#DUDE by this point despise this sleepy guy

[chloesimaginationthings]

FNAF movie Mike vs Vanny on ordering pizzaplex food

[bonny-kookoo]

Catch it (JJK x Reader)💜☁️👽

💚 Pairing: Jeon Jungkook x Reader

💚 Genre: Alien!AU, strangers to lovers, fluff, angst, smut

💚 Warnings: Mentions of war, Reader is homeless, Jungkook is kind of clumsy, he hurts her accidentally sometimes, it’s never intentional though, slavery (in a sense), sweet boy Jungkook, no smut yet sorry haha PLEASE DON'T LEAVE I PROMISE ITS GOOD

💚 Summary: The world is literally ending. In a last effort to save earth, the race of Alcor demands humanities planet to be given into their care, as humans have been slowly killing the planet for way too long. But it’s humanity we’re talking about; they never give up without a fight. Even if they should.

Part of the Alien!Jungkook series!

Catch it | Hold it | Keep it | Save it | ???

  The world had officially gone to shit.

Now, that was hard to overlook at this point; with almost every street in utter ruins, every corner looking like the worst slums at this point. Humanity had lost the war they had started; and the Alcorian people had by now begun to get rid of everything, building up things from scratch, and planting new trees and other plants.

They were healing the planet, as they called it.

You'd always despised the ways your own race handled things in the past, but this time you'd genuinely thought they would do the right thing. When you'd seen it on TV, the Alcorian government speech, you'd been surprised. You didn't really know what to think of aliens if you'd ever been asked in the past, Alcorian people already known to be existent by the time you'd been in school still. Now, years after finishing and living a life of a sole survivor on the streets, you'd never truly took time to think about what kind of appearance they may had. But now you knew- and it was nothing like you would've ever thought.

From what you've seen and heard they were tall- and had much more physical strength than a regular human. Their eyes had cat-like pupils designed for their naturally long nights on their homeplanet, giving them a distinctive look. The most common color seen had been green or a very dark brown- light brown, beige, or blue eyes were a rarity. The carried themselves with a certain kind of confidence that wasn't overbearing or too pushy. They simply knew they had the upper hand.

Humanity had been simply stupid.

Or narcisstic, as you liked to call it. The government had just been too scared to have power taken away like a toddler who'd throw a fit if it was time to let someone else play with a toy. But this wasn't kindergarden, and no one was playing around.

"Do you need help?" He'd asked, and you kept your hood down low, careful not to show your face and reveal anything to the Alcorian standing close to you. He had a nice voice, you'd noticed, but the fear still crept into your bones from the very real possibility of him taken you away, just like everyone else at this point. The war had been over for a little over a month by now, and Humans were not seen that much anymore. Everyone kept themselves hidden, stories about humans getting snatched and sometimes even eaten keeping you up at night like a child afraid of the dark. "Hey- are you okay?" He asked again. Considering your very small height in comparison to him, he probably mistook you for an alcorian child, and wanted to take you somewhere safe. They were known to be protective of their family after all.

At his touch, you slowly backed away, as he grew more and more suspicious of you. His hand reached for your hood, and that was the exact moment you decided to absolutely book it, and run off.

Sadly, he wasn't at all dumbfounded by that, and you should've listened to that weird drunk guy some weeks ago telling you that Alcorian's were hunters- they loved to chase and run. And oh well, with legs like that, he totally had all odds in his favor. You're only chance of escaping was the backside of an old grocery store, old vending machines serving as a hiding spot for you every time you needed one. Your small body always fit right between the two large machines, giving you a sense of security. Not now however, as he almost ran past where you'd squeezed yourself in, hood now completely down as your face- and most importantly eyes- were exposed to be seen.

“You’re- Human!” He exclaims with wide eyes, cat like pupils contracting in shock as you squeeze yourself tighter against the wall behind you, vending machines providing a bit of distance between you and the Alcorian. He’s too broad, too tall to fit where you’re hiding, but his arm is long enough to reach you as he grabs your jacket, pulling on the fabric as if to force you out.

“No, leave me!” You demand, eyes squeezing shut as tears begin to gather. This was it; your chase was over, and this dude would be having you for dinner. Or not- you didn’t really know exactly what Alcorians did with humans after they captured them. All you knew was that you were already small for human standards- these beings were taller and stronger by nature already.

“Sto-Stop being so complicated-!” He gritted our, still pulling on your clothing to get you out of your hiding spot, grabbing a bit more for good measure. Why couldn’t he just leave you alone? Why did he have to be so fucking strong? The gravel and dirt underneath your shoes made scratching sounds as he slowly but surely pulled you out of your spot, not letting you go even for a second, even as you'd tried to pry his hand off, scratching his skin and making him hiss. "There we- go!" He exclaimed, having gotten you out of your spot, holding you tightly against his chest as he held your wrists tightly, leg thrown over yours to keep you from struggling. You felt your tears fall down your cheeks, as you began to pathetically breath heavier, faster, huffing as you kept your eyes closed tightly. As if you'd wake up.

"Please don't hurt me." You whispered over and over pathetically, a begging tune to your voice as he simply.. hushed you? And wait, was that hand on your head.. petting you?

"There there.." He consoled, as if you were a scared cat he had to calm down. "I'm not gonna do anything okay?" He hummed, letting you calm down for a moment, before he spoke again. "I'm gonna let go of your legs now, okay?" He said, and you nodded with hesitation as he did just as he told you, slowly moving his leg, and softening the grip on your wrists as well. You stayed completely stiff in his hold, not daring to move as he continued. "You're not claimed." He stated, and you nodded again, not trusting your voice as you agreed to his statement. It was rare by now to find an unclaimed human just like that. Something in his jacket buzzed, making him groan a bit, before he slowly stood up. "I wish I had more time to make you feel a bit more comfortable but-" He started, before he pulled out a black.. collar? You instantly struggled again. He may looked nice, but he was an alcorian at the end of the day- you never knew what he'd do. "No no no please-" He desperately tried, looking around in frenzy as he held your hands again. "Look- its nothing bad okay? I just want to help you!" He urged on, making you furrow your brows at him. "I promise you, I really do- I'll take care of you okay? Just- trust me for a bit. You can decide after we took off okay?" He said, and you became a bit less hesitant.

"Take off where?" You asked, and he genuinely smiled at the fact that you spoke to him, before explaining.

"I'm taking you home with me." He said, and you grew uneasy again. "No, don't- don't look at me like that!" He whined, before he squatted down as if to make him seem less dangerous to you. "They're collecting. I've seen you around these parts for a couple of days, and I'd like you to have a chance of deciding where you want to be." He said, and you looked at him in question. But- as soon as he would claim you, you were his property. "I'm just going to put this on you for the duration of the flight, okay? I promise you, you can decide afterwards where you want to go. But we need to move now!" He urged, and you nodded. There was nothing keeping you on this rotting earth anyways, even though you'd still hoped to stay. He beamed at you, smile reminding you of a bunny as he carefully placed the collar around your neck, before taking your hand.

You whined a bit at his tight grip as he looked back, eyes contracting again at the sight of your angrily red wrists. He looked apologetic as he seemed to think, before he simply decided to pick you up instead, carrying you to wherever he was going. "Sorry, for uh.. I didn't mean to." He said, and you simply didn't answer, letting your head rest on his shoulder as you watched the familiar grocery store grow smaller the further away you went.

This really was the end, wasn't it?

"Little one?" A voice spoke, slowly awakening you from a nap you didn't even notice slipping into. You were still leaning against the body of that Alcorian guy who'd picked you up, warm body making you feel sleepy. You moved a bit to detach yourself, as you looked at him, for the first time in proper lighting.

He looked young but mature at the same time, with wide, brightly colored eyes. His dark hair was long and straight, while his face was slightly soft in its proportions. Lips pink and arched into a soft smile seemed to fit perfectly, just like the tiny beauty mark in the middle just underneath his lower lip. He was handsome.

"You can sleep in a second." He promised in a low voice, careful not to disturb other passengers as he looked out the window. "I just thought you.. might not want to miss this." He said carefully, unknowing if this would be a painful goodbye for you.

It wasn't as bad as you thought it would be.

You held onto his jacket a bit tighter as the shuttle roared to life, slowly gaining speed on the runway as it departed, earth and the city growing smaller, until clouds blocked the way. Jungkook watched you with a studying gaze, glad that he'd managed to get you onto the shuttle before departing. He'd found you a few weeks earlier, roaming the streets like a lost animal, as he studied you. You were nice and friendly towards other humans, and agile in escaping Alcorian police forces who searched the streets occasionally. Sharing food was never something you denied when asked, and he'd also watched with a hurting heart as your small amounts of belongings got stolen one night, leaving you with nothing behind.

He just.. had to do something.

Humans were always depicted as selfish creatures only knowing their own benefit, and he had to agree to a certain point; a lot of them were like that. It was understandable to a degree, but it also wasn't, considering that his race had only tried to help. They'd never intended to start a war.

"Whats your name?" You asked in a quiet voice, careful not to speak too loud, as he smiled at you.

"Jungkook." He replied. "Jeon Jungkook." He spoke as he tilted his head. "And yours?" He asked.

"Y/N." You answered, and he nodded.

"You can keep it, if you want to." He said, and you simply leaned into him, watching as you broke orbit, earth now far away. For some reason, you didn't know if you wanted to. There was no reason to keep it, if you were leaving your old life behind like that. He seemed nice, and friendly- a bit rough, but that was to be expected. For some odd reason, you didn't want to decide whether or not to stay with him or not. He'd claimed you, end of story. You didn't even notice that you had started crying until his hand began to run over your head again, shifting a bit to have you sit a bit more comfortably.

Maybe he wasn't so bad.

"And there we are." He exclaimed, setting you down for the first time after the flight once you'd both entered his living space. It seemed- oddly like a regular apartment, with rounded windows and furniture that looked similar to what you knew. You stood still, until he gently tapped your back a bit. "You can go explore a bit- I have to make a call real quick." He said, and you nodded, taking off your shoes before walking inside further, watching as Jungkook left to go into a different room. Alcorians and Humans were similarly developed and shared a lot of technology. It was surprising however how much alike but different at the same time things were. You went closer to the largest window, watching as cars sped by- or, where those planes? It wasn't easy to tell.

"A friend of mine will stop by in a moment." He explained from behind you, as he kept a small distance from you, as if to preserve your personal space. "Just to give you a quick check up." He said, and you grew a bit uneasy, as he suddenly tried to retract his statement. "You know, nothing bad! Just, you know, to make sure you're okay and in good health-" He said, before you spoke again.

"What.. Why am I here?" You asked, and his eyes widened at the realization on what you hinted at. The tips of his pierced ears grew a bit pink at that, as he scratched the back of his head.

"Not for that- promise, I'm not like that!" He said, before he sat down on his couch. "Like I said, I wanted to, you know, get you somewhere safe." He explained. "I work with.. a few friends. We're trying to help humans find compatible people here, to live with." He said, and you nodded, rather sitting down on the carpeted floor a bit away from him. You noticed however, how he said 'people', instead of owners. It made you feel less like a pet.

"So.. you're a rescue organization for.. humans." You stated, and he nodded.

"If you want to call it that, yes." He answered, before someone knocked at the door. You sat up a bit straighter at that, growing uneasy at the visitor. "Please stay calm okay? I promise he's a good guy." He said, before he left to open the door, another tall young Alcorian walking through the door after greeting him. He wore glasses, and his hair was a light sandy brown color, while his eyes looked dark. He spotted you and you slowly began to scoot backwards. Nop, the bag in this guys hands was clearly containing medical equipment, and you were not here for it. "Y/N- No, come back!" He called after you as you ran off to the nearest room, closing the door in a hurry as you frantically searched for a place to hide, choosing the underside of his bed as the perfect place. You could fit right underneath.

"..-rmal for her to react like that. They're usually scared." An unfamiliar voice spoke through the door. "Did you tell her why I would be here?" He asked, and the other voice you clearly by now deciphered as Jungkooks answered with a whine.

"I did, and she was fine with that!" He explained, before the door opened, voices now clearer. "Well, she was a bit scared but I thought that was normal." He admitted, as the stranger sat down near the door, Jungkook next to him as if to block your only way out. Jungkook tried to reach for you only to be held back by the other guy, making him whine at him. "Namjoon, I have to get her out of there!" He said, and the other guy, Namjoon, still pulled him back to sit down.

"You can't force her out like that.!" He scolded, and it got quiet after that for a moment.

You carefully peeked out from underneath the bed, only to be met with Jungkooks smile, and the strangers gentle face. You slowly crawled out of your hiding spot, still staying a safe distance away as you watched both warily. "Hello Y/N. I'm Kim Namjoon, I'm a medical practician majorly focusing on human health." He said, and you scoffed, making Jungkook look at you surprised. You seemed absolutely different from just moments ago with him.

"So you're a vet for humans." You simply said, and Namjoon merely chuckled.

"Feisty. But yeah, you can call it that if you want to." He answered, as you still kept your scowl. "So can you cooperate with me now, or will I have to use force?" He asked, and you became even more hostile, Jungkook stepping in.

"Namjoon no- we won't be using anything like that" He tried, but Namjoon didn't seem to listen as he watched you with an amused expression on his face.

"I'm not a pet." You stated, and Namjoon grinned.

"You're certainly behaving like one." He answered, and you scoffed again.

"Then you won't be too shocked that I will bite you." You said, and the man shook his head.

"You wouldn't be the first one. Your kind loves to be difficult." He said, and your expression got even darker, as Jungkook desperately tried to find a way to diffuse the situation.

"Is that why you like to have us for dinner?" You asked, and both of them looked at you with questioning eyes. "Or is it more fun to fuck us first and then use us as slaves?" You bursted out, standing up as Namjoon looked genuinely caught off guard.

"Is that what they say on earth?" He asked, and you huffed out at that, moving into the furthest corner of the room, needing space. "It definetely does explain the hostility." He mumbled to himself, as Jungkook stood up, walking closer to you, but stopping when you yelled at him to.

"Okay, okay, I'll stay right here." He said, sitting down on the floor a few steps away from you as you hugged yourself in a pathetic way to comfort yourself. This was all getting too much. "If you don't want him here, I'm going to tell him to leave, okay? We don't have to do this now." He said, and you looked between him and Namjoon, uncertain. You may didn't have to face it now, but you had to eventually, right?

"We don't do any of that to humans, by the way." Namjoon suddenly chimed in, as you looked at him. "It's true that humans are being claimed, but they are not forced to do that. Most do it to ensure their safety, others do it out of romantic reasons, and some do it for the thrill, yes." He said. "But no, we don't keep them as slaves, no, we don't use them just for sex, and we certainly do not eat them." He said the last part with an almost humorous expression as you grew shy.

Well, this was awkward.

"Can you stop being difficult now, and let me do my job?" He asked with a more gentle tone now, before you nodded. You didn't walk over to him, however, still not trusting him as you decided to instead crawl onto Jungkooks lap, who happily took you into his arms as you looked over his shoulder at Namjoon, almost as if to say 'fuck you'. "You know, he won't always be there to-" He started, but Jungkook turned around as if offended.

"I will!" He said, holding you like a precious toy he'd just been gifted. "I mean- if she want's to." He mumbled, before Namjoon moved closer, shaking his head with a smile as he started to take your temperature first.

It somehow felt as if he was belittling you. But for some reason, that was okay in some way, considering his bright smile every time he did it. It felt a bit weird at first, but now, after a few days, you felt almost at home with him. You didn't think about earth much, not wanting to spoil your mood while you were with him for that matter.

You were growing a bit more independent day by day however.

Still with his collar wrapped around your neck, since you wouldn't be allowed to roam the streets without one without getting stares left and right, you stopped at a grocery store.

Before leaving today, you had your first fight with the Alcorian.

"I'm not trying to keep you obedient Y/N, I'm trying to protect you!" He explained, trying not to get too riled up as he knew this could scare you.

"But you do! I can't do anything by myself, you're always hovering over me!" You said, and he looked at you in disbelief at that.

You felt so bad, still.

Now more than ever, as you were walking through isle after isle, every word more complicated than the next it seemed. You'd learned some words by now, but most were still a challenge- making it impossible for you to work things out by yourself without probably making a fool of yourself.

You left the grocery store after realizing you couldn't even pay for stuff since he was the one with the money, and it made you feel frustrated. You squatted down near the entrance, calling Jungkook pathetically.

"Little one? Are you okay?" He asked, as if you didn't just fight minutes ago. You sniffled, and he became even more concerned. "Are you still at the grocery store? I'm coming, just wait-" He said, as you chuckled a bit.

"I'm fine Jungkookie I just.. I'm sorry." You explained, as you heard a door close on the other side of the line. "I was horrible to you." You said, but he cut you off.

"Let's talk when I'm there, okay?" He said, and you agreed, waiting for him patiently, trying to ignore the stares and looks you got, some Alcorian kids even pointing at you before getting scolded by their parents.

"I'm sorry." You said immediately as his figure approached you, already opening his arms to welcome you in his hug. "It was uncalled for, I was so mean, please don't hate me-" You said into his chest, as he chuckled.

"What're you doing little one?" He asked with a gentle smile as he looked down on you.

"Apologizing?" You said, and he smiled.

"I know, I'm familiar with that concept." He said, before continuing. "I mean, why? You were just stating your opinion on things." He said, and you felt even worse now.

"But I was mean, and rude to you! I shouldn't be so ungrateful, after all you've taken me in, you let me live with you, you provide me food and shelter, you keep me safe-" You began, as he chuckled again, ruffling your head.

"I do that because I want to. I'm responsible for you." He said, and you nodded.

"I'm sorry." You said again, and he continued smiling. "I managed to find some stuff like flour and Milk, but-" You started, as his eyes widened in wonder.

"You could read that?" He asked in disbelief, as you nodded.

"Yeah, but that's about it. I only picked up on a few words like caramel and stuff-" You explained, as he suddenly squeezed you into his arms, making you whince a bit at his strength. He immediately let go at the sound.

"Sorry sorry, it's just- whoah, my little human is so smart!" He said, genuinely excited over the mere fact that you could read a few words. "It took Taehyung Months to learn a couple of phrases, and here you are, already reading on your own!" He said, and you chuckled a bit at that. Taehyung was a human claimed by Namjoon and his partner Seokjin, who also had a second human by the name of Jimin. You'd met them for a bit prior, but hadn't had a true conversation with them yet. "Lets go then." He said, taking your hand into his as he walked into the store again with you.

Jungkook had slowly learned to hold your hand less tightly than he would usually do, his strength the reason for almost all of Namjoons visits to your now shared home. He didn't mean to hurt you, but it happened occasionally- and you always forgave him. He couldn't help it, and it was almost sweet to see him so upset over it straight after.

"Thats almond milk, right?" You asked, pointing at a carton with a label you thought said the words 'almond milk' on it. Jungkook beamed almost proudly.

"Yep!" He exclaimed, as he kept a hand on your back, a more comfortable gesture to show you he was by your side than holding hands. It was less likely for him to hurt you that way accidentally. "Let's get you something sweet too." He said with a smile, as you smiled back- for the first time, completely comfortable.

"Jungkook?" You asked hesitantly, as you walked up behind the couch, making him turn around.

"Hm?" He wondered, turning the TV volume down lower. "What is it little one?" He asked, as you suddenly placed a couple of papers down onto the small table in front of him. He took them wordlessly, before he suddenly jumped up, head thrown towards you as his eyes were wide open, catlike pupils staring at you as they glazed over. "You-how-" He stuttered, as you swayed on the spot a bit shyly.

"I talked to Namjoon about it the other day. He helped me get all the paperwork stuff done since I can't read much still.." You said, and Jungkook walked over to you, picking you up as he twirled you both around, making you giggle.

The bold letters on the front page clearly reading;

'Official documents for legal human ownership.'

You wanted to be his.

"Do alcorians kiss?" You randomly asked one day, laying on Jungkooks lap as he suddenly looked down towards you.

"We- uhm.. we do." He said, before swallowing the piece of sweets he was eating. "Why- why do you ask?" He wondered, and you simply shrugged.

"I kinda want to kiss you." You said.

And he almost choked.

[j-mysticalien]

🔫 the oc content, hand it over /lh

you don’t have to if u don’t want to lol I just saw you said something about ocs and 👀 I am interested

FIRST OF ALL 🥺🥺🥺

SECOND OF ALL OKAY OKAY HERE TAKE IT 

(I ended up dumping a lot ... I saw the opportunity and ran with it I didn’t mean to oops)

These guys have been in my head for y e a r s and even though I'll abandon them for months at a time, there are plot points I've forgotten, it’s very very unfinished, and clearly influenced by my freshman year interests, they're some of my favorites to imagine and write like every time I do a picrew chain or something I make them too for myself okay okay-

So. Exposition. For ages the demons and dark things have slipped between the veil and into the world. As evil rises, so do those who stand against it. In some parts of the world The Order was established not to eradicate or wage war against the demons, just to keep everything in their proper dimensions and destroy those who refuse. Members of the Order work in groups with assigned roles, often passed down generations. 1: trained in the physical aspects of fighting creatures, they have the unique and mysterious ability to survive in the other dimension-at least better than the average mortal. 2, “Alchemist”: Usually a witch, human descendant of a magical being, or a particularly skilled mortal even. they provide the magical aid since the other cannot perform magic themselves. (Though Witches tend to form their own communities or work with the demon realm which historically has caused tensions) While fewer and well hidden, this secret society guards the mortal realm to this day... 

There’s a small, quiet town in the northeast. Nothing much happens- the power may go out or the weather may turn within seconds and figures may appear and shift into the shadows but it all turns out fine eventually. Nothing to worry about. But those who know a  little too much know where to go when things need to be taken care off. Bloom’s Florist and Garden Shop, a sweet little store in the middle of town staffed by the owner’s two teenaged kids. They’ve got a lovely selection of flowers and herbs. If you hear noises from their basement, best to ignore it. If you see the kids sprinting down the street, best to stay out of their way. If they tell you to avoid the woods one night, you listen...

OCS MY BELOVED HERE THEY ARE

 Dante Achilles Sindweller. He is type 1.  He’s tall, thin but muscular, almost dangerously pale. His hair is blue, eyes blue though they sometimes look red. Riddles with piercings and pale scars. Cocky bastard but well deserved. Friendly and deadly all at once. He’s good at what he does and is always up for a challenge. Low key high key losing his sense of humanity. You see actually being in the demon dimension is draining because of the pure chaos of it but returning to reality is rough too. Because of the hunter’s ability (I’m pretty sure they have this ability bc the og demon hunters secretly fucked a bunch of demons so Hunters have demon blood and cannot “die” in the hell dimension but idfk at this point) they can adapt to the word with a combination of demonic attributes and idealized forms that disappear when he gets back. So um the mental toll is very much a thing that he hides very well...at least at first. He doesn’t actually have to travel too often thought, just during emergencies and later he genuinely visits some chill demon friends there.

Cordelia Emerys Bloom, “Cordie”. 5′2″, dark brown skin, black hair she keeps in two short braids, round rimmed glasses. She’s the alchemist. a few of her far off ancestors were fae. Her own magical battery is low so she’s become skilled in working with. potions and magical plants. She’s the most serious member. of the trio. She knows the job, she has a rhythm, she doesn’t like change. This group had three braincells and 90% of the time she has all of them. She likes her plants, her books, and Dante. She’s a little high strung and stubborn but she’s clever, intelligent, and really warm person once you get past her shields. She grew up way too fast and with all her adult figures gone, Dante slowly slipping (though she denies it to the point where Alice bright it up and they didn’t talk for a week), and this irritation turned fear that Alice’s presence is temporary leaves her with some issues but it’s okay im determined to let her be happy, she just has to let herself accept happiness.

Alice Barnet. A witch. Thick, bright red  hair, hazel/ blue eyes. Absolutely stunning. and a fashion icon. She moved to attend to uppity private school right outside of town. She stumbled upon the shop and immediately sensed the great power hidden in there. So she just walked in- because of the dimensional portal not because the girl at the register she saw through the window was so pretty what are you talking about it was witch instinct only- and announced herself and offered her services. She’s a flirt, though a sincere one. She projects a confident, fun vibes even if she doesn't actually feel it. Fake it until you make it I guess. Coffee addict will memorize your birth chart, Starbucks order, and all the little behavioral things. Most of my early drabbles with her involve her sitting on Cordie’s desk sipping her iced coffee while Cordie is like “how tf did you get in here” “good question. Better one: they didn’t have the black tea you like is green okay?” She actually is part of an informal coven but that’s a whole side story with its own cast of characters I haven’t touched in ages

Dynamics dynamics so Cordie and Dante are siblings in all but blood, they’ve been together for almost their entire lives. (Cordie’s parents are almost always away-either on Order business or just vibing idk they’re cool though. Dante’s parents are dead but only Dante himself seems to know that-Something about demon blood and dimension hopping doesn’t let their kind live long) They’re really close. If they met at this point in life they probably would never have been friends and Cordie probably would despise him but as they are they love each other and *know* each other. Technically Dante is older but Cordie is the eldest sister of the relationship.

The two of them have opposite reactions when Alice enters their life. (This entrance is one of the few *full* scenes I actually wrote down) Dante is allured-not by her but by the potential adventure she represents. She states her case and he’s like oh this’ll be interesting. They become best friends almost instantly. Their sass, confidence, and more adventurous sides click harmoniously- much of the time to Cordie’s dismay. To Cordelia, Alice is something unknown, something potentially dangerous. She makes her assumptions (prissy, incompetent, entitled, inexperienced) and tolerated her. Alice has had a crush on her since day 1. She was determined to prove herself to the group and really she’d just like to get her trust and friendship at some point, gushy feelings be damned. They fall in love slowly, they learn to trust and be weak and learn to know each other and be themselves Alice is genuinely interested in all the stuff Cordie knows about the magical world and Cordie gets to try to be a person outside of that world. The recent stuff I’ve actually written down involves a lot of sleepy conversations and whispered confessions and soft touched and hhh

Some of the non-human characters

“Lady”: the ghost that haunts the basement/ Order base. She can’t really speak and isn't always visible, never fully. They don’t know who she was or why she’s there. She helps out when she can though. Might help Dante in the very end. 

All of the actual demons are off ideas. Like each deadly sin has it’s own demon (they didn’t realize some humans had grouped them together for some time but they think it’s funny, sometimes they hang out just because of that) The gang doesn't directly meet a lot of them but 

Curiosity aka “Apple” aka “Heather” aka “Bee”aka...:The spark that fuels innovation ne the spiral of a downfall. frequently visits human world, team switches between stopping them from blowing up a building to playing Mario kart together. Like he definitely causes trouble and should not keep escaping through the portal but like...he’s fun to got to the mall with. Funky Lil dude who’s there for a good time and some chaos. Changes aliases all the time.

Nostalgia aka “Honey-Lavender”: the kind that leaves the ghost of a smile on your face, the kind that drowns you in the past, the kind that makes you want to go back, or forget. mostly stays in hell. One of the demons Dante visits and is acquainted with. They lay and talk. She can be a downer but he doesn’t mind, he appreciates the company and some days she keeps him tethered to his life and sanity (on the bad says she has the opposite effect, she can’t help it)

OKAY AHAHA THATS ENOUGH OUT OF ME THERE THEY ARE THANKS

[wayward-wren]

Alright I’m losing my mind how do u feel about infodumping this new thing you’re watching bc ily and want to know what you’re talking about XD

Oh boy oh boy anon, have you opened the flood gates. *cracks knuckles* I’m always down to info dump. (gets kind long so i’m putting a cut in)

The Dream SMP is a Minecraft multiplayer server owned by Dream, and most of the stuff happens over on live streams on twitch. Some content creators post highlight videos on their youtube channels, which was how I started, but it doesn’t quite fully catch the whole story and nuances (that being said I’d recommend TommyInnit, Wilbur Soot or Technoblade as a good place to get started, they all have youtube playlists on their channels)

The server starts off like a normal survival server, but then TommyInnit joins and starts stirring up trouble. This sparks off the disc war (fighting over Tommy’s most prized possessions on the server (keep that in mind) a couple of discs he’s managed to get (Cat and Mellohi most importantly)) and the pet war (Between Tommy and Sapnap, involving a lot of animal deaths, including Tommy’s cow Henry). I’m a little unclear on the early days of the server, cos I’ve only seen a few youtube highlights, but that’s the gist of it. 

Then Wilbur Soot joins the server. With Tommy, Tommy’s friend Tubbo, Eret and Fundy (who is Wilbur’s son and also a fox in lore), they create a new country of L’manburg, declaring independence from the rest of the server.  Dream, the owner of the server, doesn’t like this idea and it sparks the first war - the battle for independence. After fighting, a betrayal which still hangs over the heads of everyone even now, and a whole lot of tnt, Tommy challenges Dream to a 1v1 duel for independence. He loses, but sacrifices both his prized discs to Dream, securing L’manberg’s independence. 

There’s a time of peace, other characters like Niki join L’manburg and then Wilbur announces an election because he wasn’t democratically elected and wanted to secure that power. They tell Quackity - another member of the SMP who isn’t allowed in L’manburg because he’s not European and L’manberg is for Europeans only - and he decides he’s running as well. 

A last-minute entry from JSchlatt and a party alliance between Quackity and Schlatt meant that Schlatt barely won the election. Schatt’s first decree is to exile Tommy and Wilbur, and they’re chased out of L’manburg by a rain of arrows. The walls are torn down, the flag burned by Fundy and a new flag erected and L’manberg is renamed Manberg. 

Tommy and Wilbur find shelter in an underground canyon they name Pogtopia, Tubbo is left behind and recruited to be a mole/spy for them and they call in the help of an old friend - Technoblade. 

(An aside here, Techno, Tommy, Wilbur and another Minecraft youtube - Philza - have a group dynamic called the Sleepy Boys Incorporated. Lots of people headcanon them as a family, with Phil being the father and the others being brothers, but I like Phil being Wilbur’s father, Tommy being adopted/just showing up and they can’t get rid of him, and Techno being an old friend of Phil’s who’s about Wilbur’s age)

Schlatt announces a Festival. Tubbo is in charge of decorations for it and is also giving a speech. On the way back after spying on the announcement, Wilbur turns to Tommy and asks if they’re being the bad guys. He then announces “let’s be the badguys” and despite Tommy’s protests, gets a Whole Lotta TnT of Dream. 

The day of the festival arrives - Wilbur has rigged the entirety of Manburg with tnt. Wilbur and Tommy spy on the festivals while Techno who was invited joins in. Then, after Tubbo’s speech - which is going to be the cue to explode it all - things start to go wrong. Schlatt and Quackity trap Tubbo in a box, and Techno is called up to execute him because Schlatt figured out he was a mole. 

Techno does because of mild peer pressure, Wilbur goes to find the button but can’t, Techno goes on a rampage and murders a whole bunch of people, and Tommy is Upset. Back at Pogtopia he challenges Techno to a 1v1 fist fight which he loses (dude has not won a single 1v1)

Tubbo is now with Pogtopia, having lost the second of his three canon lives (as have Tommy and Wilbur at different points). Fundy reveals himself to be a spy for Pogtopia (though Wilbur still calls him his ‘traitor son’ and ‘look my son who I despise”), and Dream announces that there’s a traitor in their midst. A date is set for the final war. 

The day arrives. There are 11 and a half stacks of tnt under Manberg. Techno shows the team his underground bunker and they all gear up. After a battle, Dream announces that they want to surrender, and shows them Schlatt, who dies to a very anticlimatic heart attack. 

Wilbur appoints Tommy president, who declines and Tubbo becomes president instead. Then Wilbur slips off to the button room, saying that the thing he built the country for no longer exists (turns out he’s the traitor). 

Then Philza, who had previously not been whitelisted, joins the server directly behind Wilbur and at the same moment, Techno shoots Tubbo, announcing that despite constantly saying he was fighting against government he’d been betrayed by them setting up a government right in front of him. Everyone starts fighting while Phil tries to talk Wilbur down. Wilbur doesn’t listen, hits the button, blows up Manberg and then asks Phil to kill him. Phil does, (somewhat reluctantly “you’re my son!”) and then rushes down to help the others fight the two withers that Techno just spawned. 

In the aftermath, New L’manberg rises with Tubbo as president. Techno goes into retirement and Wilbur comes back as Ghostbur - who is extremely wholesome and has a bad memory, cos he’s not able to remember anything bad. There’s a stretch of peace, in which Ranboo joins the server, Ghostbur, Fundy and Phil have some family bonding, Ghostbur hands out blue which apparently sucks up sadness, and some side plots happen. 

Then Tommy and Ranboo burn down the house of the current king of the smp and Dream takes his chance. Through various manipulations, threats, and forcing people into situations they don’t want to be from Dream, Tubbo exiles Tommy.  

Tommy has a Hard Time in exile with Dream heavily manipulating him, to the point where he’s staring longingly at lava in the nether and being a shell of himself. Ghostbur hangs out with him for a bit (giving him and tubbo both compasses that point to each other) but just vanishes one day, leaving tommy completely alone with Dream. (it’s later revealed that Dream sent him off to wander in the snow - and turns out snow and rain melts him. He also finds a blue sheep who he calls Friend)

 New L’manberg is rotting from the inside, Tubbo bowing more and more to the pressures of his new role and becoming more corrupt. He and his cabinet (Fundy and Quackity and Ranboo is there as well) put Phil under house arrest while trying to track down Techno to kill him. 

Dream pushes a little too hard with Tommy, and Tommy towers high into the sky, realizes Dream was never his friend and leaves, finding shelter under Techno’s house. 

The butcher army (Tubbo, Fundy, Quackity and Ranboo’s there too) capture Techno by holding his horse hostage and try to execute him, but he escapes with the help of Dream (which will come back because Techno now owes him a favour) and goes back home to find a feral Tommy living like a raccoon in his basement. Tubbo then goes to visit Tommy, only to find a creator where Dream blew everything up, and a tower reaching into the sky, with no sign of Tommy. He assumes Tommy is dead. 

Techno and Tommy have been hanging out together, Tommy wanting to get his discs back (Tubbo having one he gave him as a symbol of trust and Dream having the other, but Techno wants to destroy L’manberg and the government) Tommy is slowly building up his confidence and sneaking back into L’manberg. Techno rescued Phil from his house arrest. Tubbo has been burying himself in projects and being mostly ooc which I translate to ‘my best friend just died and it’s partly my fault so I'm gonna go make a guardian farm and Not Think About That.’ Ranboo is the only one with any sense and can see that Dream is holding all the streams and that people shouldn’t be fighting, but working together to defeat him. He’s technically part of L’manberg, but he’s been hanging out with Techno and Tommy a fair bit. 

And Dream commissioned a prison that is going to be completely inescapable. Like, completely. Like, the creator of the prison died and respawned inside it at one point and said it’d take him an hour to get out and he knows how it works and had to be teleported out. Like, this thing will send texts to the guards’ phones if a block is broken. We have no idea what it’s for and we are afraid. 

In today’s stream, Tommy and Techno hold someone hostage in an effort to get Techno’s weapons back, Tommy and Tubbo properly see each other for the first time and get into a bit of a fight, Techno starts to slowly turn Tommy against Tubbo/the government and Tommy faces off with Dream, gaining enough confidence to cuss him out. 

And that’s basically where we’re at now. This is a very rough outline of what happens, and I’ve left out most of the more cursed lore (Wilbur has fun) and a lot of the side plots (like the Crimson egg that’s been spreading, and El Rapids). If you wanna know more i’m down to info dump more and can provide you with links. 

Also, real quick, check out the animatics! SAD-ist has some amazing ones, as does Late-August, The Channel Without a Name and a WHOLE lot of other’s whose names I forget. Honestly just search ‘dream smp animatic’ and spend a couple hours looking through them they’re AMAZING. I can provide you with links of those as well!

[jichew]

college!hyunsuk au♡part one

a/n: hello!!! this is my first fic on here so please go easy on me bc it’s kind of slow and long :,) I rushed it a bit bc i wanted to get it up before the last episode airs :/// also feel free to leave requests or just drop in to talk! i would love more ygtb mutuals! (also i was going to make this a full on lovers au but it got too long so i just left it like this, but if i get enough requests, i will be more than willing to make a part 2!)

so you’re a freshman at college(✿◠‿◠)

while you’re absolutely in love with what college has to offer,,,,you’re dreading the start of classes

esp when it’s your first semester and you have no idea how to navigate the campus

and that, my friends, is how you realize it will take 15 minutes to get to a 9 AM that starts in 10 minutes (a/n this is a true story lol)

and while you could easily just skip this class and call it a day, you are A GOOD STUDENT ＼＼\\٩(๑`^´๑)۶//／／

so you double knot your shoelaces and run across that mf campus

thankfully, you make it right as the clock hits 9... though you didn’t realize that this was a 300 student general chem lecture

it really b like that sometimes y/n ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

so you’re left to slide into one of the rows at the very back of the hall, which is thankfully empty

...

save for the mop of blonde hair that is passed out in the seat next to you

of course, you don’t have the time to pay attention to the boy beside you because you’re prof has already started lecturing

before you know it, class is over

surprisingly enough, at 9:50 on the dot, the boy shoots his head up, ruffles his hair, grabs his backpack and briskly exits the lecture hall room, sparing you a brief nod

if you weren’t stressed enough that you have 20 minutes to grab breakfast and run back across campus for class, maybe you would have taken time to notice how cute the boy was - but you have a class to get to

so fast fwd two days,,, you’re basically a pro at this whole college thing

or so you thought

you find your self double knotting your shoelaces again and running across campus to reach your 9 AM chem lecture again

at this point,,,you’ve accepted your fate and you dejectedly slide next to the passed out boy in the back row

so now that this is your second class, you’re prof is actually lecturing (and blondie beside u is still asleep)

after a grueling hour of basic chem review,   you have about three pages of notes

and it isn’t until 5 minutes before you’re dismissed that blondie finally takes the time to wake up

you resist the urge to giggle seeing his slightly frazzled state - hair puffed out, half lidded eyes and pouty lips (✿´ ꒳ ` )

and maybe you would have,,,if he didn’t hurriedly look over at you and ask if he could borrow your notes

and as much as you despise people who don’t pay attention in class and ask for other peoples’ notes ,,,,, who are you to resist those puppy dog eyes                    

。・°°・(＞_＜)・°°・。

so,,,, you reluctantly hand him over the notes

but not without giving him a piece of your mind ＼＼\\٩(๑`^´๑)۶//／／

“don’t forget to bring them back next class,,,and maybe a coffee too so you can stay awake”( ◠‿◠ )

y/n, you really are too nice

so it’s finally friday,,,,but you have that cursed 9 am yet again

and while you’re able to make it early this time around, you willingly sit in the back row

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

and much to your surprise,,, in comes blondie, fully awake, an iced coffee in each hand

he moves into his seat beside you, setting down one of the coffees on your desk

“i don’t really know what girls like, so i just decided to get you the same thing as me! as a thank you for letting me borrow your notes”

speaking of notes, he quickly sets down his coffee and his backpack and takes out your notes, setting those on your desk as well

and this whole time, you’re just like,,,,,,,,, (●´ω｀●)

and he’s staring at u with this goofy smile on his face like,,,,(๑･̑◡･̑๑)

if it were socially acceptable, you would have squished his little cheeks right then and there

but all you can manage to get out is a small smile, mumbling an “anytime” under your breath

and as much as you enjoy the company of another person in this large lecture hall,,,blondie talks a lot

but also you can’t bring yourself to mind bc he’s not all that bad at chem (and he looks cute when he talks with his lips all pouty but don’t tell him you said that(๑>◡<๑))

so it’s been about a month at college and you’re actually getting the hang of things this time

also,,,blondie has officially stopped falling asleep in class

surprisingly, you both have become quite the pair ٩( ᐛ )و

you learned that his name is hyunsuk, he’s a sophomore, and he’s part of a dance team (hence why he can’t help but fall asleep during chem lecture)

while you guys don’t interact outside of class, it’s nice to have someone to make small talk with in the morning

and you’d be lying if you said you didn’t want to boop his cute nose on several occasions (๑˃̵ᴗ˂̵)

so while studies are great and all,,,,it’s been a month and you have done next to nothing besides stressing over classes and sleeping

so, your friends (yes y/n, you do have friends) decided to have a little gno to celebrate surviving a month of college

shimmying into a pair of black jeans, a cute top, jean jacket and some heels, you’re ready to TAKE ON THE TOWN

and like not to brag but u look hot

you really know how to strut your stuff y/n

so when ur friends were like gno!!!! you expected something cute like going to get dinner in the city or something

you did NOT expect to find yourself in a frat party

like,,,,,you’ve never been to one of those cheap high school parties much less a college frat party

so like,you’re kind of freaking out inside bc tight areas filled with sweaty bodies and the stench of alcohol are NOT your thing

(　˙-˙　)

your friend mina is like,,,

“come on y/n, it’s part of the college experience!!!”

but you’re like,,,

“the only experience i need is sleeping past my alarm” ＼＼\٩(๑`^´๑)۶//／／

nonetheless, mina resorts to dragging you into the house

so somehow, you guys make it to the kitchen

and while you’re still against the idea of being here, at least it’s slightly more breathable in the kitchen

while u can finally breathe, you also realize mina is GONE

u quickly scan the kitchen and thankfully find her ,,,,, w some tall dinosaur looking dude??

she motions you over so you slide through some bodies to make your way over to the pair

“y/n!!! this is my friend byounggon! he owns this place!”

“hey, you can call me gon!”

the dude does a little nod and smiles at you ,,, and then u notice how close him and mina are actually standing next to each other

her hand on his arm...the little smile he gives her...

and you’re like

“OH ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)”

“you know,,,i’ll leave you guys to hang out for a bit while i go explore the place”

but not so fast,,,you have friends who care about your safety :,)

gon is all like

“no wait! mina told me this was your first party so i’ll have one of my frat brothers watch over you”

he turns his head back calling out a name that’s unintelligible over the sound of the music playing throughout the house

“y/n! this is my friend -“

“HYUNSUK???”

“Y/N!!!”

obviously you’re a bit startled to see the blonde boy in a setting that’s not the chem lecture hall

and maybe you’re even more startled by how good he looks - silk shirt, silver jewelry littering his ears and hair styled

and maybe he thinks the same with the way his eyes briefly glaze over your full body

but ,,,, mina and gon:??????

“you guys know each other?”

you’re the first to snap out of your reverie, hyunsuk’s eyes still glued to you

“uhh yeah we sit next to each other in chem lecture”

gon: ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

“ahhh...so you’re THAT y/n”

“THAT y/n”

“yeah, it means -“

“NOTHING”

(hyunsuk’s quick to interrupt when he’s about to get exposed (¬_¬))

“he means nothing lol”

anyway,,,gon’s like “yeah so we’ll leave you guys to it”

and you’re just looking back in dejection bc ur friends left u :,(((

when you turn back around hyunsuk has a bit of an apologetic look on his face

“first party?” he cocks his head to the side , puppy dog eyes waiting for an answer

“yeah,,,, i never really took you for the frat boy type”

hyunsuk does a little boyish smirk before saying

“there’s a lot things you don’t know about me babe”

and then he’s lightly grabbing your wrist and taking you to god knows where

the next thing you know, you guys are out on a balcony

and you’re like

\( ˆoˆ )/ fresh air!!!!

hyunsuk: (*ﾟ▽ﾟ*)

so you’re just like

staring at the sky

and u feel a little gaze boring into the side of your head

so you look over to see hyunsuk staring at you with his head cocked to the side

and he has this little smile on his lips

and you have no clue why he’s smiling but it makes your tummy do ~that thing~

but ALSO ,,, you’re trying to play it cool

so you cock your head back at him

and he stares at you for a little longer

and GIGGLES

THIS BOY HAS THE AUDACITY TO GIGGLE AT YOU

DOESNT HE KNOW WHAT THAT DOES TO A GIRL’S HEART

hshsbahaheiskeksoal

“why are you giggling??”

he does a little shrug and looks over at you

“you’re cute”

(((o(*ﾟ▽ﾟ*)o)))♡

lmao he really just had to take all your uwus

the moment kind of ends when you get a text from mina saying she went home w gon,,,

you both know what that means( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

but also now you don’t have a ride back to your dorm

i mean you probably guessed what’s going to happen now

gentleman suk decides to walk you back to your dorm

despite it being chilly, it’s still a nice walk

you both walk in a comfortable silence,, heads turned to avoid the other seeing the  little smile on each’s face

and you don’t say anything when you feel the tips of hyunsuk’s warm fingers entangling into your own

and he doesn’t say anything when you bid him goodnight with a kiss on the cheek

and you know that you have more than friendly feelings for the sleepy blondie in your chem class

[comicsnas]

Wrath

WARNING FOR: referenced child abuse (briefly, 4 paragraphs in), blood and violence 2.7k words, so so so sorry mobile users

this is pretty sinister even for me, but i have to somehow get this goofy man from pacifist mcgee to dude who cuts icp in half on top of the white house >:3c

You don’t get angry often. You would say you have a certain base level of anger -- things are going wrong in the world, people are being treated poorly, the fate of humanity is constantly at stake, and that makes you some kind of angry. The kind that ignites a fire inside you and gets you to do things, get active and find innovative ways to protest and do whatever you can to thwart the looming threat of alien takeover. The kind of anger that makes you calm and level-headed, because you need to figure out how to do things smartly without getting yourself killed.

But you don’t get loud. You don’t yell. You despise violence -- it’s been necessary often, ever since you and Rose started seriously fighting against Crocker, but you don’t like doing it, and it’s no outlet for your anger, for you. It’s just something you have to do, and has nothing to do with anger.

And even so, you don’t get angry often.

You come from an angry home. Your parents, too, rarely yelled at you. Their anger was cold but volatile, quiet but physical. You carry the scars, still. You don’t get angry often.

Someone is tailing you, and you are furious.

It happens -- you’re a public figure, and people will sometimes follow you around in hopes of pictures, an autograph, or getting you to pay their college debt again (which you normally happily do). And sometimes, you get tailed for more sinister reasons too; this isn’t the first time, and now and then you even allow yourself to have fun with it, to climb up buildings and jump over rooftops whenever this happens, just to see how long they can keep up.

But right now, you are with Dirk.

You're on a walk with your baby brother in a stroller, and someone is tailing you, and that is a first. They don't seem like a fan or paparazzo either, because you noticed them several blocks ago, and they haven't approached or taken a picture of you the entire time. Which means that they're Crocker-affiliated. Which means that some violent asshole who's probably armed is currently stalking your seven months old infant brother. Which means that you feel just about ready to turn around and throw hands.

Of course, you don't. Because you are with Dirk. You're not going to be getting into fights while your kid is watching from his stroller, so you guess you… You just have to let this guy keep following you. They know where you live, anyway. You're aware of that. This dude isn't on a retcon mission -- this is an intimidation tactic.

She does that a lot, and you suppose it used to work. When you were new to LA, had just lost your eye and were trying to lay off the cocaine, it used to work. These days it just pisses you off. You don't want this guy near the baby.

You round another corner and sigh. Your apartment building is only two blocks away now. “Come on,” you say quietly as you lean down and pick Dirk up out of his stroller. “모험 나서자.” Someone else can have this stroller, you guess. You don't care. You have enough money to buy millions of strollers. You pull the carrier from the stroller and strap Dirk to your chest, then you leave it standing around on the sidewalk and start to scale the nearest building.

Dirk squeals. He can hold his own head up by now, so you’re not worried about that, but you still have to keep some distance between him and the wall you’re climbing. You’ve never freerun with your baby before, and you didn’t ever intend to do this, so it’s kind of new, but you’re dealing. You can’t strap him to your back instead. You feel anxious enough turning your own back on the man.

But the kid seems to be fine. He sounds excited, even. You can tell his little squeaks apart pretty well now, and he seems to be parsing this as just a new way of you bouncing him on your knee the way he likes to be bounced. Feet on somebody’s balcony, you grab a ledge and pull yourself up, the hint of a smile on your lips. Yeah, he might take after you.

From there, it doesn’t take you long to get back. Los Angeles is a hellhole, if anybody cares for your opinion, but it’s a hellhole you know your way around. It’s been years since you were this slow and careful while sneaking home over rooftops, but you can’t have anything happen to Dirk. You figure you’ll go in through the roof access, bolt your door as usual, put him down for a nap, and then… do something to wind down. You don’t know what yet. You might work out, or draw, or call John, or something. That should work. It’ll be fine. You’re getting your child home safe, and then you’ll calm down and the guy who tailed you will be gone, and you’ll forget about it. Until next time.

Your plan works for a while. You get to the roof access in peace. You reach your apartment on the top floor. You lock all the locks on your door behind you and put Dirk in his crib. You stay with him for a while, hum to him until he gets sleepy. This entire time, you have this feeling in your back -- this naked, vulnerable feeling, even though you know that nobody else is, can be, in here. Once Dirk is out, you swallow dryly. You walk through the hallway of your own apartment, strung tight, like you’re expecting someone to jump out at you from the kitchen any second now. You should call John, you think. You try to will yourself to call John.

You walk right to the apartment door, and wake the little screen next to it, to show you what’s going on on the other side of it. When you went in here, there was nobody outside. You figured you had lost the guy that was following you. But still, they know where you live.

He is standing outside the door, looking directly into the camera.

It’s the same man who tailed you -- you recognize the clothes, but now that you’re actually seeing his face for the first time today, you realize that you know him. He’s been here before, and last time he was, you messed him up pretty good.

“Boy, your face recovered real well, huh,” you tell the screen. He can’t hear you. Back then, you didn’t have a baby in the house yet, so you could just grab the sword you had haphazardly leaning against the wall next to the door. These days, it’s mounted on the wall a little higher, so Dirk can’t get it. You grab it, again. “We’ll see how brittle those bones got.”

You don’t like violence.

You don’t get angry often.

As you open your apartment door and give the man a look before climbing up the stairs towards the roof again, knowing he will follow you, there is a dark, cold pull in your chest. You think about how he had a gun on him last time, and how he probably has one on him now. You think about a gun being in direct vicinity of your seven months old baby brother. You think about how much you hate it when this feud between you, your sister, and Crocker starts affecting other people -- just recently, two scientists you were working with were killed by her. One had two children. You think about how innocent people get pulled into this, and you think about how one of these innocent people is your seven months old baby brother. You think about how you have no reason to believe that she would even think twice before harming a child, an infant. You think about how this guy just goes along with it, how he preys on you outside when you’re with your baby, and how he seems to be having fun doing it. You think about what could have happened to Dirk. You think about what he could have done to Dirk, and something ice cold and black curls tightly in your chest.

You want to hurt this person.

“So,” he says behind you. You listen to the door to the roof fall shut, then you turn around to face him. You think his nose might look a little different than it did before you broke it. That’s good. That feels good to know. “What’re we doing up here? You wanna have another talk, like last time?”

“Maybe,” you say. In your head, you try to come up with a plan, but all you can think about is that tight dark coil behind your ribs. “Why, you wanna get beat up again?”

“Well, you haven’t disarmed me so far,” he says. “So I like to think I’ll stand a better chance.”

He moves, and your body responds within the same second. By the time his gun is fully drawn, you have your sword in both of your hands. You’re a good seven feet apart, so he does technically have the advantage here, but you trust in yourself. You trust in the black thing in your chest.

“Did you have that on you while tailing my child?” you ask. You know the answer to this. You just want to hear that you’re right. You want this to be entirely justified. “Did you bring a goddamn gun when you were following my baby around?”

“Oh yeah, I did,” he says. He looks smug, arms outstretched, barrel pointed at you. Like he invented the thing. “Remember how you got him, Dave? That’s all thanks to us. Don’t you ever forget that. We gave little Dirk to you. And we won’t hesitate for a second to take him away again if we so please.”

You’re charging at him before the sentence is finished. You hear more than feel the shot being fired. The left side of your body is flung backwards, but you don’t stop coming at him. You adjust mid-step, angle yourself, and barrel your right shoulder into him instead. Unstoppable, you keep pushing him, until you can feel the impact of the roof access door hitting his back vibrate through your right arm. He’s still holding the gun. The barrel presses warm against your stomach. You feel your sword heavy in both arms.

“She wouldn’t want me to kill you,” he says, but you barely parse the words. All you can care about is how strained his voice sounds. “But we both know you’re some sort of vermin cockroach and would make it through somehow even if I shot you in the goddamn stomach, so you get back now or--”

You don’t think. Your body remembers on its own that if you want to break someone’s face when your hands are busy, you need to angle your head to smash the top of it against them, so you don’t damage your own face in the process. You can hear bones cracking against your skull. The gun clatters to the floor, and you kick it away.

When you look up, his face is covered in blood and looks about as angry as you feel. Satisfaction twists warm in your guts for wiping that smug look off of him, but it gets you inattentive just long enough for him to shove you back again. You catch your balance only three steps away from him, and watch his eyes dart around, looking for his gun. He can’t find it quick enough, and draws an almost comically huge hunting knife from his belt instead.

“Fine,” he says. Blood sprays from lips on the F sound. “Blades it is.”

Blades it is, and blades are home turf for you, and you wait for that to calm you down a little. It doesn’t. In fact, you lose patience for waiting about a second in, and rush to come at him again instead. Your left arm throbs when you move it to slash at him, and you can’t quite figure out why that is. You don’t care, anyway. Your hands are both still firmly attached to the handle, and that’s what matters.

He dodges and swings his knife at you, and you dodge too. He’s not bad, in his movement, but you can tell he’s more used to firearms. His posture is all wrong. The next time he tries to come for you, your sword leaves a long gash across his chest and he makes a noise that sounds like a pissed off cat.

“Where’s this gonna end, Dave?” he snarls at you from somewhere behind his grit, bloody teeth. We both know you won’t--”

Your foot hits him square in the stomach, and he crumples. He falls on his knees, then his side, and by the time he rolls on his back with a wheeze, you’re standing above him. He blinks, and you see only the white of his eyes, until he blinks again and stares up at you.

“We both know you won’t kill me.” What comes out of his throat sounds like more gravel than voice. “What, you’ll knock me out again, send me back, do it over? We gonna find ourselves here twice a year, you and me, Dave? There’s always gonna be someone following you, if you don’t learn to leave this alone. Always,” he coughs, gurgles. You feel the cool grip of the sword in your hands, “gonna be someone watching. Watching you. Watching Dirk. If you don’t drop this, Dave, where’s this gonna”

You bring your sword down. You feel and hear the blade cut through his throat. Windpipe, esophagus, arteries, veins, muscles. The impact vibrates through your arms. You don’t cut through the spine, you can tell. It doesn’t matter. A wet noise bubbles out of his mouth as his last breath leaves him in a wheeze. His eyes stare up at you, empty.

It’s pure reflex that makes you swallow. You pull your sword out and take a step back, waiting for your knees to give out, but they don’t. You’re not shaky, you don’t feel like throwing up -- nothing. You’ve never killed anyone before, never wanted to, kept looking for ways to handle this without killing. If it ever happened, you figured, it would be self defense.

You could have handled this without killing him. You have, before. You know this -- he knew this. You didn’t have to do this.

But you wanted to.

It’s this thought -- not the bloody sight of a man with a slashed throat, it’s the thought that you wanted to do this to him, that makes you shiver and groan quietly. That’s bad. This is bad. This doesn’t… You don’t remember what you were thinking. Were you thinking, at all? You can’t tell. You don’t remember. You’re on the roof above your apartment, where your baby sleeps, and there is a dead man lying in front of you.

Fuck, you don’t even know this guy’s name.

You close your eyes, take a breath. The air smells like blood. You shift your sword into your non-dominant right, and realize that your left hurts. When you look down, your sleeve is soaked in red. Right. Right, you remember a bit, now.

“Motherfucker shot me,” someone with your voice says. You shiver again. Your arm throbs when you reach into your pocket and pull out your phone and do what you always do when there’s trouble: you call your sister.

“Hello, Dawon.” Rose picks up after the second ring and the familiarity of her voice alone almost makes you cry. You have no idea what you’re feeling. It seems to be nothing and all at once, simultaneously.

“Rose,” you croak. Immediately, you can hear rustling on her end, like your tone is enough to make her get up and grab the nearest pair of shoes.

“I’m here,” she says. “What’s up?”

You take a breath. The words feel foreign in your brain, then your mouth. You say, “I just killed someone.”

“Stay where you are,” Rose says. “And send me your location. I’ll come help you with the body.”

[chronically-undertronic]

I made some Sanders Sides for myself bc why not

Anxiety (Lucah)

He’s always there, he doesn’t even need to pop up. Kaz will say, “Anxiety?” and he’ll already be there going: “Huh?” No one likes him too well, but his outgoing personality makes him easy to be around; even if he is a huge pessimist. 

Appearance: Pink jumper, many pink flower hair clips, black leggings, galaxy converse Kaz tried to throw away in 6th grade but “they’re just so pretty!”, blue hair; shaved on one side, shoulder length on the other, enjoys wearing makeup sometimes. Personality: A huge downer, somehow never shuts the hell up, always has to get the last word, very outgoing, usually always energetic, confusing...very confusing.

Logic (Maroon)

Huh? Oh, were you saying something? He uh...wasn’t paying attention. Maroon is typically sleeping and the other sides aren’t too sure if he exists. Whenever he does show up, however, it seems he has quite a bit of beef with Triton, though neither talks about why they’re so pissy with each other. He seems like he could be a nice dude if he weren’t always lazy or making excuses.

Appearance: Messy orange hair, it’s almost waist length because he’s too lazy to cut it, it is shaved on one side however which made him very upset despite Kaz trying to explain he didn’t know his haircut would affect ALL of the sides, he always wears the same unicorn onsie and no one’s even sure he changes or washes it, he does not wear shoes and though he should be wearing glasses; he doesn’t because he tends to fall asleep just about anywhere. When he is in action and motivated; he is wearing a grey beanie with motivational quote pins, a button up long sleeve striped blue shirt, khakis, an essential oils planet bracelet, and black combat boots because he thinks it looks “professional”. Sometimes his hair will be up in a ponytail when he’s sure he won’t sleep for a while. But still, no glasses. Never glasses. Personality: Very lazy, very cautious, always tired, usually sleepy, a bit of a hot head when he doesn’t get what he wants, sometimes judgmental but he knows his place. 

Morality (Ethan)

Ethan is the middle child of the group, no one wants to acknowledge his existence but he’s still there and very annoying. He lashes out at anyone for saying anything, and will cry at slight criticism. Ethan tends to lean more towards Lucah when hanging out or talking with the other sides. He speaks in a low tone that is mainly mumbles and never has anything good to say ever. A few things are able to bring a small smile to his face, but most of the time he scowls at existence. 

Appearance: Black beanie, dark grey hoodie, red long sleeved shirt, camouflage cargo pants that Kaz really seems to enjoy, his hair is the same style and length as Kaz’s and because they seem to dress and act similar; the only way to really tell them apart is by Kaz’s slouched, scared stance and Ethan’s confident, cocky stance. He wears black tennis shoes but sometimes forgets he has to wear them, and has sometimes gone outside forgetting them. When in a rare happy mood, he wears a grey hoodie with cat ears on it, and puts his glasses on. He wears ripped blue jeans, and socks because fuck shoes. His hair will be in a ponytail going over his shoulder, and in this state he tends to ramble and talk more to Triton.  Personality: Sad, depressed even, always gloomy. Yeah, basically he’s not a happy camper. He enjoys bitching, moaning, and whining about everything. The choices Kaz wants to make are always “wrong” because Ethan would rather be dead than have Kaz try to drag him around and get him to be happy. 

Creativity (Triton)

Oh, is that a camera? Great! He hates those. Yep, despite being almost in the same boat as Roman Sanders, this little shit seems to HATE attention of any kind unless he’s on a stage or posting about something. He pushes Kaz to be daring, accomplish his dreams, do whatever he wants, and die a FUCKING HERO! There’s just...one problem. Kaz listens more to Maroon, who is a very lazy fuck that never wants to execute Triton’s ideas because they’re “hard”. Triton’s true dream for Kaz is to become the world’s BEST actor, singer, world’s handsomest man, best writer, best director, best editor, EVERYTHING! Yet, Maroon seems to be the one taking the shots because he’s Logic. Triton despises Maroon because of this; and more often than not they’re fighting, bitching, and screaming at each other. 

Appearance: Black hoodie with the hoodie over his head, a black surgeon mask with a cartoon bear snout in the middle, grey sweatpants, and Adidas. It’s unknown whether or not he wears glasses because he has brown hair that always covers both of his eyes. The length is also unknown, but everyone has theorized that it’s SUPER long.  Personality: The same as roman sanders, but he’s a lot shyer, Triton never EVER ever shuts up except when Maroon is around, he has to be treated like royalty and is a huge narcissist that boosts Kaz’s ego a bit more than he probably should. 

Deceit (Conrad)

Conrad is a mysterious but oddly welcoming creature. He likes to be a sunshine and rainbows type of guy that is telling wonderful stories and encouraging Ethan and Lucah that life is great and they shouldn’t feel the way they do. He’s cheerful and twirly which raises a few eyebrows; he’s not like everyone else, that’s for sure. Conrad isn’t sure what he’s done wrong, but Ethan always keeps Conrad away from Kaz by yelling at him or shoving him. Ethan’s words really hurt Conrad but that doesn’t stop him from telling everyone that everything’s gonna be okay, and they’re just over reacting, and eating three brownies is fine, and that bloody bruise is just fine without a band-aid!

Appearance: Purple elbow length hair tied in to a neat braid, a red scarf tied around his snake eye in case it might scare the others, a Mystery Skulls Lewis shirt because it’s Kaz’s favorite shirt, sesame street pajama pants because they’re just the CUTEST in everyone’s opinion, the same shoes as Ethan which pisses Ethan the hell off, and an hourglyph bracelet to really tie together a welcoming look. Personality: Despite his exterior having everyone put their guard down, Ethan can see what others can’t. Conrad is evil, and manipulative. He wants everyone to have high, happy hopes, so that they’ll get hurt easier and will be put in to even more danger. He wants everyone to think life is perfect and amazing and that nothing can go wrong so that no one listens to Ethan, and Maroon’s next. He’s good at lying on the spot and is a REMARKABLE actor. But even though everyone seems to love him and listen to his advice, Lucah is starting to see Ethan’s point. 

[insomniasix]

Chapter IV –Living Legend - Part I

Feedback is always appreciated! 

Previous

 As it was decided, Noctis was the one behind the wheel of the Regalia, Prompto never leaving his side as the older members of the company sat at the back.

“Just to be clear, this isn’t a race, it is a chase. You’re not to pass me.” Ardyn set his term while stopping his Vixen next to the Regalia “Lose sight of me, and you’ll lose your way. And no tailgating. An accident would spoil the trip.”

“I’ll cause you an accident.” Six breathed, thinking she had enough of his voice.

“Alright, alright.” Noctis was quick to cover her voice with his “Let’s hit the road already.”

“As you wish. Drive safely now.” With that Ardyn took off, taking the lead and driving ahead, showing the company the road to the Archean.

Noctis was quick to follow close behind, following his rules.

“First Galdin, and then Lestallum…” Prompto was the first one to speak his mind when Ardyn’s car moved further ahead “what a coincidence, huh?”

“Way too convenient to be a coincidence.” Gladio spoke what was in Six’s mind, he was positive that was what she was thinking too, judging by the way her eyes never left his car “I recon he’s following us around.”

“But to what end?” Ignis wondered out loud. His own eyes glued to the road ahead of the Regalia, keeping an eye on both Noctis and Ardyn “That question bothers me deeply, as does his origin.”

“It’s hard for me to picture that guy in the empire.” Prompto raised an eyebrow, looking back at Six, searching for answers.

She didn’t indulge him though, as she was deep in thought herself. What did he mean dreams? And how did he know she hadn’t told the company about his identity?

“But it’s even harder to imagine him as a Lucian.” Gladio answered on her behalf, intertwining his fingers with hers and drawing her from her thoughts.

“I’d sooner not rely on him.” Six spoke again after a while and both Gladio and Ignis nodded at her words.

“But he may be our only way into the Disc of Cauthess.” Six knew Prompto was right. She, herself didn’t know how much had changed since she was last there. From what she heard, the Imperials had set up an inspection post, similar to the one they had outside Insomnia.

“What’s His Highness’s opinion of this ‘Ardyn’?” Gladio asked, nodding his head towards Noctis who hadn’t said anything in a while; making everyone wonder about what was going on through his head.

“Don’t really have one,” Noctis answered with a sigh “he’s nothing more than a creepy old dude to me.”

Six laughed at his answer “You hit the nail on the head right there, Noct. Nice!”

Noctis smiled and looked at her through the rear-view mirror, searching for her eyes as she smiled up at him.

“Well, that’s why we came up with a plan.” Gladio gloated proudly as Six gave him a wondering look.

“Gotta ‘watch our backs’ the whole way.” Noctis answered the same way.

“Well, that’s not really a plan…” Six stuttered a little, not wanting to ruin their proclaimed victory “You know that right?”

Noctis and Gladio didn’t answer, they both just huffed a laugh, knowing she was only teasing and that she would have their backs in case they needed her to.

It didn’t take Ignis much time to notice Six’s clenched fists. Thinking she was hurting and connecting the dots of her sharing the same headaches as Noctis, he spoke again, placing his hand on top of hers and giving a reassuring squeeze “Noct, how are the headaches?”

‘Of course he knows.’ Six smiled to herself, stretching her fingers to intertwine them with his as a silent thanks for noticing her trouble and for caring.

“Fine for now, but they come without warning.” Noctis answered with a sigh, relieved the headaches didn’t occur while he drove. The questions bombarding her head were the reason for Six’s clenched fist, not the headache the Archean was causing, as Ignis thought, so it surprised him to hear Noctis wasn’t experiencing anything just now.

“Wouldn’t want to have one behind the wheel.” Gladio said concerned for the Prince.

“Yeah, Gladio is right.” Six agreed “Stop if you need to, alright? We’ll handle Violet over there if he imposes.”

After a few more minutes of driving, Ardyn made a stop at the Coernix stop. Parking his Vixen and getting out gracefully. Noctis followed close, bringing the Regalia to a full stop and staring at him, waiting for instructions.

“What say we call it a day here?” Ardyn asked, placing both his hands at the lowered window on Prompto’s side.

“What say we continue on to Cauthess?” Gladio almost barked back at him before opening the door for him and Six to step out of the car.

“The Archean’s not going anywhere.” Ardyn gave the couple a sly smile.

“Neither are we, under your stewardship.” Ignis said, matter of factly, staring at his direction since he was getting out of the other side of the car.

“So we make camp…” Prompto said, moving closer to where Six stood, arms locked in front of her chest “with Ardyn.”

“Hell no.” Noctis answered, moving to stand on her other side.

“Might as well get the tent up.” Gladio sighed, watching the way the three kept their eyes on the man, clearly not wanting to spend the night anywhere near him.

“Oh, I’m afraid I’ve never really been one for the outdoors.” Ardyn joined in the conversation they had about him “I shall foot the bill, so let us stay at the caravan over yonder.”

“Well, if he’s paying.” Prompto almost whispered making Six smile at him.

“You really don’t want to spend the night in the tent do you?”

Prompto blushed at the thought of her actually catching what he said as he ruffled the hair on the back of his head.

“Fine.” She sighed, dropping her arms to her sides “But no funny business.”

“How are we all gonna fit in the caravan?” Noctis asked like it was the biggest question in the world, making everyone consider it as well.

“We take turns.” Gladio answered matter of factly “It’s not like it hasn’t happened before.”

“Right.” Six answered, pointing a finger at the ‘teams’ she called out “You guys go first. Gladio and I will go second.”

The company agreed and everyone moved along to the stop. Ardyn, true to his word, rented the caravan for the night while Ignis, Noctis and Prompto visited the store to get provisions and something for dinner.

After about an hour of Six and Ignis keeping an eye on Ardyn while he ‘danced’ around Prompto and picked on him, seemingly enjoying the fearing reaction the boy had, it was time for the first group to go to sleep.

…

Six and Gladio sat outside the RV, staying close just in case. Six had laid her leg on Gladio’s while he kept massaging her calf “You’ve been quiet.” He said, not taking his eyes off the spot he was rubbing “You alright?”

“I don’t like it.” Six said, looking at the same spot “I don’t wanna sleep when I know he’s around. He makes my skin crawl in an ugly way.”

“Don’t worry, babe.” Gladio chuckled, bright eyes looking at hers “I’ll protect you!”

It wasn’t hard for her to believe him.

A few minutes later, Ardyn was the first one to move out of the caravan, stretching his arms above his head and grunting “Good morning to you.” He said, placing his fedora on his head.

The couple turned to look at him, not paying much attention.

“Right, I’ll go wake the rest.” Gladio said as he placed a kiss on Six’s forehead and she smiled before he moved inside.

“How dangerous.” Ardyn said, taking a sit next to Six as she searched her jacket for her cigarettes.

“What is?” she asked, placing one between her lips before lighting it up.

“To have something worth losing.”

The look she gave him could have killed a behemoth right there and there, but he just smiled at her “You do realize I’m gonna snap at you at some point, right?”

“I wouldn’t dare do any foul by you or the company you keep my dear, I am merely admiring the bond you share with the young Shield.”

“For your own good, sir, I hope that’s true.”

“Do you not trust me?” he asked, a smile creeping up on his lips as he already knew the answer to that.

“No.” she said simply, letting some of her smoke out, towards his face.

“You, my dear,” he finally smiled brightly “are-”

“A genius, talented-” she cut him off before he did the same.

“Dangerous; more than you seem to know.”

“Why, thank you.” She faked a smile, opposing the threatening voice that was leaving her lips “How about you keep that in mind?”

“You do not have a reason to despise me as such, you know. There’s a reason you have kept the knowledge of my identity for your troubled mind alone.”

“That’s because I don’t know you; only who you claim to be. The boys shouldn’t be alarmed by something I can handle.”

“Are you certain of that notion?” his smile got wider at her words “Or do you feel the connection as well? There is something binding us, my dear.”

“You and I have nothing in common.” She answered, almost tasting the poison in her words “So can you please go be stupid somewhere away from me?”

Ardyn gave it a thought for a few seconds before answering, smirk never leaving his face as his eyes never left hers “You might be correct. I am not as pure as I once was. So tell me, oh pure heart. What is it that you regret?”

“Regret?” suddenly her attention turned towards his words.

“Regret is the most powerful thing. It can destroy anyone, no matter how pure they once were.” Ardyn explained, his eyes staring at hers, watching the gears turning inside her mind.

“I regret a lot of things, Ardyn.” She said sincerely “This conversation is at the top of the list.”

Six dropped her finished cigarette on the ground before getting up as Ignis and the boys moved outside the RV, just in time to save her from another philosophical question Ardyn could have had for her.

She said her goodnight and moved inside to join Gladio who was already laid on his back. Sleepy eyes staring up at her as his arms opened, waiting for her to come closer. She took her shoes off and joined him, quickly falling asleep in the warmth of his embrace.

Next

[cynassa]

(Not Really) Sleeping Beauty

Seto Kaiba/Yugi Mutou

Somewhere around midnight my mind insisted that platonic bedsharing had to be a thing for these two dudes. So here, have some (semi-)platonic rivalshipping bedsharing. 

Word Count: 3570

AO3 Link

It wasn’t… it wasn’t a thing. Not a thing thing.

The first time, Yugi just happened to be having trouble sleeping and had become curious about the rumors that the Kaibas were back in town, or at least that the Kaiba mansion was certainly being used. Jii-chan had it from Midori who did weekends at the shop for extra money, who had it from her uncle, the only big construction guy in town, who had it from his former business partner’s girlfriend who owned a tea house on the same street as the Kaiba mansion. So it was definitely true, Jii-chan insisted.

And Yugi had been having trouble sleeping since… well, to be honest since before Atem left. But at least when Atem was there he had someone to talk to, and they could play games; he had spent many sleepless nights teaching Atem board games with boards from his soul room. He had loved Scotland Yard and been puzzled by Uno. Just knowing he had a friend next to him had helped.

Now Anzu was in America, Jounouchi was working day and night to scrape together the money to buy in in a motorcycle business and Honda was in cram school to try for University. They didn’t need to worry about his moping on top of all that.

So when he was tired of tossing and turning, he got up and went down to have a cup of milk or something, and the glint of a ‘KC’-marked van under the full moon had caught his attention. With the muddled thoughts of someone who had only slept about four hours in two days he decided that this was a sign that he should go visit Kaiba-kun and Mokuba-kun.

He had aimlessly walked out in his pyjamas and a jacket he had left in the kitchen earlier that day and just started walking. Even with smog hiding the stars, the sky at night was a beautiful sight and it was a peaceful amble. He hadn’t even realised that he had reached his destination until he made a turn and scrambled backwards from a hideous, looming thing.

A moment later, having stifled his urge to scream, he had edged close enough to realise that it was just a gargoyle. One of two framing the Kaiba’s wrought iron entrance door. The door was open. It didn’t occur to him to be surprised by this either.

When he was walking through the long, winding driveway, meant really for a car, he was too busy saving himself from mysterious thorny plants to really wonder about what he was doing. He hadn’t remembered to exchange his slippers for shoes

It was only when he reached the imposing front stoop that he suddenly realised that it was a really inappropriate time to be paying a call even to friends. And he and Kaiba-kun had never exactly managed ‘friends.’ Even if Kaiba-kun had seemed to be thawing last time they met.

His dazed and tired mind hadn’t gotten beyond this point when the door swung open. Kaiba-kun stood there, looking mildly irritated. By his standards, that was practically a rollicking welcome.

He looked Yugi over from fluffy slippers to bunny ears pyjama hood with one sharp glance, hesitating only briefly on the collar still buckled around his neck. Then he walked away, leaving the door open. Yugi just watched him, a little stunned at actually seeing him. It was only now that he realised he hadn’t actually thought that they were back.

It was difficult to see in the gloom of night but Kaiba-kun looked… good. Better than he had in America, too-thin with a permanent frown, and dark bags under his eyes. He was wearing a full-sleeved t-shirt and long, dark pants but they looked comfortable and well-worn, not sharp and crisp like everything else Yugi had seen him wear.

“If you aren’t coming in then shut the door. I don’t want a stray coming in.” Other than you, the waspish tone seemed to imply. Yugi smiled impishly to himself. He hurried in and closed the door, and thought but didn’t say, that checking security to see who it was and opening both the outer gate and this door was an awful lot of trouble to go to if he didn’t care whether Yugi came in or not.

He peeked around curiously as he hurried to keep up with Kaiba-kun’s retreating back. He hadn’t really had much time to look around last time he had been here, and he’d deliberately repressed most of his memories from then. Still, the hall looked emptier than he remembered. There was only one light on, and Kaiba-kun seemed to be leading him up by sheer memory. Yugi stifled a sulky curse as he hit his shin on something, belatedly realising that they were going up the stairs.

Kaiba-kun led him up the stairs, and motioned at him to keep silent as they went past some rooms. Probably Mokuba-kun was sleeping inside one of them.

Finally Kaiba-kun opened another door and went in. Once again, he made no gesture of welcome, seeming to feel that the open door was welcome enough. Which, Yugi mused, it probably was.

The lights were bright in this room, there was a desk and a big couch as well as a futon, and he realised he must be in some type of office. Trust Kaiba-kun to have an office at home too! Yugi’s own desk was covered with origami and cards, both duel monsters and normal cards. Back in school, he had never been able to find his homework without turning over everything. Along with the laptop, there were a couple of other screens set up on the desk, and Yugi guessed that Kaiba-kun had seen him coming on those security screens.

There were only a couple of pictures up on the rather bare walls, and he drifted towards them. They seemed posed, relatively recent pictures. One he remembered seeing on the cover of a magazine, with the Kaiba brothers standing in a pose: back to back, Kaiba-kun with his arms crossed over his chest while Mokuba-kun winked and made the peace sign at the photographer.

At a muted thud behind him, he turned around and drifted towards Kaiba-kun instead. Kaiba-kun had dropped two Duel Disks on the table. He cocked his head and studied them. They were undoubtedly a new prototype. They hadn’t hit the shops yet, Yugi hadn’t even seen any pre-order forms come through.

“The latest in the new line. With these, Solid Vision has transcended every other form of gaming in the market.” Kaiba-kun spoke in a matter-of-fact tone, but the suppressed smugness fairly radiated off him to someone who knew him as well as Yugi did.

Genuinely delighted for him, Yugi smiled sleepily up at him and said, “Congratulations, Kaiba-kun! I look forward to playing with them.”

“Let’s start then.” Kaiba-kun was brisk with his movements strapping on the Duel Disk.

Yugi felt his eyes getting larger, “Ah, um…”

Kaiba-kun looked up from the Duel Disk and narrowed his eyes, “This is what you’re here for?” It was more of a demand than a question.

Yugi shrugged helplessly. “Where do you think I’m keeping a deck in this?” He gestured to his pyjamas and the plain, pocket-less jacket.

Kaiba-kun looked him over carefully, as if this might be a trick question. Yugi began chuckling to himself helplessly. It was typical of Kaiba-kun to assume he had come over for a Duel, even if it was the middle of the night. Some things didn’t change. He felt happier than he’d felt in a long time.

Nonplussed, Kaiba-kun looked at him. “Why are you here?” he asked finally, disgruntled.

Yugi shrugged again, “I couldn’t sleep.”

Kaiba-kun stared at him. “So you came here? To do what? Ruin my sleep? Is this some trick, Mutou, because you won’t be able to play with my mind like that.”

Yes, of course, he had walked all the way over here in pyjamas with a hood and ears on it to psych him out by not Duelling him. Yugi stared at him, faintly puzzled by how his mind worked. Didn’t it overheat sometimes, coming up with these complicated strategies?

“I just couldn’t sleep, Kaiba-kun,” he repeated firmly.

After a long moment of staring each other down, Kaiba-kun looked away and muttered, “I have another futon.”

Yugi almost said, what, but then stopped himself. He said, “I’ll be okay on the couch,” with a smile.

Kaiba-kun shook his head, and took off the Duel Disk even faster than he had put it on. “That couch has been there for years. It will probably need to be fumigated. Wait here.”

Yugi waited. Immediately after Kaiba-kun left the room he started feeling sleepy again, like he had taken all the vitality with him. He yawned loudly and then blushed, glancing around to make sure he really was alone.

Kaiba-kun reentered carrying not only a futon but blankets and, Yugi tilted his head, were those hot water bottles?

Yugi politely tried to help but Kaiba-kun firmly but gently pushed him aside and set up everything with characteristic efficiency. Two futons lay side-by-side on the ground in a very cosy arrangement.

Yugi fell in without bothering with a token protest at how he should go home. He didn’t want to go home, he wasn’t sleepy and happy and comfortable in the dark alone at home. Kaiba-kun rarely bothered with meaningless politeness himself, and he despised it in other people.

He half-expected Kaiba-kun to sit at the desk and start working, but Kaiba-kun disappeared for a few minutes and came back with a thin book that was definitely not in Japanese.

“I’ll turn off the lights when I’m done,” he said, “Go to sleep.” He settled in into his own futon, only a few inches away from Yugi, close enough that Yugi could hear him breathe in the silent room.

Yugi yawned again, and didn’t have the energy to blush. “I don’t know how to read any other languages. I’m not even very good with English.” His eyes were closing by themselves now, Kaiba-kun was just a blur. “You’re really smart, Kaiba-kun.” And he was fully asleep.

It wasn’t exactly a surprise that when he woke he had migrated from his spot half onto Kaiba-kun. It was more surprising that Kaiba-kun was clearly awake and hadn’t… done anything. He could hear Kaiba-kun’s heartbeat, a steady da-dum-da-dum under his cheek. And his hand. Yugi squeezed his eyes closed and prayed that he could sneak away and pretend that he wasn’t holding Kaiba-kun’s hand in his sleep.

Somehow Kaiba-kun had realised he was awake, because he abruptly dropped him back onto his own futon, even if the movements were gentle enough not to hurt him. Then he got up and left the room. Yugi gave a mental shrug, too sleepy still to manage a physical one—apparently they were pretending it hadn’t happened.

--

Two days later, Yugi had tried everything to get to sleep. He had even stuffed his head under his pillow so he couldn’t hear all of the noises of the night. The creakings and groanings of the house. Nothing worked.

Suddenly determined, he got up, got into his slippers, and marched out to go to the Kaiba mansion.

Then he marched back in, changed into shoes and grabbed a jacket and then marched back out again.

Kaiba-kun looked faintly suspicious as he opened the door, “Are you here for a Duel this time?” he demanded.

Yugi shook his head and smiled his nicest smile up at Kaiba-kun.

“Do I look like a homeless shelter to you?” Kaiba-kun demanded, not moving from the doorway.

“I’m not homeless,” he said, face falling. If Kaiba-kun genuinely was upset then Yugi shouldn’t have come. They had had breakfast after that night, amiably silent, and then Kaiba-kun had ‘given him a demonstration,’ of the Duel Disk, which Yugi had privately amended to ‘showing off,’ and he had assumed that everything was fine.

“Ano…” he smiled weakly up at him, suddenly feeling a lot smaller, “I’m disturbing you. I’m so sorry. I should go.” He rubbed at the back of his head, a gesture he had caught from Jounouchi-kun and never managed to get rid of.

Kaiba-kun glared down at him until Yugi felt like walking away backwards and then he suddenly backed away from the door and walked away inside.

Mood brightening already, Yugi hurried inside and shut the door. He was a little surprised that Kaiba-kun still set up both futons side-by-side, but said nothing. It was easier for him to sleep when he could sense someone’s presence nearby. Kaiba-kun was distinctly not his Ot…not Atem, but that made it easier in a way. He wouldn’t wake up aching from wrong expectations.

He settled in and remembered to mention, this time, that he had tried out KC’s latest VR game and it was (as Jounouchi-kun said) slamming. Kaiba-kun said, “Of course,” but sounded pleased underneath that so Yugi just gave him a sleepy smile and snuggled down into his hot water bottle.

He woke up in the morning in Kaiba-kun’s arms, his own head tucked under Kaiba-kun’s chin. It was oddly comfortable and he dozen for a long time before Kaiba-kun carefully put him back on the bedding and got up.

--

The third time, Yugi had resisted for almost a week and then waited until midnight before making the slow trek to the Kaiba mansion. He patted the gargoyle that had frightened him the first night. It wasn’t its fault it was so ugly and scary-looking, probably it was just lonely.

Kaiba-kun had opened the door, stared at him for a long moment, and then said, “You’re not here to Duel, are you?” in a resigned tone.

Yugi shook his head and waited to be let in. This time, Kaiba-kun had clearly been working when Yugi interrupted. His desk was covered with papers in a haphazard manner. The couch had been replaced, but there were two futons already there, folded up neatly in a corner of the room. Yugi sneaked a little glance at Kaiba-kun but he steadfastly did not meet Yugi’s eyes.

Yugi and Kaiba-kun worked in tandem to set out the futons, and Yugi got into his usual one. Kaiba-kun left briefly, and came back carrying a hot water bottle that he handed over to Yugi. He himself went back to work. He reached to turn off the lights, but Yugi protested, “Your eyes will get weak!”

Kaiba-kun looked startled, then said dismissively, “I’m used to it, it’ll be fine.”

Yugi sat up to protest, “I can sleep with the lights on, I’ve done it plenty. You don’t want to hurt yourself working like that.” It was just like Kaiba-kun to ignore the physical needs of his body.

Looking exasperated, Kaiba-kun said, “Fine, I’ll keep the lights on, go back to sleep you lunatic.”

Yugi beamed at him, and the exasperation softened into something a little nicer. Maybe even a trace of fondness. Yugi dropped onto his futon and slept the sleep of one well-satisfied in life. He woke up mostly on top Kaiba-kun, with Kaiba-kun holding him there with one hand around his waist. A little embarrassing but also… nice. It was nice.

It wasn’t a thing though.

--

The fourth time it was definitely Kaiba-kun’s fault. They had finally agreed on a time to Duel, and when the new Disks had malfunctioned, he had had to ransack his luggage for the last stable beta version, over Yugi’s protests that they should go back to his place and use the last released version that he had at home.

Then they had had to start over, because the malfunctioning Duel Disks had shuffled their decks hopelessly well before releasing them.

So it had gone on well into the evening, to the point that Yugi had finally gotten to see Mokuba-kun come home. He was a much more cheerful and bright kid now, and even made sly digs at his brother about his dating style. Yugi shamelessly encouraged him so that he could satisfy his curiosity. He hadn’t even known that Kaiba-kun dated, let alone enough to have a ‘style.’

Then during dinner Yugi had made some unwise remarks about one or two of the side-quests in their Island of Fear VR game and both Kaibas had gotten stiff, like cats prepared to defend their territory, and demanded that he show them exactly what he meant by criticising their game. Yugi congratulated Mokuba-kun on his first named credit on an official game release but refused to back down from his criticism. So then they had to go through the side-quests in detail, so that Yugi could demonstrate to both Kaibas that he could defend his playing against theirs anytime, thanks.

Mokuba had grinned and walked off with a wave after that, but Kaiba-kun had insisted on making notes. It had been kind of fun, figuring out alternatives to the current gameplay that would improve the pace and structure, and still make sense in the game’s world.

And time had flown, until Yugi had basically fallen asleep on Kaiba-kun while Kaiba-kun was still making notes on his tablet. So Kaiba-kun had basically carried him to the futon and taken his jacket and most of his jewelry (but not his collar) off and tucked him into bed. And Yugi had woken up gasping for breath because he had been trapped under Kaiba’s considerably bigger frame. Kaiba-kun had woken in a rush and then blushed, beginning from the tip of his ears and spreading to his entire face.

Yugi stared, oddly charmed by the sight, until Kaiba-kun got up and walked away.

--

The fifth time, Yugi had woken up in his own bed, spread out a hand and said, “Other Me?” before waking up all at once and feeling that sick sinking feeling that made him want to hide in bed for a week. He forgot to even put on a jacket as he rushed out of the house towards the Kaiba mansion.

Kaiba-kun clearly noticed his misery but did not ask any questions, and he didn’t offer any explanations. He did set up his futon just a little closer to Kaiba-kun’s. But even though it was definitely crowding his space, Kaiba-kun said nothing as he prepared to sleep.

That time, Yugi woke up in his own futon, but with a hand gently running through his hair, long clever fingers scratching at his scalp in a way that made him want to doze off again. He lay there until the hand retreated. A hand pulled up his blanket to cover him to the shoulders and then Kaiba-kun left.

--

The sixth time, Yugi had actually been invited to sleep over, but by Mokuba-kun, who confided in him that R&D was still not done catching up now that the boss was back permanently and that meant that he had nothing to do except visit the arcade and maybe pick up some guys or girls. He smiled innocently at the look Yugi gave him when he added that last bit.

He must have been working harder than he thought, because by the time Kaiba-kun came home, he was conked out in front of the video game screen with the controller slipping from his hand until Yugi rescued it. Typical Kaiba, not knowing his own limits.

Yugi was just wondering what to do, since he would have been hard put to carry even a child Mokuba-kun and now he was an inch or two taller than Kaiba-kun even. Then Kaiba-kun came in, and his face softened around the eyes. Yugi pretended not to notice since that was better than Kaiba-kun pretending that he didn’t have feelings. It did make him bold enough that night to lie with his hand between their futons, within easy reach of Kaiba-kun’s hand.

When he woke up, he was lying on Kaiba-kun’s shoulder, and there was a hand running lightly over his head.

“I like sleeping here,” he said, tone still low and fuzzy from sleep.

The hand dropped away from his head in a moment and the shoulder beneath him stiffened. Yugi refused to move, he breathed slow and deep as if that would magically convert the stiff body beside his to a relaxed state.

Unfortunately, Kaiba-kun only waited a few short moments before shrugging him off and sitting up. Face closed off, he bit out, “I have plenty of space.” For a moment, Yugi stared at him, trying to work it out, the sudden challenging tone had thrown him off his game.

Then light dawned. He said, more firmly this time, “I like sleeping here.”

Kaiba-kun’s frown withered away into something a little more uncertain, something a little like the face of a child who knows better than to ask, but can’t quite help hoping anyway. Yugi held his breath as he inched a hand forward to hold onto one bigger than his. Then slowly he brought it to his mouth and pressed a closed-mouth kiss to it.

He could feel himself blush while doing it, and he hid under his bangs rather than look Kaiba-kun in the eye but Kaiba-kun slowly slid down to lie down again, holding onto his hand tighter than maybe strictly necessary.

Kaiba-kun was an insomniac too, Yugi thought, and he probably knew a lot of games. Even sleepless nights passed quickly if you knew a lot of games. Maybe he’d even know one or two that Yugi didn’t.

[commodore-schmidlap]

Benzos

Benzodiazepines (or Benzos, for short) are absolutely wonderful within the accepted medical context: for people who are prescribed them and take them as cautioned, for those near end-of-life, and for those who want to abort a “bad trip,” before it gets any worse. 

However helpful or fun these little pills (or even liquids) might be, there is still a downside, like there is to so many other synthetics and pharmaceuticals. 

Being someone who is not only personally familiar with the drug world, but has also experienced it through family and friends, as well as having read about it, watched videos on it, and listened to podcasts and radio programs regarding it, I feel qualified to say I am an authority of sorts--even a minor one. 

Benzos are chemically similar to alcohol, not just in terms of the effects, but also in terms of how benzos are used to help with the DT’s of many alcoholics trying to quit drinking. And just like alcohol, benzos are some of the only substances around where the withdrawal symptoms alone can kill someone...

Research old Hollywood, and you’ll be inundated with scores of starlets and silver screen darlings who met a terrible fate at the hands of barbiturates, which was the “old-school” name for benzos, at the time. Judy Garland, the actress who famously played Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz (1939), was one of the most notable overdose deaths in the 1940′s. 

Whether it be Valium, or Seconal (referred to as “Reds” on the street), benzos took many other casualties along the way in the 1960′s and 70′s, when there was a more liberal and accepting atmosphere and attitude towards mind-altering substances. Tim Buckley, the folk musician, and father to future musician Jeff Buckley, died as a result of a Seconal overdose. Even someone who battled heroin addiction wasn’t able to best benzos.

Growing up, I heard of pills like Xanax, but all I knew about them was that they made people sleepy, and that they were meant for people with anxiety, social or otherwise. The only stories I really heard about in regards to abusing pharmaceuticals, concerned painkillers, because they lead people onto more serious opiate addictions, like heroin. 

My friends and I had only really been smoking weed for a little while (couple months), before we saw someone sell Xanax, and someone take it recreationally. One of our friends, we’ll call him T, had a parent who sold unused pills to the other, estranged parent, in order to make ends meet. This adult would even sell to friends of our friend. Early on, I could see how weird it could make people and how I wanted no part of it. This was when I was in early 10th grade. 

Fast-forward a few years, and my friends and I have become relatively well-versed in the drug world. Between tripping on a number of things, smoking insane amounts of weed, drinking, what have you, we’d been through some shit. One of our other buddies, who had moved from another state not too long before, also had a history with drugs. His was a little more extensive, and included more substance abuse than our collective drug history did. Most notably was his admission of trying meth. Long story short, dude was hardcore. And even though he had tried some scary shit, the one thing he advised us to watch out for, was Klonopin. Another kind of Benzo. “If not done correctly,” he warned, “it will ruin your life.” 

About a year-and-some-odd-months later, one of our friends admits to struggling with Xanax addiction. Granted, he had also had a rocky relationship with substances prior, especially Molly, but Xanax really did it in for him. He eventually got clean (still loves to smoke weed) but it was a tense situation for a long while. At the time, aside from the occasional junkie, cokehead, or psychonaut who got a bad batch of research chemicals (spice or faux acid), we really didn’t have much to worry about. Well, not until Xanax became more commonplace. 

Not even a year after that and my brother’s dad passes away. Unable to handle the death, my brother succumbs to taking Xanax, since drinking and smoking weed weren’t much help, which he got addicted to, inevitably leading him back to doing heroin. Thankfully he recovered, but I knew the pills had significant influence over that hasty and rash decision to use again. 

Around this time, one of my good friends went through a nasty break-up, and to cope, opted to snort lines of Xanax, that he also sold, until the hurt went away. Now, this was someone who could handle coke, psychedelics, alcohol, and the best weed on the planet, but was relatively unprepared to handle benzos. Luckily, we talked some sense into him before it could become a problem. This was also when Xanax become more culturally accepted, referenced in nearly every rap song, and even Woody Allen movies. At the same time, various news outlets informed the public that Xanax addiction, even in the midst of the opiod crisis, posed a serious threat, and that Xanax, could even be more dangerous than heroin itself. 

This was when I read Deal, the autobiography of former-Grateful Dead drummer, Bill Kreutzman. In one chapter, that he dedicates to 1995 (his most despised year), he recounts how he fell victim to Xanax, and how surprisingly powerful and evil it can really be. Now, this was someone who overcame heroin and opiate addiction, alcoholism, tripped on nearly every psychedelic drug,  was stoned more days than he’s ever been sober, could handle stimulants and PCP, but admitted that benzos are a force to be reckoned with. Let that sink in for a second. 

During my junior/senior year at university, my roommates and I had a guy we’d hit up for weed. Although he didn’t smoke himself (he still hit dabs here and there), he doled out the dankest ganj, and sold it for cheaper than anyone else on account of him not being a real smoker. One thing about him was that he had substance abuse issues. Whether it was stimulants (ADHD meds and coke), Molly, lean, alcohol, or Xanax, he couldn’t really handle his shit as much as he touted himself as a partier. He even had an infamous bad trip that made him quit taking psychedelics. It was his various car accidents (never fatal, yet), a result of drinking and taking Xanax, that made him become a laughingstock in our eyes. Granted, he had a problem, but we could all see how the problem was destroying his life, slowly, and pathetically. Around then, two of my roommates experimented a little with Xanax when he offered, but ended up saying my catchphrase, “I’d rather smoke weed.”

Come my senior year of university, and more and more people take Xanax and talk about their times taking it. Whether they admitted it over twitter, or in person, it was still an admission. The people ran the gamut from typical partiers, to artists/thespians, even to professors of mine. And in some of these stories, we were told of the negatives. It soon got to the point that everyone knew that benzo use was getting slightly sketchy. 

That dealer we had who crashed his car, well, his roommate from that year ended up moving out on his own (closer to our off-campus residence) and became our go-to plug for bud. One week, however, he offered us Xanax. When he sold it to us, he cautioned against drinking with it or taking too much of it. “One pill is fine,” he added, “you can get stoned on these, though. You’ll feel immaculate.”

My roommates (who had done Xanax a couple times already) treated it like any other benign substance. But as for myself, I treated it like the hard drug it is. I asked questions concerning how common it was to nod off or choke on your own vomit. All of that shit. I wanted to be prepared. After all, I was putting synthetic drugs into my body. However, my biggest worry was that one of my roommates would turn the stove or oven on, forget, and leave it on all night. Granted, a mistake some make sober, but with Xanax and other drugs in one’s system, one is far more liable to do so. Not to mention that I didn’t want us to die from toxic fumes or potentially blow up the house when we went to rip a bong. 

By the time I decided to take my pill, I was alone. I had no work, I had just gotten back from play practice, and I had no weed to smoke. Some friends from back home hit me up about Pittsburgh being dry, and wondered if I knew anyone who sold up around school. I helped them out, and in return, we chilled at my place and smoked a good bit of weed. Being a relatively generous person when it came to drugs, I took the bar from my pocket and broke it up. There were four sections--I took half (two), and they each took a quarter. I don’t think they felt much, if anything, but I felt more than stoned. We made some food, and I made sure that everything was turned off, and then they left. I don’t know why I took it, but I liked my one experience with it, and that was enough for me. I think I wanted to know what it felt like to listen to music on it and to jerk off on it, or something...

It wasn’t until February that I saw people on Xanax. My roommates had scored some, in addition to a cut of weed, or so, from another one of our dealers, while I was coming back from a university-sponsored trip to D.C., and appeared quite fucked up. I could tell that they were more than stoned, and since there was no alcohol in the house, I knew it was Xanax. 

As the last few months of my undergrad progressed, the car-crash dealer became pretty addicted to Xanax, as did his former roommate, which was more of a shame. 

Since then, the summer’s been weird, in regards to benzo use. Chris Cornell, the rock musician who committed suicide, was on high amounts of Ativan when he took his life. Right around that time, my Gram was slowly dying and was given Ativan and morphine to ease everything. A few other family members took low-doses of benzos to cope with her suffering and her eventual passing. 

Not too long after, I got news that one of my roommate’s brothers had been seriously addicted to liquid Xanax and Klonopin, which he got off of the deep web, and had almost died a few times. He appears to be doing better and hopefully doesn’t succumb to alcoholism in the future, or even heroin that has been plaguing the area they live in. 

While I advocate personal sovereignty and one’s freedom to explore their consciousness and have a bit of fun along the way, I also argue for responsible drug use. Don’t jeopardize your own health and safety, and cause pain to friends and family, by doing something that you are unprepared for. Stick to gentler, softer substances. Even the most experienced can have trouble with the likes of benzos.