#But I didn't want to cram all the kids in chapter one

[yr-obedt-cicero]

I couldn't figure this out when reading Second Family Portrait- but who is the kid johnny was running after when Laurens I going downstairs? I couldn't decide if it was Alex Jr or james

It's James, I thought it was self-explanatory since Angelica mentioned Hamilton was talking to him. Alexander Jr and Philip are still returning from Frazer's, hence why they aren't there.

[yellowbunnydreams]

Do you need some Vitamin D? (Incubus! William x Oblivious! F! Reader) [Part 6]

~Thank you all for your support on the last chapter! The amount of thirst I have seen for Monster William's fluffy chest is insane, but I get it entirely~

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* Want more or something different? *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

@ruh--roh-raggy @xp-doggy @redbunny03 @marigold-petalz @seviliet @astinkerofarat @iamnotwiddle @imtiredshow

CW: 18+ MINORS DNI. Fluff, age gap (Reader 20's - William Afton 40's(?)), teratophilia, meet-cute, punny pick-up lines, scenes of working out, minor porn-logic, ditzy! reader, could be classed as bimbo! reader?, size-difference, flirting, monster-lover, sexual innuendos, Monster! AU

Working out your shift had left you feeling constantly on edge. Monsters existed, they really existed and both of your bosses were part of it. Worse, you had a crush on the one boss you were living with and he was an eight feet tall bunny monster, incubunny, Lagomorphic Incubus, whatever he was. You felt like your day could only get worse if your best friend decided to announce they were secretly a skeleton in disguise or some other strange thing.

William had been waiting for you when you finished work, tapping his foot against the concrete of the parking lot and looking up at you as soon as you left the door. He seemed to be lost in thought too, and you hadn't seen much of him or Henry for most of the day, although you were partly grateful for that.

"Do you...need a ride back?" He offered, adjusting his glasses as those familiar grey eyes stared back at you. He was human, for now, and you supposed that he needed to be so to drive his car. Not that the thought of the giant rabbit crammed into the driver's seat of the car like it was a drunk adult in a kid's toy wasn't amusing, but you needed a little more time to accept and adjust to the sudden shift in reality that you'd experience in a singular day.

"It'd be a bit awkward if I didn't, wouldn't it?" Earning a chuckle as he unlocked the car and waited for you to slide into the passenger side first, feeling the car dip under his weight as he climbed in too and started the engine. His silver eyes flickering to your uncertain face before settling on the road as he pulled out of the parking lot. You were still so cute to him, even when he felt guilty for tearing your world apart as you knew it.

There was a long pause of silence as neither of you particularly wanted to break the silence that had settled over you. His fingers drumming along the steering wheel before he reached into a pocket and fished out a wrapped candy, offering it to you without taking his eyes off the road. You pursed your lips, contemplating the metaphorical olive branch before carefully taking it and unwrapping the sweet treat. Popping it between your lips and watching William do the same from the corner of your eye. Watching his salt and pepper hair fluttering in the breeze as he cracked open a window and let the cold air into the car whilst you drove, much to your discomfort at the cooler temperature.

"So...have you always been..." You struggled to find the words, not quite sure what to say. Was it impolite to call him a monster? You weren't sure you could say the long winded name of what he was every time you referred to him.

"A monster? Yeah. Born it, gonna die it too one day." Your eyes snapped to him at the dark comment.

"Don't say that. I don't want to think about you dying." You murmured, making William raise an eyebrow in return but he simply exhaled through his nose, gripping the steering wheel tighter for a moment as he crunched on the candy he had been trying to suck on. Watermelon, it wasn't his favourite, but the sugary rush was what he was really after.

"But to answer your question, I have always been this way. Same goes with Henry before you ask, and his wife too, and obviously Charlie, their daughter." He explained, running his thick fingers through his greying hair as he wondered how he was going to ease you into it all when you'd already been thrown at the deep end.

"How did you know he was..."

"We can sense each other. It's like...an inbuilt radar? We can't tell what, or even directly who a lot of the time, but we can sense it, and we tend to congregate because we know that there are others we can trust to be ourselves around." You thought on his reply for a moment, staring at the suburban landscape of Hurricane rushing past before you bit your lip, turning your head to face him again.

"So...You...being you...Does that mean you trust me?" You asked, looking up at the older man curiously as his soft gaze flickered to you and back.

"No, I-I mean yes! No! No. Ye-" He took a deep breath and slowly exhaled, his cheeks colouring even under his stubble as his knuckles gripped white on the steering wheel for a moment, you noticed his nails had gotten longer and sharper once again, although he didn't seem to notice at all. "It's complicated. Yes, I trust you, you're a good employee and I wouldn't trust just anybody to stay at mine in their time of need. No, I didn't mean to trust you with...this...I slipped up, admittedly."

His efforts to soothe over his fumbling had worked, and you felt a little relaxed, if for some reason a little sad that he didn't trust you to keep such a big secret. But you understood, it was something life altering, and you were you, and he was...Frightening wasn't the word to use anymore, not now you'd been given a chance to see him up close and personal and give him a hug. It had definitely been the right call to ask you to give him one, you felt like you could have melted from the little bit of softness that his monstrous form seemed to pick up, wondering if his fur was really as soft as the fluff around his neck and face made him look.

"Would it be okay...if I looked like...that...around the house more?" He asked, flickering eyes watching you as he caught sight of his exit and indicated to pull in. Wanting to clear the air as much as he could in the short period of time you had before you were back at the house.

"As long as..you're comfortable with me seeing you like that?" You replied, questioning him in return. Watching his nose twitch in a manner that you had never even considered before, but now looked incredibly rabbit like.

"Bunny, I couldn't hide anything from you if I tried anymore. You were willing to leave town to hide what I am from everybody, you could see anything your heart desired as far as I care." Chuckling lowly as he watched a subtle flush creep up your cheeks, a small humm of thought coming through that seemed much more like a squeak. He meant it, you would be able to see any part of him you wanted, touch any part of him you wanted. Realising you would run to protect him was only making the monster more obsessed with you.

And you didn't mind the thought of seeing your hot boss either. Wondering if it was weird of you thought of his monster form as hot too.

As you pulled down the gravel driveway, you hit a bit of a pothole and William's hand shot out to protect you from jolting forwards despite your seatbelt. Looking down at his arm, you noticed that it had changed, coated in thick fur, the nails sharper and longer again, fingers longer and thicker, feeling the squishiness of rough pads along his fingers and palm pressing into your upper chest. Your heart beating rapidly beneath his touch as you turned crimson. William turned his head to look at you before realising where he was touching and secondly, that he had partly turned.

"Sorry." Pulling back his arm and shaking it out, you blinked and it was back to his normal self. Although which was the normal version and which was the mask, you were unsure of. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, it was just a pothole, you didn't need to fluff-out to protect me from it, you know?" Deciding that if you were going to live with the rabbit man, you might as well try to get comfortable with the fact. Watching as William looked at you and tried not to smile as he raised an eyebrow.

"Fluff-out?"

"Well, that's what I'm going to call it from now on. Do you have a better name for it?" Raising an eyebrow right back at him, watching the older man snickering to himself as he shook his head. Placing one hand against his mouth to try and disguise how much it amused him, but failing as his shoulders began to shake. "What?"

"Sorry bunny, of all the things I thought you might do if you found out about me, beginning to make your own terms up that sound far too adorable wasn't on my list."

"Then how about we call you 'incubunny' instead of spending five minutes on saying what you are each time?"

William couldn't help it and finally burst out laughing, the deep bassy laugh passing through you and making you smile with pride at making him laugh. Pulling up enough in the drive to make sure any visiting cars wouldn't be hindered as he reached over and gently ruffled your hair, lingering over it as he smiled lopsidedly at you.

"That nickname is firmly yours to call me, little bunny. I'll be your incubunny for as long as you want me to be."

William had become busy in the workshop in the basement that afternoon, and he had asked you to go out and grab some things from the supermarket for him since he was going to zone out and forget otherwise.

The shopping list seemed wild and varied, listing bags of candy, to cigarettes, to bags of apples and some walnuts, the list was rather an eclectic mix of items that you weren't sure how he managed to live on but you supposed that maybe he didn't need to eat in the same fashion you did since he wasn't human.

You decided to swing by your old apartment whilst you were out, since it wasn't a long walk from the supermarket. Heading up the worn out concrete stairs, you wondered if any of your stuff had gone missing since the door was unlockable and broken and it wasn't like you had been there to stick the hallway table in front from the inside to prevent anybody just opening it up. As you reached your floor however, you paused as you noticed that the door seemed to be entirely missing.

Moving forwards, you peered into the space and felt your heart sinking through your stomach as you saw that everything had been stripped out, even the flooring was beginning to be removed. All the precious things that you had collected since you ventured out on your own, gone.

"May I help you?" A raspy voice spoke behind you, making you gasp and jump, spinning around and tripping over your own feet, a thin hand shooting out to grab onto your arm and prevent you from falling. "Be careful...Wouldn't want you hurting yourself."

You looked at the person who had snuck up on you, and you paused. He was tall, but unlike William, he was slender and scrawny looking. His skin almost greyish with how pale he was, dark eyes wild and darting, the smile was crooked and showed gapped and crooked teeth and it didn't quite reach the rest of his angular face. Cheeks gaunt like he didn't eat much, but you were surprised by the grip strength behind the almost bony hand.

"I um...I came to see if my stuff was still here." Your voice sounded weak for some reason, swallowing hard as your heart raced and the stranger's eyes darted like he couldn't focus on one thing individually for a moment before becoming hyper focused on you once more. Another smile, the grip easing up, allowing you to feel how cool his skin was against your arm.

"My bad then," He shrugged his shoulders, listening to him, you could finally place a bit of an accent on him. Faded out British, like he hadn't been around his own accent in a long time. "You must be the young lady who lived in the apartment with the broken door.

"Yeah...Look, clearly there's nothing here for me, my landlord must have thrown my stuff out already, I just-"

"Of course, you were issued an eviction notice. Your stuff is all quite safe, I assure you, sugar." Clicking his tongue for a moment, he moved his weight back onto his heels and stuffed his hands into the pockets of his black slacks. The baggy black t-shirt making it look like he had just gotten off of work and barely begun to change when you arrived. The nickname made you blush, but something about the lazy, raspy way that this man spoke made the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end.

"Oh?"

"Right, yes, I need to introduce myself. I'm Dave Miller, your new landlord. I went over the paperwork your...previous...landlord left, and I must say...you are owed a great deal of compensation for the way you've been treated." There was something of a purr under the roughness of his voice, something that whispered that you should listen to what he had to say. But there was still an intense distrust in your gut as he held out his hand to shake, gripping your hand firmly before catching you off guard and bringing your hand to his lips. The kiss felt wet and cold, making you cringe a little externally as well as internally.

"I am?" You asked, making Dave chuckle as he released your hand and watched you awkwardly draw it back to yourself.

"Of course! Evicting you without the proper notice, not the mention, the plethora of issues that you've reported that haven't been fixed. As soon as I noticed the broken door, I packed up your things and put them into the storage unit beside my apartment on the top floor." He said, gesturing up the stairs before coming closer and placing a slender hand on the middle of your back, guiding you towards the front door to your old apartment to look inside.

"That's very kind of you, Mr.Miller." Dave chuckled as you addressed him so politely, and you swore that you felt his fingers brush your hair as he stood just behind you to let you look inside.

"Please, call me Dave, sugar. As part of your compensation, you're being given the largest flat on the top floor, we're going to be neighbours!" There was that purr again, and you felt your heart picking up speed in..excitement? You felt confused, why were you excited about being neighbours with a man you had only just met. Your gut twisted over itself deep inside of you as you avoided looking at that crooked smile.

"Thank you Mr....Dave. That is very kind."

"It's no worries, really. It will be nice to have such an upstanding citizen around whilst we renovate the building."

"Pardon?"

"Oh right, of course you wouldn't know. Most of the tenants...left...with the last landlord's...retirement... and so I've taken the opportunity to spend some funds and rennovate the place to a much higher standard. There will be tennants moving into some of the flats that didn't need much renovation in the next few weeks." He explained idly, stepping into your old space and kicking a floorboard, you noticed he was wearing well worn out boots. Wondering whether he had been doing some of the work himself.

"So..I can swing by in the morning and pick up the key to my new place?" You asked, feeling a little disoriented, the way he spoke was soothing, yet put you on edge at the same time. You couldn't quite describe the feeling.

"I'm not much of a morning person, although you are free to call me anytime, darling. I'll give you my number, and I'll text you when your key is ready. It should be another couple of days, unfortunately." Sighing softly, you felt a wave of melancholy surrounding you, blinking rapidly as you wondered why you were so swept up in the way the raspy, British man spoke. Perhaps he was simply one of those speakers?

Something in the back of your mind warned you to be careful.

He ran his hands through his dark hair, which you noticed was a little greasy, giving you a smile before he shrugged his shoulders and pulled out a flip phone from his back pocket, fingers moving with incredible dexterity as he pulled up his contact information and showed you the number. Waiting for you to pull out your phone and add it in, his eyes darting about as you stood in front of him, observing every little movement and detail about your phone. He had found that somebody phone said a lot about them.

"Excellent!" Snapping the phone shut as soon as you were done, making you jump, Dave only grinned as he looked down at you. His expression barely wavering as his eyes focused intently on you once again, unnervingly still. "Guess I'll be seeing you, neighbour."

"Nice to meet you Dave." Slipping past his skinny body and having to brush slightly against him to do so, your heart pounding in your ears as you made your way carefully down the stairs. Looking up as you made your way down and seeing Dave leant against the bannister, head cocked to one side, still smiling.

"The pleasure is all mine, sugar. I can't wait to hear you again." Dissapearing back over the railing and leaving your sight finally. You felt like a weight had suddenly left your chest that you didn't realise had been there, breathing a little ragged as you began to speed walk to the supermarket. You didn't even realise there was something strange in what he'd said as you made the walk to the store.

There was something strange about your new landlord, you just couldn't quite put your finger on it.

When you got back to the house, you found William asleep on the couch. Although you had to do a double take at the massive rabbit man spread out on the too large couch, which now made a lot more sense seeing it in context.

His glasses balanced precariously on his flat nose, head laid over one arm of the couch and his legs occasionally twitching. He had put on a large, large t-shirt and what you thought might have been sweatpants in his human form, but looked more like capris in his monstrous state. Lightly snoring as he hugged a pillow to his chest, clearly taken from his bed and brought down. You wondered how much of a nap he had needed, but the image made you smile. Even as you caught sight of the sharp canines in his mouth as he yawned whilst asleep, an impressive feat, watching him shuffle around to get comfy.

You'd gotten a few extra items whilst shopping, carefully tip-toeing into the kitchen and packing things away before you decided to make dinner for William. Moving quietly and quickly as you decided on roasted veggies and grilled chicken, prepping everything you needed and putting it in the oven to cook, looking over at the sleeping giant and smiling to yourself as you thought how peaceful he looked.

Wandering over to him, you set a timer on your phone to check on the food and placed it down onto the coffee table. Looking at the rabbit man curiously as he remained on his back. Trying to reach over him and cover him with the blanket, not that you were sure he needed it with the ruffle of fluffy yellowish fur that was around his neck, but his large hand reached out and gently grabbed ahold of you, making you gasp as he pulled you onto his chest. Still snoring as his thick, fluffy arms wrapped around you.

You gently tried to squirm out of his grip, but the rabbit man held you tighter for just a moment until you settled down again. Placing your head against his chest with a defeated sigh and feeling the fluff underneath the t-shirt compressing until you could faintly hear his strong heart thumping slowly in his chest.

"William..." You called softly, watching his ears twitch towards you slightly. "Wiiillliiamm." Stretching it out into almost a coo as you looked at him, incredulous as to how deeply asleep he seemed.

Resigning yourself to being cuddled, you began to relax, feeling the weight of his large hands and arms across your back was surprisingly reassuring. And you found yourself being lulled to sleep, eyes closing as he held you and made your own heart flutter excitedly.

"I appear to have caught a little bunny." His gravelly, basey voice made you jump as you opened your eyes and looked at his purple, slit pupil ones looking back curiously. Rubbing one large paw-hand over his face and disrupting his glasses into an even more precarious position.

"I-I..William! Hi! I um...You kinda...Um..." stammering and starting as you weren't quite sure how to explain what was happening, the incubus chuckled as he sat up and kept you against his chest to avoid accidentally punting you with the movement. Letting you sit back against his legs as he grinned at you a little sheepishly.

"I'm guessing you came to wake me up and I grabbed you, huh? Sorry, I thought the pillow might stop something like that happening." Rabbits couldn't blush, but the sheepish way his eyes avoided yours and how he rubbed the back of his neck gave you enough of an idea that he was embaressed.

"You knew this might happen?" Your voice almost a squeak as he chuckled, helping you to your feet and brushing bits of fluff that seemed to have gone rouge and stuck to you.

"My kind...have a penchant for physical touch. You know how sometimes you really want a hug? Dial that up so it's like a constant background noise." He chuckled, his own heart racing in his chest as he wondered whether the excuse would mask that he had secretly been awake for the past five minutes and watching you sleep peacefully on his chest. That he had wanted to kiss the top of your head and hold you there, in fact, he wasn't sure why he was making excuses. He would be moving too fast otherwise, he thought, you had only just found out this side of his existed.

"Wow so you...just kinda want to be near people all the time?" You asked, looking at the phone on the coffee table, realising only five minutes were left and wondering how long you'd been asleep for. You couldn't deny it had been the best nap you'd ever had though.

"People...no. I'm an odd one, I don't do a lot of people all at once. I'm more..private, I like..." William paused as he thought of a way to phrase it.

"You like people in small amounts?" The rabbit man shook his head as he thought some more, humming quietly.

"I prefer to focus on a very small group of friends. I'm pretty sure I've accidentally caught Henry before when I've been asleep, but I only do it to people I trust." The words came out slowly, nodding at the end looking at you and wondering if you had finally noticed how much he stared at you, if you could see how much he adored you.

"Well, I'm glad you trust me, William. I'll keep out of your way when sleeping in future." Smiling and heading to check on the food, you felt yourself banging your head against an internal wall as you sighed slightly. He'd done it to Henry, of course it was a platonic gesture rather than meaning anything. You wondered if William would ever see you as more than a trustee of his secret, now that you knew it.

William's nose twitched as he stood up, breathing deeply and frowning as he shook himself out. Rolling his shoulders and cracking various joints as he settled back into human form after a few minutes, he sniffed the air and mentally his ears pinned back.

There was something lingering on you that he couldn't identify, faint, covered by his own smell and your usual sweetness that he adored. But it felt wrong, like it wasn't meant to be there.

As the oven opened and he could smell dinner however, the thought was quickly pushed back into his subconcious, his stomach rumbling as he padded into the kitchen and watched you plate up dinner with a smile. Wondering if you could ever love a monster like him.

[horseshoegirl]

Damn Those Dog Tags: Part 15 - Have You Ever Seen The Rain

📖I need to make two apologies. First, I am so sorry for the long delay. While work was beating my ass, I actually received a rude comment on my Wattpad account for the last chapter that triggered a horrible writer's block. It was taken care of, and it didn't bother me at the time, but I didn't realize how much it affected me until I started to write. Then I decided to use it for inspiration!

Secondly, I'm so sorry for what is about to unfold. This one was planned from the get-go (which is also probably why I struggled because this is the one chapter I dreaded having to write).

(I'll be running from the pitchforks as they come, Woot Woot!)

❗️+18, strong language, godmother reader/original female character, Mentions of an original child, Shitty family dynamics, Angst, verbal fights, sexist implications, one slap across the face, and Jake being Hangman.

#6k words

Part 14 | Masterlist | Part 16

The story behind how you started ego-checking some of the cocksure pilots at Hard Deck is less interesting than one might think.

It all started with a game. 

You weren't kidding when you told Jake you were a library, loving geek who'd rather spend her time deep in the stacks. That was the plot of your entire post-secondary experience. You didn't know how to flirt. You stayed clear of frat parties and cliquey groups. And if a guy tried to flirt with you, you ran for the freaking hills without a backward glance.

You only decided to take that bartending job in building H's damp, dark basement because you were dead-ass broke. But the thing about being a bartender on a University campus, there were moments when you had nothing but time on your hands.

You had to get creative.

Looking back, you would blame the writer-orientated part of your mind that decided to create that little game of making up stories for the people who regularly visited the miserable bar.

The quiet girl, always sitting in the back corner, cramming for a test or writing a paper. Did she like the ambience, or was she avoiding the library? Or was she trying to work up the nerve to ask out one of the bussers, waiting for the perfect meet cute?

Maybe the nerds who gathered every Friday at the arcade-style game consoles playing Pac-Man needed to leave their dorm because Friday nights tended to be the one night everyone liked to party.

Those popular girls sitting around a table with their $5 cocktails, lowcut tanktops, and jean shorts, always on their phones gossiping over the latest social media post from their favourite celebrities. Did they have Regina George in their ranks? Which one was sleeping with the other's boyfriend? How much blackmail did they have on each other?

Which one would murder the other first?

That little game you invented for yourself got you out of your shell. It also made it easier to deal with the persistent football jocks who'd try to flirt with you for a free shot.

Ridley would always get a kick out of it whenever you told her. You'd always imagined her curling up in a ball and kicking her feet back and forth while she squealed in laughter over the phone.

"Be a character in one of your freaking stories. Or better yet, act it out! You're a damn writer, Lizzie."

She was right. So you did. 

You'd never forget the laughter of that football jock when your rejection of his flirting attempts to weasel a free drink out of you resulted in his childish reply of, "Well, nobody's perfect, Sweetheart, least of all you."

"I never said I was," you had said with a smile.

You must have said something right because a few minutes later, Penny was introducing herself and chatting you up, asking if you wanted a better job bartending.

You were all too happy to leave. But nothing could have prepared you for the hotshot, ego-driven, and stupidly horny Top Gun pilots who frequented the Hard Deck. 

Between remembering their drink order or what side of the room they tended to gravitate towards, you needed more than your little guessing game to figure out their tells. You did pick up little things about them, though.

The WSOs were the kindest; ironically, they stood out in the crowds. Always a kind smile, never a bad thing to say about anyone.

The female pilots were always badass. At least, you thought so. Strong. Always commandeering the room the second they walked in. Always nice, no question about it. But mess with them; you got schooled hard.

They were the literal definition behind the saying, 'Do no harm, but take no shit.'

And with each new group that came in, the male pilots, the single flyers you had called them, paled compared to those jocks. They never changed. A pair constantly vied for first place with each new group that came through the Top Gun program.

Always a pair of males. Women always knew there was more at stake than a freaking trophy.

Those guys talked to you. Well... properly flirted at you.

That's where your little game came in handy. Picking out the little things about them, letting your mind do the creative parts next. It's how you turned Jake down so quickly that first time.

But the guy currently approaching the bar? He did not fit the bill of any regular customer you had seen in a while.

Tourists came and went without question. They stood out like a pack of flies, unsure where to go, with friendly faces and always asking what the best places were. They tipped great, and they never returned.

This guy? 

Not a tourist.

He was from out of town. The plaid shirt, jeans and cowboy boots were unusual for a California bar. It was also how he gaped at the walls and ceiling, taking in all the Navy memorabilia Penny had collected over the years. If you hadn't been paying attention, you could have sworn there was a look of distaste on his face with each new item he saw.

But what irked you was the sense of familiarity you couldn't place while looking at him. Blonde hair and a sharp face. Something in how he carried that toothpick between his teeth, not in the way god forbid fucking Tyler had, but as if it was a piece of grass. Also, in the way he walked.

Then he openly leered at a woman's ass as she walked by, and it all made sense.

Ah, a Wham, Bam, Thank You, Mam.

He sat in the empty chair directly in front of you, still watching the women's retreating form. You didn't want to serve him, but a tiny part of you hoped your assumption had been wrong.

It had been a while since you had to rebuff flirty advances; the newer pilots going through the Top Gun Program hardly said anything to you except smile and relay their order.

You suspected Jake was behind it.

"What can I get you?" you smiled at the guy. He slowly pulled his eyes away with a sly grin. The second he caught sight of your face, his mouth stretched even wider as he leaned forward on the bar.

"Your number and the name of a good hotel."

You should have known better. 

If it looked like a duck, it quacked like a duck too.

Resisting the urge to roll your eyes, you straightened the line of shot glasses under the bar, not once looking up as you answered him. "Well, I can answer one out of two of those questions, but I'm afraid the only hotels around here are resorts. There is a bed and breakfast about ten minutes down the road that will give you a good deal."

"Will they give me a good deal if I mention your name?"

"Only my friends know my name, and you are simply a customer sitting at my bar wanting a drink?" you raised your eyebrow, tapping your finger against the bar.

He made a show of thinking about it, rocking his shoulders back and forth. He finally nodded, leaning forward to answer you.

"Whiskey. Straight."

You recognized his accent as you reached beneath the bar to grab the bottle. It was more pronounced and slightly more profound, but without a doubt, he sounded like Jake.

Good old southern Texas Charm.

Normally you'd engage in small talk, but you wanted nothing more than to leave this asshole alone. Thinking he'd leave it be after you poured him his drink, you slid the glass forward, then made your way over to the other side of the bar.

The words he called out after you made you stop in your tracks.

"You must get attention all the time. Having your pick of the litter each year."

You whipped around, offended. " Are you calling me easy?!"

He shrugged. "I'm just saying a good-looking woman like yourself, in this place... you clearly aren't sticking around because of the pay."

Oh, you wanted this guy gone. That could have been one of the most double-standard comments you had ever received. Old Liz would have sputtered, maybe run into the back fridge and asked one of the other bartenders to handle it.

You now? No chance in hell. If he were going to give it, you would give it right back. You weren't going to play the boyfriend card. You could fight your own battles, and something told you even if you told him you had a boyfriend, he'd think you were lying. He seemed like the type that wouldn't take no for an answer.

"You've got some nerve." You crossed your arms, matching back to him from the other side of the bar. "Let's get one thing straight. I'm not here because I'm looking for attention or have trouble finding a date. You've spent all of two minutes sitting at this bar, talking shit, while I've been fighting the urge to point out your confusion regarding basic anatomy." 

He raised his eyebrows at your reply. "My confusion?" 

You leaned forward, resting your arms upon the bar, eyeing him sourly. "Is your mouth your asshole, or are you just one?" 

It was one of the more cruder remarks you had ever responded with. But this guy was trying to go for gold. Unphased, he leaned back in his chair, throwing his hands up. "Hey, no need to be aggressive. You should take it as a compliment. I never called you anything derogatory." 

You huffed, pushing yourself away from him, rolling your eyes. "Calling me good-looking, then proceeding to say I'm only working here because it's 'easy to access' is still calling a woman a slut. You don't need to say the word to imply the meaning." 

You ripped the dishrag from your shoulder, running it under the tap, muttering more to yourself, "There's no way that shit works on women."

"It does on the women back home," he answered you.

"Oh, so are you staying? Don't tell me you're a new pilot at Top Gun."

They'll beat that attitude right out of you.

"Oh, I'm just passing through. I figured I'd scout out the area. I heard this was a Navy bar. Don't understand what all the fuss is about." 

You didn't answer him. Opening your mouth only led to him replying, and the quicker he finished his drink, the faster he'd leave. He took your silence as a means to continue. 

"Still playing hard to get?" 

"You ask me a question. I might choose not to answer." 

"Wow. Subtle." 

You turned, a hand on your hip. "You can't honestly expect me to speak to you, a complete stranger, after the way you just undermined my job because I'm not giving to your attempts. There is nothing to get." 

He smiled, holding out his hand. "George Seresin. There, not a stranger."

Well, shit.

You wanted to hang your mouth open like a fish. You were staring down Jake's brother.

Now you understood Jake's reaction to Janet's warning. His anxious behaviour in the back of his truck. His lost-in-thought stares or the way he couldn't stop looking at you and Sadie when he came home from work this week.

George Seresin was a very unwelcome, uninvited and long-awaited guest.

Something snapped in your stomach, a twinge of weariness that Jake didn't confide in you. Then again, your slight disappointment was overshadowed by something greater.

Clearly, you were fated to ego-check both Seresin brothers while standing behind this bar. Because the idea came without warning, without doubt, or any sense of hesitancy. 

George Seresin was at the Hard Deck.

He was right in front of you, trying to flirt with you without any idea who you were. 

And he was sitting in the best spot in the entire place.

It was too good of an opportunity to pass up.

You stepped backwards, turning to lean up against the bar. As you did with Jake all those months ago, you took the rag and started to wipe.

"So let me get this straight," you said, dragging the damp cloth around his glass, not once looking up. "I tell you my name in some effort to prove we are not strangers. I'm supposed to forget about your 'comments,' so you can use that good old Texas charm to woo me into your bed with a promise of a good time?"

You finally looked up, George only staring back at you with a heated smoulder.

"Something tells me none of those loose cannons cannot even promise you a good time. A quick roll in the sheets before they let some brass monkey in a fancy suit tell them where to shoot. You look like you could let loose for once in your life."

You froze, losing your grip on the rag and fingers twitching. Scanning Jake’s brother, you leaned against the bar, resting your weight on your elbows, throwing the fabric over your shoulder as you got inside his bubble. You never once broke eye contact as you pinned him down.

George bought it, hook, line and sinker. He was so focused on you and your face that he was oblivious to everything and everyone around him, including how your hand slowly reached up toward the rope hanging from the top of the bar.

The second he looked at your lips, you tugged.

Cheers and music flooded the Hard Deck when everyone heard the distinct ring of the barbell. You guessed the song right away, old habits dying hard.  Slow Ride, its distinct beat letting you know Jake was here and he had seen the whole thing.

George reeled back, shocked as a few people came up and slapped him on the back, thanking him. You laughed softly at his reaction, pushing yourself away to help the few customers you knew who would take advantage of the free drink.

You had never rang the bell for someone like him. George Seresin would be the only exception.

"What the hell just happened?" he called after you. You didn't bother turning around, flinging your hand to gesture over your head, "Read the sign!"

George followed the direction of your hand, landing on the piece of wood dangling by the silver chain.

You disrespect a lady, the navy, or you put your cell phone on the bar, you buy a round.

You had already helped a few customers when he managed to tear his eyes away to glare at you heatedly. You turned to face him with a gleeful grin. Instead of asking him which one he thought you rang him out for, you started teasingly singing along to the chorus.

You hadn't done that in a while. It felt good.

"What did he do to warrant that?" 

You smiled up at Jake as he approached the bar. He never took his eyes off you as he leaned on his elbow against the top of the bar beside George. 

"What do you think?" you laughed at him.

Jake smirked. "I'd say he didn't take no for an answer."

"He did a little more than that. Tell him to put his cell phone on the bar, and he'd get three out of three."

"Ouch," Jake dramatically drawled. He finally turned his head, nodding once in his brother's direction. "Hi, Georgie." 

You stiffed a giggle. 

George huffed, jutting his chin out in your direction. "This one is trouble."

"Don't I know it," Jake said, looking back at you. "Pulled the same trick on me the first time I met her. Only she didn't ring the bell. Guess I did something right, considering she let me come back."

George glanced between you and Jake several times, and you could see the gears grinding in his head. 

"Hi," you beamed at him, walking over and holding out your hand. "Elizabeth Beck. Your brother's girlfriend. I guess we aren't strangers after all."

George stared down at your hand, then gritting his teeth, knocking back another gulp of whiskey. He spat out his following words with the glass still to his lips, "So you are real. Jake, there's no way you're dating her."

 You didn't try to hide the snark from your voice as you lowered your hand. "You thought I was imaginary? Sorry to disappoint."

George still chose to ignore you. "What's the matter, little brother? Need your girlfriend to speak for you?"

Jake stiffened, and it took everything in you not to ring the bell once more. Cause you knew if you did, Jake would be the one to help throw George out, and you didn't know what repercussions he could face.

"At least he has a girlfriend," you scoffed. "I can't imagine you've ever had a meaningful relationship with how you treat women."

You spied his empty whiskey glass, grabbing it firmly.

"Wham."

Sliding it across the bar's smooth surface, you caught it in the palm of your other hand.

"Bam."

Reaching into the pocket of your apron with your free hand, you slapped his bill down in front of him, rounds and all, attempting your best version of a Texan accent.

"Thank you, Mam."

Not wanting to waste more time on him, you turned to Jake, slightly worried. Some of you didn't know how to act around Jake when he was like this. When he was so... Hangman.

You gently touched his wrist, murmuring softly, "I'll see you in a half hour?"

He twisted his arm in your grasp, sliding his hand down so he could gently squeeze yours. But his eyes screamed a different, intense, unsettling story. As if he was assessing you for any threat.

"Sure."

You tried not to let it bother you, his non-chalent reply. Trying not to frown, you let go of his wrist to serve another customer, calling out as you walked away, "It was nice meeting you, Georgie!"

Jake watched you go with a slight turn of his head, proud you one-upped his brother but wishing you didn't leave him alone.

He knew why George was here. What he wanted him to do. No amount of smirk, cockiness, or even Hangman, could save Jake from this. George was the grave reminder that no matter where the Navy sent him, whether in California or on the other side of the world, there was no end to the metaphorical leash the 'hell bringer' had on both of his sons. 

George scraped his chair back to stand. "Come on, little brother," he gruffed out, tossing his credit card onto the bar. "We need to have a chat."

—-

With Ridley's Jean jacket in hand and your bag, you placed them on the bar as you greeted Jimmy after finishing your shift. "Can you watch these for a second, Jimmy? I'm just going to the bathroom before I find Jake. We're going to pick Sadie up from Penny's and take her out for dinner."

The older man smiled. "She's feeling better?"

You nodded. "Mild concussion. She was okay after a few days and back at school. Bummed about not being able to play in soccer playoffs, though. Hence the trip."

"That girl loves her soccer. What a shame."

"Jake's is making it easier on her. I don't know what I would do without him."

He tilted his head towards the bathroom hall with a knowing grin. "Go get ready for your date."

You blushed, walking away, calling over your shoulder, "It's not a date!"

After freshening yourself up, you took a few moments to stare at yourself in the bathroom mirror. You saw the famous callsign board hanging on the wall behind you. You scanned the names from the mirror, looking for Jake's, doing a double take when you couldn’t find it. You turned, properly facing the wall.  

Like the sign in the bar, it was a piece of wood with the words engraved into the top, “Ladies Beware: Navigate the Hard Deck with Care!” and underneath that, “Pilots who fly solo.” Several metal slots were glued to the surface, designed so she could easily slide plastic slate with a pilot’s callsign into place. 

You recognized a few, even Rooster's, though his was listed way further down, out of harm’s way. But Jake's was nowhere to be found. 

Then you realized - Penny had taken his name off.

She didn't do that for a lot of people. You could only recall one other instance when she removed a pilot's callsign from that board. She prided herself on it, so much so she never removed Maverick's at the top of the list, even after they got back together.

You needed to tell Jake. 

With a hint of a smile, you eagerly walked out of the bathroom to find him. He was standing with George at the pool table, the elder Seresin brother lining up a shot as he spoke. As you approached them, you honed in on Jake, realizing he looked uncomfortable. Stiff, shoulders square, and his fists were clenched tight.

The closer you got, the more you heard of their conversation, and when you heard Sadie's name fall from George's mouth, you froze. Hearing him utter her name, especially in that hardened tone, was a punch to the gut. The urge to hide behind one of the support pillars in the middle of the room at the last second was too great to ignore, and you made yourself as small as possible. 

You had stumbled upon a conversation you weren’t supposed to hear. George’s voice accompanied the sound of the eight-ball scattering the balls across the table. 

"Come on, man," he said, his tone laced with arrogance. "Think about it. She threw her whole life away for her niece. She's tied down now, and you deserve someone who can give you more than that."

Jake remained silent. George continued, encouraged by his lack of protest. "You're a Navy pilot, for crying out loud. You could have anyone you want. Why settle for a girl with so much baggage?"

You weren’t stupid. You knew enough about George to realize he was the golden child, the favourite used to getting his way. George would only see you as Jake’s attempt to one-up him on something. 

“You know why I'm here,” you heard him say firmly. “Dad doesn’t approve. He wants you to know if you continue on with her, you will never be welcomed back home.”

You swallowed hard, a knot forming in your stomach. There would never be a time when you asked Jake to choose you over his family, even with what you knew. You wanted to go out there, but this was Jake’s battle. Storming out to threaten anything but a kick to the balls was out of the question. 

But when Jake finally spoke, his words were like shards of ice piercing your skin.

"Yeah, you're right."

A strangled noise escaped from you, a sound of raw pain and disbelief. You clapped your hands over your mouth, trying to muffle the sob threatening to escape. George’s reply triggered the blood rushing through your ears, the pain in your forearm from your nails biting hard into the skin. 

“You know I am,” he laughed, another clack of the pool balls sounding out. “

There was only one way you saw this - Jake played you like he played those other bartenders. 

You couldn’t hide any longer. You pushed yourself away from the pillar, swerving around to confront them. 

“So Sadie and I were just a game to you?” 

Jake turned sharply, shock in his eyes. “Liz,” he held his hands out in front of him. “It’s not what…” 

“Not what?” you said heatedly, tears streaming from your eyes. “I heard plenty!” 

He opened his mouth to say something, but the words died in his throat, confronted with your beat red face and tears. You were not supposed to hear all that. 

The shock on his face was not enough to erase the sting of his words.

"Come on, Liz. You don't understand... it's..."

"What's there to understand, Jake?" you interjected, your voice seething with a volatile mix of pain and anger. "That I'm just another one of your bartenders?"

“Liz, don’t.” 

“Enlighten me, Jake.” You crossed your arms. “Tell me all the reasons why. That bringing me flowers wasn’t a game. That getting close to my niece wasn’t a game. Asking me to give you a chance, taking me out on a date.”

 You sobbed. “Taking me up in that damn plane.” 

The thought was erupt, tearing itself from the deepest part of your mind. You couldn’t help it, the words spilling out in blinded anger. “Was my grief an opportunity for you to get into my pants? Telling me it would be alright so you could leave me high and dry? Telling me it was going to be okay?” 

There was a sudden shift in his expression, his gaze hardening. As if a switch had been flipped, the warm, understanding man you knew disappeared, replaced by a stranger draped in defensiveness and sarcasm.

"Oh, excuse me," he declared. "I didn't realize I was your knight in shining armour, rushing to your rescue the second you need all your problems fixed. The girl who never had a relationship, thinking a man would solve all her issues."

The words hit you like a physical blow, your knees nearly buckling beneath you. Jake's harsh gaze didn't match his usual soft and protective demeanour. It was like looking at a stranger, someone you didn't recognize. The man before you was not the Jake you'd fallen for.

This man reminded you of your father. 

Was this his plan all along? You racked your mind, searching for any indication this had been coming. But what only stood out was Rooster's words echoing in your head where you found none. 

Did you really only add your name to the list of women Hangman had pursued?

Because here and now, those months of working through the trauma of losing Ridley didn't matter. 

Was anything about this past year even worth it? The moments you worked through when you would avoid anyone mentioning her because acknowledging her in the past tense was too much. Avoiding the things that reminded you of her. Till helped you through it.  

She would know what to say right now. She would be the one beating his ass with verbiage and scathing remarks. She would nail the moment and get it right. 

It hit you, the hidden weight of how desperately you missed her. 

Suddenly, you were that girl again, starting her first shift in that basement bar, wondering what to say to the students who saw you as a mere bookworm with no character or class - because you couldn't compare to the girl sitting in the corner writing her paper, actually having the courage to ask that busboy out. 

Or the geeks in the corner cheering as hard as they did when they beat their high score on the console, uncaring of strange looks. Or that girl, finally standing up to her 'so-called friends' when one had been spreading rumours and crude remarks about her to the others behind her back. 

He really did leave you out to dry. 

"Stay the fuck away from my niece," you managed to gasp through your tears. "And stay the fuck away from me."

You wanted to believe your assumption that Jake was merely putting on a front. Hangman, his alternate self, was his attempt at protecting himself. 

You had a hard time doing so.

There, plain as day, across his face was the most condensing grin you had ever seen as he dramatically drawled out slowly, "No fucking problem, sweetheart."

You didn't believe in thinking about everything you regretted throughout your life. Ridley was the only exception; if you had done more, moved back home after school, or gone to the police the day you kicked Tyler out, maybe she'd still be here. You couldn't change what had happened in your life, so spending time thinking about it in the present wouldn't do you much good. 

So it was no surprise to you when you followed through with your knee-deep reaction, your hand coming up out of nowhere, open and firm, slapping Jake hard enough across the side of his face, his head turning with the force of it.

You knew you shouldn't have. You weren't a violent person by any means. Next to Tyler, you never had raised a hand to anyone. You were too hurt to care you just slapped him.

That should have scared you shitless.

Rather than voice the obvious, you remained silent, allowing every repressed thought, every buried emotion to resurface.

Ridley - dead. 

Sadie - hurt. 

Tyler - lurking. 

Bradley - damaging.

It was all too much.

George's figure stood out from behind Jake amongst your blurry vision, tears creating a vignette in your line of sight. You tore past Jake, sticking your finger out only to push George square in his chest. He stepped back at the force, hand shooting out to balance himself against the pool table.

Jake wouldn't have done that had George not shown up. Had he not played with Jake's emotions.

"You need a fucking ego check and to grow the fuck up," you seethed at him. "I don't know whose got your balls on a very tight leash, but you have no right to go around and fucking up other people's relationships."

George didn't answer you, taking his hand off the table to stand properly. You pressed him again. "Does it give you some sick fucking pleasure to hurt your brother? Dad loves me best, so I'm going to remind everyone just cause I can?"

George was still avoiding your heated glare, fixating on his football ring, twisting the piece of metal back and forth. It only pissed you off further.

"My eyes are over here, Jackass! Have the decency to look me in the fucking eyes when I'm talking to you."

If nobody had been watching when you slapped Jake, you clearly had their attention now. Even with the music blasting from the speakers, every conversation in the Hard deck had gone quiet. You could feel everyone's eyes on you, but you couldn't care less.

You were too far gone.

George slowly cocked his head to face you. Your breath was harsh, your body jolting with each gasp as you gave in to the anger. "My sister died, and I took in my niece. What's so fucking wrong about that? That I threw my life away, that I have no future?" 

He shifted on his feet, about to transfer the pool stick into his other hand, when you reached out and snatched it out of his grasp, tossing it behind you with a clack. 

"You're damn right I did! That's what you do for people you love. I would sacrifice my entire life so she could have hers. And I would do it again in a fucking heartbeat. I will stay on the other side of that bar for the rest of my so-called miserable life, getting catcalled and dealing with assholes like you if it gives her the best shot with the shitty hand she's dealt. You, George Seresin, have no right to judge the choices I've made in my life." 

Your breathing was harsh, ribs aching with effort. Every vein, every pore, was consumed with pure white rage. And yet, you still found yourself growling out, "You have no right judging your brothers either." 

Even after breaking your heart, you still stood up for Jake. 

"He risks his life every single time he goes up in that jet just so the whole world can fucking survive. So you can go on day in and day out and let your father control what you want to do with your life. So you can gallant around letting someone who has lived their life decide what you do with the rest of yours? So Jake’s here for you to bully and control every time he comes home? What the fuck is wrong with you?”

The burning sensation in your cheeks mirrored the fire in your eyes, unshed tears making them shine brighter. The salty sting of tears blurring your vision did little to diminish the searing gaze you levelled at George.

"My sister believed everyone deserved a chance. That people cared, regardless of what they did or who they were. I had forgotten that until my niece invited Jake to a barbeque, till she invited him on a hike because he was being treated differently. Despite what I heard and everyone telling me otherwise, listing off why I shouldn’t. That he will hurt me and my niece, and I still gave him a chance.”  

Squaring your shoulders and balling your hands to fists at your side, you take a step forward, a dangerous glint in your eyes. You lean towards him, your face close enough to feel his breath, your jaw clenched and muscles tight.  

"You are the first person ever to prove my sister wrong,” your voice is dangerously low, underlying anger accompanying each word. “You sure as hell don't deserve that sentiment." 

As you stepped away, George lifted his head to glance around the room, everyone's eyes pinning him down. The older Top Gun instructors had stood at their tables and chairs, arms crossed. Some of the current students in the program also stood, the others sending him the most scathing glares they could manage. Even some regulars who weren't aviators were casting him a scornful glance.

You spun, ready to leave him in embarrassment and escape this literal fucking mess, when you caught Jake's bewildered gaze, his mouth hanging open in slight shock.

You weren't sure whether it was that look or the dying embers of your outburst that made you spin back around to snarl, "So, leave your brother the fuck alone! Live your own goddamn life without judging others for the choices they make! Cause you sure as hell don't know what it means to sacrifice something for those you love. If you need an example, look around this goddamn room."

Jake reached for your wrist as you charged toward the front door. The second you felt his touch, you shook your hand loose, a wrenching sob tearing through your chest.

"Don't fucking touch me!"

You didn't bother seeing his reaction to your remark, rushing to grab your bag and Ridley's jean jacket off the bar.

The skin around your wrist burned from his touch, the rough callouses once a comfort but now felt like coarse sandpaper. You wanted to get under a shower or jump in the sea, hoping to remove the feeling of every memory, kiss, and word.

God, you let him touch you. Do things with you.

You were going to throw up.

God forbid you didn't want to walk home. But you needed to go, be anywhere but here, and you didn't have your car. Barely keeping it together as you took off toward the door, you had half a mind to look up to watch where you were going, deaf to Jake's shouts of your name.

There was Bradley, sitting in the first booth by the door. His brow furrowed as you made your way over to him, probably having witnessed the ordeal. You were too upset even to question why he wasn't marching across the bar, ready to knock Jake to next Sunday.

It had been weeks since the fight, with no communication in between. But it was a distant memory compared to this. 

It didn't matter what he implied. It didn't matter what happened in your hallway.

It didn't matter.

It didn't matter.

It didn't matter.

You just needed your friend.

With each step you took toward him, your shame only grew greater. You couldn't even look him in the eye when you stopped, standing next to his side of the booth, hugging yourself tighter.

"Can you take me home, Bradley? I don't want to be here anymore."

Bradley's opportunity to act smug had finally arrived. But he didn't do anything other than frown. Standing up from his booth, he threw a few bills onto the table before blocking everyone's view of you. He placed a comforting hand on your back, gently pressing you forward as he uttered quietly, "Of course I can, Liz."

You kept your head down as you stepped towards the door, but Bradley, so willing to help you without so much of an 'I told you so,' made whatever resolve you had, crumble. Your knees wobbled, and your heart dropped into your stomach. You fell, and Bradley's arm whipped out, gripping your hip and pulling you tight to his side to support your weight.

Burying your head into Bradley's shoulder, you hid your face. You didn't want to see the looks of everyone in the Hard Deck, whether pity, concern, or applause, as another wave of tears wrecked your body.

Closing your eyes seemed better than reliving the truth.

And because you kept them shut, you didn't see George place a hand on Jake's shoulder, preventing him from going after you. Nor did you see the look of devastation wreck his face; the weight of every wrong decision he had ever made coming back to haunt him. 

Whether Jake turned on a dime to punch George square in the jaw, you heard none of it. You hadn't even bothered to turn back to look as Bradley carried you out the front door.

.... So... Who is going to pitchfork me first? 👀

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Part 16 - In the Blood coming soon

Wickett ;)

[nethhiri]

Marooned: Chapter 25

Kid x Fem Reader x Killer

Warnings: violence lite, kissing girls and liking it

Fuck Around...

The Victoria Punk pulled into port in the early afternoon. This island was clearly not affiliated with any kind of marine presence. It appeared disorganized and haphazard from your bird's eye view. There were a lot of buildings, most of them looked like shops rather than houses. Stopover islands often had tons of resources available to purchase, but permanent residents were few. That was doubly true of stopover islands without marines. The type of people that wanted to settle in one place didn't feel safe without them around, and business practices were shady at best, downright criminal at worst.

While you would have been nervous to step foot on an island like this in your past life, you had been on many such like this in your career as the Sea Snake. Places like this, with no laws, and disenfranchised folks, were ideal for promising better lives, and instead kidnapping people to sell. By way of this, they were also great places to ambush traffickers, and it wasn't difficult to recognize which were affiliated with corrupted marines. They had money and they tended to go after people that were younger and attractive. And if you happened to catch others in the cross-fire, oh well. You had tunnel vision and it was dead set on revenge.

The girls had already scrambled off while you had to hang back and wash dishes after breakfast. Kid and Killer left together not long ago. You debated on whether or not to bring Mini, although she had been crammed on this ship and would also make a great pack-mule, so you decided she could come. You had a list of stuff you wanted, but remembered Killer had taken your savings. It would be really embarrassing to ask for a little back. Though, you had wanted to try your hand at counterfeiting. 

While you were thinking about the logistics of shopping, a familiar face walked up beside you. "Want some company?" 

You greeted Heat with a smile. "Only if you don't mind going clothes shopping first. Do you have any paper I could borrow?" 

Heat gave you a curious glance. 

"So I can make Berry." You wiggled your fingers, devil fruit powers ready.

Heat snorted. "Look at the little marine now."

You shot Heat a glare. "Watch it or I won't share my fake money with you."

The two of you, plus Mini, headed off the ship as soon as you had converted enough regular paper into something indistinguishable from Berry. As you said, the first order of business was clothes shopping. Heat had good taste, so you were glad that he wanted to go with you. Heat picked out a few things for himself, leather things that matched his aesthetic. He had also picked some things for you, of a similar style. You couldn't remember ever owning anything leather. 

You held up some of the stuff he had picked. "Heat, this is too much."

"No, no it'll match your jacket. It'll look cool." 

You narrowed your eyes at him. "Did your captain put you up to this?"

"No!" Heat crossed his heart. "But..." He was a little sheepish, "I do know what he likes." He gestured to the pile of things you had to try on. "I kinda figured you wanted to catch his eye."

"First of all, maybe. Second of all, I could catch anyone's eye that I wanted." You grabbed the pile and went into a dressing room. 

Heat rolled his eyes. "I have no doubts." He continued to browse for himself. "Show me when you have something on." 

There were some black leather shorts with straps on the legs. Pants were more your thing, though these shorts looked really good on you and you would need more clothes for hotter weather, granted leather was not the most comfortable fabric in heat. A few simple tops, some tank tops since you generally liked your arms exposed, some other varieties so you had options, including a deep red corseted top that you couldn't resist. There were pants that were more your vibe, baggy, many pockets, and hanging from the hips, with some decorative straps. And then there was what Heat had picked out: white leather low-rise pants that laced all the way up the legs on the sides paired with a top to match. You had to admit it would look cool with your jacket, and you did look eye-catching. Maybe Heat knew a thing or two. 

Heat gave you a thumbs up when you walked out. "See?"

"You were right." You considered yourself in the mirror. "Pick out some more things for me." 

After trying a few more things, you both settled on your final options. You had also left Heat to his own devices while you grabbed some more intimate things, simple things, not anything wild. There was nothing worse than being short on bras and panties. You hung your bags on Mini's tusks, much to her displeasure. They only got heavier as you and Heat made your way through the various shops. Heat wanted to get some mapping things for Wire and journaling things for himself. You decided to pick up a small sketchbook. There were some things you wanted to start working on and needed to draw plans for. Speaking of which, you needed to visit a few more places. 

"I'm gonna head back to the ship. Want me to bring the bags?" Heat asked.

You cocked your head at him. "That's kind of you to offer. That would be great."

He took them from Mini and she gave him a grateful lick on the cheek. "You gonna come out with us later?" He patted her on the head in return.

You were staring at his arms. Is it a crew requirement to have beefy arms? You knew those bags weren't light. "I'll think about it."  You winked at him. "Which bar?"

Heat shrugged. "All of them." You both laughed. "Don't go by yourself though," Heat added. "This is a rough place at night."  

Shooting him an incredulous look, "You're so cute, Heat." It was endearing, however unwarranted. You had literally skinned a guy's face a few days ago. 

He rolled his eyes again, but his cheeks were tinted. "I'll put your bags on your bunk."

"Thank you." You couldn't help adding, "Don't go looking through my panties now." 

Heat walked off and gave you the finger as you cackled.

Hopping on Mini's back, now that she was unencumbered with bags, you got on to your other errands: finding an armory and some place that sold scrap metal, because you would be damned if you asked Kid to borrow some. It was dusk when you got back to the Punk and Mini was loaded down with various pieces of metal. You had gotten a few other items as well. You didn't really want to put all of it by your bunk, not that there was room anyway, so you brought everything to the infirmary for storage until you could get to it. 

The last time you had cleaned up nicely was for Killer's party and that was with help. The boat was pretty vacant. Everyone was out for the most part except for some stragglers and some rookies who were assigned watch duty. You treated yourself to a quick shower, probably the only time you had gotten the women's showers to yourself. There wasn't time for your hair to dry so you left it alone. You mainly wanted to wash the day's grime from your skin so you didn't stink. Nothing worse than someone with B.O. grinding on you, not that you would be doing that. 

With maroon lips, a little bit of mascara, and the outfit that Heat had put together, you looked better than you had the last time. Maybe you thought that because it was more your style than a dress. The last touch was using your power to change the color of your heeled boots from black to white. No better way to ruin an outfit than to wear clashing shoes. One of the items you had acquired earlier in the day was a little switchblade, which you tucked into your shoe. Never knew when it could come in handy. You threw your holster and coat on, then decided your coat hid too much skin. Normally, you didn't care and you would want to advertise who you were, but you hadn't been to a bar in a long time and wanted to be a little unrestrained. 

When you had a big, beautiful beast like Minerva, whose best attribute was sense of smell, though she would argue it was her tusks if she could speak, it was easy to find the bar that the majority of the Kid Pirates were patronizing. No one had bothered you on the way there. Something about a huge animal mounted by a person with an aggressive demeanor really limited the amount of people in your way. Minerva unfortunately was too large to comfortably fit in the establishment so she was content to sit outside, occasionally snorting at people to spook them, for her own entertainment. 

The bar was noisy and dim, as expected, and packed with a grungy variety of pirates, thieves, bounty hunters, and other criminally minded folks. The white of your outfit and the fact you were coming in alone drew the attention of many gazes. Most people wore dark clothes, so you stood out. Not to mention, you were gifted with a body so perfect, you could lay someone down on hot coals to use them as a bridge to walk across and they would thank you. At least, that's what someone had told you once. For a moment, the bar had quieted to a low murmur, save for a boisterous laugh that you recognized as belonging to the Red Menace. Purposefully, you ignored that area and went straight to an open stool at the bar. 

Of course Kid noticed as you walked in. His eyes devoured your figure in that tight leather outfit. If you had asked him if he was waiting to see you walk in, he would deny it, but he was pleased that you did. He was not pleased, however, when you ignored him and went to the bar. And he was especially not pleased when you started giggling and flirting with some loser who bought you a drink. He didn't even have a bounty for fuck sake. Kid grumbled to himself and downed the rest of his beer, slamming the stein on the table and demanding another from the waitress. 

"What's wrong, pirate?" The pretty ginger shifted in his lap. 

"Shut up." Kid continued groping the petite little whore that had wound herself around him. It fed his ego that women, and some men, threw themselves at him. He liked that they decorated his side at whatever bar they decide to visit. But now, for some reason, he was just annoyed. The girl in his lap squeaked. He had been squeezing her a little too tightly. "Why don't ya fuck off?" He all but tossed the woman away from him, returning to his refilled mug trying to burn through that guy's head with his glare.

You could feel Kid's attention on you. You smirked knowing that meant you were probably bothering him in some way. The guy you were pretending to be interested in was telling you about all his adventures, obviously trying to impress you. You finished your drink, leaving the bar while he was still talking to you. His voice faltered and he turned around to mope over his glass. A hand grabbed at you while you were walking to a corner where they were playing darts. You took the hand by the wrist and held it like it was a dirty sock. 

"I wouldn't do that, if I were you." This was one of your favorite games to play. A game where you let them think you were simply a pretty thing to look at, let them get themselves into trouble, and then you got to punish them for it. 

"Why not, sweet cheeks? You're dressed like you want some attention."

You dropped his hand, ignoring him, and started to walk away, when he grabbed you again. This time you turned his arm around behind his back and forced his head down on the table. Then you rested your knee on his back to free up your hand, taking his drink and finishing it off. "Least you could do is buy me a drink first." You let him go and continued on. He was lucky you didn't smash his glass over his head. 

Killer had watched the interaction. He, like Kid, had also noticed when you came in. For a while, when you hadn't shown up, he thought you may have left completely, but Heat had mentioned you had been with him all afternoon and planned on meeting up with them. Killer thought your hair was cute down instead of in its usual ponytail. And of course you were hot in leather, even so Killer thought you would probably look hot in just about anything. He saw when that man had grabbed you, noticing that his hand tightened around his glass. When the guy grabbed you a second time, he heard the mug in Kid's hand shatter, causing him to relax his own grip before he did the same. Prior to either of them getting up to handle it, they watched you push the guy down into the table. Killer swore Kid had a smug hint of a smile on his face. Honestly, Killer should have known you would put him his place yourself. 

Darts was a lot harder to play with one eye. If you had won, you would have gotten some money. If you lost, you owed your competition a kiss. Your competition happened to be the short, ginger girl that had been sitting with Kid earlier, though you hadn't noticed her at that time, and you had lost badly. The girl, whose name was Ruby, was cute, freckles spattered across her cheeks, and her ginger hair, short and wild about her face. She was like a pixie. 

"You talk a big game for someone so tiny," you quipped. You weren't used to being the taller one in a pair. Like many other things, it had been some time since you had kissed a girl, though the last time was probably also at a bar. She grabbed your hand and led you into a corner booth. "I think the deal was a kiss, not a date."

"Yeah, well, have one drink with me. That guy on the other side of the bar pissed me off and you seem like a fun time. I saw you smash that dude's face." She laughed and motioned for a waiter to bring you drinks. 

"Do you want me to smash your guy's face, too? Who was it?" You smirked. Maybe coming out tonight would be more fun than you thought. A waiter came over and put two glasses in front of you both, filled with a small amount of greenish liquid. "Absinthe?" You raised an eyebrow. So I'll be getting shitfaced tonight. You took a sip and scrunched your face at the strong taste. 

"Yeah it's kind of my drink of choice." Ruby pointed to the table that Kid was sitting at. "That red-head over there. But I don't think you want to fight him. It's Eustass Kid, of the Kid Pirates." 

You almost spit out your drink. "Is that so?" This girl had questionable taste, like yourself. "He pisses me off, too." You pondered something for a minute. "Do you want to really piss him off and get your kiss?" A sinister thought poisoned your mind. 

"See? I knew you would be fun."

You downed both drinks and grabbed her by the hand this time, leading her outside. Earlier, you saw that the booth that Kid was in happened to be by a window. You pulled Ruby to the side of the bar, not in front of the window, but next to it, close enough where you knew they could hear you, yet couldn't see you. You were both giggling as you pushed Ruby so her back was to the wall. She wrapped her arms around your neck and jumped up to wrap her legs around you, you supporting her with one hand, while the other played with her hair. "Maybe I have a thing for redheads," you wondered out loud. You didn't even know if Kid had noticed the two of you slip out. Even if he didn't, you still got to make out with one cute ginger tonight. The alcohol was starting to make the edges of your mind fuzzy. 

Kid couldn't rip his orange leer from your back. What were you doing, talking to that pint-sized whore from earlier? He barely even participated in the conversation with his own officers. His eyeballs almost fell out of his head when he watched you two go outside. There were only a handful of things people went outside to do. I am NOT jealous. Those two whores can fuck around outside all they want. So why couldn't he relax and enjoy his drink? He growled and turned to Killer to bitch, when they both heard giggling and felt a thump outside the wall. This was not a well-constructed establishment. That could be anyone. They went back to their conversation, though Kid slowly tapered off when he heard sounds that were definitely from your mouth.

The little ginger demon was not shy, slipping her tongue in your mouth and snaking her hands into your hair. You took turns leaving marks on each other's necks. "How do you know him?" She asked you. 

You pulled away from biting at her collarbone to answer, "Fucked. Tried to kill each other. Fucked again."

"So you're dating?" She bit the top of your breast, making you gasp.

That evolved into a laugh. "Not a chance in hell." 

"You like poking the bear then?" She tugged at the laces on your top. 

"Something like that," You grinned. At once, her hand stilled and she tensed. You stopped and looked at her face, which had paled.

She whispered to you, "Good because the bear is right behind you." She unraveled herself from you and put her feet back down on the ground, slipping out from under you and scurrying back into the bar.

You turned around to see Kid, as red as you thought he would be. "You scared my date away." 

"What do ya think yer doing?"

"I lost a bet." You put your hands out in defeat, as if you had no choice but to comply and this was not at all your idea. He wasn't yelling at you, which was strange. The rest of the Kid Pirates were behind him. You guessed that was why.

"We're going somewhere else." He grabbed you and pushed you in the direction of the others. "Don't get left behind." He stalked off to walk by Killer.

Heat found you in the back of the group, Mini trotting beside you. "She was cute. Do you have a thing for redheads?"

"You know I was wondering that myself." 

Heat stopped you for a second to retie your top and wipe some smeared lipstick from around your mouth. "Have you eaten today?"

"Not really." You lowered your voice so only Heat could hear, "Did I get him mad?" 

"I can tell. You're not gonna last the night if you don't eat. That was only the first bar." Heat fake-punched you in the arm. "Yeah, he made us leave early. Thanks a lot." 

"Sorry. I didn't think he would do that."

"What did you think he was gonna do?" Heat realized his mistake. "No, don't answer that." 

It was too late. You were already explaining an elaborate plot fitting for an X-rated film. Very loudly, in fact, since you were sort of drunk. The half of the crew that heard it was pink from head to toe, including Killer. All the girls were giggling and making gagging noises. Kid was grinning ear to ear, chest puffed out, a 180 degree turn from the moping, pouty captain that he had been minutes before. 

If that's what she wanted, all she had to do was ask. But now I think I'll make her beg. Kid's ego had been bruising this entire time, when it really should have been inflated. 

Next Chapter

[the-bar-sinister]

The Man Who Will Be (1405 words) by thesavagesabretooth Chapters: 1/? Additional Tags: POV Monkey D. Luffy, Smart Monkey D. Luffy, Retelling, Fluff and Angst, Character Study, Adventure & Romance, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, POV Third Person Limited

Summary: The future Pirate King's journey through his own eyes. His dreams. His anger. His love.

-

Luffy always got the sense that other people never knew what he was thinking. 

More than that, he got the sense that people thought he didn't think very much at all, which wasn't true. He didn't bother to correct them, though— they might be disappointed to know he didn't just do everything based on instinct and impulse, like Ace had once said.

"He's more like an animal than a person like that," he'd teased.

Luffy had bitten him. Hard.

So Luffy kept his thoughts to himself, and let others assume whatever they wanted about why he did what he did.

Luffy was thinking about Ace right then, as he sat on the hill above the beach, looking out to sea on his last night on Dawn island. Tomorrow he would finally be able to follow him. Mixed with his excitement was annoyance that sat in the pit of his stomach that he couldn't have gone earlier.

Seventeen. They'd promised that they'd wait until they were seventeen. When they were men.

Luffy hated it. Hated the separation. Hated the headstart that Ace had on him. In the dark of the night he wondered sometimes assigned wicked or callous motives to his brother for leaving without him, but he knew they weren't true.

He knew whose fault it was. The old man. Grandpa. Harping on about children and adults and how a boy wouldn't make it in the world until he was a man. Ace had bought it, even if he didn't want anything to do with Garp making them navy men any more than Luffy did.

Luffy didn't buy it at all though. In his mind he'd been a man since he was 15 at least. Probably much earlier. Boys– children– were soft creatures with mothers and bedtimes and people to feed them and take care of their injuries and tell them what to do. That had never really described him. Especially not since Garp had given him over to the 'care' of Dandan and her bandits.

Luffy killed and cooked his own food. He cleaned and bandaged his own wounds. He laid out under the stars and slept when he was tired. When Ace had been there, when Luffy had been younger, sometimes it was different. Sometimes Ace would help. 

But as far as Luffy was concerned, at the very least, ever since Ace had gone, Luffy had been a man.

A lonely man.

But all that would change starting tomorrow morning.

Luffy lay back in the grass of the hillside and looked up at the stars, wondering about the kind of people he'd meet— and the kind of crew he would have.

-

"If I have a dream, it's to one day become a marine!"

It was, in Luffy's personal opinion, a pretty crappy dream. It was, quite literally, the opposite of everything that he had ever wanted. Of everything he felt like his own dream stood for. It was the dream that his grandfather had tried to cram down his throat.

But if it was this kid's dream, then even if Luffy thought it was stupid, he wasn't going to try to talk him out of it. Besides, Coby had already completely failed to impress him— in fact, he thought that he kind of hated him— so any dream was better than listening to him whine about how scared he was and how he couldn't change his situation.

"Do you think I can do it?" the kid– Coby was definitely still a kid in Luffy's estimation– looked at him with wet, plaintive and pleading eyes.

"How should I know?" Luffy shrugged and played with the brim of his hat, feeling the straw ridges under his fingers and thinking of Shanks and all the times he'd said that Luffy didn't have what it took. "That's something only you can figure out."

Luffy might look up to Shanks, but he didn't want to make assumptions the way he did. Sure, Coby might seem like a whiney, annoying, spineless kid who didn't do anything for himself, but maybe there was something hiding in him that Luffy couldn't see. Besides, Luffy didn't even know what it took to be a marine— though he suspected being a bullying bastard who liked to push people around and tell them what to do figured into it— for all he knew, if Coby could get off his ass and work on hsi dreams, he'd be perfect for it.

He was a little gratified when, maybe just because he hadn't told him 'no', Coby seemed more than a little bit fired up about his dream. 

He was even more gratified when, a moment later when they were interrupted by Coby's bitchy captain, the wanna-be marine actually stood up to her.

He gave it his best shot. And that was why Luffy helped him.

Even if they were definitely going to be enemies, if Coby lived long enough to become a marine.

-

The marine base was the first time Luffy had ever eaten a meal in a restaurant other than Makino's bar. It was a very different experience. It was different to have his food brought to him by someone who didn't know him. It was different to actually pay for a meal instead of it being added to his future tab. It was different to eat in a room entirely full– aside from Coby– of people he didn't know and would probably never see again.

The most exciting difference was the food. It was a reminder of the fact that he had very much known already– that the more he traveled, the more food was going to be different than the food he'd been eating all his life. Different from Makino's cooking, and different from his own foraging. The restaurant food had been strange, it was true, strange to his mouth which was used to familiar things. But he treasured the newness. He wanted more of it.

It was a good reminder that he'd have to find a cook for his crew, too. Luffy's cooking was basic, at best; mostly revolving around charring meat and fish, and occasionally stewing it with some vegetables.

He definitely needed a cook. And to visit more restaurants.

-

Later, when Luffy looked back on it, he was pretty sure that the moment he saw Zoro it was love at first sight. Sure, at the time he had needed a better look, just in case, but Luffy remembered peering over that wall, and seeing the swordsman bound and unbroken. His fierce eyes. His strong chest. Some part of Luffy had already known in that moment.Some part of him would have known no matter what— that Zoro was going to be his swordsman. Everything afterward only cemented it. Luffy even fondly remembered Zoro's defiance the first time he'd turned down joining his crew.

It was funny to think how against it Zoro had been. Even the second time Luffy asked— when he insisted— after he'd seen through to his heart. After he'd seen Zoro eat food out of the dirt, and heard about his defense of the little girl. After he'd seen his determination to live a whole month, tied up and without food.

Luffy had been sure he could do it, too, looking at him there, bloody and sweaty with his ferocious eyes. If anyone could survive that, it was him. But of course, his captors weren't playing fair.

It gave Luffy an opening, though, and he wasn't above taking it.

He grinned devilishly as he held the katanas outstretched to the bound man.

"If you fight the navy here you'll be an outlaw anyway," he pointed out. "So why not join my crew and become a pirate?"

"What are you, the devil on my shoulder?" But Zoro's smile had been almost as wide as Luffy's was, and he knew before he even answered that he'd won him over.

He'd had to fight the urge to kiss him right then and there as he got him down from his bindings. There would be time for that kind of thing later— there were more urgent things happening. Like the navy men massing around to kill them.

Luffy's blood hummed and sang in him as he fought side by side with his new swordsman for the first time. Luffy loved to fight— and it seemed that so did Zoro.

Right from the start they were a match made in hell.

[thedawningofthehour]

2) The Show already has a Mother Gothel in the form of Big Mama. It is made clear several times that she does love Splinter. It's just that her love of power and profit was always stronger.

While I'm here I'll give my thoughts on the recent chapter.

Friendly chat between the kids! Yay, they're getting there!

I'm surprised you didn't mention how Mikey is canonically a ballet master during the conversation.

Fuck You, Draxum.

My God, The look on Gula's face if he saw the corpse on the titan.

I have a theory that the reason they don't find traces of the Krang is because their technology is so good at going undetected. That and why maybe most of it was collected by someone else (Look at the heads / Bishop).

Okay, the conversation between Leo and Mikey highlights, like, so many of my thoughts.

How Leo begins to understand that Draxum does love Donnie, but still has a hard time understanding how he would still be able to hurt him. Leo, who loves deeply and would literally die for anyone in his family, has a hard time understanding something like that.

Uhhrggg! I need the involuntarily trapped together so Bad!!!!

Leo projecting his hatred! I can't help but think that, despite everything, a little part of Leo still hurts bye this, like, imagine one day you find out you have a long Lost father, and all he's do since then is hurt you and kidnap your twin and tell you he wishes you'd never been born. Which hurts even more when you find out that same person is capable of affection, he just decide you're not worth it of it.

If I was rich and I would pay you everything I wish I could to write a one shot about these two. I know you don't know what you'll do after Doth, but would you at least consider writing one-shots? Like little What if?

I'm kind of torn on if Big Mama 'loves' Splinter or not. She definitely feels something, but I legitimately don't know if Big Mama is capable of loving someone else. Gothel was at least willing to go out of her way to make Rapunzel happy, even if there was no benefit to her-the only thing Big Mama ever does for Splinter without anything in it for her is tell his sons where the Shredder would have taken him, and that was only because his life was on the line. (also, they really tried to cram in a whole redemption arc into Big Mama at the end, and the "there's still good inside you" and "she would do anything for Dad" feels very disingenuous considering she was making literal snuff films out of the children of her supposed true love five minutes ago)

But anyway, yeah, you're absolutely correct. Whether she loves him or not, she loves money more. Which is ironic considering Big Mama is already filthy rich, but her obsession with wealth and drive to pursue higher and higher profits is so intrinsically part of her that she truly doesn't know how to separate herself from it. She doesn't know how to look at people and not see dollar signs, to not do mental calculations on how to exploit them and how much cash they could net her. And she can't bring herself to lift a finger without feeling like she's getting something in return. Basically she's Jean Paul Getty.

Big Mama isn't going to have a redemption arc in this or anything. For one, she doesn't want to, she likes what she has too much to truly jeopardize it and she wouldn't know how to be someone else. But at the same time she is realizing that the way she is has ruined parts of her life that made her truly happy. What she did to Lou destroyed him mentally and physically, and even if she manipulated him back they will never have what they had before she kidnapped him. She does legitimately like the boys, now that she's gotten to know them more as Lou's sons, (and not just the shithead teenagers who keep fucking up her shit) and she knows if she hadn't been so awful to Lou he might have returned to her after their creation. Not even going so far to say she shouldn't have kidnapped him, but if she had just been more willing to compromise, more patient with him, if she had let him retire when he stopped fighting for good-well, they might have been her sons too. And she thinks she would have enjoyed that.

But that's not what happened, and it's silly to base her behavior off of theoreticals. But still. It's softened her just the tiniest bit.

The main reason no one's found 'evidence' of this alien race is that they're just...there. Like, Galois is picturing ancient structures and skeletons and shit, because he assumes that alien colonizers would be somewhat like them. That they would build their structures out of hard, long-lasting material and any colonizing force would obviously bring enough individuals to maintain their population, even if they didn't reproduce like humans do. It is completely outside the realm of expectations to think it was a group of four aliens, that three of them have been fucking living there this entire time and are a cornerstone of the very society he lives in. It's literally like in Steven Universe everyone is just tripping over Gem shit all the time, and nobody really thinks this is weird because in their universe, it's well-known that there used to be aliens on earth.

(oh, by the way for the new people here, my theory is that the Council of Heads are Krang and came here with the dead Krang we see in the Crying Titan; the Movie Krang are a different group of Krang)

Also, consider what the Krang really like...are. Like. They don't build structures or anything. It's debatable whether they eat or sleep, or even age. They aren't building homes for themselves or infrastructure to take care of their needs, everything they do seems to be geared towards conquering and spreading what they are to every lifeform they see. Like fungi. And there would be very little evidence of this if the conquerors in question saw Earth and decided they'd rather take care of the life they found and helped create than conquer it.

Not to mention what Krang constructs are made out of. The best way to describe it is literally 'fungus but with meat,' and it's stated that the technodrome is almost entirely, if not completely organic. Organic matter preserves terribly. Like, all the fossils we have today, they're estimated to be about 0.01% of all species that have ever lived. Not specimens, species. Fossilization requires very specific conditions, so we only have fossils of the guys who lived in certain environments and whose bodies completely by chance fell into the perfect conditions for preservation. There are millions of dinosaurs that existed that we have absolutely no record of because they left no evidence. Krang matter is entirely soft tissue-it would have decomposed and left absolutely no evidence, certainly not after thousands of years. All except for their bones, and the only Krang skeleton on Earth is hidden away.

I have plenty of ideas for oneshots, but fuck if I know I'll ever write any of them. Considering how writing is my job as well as my hobby, I'm always wary of overextending myself to the point of hating it. Plus I know myself and I know they won't stay oneshots for long.

Everyone is perfectly welcome to write or draw or do whatever they want with this AU and any AU of the AU ideas they have. It's a free country, do what you want. If you make it weird and horny I might not link it to the blog, but-I'm not sure why anyone would make horny content of this, but I've also been on the internet for a long time.

[yongislong]

[ ncity playlist event ]

now playing ... PARK JISUNG

good looking - suki waterhouse

jars of it - steve lacy

stockholm syndrome - one direction

disconnected - 5sos

it all feels right - washed out

thats on me - mac miller

wasteland baby! - hozier

i bet on losing dogs - mitski

crybaby - the neighborhood

close to you - dayglow

now viewing ... // dreaded test day. something you and your seat parter always hated. it wasn't common to have seat mates in university but you're glad your world literature professor made you both sit next to each other for the don quixote readings

however... now he has an undeniable crush on you. even the other kids in the class can see how sad he looked that week you missed class because you had the flu he brought a plushie and different boxes of flavored tea to your dorm

now here you both sat, cramming for the lit final in the schools 24 hour library... at 3 am. lol. you notice though how incredibly jittery and smiley he seems, a stark contrast from the purple eye-bags littering his aegyosals

the session began with catching up on the chapters in quiet silence until he moves his chair next to yours, tucking a bit of your hair behind your left ear as he slides his earbud in. you adjust it, looking over at him nervously with a tight lipped smile, he grins, scratching the back of his neck

you noticed how close his chair began getting to you, feeling his warmth radiating off of his black zip-up. you also noticed how every time he believed you were immersed in your book, he pretended to look something up on his computer, when in reality he was checking himself out on his mac's photo booth lol. he eventually sees himself out to the bathroom with a poke on your arm

"im gonna go wiz, my password is 7dream incase you want to change the song y/n" he says with a soft smile.

"just say pee sung... weirdo" you mutter through a giggle as he walks away. he actually didn't have to pee he just had to relax because he was shaking so much, he was punching the air and shit trying to hype himself up pls

once he leaves, you decide to sneak a couple silly selfies on his phone, until a song you didn't recognize blasted through the earbuds

you wrinkled your nose and typed his password in, clicking on the spoitfy icon to rake through his playlist for something better. what you did not expect, was a very, very long playlist titled campus crush, with a picture... a picture of you, asleep in world literature. you remember this day. jisung seemed shyer than usual when you woke up. now you know why

you can't wait to tease him for it when he returns, pulling him in from his collar for a kiss when he gets close to check what page you're on //

IM BAACK LMAOOO omg i forgot how much i loved doing these. i'll try and finish this series soon but tbh its so hard! hope you all enjoy though. i always write so much for these gah i think this is my longest one yet, lmk what you think, reqs open!! this is not proofread lol

[peek-seek]

Revelation Pt1

Jake Sully x reader x Neytiri

(I'm obsessed with avatar right now)(this takes place after avatar 1)

(I am kind of bullshitting some stuff, I only have so much knowledge)

(okay last bracket, the talking bits my be a bit meh and it takes a couple chapters to actually get to pandora)

summary(ish not really): You were human, a scientist sent on a mission to Pandora. The escape from reality of hell on earth. The planet of new beginnings.

You've heard of Na'vi and what the humans that previously went there did. You know that going there means you won't get the warmest welcome and possibly meet with death because of what the RDA did, what humans did.

But you wanted an escape, to set your life a new. you were tired of going to the same 9 to 5, eating the same canned food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner with the occasional different flavoring.

You hated the feeling of just existing and never actually living, you loathed it. Feeling transparent, never exploring who you are, too consumed in fitting to standards of everyone around you so you didn't have to deal with useless conflict. You hated never being able to be you and never being able to explore it.

You hated having no one, not even yourself to turn to. Being alone was fine, but being lonely was miserable and you'd do almost anything to escape feeling that again. So when you saw a flyer asking for volunteers, you grabbed it, reaching and seeking a chance for escape.

The sheet asked for volunteers or people previously in the program to undergo training for a year before going to pandora. Pandora was already a place of interest before this offer, you only looked at a book or two here and there about the planet at the public library.

You looked into the species, the language, and some other cool facts in a kids book. Although, you didn't delve into things about Pandora, you just skimmed what was there and called it good.

The planet was always a place you wanted to go to but you thought you lost your chance to go so you never really explored the idea of going there, until that flyer.

You were excited to say the least, but also a bit doubtful. You probably wouldn't know much compared to the other volunteers and might end up embarrassing yourself. But you still wanted to go or at least see if you actually had a shot at going to Pandora. And it isn't like you were entirely clueless, of course you were pretty much clueless about a lot that involved Pandora. But you did get your masters in Micro Biology, just never pursued a job with it in mind.

You had no clue why they asked for volunteers or why they'd have flyers out for civilians to grab as they pleased, but you couldn't give up this chance.

The date on the flyer was a week away and you were nervous? Anxious? Scared? Nope. You were all of the above. Because you didn't know shit, you have no sense of direction if you managed to get on the planet, and have a selective(terrible) memory. So even if you tried to study, you'd probably forget it all as soon as you walked in due to stress. You aren't the most graceful person either.

You decided to pray to whoever and cross your fingers and toes and hope that it ends up okay. While you waited the for the upcoming interview, you stressed, researched, worked, and slept.. a lot. That whole week was a haze mostly due to the amount of powernaps and cramming your brain with information of past studies that didn't make much sense.

The big day finally came and you were scared shitless. you went to the place that the flyer said and arrived a half hour earlier (around 4:30 pm)so you had time to calm your nerves and possibly go over the flashcards you prepared.

You seemed to lose track of time skimming the cards because the clock said 5:05pm. Once you fully processed that you are late, you bolted out of your car and hauled ass to the building. It was a breath takingly beautiful building but you unfortunately didn't have time to admire the scenery.

You opened the door to see a room similar to a classroom, you took the closest empty seat and noticed about 70 or so people there. Some guy who was roughly 50 was talking in the front of the room, you'd assume about what the training would consist of.

You leaned over to the person beside you and mumbled," Did I miss much?"

They replied with, "He just began the introduction and basically said what we'd train. And that there would only be about 20 of us who'd be able to go to Pandora."

You look up and decided it would be weird if you didn't give your name," Thank you, I owe you one. My name is y/n, and you are?"

"Ezra, and no problem." You both draw your attention to the head of the room when it sounded like the guy, or rather Dr.Porter seemed to be talking about something important.

"As you all know, Pandora is a dangerous place, not only due to the species there, but due to our reputation. The first rule is that it is forbidden to go into Na'vi territory, if you do not obey that rule, you will be killed. That was out agreement with the Na'vi. If we break that rule, you are not only putting yourself in danger, but the whole squad. I hope if you listen to any of these rules that you will at least listen to this one.

The second rule is no dating, it makes things messy, it's unprofessional. And the third is pretty obvious, don't do stupid shit that could endanger your squad. Testing will begin shortly, we will test you on physical health, what you know, and if you are compatible. You see that in front of you is paper and pencil, good luck."

You are left flabbergasted because you thought testing would be at the end of the year and not now. You nervously glance at Ezra. "Good luck." is all he said and you shakily replied the same.

You hesitantly grab the the pencil and put your name on the paper. You think it'll now take a miracle to get in to the program. 'Fuck it' you thought and scribbled out the answer to the ones you knew and guessed for the ones you didn't. You were bullshitting left and right and prayed you would pass.

With that the writing portion of the test was done and you were now onto the compatibility test where they look at your DNA and blood. They took you to a different room after you handed in your paper. The room was pretty much a waiting room you all sat at and they called your names one by one, just like at a doctors office.

A nurse came out looking at her clipboard and said your name. You immediately jumped from your seat and followed her to yet another room. It was your standard room with a bed and wrap covering it. You laid down and waited for a doctor to come in. They ran a bunch of weird tests while you sat patiently for it to be over.

Once they were done with that a different nurse came in and simply said the next test will begin shortly and that he'd take you to the place it was being held.

You were sweating a bit thinking about the next test. But before your mind could waver too much, you were already at the door to the testing grounds. The nurse opened the door, gave you a quick good luck, and sent you on your way.

The room was quite big. It had really tall ceilings, and was pretty spacious. You see a group of people in white coats recording data on the volunteers that were being tested. One of the recorders asked you to stand by a group of people and you noticed Ezra and decided to wave him down. You guys talked for a bit about the writing portion of the test. You both wished each other well and parted ways so that you could take the last part of the test.

The testers told you to do as many jumping jacks, pushups, squats, and line sprints as possible and then told you to lift the heaviest weight you could. Your limbs were jelly and you think you went to the afterlife about 12 times by the time it was over. They said you could go home and rest and that they'd call you if you got in.

You didn't expect much but at least happy you tried. You got in your car, drove home, and landed face first on your bed and slept like a rock, you called off work, no way were you going tomorrow.

(okay, that was the first chapter, I am kind of going with the flow for the plot. I don't have much in mind other than reader is gonna get in on that jake and Neytiri action. I don't know if I'll update regularly but I liked writing this so far and am planning on working on the next chapter after I post this. I also do not know how long or short this series will be but I hope you all enjoy it)

[bandedbulbussnarfblat]

I had a rough week last week. Tuesday my dog gets sick, so I look up her symptoms. And bc I'm a crazy person, my mind automatically latched onto the worst possibility. So I spent three hours crying hysterically and having panic attacks bc I was so scared she would die. Then Wednesday I had to take my dog to vet and was still super stressed out. Thursday and Friday I have to deal with medicaid and disability paperwork. Saturday I had a panic attack so bad that I couldn't stop it and had to text my brother to come help me (he lives with me. we're too poor to live without a roommate, and we've basically lived together our whole lives, so it was whatever). Sunday morning I have a panic attack and can't leave my house to play my weekly dnd game bc the thought of spending hours with other people away from home was...bad. Sunday night, I got completely (and irrationally) terrified of being alone. I was so afraid that I called my mom, and of course she offers to come over. And I'm freaking out so bad I let her, even though it was late and I know she has to get up early for work. (She only stayed until my brother got back around 10:30)

BUT, today is a new day. I managed to get my blood work done today, and talk on the phone to my case worker, and pick up a pair of contacts from my eye doctor to wear until my order comes in. And I didn't have a panic attack. I mean, I still had to have my dad take me, bc leaving home alone isn't something I can do right now. (Mentally or physically. My brother's car broke down, and since he's the one who has a job, he's been using mine. i stg it's like a fucking family curse; every time someone is already in a financial bind, their car will break down.)

So I have decided to take the next few days to just relax. My two besties that I've been friends with since middle school both have kids with autism and they said I'm probably going through autistic burn-out. I'm pretty sure I'm autistic and my doctor thinks I'm somewhere on the spectrum, though on the lower support side. I'm gonna play bg3, and unwind. And try to work on some fic. (bc I have the next chapter of 16 Days damn near finished, and it's the last chapter that ties up the current plot, then there's an epilogue that takes place later that played out like a movie in my head, so writing it will be a breeze.)

Side note, did y'all know that some school systems still use 'high/low functioning'. I've had to say to my coworkers that autistic people would prefer not to use those terms. But it isn't surprising; one of my cousin's kids was literally diagnosed with Asperger's. Which has fallen under the autism spectrum disorder since like, forever ago. And also there was a TA in the autism classroom I worked in once who literally told me that autism was caused by demonic possession. I'm so glad I left the school system. Bc I eventually was going to fucking explode with rage after the way my kids were treated. (My students, not my actual kids. I don't have or want any)

Working in EC has really shown me how little the school system actually cares about helping the disabled; they will cut corners and do shit that 'technically' meets a kid's IEP, but doesn't do a damn thing to help them. And if you say something like, 'i don't think that counts' your coworkers will not be happy. But to a certain degree you can't be too mad, bc there is literally not enough time or resources to meet every child's needs, bc they cram as many kids in one EC classroom as possible, hire the minimum amount of TAs required by law and expect one teacher to be able to magically meet all their needs. My last job had 3 kids in wheelchairs in those tiny ass mobile units schools started using, that literally did not have room to move around, unless the other students stood up to let them get by, and sometimes even move their desk. We had multiple kids with autism. One of them stimmed by screaming, another was triggered by loud noises.

This post kinda went off on a tangent. Anyway, heads up to any parents who have kids starting school, make sure you get a copy of your child's IEP. If you think they aren't being serviced, contact your local Board of Education, and tell them that you have a child with an IEP who isn't receiving adequate services. Then threaten to sue them if they don't start providing your kid their services. It does not matter if you can actually afford to sue them or not, an IEP is a legally binding document. You have the right to sue, and most of the time the threat alone is enough to kick their ass into gear.

[fountainpenguin]

"I should not be left to my own devices; they come with prices and vices; I end up in crisis (tale as old as time)..."

---

New Factor It In chapter today!

Chapter 3 - “Base”

Read on FFN || Read on AO3

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Rex (AKA Kid Math) is no longer mind controlled, thanks to WordGirl... but since he needs a moment to himself, he retreats to his super secret spaceship hideout. Meanwhile, Sally Botsford chats with Exposition Guy and his wife, who are taking in a new foster kid...

(First 1,000 words under the cut)

Base

.:: January 3rd - Saturday - 1:54 pm ::.

"Analyze yourself at your worst to understand yourself at your best."

(Ancient Hexagon proverb)

➕ ➖ ✖️ ➗

Psst! Look for the words intimidated and integrated

---

SHOOOOOM!

He streaks above the city in a blur of blue. The absence of the Narrator is bitter and haunting. Rex tries not to let it weigh on him. He should treasure these moments. They let him work through his thoughts in private without that infuriating busybody prodding at him with an invisible finger.

Hot chocolate sounds scrumptious in this weather, but the food trucks will have to wait. This mind control belt is going straight to his spaceship hideout before it does any more harm. Rex struggles through the blinding snowflakes as best as he can, wiping melting slush from his eyelashes. Is he over the suburbs yet? The wind lashes him towards the rooftops. He can't see far ahead, and not only because he left the smashed remains of his glasses in that crater. He's too fast. Too cold. Ick. He wraps his hands around his shoulders, decreasing the wind resistance against his body for optimal flight. It's freezing. They didn't have anything like this back on Hexagon, you know. This weather is just all-around awful. Why does WordGirl stay on a planet with such a strong tilt to its axis?

Well… He knows the answer to that question, actually. Her family live here. Her Earth family, anyway. As he veers through the snowflakes, trying not to crash into any buildings, Rex grits his teeth. Family. What a nuisance. Sure, it's easy for WordGirl - Becky - to suggest he settle with an Earth couple. She doesn't remember her parents at all, so switching them out for new ones probably never hurt her.

But the LAST two people he wants to cram into his life are a false mom and false dad. Those titles are acid on his tongue. Becky can build her perilous house of cards, but personally? Rex would rather not create a secret identity around a lie of "having Earth parents" whom he "loves."

So what if he hasn't lived with his mom since he was in his 30s? And so what if his dad hasn't set foot off Lexicon in a century? That doesn't mean they're not his parents. And it doesn't mean it's okay to just replace them with random strangers he's not sure he'll ever care about.

And it's not fair for Becky to make me do that.

But she did.

He can still remember the day, just over two weeks ago now, when WordGirl broke the news about the foster system. They were in the forest, surrounded by the evergreens he'd already grown familiar with. His scooter craft had been damaged in a small fall when it ran out of fuel, just a few days after arriving here on Earth. Rex had crawled underneath it with a couple of good wrenches, scowling hopelessly at the mess of wires and wishing for a pair of pliers instead. Then WordGirl swooped in with her usual hot and fiery swishing noise and he'd jerked up, bashing his forehead on the underside of the scout vessel. Ow. He nicked his forehead on serrated metal. Two seconds later, it flickered with an icy chill and sealed over again.

"Well, good news, Rex! I've found you a warm, safe place to stay for the winter while your spaceship heater's busted. Once the snow melts in spring, Bob and I can take a look at it with you and try to fix it up."

She wore her favorite green sweater, like a fluffy carrot top that concealed a discouraging harvest below. She'd been all smiles as he crawled out from under the scooter, and Huggy had squealed his agreement. You know… It really had sounded like good news at first. She got excited for him. Let's break this down. A temporary family who could check up on him every now and then? Help him get food, use the post office, and get around the city? Great! It would be a nice change of scenery to stretch his legs. He could use a few nights away from his spaceship.

The journey from Hexagon had been a long one. It took him two years. He hadn't technically crashed his ship when he landed on this planet, but he had clipped a few trees on his way down. Then he bashed the starboard side against a giant boulder and broke a few things. You know, maybe that was considered crashing… but he still had his fingers crossed that he could get it up again in no time. He just… needed to wait for spring, so he could stand working outside for long hours without all this icy wind.

The snow hadn't been this bad back then. Just two inches deep (inches are an Earth unit of measurement, equivalent to 2.72 rokurans). The blood raced in his veins, but he'd thought that would be the end of it. Then WordGirl had mentioned foster care. An agent she knew. Some ideas she had. And he'd just… stood there, staring at her silently with the wrench drooping from his hand.

Foster care. With Earth families and other Earthling kids.

"Oh…" What else was he supposed to say? He fidgeted with the wrench and (very slowly) leaned back against the hood of his scooter craft. "Thanks, WordGirl. I appreciate you looking out for me, but I really don't need a babysitter. I'm 51 and I almost graduated top of my class from the Hexagonian Children's Learning Facility. I already picked up some picture books on forest foraging from the library. I know how to start fires and put them out again safely. I'm perfectly fine with being independent while I'm here on Earth."

WordGirl had hesitated then, and he'd remembered a split-second later that on this planet, he wasn't considered 51. Right. He could recognize his age inherently, even across the universe. His Hexagonian blood wouldn't let him forget it. He'd done the math. One year on Hexagon translated to 61.078 Earth days.

But here, the people viewed him as only 8 years old. Rex was pretty sure he'd "turn 9" on this planet sometime this upcoming summer - he'd be close to 53.56209 years on Hexagon if his calculations were accurate - though he wasn't yet confident with the names of the Earth months.

He hadn't relayed any of this to WordGirl yet in case he got the words wrong. January, June, July… March, May… The names danced on a blurry stage like ballerinas encased in ice. Okay, yeah- side note: It still boggled his mind that so many people on this planet could read written words as easily as Lexiconians did. In fact, this whole planet was full of readers.

He still wanted to wait for the right moment to bring up the date. He had time.

[Cnt'd on FFN / AO3 - Links at top]

[yandere-monoma]

WHOOO KYM 2 COMMENTARY while i stall on working on kym 7

lots to discuss about a chapter literally called 'the exposition' hjgkfsg. if you didnt know, the way ao3 multichap updates works is that you dont necessarily have to title a oneshot chapter but the second you update it, you really get shown the option to title your chapters. so it didnt actually occur to me that i needed names for each one until chapter 2. i believe originally i was going to use a similar system as kyd where every chapter title was a command a la homestuck. however, i wasn't really utilizing the commands in the same way, i didn't really end the previous chapter with one and the plan for the next chapter... technically involves a command but not one i wanted to spoil via the chapter title.

the current naming system came into existence probably 3/4s of the way or more into writing this chapter, once i made the realization that the fic was, in fact, going to be at least five chapters. at this point in time, the plan was the following: the introduction, the exposition, the climax, the ending, the epilogue. this changed even more as time went on and more chapter ideas rudely crammed themselves into my brain, though it helped the structure a lot, because giving me time to fill out the space between exposition and climax made my brain happy HJSKFG

so, moving on, the fun part about chap 2 is that it really establishes the 'narration' as its own living function, something that is vaguely independent of the story rather than just a tool to present the story with, that both voices the author's and the character's thoughts depending on who is grabbing for control. this isn't an aspect i planned when outlining the fic but it's definitely influenced by 1) how much fun i had reading the epilogues and subsequent epilogue flavored fics 2) my desire to find some way to one-up the first chapter despite the topic matter not being nearly as extreme 3) the impulse to add in another experimental element to the story, especially now that the more abstract and poetic style of the first chapter was being removed

it's also incredibly fun to play with, because every time i struggled with describing something or wondered how i could transition from one point to the other, i realized - oh! i can just make the narrator state that very thing. don't know how i'm gonna build up from the end of chap 1 to the narrative goal of chap 2 (rose's mkultra moment)??? let's just get that all out in the open, then! problem SOLVED

it ended up being a hugely fun choice that allowed me to inject some humor into what's otherwise just a big ole pile o' unrelenting angst. it also helped me take myself less seriously, which lent me even more creative freedom than usual, like. GOD. it really helped turn this piece into something so rewarding, it overwhelms me. goddamnit homestuck why do you have to be so good

i just rewatched butterfly effect recently, god. back to the future i've never seen though. time references haha get it cuz his aspect is still time-

speaking of time, this chapter was the first attempt to really try and describe a zeta kid's classpect without coming out and stating it. there's a few interpretations of different phenomena's in homestuck that point out the implication of classpect powers being active before reaching god tier, or even before entering the game (though, usually in a way that is incredibly weak, premature and subtle enough to be missed by the user). one of the strongest examples that i based this chapter on was something the epilogues described: the idea that rose's obsessive writing as a child was based on her light powers feeding her vague visions of her future character arcs and plotlines. i really loved that and wanted a similar sort of plight for dave. i'll go off about what his specific title is at the end of this chapter but it's really fun poking at it now and then

the multiple narrators? seriously??? bit was me realizing i had to add a Multiple Narrators tag on ao3 after this. at this point of writing, i had no idea if i would be visiting anyone else's pov besides dave's, though.

attempt at homestuckian humor GO

™️ jokes are so funny to me for no reason

wink wink hint hint this is one of dave's powers at work, actually!! so, dave egbert actually has a perfect memory. like, there is not a single thing he's ever forgotten in his life, if he's experienced it, he can recollect that knowledge. this power also extends to the imaginary, the subconscious, and the supernatural, ie: in the event that dave experiences any visions of the future, he will retain that information. likewise, he has memories of every dream and nightmare he's ever had. which is fun because considering he's a dersite and also a time player and also dave, he has a lot of them HAHA. more on that later

The two of you had hit it off instantly despite this, like you had known each other your entire lives, like any and every other relationship that had come before it had merely been a warm-up for the monumental connection that would spark instantly between you both. ... You’re pretty convinced she’s your soulmate. If not that, you’re at least assured by the fact that you’re absolutely head over heels in love with her.

sentences i had so much fun writing knowing how badly it's going to mess dave up to learn that they're actually related HA HA

Especially at the start, Rose was mysterious and she was hilarious and she was overwhelming, the brightest thing you’ve ever had the fortune of witnessing. 

get it because she's a hero of light get it she's the light of his life because shes a hero of light get it get it she's mysterious because her class mimics its opposite at the beginning of the story so everything about her pre-canon arc clings to void but she!! is bright! like light haha get i- 💥

see, reading sentences like this means i HAVE to at least write enough of their session to let dave both die and kill for his rose, like

also i need to write her killing and dying for him. well. killing for him. well.

killing.

perhaps just killing him. HAHAHA.

it is very fun to think about this because rose honestly just. does not talk about her relationship with dave much outside of mentioning that they're together. her narrative is so focused on the things that she wants the audience to focus on, so this was such a fun chapter to reveal the things she decided isn't important enough to ever let us in on.

like, she is so adamant that bro is the only important person in her life and the only person she loves, but she deeply cares about dave. she feels the same way, that they're connected in this way she can't pinpoint or name. and claiming him is exactly the right way to put it, because i don't think she knows how to acknowledge those emotions in herself, but she knows that she needs him with her always and wants him entrapped in a way where he can't get away from her.

i think rose is just incredibly attracted to what dave represents: safety, normalcy, the mundane, a reprieve from pain, but there are things about him that she just inherently gets. he's an outsider despite how much he attempts to fit in and i think there's something about that she relates to but also wants so badly to destroy and keep for herself.

also, this is a thing that belongs more in hcs than in kym specifically, especially because i imagine this taking place way earlier in their relationship, but bro absolutely knows about her relationship with dave. it isn't a secret. it's a thing that amuses him greatly. i actually imagine she shares a lot of details about him to bro, like allowing him this voyeuristic entertainment because dave isn't a threat to him, not really, and she shares every single one of her belongings with him.

in a perfectly pornographic world the two of them would spitroast the fuck out of him but this is a partially pornographic world that involves a meaningful plotline or whatever 🙄 smh

siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh

this part was incredibly hard to write. not because it was difficult or emotionally taxing but because i reached this unfortunate impasse i find myself at every now and then while writing a lot of darkfic where i struggle with... it's not exactly the impulse to project, necessarily, more just.... feeling forced through into inevitability of it? or maybe it's the reluctance to use personal experiences vs the knowledge that doing it can benefit your writing (but also can hamper it).

like, very hard to write about a self-destructive teenager with violent tendencies without being reminded of the time when you were a self-destructive teenager with violent tendencies.

that reluctance is born from a rant i'm definitely not gonna get into unprompted but i'll just say that it definitely complicated things HAHAHA. i've definitely gone through a 'i'm going through a psychotic break and i'm going to ramble out 7835963463 crazy things into this dm window because the person on the other side said i could' phase. i've definitely just. been insane and vomited so many words out and ngl for a second there in the final draft when i was feeling too lazy to get into Stream Of Consciousness mode i was very tempted to dig up an old vent post and copypaste those thoughts in for rose but ultimately i thought that was disingenuous and a betrayal of her character SO

a fun but unexpected surprise was rose sounding far more like herself during her drugged moments of honesty. it's especially fun because even in the future when she doesn't have access to any sort of drugs or contact with bro anymore, i don't think she'll sound this much like rose lalonde either. it's like in her desperate search to find more of her brother, she's really just found a core part of herself that she doesn't have access to in this universe

'Is there a mechanical soul within me?' there is and his name is hal hi hal

it is actually incredibly fun playing with typing quirk punctuation. it's actually a style i utilized a lot in chatroom roleplay groups yeaaaaaaaaaars after homestuck ended, very much inspired by tumblr ventblogging typing styles, crytyping and all that. the idea that someone's mental state can and should be reflected in their typing style, which is something you really only see in canon in a character like gamzee (i cant remember if other trolls drop the quirk in times of duress in canon??? i think karkat drops his as a joke about volume sometimes but that's it). i don't even know if it even really comes across as blatantly as it feels when i write it, but it's so fun to see the consistencies in a way a character types slowly but surely fall apart as they grow unstable

so the way this is designed, it's as if rose had a moment of finally being in touch with the core of herself, with what ultimately makes her rose (complete with proper punctuation), before slowly but surely lapsing back into ro-stri as she loses her punctuation piece by piece, and then ultimately devolving even more as she abandons her capitalization to type in a way that's reminiscent of dave but, more importantly, bro's typing quirk

'I think there are lives inside me/the life inside me is his' is so funny to look at in hindsight. this chapter was halfway finished before the pregnancy plot had even come into being, and this was only ever supposed to be a reference to the identity blurring she's experiencing, and this half-truth, half-delusion about being able to sense everything lil cal has injected into her and her brother. it is so STRANGE to reread it now knowing that it's become foreshadowing to her pregnancy, especially with that next sentiment following it:

'Sometimes I wish it was yours'. again, that idea of being soulmates, being connected with someone permanently. and, again, that idea of codependency, and rose being unable to express or understand love without that need to merge herself with the object of her affection. and again this was befORE the pregnancy plot was a thing so now every time i read this line i sit here hoping people dont interpret it as rose wanting dave's baby HGJFKGSGSG i swear im not into breeding i sWEAR

🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺😭😭😭😭😭😭

DAVE IS SO CUTE I ALWAYS DIE REREADING THAT PART HE'S SO CUUUTE

also i struggle so SO much writing comfort scenes especially dialogue meant to comfort someone but this came out so easily. perhaps because it's a futile attempt and i didn't have to worry about the recipient of that comfort actually feeling soothed...? hmmm!

i have nothing to add to the romantic cannibalism confession besides :3c

i don't actually reread this chapter all that often anymore so finding this paragraph was lovely damn shoutout to this sentence that made me choke on my water as i was reading it cuz i was so distracted by how much i didnt remember writing this that i forgot to swallow and my drink just slid down into my lugnshjskdfg

then it is a series of letters in a language you wonder if she’s made up, that is somehow so cohesive in its chaos that you start to doubt even that. 

more horrorterror references as if the literal last paragraph wasn't enough HAHA

a very fun part of designing and outlining the killswitch au is deciding who gets what plotline. for example, does rose strider get to go grimdark because she's rose? or does jade lalonde get to go grimdark because she's the lalonde with library access to the grimoire? unlike the characterization formula, there isn't an easy answer to this one. i'm mostly just going with what's more fun narratively and what makes a better and more cohesive storyline for the verse.

either way, though, ro-stri still has a connection with the horrorterrors, simply because she's a dersite and because i love a character that is so utterly doomed that every evil force on the face of the planet wants to take a turn on them. what's better than this... getting psychologically gangbanged by every demon in existence...

DID YOU KNOW I AM SO VERY FOND OF DAVE EGBERT AND HIS LOVELY PAPA WHO LOVES HIM SO MUCH

i am also so very fond of a dave egbert who cries alone in front of his computer cuz his girlfriend makes him so very sad every night like poor baby does Not Sleep and its so cute gjkgs

'its just prose' annoys the shit out of me to see because i wrote a similar line in a published piece of writing a couple of years ago so i can't reread this without being reminded of That hgjfkg

i will never write a strider rap i have the highest respect for any author who can but it'll never be me

their dynamic kills me HJKGFGKGS peak toxic romance right here god i wish i could write even more of it... i need to write more daverose so fucking bad....

a fun line because 1) i rly enjoy dave's half-forced half-genuine emotional voyeurism it's just a rly interesting aspect of his personality to write and 2) it's fun to have a moment with dave e's specific brand of humor since it's not as long-winded as a strider's would be

i rly forgot so much of this chapter HGFKGSGS oh dave... i love you... i love writing you so much...

stream-of-consciousness style writing is really fun like you get taken to so many unexpected places in the process. generally when i go SoC style i tend to have a few goals i want to land and this image, dave watching over rose in derse, was one of the big ones

ALSO THE IRONY OF DAVE CALLING HIMSELF HER PRINCE WHEN SHE IS ACTUALLY THE PRINCE OF THE SESSION HEHEHEHEHE

the lil cal staring contest is also another big one. it's just such a fun image to allude to like goddamnit i wish i could draw. it feels like an image that i can't even really describe properly what i want it to mean because it explains itself and there's not much minutia to pry free, it's just. them. rose inexplicably and perpetually being drowned in this cancerous evil at a rate that not even dave strider got to experience.

lmfao shout out to me explaining his memory power earlier forgetting that i explain it in the chapter HJSKFG

oh well NOW I GET TO ACTUALLY DISCUSS HIS CLASSPECT

so dave egbert issssss....

🥁 [drumroll] 🥁

the MAGE OF TIME!!!!

and changing classpects actually did something incredibly interesting to the story. killswitch never would have worked as a simple homestuck rewrite, because i dont think swapping the guardians is something that can ever be simple. so it didnt make sense to keep their classpects exactly the same, because they wouldn't have the same personalities or the same backgrounds to craft those personalities, or the same issues that were born of their uniquely shitty backgrounds. it also didnt feel as easy as making rose a knight of light and dave an heir of time, etc etc. like, while rose is not insecure in the classic way that knights should be (it can be argued that the 'i am my brother' facade can count towards knighthood... but her role in the story and what it will turn into once she joins the game definitely brands her a prince through and through)

through researching for killswitch i ended up coming to this conclusion about sburb and how i approach classpect and hs narratives in general:

and because of that, it was super easy to reassign everyone based on what they've been turned into through the switch in their roles.

it also made for another easy characterization formula: their aspect represents their 'nature' while their class represents their 'nurture'. so all the zeta kids still belong to the same aspect while their class changes rapidly, though how close or how far it is from their original class really depends on their character

anyway, mage of time is an incredibly fun role that actually breaks the rewrite narrative almost more than rose's classpect does. as the mage of time, dave actually steals the cryptic psychic role from jade and john harley (though, i do have thoughts on that matter, because there is still going to be a benefit for them from having access to prospit, and that plotline will still be involved in some capacity... probably).

and it's a very fun, partially accidental discovery within the au that the zeta kids are all... just a tad more prepared to enter sburb than their predecessors. rose is completely aware of the fact that she's training for something specific and dave... dave knows that the game is coming. he doesn't know the specifics, he doesn't know that it's sburb specifically that will bring them all together, but he knows there's an it, he knows the day he'll meet all his friends in person will be a day for the history books, and he knows that rose is in danger and that he'll be able to help her in a way no one else can.

some mage of time thoughts, many of which inspired and/or describe dave egbert's storyline:

source

source

source

the above was probably one of the first interpretations i read and really what solidified him as a mage, my initial thoughts to his classpect and how it interacts with rose's was the following:

and it's just so fun GOD rly hope i get to write in his perspective more in the future

haha yeah if we ever get to it yEAH if i ever get off my ass and actually finish writing this wholeass au which i nEVER WILL CUZ I DONT WANNA WRITE 500K WORDS GODDDD IM NEVER WRITING A HOMESTUCK AU AGAAAAIINNNN

[avatarskywalker78]

💘🌈🌻

💘Is there any posted fic you want to rework/re-edit/re-write?

I'd like to rework parts of even if we can't find heaven (i'll walk through hell with you) because that was a longfic that I didn't really plan and it shows - it's disjointed, characters show up out of nowhere because the fic snowballed, and I feel that the pacing just doesn't work as I'd like. I tried to cram too much in and had a strange obsession with all the chapters being similar lengths, which is why scenes that should've been cliffhangers aren't, like, for example, when Firestorm shows up to threaten Steph - by all rights, that should've been the cliffhanger because it would certainly have been a dramatic one, and instead it's very anticlimatic because it's resolved in the next scene. I wouldn't change much of the actual plot, because in this case I did need to set things up, but it could've gone better and I'd definitely like to tidy it up if nothing else.

🌈is there a fic that you worked *really fucking hard on* that no one would ever know? maybe a scene/theme you struggled with?

My OUAT fic seven for a secret (ready to be told) ended up being harder than I expected, because I'd never written dialogue only before and I had to work out how to transform Neal's story into something kid-friendly and more like a traditional fairytale, which meant deciding which parts had to be edited.

🌻what makes you want to give up on writing? what makes you keep going?

A combination of lack of motivation and lack of response, especially if I've worked for ages on a fic and it doesn't get any comments at all. What keeps me going is the comments I do get, plus the positive response I get on here whenever I share extracts or talk about upcoming wips, and when it comes to OC fics I'm not prepared to abandon them, especially if they're years old.

Fanfic writer ask game!

[starsandsunkissed]

Take Two (Part 6/6)

Summary: After a tragic car accident, Michaela Bolaca is uprooted from her home on the East Coast and moved to South Park, Colorado, to live with her maternal aunt's family, the Blacks. But being the New Kid is rough at the best of times in the best of places. In South Park? Well, as long as she keeps her head down, she should be fine...right?

Starts a few weeks before season 7, episode 1. First Person POV.

~•~

Take Two, part 1/6: https://www.tumblr.com/starsandsunkissed/745256166729367552/take-two-chapter-1-starsandsunkissed-south?source=share

/

Take Two, Part 2/6: https://www.tumblr.com/starsandsunkissed/745256412778774528/take-two-chapter-1-starsandsunkissed-south?source=share

/

Take Two, Part 3/6: https://www.tumblr.com/starsandsunkissed/745257091615293440/take-two-chapter-1-starsandsunkissed-south?source=share

/

Take Two, Part 4/6:

https://www.tumblr.com/starsandsunkissed/745257495784783872/take-two-chapter-1-starsandsunkissed-south?source=share

/

Take Two, Part 5/6:

https://www.tumblr.com/starsandsunkissed/745257905096458240/take-two-chapter-1-starsandsunkissed-south?source=share

~•~

"Do you have a boyfriend, Michaela?" asked Red abruptly.

That was one hell of a subject change. All chatter halted as everyone awaited my answer. The redhead looked at me like she seriously doubted it and I wanted to prove her wrong but I'd be lying big time.

"No."

"I've had three!" piped Bebe.

It was so hard not to cringe at that. Three ex-boyfriends. I haven't even had one! Do you just have more luck in a smaller town? Maybe being crammed into the same class over and over again with the same people gave you more time to get to know them... no, that didn't sound right.

"So who do you think is cute in our class?" questioned Wendy without flinching.

Oh my God. I didn't even know the names of the other three girls who sat at the table, but did that matter as much as which boy I thought had the best-looking face? Clearly not in this town.

"Well... no one. I just got here, like, yesterday!"

Turning in her seat, Wendy gestured to Kyle's table behind us.

"We can set you up with someone, right girls?"

"Right!" They all cheered in unison.

I couldn't help the grimace that came to my face. Several bodies, one mind, it seemed.

"Stan—the one with the blue pom pom hat—is mine, so keep your eyes off him."

The boys were getting rambunctious but out of all of them, Stan seemed to be the lone settled one.

"Red likes Craig, the one in the blue coat."

"Tolkien is taken, Oh! He's really nice that's too bad." Wendy murmured as if an afterthought. She continued to prattle off names with the other girls jumping in with commentary and my head spun trying to keep up. Why did it feel like they were talking in another language? Butters, Butters... I think that was the name of the kid who asked if the moon and sun were one during class. Jimmy...wait did Wendy say Jimmy or Timmy? Did she say both? She was pointing to a few boys across the cafeteria now. Bradley... Kevin.. I just couldn't keep up. I took a bite out of my sandwich so I didn't have to say anything.

"Bebe has been on and off with Clyde and Kyle. She just can't make up her mind! I think that's about it!"

Groaning inwardly, I tried to smile and nod. This was fucking torture.

Grinning wickedly, Wendy withdrew her hands and placed them back on the table's surface. She took a sip from her milk carton before continuing. "That leaves you with Kenny."

"Also Cartman." Heidi laughed. "You never know, he might be the one for you!"

Bursting into giggles, Bebe shoved her playfully. "Shut up! That's so mean, Heidi!"

Wendy was smirking along with the rest of the girls so it was hard to trust anything that came from her mouth. "Don't listen to her, Michaela. Kenny will be good for you. He isn't bad looking either."

I huffed. I had lost my patience. "Alright, listen," I said, standing up, "I don't know what your issue is with me, but I'm not dealing with this passive-aggressive, catty, mean girl bullshit. Either air out all your issues with me right now or shut the fuck up, okay?"

The entire table looked on in shock.

"Tolkien and Kyle both offered to let me sit with them, and I told them no because I really wanted to be friends with you girls. Silly me, huh? All you've done since I got here is do mean girl tactics and whisper catty remarks to my face thinking I wouldn't notice. Well, not anymore. Enjoy your lunch, girls."

I carried my tray and left, meeting Tolkien at his table. Thankfully, he made space for me and introduced me to his friends.

"Hey there," said a boy with messy brown hair, giving me a half-lidded glance. "What's going on?"

"Don't flirt with my cousin, Clyde!" snapped Tolkien.

I raised an eyebrow. "If that was flirting, then I don't think we have much to worry about."

Craig let out a few chuckles.

"Oh!" said a boy in yellow — Jimmy, I think that was his name. "Wow, what a great audience!"

I opened my milk carton with a huff.

"Is everything okay?" asked Tolkien.

I nodded. "Just girls acting like two-faced bitches."

"W-W-What else is n-new?" asked Jimmy.

"Just ignore them, you'll be fine," said Craig.

I glanced at the girls' table. Wendy was poking at her food, but Bebe and Heidi were giving me glares. The others were gesturing and writing on the table.

"I hope you're right."

~•~

[wolfwing04]

As Above, So Below - One Hell of a First Day

Rin Okumura x OC

Chapter 1

———————————————————

Today is a new day. New school, new classes, new friends! It is so overwhelming I want to cry! But yet here I am, with a magical key in some random lock apparently about to enter the Exorcist Cram School. Deep breath in…out…3…2…1…I turn the key and open the door.

The gigantic hallway is covered in a dark toned repeating colour pattern. It's almost nausea inducing how big this place is. Yet, I found the classroom. After opening the door, I’m guided to the front of the room. “Everyone, meet Mx Ren Turner. As of today they will be joining us. Please make them feel welcomed.” the teacher turns to me ‘You can sit down now.’ and so I do.

A past quiz is handed out, so I adjust my gear; notebook, pen, silent button stim toy (held in my lap so I don’t distract anyone), and scrap paper for whatever my brain decides. And at that moment, it decided it was for little 5-petaled flowers from one corner outwards. “Mx Turner, question for you. What is a use for wormwood?” I lift my head up to answer “Aside from a mosquito repellent? Protection from the evil eye.” Mr Okumura smiles “Both are correct. It's my understanding you’re already qualified for the Exquire exam, yes?” A deep sigh escapes my lips and everyone turns to me. “Yeah…my parents are exorcists so I was homeschooled on it since I was a kid.” Thankfully, sir moves on.

My parentage is an interesting one. I was adopted when I was really young but my birth parents still stayed in contact. I grew up calling them my Aunty Sam and Uncle Ariel until I was 7. That's when the whole truth came out about me. Born to be a soldier of God. Still may become one if I do well in becoming an exorcist. So, when I say my parents are exorcists, I mean my birth ones. And by ‘are exorcists’, I mean 2 of the head soldiers (or generals) of God. Or as humans like to call us, angels.

Sir comes around handing out slips for the Exquire Exam Bootcamp. The dark haired boy in front of me walks over to the huddle of boys. “Hey..can you explain all this to me?” I jump up and stand with me “Me too? This I was never told about.” The split-dyed hair boy, Bon, grumbles about how we don't know. His friend, Konekomaru, gives an explanation on ‘mysters’. When the dark haired boy, Rin, and I give yet another confused look, Bon loses his cool and snaps about the different mysters, “There are 5 mysters; aria, doctor, dragoon, knight, and tamer. Aria recites passages, doctors heal, dragoons use firearms, tamers summon familiars, and knights fight with a freaking sword!” I roll my eyes at the sass given “Well thank you Bon, but you didn't need to be an ass about it.” I get up and go back to my desk, leaving Bon to grumble about me calling him both Bon and an ass.

Ariel would be an aria while Sam a tamer. They’ll each want me to take after each other respectively but…ever since getting into small blades as a special interest and even having a pair of stiletto daggers that I can use…would that count as Knight?

——

Second period, I’m introduced to Mr Noihaus. The summoning/familiar teacher. He hands out little squares of paper with a summoning circle on it and instructs us to drop some blood on it to attempt to summon a familiar. Only 2 people are able to get it to work. Miss Kamiki with a pair of white foxes and Miss Shiemi with a little greenman. I know Sam is able to summon demons and a familiar, though I don’t know if that's because she’s an angel of death or if it's just her. Either way, I pretend it didn’t work just to be safe. I’m not in the mood to accidentally summon the wrong thing.

——

That evening, I try to find my dorm room “603…603…” I mutter scanning the hallways. Since I’m non-binary, Mephisto bent some rules to allow me to stay in the almost abandoned boys dorm. I’m one of 3 students apparently and since it’s a decent size there’s a super low chance of us interacting and it being awkward.

“Hey!” Shit. “Hey…I’m Ren- RIN?!” Double shit. He sheepishly smiles and rubs the back of his neck. “Yeah…Hi. I guess we’re gonna be seeing each other more often now.” “Aye. Uh, if you’re not busy. Can you help me find room 603?” “Oh sure! That’s next to Yukio and mine’s room.” Oh very shit. “Huh…how about that.” I am rooming next to my classmate and my teacher who is my classmate's younger twin brother.

20 minutes later my room is set up. “Is this your family?” Rin asks, staring at a photo on my pin board. “Uh…kinda. They’re my adopted parents. On the other side of me are my birth parents. We’re originally from Australia, but my mum got a better job offer in Japan so now we’re here. Have been since I was a kid.” Even though the chance of a roommate is very low, I’ve still only used half the room just in case. “Oh, just so you know. We have a stove spirit living in our kitchen called Ookubok. He cooks most of our food so if there's stuff you can’t eat or something you should probably let him know.” I make a mental note of that. With food sensory issues, I’ll need to tell this Ookubok. And just introduce myself in general. “Oh ok, thanks.” We are left in a still silence that I’m ok with but Rin seems tense. “Well! I’m next door if you need me.” Rin starts to walk out. “Yeah…Wa-Wait!” He turns around ‘thank you…’ “heh, no problem!” And with that he leaves.

——

The next day, the twins and I wait outside our dorm building for everyone to show up for the bootcamp. “Why is it in our dorm again?” Rin grumbles “Because we’re the only ones here and so won’t disturb anyone. Also convenience.” Yukio nods in agreement “So, what class are you in for the Academy, Turner?” I shake my head “Yeah nah, I’m only in the cram school. Once again, I was homeschooled for most of the normal school stuff.”

The rest of our Cram class show up. “Your class has arrived!” Shima grins and waves. “Turner? How did you get here first?” Bon asks, confused. See, what he's seeing is his feminine appearing classmate lounging around at the old boys dorm. Meaning either I just got here sooner than them (because I don't have normal classes) or something is going on between one of the twins and I. Well, jokes on him, it's a secret third option. “Oh me? This is my dorm too.” I stand up and head into the building with no explanation, leaving everyone confused. They may hear the gender neutral terms being used for me, but they haven’t actually been told. And you know what? I’m gonna keep this up for as long as possible. Rin follows after me. “Let's get this over with.”

——

“Time's up! Turn over your papers and hand them in please”. Yukio’s voice snaps through the silence the room was in and is followed up by a string of groans and mumbles from the class. ‘I want everyone up at 6am tomorrow morning. That’ll give us an hour to go over the test answers.’ Rin, looking dead, mumbled and leaves the room. Kamiki, Paku, and Shiemi all file out excitedly talking about a bath. “Hehe. 3 girls taking a bath. Together! I what do ya say guys we bust our ass over and get a peak!” Shima remarks. I get up behind him and whack him over the back of the head “Hello, we’re supposed to be monks!” “You’re getting back into your bad habits again…” Bon and Konekomaru groan. “Oh come on y’all are just as curious as I am- er, except maybe you Ren.” I sigh with my head in my hands. “Excuse me? Your teacher is sitting right here.” Yukio reminds them, uncomfortable with the conversation. “You might be our teacher but you’re still a freshman just like us~” “Ok!! I’m leaving” I groan. ‘Boys are bloody gross…’

While making my way to my dorm, I run into Rin and Shiemi talking. “...She is the first friend I’ve ever had! You don’t get it…you’ve always had friends, you’ve always been strong!” Shiemi fires back and runs off. Poor girl…I make moves to follow her. I know that feeling of not having friends. Maybe she’ll let me be hers. Rin also goes after her, possibly for a similar reason.

Just as he catches her wrist, a scream rips through the corridor from the girls bathroom. Rin and I both take off with Shiemi behind. When we enter the room, Paku is unconscious on the tiled floor with a ghoul above her. Rotten saliva drips from its mouth and has seemingly given Paku a temptate. Kamiki is standing frozen in her under clothes, her fox familiars turned on her and lunging. Rin lands a punch with one while I deck the other. “Tear up the paper!” Rin shouts. Shiemi enters and gets straight to work on Paku, her little green man sprouting aloe to help.

Rin and I take to the ghoul. While he beats it with his sheathed sword, I take to scratching it with one of my daggers. It throws me against a wall and Rin through the doors into the bathing area. It gurgles something at Rin and I throw myself back at the demon. Rin’s able to wriggle himself out of the ghoul’s grip. “Pitiful soldier…” it groans at me. It knows what I am…can it sense it? I move to have my blade make contact with it. Instead, it gets me and tears across my shirt. 4 gunshots echo through the bathroom. “Yukio!” I call in relief. The ghoul retreats. “You’re late!” Rin sasses “I got here didn’t I?” Yukio goes and checks on Paku, who seems to have just started to wake up.

Rin walks over to me and hands me a dagger I didn’t even notice I’d dropped. “Your shirt…are you ok?” I take the dagger and slip it into its holster in my boot. “Yeah I’m fine. Just got my shirt.” He slips his off and hands it to me “Put this on. You look uncomfortable.” I smile and take it from him. It's a loose fit on me. “Thanks.” I turn to leave, but the small sniffles from a hunched body behind the lockers stops me. “Kamiki?” “Don’t look at me!” she cries. And cries she does. She lets it all out. I sneak out her shirt from her locker and pass it to her. “Here…It’s ok. We all freeze sometimes.” I make my way out of the room, but I can still just hear the confused discussion on how Rin is now suddenly shirtless.

[darknight3904]

Sober - Eddie Munson 

Chapter 1- 9pm

Masterlist

This story begins before ST4 starts. It starts around the beginning of December.

"Max are we out of milk?" Marguerite groaned

"Uh yeah probably. Mom hasn't grocery shopped in like two weeks." Max mumbled

She slammed the fridge shut with a groan and opted for some toast instead.

"Let's go. We're gonna be late." Marguerite mumbled through a mouthful of toast and jelly

"You know we could just not go." Max said slipping her walkman onto her waist.

"Mmm and how do you think Susan would feel about that? Besides it's better that she doesn't have to worry about us. Let her work without any worries about us." Marguerite replied. Max rolled her eyes but followed her stepsister out the door anyway.

"Morning Mayfield's!" A voice called

Eddie Munson stood leaned against his shitty van, joint in hand.

Max glanced over at him with annoyance.

"Ignore him. He's just a weirdo." Marguerite said

"I still love the car Marguerite! Let me drive it sometime!" Eddie yelled

Marguerite flipped the boy off as she fumbled for the keys to the car. Technically the car wasn't even hers. Billy's blue Camero was officially Marguerite's most prized possession. She had blew most of her savings getting it fixed after the mall. It didn't run as well as it did but it was one of the few things she had left of him. Her dad had taken practically all of Billy's stuff when he left. Marguerite had put her foot down and claimed that she and the Camero would be staying in Hawkins. Her father's response?

"It's a shit car anyway. And you...you're an even shittier daughter."

That was the last time they had spoke. The next day he had his and Billy's things packed and was gone by noon. Susan had sprung for a little trailer and was now working an extra job leaving the girls at home alone most of the time. Sure it didn't really matter since Marguerite had turned 18 back in October but the house or rather trailer still felt lonely without her.

°°°

High school should just be optional. Holding teens for 7 hours a day and forcing them to cram a bunch of garbage into their heads was a waste of time. Of course that didn't mean everything was bad. For example right now Marguerite was right where she wanted to be, a beat up picnic table in the woods.

"You know flipping me off this morning was kinda rude." A voice said

"Then stop pretending to know me when Max is around." Marguerite mumbled

"Why? Don't want your little sister knowing what you're doing?" Eddie laughed as he sat across from her

"Just..give me what I want Munson." She sighed

Eddie shook his head but pulled out the items anyway. Marguerite slapped the cash into his hands and quickly opened the bag with cocaine in it.

"Really? Right infront of me?" Eddie complained as he counted his money

"Didn't know you were some sort of saint." She said

"Same time on Friday?" Eddie asked ignoring her quip

"Yeah. But I was actually wondering if you have anything stronger? I can pay double. I just...need an escape." She said looking away from what Eddie had given her

He rose a brow at her proposal. Sure, he knew that you weren't some little inexperienced kid looking for drugs from him but that didn't stop him from being worried.

"Uh yeah I do. You sure you really want more? That's alot you got right there." Eddie motioned to the two bags on the table. One had Weed and the other Cocaine.

"Yes I'm sure." Marguerite snapped

"Alright. My trailer 9pm tonight." Eddie scratched his head

"Can't it be earlier? I have other stuff to do." She sighed

"Nope. Gotta Hellfire meeting tonight." Eddie grinned motioning to his ugly shirt

"Oh yeah I forgot about your stupid little club." She groaned

"Hellfire is not stupid. Maybe if you showed up you'd actually like it." Eddie smiled

"And do what? Roll dice and pretend those silly little campaigns are real? I don't think so. I'll stay away from you and your freak show." Marguerite said as she began to walk away.

"See you at 9!" Eddie yelled

Hello!! This is my first time posting anything on Tumblr. So I'm like a total novice when it. Comes to working the posting half of this. I've been reading and looking at tons of posts for awhile now but actually creating is a little different. I've written a few things on Wattpad but I wanted to try Tumblr out for a change. Sober is cross Posted on Wattpad where I actually know how to work all of the magical settings and stuff. Hope you enjoy this story about my new favorite boy. 💜💜

[faggot-bastard]

Leave

1,834 words

Chapter 8/?

Chapter 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 ( i need to update these links, visit my pinned post for the updated links)

The group heads over to the elevator. Eddie is walking because apparently the doctors said it was okay. Steve didn't fully belive it but whatever. Steve was also walking with Robin at his side making sure he didn't fall.

At least thats what she said thats what she was doing. From Steve's perspective it looked like she was walking next to Steve while she stared off into space.

They all crammed into the elevator in a comedic fashion. The elevator wouldn't be considered small if it was just one or two people but when there were 5 people coming into the elevator with three people already in there, it was small. The elevator ride was uncomftorable and weirdly quiet. Once they got to the third and last floor everyone rushed out and exhaled as if they had been holding their breaths the entire time, which Robin was.

Their group started walking toward Erica's room and the three other people walked the other way. Two of them looked to be a couple and the third person was headed in the same direction but didn't seem to be walking with the couple.

The group walked into Erica's room. Lucas, Max, Eleven, and Erica were playing a card game that looked suspiciously like Go-Fish. They all looked up when the group walked in.

Erica and Max laughed seeing them all try to fit through the doorframe at the same time. El and Lucas were barely holding themselves together. Mike sat next to El and Dustin sat down next to Lucas. Dustin looked at Lucas' cards and then at Erica's. He smirked and then leaned back in the chair. Robin, Eddie, and Steve sat in the chairs away from the bed.

"Do you think it makes you better than us when you sit back there?" Max asked in a mocking tone of voice.

"I think that there's no more room next to Erica's bed." Steve responded.

Eleven passed more cards out to Dustin and Mike and they continued the game. The game finished with Max winning. El started shuffling the cards and Mike spoke.

"Do you guys want to try playing this fun game I learned recently."

"Sure." Lucas said

"Why not." Max remarked

"Is it stupid?" Erica asked.

"Well I like to think its not stupid but you probably will think it is."

"Thats fair."

"What are the rules?" Dustin asked.

Mike began explaining the rules. The game sounded unnesecarily complicated but really fun.

They began playing and El won the first round. (Steve didn't say it but he saw her wiping away the nosebleed she had from looking at the cards.)

The kids played games for the next hour or so. El, Max, and Lucas were joking around alot and it sounded weird to say but, it looked like Mike and Dustin were somehow third wheeling. Or would that be fourth and fifth wheeling.

"Hey, do you want to go into the hall and talk about whatever you wanted to talk about?" Robin asked.

"Yeah sure." Steve said building up some confidence. It was Robin, she would love him regardless but he was still nervous. It was like there were thousands of tiny butterflies rolling in his stomach.

They walked out of the room with Steve following her. The two walked a little bit away from the open door, enough that the group wouldn't be able to hear them unless they were trying to.

"So, what is it?"

"Um I," Shit, Steve was stuttering. Why was he nevous. It was going to be fine. "I think I uh might be Bi."

"Really, I knew it."

Steve lowered his shoulders and relaxed. He didn't know what he was so nervous about. Robin was literally the one who had brought up the idea. "Wait, you knew it?"

"I mean I guessed. You were staring at Kevin Bacon the whole time we watched Footloose."

"I didn't even think about that."

"Okay so what did make you realize?"

"I'm not telling you."

"C' mon I've told you pretty much everything."

"I'll tell you if you tell me the name of that new crush."

"Fine." Robin stuck out her hand and Steve shook it.

"Well, it was Eddie." Steve said blushing like hell.

"Shit, Eddie. I mean thats fair, he is hot."

"Okay, whats the name of your secret crush?"

"Not telling you"

"You shook on it!"

"I was crossing my fingers. Anyways, I would bet that Eddie has a thing for guys. And he'd be crazy not to go for you."

"No, I don't think he's into dudes."

"Your gaydar is ass."

"My gaydar is perfectly fine, it works."

"Steve, you thought I was straight, ME."

"Well, yeah. But my gaydar still works."

"Fine, if your gaydar works so well answer me this. Which of the kids is probably queer?"

"Will and Dustin."

"Steve, its all of those kids. They are all queer."

"Robin, I trust your gaydar but you're wrong."

"Am I though?"

Steve laughed "Yes you are, Mike is most definitely straight."

now it was Robin's turn to laugh, "Even if I'm wrong, which I'm not, Mike is they gayest one there."

"No way."

"Have you seen the way he stares at Will?"

"He does not."

"Yeah, all the time. I'm suprised you didn't notice."

"Am I oblivious or are you wrong."

"You are a dingus so I would guess that youre oblivious."

"I am not a dingus."

"Are too."

"Am not."

"Are too."

"Am not."

"Are too."

"You guys sound like children." Eddie said with just his head sticking out the door and the rest of his body inside the room.

"Hey Eddie," Steve said, blushing. "How much of that did you hear?"

Eddie steps fully out into the hallway. "Just the 'Am not, are too" part of it." he says in a mocking tone of voice.

"Did you need something or did you just come here to bother us?" Robin asked, their words sounded mean but their tone was joking and nice.

"Everyone was just wondering what was taking so long. Dustin wanted to listen in on you guys but I told him we shouldn't."

Robin looked at him skeptically.

He looked back at her sheepishly, "Okay fine it was Lucas who said we shouldn't."

"We're done anyways." Steve said.

They all walked into the room and sat down.

"Finally, you nerds are back." Erica said.

"What?" Steve asked, "Were you worried about us?"

"We were just wondering if you idiots had somwhow died." Erica was joking and everyone knew that by the sound of her voice but there was a serious layer in her tone. A tone that was saying that they could die that fast, that everyone in this room has seen people die. Everyone laughed but they all knew that they could die, pretty much at any time.

"Nope, not dead yet."

Robin and Steve sat down in their chairs and Steve laughed. Neither him or Robin were sitting in their chairs properly, or anyone else for that matter.

A doctor walked in and Mike, El, Erica, and the adults all tensed.

Dustin, Lucas, and Max were all still laughing together completely oblivious to the change in tone. Finally they saw that everyone was looking at the doctor and they saw him too.

it was quiet and tense in the room, there was a sense of hope but it was also filled with anxiety and fear. Everyone held still and was as quiet as possible. If someone were to walk into the room they would instinctively beome quiet and would probably have anxiety loop around their chest and slowly pull.

The doctor chuckeled awkwardly, "I come bearing good news."

They all relax and it's still quiet but less like during an imprtant test and more like relaxing with close friends.

"You're able to be released from the hospital now. We've already called your parents and they are heading here."

The kids all stood up and started cheering. Lucas danced around with El, Max and Mike and Dustin were standing up and laughing with everyone. Eddie and Robin were still sitting but they were smiling. Steve was talking with Erica.

Time passed quickly and soon all the kids were dropped off at home. (courtesey of Mrs. Sinclair and Robin who had stolen Steve's car while he was in the hospital)

Steve and Eddie were back in their hospital room, they were watching a movie Robin had brought for them.

"Hey Steve?"

"Yeah."

"Do you belive in a god?"

"Well thats a really compliated quiestion. I used to, before all of this. Things happened and I realized that God just didn't care if he even did exist. If I'm really stressed out I might pray but its more to comfort myself than anything. What do you think?"

"I personally think that there might be a higher power of some kind, but they aren't whatever religions describe."

"That makes sense. Why were you asking?"

"Just curious. I've met lots of people with lots of different beliefs. You're one of the only people who didn't scoff at me before answering with something like: 'I'm a christian.' "

Steve laughed. Eddie was interesting and funny. He didn't look his usual self without the clothes and rings, but he still looked really cool. He looked like someone who would flip off cops with no hesitation but help people whenever he could. Of course Steve had seen him do both so it wasn't all that hard to imagine.

A different doctor than the one in Erica's room walked in. He looked as uncomftorable as the other doctor. Although the other dotor had been uncomftorable because of the tension, this one was uncomftorable because it was such a private moment.

He spoke confidently anyways. "You two are able to be released now."

"Again!?" Eddie remarked.

"Again?" The doctor asked.

"Our friend was released today too." Steve answered.

"Oh our hospital tries not to keep anybody over four days unless they truly need our help."

The doctor them begins to explain how to take care of the concussion and stithes to both of us. Steve wasn't paying attention but he did catch when to use the pain meds he perscribed so thats good.

Eddie's uncle Wayne came to pick him up and brought him fresh clothes.

Robin came to pick up Steve but unfortunately she didn't bring clothes for him. Steve couldn't think of any words, he was too tired. Instead of trying he just listened quietly to Robin's music.

The music sounded more muted than usual. Over the last three years Steve had gotten some hearing damage so that he could barely hear out of one of his ears.

They finally reached Steve's house and he walked straight upstairs, took his disgusting clothes off, and laid down.

He passed out almost immideately.

A/N: I feel that I may have rushed this but im fine with how it is so i wont change anything. I finished this last night but I couldn't think of a title and then I passed out. Also to the friend who told me that I shouldn't go past 13 chapters, I'm going way over that. Steve is a tired little bitch who sleeps alot.