his throne and turned to the other giant than average hathy bowing and offering one of his giant tentacles to her. She giggled and of course accepted his offer to her. His one good eyes watched as the two intertwined hathys made their way down the small steps of the throne and into the crowd of the ballroom. Seam knew exactly what was about to start happening and sure enough, a whole bunch of other darkners were bowing or asking their partners to dance and the dancefloor area was soon filled with the dancing forms of couples as they laughed and made googoo eyes at each other under the candlelights and pink and red decorations. Jevil watched them all for a moment before looking back towards Seam and Rouxls with expectance- Rouxls jumped in surprise when a soft hand grabbed his shoulder and pulled him against an equally soft body.

"Sorry old friend." Rouxls eeped when he looked up and found himself leaning against Seam as the giant stuffed cat gave Jevil a patient smile. "I know we agreed to be equals but you had your date, so please allow me to have mine. But I assure you, you can come to talk to us when we're not busy dancing or whatever it is people do on dates."

Jevil blinked, clearly not expecting that but gave a smile at them anyways, "Fair enough, fair enough. I was feeling a little hungry anyways. " He looked back to the table just as the Royal Clubs couple walked by talking loudly to themselves and making a line for the roasted tree and sports section of the table. And Seam chuckled again before tilting his head down to Rouxls.

"I know I don't know how to ballroom dance, but I suppose I Should ask you if you would care to dance anyways."

Rouxls blinked flustered up at him and cleared his throat, looking down. "W-W-Wellst if t-thou c-can't dance I shant make thee dance if thou are nay comfortable with it-"

"Oh, I'm comfortable with it. I just don't know how to do the fancy dances they're doing." He gestured to all the fancy waltzes and ballroom dances the nobles and court members were clearly doing. Chuckling when he saw the Prince Ralsei trying to dance with Princess CLover but she was so bigger than him she just stood on her back legs as Ralsei nervously held her front paws and sort of rocked with her. Clover wasn't complaining though as her faces were a dark blue and Lancer was sitting on the floor next to him and playing with the teddy bear he had given him hours ago now.

Rouxls reached a hand up to nervously grip his braid and still didn't look at Seam even as the cat let go. "W-W-Well..I-I-If thou insists- " He blinked nervously when Seam bowed and offered a paw then.

"Well then Mr. Kaard. Would you like to dance?"

Roucxls could only stand there with a deep blue blush and Jevil chuckled behind him. He opened and closed his mouth a few times like a goldfish before clearling his throat trying to look perfessional before shakily reaching a hand out and grabbing the soft paw. It closed around his smaller hand and Seam leaned back up before gently tugging him and pulling him towards the dancefloor with everyone else. Rouxls looked nervous and gave a look to Jevil behinde him only to see Jevil waving him good bye. The fancy shining light and jewelry everyone was wearing was almost blinding as he was lead into the crowd and stopped. Pulled against another figure suddenly as Seam put them into the tradional ballroom dance pose, but instead of the fancy waltzing around them, he just gently made them start swaying in small circles. Which he was releived at. He didn't know if he could handle any real fast and fancy dancing with his legs feeling like jello. He looked up to Seam's face for a moment as he smiled back, his heart skipping a beat before he cleared his throat and looked away nervously again. The silence still going on for a moment before he tried to speak and break the awkward silence.

"T-T-Thou art a b-better dancer than thou thinkest."

"Well thank you. I'm sorry if I hadn't said anything yet. But I wanted to be sure you were just as comfortable speaking." there it was, the patience and consideration of the cat he always loved.

Rouxls chuckled bashfully and fluttered his lashed up at him. "W-Well thank thou. I appreciate thou's concerns for mineself."

"But of course. Why wouldn't I? You and Jevil mean a lot to me." He chuckled. "It's been so long since anything really mattered to me as much as this."

Rouxls blinked up at him lovingly and in surprise as they still circled around. The taller form almost blocked out the light making it bounce around him and make it almost like the cat was glowing, a being of light similar to himself. Which is why his brain possibly wasn't really thinking and he suddenly stood on his tip toes and pressed a kiss to his nose tip. Seam stopped completely surprised and Rouxls suddenly pulled away. Blinking up at Seam's frozen form and a sudden feeling of guilt came over him.

"O-Oh. S-Sorry! I didst not mean to makest thou uncomfortable-"

He chuckled. "No, no. It's alright. In fact I would say it was the best part of my night."

He blinked up surprised again. "R-Really?"

Seam nodded and Rouxls sighed, releived he didn't do anything wrong by his sudden boldness but he would make sure to ask first before he did anything else like that. He wasn't sure how long they stood there dancing in each other arms, Rouxls giggling if Seam's made a small joke towards him and still smiling. But the two were soon interrupted when a white paw pulled at rouxls's cape and the worm turned around curious and came face to face with Prince Ralsei. The goat darkner looks at him with a slightly guilty face, Rouxls stared down in his arms and noticed he held a sleeping spade pup. Lancer was lightly snoring in Ralsei's arms and cutely clutching the small teddy bear in his arms, the crown lopsided on his head and that spade hole in his face closed. He shifted a little in the goat prince's arms and gave a cute puppy yawn before curling into his warmth like any cute child would.

"Uh. S-So sorry to bother you Mr. Kaard. But Lancer fell asleep and I didn't know what to do." He held the child up to him and Rouxls smiled and reached for him. Lancer's face blinked open for a second and his mind woke up just enough to recognize Rouxls so when the worm picked him up, the pup wrapped his arms around his neck and laid his head on his shoulder still clutching the bear.

He grunted as he shimmied him into his hold. "Tis quite alright. Tis rather late after all, tis only natural Lancer fell asleep." He patted Lancer's back and looked back up to Seam. "Mine apologies but I must get Lancer to bed."

He held up his paws. "No, no. It's understandable. ...*sigh* I think I better find my small one too. They're most likely tuckered out after the exciting night they just had."

The two men and sleeping child excited the dancing crowd and spotted Mak pretty easily. Jevil was hovering beside them as they snored and laid on one of the chairs placed out for the guests. The imp chuckled and waved at the trio as they arrived and Seam sighed, reaching over to take the sleeping bat in his arms and looking over them. The sunglasses were crooked on their face, and they were all wet and sticky from the punch, but he soon found the extra weight to be a whole bunch of shiny jewelry stuffed in their pockets. He didn't say or question it and instead turned and started making their way towards the exit with Jevil shrugging and the two men followed after, neither saying a word to each other in fear of waking either children until they got to the giant doors that were pushed open by servants and closed behind them as the trio made their way out. Rouxls watched the doors closed behind him before turning around to the other two smiling men.

"I...I Hadst a great time tonight. I thank thee and apologise for thine trouble."

"No apologies needed. We might as well get going anyways." He held Mak up. "Plus Jevil is my lift back, these old stitches don't feel like walking all the way back home in the middle of the night." Jevil giggled next to him and nodded.

"Doth thou need me to showest thou where the door is?"

"No worries, no worries. I can teleport anywhere!" Jevil proudly proclaimed and Rouxls smiled even more before bowing his head.

"Then I bid thee both a good night..I shall seest thoust two tomorrow.~"

The two watched as Rouxls turned and made his way down a hallway and what they presumed to be the young king's bedroom...Before Seam turn also and began walking, leaving the sounds of music and laughter behind him, but could feel Jevil right behind him floating. The two went in silence for a moment before Seam finally stopped and inhaled deeply, letting it out slowly and turned to Jevil with a smile. And the imp smiling back the two sharing the same loving thoughts of each other and a certain snow haired duke. He shifted Mak into one arm and held out his paw to the jester. Jevil happily took the paw with a giggle and flush of purple. In a second both were suck up into the void, on their way home after such a loving night.

[chilling-seavey]

Amoureux - Henry’s Birth Story

A/N I always love birth stories (I swear I would have been a midwife if I wasn’t scared of blood) so I wanted to write another for one of our universes on here. So here is the story of Daniel and Louisa’s first little royal; however born into poverty in the countryside of Virginia. 

A/N2 Take a look at that sweet little title strip for what Daniel looks like in this story...sometimes I forget that Daniel and Louisa are so young...must be protected at all costs.

T/W Detailed descriptions of labour and delivery, mentions of death as childbirth in 1821 was dangerous as all heck

W/C: 4.6k words

Daniel was always a pretty sure young man and not much phased him. It had been like that for as long as he could remember; always the reckless one in his family and getting up to trouble and just living life without thought of the consequences. At sixteen however, this blew up in his face when he was exiled from England and was sent packing to freshly independent America – thankfully with Louisa by his side. Married and soon pregnant but also dealing with the slap in the face that reality brought, Daniel’s personality changed drastically. He wasn’t constantly excitable anymore; he was constantly scared.

Even more scared when his wife went into labour one August evening. Both not much older than seventeen and completely alone on their half of the world, Daniel and Louisa were terrified. They were both clueless to the realities of childbirth; only thinking that one day they would somehow receive a child but not thinking of the pain it might bring along the way.

The few hours of late afternoon on August 6th brought simple discomfort in Louisa as she continued making dinner and milling about their small two room house. Daniel kept watch over her every time she leaned on the table and let out a heavy exhale but neither knew exactly what was happening. Louisa passed it off as stomach cramps and went about her chores. But as the sun started to set, her pain got worse.

“Dani.”

Her voice was so soft and so delicate and Daniel’s head snapped up from the newspaper in his hand to look over at his wife in the doorway to the kitchen. Her hands were holding her up on the frame and a steady flow of clear liquid was falling down her leg from under her long skirt. The fear in her eyes was more than apparent and Daniel’s eyes went wide.

“Dani, what is happening?” Louisa whimpered.

He dropped the newspaper on the table and got to his feet to aide her but just as he reached her side, she let out an uncontrollable wail and grabbed onto his arm. Her grip was tight and Daniel was frozen in shock, watching her hiss through her pain until she faded out of it with a sharp gasp.

“It hurts terribly.” Louisa said shakily, glancing up at him in front of her.

“I should fetch a doctor.” Daniel suggested.

“They will not help us.” Louisa argued as she stood up straighter again, discomfort etched on her face and her hand fell to the large swell of her stomach. “We are far too British for them. You know they dislike that.”

Daniel swore under his breath and leaned in to press a kiss to her head, “Let me at least ask Alice up at the main house if she can offer some assistance.”

Louisa, too weak and pained to argue, nodded. Daniel sat her down on the chair he had stood from and then rushed out of the house. They lived on a small piece of property kindly sold to them by seemingly the only couple in the entire colonial country who gave them a second look, just at the edge of their own large section of land. The main house was up a bit of a hill and past the barn and Daniel rushed over the grass as fast as he could, scrambling up the porch steps and knocked loudly at the door.

Moments later, the housekeeper answered, confused as to who the guest at dinner time was but the panic in Daniel’s face had her surprised.

“I need to speak to Alice please. It’s of dire importance.” Daniel said. The housekeeper nodded and rushed back off down the hallway to find the lady of the house. Daniel waited impatiently on the porch, glancing back towards their small house for a moment, before looking back to meet Alice who was approaching from the parlour quickly.

“What is it, Daniel?” she asked worriedly.

“It’s Louisa. She…she is in a lot of pain and something…she…something…” Daniel flushed red as he tried to explain to the older woman what had happened.

“Sounds like she’s having the baby.” Alice told him as she grabbed her shawl from the rack beside the door and pulled it around her shoulders. “I will come assist you both.”

“But, ma’am, your supper.” The housekeeper called out as she stepped out on the porch.

“Leave it warming for me, Agnes. I will eat it when I return.” Alice waved her off and then followed Daniel back across the grass towards the house.

Daniel could physically feel his heart beating in his chest the whole way back to their small house and neither of them said a word the entire walk. Louisa’s cries of agony could be heard from outside and Daniel rushed in quickly at the sound of her. She was still on the kitchen chair, bent over the table and wailing into her arm, her hand up her skirt as if she was trying to do something to stop the terrible pain.

“We’re here, little girl.” Alice said sweetly, taking off her shawl and draped it around the seventeen-year-old’s shoulders. “Sounds like we’re going to be having a baby tonight.”

“I do not want a baby anymore!” Louisa sobbed, her cheeks flushed red and sweat already pooling at her hairline. Her accent seemed to get thicker through her tears.

“Well, you have no choice in the matter.” Alice said, kneeling on the ground at Louisa’s feet. She paused to look up at Daniel who was stood, frozen in shock, in the doorway. “Go light some candles and lay some linens out on the bed for us please, dear.”

Daniel nodded and rushed across the small hallway to the bedroom.

Alice lifted up Louisa’s skirt to find that her water had broken – what Daniel had been trying to explain up at the house – and she stood up again. Louisa had just finished her contraction and was left panting over the kitchen table, her fingers gripping the edge and her eyes shut tightly.

“Good thing I have delivered children and grandchildren of my own. You are in good hands, little girl.” Alice assured her, petting back Louisa’s frazzled strawberry-blonde hair from her face. She re-tied it for her to keep it back and off her neck as the labouring mother’s body heat rose.

“Is it supposed to hurt this terribly?” Louisa whimpered, rubbing her hand over her large stomach.

“Yes. Women were destined to suffer during childbirth. That is what the Bible has decreed.”

“Oh, mercy.” Louisa whined.

Daniel slunk back into the living space, hands shyly behind his back and his bottom lip stuck between his teeth anxiously.

“All set up?” Alice asked him.

He nodded.

“Lovely. Let’s get her up and get her comfortable.”

“I do not want to move.” Louisa whimpered as Daniel came over to help pull her to her feet and Alice disappeared into the bedroom to make sure everything was ready.

Daniel held his hands out to her and Louisa only slouched over the table again, not wanting to look at him and certainly not wanting to move. He brushed his hand over her hair and over her shoulder and across her back, whispering a lightly encouraging, “Time to stand up, darling.”

Louisa shook her head.

“Yes, it is. Come on now.” Daniel bent down to wrap his arms around her middle to try and hoist her up.

“No, Dani. Daniel. No…please.” Louisa cried, clinging onto his shirt but doing her best to not have to move in fear of triggering another on-set of pain.

“Come on, darling.” Daniel whispered against her ear, “Please get up.”

Louisa finally gave in, letting him lift her up from the chair and she steadied herself with a hand on the tabletop. Daniel exhaled deeply, pressing a kiss to her cheek as his hands slipped down to her waist to keep her steady. Her arms stayed around his shoulders, fingers still gripping onto the back of his shirt as she shut her eyes and leaned into him in her momentary peace.

Alice returned to the kitchen to check on them and she helped Daniel walk Louisa over to the bedroom. Plentiful candles were set up as the sun was setting and thus excess lighting was needed, a few small tables moved to the end of the bed to give Alice plenty of light to work by. She had also set a wash basin on the bedside table with water from the well with a small linen to cool down the mother-to-be as she delivered as well as a glass of water for her to drink from.

Louisa shrieked as another contraction washed over her and she dug her nails into Daniel’s shoulders tightly, her eyes screwing shut and her head falling forward as the pain spread over her hips and through her pelvis. Her agonising groans had Daniel stunned into perfect silence, holding her steady as she worked through it even as tears welled in her eyes.

“Christ almighty.” Louisa swore through her teeth, letting her head fall back and she looked up to the ceiling, her movements now fading into a natural trance as her body took over for her mind. She bit her lip and furrowed her eyebrows and leaned forward, using Daniel’s shoulders as support to lean on as she moaned through the pain of her strong contraction.

Alice had the bed set up properly with the linens that Daniel had put down and as Louisa breathed shakily through her contraction, Alice started unbuttoning her blouse. Louisa wasn’t even phased as the older woman stripped her, mostly glad to get some cool air on her hot skin instead, and soon she was down to nothing, standing bare in Daniel’s arms. Of course he had seen her naked plenty of times but the naïve seventeen-year-old still flushed pink as he held his labouring wife and the half-stranger with them touched her bare skin.

Louisa breathed strongly out of her contraction, her face contorted slightly in pain, and stood up straighter, swaying slightly on her feet to ease the pressure that was being put on her pelvis as the baby dropped lower. Daniel helped her onto the bed, watching in near awe as she somehow just knew to spread her legs even with her eyes closed and her lips pouted, one hand set gently on her large stomach and her other arm draped lazily over her head.

“Good work, dear.” Alice praised softly, rubbing her hands over the mother-to-be’s hips. “Just listen to your body.”

Louisa breathed shakily, trying to keep her inhales and exhales deep and consistent as Alice pressed her hands to her stomach and pressed gently around her skin. It was slightly uncomfortable, and Louisa reached out a hand for Daniel to take to offer her some sort of comfort and he did, standing with her quietly.

“We have a well-behaved baby here. He or she is angled just right.” Alice said reassuringly.

Louisa exhaled deeply, glancing between Alice and her husband at her bedside, her hand still clutching his tightly, anxiously, fearfully. Alice draped a blanket over Louisa to keep her from catching a chill laying bare in the drafty house as nighttime set over the countryside and then turned to Daniel.

“May I have a word with you, dear?”

Daniel hesitated, glancing down at Louisa before nodding and letting his hand fall out of his wife’s as he followed the older woman back into the kitchen. He wiped his clammy palms on his trousers as they fell to a stop by the window.

Alice spoke quietly but seriously to him, “How much do you know about childbirth, Daniel?”

The seventeen-year-old just blinked at her and then shamefully looked to the floor, “Nothing.”

“That’s what I thought. So I’m going to have to prepare you for the realities of what might happen here tonight. You are a grown man now – you’re having a baby – so you should be able to handle the truth.”

Daniel swallowed thickly but nodded her on.

“Childbirth is very dangerous for women and we can’t ignore the fact that it is possible we might lose her tonight.”

Daniel gasped sharply and he looked over his shoulder back towards the bedroom. Alice set her hand on his arm to bring his attention back to her.

“You and I are going to work together to deliver a nice healthy baby and keep Louisa calm and safe and well, but ultimately it is in the hands of God. If she loses too much blood, she will die. If the baby gets stuck, they might both die. We don’t want to call a doctor unless absolutely necessary because the deaths by their hands are way too common; they don’t understand women like women do. Do you understand me, Daniel?”

His eyes were brimming with tears and he took a shaky breath, forcing himself to nod that he understood.

“I have done this many times and it is very good you came to get me. You would not be able to deliver on your own. But you’re going to help me and we’re going to make sure it all goes smoothly.”

Daniel nodded again.

“Do not tell her what I told you here; we do not want her panicking. Just sit with her and hold her and tell her you love her because there is a possibility it might be your last time.”

“I do not want to lose her.” Daniel whimpered.

“Say your prayers, little boy.” was all Alice could comfort him with before she was heading back into the bedroom.

Daniel’s vision was blurred through his forming tears and he rested his hands on the tabletop, taking a few shaking breaths to try and compose himself. There was no way he could live if he lost her. He didn’t even want to think about it. Children were never taught about reproduction and especially not in royal families, so Daniel and Louisa barely even knew how babies came to be when she fell pregnant. They figured it was a miracle by God and all would be well. Daniel didn’t expect to hear that it might have been God punishing them. The sins that Daniel had committed in the pervious year flashed through his mind until he was dropping to his knees right at the kitchen table and prayed for the first time since he was a little boy.

He didn’t dare want to risk anything more than he had to.

A scream from the bedroom tore him from his prayers and he jumped right up to tend to his wife. Louisa was still on the bed, her legs spread, and her bare skin shining in sweat under the candlelight. Her fists were gripping the sheets so tightly her knuckles were turning white and her face was scrunched up in pure agony as she screamed again. Alice was at the foot of the bed and had her hand between the labouring mother’s legs to check her status and Daniel just slunk up to the top of the bed, away from the birthing area at all costs, and leaned down to press a soft kiss to Louisa’s forehead.

She whimpered but leaned into his touch as he shifted onto the bed beside her and tucked his arm around her shoulders. Louisa’s hand found the material of his pants instead of the sheets, gripping her pain out through the fabric as he left a lingering kiss to her temple.

“I love you.” Daniel breathed right up against her ear as if it was a secret just for them.

Louisa only groaned loudly in response, gritting her teeth and curling her toes through the hot pain that radiated over her hips. Daniel ran his fingers through her hair and massaged over her scalp softly as he simply watched her in silence as she writhed in pain.

“Tell me you love me.” Daniel pressed softly.

Louisa groaned loudly, “I really do not particularly love you right now, darling.”

“Give her some space to labour how she wishes.” Alice told Daniel gently.

He shifted away from his wife just a little to give her room to breathe, his wide scared eyes locked on her as she contracted in waves as the minutes ticked by. The minutes turned into hours; hours of torturous labour for the young mother-to-be and torturous for her just as young and just as clueless husband who tried his best to not think that she was going to die in this much pain. Daniel patted her forehead with the damp cloth and held the water glass for her as she sipped but she didn’t want much.

It was nearing eleven at night soon and Alice had just slipped back up to her house for a quick moment to gather a few supplies that might help with the delivery as the time drew closer. Daniel was nearly begging her silently not to leave but Alice assured him she would hurry and then he was watching her rush off across the property to the large house on the hill.

“Daniel!” Louisa shrieked from the bedroom, urging him back down the hallway.

He stood in the doorway, his expression flat and pale as he stared at her on their bed; how her skin was drenched in sweat and her face was flushed pink through her agony, her strawberry blonde hair kept an absolute frazzled mess with how she was writhing over the sheets. Her hand was between her legs as if desperate to somehow relieve some of the painful pressure and her other arm was draped over her face. Daniel hesitated in the doorway.

“Daniel!” she screamed again.

He shuffled over to her bedside and set his hand on her arm to alert her of his presence. Louisa dropped her arm from her face and reached out to him, tears dripping down her cheeks with how much pain she was in, and he laced their fingers together and brought them up to his lips to kiss her hand.

“Am I going to die?” Louisa asked ever so softly, her voice threaded with fear and exhaustion.

“I…I don’t know.” Daniel said.

Her face scrunched up as yet another quick contraction rolled over her and she let out a strained yell through her sudden sob, her other hand still between her legs. Her sudden silence had Daniel staring at her with wide eyes but she pulled out of it with a shaky gasp before baring down again, squeezing his hand in hers until he was sure she was going to break his fingers.

“What are you doing?” Daniel asked shakily. “You should wait for Alice-”

“Ferme ta gueule, Daniel. Si vous plait.” Louisa said through her teeth, propping herself up on one arm and pushed hard again.

Daniel knew well that she just told him to shut the fuck up but he really thought that she wasn’t supposed to be doing this without Alice there.

“Louisa…” Daniel breathed shakily, trying to pry his fingers out of her fierce grip on his hand.

She finally let him step back, using her hand instead to pull her leg back as she bore down again, letting out a rough strangled groan as her face contorted in desperation and agony. Daniel walked quickly to the door of the bedroom just as Alice came back into the house and he let out a heavy sigh of relief at the sight of her.

The sound of Louisa already starting to push had Alice rushing down the hallway and right past Daniel to tend to her. Daniel stood in the doorway and his eyes went as wide as saucers as he glanced between his wife’s spread legs and saw something pushing its way out of her body.

“Good girl, dear.” Alice praised as she quickly took her position at the foot of the bed. “Very good. This baby is going to be here in mere moments.”

Daniel, his face frozen flat and wide blue eyes seemingly unable to be torn from the foot of the bed, didn’t move an inch from the doorway. Louisa fell back onto the bed through breathless gasps, pushing her hand through her messy hair as she took a moment.

“Push again when you feel the need, little girl.” Alice instructed, pressing her hand down gently on Louisa’s large stomach as if to help coax the baby along.

Only seconds later, Louisa was propping herself up on her forearms again and screaming at the top of her lungs through another hard push.

“Keep going, Louisa. That’s great!” Alice encouraged. She turned to Daniel in the doorway and offered a stern, “What are you waiting for? An invitation? Get over here, little boy.”

Daniel hesitated for a beat but joined Alice at the foot of the bed, swallow thickly at the sight of the shape that was pushing its way out of Louisa’s body, dripped in blood and plentiful other fluids. He was too in shock to feel nauseous, especially as Alice grabbed his wrist in her damp hand and pulled him right into the delivery.

“That’s your baby’s head.” she said, smiling softly at his saucer wide eyes as his hand stayed perfect motionless against the curved shape dotted in thin brown hair.

“Oh my God.” Daniel breathed.

“Pretty incredible, is it not?” Alice smiled before turning back to Louisa. “Let’s get this baby out, Louisa. Give me a nice strong push, dear.”

Daniel tried to step back but Alice pulled him right back in, keeping his hands out as her fingers wiggled around the crown of the baby’s head to stretch out Louisa’s muscles and help her deliver.

It barely phased Louisa who was still propped up on her arms and pushing with everything in her through agonising screams and moans, swearing loudly through her teeth, “Oh, putain de bordel de merde!”

Daniel glanced up at her at her terrible fowl language that he had never heard come out of her mouth before, but there was much more to worry about than how aggressively she was swearing. He looked back down between her legs, watching as Alice helped guide the baby’s head out into the open air and Daniel audibly gasped.

“Good girl, Louisa! One more strong, strong push, dear.” Alice encouraged.

Louisa took a deep breath and as she waited a few moments until he body told her to push, Alice turned to Daniel who was still stood right beside her.

“You’re going to catch your baby.”

His head snapped towards her, “What? No…I…”

“Yes, you are.” Alice took his hands again and guided him forward to cradle the baby’s head. “Natural instinct, little boy. You got it.”

Right then, Louisa scrunched up her nose and shut her eyes and pushed one more time. Daniel’s eyes widened even more as he could feel her body physically squeezing and pushing to birth the baby and sure enough, he didn’t even need to think about it before he stepped right up closer just in time to watch as his son was born right into his hands.

Louisa let out a heavy gasp of relief and fell back onto the bed, heaving with breathlessness, and Daniel stared down at the tiny baby in his two hands as he let out his first cry.

Alice smiled, “A beautiful sound from a beautiful baby boy.”

She stood up and grabbed one of the extra linens to wrap around the baby to keep him warm and she helped Daniel bring him right up to his chest to keep him secure. Louisa smiled through her exhaustion at her husband and her son, already nearly forgetting all the pain she had just endured.

“Hold him right there, dear. We’re not quite done yet.” Alice turned back to Louisa and got her to deliver the placenta but Daniel didn’t even notice, too hung up by the wailing baby in his arms.

“How is he, Dani?” Louisa finally asked when she was all finished and Alice set the placenta in the empty pot she had brought over.

“Perfect.” Daniel breathed, finally looking over at his wife from the foot of the bed.

“Let’s go give Mother a chance to hold him now.” Alice set a hand on Daniel’s shoulder and guided him around the side of the bed, the pot sat on her hip as the baby was still connected to the placenta.

Louisa sat up a little as Daniel carefully set the wrapped-up baby in her open arms. His cries seemed to calm down a little as he laid against her warm skin and Louisa pet his wet brown hair with her gentle palm.

“He is beautiful.” Louisa whispered, leaning down slightly to press a tender kiss to her son’s little nose and she tucked the linen higher around him habitually to keep him warm.

Daniel reached out slightly to hesitantly touch the umbilical chord that was poking out of the linen and fed down into the pot that Alice held. The older woman passed him a knife and instructed him to cut it.

“Does it hurt him?” Daniel asked nervously as he took the knife.

“No, no. He will be fine.” Alice assured him as she pulled the linen open a little and Daniel leaned over with the knife. With a steady hand and a quick slice, the umbilical chord fell and Alice tucked it in the pot as well before she moved across the room to clean up a bit.

The baby quieted down and Daniel tucked the blood stained linen back around his tiny body in Louisa’s arms. Louisa looked up at her husband and they shared small smiles before he leaned down to kiss her once and then climbed up on the bed beside her, both of them looking back at the newborn in perfect silence.

“Mon petit prince.” Louisa whispered happily, leaning her head on Daniel’s shoulder.

Daniel smiled and pressed a sweet kiss to her cheek.

Alice cleaned up the new mother and draped a few blankets over her bare body as she came down from the intensity of the labour and delivery and her body was starting to shiver a little. Daniel wrapped his arm around her shoulders too and rested his head against hers, a small content smile on his lips as they stared down at their brand-new baby.

“Let’s get this little boy fed.” Alice suggested, coming over to the bedside again as he had started mewling in Louisa’s arms. The older woman showed her how to hold the baby so he could latch onto her breast and soon the baby was feeding contentedly.

A calm fell over the small two room house as the last minutes of August 6th passed; the young parents tucked up together with their new baby son and nothing but love in their hearts. Daniel reached his hand over to slide his index finger against the newborn’s little hand that was resting against Louisa’s chest as he nursed, but he wrapped his tiny fingers around Daniel’s one instead. Daniel’s soft gasp had Louisa smiling fondly.

Louisa glanced over at Daniel and his awestruck smile and leaned in to push a soft kiss to his lips, “I love you.”

“I love you so much.” Daniel whispered, kissing her lips again before leaving one more to her temple when she turned back to the baby in her arms. He nuzzled right up with her, resting his cheek against hers as he looked down at their son over her shoulder as he rubbed the pad of his thumb over the baby’s fingers that were wrapped around his. “I love you too, our little prince.”

“Prince Henry. Destined for greatness.” Louisa breathed, only hoping her wish could become a reality admits their poverty stricken world.

[theatresweetheart]

A Little Misunderstanding

This was for the Secret Sanders 2019 event run by @secret-sanders-sized. The lovely person I got for this fun event was the amazing @i-will-physically-fight-you!! 

Prompt: “Good news: Logan's shrink ray works. Bad News: Logan accidentally shrunk himself in the process. ??? News: He has been mistaken as a fellow “Borrower” by Patton, a tiny humanoid being who apparently has been living in his walls all this time.”

Warnings: Fear, shrinking, non-descriptive injury, incredibly brief Remus mention, incredibly brief Deceit mention (Dorian), misunderstanding, negative self talk.

Pairing: Platonic Logicality

Word Count: 8674 words

A/n: I really didn’t mean for this to get nearly as long as it did. I just started writing and then got inspired and then it got longer. However, this was a super fun write and I loved participating in the Secret Santa event this year. 

Merry Christmas everyone!

                                     +~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+

As it was, there were two different outlooks on Logan’s current predicament and, thankfully, he had already been able to gather sufficient data.

Even if his original plan had backfired horribly.

Truthfully, he could focus on the negative side effects of this mess. However, on the other hand, there were quite a few positive outlooks to this as well. Not to mention the fascinating discoveries he had already made and the incredible advancement of technology in a shrink ray that actually worked.

So with that in mind, Logan had already good news; his machine worked.

Bad news, perhaps, was that it seemed to work a little too well and Logan had accidentally managed to use it on himself.‌‌ (Not that he hadn’t thought about it. Just not instantly. He had wanted to test it before using it on something alive and sentient—just in case it had side effects.)

This accident had rendered him helpless in his own home as he gazed from his new vantage point up toward the table where his creation laid. Unassuming and harmless unless there was someone behind it. Thankfully he had thought ahead, and when he’s actually capable of getting back up there, he had added a switch that would reverse the ray’s affects just in case something like this happened.

(That and he had an overly curious friend that liked to touch his things—even if they were clearly labelled.)

It was a good thing said friend was busy today, so Logan had little worry about his accomplice making his presence known in the meantime.

And then, there was the news that Logan had yet to classify.

At the moment, there was a tiny humanoid creature standing worriedly over him—perhaps saying “tiny” at the moment would be false, as how it seemed, the both of them were currently of the same stature. The only time this creature would be considered tiny was when Logan was at his normal height, which was all the time save for now.

Worried brown eyes blinked at him, watching him through spectacles that seemed as if they had been meticulously handmade. Perfected frames made from wire that had been bent and forced into a shape resembling Logan’s own glasses.

It was rather fascinating.

To see such a level of craftsmanship when dealing with supplies that you only had on hand.

The humanoid being had a bag slung around his shoulder and a fishing line that had a hook connected to the end of it wrapped around his torso. More things that seemed to aid in survival, at least from what Logan could guess and gather.

“Gosh, you must have taken quite the fall!” The other said, dropping down to his knees and sliding his bag over his shoulder. He leaned a bit further into Logan’s personal space, eagerly wanting to help but being far too close for Logan’s comfort. “Did you fall from the counter?”

Well, not technically. However, it seemed as though he would need to come up with a story that would be believable. If he was able to get some help from a creature that presumably lived at this height, then he would do what was necessary. It would be painfully obvious in little time just how unprepared Logan was to be this size, so any help would be appreciated.

Unfortunately he hadn’t had enough time to really think about a story that would be believable. He’d hardly been this size for less than twenty minutes and Logan hadn’t known that a being this small existed in the first place.

The creature’s hands were fluttering to and fro, as if he didn’t know what to do with them. It seemed as though he wanted to make sure Logan was physically unharmed since he was hypothesizing that Logan had slipped from the counter and landed on his back on the floor.

The care seemed to be genuine, however.

Logan floundered for something to say back. He pushed himself up onto his elbows, his eyes flickering between the height of the counter and the being knelt beside him—who was still uncomfortably close. “Yes,”‌ he agreed finally, meeting the other’s eyes and watching as they widened slightly.

“You must be sore then,” he said, letting his hands rest on his knees, even though his fingers still twitched slightly. “Where does it hurt?”

It doesn’t. Logan wanted to say it outright but thought better of it. If he were to say it didn’t hurt, then the creature would probably be led to suspicions. And, to be fair, his right shoulder did sting a little.

The injury itself was from a fall he had taken a couple years back and he had ended up spraining his shoulder. It hadn’t ever really healed correctly, so Logan would feel the pain flare up every once in a while. It didn’t happen all that often anymore and he had come to learn to live with it anyhow.

It also wasn’t Earth shattering pain as one would expect, especially not if one had just fallen from such a treacherous height.

“My shoulder’s just a bit stiff, but it really is not a problem,”‌ Logan assured him, rolling it back to test it. He winced, but schooled the pained expression professionally after a minute. “Nothing I‌ can’t handle on my own.”

“Oh.” The other relented, a bit of a somber expression wiping the concerned one away. If Logan didn’t know better, he would say that he looked a bit let-down. Of course, Logan did know better… didn’t he? “Well. If you’re sure, who am I‌ to argue! I‌ should get back on my way then, anyhow. Gotta finish my borrowings for the day before the human comes back, you know?”

He said ‘human’ as if he wasn’t one. Which only brought more questions forward, such as what was he? Why was here? How long had he been here without Logan knowing? And, because of this, Logan belatedly realized he had made an incredible discovery right here.

A creature that he had never heard of before. Clearly a sentient bipedal mammal that looked, acted and talked exactly like a human. He was just a fair bit smaller. A species that remained inconspicuous to mankind and he was swiftly losing his chance to learn more.

Logan quickly sat up a bit further as the other slid his bag back over his shoulder, sat back on his haunches—almost looking like he wanted to say something before thinking better of it—and then pushed himself into a stand. His hands fidgeted in front of him for a second, before he took a step back.

“It was a pleasure to meet you, really!”‌ He said, offering a smile, before turning and calling over his shoulder. “I’ll, uh, I’ll see you around then.”

He needed to gather more data. He couldn’t let this chance slip through his fingers. He had to do something. Logan knew he could play up the pain in his shoulder, though, granted he was no actor.

Quickly making up his mind, Logan went with his latter plan.

Leaning back again on his right arm, he winced once more but instead let the emotion play out. “On second thought,”‌ he said, stopping the humanoid being in his tracks, wired spectacles turning and meeting his own eyes once more, “a little help would be appreciated. If it is not too much of a bother.”

He watched the other’s features light up almost instantly at the request.

Immediately Logan was being overwhelmed once more as the creature was suddenly excitedly talking a mile a minute. “Oh!‌ I would be more than happy to help!” He said, clasping his hands and practically bouncing back over to where Logan still sat. “It’s not a bother at all!‌ And I haven’t seen another borrower in what seems like absolute ages, so it’d actually be really nice to have some company again. And really, between you and me, I’d never leave one of my own in need.”

Borrower, Logan filed that information away, already beginning to take mental notes.

“Oh my goodness, look at me fussing over you and I‌ haven’t even introduced myself. Heck, we’re still practically strangers!”‌ His smile stayed bright and shining, practically exuding with warmth. He then stuck a hand out and Logan reeled back slightly from the surprise of it, not to mention how enthusiastic he seemed to be. “I’m Patton!‌ You are?”

Collecting himself enough, and shaking the surprise off with a practiced ease, he shook the borrower’s hand. “Logan.”

Patton took his hand back after a moment, his excitement never seemed to flicker. “It’s a pleasure, Logan. See?‌ Now we're not strangers!‌ Now, let’s get you off the ground before the human gets back, wouldn’t want to be caught now would we?”

Based on how Patton was talking about humans, there seemed to be an amount of fear associated with Logan’s own kind. “I‌ suppose not.” He lifted himself off the ground, and stood just a little taller than Patton did. “Though, I‌ am curious. What is all the fuss about being seen by a— a human?”

It was odd referring to his kind in the third person, as if he was talking about something other worldly, but whatever was believable he guessed.

“Hmm?” The other hummed, quirking a brow while turning on his heels and heading towards the kitchen counter. Logan was quick to fall into pace with the borrower. “Oh, well, humans are gigantic. They grab and they never let go and really, once you’re taken captive you’re never seen or heard from again. Every borrower knows that.”

“Of course, forgive my…forgetful nature.”

Patton didn’t seem to believe it at first. The quizzical look in his eyes as he side glanced Logan said it loud as bells. For a moment, Logan was half afraid that Patton knew. However, he shrugged and turned his attention upward. “You must be Wild then,”‌ he said an afterthought. “Right?”

Stunned at the revelation that there more of the same creature, he nodded in agreement. Perhaps if he feigned ignorance when it came to the dangers of mankind, he could gather more information on how the race of “borrowers” saw mankind.

Obviously so far, it was not a positive perception.

“Exactly,”‌ he agreed, watching as Patton came to stand still and staring upward toward the counter-top. “So, I‌ am rather rusty when it comes to, well, anything really.”

“Well, good thing I‌ bumped into you then!”‌ Patton’s bright demeanor returned swiftly. “I‌ can help you get your bearings and help you with that pesky shoulder of yours, before you get on your way!”

Before Logan could even say another thing, Patton had slipped the hook and rope from around his torso, swung it a wide circle a couple times and threw it up toward the top of the counter. A small clicking sound caught his attention before the hook came tumbling back down. Logan flinched away, worried slightly for his safety but Patton remained unfazed and instead smoothly caught the hook by the hilt and quickly tried again.

After the third attempt, it finally stuck and he watched as Patton tugged on the line to test it’s weight.

“Third times the charm,”‌ he chirped with a toothy grin, before wrapping his hand into the fishing wire and heaving himself upward with what seemed like no effort at all. There had been absolutely no hesitation. It was obvious this was something Patton did on the daily as it took him little to no time to reach the top.

Logan blinked when Patton was peering down at him from so far above.

“Whatcha waiting for?” He called down.

“I am afraid I’m not as swift as you are when it comes to climbing anything of such scale,”‌ Logan admitted.

His eyes locked on the fishing line in front of him, the thin rope was deceptively strong.

The last time Logan had done something even remotely like this was when his friend had insistently begged—and then inevitably dragged—him to come to the rock wall at his University. However, they had been harnessed and spotted. This, this was nothing like what he was used to. A free handed climb was not Logan’s specialty, nor was he remotely interested in trying something of the like.

“Isn’t there an— easier way up?”‌

One that didn’t completely rely on Logan not slipping and actually break something? That and his shoulder was already messed up enough, surely Patton would understand him not being able to make the climb anyhow. When he only got a confused look in response, he decided to prod at the fact his shoulder was screwed up.

“My shoulder hasn’t exactly healed in the past two minutes,”‌ Logan reminded.

“Oh shoot, of course it hasn’t!” Patton disappeared over the edge of the counter. There was some shuffling and before long he was peering back over, just as the fishing line was being drawn up and out of sight. “There’s an outlet just a couple paces away from you. It should be a bit loose around the two left screws. When you get in the passageway there, wait for me and I can meet you down there in a few seconds! We can still get to my place from there.”

A passageway inside the walls?‌ What an odd place to call home.

Logan nodded, his eyes drifting over to the outlet on the wall. “Alright,”‌ he called back up in a final affirmation.

Turning to the side and heading over, it took far longer than it would have if he were of normal height. As he laid his hands over the smooth grooves of the outlet cover, Logan was surprised to find that the thing was loose enough as it was. All he had to do was shimmy it a little to the right and he had created a space wide enough for him to squeeze through.

For a second, Logan turned to glance over his shoulder. The shrunken human looked up to the counter where the machine sat, unassuming and out of harm's way. He’d get back to it in a day or two. There was nothing wrong with spending a little time getting to understand the quirky borrower that was so willingly taking him into his home.

Logan would have to do something for him as a thank you gift.

It was only logical, of course, to want to repay someone for their hospitality and generosity.

Shaking the thought from his head, especially with how absurd this entire situation was, he pulled himself inside. Stepping over the thick electrical wires, he fit the cover back into place and was welcomed with a dusty darkness. He scanned the inside of the walls, intrigued at the absolute detail of everything that would go entirely unnoticed to the average eye. Being at such a small scale gave you a keen eye for detail.

His attention shifted when he heard footsteps from just to the left of him. Before long, a shape emerged from the total darkness and came into the slightly less dark darkness.

“Great to see you could make it,” Patton said, meeting his eyes as best to his ability. “Sorry about that whole climbing thing. Totally forgot about your shoulder for a hot minute.”‌

Logan offered a shrug. “No harm done.”

“Well, with that out of the way, let’s get home! That way I can actually help you. That’s where all my supplies are, you know,” Patton chattered at him, brushing by the taller man and heading down the opposite way he had come from. Logan was prompt to follow, not wanting to lose his only guide in the darkness and twisting passages. “That and I‌ actually have light there as well. Not that the kitchen didn’t have light, but we can’t risk helping you right out in the open.”

Easily keeping up with Patton’s pace, Logan was able to ask a few more of his questions. “Are humans really as bad as you’re making them out to be?”

“Well, of course they are.”‌

“You are not…overreacting on the entire thing? How are you so sure that a human would not be willing to help aid in your survival?”

“Logan, you seem like a nice guy but you’re also Wild,”‌ Patton said, taking a sharp left. “Out there you don’t survive off of humans. You can live off of nature and all you really have to worry about are animals. I‌ wouldn’t think some animals would be all that interested in something as small as we are, but cats—” He shuddered involuntarily, “—just stay away from cats.”

“I’m not entirely sure what my status as a Wild, as you put it, has anything to do with this.”

“Well, if you don’t come in contact with humans,”‌ Patton continued as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, “you don’t have to worry about them. You don’t rely on them for anything.”

Logan hummed in response. “If you’re so terrified of humans, why not move out and live in the wild?”

Patton laughed. A gentle sound, but one that said more than just mirth. “I wish it were that easy, I really do.”

What did that mean?

Patton then put a hand out, stopping Logan in his tracks and just in time. Not another footstep in front of them was a steep drop downward.

“I hope you’re not afraid of heights,” Patton teased, sending a smile in Logan’s direction before taking his first step into the dark.

Logan could just make out the shadow of a nail protruding from the left hand wall. As his eyes got used to the constant darkness, he could see an entire pathway leading up. There had to be about fifteen steps in the staircase like creation and if one were to misstep, it would be a deadly fall.

Heights had never been an issue before now and while Logan wasn’t afraid of them, this almost reminded him from the incident before. It was like free handing another thing. His heart stammered as he watched Patton do it with a memorized and practiced ease.

Once again, Logan found himself falling behind. He moved to the wall and placed a hand firmly against it, feeling nerves welling without his permission.

“Nervous?” Patton’s voice came from somewhere in front and a little above him.

“That statement wouldn’t be…incorrect,”‌ Logan mused.

“Don’t worry, it’s probably just as easy as human stairs. You just have to get into the rhythm of it,”‌ the borrower explained, trying to ease his worry. “And, hey, I’m right here and I won’t let you fall.”

Slightly reassured, Logan stepped onto the first nail and his hand pressed firmer to the wall as if looking for a handhold on the smooth wood.

Okay. One step after the next.

“I presume there’s no way around this?”‌

Patton laughed. The sound was warmer this time. It sounded like an actual laugh and not a halfhearted chuckle. “Not this time, I’m afraid.”

“That is what I‌ was afraid of.”

Okay. One breath after the next.

It took a while, and with some unsteady steps and two almost slips, but Logan was at the top in little under ten minutes. It wasn’t one of his proudest moments, but he had come out of it alive so it couldn’t have been that bad at all.

“See?‌ That wasn’t too hard!”

And just like that, Patton was off once more. It took a few more minutes of walking through winding corridors and hopping up onto one slightly more elevated platform (that was far easier than climbing over a stairway made of nails) and they were headed down a skinnier passage.

Not lower, but just thin enough that nothing but a borrower would be able to sneak through. It was almost as if Patton had chosen this place to make his home for that very reason. It hadn’t really occurred to Logan, but there were probably a lot more things out there that could injure a borrower—other than humans, as they were thought to be the primary threat. It seemed as if it wasn’t just cats that were worrisome when you were this small. It was everything.

And that was a startling realization.

“You’ll have to excuse the state of my home,”‌ Patton told him sheepishly, a shy grin on his features as he nudged the door open. A door that was made by an old credit card. Not one that Logan recognized.

The house itself was dark as Logan stepped inside, his eyes scanning around as if trying to make out what he was looking at. He couldn’t really see a mess, so he didn’t understand why Patton was apologizing.

Before he could even voice his thoughts, a small clicking sound of a door closing followed by another softer click caught him by surprise and all of a sudden a warm yellow light filtered into the room. He blinked spots from his eyes and suddenly Logan was looking at the interior of a home lovingly made from hand. The light itself being shone via a single Christmas light hanging just above the kitchen table like a chandelier.

“Oh.”

“Hmm?” Patton turned at the quiet sound, slipping his bag over his head and hanging it on a nail protruding from the wall, bent into the shape of a coat hook. “Something wrong?”

“No, nothing,” Logan hadn’t even realized he had made the sound of astonishment until Patton had said something. “Just that— this is all fascinating. Did you wire this all by hand?”

The interior was astounding to look at, truly. The small home closely resembled that of his own, or perhaps anyone’s house for that matter. It was becoming clearer by the minute that Patton was just as human as he was, just smaller.

He could talk, think, react…It was all just rather startling.

How had a race like this remain unheard of for so long?

Were humans really so oblivious that borrowers could live off of them and not even notice they were sustaining a complete society of creatures?

Looking around the room, it seemed to be filled with little things that Logan wouldn’t have noticed had gone missing in the first place. That being said as well, Patton probably didn’t only take things from his own apartment and instead would scour the entire building.

Logan was left to assuming that taking things from a single person could be dangerous, especially if they started to notice things disappearing periodically.

“Oh, uh, yeah!”‌ Patton said, toeing off his shoes at the door before slipping his jacket over his shoulders and hanging that up next to his bag. “I‌ can’t really call an electrician. Did it all by hand. I did have some help though, but it mostly just runs on this pack of batteries.” Patton patted the slightly transparent battery container, which had two different wires stuck out from the top of it and were hidden somewhere within the walls of the home to hide them from sight. “It’s nothing too groundbreaking though.”

“Falsehood,” Logan said before he had realized it. It was the second thing he had said without thinking about it, but he was getting to see a completely independent world that laid right under humanity’s nose. And yet, even with all of this intricacy of maintaining life, there was no inkling that borrowers even existed. “Whether you did this by yourself or not is irrelevant.‌ The fact that you were able to mimic a human-styled electrical design is an incredible feat.”

Patton blinked. Almost unsure of how to respond to such a kind compliment. It…was a compliment, right?

But he broke out into a wider smile nonetheless. “Thank you.” He then shifted the conversation, not sure how else to keep it going from there. “Well come now, get comfortable. Make yourself at home, I have plenty of room! I’ll get some supplies and help you fix up that shoulder of yours.”

Logan knew there wouldn’t be much Patton could actually do for his shoulder since it was an old injury anyway, but he was getting the chance to talk to a creature that shouldn’t be able to physically exists and, yet, here he was being proven very wrong.

So, he could let Patton bandage his shoulder and do what he believed was necessary as long as he got the answers he hoped for.

When the borrower returned from a room further down the hall with an armful of what looked like bandages and tape, Logan was beckoned forward and motioned to take a seat on the chair at the table. His eyes drifted around the home further and it was cozy. The warm yellow light made it feel comfier than it probably was, and he couldn’t help but feel astonished. Everything here had to have been handmade or stumbled upon by pure chance.

After a moment though, Logan’s attention drifted back to Patton as the borrower’s hands had suddenly appeared on his right shoulder, feeling around the tendons carefully. He pressed down, but not enough to cause too much discomfort. He then paused. “Shoot,” he murmured.

“Whatever is the matter?”

“I didn’t ask permission to touch you.”‌ Logan blinked, surprised that Patton had even brought that up. Logan had thought it had been sort of unmentioned at this point. Sort of like a silent agreement. That and he wasn’t uncomfortable. He did have a friend that liked to hug him out of nowhere, so two hands on his shoulder wasn’t something Logan was particularly worried about. “Can I?”

“I‌ thought that was already previously agreed upon.”‌ Logan voiced himself and Patton relented, his hands pressing back into his shoulder blade.

“It’s more of a comfort thing for myself too,”‌ he explained. “It’s…nice to hear vocal permission, instead of just banking on the hope that it’s okay. I know that permission is really important for some people, while others can be really lenient with it.”‌

Logan carefully phrased his next question. “Do you know people that prefer to be asked?”

“Mhmm,” Patton hummed, moving to stand in front of Logan. “This is going to sound...weird, but you’re going to need to take your shirt off. It’s easier to feel the damage from there.” He seemed to consider something before quickly adding on, “though if you’re not comfortable with that, I‌ can work around it!”

“That’s alright,” Logan assured him, though it was a bit odd. He complied by pulling his shirt over his head and settling it over his lap.

With no hesitation this time around, Patton’s hands smoothed over his shoulder once more and the borrower hummed again. “I‌ knew a whole family of borrowers. They moved in about five years ago and moved out about a year later.”

“How come?” Logan winced as the other pressed a bit too harshly into his pained area by accident.

Patton mumbled a soft apology before pulling back and reaching for the bandages. “The family had twins, Roman and Remus, that liked to get into a lot of mischief. Bless their hearts, but the kiddos managed to continuously cause mayhem everywhere they went. There was one night the two had managed to tip over an entire thing of flour and tracked it absolutely everywhere. Virgil said they’d nearly given him and Dorian a heart attack when they came back covered head to toe in all this white powder.”

So, that’s what had really happened when Logan had come back from work, only to find flour spilled in every crack and crevice. He had seen the little footprints, but they had looked more like paw prints than footprints. It now also made far more sense on why those tiny footprints had led directly to one of the loose tiles on his counter-top.

It was strange to find the truth of the accident had been tiny children messing around and accidentally spilling it, but this whole situation was still so surreal that Logan was just about ready to believe anything he was being told.

To a point, of course. He wasn’t naive.

But had the family really been so terrified for their safety that they had fled? The idea almost made him feel queasy.

Were humans really as terrible as borrowers were taught?‌ Certainly, there had to be some exceptions right? Logan, himself, didn’t believe he’d be all that awful if he were to stumble across a creature of such an incredible size. Especially not if one of those creatures were a child.

Logan leaned back a bit more, lifting his arm slightly in response to Patton gently tugging on his elbow. “That was the only reason they left? That single accident?”

“You have to understand that an accident like that could have gotten the entire family caught,” Patton reminded him softly, beginning to wrap the gauze around the affected area. “With two kids that like to run around and play pretend, all the while shouting and giggling, not to mention how much the twins fought; let’s just say that Dorian realized very quickly that living in an apartment building so close to humans was not the right place for their little family.”

“I see.”

“Yup. Moved all five of them out as soon as possible.” Patton wrapped the bandage around Logan’s shoulder a couple more times before using his teeth and ripping it off. He set the roll aside and grabbed the tape, tearing a piece off and then tearing that single piece in half. Logan belatedly noticed that that one piece of tape possibly could have covered his entire chest.

“All five of them?”

“Mhmm. Dorian was the oldest, he’s actually just a couple years younger than I‌ am. Then there was Virgil, then Thomas and the twins were the littlest brothers of the bunch, but goodness, they’d have to be, what, 13 now?”

Logan was almost curious enough to ask Patton how old he actually was, since he didn’t look much older than Logan himself, but refrained. Asking someone their age was considered a rude question anyhow, but there was the lingering question in the back of his mind that wondered if borrowers were some sort of mythical creature that had either a longer—or even a shorter—lifespan than humans.

He decided to direct the conversation in a different direction for now, assured that he would still get the chance to ask his questions.

“Since they moved out,” Logan moved his arm to test the hold of the bandages and tape before moving his eyes back to Patton, “are you the only one in the entire building?”

“It seems that way,”‌ he agreed, before holding Logan’s arm still. “Stop moving it, I’m not done just yet.” He relaxed his hold once Logan quit squirming. “Besides, it’s not like I‌ haven’t been alone before, so it isn’t that big of a deal.”

The borrower then moved to stand behind him once more and pressed his hands down firm enough to feel comfortable, but not enough to hurt. Then, he began to massage at the slightly swollen muscle.

“I‌ do suppose it’s better that way, though,‌”‌ he said after a heartbeat of quiet. “If any of the Steelgates had been caught, they would have had someone to miss them, you know. Me?‌‌ Well. I‌ guess no one would really notice.”

It was such a sad thought, but Patton had said it so casually that Logan had nearly startled.

“It’s alright though,” he continued before Logan had gathered the wits to say something back to him. To refute it. “At least if I were to be found and caught, none of the humans in this building would be able to find any more borrowers—assuming you’re not sticking around after I‌ getcha all patched up.”

Logan shook his head. “I wasn’t exactly planning on it, no. Living so close to humans is not my area of expertise.”

“I‌ can’t blame you for wanting to get back to the wild,”‌ Patton said, his voice lowering slightly. Logan wasn’t good at reading emotions, but this didn’t take a professional to read those signals. This mood change was obvious and immediate. “It must be so much nicer out there. Not having to be constantly worried about mouse traps and cats. Heck, even humans probably.”

The more Logan heard, the more it sounded like humans were a borrower’s natural predator if they were to get their hands on them.‌ It made sense, logically, that a creature of this stature wouldn’t be able to escape from a human being that was so obviously superior to it. Maybe not intelligence wise, but in strength, size and dexterity.

Logan cleared his throat as the silence seemed to rage on longer than he was comfortable with. He was curious though, since Patton didn’t seem to recognize him. “Do you…know the human in the apartment here?”

“No.”‌ The response was cutthroat, concise and to-the-point. “I avoid him mostly, if we’re being honest. A human with all that science-y stuff in their apartment can only mean bad news for borrowers. I try not to go into his apartment too often. Only if it’s really absolutely necessary.”

“Oh.” Logan almost felt…hurt by that statement. Which was stupid and irrational. He had barely known Patton for two hours and yet here he was, feeling somewhat awful. Did he really exude such a cold exterior? For most people he was fine with that, but he guessed from a borrower’s perspective it would only make him seem heartless, cold and analytical. “I see.”

He had to take a moment to recollect his thoughts, fiddling with his glasses for half a second before righting them.

“Do you think he’s really all that bad?”

“Well— no,”‌ the other softened, his hands lessening their pressure on his back before removing themselves from his skin entirely. Logan felt something in his chest warm at that, but only for a moment. “I‌ like to try and see the good in everyone, you know? But sometimes, he makes it a bit…difficult. I don’t think he’s inherently bad, but I‌ don’t know if I’d be able to trust him.‌ Especially not with all those beakers and scalpels and such.‌ Who knows what would happen if he got his hands on someone like you and me.” Patton fiddled with his hands, before pulling up the other chair and sitting. He pushed his glasses further up his nose idly. “But…no, to answer your question. I don’t think he’s bad. Just– morbidly curious.”

“Hmm.”‌ Logan nodded to himself, taking the fact that Patton was now sitting in front of him as a sign that he could put his shirt back on. As he did that, he was careful not to upset any of the carefully placed bandages and was actually surprised to not find any tightness in his shoulder. None.

Deciding that now was as good a time as ever to change the subject—especially with how downtrodden Patton looked—he rolled his shoulder as a test. Nothing. “Can I ask what you did to my shoulder?”

Patton instantly looked distressed at that. “Oh no, did I‌ make it worse?”

“No, no,”‌ Logan was quick to reassure him, “if anything, I think you may have made it better.”

“Really?”‌ He looked genuinely surprised.

“Really.” Logan rolled his shoulder once more, but felt the slightest twinge. “It was an old injury I‌ managed to acquire a couple years back but I‌ can hardly feel it now. Where did you learn to do that?”

“Oh! Um, just from the Steelgates.” Patton raised a hand to rub the back of his neck sheepishly. “Dorian and Virgil learned it somehow and they taught it to me. I’ve taken quite a few falls myself, so I learned how to ease that pain. Makes borrowing easier if you’re not constantly hunched over in agony.”

“Understandable,”‌ Logan relented. “Nevertheless, it is very impressive.”

“Awe, it was nothing,”‌ Patton shrugged it off, directing his gaze elsewhere though the gentle grin on his features said that Logan’s compliment had been taken to heart. “That’s what friends are for, right?”

Logan’s heart stammered for a moment.

Truth be told—and a surprise to probably literally no one—Logan didn’t have many friends. He had acquaintances, coworkers that he got along with, but no one that he was close enough to really consider a friend.

It was…nice.

“Yes,”‌ he agreed, a small grin twitching at the corners of his own mouth, “I suppose that is what friends are for.”

An odd friendship, no doubt. But a friendship.

“I really cannot thank you enough for all of your assistance,”‌ Logan said as the two  made their way down the corridor back toward his apartment.

He had said he had left a few things in the apartment that he would need to collect before they parted ways, however, Logan had a bit of a…different plan in mind.

Patton shrugged it off, giving Logan a humble grin as he looked over his shoulder briefly. “It’s not a problem!‌ And hey, if you ever find yourself back in the complex, my house is open to you.”

In reality, he did feel a bit bad that he hadn’t exactly told Patton the truth just yet. But it wasn’t like he was holding out on it for too much longer. He just had to make sure Patton didn’t react too badly once he learned the truth. Especially when it came down to how the borrower viewed him.

Well, not him specifically of course, but his kind.

The thought was a bit sour and it didn’t sit well with him, but he wasn’t going to let that rule his thoughts.

However, instead of following the same path, Patton had taken a few different twists and turns and, much to Logan’s relief, they hadn’t had to cross any more nail bridges or climb anything that needed a hook and a rope.

He had mentioned that since he had supposedly taken a tumble off of the table, that’s where all of his belongings were. Which wasn’t entirely untrue.

Logan’s things did reside on the counter.

Before long, Patton was stepping over a cacophony of electrical wires and Logan was following suit. The borrower held up a hand for a moment, biting into his lower lip as he peered around through the small holes in the socket. After a few seconds of deliberate silence the coast was deemed clear—of course, since the owner of the apartment was currently stood behind him—and soon the other managed to jostle the outlet from it’s socket and slipped through the small opening it had created.

As soon as Logan had stepped out and righted himself, his gaze was directed onto the interior of his own kitchen. He straightened out his shirt, adjusting his glasses before really taking in the sight before him. A look of astonishment crossed his features as he reveled in the fact that his shrink ray had worked in the first place. Not to mention because it had worked, Logan had been introduced to a whole new secret society of tiny humanoid bipedal creatures that survived wholly on their dependence of humankind and taking things that humans wouldn’t miss.

“It’s pretty scary, isn’t it?”‌ Patton said to the side of him, crossing his hands in front of him. He had obviously mistaken the look on Logan’s face. “You’ve…never actually seen a human before, have you?”

“No,”‌ Logan said, inching a bit closer to the edge of the counter, before turning around and looking upward. Seeing the scale of his cupboards and such. He was still entirely taken by the sights. He would have to try out his machine more often now.

“You’re pretty lucky then,”‌ Patton hummed, following him slightly before his attention shifted to the ray sitting harmlessly to the side of them. He seemed to consider it uneasily, not liking the look of it, but turned his attention back to the other supposed borrower. “And I really hope you never have to.”

Logan understood that Patton was wary and that was good of him, especially in a world where everything seemed to outmatch him. However, everything was coming down to this point and he had to make a decision. He could tell Patton the truth and risk the borrower fleeing, or he could wait until Patton showed himself out and then turn himself back to normal.

However, while the second option was admittedly more attractive, Logan could only keep the whole charade up for so long.

And maybe, just maybe, he could prove to Patton that not all of humanity were mindless monsters that would just grab with the intention to keep. If everything worked out according to plan, there would be no worry of Patton packing his things and leaving the complex altogether.

“They must be terrifying from your stature,”‌ Logan mused then, his eyes scanning over the ray that sat harmlessly next to them. The thing itself towered over him, just as everything else in his kitchen did, and he paused. Considering his next words carefully, he turned to face Patton head on. “Do you trust me?”

The sentence was obviously startling as the other blinked at him, brown eyes surprised and suddenly cautious. “Well, yeah,”‌ he relented after a moment. It was true because there was trust in the relationship but a lot of it came from how neither had done anything to prove that trust to be faulty. “Why?”

Logan flexed his hands, unsure of how to phrase it without it coming off as alarming. “Then I‌ need you to stand there,” he said finally, watching Patton’s confused expression morph into a slightly more concerned one. Even more so when his hands tightened on the straps of his bag. “I am asking a lot of you and I‌ will not take offense if any of this is startling and you feel the need to leave.”

The more Logan spoke, the more nervous he seemed to be making his accomplice. “What are you talking about?”

Logan took a moment, gauging his expression and considering whether or not he should say what he was about to. After a moment, he decided that he might as well get it over with. “Patton, I’m not what you think I am.”‌

Patton laughed nervously, taking a slight step backward. “What?”

Knowing that just saying it wouldn’t be taken seriously, Logan turned to look over his shoulder eyeing the ray that sat behind him. He turned on his heel and went right over to it. The thing itself was taller than he had ever thought possible and pushed the button he knew would reverse the entire mess he had gotten himself into.

He could feel Patton’s gaze watching his every move, carefully aware and astute. Logan had noticed that the other was incredibly vigilant. Even if he didn’t always let it on. Patton could notice small shifts in one’s features or dips in the atmosphere of a room.

He was incredibly intelligent and knew a lot more than he seemed to let on.

After adjusting some more of the settings on the machine itself, Logan stepped back and stood in front of it. The silence was tense, but filled with the low humming of the ray coming back online and beginning to work just as it had before.

After a second more, there was a flash of bright white light and Logan prepared himself as best as he could for it, but the change was still weird and odd and rather staggering. Going from one size to a completely different one was not a feeling he would ever get used to, but perhaps he could find a way to make it a little less uncomfortable.

However, as he blinked his eyes open and adjusted his glasses that had gone askew, Logan was looking up at the kitchen counter once again, but from a normal size while sitting slightly disoriented on the floor.

He shook off the wave of nausea as he pushed himself up onto his knees and made it so that he was eye-level with the counter and the borrower in turn, whom of which—to put it kindly—looked shaken.

Logan could read the expression on Patton’s face easily. ‌It was a mix of terror and betrayal. As this was not a secret that would be easy to swallow or wrap one’s mind around. As the whole act of shrinking and growing oneself should be scientifically impossible. And yet, here they were with yet another captivating anomaly.

Patton shook his head, unbelieving of what he was seeing right in front of him. “I, um…”

“Take a breath Patton,”‌ Logan instructed, but not unkindly. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

Instead, he was greeted with another shake of the head. It seemed as though his words had gone right over the borrower’s head. He was obviously in shock.

“Y-you’re a—”

“A human, yes,”‌ Logan stated, his tone remaining calm, soft and collected.

“I…I said all those things,” he stammered out, almost looking horrified at the information he had revealed without truly realizing it. His hands tightened on the strap of his bag. “And you…you know—and I…”

“Easy.” Logan would remain the calm one in this situation if that is what the other needed, which it obviously was. “Do you really think I‌ would use any of that against you?”

The borrower’s hands were shaking.‌ Actually, if Logan looked closer, his entire body was trembling.

Patton was petrified.

It set an uneasy feeling in his chest, knowing that his very presence was causing this amount of distress. So, trying to alleviate some of it, Logan lowered himself down further so he was below Patton’s eye-level. Perhaps it would have been better to have admitted to his human nature before now, but it was too late for that and now he had to deal with the backlash of such a thoughtless decision.

“You can trust me,” Logan said, his voice was firm but calm. A reassurance that he hoped was working. With the panic overriding probably everything in Patton’s being, he supposed it may be difficult to get a positive reaction. “I‌ will not touch you without your permission, I promise.”

Patton eyed him warily, his hands still snapped shut on the strap of his bag. Logan did notice that the borrower’s eyes kept darting around as well, trying to figure out a safe escape route without alerting him to the silent idea. Not that he faulted Patton for wanting to find a way out of this situation, but he supposed it was better handled now and explain himself, rather than to have Patton run off believing the worst.

Even if it hurt, inexplicably, to have Patton staring up at himself the way he was.

“I–I’m sorry,”‌ Patton stammered out, ducking his head as if waiting for something.

“I‌ assure you there is no reason to apologize.”‌ Though, Logan was a bit baffled by what Patton meant. When the borrower kept his head down, Logan understood. The talk they had about the human that lived in this apartment, the one with all the science-y stuff, as Patton had put it. “I‌ am very much not upset by that at all.”

“But I— I‌ said…”

Logan raised a hand to stop him, only acutely aware that that was the wrong movement a few seconds too late. He quickly put it back in his lap, trying to remedy his thoughtless action. “I‌ know what you said Patton, and I‌ harbour no ill will towards it. In fact, your statement earlier was rather accurate and one cannot argue with the facts.”

The borrower shuffled nervously on his feet, eyes still flicking around to make sure that he did have some sort of way to get away if things did go south. Logan could guarantee that if Patton decided to make a break for it, he wouldn’t grab for him—as that would shatter any and all chance of getting Patton to trust him.

Patton bit his lower lip, trying to weigh the pros and cons of this situation. An easy con, the human knew about him. The pro to that, however, it was Logan. Someone he had talked to and gotten to know fairly well. While everything in him was screaming that he should duck and run, it almost didn’t feel right. He tried to still his shaking hands as he dug further into the strap, looking up and meeting Logan’s eyes finally. “R-really?”

Logan offered a single nod in affirmation. “Really.”

Well, while he was still very scared—and with good reason!—Patton found himself wanting to understand, more than anything. “Then why did you…?”

“Use the shrink ray on myself?” Logan chuckled slightly when he got a nod, finding the situation almost comical as he recalled the event. “I‌ can assure you that it was not deliberate. My finger slipped on the trigger, if you must know. And while it was not an intentional usage, I‌ cannot say that I‌ am disappointed with the results it yielded.”

Such terminology seemed to make Patton almost more nervous and Logan belatedly realized that his vocabulary could make him seem intimidating, even to other humans.

“That said, I mean such in the way that I got to meet you.”‌

Logan was not one for sentiment, that much was very apparent, but for the short time that Logan had known Patton, the other seemed to be incredibly sentimental. Kind, understanding, if a bit melancholy at times. Patton was an absolutely fascinating bipedal mammal that should not be able to exist, but that was not the only fascinating thing about him. What Logan also found intriguing was just how delightful and considerate he had been with a complete stranger. Patton was sensitive, so much so to the point that it almost baffled the human. How someone could be so giving and genuine with a person they had never met before, it was almost unheard of.

Such a gentle statement had seemed to have startled Patton, but it didn’t take long before a tentative grin broke across his features. Logan was surprised to see the borrower take a few steps toward him. “You really mean that?”

The statement was so hopeful and warm, Logan couldn’t help but a let a small grin alight his own features. “If I did not mean it, I‌ wouldn’t have said it.”

Patton had been alone for a long time, at least that’s what Logan had gathered from his chat with him. Like this, he supposed one could remain in the building and live in safety and he could continue to learn more about borrowers as a whole. Only, of course, if Patton was willing to share such information with him.

“I‌ am curious, however, does me being human taint our friendship?” Logan completely understood if it did, but Patton almost looked hurt at the statement.

Logan was simply stating the facts, not trying to be inconsiderate to one’s feelings.

“Of course not!” The vehemence behind Patton’s voice was surprising, to put it lightly. “I— I‌ admit that this surprise scared me. And I’m still kinda scared, I’m not gonna lie, but you said you wouldn’t do anything to me and you haven’t yet even though you’ve had plenty of time.” He was almost rambling to himself at this point, before shaking it off and meeting Logan’s eyes again. “So, no. To answer your question, you being human does not taint our friendship.”

Logan felt warmth bloom in his chest at the reassurance and he found his smile becoming more genuine.

It was hard to say if one had been able to befriend a borrower before (which did have it’s possibilities) and just didn’t document it, but knowing this secret felt sacred. And looking down at Patton, who was no longer anxiously clinging to the strap of his bag but instead looked more comfortable, said far more than Logan would be able to fathom.

If someone as inviting and warm as Patton could like him, then maybe Logan was doing something right after all.

[kasieli]

Fights and Flights: What Happens Undercover, Stays Undercover Chapter 8

A/N: Hey, guys, it’s finally here. I figured since some websites don’t entirely work for everyone, I’d just post a text version here, too. Links for the ff.net and wattpad are listed at the end! Also, I may or may not have a small comic that goes along with this ;) Anyways, please enjoy!

---

"You think that just because you're the son of Bruce Wayne, that you can get away with anything." This varsity-jacket-wearing dumbo in front of them was practically fuming. "Well, you're Gotham's little princess after all, aren't you?" He added with a sarcastic smirk as he took one heated stomp closer and closer and closer towards a placid Damian. "Did you know, Damian Wayne," he spat, "I was the hotshot around here before you showed up?" He cracked his neck, rolling it with a wicked smile. "I'd rather keep it that way."

Raven exhaled slowly as her eyes darted around the hallway. Azar, it seemed like all of Gotham Academy was watching. How did Damian's mere action of bumping into this hotshot get him into this predicament? Undercover her ass. This was Damian Wayne! If he tripped over and broke his nose on the sidewalk (not that he would, ever) it would be all over the Gotham Academy newspaper! Of course he would bring attention to any and everything he did — especially running into this sleazebag jock.

Jeez, she knew it wasn't on purpose either but she knew Damian, and she knew (as a solid fact, she might add) that he was entirely enjoying this soon-to-be sprawl.

And as predicted, when her eyes shot over to Damian, while he wore an overall composure of calmness, there it was, right on that smug face of his.

Damian's signature remark — the first thing she noticed when they battled together. That stupid thing she hated to admit that she...kind of liked.

His signature defiant smirk.

Azar.

"Please," Damian purred, his voice low and husky and so...nevermind, "enlighten me as to how you plan to do that."

He sauntered slowly, lips pursed into a tight line, bright eyes aflame, eyebrow quirked, neck bared, and anger vein exposed. How could someone possibly be dumb enough to pick a fight with Damian? The Bruce Wayne's son? And even as just Damian he was a type A "I'll kick your ass if you speak to me" type of person, let alone the separate brat entity that was Robin.

She wished that she was next to him like in battle, ready to beat up this asshole in front of her, but in the rush of the spectacle, she was shoved into the audience. Just a mere spectator — like the rest of the students. Basically...all the students. The next class had already started too, but apparently no one could resist the urge of watching the battle of Mr. Hotshot versus Damian Wayne. She swore even some professors were there watching, too.

Damn, she didn't want to be just a spectator, though.

She wasn't just a classmate to him.

But here...apparently she was...or had to be. Isn't that what she just told him not even five minutes ago, anyways?

"Do you really want to know, princess?" Mr. Hotshot cooed. There were a few snickers from the crowd. Probably from the other jocks.

They were maybe only a few bodies apart now, and she could see Mr. Hotshot's fist clenching, let alone feel the anger that was seething from his body.

Oh, no.

Damian shrugged nonchalantly, his eyebrow quirked. "Why not?"

Oh, hell.

The jock struck, his fist plummeting through the air.

"What?" He sneered as some "oooohs" were emitted from the crowd.

Her hands were sweating. Why were her hands sweating? She knew this guy was no match for Damian and yet...

"I think you missed," Damian said on a deadpan. There was some more laughter from the crowd.

Of course he dodged it. If only they knew exactly what the boy in front of them was capable of.

Mr. Hotshot sighed forcefully, his upper lip quivering. "Why you little —"

He lunged at Damian. If she hadn't known him she would have thought the delicate frame of his was no match for the beefy, bulky jock. Of course Damian was muscular in his own way, but not like this guy -- this guy looked like a horse. She almost snickered at the thought, but then after another miss from the jock she saw Damian's fist clench and -- this wasn't going to be good.

"Stop!"

Before a single thought flashed in her mind, she found herself in between Damian and the jock with a stern stare and a heavy breath.

"Rae, don't," Damian grunted under his breath. His nostril flared ever so slightly and she could tell that while seconds ago he was just mildly irritated, now he was fuming. Of course that change in his expression was so minute that only she would probably notice it, but there was also surprise scribbled in his eyes and as she glanced over at the jock, she was damn sure he noticed it, too.

God, the response was so natural to her, like an instinct. Now she got herself riddled in this goddamn mess which was probably why Damian turned from playful to serious in the fraction of a second. She looked around her at the appalled and excited faces surrounding them, just a sea of anonymous amused spectators, and she felt so...exposed. Why? She was used to this.

"Oh ho ho, what do we have here?" The jock's voice turned low and gruff as he sauntered towards them. His eyes were no longer focused on Damian but rather glued onto...her. What?

"What a precious little girl protecting her precious little princess."

She felt Damian stiffen beside her. He was growing angrier by the second, she didn't even have to look at him to know.

By this point the jock was a mere foot away from her, towering over her with a lopsided smile. The small thought of how Damian's lopsided smile was far far far more charming washed over her. In this guy's defense, there was no warmness in his smile, more like contempt, or eagerness...slyness, anger, even. His eyes darkened as he leaned in...his face was so close. Her breath hitched in her throat.

"Hmm," he hummed. "You smell good." He licked at his lips. "Lavender, is it?"

He breathed in so very close to her ear and for some reason she couldn't move. Her body was so tense. She felt so stiff. Goddamnit, she was submitted into more intense situations than this, and yet...

"You stay the fuck away from her."

Her emphatic shields were up, she knew it. After all, she couldn't last an hour feeling everyone's crushes and teenage-hormone-inflicted emotions in Gotham Academy. Her shields were up, but yet she felt Damian's anger seething, biting into her shields, so powerful it was almost...painful.

"And if I don't?" This time she felt one of the jock's strong, rough hands push some hair, tucking it behind her ear. That's what Damian would do...

A smirk worked its way across his face. "Hey, gorgeous, what do you say, would you like to go to prom with me?"

...What? Prom?

Oh, prom.

She can't believe she forgot. Prom! The spectacle of the senior class. Where girls would gush over their prom dates, hoping to be asked in a romantic way. Although, she wouldn't be surprised if half of the senior class was trying to gather the courage to ask Damian. Damian...she didn't want to go to prom with this jerk in front of her.

By the second she just felt Damian's anger grow hotter and hotter. Her mouth opened slightly, but for the life of her, she couldn't get words out. Part of her was so stunned that he would even dare to make an offer, even though she was sure it was only to get under Damian's skin, but what really shocked her was that...it was working. Damian was angry. It was making him the sort of angry he felt when Batman would deny him a mission. How...Why...? What about asking her to prom would make him so...furious?

Beside her, she felt Damian shift, and not before long his strapping frame was right next to her and his hand was on the jock and suddenly, with a forceful shove, he propelled the jock back a few feet. He was really, really, really angry. Damian was scary when he was this angry.

As the jock sputtered to a stop, the surprise in his face slowly faded as it was replaced with a furrowed brow and a quivering lip.

"I said stay the fuck away from her," Damian repeated, his voice strained as if he was biting back a growl. This time, it was his turn to saunter towards the jock. He seized a hefty chunk of his Gotham Academy varsity jacket and pulled him in. "Don't touch her ever again." In one swift movement, he threw the jock to the floor. "And just so you know," he added sharply, "she's going to prom with me."

What?

There were many gasps from the crowd and probably many more students with broken dreams of going to prom with the dreamy son of Bruce Wayne.

Prom? With him? What the heck? He didn't ever mention this to her!

"Okay, okay, the spectacle is over!" A professor shouted as he was shoving his way past the sea of students, "get back to class!"

With many grunts and sighs, the crowd started fizzling out.

"Shoo, shoo, come on now, you're all late for class."

He turned to them as he said in a stiff voice. "Wyatt (so that was the jock's name!), please make your way to the principal's office. Damian, come with me."

She opened her mouth to say something, but in the time it took her to do so, Damian turned away from her without saying a word, heck, not even giving her a glance, like "screw this guy". Something was wrong. Something was very wrong. As she watched him slip away, she squeezed out a sigh through gritted teeth.

What did she do wrong?

She groaned, turning away. As scared as she was to do so she needed to find out. It was going to eat her alive if she didn't.

"Azar," she grunted, heading towards her calculus class. How could she concentrate with Damian being furious at her -- ugh -- she had to admit it, she absolutely knew she couldn't. She even had an exam, let alone the fact that she wasn't able to finish her homework.

She shook her head and rolled her eyes. Waiting for him to get out detention (because, he was most certainly going to have detention) was going to be awful.

She sighed.

Could her day get any worse?

—

She timed it perfectly. Almost perfectly to the point that she knocked into him as he strode out the principal's door. Any more perfect and they would have collided head first.

"Damian," she gasped in a surprise. Why was she surprised? She expected to meet him here, she knew she would. But her heart -- it was beating so fast.

"Roth," he acknowledged. To her dismay, he was looking straight ahead like before and didn't even glance her way.

Her eyebrows furrowed. Roth? She felt...offended almost. He hadn't called her that in a long time...basically since they met. Shaking it off, she stated sternly, "we need to talk."

To be honest, she didn't expect him to agree -- he wasn't entirely the type of person to take the phrase 'we need to talk' lightly. He wasn't exactly the best at taking confrontations. To her surprise, Damian didn't even flinch but granted he didn't leave, either, so she took that as a reluctant yes.

Good. Even though she didn't even know what in Azar's name she was going to say to him.

She led him to the rooftop in what seemed to be the most excruciating five minutes of her life (Why was Gotham Academy so large?). He said no word, he didn't even look at her once. He made absolutely no sound, it didn't even sound like he breathed. She even had to check if he was still with her, making sure he didn't slip away from her in the silence. In retrospect, those five minutes would have been the perfect time for her to figure out what the hell she was going to say to him, but in reality she couldn't concentrate because her heart was pounding so adamantly against her ears.

When they finally reached the roof, she shut door behind her as the cold air began to bite at her cheeks. It was winter now, and there was a slight blanket of snow covering the city. She cursed silently as she realized she wasn't entirely prepared for their venture out into the cold as her scarf and coat were tucked away in her locker, but honestly there were more important things she had to attend to first.

"We're alone...there's no one here."

She sighed heavily, turning to Damian. He was still looking ahead but seemingly watching the skyline now. His expression turned slightly softer, anyways.

"What, Damian?"

His jaw tensed.

"Damian."

Still nothing.

"What?"

"Nothing is wrong," he finally muttered.

"You called me Roth, stop the bull crap."

A soft siren sang beneath them amidst the subtle breeze, and Raven couldn't help but notice how...beautiful he looked in this very moment. His eyes looked so incredible when the light hit them like that and —

He finally turned to her, a little too quickly might she add. While he seemed tense just moments before, his overall aura was rather stoic, but now...now, it was undoubtedly not stoic. She hated to admit it, but she'd rather it have stayed apathetic, as excruciating as it was. As she looked at him, she sensed anger pouring from his eyes. Yes, his eyes were gorgeous, but anger made them piercing to the point it was almost frightening.

His nostrils flared. Oh, no.

"You're so stupid," he hissed through gritted teeth. "Is this what you wanted? Loads of attention? Well congratulations, because you undeniably just landed us on the front page of Gotham Academy newspaper."

What? What? She was flabbergasted. Just moments before he was so silent, and now he just exploded on her? Then again, it wasn't unlike Damian to do so, but still...he never really did so with her.

She stilled.

That's right, he never exploded at her. Dick, maybe, Beast Boy, definitely, but with her, his explosions were rather mild, not earth shattering like theirs.

"What? Wait..." she sputtered.

But...he just did so. Did that mean...what...why? She tried to form a reply in her mind, but nothing semblance of a sentence came to her, so she scoffed as her mouth hung open, probably looking as floored as she felt.

"I..."

She could have just let anger win. Anger was a good emotion in times like these.

"You..."

Still nothing.

Anger it was, then.

"You're blaming this on me?" she spat, finally. "If your pride could just disappear...just...for one second maybe you wouldn't have gotten yourself into this fight in the first place!"

God, that felt good.

"You could have said 'sorry' and scurried along your merry way," she continued. Oh, she wasn't going to stop now, not now since he was pointing the finger at her. "But noooooooo that's not how Damian Wayne operates, now is it?"

He flinched.

"Raven, just..." He pinched his nose bridge, shaking his head. "You should have let me handle it, not get yourself involved," he countered.

"I was trying to make sure you didn't land your butt in detention! And this is the thanks I get?" she scoffed, shaking her head. "You are so unbelievable sometimes."

"Tt." He shook his head, rolling his eyes.

Oh, he was rolling his eyes at her?

"What is your problem, Damian?"

"I'll answer that when you tell me why you lied to me."

She stilled, and she felt her heart reach an utter stop. What? What the heck was all this nonsense? First blaming her for the fight, now accusing her of lying to him? She tried to piece everything together but it was too much, it was too puzzling, her mind felt like it was spinning. She was so dizzy. Lying to him? When? How?

"I...don't know what you're talking about."

"Yes, you do." He turned to her, giving her a blank stare as if to reiterate his previous point, as if to pry the answer out of her, and it probably would have worked except for the fact that she was honestly floored. What lie could she have told him in the past few minutes? About the fight? She didn't think the fight was her fault. It wasn't her fault whatsoever.

She shook her head. "I don't understand."

Chuckling softly and rolling his eyes again he turned to the skyline. "And you say I'm difficult," he muttered under his breath.

"I'm not trying to be difficult!" she protested. "I've told you before, I'm an empath, not a mind reader. Must I remind you what that means?"

"No, Raven, I know what it means," he snapped with a mocking tone.

God, he was being difficult right now --how could he accuse her of such?

"Okay, then, stop acting as if I know exactly what you're talking about."

He paused, shook his head, then hissed out a sigh. Turning to her, he brought his bottom lip between his teeth, and in a less stressful moment, she would have marveled at how hot it was.

"You don't really care about the Gotham Academy newspaper, do you?"

What? What was he getting at? For Azar's sake she was getting so sick of this emotional roller coaster he was putting her through. First the fight, then lying to him, now the newspaper?

"...What?"

"Being on the front page, dead center, talking about us. You don't really care about it."

"What?"

She couldn't even count how many times she said 'what?' at this point, let alone differentiate when she merely thought it or said it out loud.

"That's absurd," she scoffed, "of course I do. The whole mission —"

"The whole mission thing, I get it," he interjected curtly. "You and I both know that it doesn't actually matter that we're together a lot. In fact, it's actually what would speed this process up exponentially."

"But Bruce..." she whispered.

Damian chuckled again.

"Father isn't stupid. He knows teenagers, and he knows that telling us to not do something would, in fact, encourage us to do it."

He wasn't wrong...especially knowing Damian, that was something he always did. But, even so...

Her eyebrows furrowed. "That's crazy."

"No, it's not," he stated on a deadpan. "He could have just sent me. Or you. Or Beast Boy for all that matters. Why us? Why us together?"

Her eyebrows kept furrowing to the point that she was sure they were touching now. "...Do you expect me to have the answer to that?"

He looked at her with one of his blank stares again, then clicked his tongue.

"Because he knew we couldn't help but become close at the Academy." He paused. "Admit it, Raven. I'm the closest one on the team to you."

Okay, he was right, but she wasn't going to tell him that.

"Oh, don't be so cocky," she mused instead.

"I'm not," he said, his voice sounding a little tight. "We share a similar past. It's only natural that we've become close."

He kept being right about everything, and it was really starting to piss her off.

"Whatever."

"It was intentional from the start. Deep down I'm sure you knew it, too."

He paused again and shot her a glance that looked almost... hurt.

"So...you lied to me. Why?"

How many times was she going to shake her head in disbelief throughout this conversation? "I don't—"

"There's no Gotham Academy newspaper within Wayne manor, Raven," he scoffed. "You think I didn't notice that you were ignoring me there, too? Being on the cover of the newspaper, that's bull shit. I just told the whole Academy that you were going to prom with me, and you haven't mentioned that once."

Shit, he was right. God, why did he keep being right? Everything was happening so fast, so fast, so many things were happening...she had forgotten all about that. She fisted the hem of her skirt as she looked up at him too sheepishly for her liking.

"I was going to..." she whispered.

But...she didn't, even though she had every opportunity to before when they were arguing about who started the fight, hell, he even mentioned the newspaper, but she couldn't dispute the undeniable fact that she didn't bring it up once since he proudly announced it to the crowd.

She opened her mouth to say something, but a heavy sigh from Damian stopped her immediately.

"You're afraid of me, Raven."

Afraid?

"No, I..."

Wait...wait...she was.

Part of her knew that, but she was in so much denial that she had almost believed she wasn't. She was afraid of him. Well, maybe not of him, but she was afraid of the way he felt about her, afraid of the way she felt about him. Afraid of what could have happened, what couldn't have happened. Afraid of that Saturday when they could have...kissed.

"I..."

"You're a bad liar, do you know that?" he stated, smirking a little. "Your fingers always fidget when you lie. You especially like to twist your hair or play with the hem of your skirt. You purse your lips a little more but your eyebrows become less expressive. You—"

"Okay, okay! I get it!" she spat.

God, why did he keep being right?

Plus, he kept putting her on the spot when he knew she hated it. Why wouldn't he just shut up?

"I guess...spending time at the Academy and at the manor and...just...all this time..."

He was looking with her with curious yet stern eyes and part of her had to keep pushing away the thought that a small strand of his hair was unkempt due to the breeze and how attractive he looked in this moment.

"Remember, I can tell when you're lying."

She clicked her tongue. "Give it a rest, would you?" she huffed.

At this point she wanted to squeeze his throat or cover his mouth with...anything...anything to just make him shut up. But as the seconds ticked away, the more she believed her hypothesis to be true. He was doing this on purpose. He wanted to make her angry. And it was working. He took some pointers from that jock earlier, didn't he? Like that jock, he knew exactly which buttons to press to get on her nerves. Why was he doing this to her? It was all getting too much. The newspaper, prom, the fight, the fact that they could have kissed, his goddamn strand of hair that she wanted to push out of his pretty face. Azar, she just wanted this all to end.

"Fine," she grunted, waving him off. She felt a blush flare across her cheeks, but at this point, she didn't even care to hide it. "Maybe I've...enjoyed this...experience. Maybe I don't want to be exposed because I know that'll mean this mission will come to an end..."

She really hoped that answer was sufficient enough. Taking him to the rooftop was to confront him, but it was only turning out to be him confronting her, and she couldn't take it much longer.

"Sure, me too."

She stilled, her breath catching in her throat.

Him, too?

Wait...did she hear that correctly? Him, too? She was so focused on getting him to shut his mouth that it didn't entirely register in her mind what she just said. She just admitted to him that she liked spending time with him...and he agreed. He felt the same way. About what, though? Enjoying his time here, with her, or not wanting the mission to end. Or both?

"And...?" Damian prodded.

"...And what?"

He let out a soft chuckle but there was no humour in it.

"There's something you're not telling me."

She was really starting to get sick of him expecting to know what he was getting at, and him being right about practically everything, and him just prodding her relentlessly.

"What?"

"Listen, we're both enjoying our time here, that's obvious," he said, his cheeks turning red, but before she could really see it, he quickly turned his head away. "But why would you lie to me and make up an excuse about the newspaper? You keep avoiding my question, Raven. Why were you ignoring me?"

Oh.

Oh, that.

She couldn't even relish in the fact that Damian was blushing before she felt like someone had thrown her into a brick wall. Her mind felt fuzzy but oddly clear. Thoughts were rushing through her head but one loud one stood out amidst the rest. She didn't want to focus on it, but it was screaming at her, screaming at her so loudly...she wanted it to shut up, she wanted him to shut up, she just wanted to hide, she just wanted this to end.

She wasn't going to tell him she liked him. Hell, no.

"There's...nothing more I want to say," she murmured.

But why wouldn't he just give up? She was visibly distraught, she knew Damian could tell, but why did he keep pushing her? What did he want from her?

His voice turned into its agonizing know-it-all tone again. "I can tell when you're lying. Tell me, Raven."

Her mind kept reeling. Why wouldn't he let this go?

"What do you want from me? What more do you want me to say? I just...stop, please."

God, at this point she was practically begging. And she never begged.

"I'm not going to stop until you tell me why you've been ignoring me."

Exhaling sharply, she ran her hands through her hair, "I just...I'm gonna go."

There she was, running away from him. Again, and again, and again. If she could just confess she could end this all, but she was so stubborn and so scared. She wanted him to like her back, why couldn't she just admit that to herself? And if he didn't, it wasn't like the world would crash around her, at least she could tell him, at least she would be brave enough to, instead of running away, like everything else in her life.

But her fear always won.

She turned around to head back to the door but --

He grabbed her wrist and spun her around so forcefully that she knocked into him and had to steady herself by clutching his chest. Part of her wanted to let go so she could run away, but her knees felt so weak, too, she felt like she would turn into a puddle if she let him go.

"No, Raven, you're not running away from me this time."

"Please, just stop," she pleaded, shaking her head.

"Raven..."

"I said I don't want to answer you, okay? Just let it go, just let me go. You can't have the answer for everything. The world doesn't work that way."

At this point, she felt tears welling in her eyes. Why was Damian being so cruel?

He paused, looking away. His jaw clenched, and he slowly turned his eyes up, but when they met hers, she saw something different in his eyes. Something she never saw before except for the small spark that appeared for the fraction of a second on that Saturday. It demanded her to stay put, no matter how much she wanted to run away. How could he do that with just one look?

"You...like me, don't you?"

He tore his eyes away again, but he couldn't hide the fact that his cheeks turned bright red. Not this time.

What?...

What was happening? If she thought she was dizzy before, it wasn't even remotely close to the way she felt now. She was never in a centrifuge, but she was sure that it would feel exactly like this. Her breathing was hard and heavy, like there was a force pushing on her chest, and it was making breathing become exhausting.

What...How...what did he mean by that...

"Of course I like you...you're my friend," she stuttered.

There she was, still running away.

He bit his lip again and -- please, just make it stop.

"No, not like that," he exhaled slowly. "Like more than just a friend."

She was so confused, was he the real empath here? How could he just read her thoughts like that? Was she really that transparent? There were so many thoughts running through her mind, but he didn't let her process any of it.

He sighed and relaxed his grip on her shoulders. She didn't even realize he was holding her. Damn it, her heart, she wanted it to slow down. But it just kept on beating faster and faster.

"I'm sorry for pushing you, Raven, I just..I don't want us to run away from it."

Us?...

What did he mean 'us'?

"What...What do you mean?" she gulped.

Really, what was happening?

"Come here," he whispered softly.

It was so silent that she could have missed it, but she was also staring at his lips and they mimicked his words. They looked so soft...

His grip tightened as he pulled her in. They were so close, so very close...like they were on Saturday. A sharp exhale escaped her throat as her eyes met his. There it was again, that look, that spark. God, he was so beautiful, it hurt.

He tucked her hair behind her ear like then. He smelled like he did then. His warmth enveloped her like then. It was all the same. Her powerful heartbeat, her labored breathing, the way the light hit his eyes, the small scar on his right eyebrow, his hand lingering on her cheek. It was all the same...except...

He leaned forward, slightly brushing her forehead with his..his hair was so soft...he smelled so good. His sigh tickled her lips before he pressed them into hers.

Except...

He just kissed her.

---

Here’s the link for it on ff.net and Wattpad

[fizzingwizard]

Another Sunday, another episode of Digimon Adventure: (how tf do I do punctuate??). It is a good time to be a fan of Yagami Taichi.

I remember being 11 years old, the last episode of Digimon Adventure made be bawl my eyes out, and although I was excited for 02, really I just wanted more of Adventure. I guess I’m just slow to like new things (well, I am), but I would have super happy if the producers had been like, “02 will be a reboot for Adventure with the same characters and similar storyline.” And then do the same thing for every new Digimon season xD I’m sure I’m pretty damn alone in that opinion and don’t get me wrong, I love 02, and I think Tamers was good. And yet xD

^The screenshot that sums up the episode: Greymon gets his butt kicked while Taichi hangs on for dear life

I know the bond between children and Digimon is what powers them, and I’m kind of wondering if having a physical connection improves that in this show, because these kids are always riding around on their partners. (Not able exception - Togemon, because ouch. But I expect to see Mimi on her boxing glove at least lol) I have to rationalize it that way because otherwise it’s like why would having an elementary school kid on your head while you rush into the line of fire count as a battle strategy

This ep picks up pretty much where we left off, which means it’s probably only been hours since Yamato joined the group at the fortress. Already the atmosphere is completely changed.

I can see them, but they can’t see me... Ishida Yamato’s modus operandi

more below

Here is a very Digimon-esque tableau: everyone gathered around Koushirou and his computer. Yamato still being standoffish. I imagine he jumped at the chance to stand guard at the entrance so he doesn’t have to get too close to anyone.

Agumon’s fight with MetalTyrannomon went... not so great. Yamato coolly tries to explain to Taichi that evacuating was the only way, otherwise they’d risk all being destroyed, and that would be the end of everything.

Taichi’s fist tightens and begins to shake...

... he doesn’t look like he totally agrees with Yamato’s reasoning, but he doesn’t have a better idea. But, being Taichi, he can’t just let it rest.

Yamato talking to Taichi’s back while Taichi frantically starts to sort out his Feelings is just how they communicate. This is a common shonen anime trope for the hero and his foil. Yamato’s pushing, Taichi’s not exactly hiding, but he doesn’t want to face him until he can face him with resolve.

Yamato: Look at me. Look at me!

Taichi: *sweating* It feels like a hole’s burning in the back of my neck, so... I’ll pass

Taichi finally explains out what’s got him so knotted up: he regrets Ogremon’s death. Like we saw last episode, the battle that began as revenge turned into a battle of samurai pride. And Taichi is evidently a samurai. He wanted to see that battle to the finish, out of mutual respect for the opponent (who he’d never met before and who had been trying to kill him previously... but y’know when you’re kindred spirits that’s all water under the bridge)

Yamato doesn’t really get it. This is where these two are fundamentally different. Taichi attac, Yamato protec, then everybody gets a FIGHT!

I mean, not 100% of the time, but the bottom line is Yamato’s not so big on this pride thing, although he does have pride of his own. But he’s definitely not into taking unnecessary risks, especially if it puts his friends in danger. The trouble is, Taichi doesn’t think he takes unneccessary risks either... just necessary ones ;)

The other kids can already feel the tension increasing and Taichi and Yamato haven’t even raised their voices at each other yet. Lol buckle up kiddos

Jou wonders if he should make them stop, and Mimi instantly turns around and begs him to try. My Joumi heart LEAPT.

TBH I was surprised she did anything at all, I was expecting Jou’s “Should I break them up?” to just end there with nothing happening. Instead we got an adorable Joumi moment where Mimi shows that as much as she teases him, she already somewhat relies on Jou (to be fair, I do think Mimi’s the type to rely on anyone who offers when she’s not sure what to do herself). Jou, being Jou, is unprepared aaaaand wigs out.

Jou: Oh no oh no oh no she actually expects me to get between them?!?! But but I flunked Tough Guy school! That’s literally why I’m a nerd! This girl’s trying to throw me to the wolves!

Fortunately for Jou, he has a redheaded savior.

Sora: Stop it. He’ll wet his pants again and I don’t have any more extras.

Sora shows her insight into people’s hearts and understands that Taichi and Yamato need to hash things out. It’s not dangerous... yet. But the way she’s more or less frozen in place along with the others says she’s... maybe a bit on her guard, at least, lol.

Koushirou, being Kousihrou, is completely oblivious to all of this and focused on his computer.

Oh yeah... the real reason Taichi turned his back to Yamato earlier - whenever they look directly at each other, they suck each others souls out. I CALL BODY SWITCH

I mean jogress

I mean marriage

They spend like the entire first half of the episode arguing omg get a room.

Then... Agumon wakes up!

And even though it’s a cartoon, it’s clear to see the way Taichi’s body fills with relief. I wonder if Yamato didn’t realize or didn’t think Taichi was that worried about Agumon. 99 Yamato tended to feel that Taichi was insensitive to others. But while he can be, Taichi also doesn’t express his emotions in the same way as Yamato. They’re both wont to hide how they feel, but while Yamato goes quiet and aloof, Taichi just acts like everything’s normal. So maybe here, Yamato really thought Ogremon and MetalTyrannomon were the only things on Taichi’s mind. Just a guess.

Awwww montage of cute...

a boy and his dinosaur!!

Maybe to Yamato’s surprise, Agumon totally echoes Taichi’s feelings about Ogremon. “I wanted to settle the score with him.” Weird as it sounds, they made a manly bond with Ogremon and running away just doesn’t sit right. Agumon’s raring to go...

... but his stomach isn’t quite ready yet hahaha.

Yamato’s probably used to Gabumon’s appetie but I suspect Agumon’s tummy growl has errr exceptional resonance

Glad to see the return of the Digimon’s bottomless pit aka stomach. I think it was just last week I complained about that not really being a thing so far. This time it was the other Digimon who went gathering, but I hope to see the human kids rushing around in a frenzy to care for their partners’ appetites soon lol

While the others eat, Taichi and Yamato decide they haven’t finished vampiring each other’s souls and sneak out to the mouth of the cave. Sora follows them to see if she can watch any hot yaoi action.

Lol but I do really like the framing heart. All we can see of the boys is their shadows. Sora keeps her distance but she’s watching them intently from a distance. I assumed she was just gathering more data on how short a leash she needs to keep them on.

Turned out that was not quite correct... reluctant to interrupt though she’d been before, once they start talking about what to do next she adds her input. We’ve got Yamato on Taichi’s one side and Sora on his other side. It’s the beginnings of TAIORATOOOOO *more airhorns*

^I can’t see anything but Goku and Vegeta bahahaha. Also why is eleven-year-old Yamato SO broad-shouldered, between that, his deeper voice, and his perfeclty coifed hair Taichi must seem like a toddling infant to him bahahaha. Like come on Yamato is not a child you must be kidding

Already Yamato is getting into the habit of Looking At Taichi while Taichi Looks At Literally Anything Else.

These two don’t need words. They talk with their vampiric eyes.

Koushirou’s hyper focus on his computer finally pays off and they all gather back around. Everyone starts cheering when the hologram appears even though they don’t know what the heck it is. This is Koushirou, so it must be awesome!

It turns out to be a map of much usefulness.

And it turns out Ogremon was telling the truth about the path to the holy Digimon being straight ahead, while fires Taichi up even more.

^Obligatory ‘Gomamon is cutest Digimon’ cap

Koushirou also gives Taichi special data on MetalTyrannomon, including his weak point. Taichi is THRILLED. He’s happier about this than he is about finding the route to the holy Digimon. This is the difference between Taishiro and Taito guys. When Taichi gets a reckless idea, Yamato tries to talk him down, or at least be sensible about it. Koushirou? Koushirou is a FREAKING ENABLER.

They wait with baited breath for Yamato’s reaction. Though he seems underwhelmed, Yamato admits Koushirou’s information “does seem reliable.” That’s all the permission Taichi needs to go back to freaking out over how awesome Koushirou is.

They come up with a plan to lure MetalTyrannomon away so Taichi can fight him while the others take the chance to escape and head towards the path to the holy Digimon.

^Obligatory ‘Sora is best girl’ cap

Yamato waits for the others to get away before following after... he stalls for a minute as if unsure whether it’s really alright to leave Taichi on his own. In the end he joins the group... All things considered, I think he’s pretty thrown off by Taichi, tbh.

Yamato’s group doesn’t make it far before they encounter a very suspicious looking lake.

^More evidence that Yamato is not really an elementar school kids. He’s clearly at least 15. He’s been routinely failing every year in order to get held back until he can be in the same class as Takeru. That’s the extent of his overprotectiveness

It sure is fortunate that Koushirou’s genius extends to fluency in English or they’d have no idea this lake of dark mist is bad friggin news.

Or... maybe they would have:

Mimi sneaks behind Jou and pulls his middle school exam workbook out of his bag.

And immediately chucks it into the lake.

Where it disintegrates.

This is how Mimi’s mind works. She’s smart! They need to know what would happen if they went into the lake without actually going in it. So they need to put something else in first. So far so good. What should she throw? A stick? A rock? One of Sora’s endless towels?

No, Jou’s workbook. Duhhh.

She probably felt she was killing two birds with one stone here x’D Experiment complete, and Jou prevented from anymore whining about not having time to study. Mimi is chaotic good.

gosh I love Joumi

Jou is lawful neurotic

Greymon shielding Taichi is just soooo cute even if it still feels weird that he has to be up there in the first place

The battle rages between MetalTyrannomon and Greymon, who just won’t quit even though he’s losing... pretty bad... I mean...

He just grabbed a missile with his bare hand...

Taichi: Now I know what it’s like to be a firework

Loop-de-loop! Taichi’s suction cup shoes strike again.

Courage going UP!! Reaching a fever pitch! The evolution that’s been looming for two episodes finally happens!

MetalTyrannomon: Eat my dust!

Woooooooo, MetalGreymon is just as freaky as ever. Always my least favorite evolution in Agumon’s line, but the glowy purple wings are cool.

Also, nipple missiles.

MetalTyrannomon: I can’t believe I was beaten by some meddling kids!

So yeah, we are back to killing Digimon willy-nilly. None of this “but what about their hearts?” shitck. Always found it amazing in 02, a children’s cartoon, that said “Yeah the characters you loved last season were totes murderers but it was justified and sometimes you just have to kill.” And fourteen-year-old Taichi is just like, “Yeah, I’m a murderer, and you should be too.” XD And Miyako hits LadyDevimon with a skateboard. Priceless

This scene is adorable but Taichi’s butt looks so saggy.

I’m kind of wondering how evolution works in this show. They jumped right to jogress in like episode two or something, but we haven’t seen it since (I would sort of expected Taichi to think of it when it was clear MetalTyrannomon was too strong, though I would also expect Yamato to nix that idea both because he doesn’t want to and because to him it’s a pointless fight and not the priority). Since then, the Champion level evolutions went similar to 99 Adventure, with everyone getting their special episode, and I’m sure that’s how it’ll go down with the next level too, but there was no gap at all between going from one level to the next. I’m trying to say, they seem able to reach the next level awfully fast. They didn’t need to meet Gennai and collect the tags and Crests, the Crests appear already uploaded in their Digivices. I’m not complaining, as always I’m glad this show is not just a carbon copy of the old one, but I am curious if evolutions are easier to attain in this series, or if there are going to be more of them and that’s why they come so quick, or if the series just won’t run long enough for there to be significant gaps of time between evolutions.

Episode ends with the group deciding, like I predicted last week, to split up and try the Left and Right routes, since the Straight one is blocked. Gays go right and lesbians go left, of course. :P

This episode was pretty fantabulous, I loved it, Digimon is awesome.

Next week it’s no surprise what we’re gonna get.

WeeeeereGarurumon! Also my least favorite evolution of Gabumon’s line but still cooler than MetalGreymon hahahaha.

I’m also totally stoked for the grouping of Yamato, Jou, and Sora. There’s tons of potential for Yamato and Sora to bond, although my prediction is that while he’ll pretty much like her (even if he won’t admit it to himself), she’s going to find him a little difficult. But she’ll have an easier time talking to him than the others do. I also fully expect Jou to drive Yamato out of his mind lol.

This also means the other group is Taichi, Koushirou, and Mimi. I assume we won’t see too much of them next week, but I hope that means they’ll get their episode the week after, because I am dying for some Taishiro moments. Practically salivating. Also, Koumi fans can probably look forward to Mimi and Koushirou Not Getting each other too, lol