#Here’s the list for the seven children and he’ll come pick them up once he fixes the speedsters mess thanks

[puppetmaster13u]

Prompt 179

“Pa, there’s a weird lookin’ cat outside!” 

 -Said by a sleep deprived Danny Phantom while in Clockwork’s Lair, about a hero displaced in time. Clockwork is in fact amused. Batman is simply confused about the entire situation.  

[scuttling]

While I'm writing Dad!Bod Hotch with babies... 🥺

...Here's a very baby excerpt from one of my other works (modified a little so it can be read as reader.) It's pretty cute if I do say so myself! Tags: 18+, NSFW, Blow job + Pregnant sex The next child abduction case they get happens a year later, and it takes them to Seattle; rain beats down on the Sullivan house while she and JJ sit with the family and try to keep them informed of what’s going on in terms of the investigation. The mother stares out the window at the rain, and she brings over the cup of tea she’d offered to make, sets it down on the table beside her, takes her trembling hands.

“I promise you, Mrs. Sullivan, our team is doing absolutely everything they can to locate your son safely. They are the best in the world at what we do; we just need to let them do their jobs.”

Mrs. Sullivan frowns, takes a sobbing breath, and then wraps her arms around her; she’s a little startled by it, but rubs her back, trying to provide comfort.

After a couple minutes, Mrs. Sullivan pulls back, and she offers her a tissue.

“Do you have any children?” she asks, wiping her eyes.

“Yes. He’s seven years old, and his name is Jack.”

They find the boy five hours later. Alive.

She and Aaron have celebration sex on every available surface.

“Hey. So, I got three or four calls from my doctor’s office a couple weeks ago, but I was preoccupied with the Sullivan case and I kept forgetting to call her back,” she says later from Aaron’s lap. He sits up, holding her hips while he shifts his weight.

“Okay. Is everything alright? Why was she calling so often?”

“Apparently, my IUD expired a month ago. I have to get it taken out.” He looks cautiously over her face, like he’s not sure what reaction she wants from him. She’s fairly certain she knows what his first instinct is. “Well, Jack and I were at the grocery store when I spoke to her—and you know I’ve been feeling a little off…” She wets her lips, reaches over the arm of the couch and pulls a little cardboard box off the console table. She can see his breath hitch.

“Have you taken it?” She nods quickly, presses her lips together.

“Just waiting now.” Carefully, he reaches for the box, takes it out of her hand, and sets it back down on the table. He pulls her close for a tight hug.

“Whatever happens, I love you so much,” he murmurs in her ear, and they just hold each other until the timer on her phone goes off. She brushes her hand through his hair, and his eyes are wet; she knows hers are too.

She climbs out of his lap, and he follows her down the hall, clinging to her back like he can’t physically let her go. When they make it to the bathroom, she picks up the test, squeezes her eyes briefly shut, and holds it up so he can read the word on the screen.

The word.

She spins in his arms, wraps hers around him, and jumps up and down, the grin splitting her face nothing compared to the gorgeous smile that lights up his.

“I’m going to see if Dr. Rose can fit me in tomorrow,” she says, leaning up to smooch him several times in a row. “Just to be sure.”

“Let me know, I’ll come.” She nods, kisses him a few more times, takes a deep, shuddering breath.

“I love you so much.” He holds her, repeats it, kisses her forehead, her eyes. Then he starts kissing her for real, reverent and steamy, and they walk gracelessly toward the bedroom, tugging articles of clothing off as they go.

She is kneeling over him on the bed, giving him a very good, messy, ‘Congrats, you’re probably going to be a daddy again!’ blow job when she pulls back suddenly, an overwhelming thought crossing her mind; she looks up at him with wide eyes.

“You know my brother has two sets of twins, right?” “A package came from your brother today,” Aaron says a couple months later as he’s leafing through the mail; he holds it out to her, and she opens it up, excited, then covers her mouth, can’t help but aww. “What is it?” he asks, not looking up from the stack of envelopes, and she puts her hand on his arm to get his attention.

“‘For the Hotchner siblings’—that’s what the card says,” she explains when he looks up, and then she holds up the largest t-shirt: it’s brown, with a cartoon bear cub, white letters spelling out Brother Bear. She holds up a smaller shirt: Sister Bear #1. Then another small shirt: Sister Bear #2. He smiles.

“Okay, that’s cute. We have to FaceTime him and thank him.”

“Definitely. He’s not going to believe how big this belly is,” she says, reaching up on her toes for a kiss; he comes at her from the side, because it’s easier to reach her lips that way. “Uh, Hotch, we need you down in the bullpen. She's crying and we can’t get her to stop,” Spencer says into the phone, looking a little freaked. Aaron must agree to come down, because he hangs up the receiver wordlessly; JJ rubs her shoulders, trying to comfort her.

“It’s okay, I completely understand. It’s normal to feel like that at this stage of the pregnancy,” she explains, and it’s all sounding very rational, but she just covers her eyes and keeps crying.

When Aaron crouches down beside her, he takes her hands carefully off of her face, wipes her tears with his sleeve, peers up at her with soft eyes.

“Oh, sweetheart, what is it? What’s wrong?”

“I want…” She gulps, sniffles, and Prentiss hands her a tissue over the desk partition. “Thank you. I want these babies out of me,” she sobs, and she knows she’s making a huge scene, but she doesn’t even care. “I want your babies out of me, Aaron!” He sighs; she knows he’s heard it all before.

“I know, honey, but you have to be patient. It will happen when it’s meant to.” She sobs, then hiccups, and that’s just great.

“But I’m—I’m drinking the stupid tea, I’m eating the dates. I got the, the acupuncture—do you know how weird it is to see those needles sticking out of your body? It’s unsettling!”

Morgan returns from Garcia’s office, takes one look at them, and abruptly pivots on his heel to head back.

“Oh sure,” she calls, and then hiccups, “everyone sees a crying pregnant woman and they just run away!”

“Noo, he just texted me!” Spencer lies, waving his phone that he never even looked at. “He said he forgot something and he’ll be right back.”

“Spencer, tell me what else can induce labor, please,” is all she says, doesn’t call him out because it’s sweet that he even tried. He counts off with his fingers as he recites the list.

“Raspberry leaf tea, dates, castor oil—” she grimaces, because that shit’s the worst “—acupressure, acupuncture, exercise.” He hesitates, looks a little uncomfortable, and she hiccups, gets pissed, takes a deep breath.

“Sweetie, honey,” she says, reaching out a hand for him, and he takes it, pats it awkwardly. Bless his heart. “You’re my partner, and I love you, but please spit it out.”

“Okay, uh. Nipple stimulation, and uh. Well. Sex.” Oh, yeah, the nipple thing they tried, but it felt like a restless cat trying to get comfortable on her chest, wasn’t sexy at all, so they didn’t try the rest. She snaps her fingers at Aaron like a douchebag asking for the waitress, wipes her face, hiccups again.

“Okay, we’re doing it, we’re doing that one. Sex me up.” Prentiss barks a laugh, and Spencer looks deeply disturbed. “Please can we go home now?”

“Uh, yes, we can,” Aaron begins, “but I’m not sure we should—” Nope, she’s not gonna listen to that bullshit. He hasn’t been pregnant for 42 fucking weeks.

“I love you, but shut up. Your dick put these things inside me, and your dick’s gonna get them out.” She moves to stand, and so does he, arms out like he’ll catch her if she starts to wobble. “I know I’m not sexy anymore with this gigantic stomach, but please please please just fuck me.” He closes his eyes, sighs like he regrets so much in life, and then gives her a hard kiss on the mouth. It makes her, like, instantly horny; she’d initiate sex right here if she thought she could get her pants off.

“You are as sexy as you’ve ever been,” he murmurs, hovering over her lips, “and I’m going to fuck you.” Sex this big sucks. Missionary is hilarious, doggy is uncomfortable, side by side seems okay but is actually kind of impractical. She feels betrayed.

Aaron helps her get on top of him—his dick is so hard it makes her feel really, really good about herself—and she’s more than okay with bouncing on him, but her belly bounces too, and it feels weird.

“Can you hold it?” she pants, and she takes the hair tie off her wrist and sweeps her hair into a ponytail because she’s sweating from all the position-shifting. “Just like, hold it.” She takes his hands and rests them on her enormous beach ball belly, sighs because it feels nice. “Good, yeah, thank you, let me try again.”

She braces herself against his thighs, rides him quickly, bucking hard—after about 15 years of wishing she had bigger breasts, she now despises hers, and therefore avoids them at costs, but she does manage to reach her clit, and she rubs it furiously as she moves atop him.

Aaron—who is so great, and sweet, who she loves so much—is all but useless, just holds her belly still and groans like he’s getting the best pussy of his lifetime, which she guesses maybe he is, because she wants these babies out and she’s well and truly desperate. “Oh, fuck, baby,” he grinds out, and his hands move to her thighs, squeezing hard, and she whines.

“No, no, do not come, don’t come.”

He comes.

An hour later, they try again, with her propped up on a pillow, her legs dangling over the edge of the bed. The internet said this would work, and if it doesn’t, she’s prepared to let BoyMom282 fucking have it.

“Oh my god, yes, yes,” she moans, clutching at the sheets above her head, and Aaron’s hands feel so good on what remains of her waist as he pounds into her. “Fuck, yes, fuck me until your babies are ready, Aaron. Such a fucking man, knocking me up with two babies at once—you can help me get them out, can’t you, daddy?”

He groans long and loud, and she puts a hand on his, squeezes hard.

“Don’t. Come. I swear to god if you come inside me right now, it will be the last time you ever do it.”

He comes, but luckily for him, she comes first. “So, tell us which is which,” Garcia leads, visibly excited, and she leans back against Aaron’s body, looks at the sweet baby girl in his arms.

“This one is Camila,” she says, touching her teeny tiny little foot, “and Spencer’s holding Mia. Mia Clarita Hotchner Cortes—Clarita after my mother—and Camila Marie Hotchner Cortes.”

“Marie after my mother,” Aaron explains, and he puts an arm around her, which she snuggles happily against. “We’re just waiting for Jack—he should be here any minute.” Spencer hands Mia back to her, and she kisses her forehead.

“This is the best day of your mama’s life,” she coos, touching her soft, dark, fuzzy baby hair. Her heart swells. “I was going to become daddy’s next unsub if you little cuties didn’t vacate my uterus in a timely fashion.”

She can hear the squeak of Jack's shoes coming through the door, and she looks up at Aaron with a grin. When Jack comes around the bed and sees the girls, his eyes get big. “Whoa, are these my sisters?” Haley pops in behind him, and she smiles at them.

“Yeah, buddy, come here,” she says, gesturing for him with her free arm. “This is Mia, and this is Camila.”

“Gentle like we practiced,” Aaron reminds him when he reaches out to touch Camila’s face, and she and Haley both roll their eyes, then laugh.

“He knows, sweetie.” She watches their interaction with so much love, then brushes her fingers over Jack’s hair. “You’re going to be the best brother bear ever, aren’t you?” He looks up at her, grins; he’s missing a tooth just to the left of the front ones, and she’s obsessed with that little gap.

“Yep, I’m going to read them stories and share my toys and play with them at the park.”

“They’re lucky to have you,” Aaron says, leaning down to look into his eyes. “And so are we, buddy.” “And do you, Aaron Hotchner—”

“Da-ah-addy!” someone sobs—Mia, she mouths to Aaron across from her—and she sees JJ step out from behind her, trying to soothe her so they can proceed, but she’s not having any luck. Mia is a daddy’s girl, and the fact that she can see him, but she’s not in his arms, is like a mortal sin to her.

She gets it, she really does. She felt that way every day for two years.

When it’s obvious she’s not calming down, the officiant clears her throat and tries again, but Mia’s wailing just gets louder. Aaron smiles, shrugs.

“Sorry. It’s okay—here, Mia, daddy’s right here,” he assures, reaching out to take her from JJ, and he wipes her eyes, her red nose, and bounces her on his hip for a moment until she settles. She shoots them what she’s sure is a sickeningly sweet glance and then turns around and asks for Camila; Emily hands her off with a big smile.

Aaron grins when she puts her on her hip, and he reaches behind him for his best man, Jack, encourages him to come forward so he’s standing between them. She smiles at him, touches his face, and nods at the officiant, who takes a deep breath and proceeds.

“Do you, Aaron Hotchner, take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife? To love her, comfort her, honor and keep her, in sickness and in health, in sorrow and in joy, from this day forward, as long as you both shall live?”

“I do.” They opted not to write their own vows, because their vows are living, breathing things between them, three perfect little heartbeats. Anything more felt unnecessary.

“By the power vested in me by the state of Virginia, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride.” He does, so well she thinks she might get pregnant again, and then they each kiss their three babies, and she silently marvels over the fact that all it took was being clobbered over the head with a fire extinguisher for her life to end up this perfect. “Did you know that your chance of having a second set of fraternal twins jumps to 12% after you’ve had the first?” Spencer asks as they’re gathered in the briefing room one morning. She and Aaron are standing up front, pressed close together, nodding patiently. “And considering they run in your family, and that your brother has two sets of fraternal twins, I’d say that statistically the odds are more likely doubled.”

She looks over at Aaron, whose eyes are filled with love and awe and also some pretty sexy other things, and then pulls the ultrasound image out from the little envelope, holds it out for the team to see.

In unison, they answer, “We know.”

They get a package in the mail later that week: One Jack-sized t-shirt—Brother Bear #1—and two tiny t-shirts—Sister Bear #3 and Brother Bear #2. She and Aaron stop by the hospital to visit a friend after surgery and she can't resist walking past the maternity ward. Something about seeing all of those brand new, healthy, happy babies rejuvenates her after a tough case, and the one they'd finished up earlier in the week had been one of the toughest.

A woman comes to stand beside her as she looks at the babies, wearing sweatpants and a hospital gown—she's maybe 30, so just a few years younger—and she smiles brightly at the woman. "New mom?"

"Yeah, she's the one right there," the woman says with a grin, pointing to a sweetly sleeping little girl. "Isn't she perfect?"

"They're all perfect," she sighs, "but she is very beautiful. Congratulations." The woman's smile turns warmer, softer.

"Thank you. Do you have any children?" She's so wrapped up in the dreamy haze of little babies wiggling their toes that she almost doesn't hear the question.

"Hmm? Oh yeah, five of them: Adrian, Isabella, Mia, Camila, and Jack." The woman's eyes go extremely wide, and she laughs, because she's so very used to that. Aaron steps up on her other side, wraps an arm around her waist.

"Thought I might find you here," he says, and he smiles politely at the woman, who's looking like she may never open her legs again. "Can't resist looking at the babies."

"I just love babies," she says sweetly, and she stretches up for a kiss. "Do you ever think we should have another, just to even it out?"

"Hmm. Yes, but knowing us, they'll be twins again, so it's probably best we stick with five." He bends for another kiss, and she pulls him close; when she remembers where they are, she pulls back, to shoot the new mom a sheepish smile, but she's already gone. She sighs.

"Fair enough. But do you want to go home and practice anyway?"

[smol-and-grumpy]

Legally Yours - Ch. 01 (Prologue)

Pairing: Dean Winchester x Reader

Summary: Dean Winchester tops the list of hottest entrepreneurs 2020 and yet, there’s still something he wants but can’t have because, in order to get that, he would have to settle down and get married. She agrees too quickly because she wants to secure a more comfortable life for her and her daughter. Will she be able to help Dean get what he wants without losing herself in the fake story they spin up to deceive his father and the world?

Chapter Warnings: None. Maybe the end will get your heart racing.

WC: 1796

Beta’d by: @deanwanddamons​ <3

Series Masterlist ~ SPN Masterlist

Buy me a coffee

Y/N’s sitting at her desk as she types an answer to the inquiry from a customer, when her friend Donna practically slams a glamour magazine over her keyboard. 

“Have you seen this?” The blond woman asks. 

“Jesus, Donna! I haven’t saved that document yet! God!” She picks the magazine up and tosses it to the side as she continues to finish the document on her screen. 

Donna’s still waiting, staring at her and she wonders if that woman has nothing else to do. Y/N’s sure Donna has plenty to do, they always have a lot of work and that’s why she gets home so late and sometimes, Liv would already be asleep. Sometimes, when she’s lucky, Liv was awake and she’d read her a bedtime story of princesses who are rescued by a heroic prince.

As soon as Y/N is finished, she turns around in her chair, to see her friend still staring at her instead of doing her own work. 

“What is it?” She asked with that added annoyed nuance to her tone of voice.

“Look!” Donna lifts her chin to point towards the magazine she slammed in front of Y/N just a moment before, “Have you seen it?”

Turning back around to her desk, she picks it up, “Donna, I’m not reading those mags, so no, I haven’t seen it. Why?”

Instead of answering her, Donna only grins. The grin that shows her dimples. The wicked one, “Page twenty-six,” 

With raised eyebrows and that little spark of curiosity which Donna had added to her interest, Y/N rifles through the pages until she reaches page twenty-six. 

There’s a picture of a man who stares right at her. He’s wearing a perfect suit. His one hand fakes the adjusting of his cufflink on his wrist. It’s a total male model pose. Well, he looks like one, so she can’t really say that anything’s out of the ordinary. 

At a second glance, though, she realizes that he looks familiar. His face is a little scruffy, but that makes him look edgier, makes him look more handsome. He’s smiling bright, showing his perfect white teeth. There are crinkles around his emerald eyes, seven on his right side, and she knows she shouldn’t even be counting them, so she ignores his left side. And she definitely can’t help but notice the freckles across his face. 

Oh, she thinks.

Oooohhhh.

“Is that..?” She asks with a frown that gets deeper between her eyebrows because she’s just not sure? She hasn’t seen the man that many times in real life. 

“Ya! Our fucking boss! The icy King!” Donna shouts, “Isn’t he dreamy? My god, I wanna eat him up! And he doesn’t look as icy and distant like he always does,”

“Donna!”

“What? Only telling the truth here! Read what the headline says!”

Her friend is right, though, Mr. Winchester’s normal aloof and cold persona isn’t captured in the picture. He’s known to be the icy King in the company. Instead, he looks kind of welcoming and warm. Y/N eyes go to the top of the page, and she can’t lie, it’s hard to concentrate on the writing when there’s a good looking man staring her down.

The headline is in all caps.

 DEAN WINCHESTER, HOTTEST ENTREPRENEUR 2020

 She frowns, as her eyes leave the magazine to look back at her friend, “That’s what you wanted to show me?” 

“Duh! There’s also a whole article about him being the center of attention everywhere he goes,”

“Well, that’s not really surprising, is it? Looking like that?”

“It also says that he has a fiancée.”

“That’s also not surprising,” Y/N shrugs, “I mean, seriously, look at him. Who wouldn’t want to marry that?” She didn't. At least not when they say that he’s cold-hearted. But again, she’s not the norm here because every female is gushing about him. 

She closes the magazine loudly, deciding that she shouldn’t waste more time. She wants to get home on time today. Liv went on a field trip with her school and she wants to hear her little girl telling her about how exciting it was. Y/N still has a lot of work to do and also a meeting with her supervisor later. The sleazebag.

“So, can I go back to work?” She turns to Donna, “I have a meeting with Raphael in about twenty minutes.”

“Ew,” Donna cringes her nose.

Y/N rolls her eyes, “Exactly,”

“Will you tell him off?”

“I already did,” She sighs, “Multiple times,”

“Why don’t you just go to HR?”

Donna knows what happens. What always happens when she has a meeting with Raphael. He’s always trying things with her. Accidentally brushes his hand against her breast or her ass. He once told her to sit in his lap as he was showing her the numbers of her performance. It wasn’t the first time he suggested it, and she doubts that it will be the last time either. He tried to kiss her more than once, but knowing that they are in an office environment, he didn’t dare to force her too much. He also offers to drive her home almost every week, and she’s slowly getting tired of it, not to mention creeped out.

At their last meeting, he made her hang up a picture frame in his office. His hand rested on her hips to supposedly support her, but they traveled further down until he kneaded her ass in his palms. She immediately got down from there, and left the room wordlessly. 

She knows another secret about Raphael, though. One she could use against him, but she just doesn’t know how just yet. Y/N knows and has got proof that he’s been skimming money. He takes it out of the customer’s account. Not a lot, a small sum that customers wouldn’t notice is missing, but in the end, it’s probably a whole lot when he does it to all the customers he’s supposed to look after. 

Again, she can’t really bring that up because she’s sure that he’ll spin it around and Raphael is good at that. With a push on the button of his keyboard, he could reverse everything and she knows that. 

“I can’t go to HR,” Y/N lowers her head and mumbles to her friend, “Because they won’t believe me,”

And that’s the truth too. The Head of HR is Duma, a woman who occasionally fucks Raphael. They have a friend with benefits thing going on, even if she’s married with children. Duma will never believe her because Y/N’s sure that Raphael can spin this perfectly to fit his narrative. 

Besides, what can she possibly tell? It’s her against him. It’s like a mouse against an elephant. She’s only an accountant and is replaceable, whereas Raphael is a member of the leadership team. And who will be let go? She doesn’t think it’s going to be him and she needs the job to survive. 

Y/N watches as Donna’s lips start to curl up, the white teeth of the woman are visible, as she drums her fingers annoyingly on her own desk.

With a frown, she asks her friend, “What?”

“I have an idea,” Donna says and pulls up her outlook calendar. 

She types in something, and then a calendar appears with a lot of colorful blocks. 

Oh no. She has quite the idea of who’s calendar it is even if she can’t read the name from where she’s sitting, which is too far away because she doesn’t want to give the impression that she’s not working. And it’s stupid that they can do that. They have quite an open calendar policy at the office. Everyone can send and block meetings for everyone, even for the icy King. 

“Donna, no!”

“Why, Donna, yes!” Her friend grins, “He has an open window right now. The meeting in the boardroom is in ten minutes. You should go tell him what you know. If someone can change anything, it’s him, right?”

Donna’s not wrong, she isn’t. But Mr. Winchester is what? At least four tiers above her if not five. Why should he care what a simple worker in his company is thinking? Why should he care what the hell she goes through every day while he earns enough profit to fuel his expensive and glamorous lifestyle?

“He wouldn’t believe me,” She shakes her head.

“You can tell him about the money skimming, I bet he won’t be happy to hear that.”

“Ugh,”

Donna stands up and walks over to her, braces her hands on the chair Y/N’s sitting on, “What’s the worst that could happen, huh?”

“That I get fired?”

“Meh,” Donna squeaked, “I doubt that. You’re doing a great job. Your records are great. And besides, if they do that, you can go and file a lawsuit against them. Besides, who knows, if you go to HR, Raphael will fire you before the icy King does.”

True, but still. 

“Now go get your ass up to the executive floor. Maybe take him a coffee, I heard he likes it black,”

“Oh, just like his heart?”

“Ya, maybe I wouldn’t tell him that?” Donna chuckles.

 *

 Y/N’s on her way to the elevators. She can’t believe that she’s really doing it. But Donna’s right. She can’t go on and live like that. It’s already hard to part from her child every morning and to get bullied at her job and being sexually harassed should not be the norm. She just fucking wants to earn enough money to keep her kid and herself above water.

God, she’s really doing it! 

Fuck.

There are six elevators lined up in the foyer. Three on each side. Only one goes up to the executive floor and also one is reserved for Mr. Winchester’s penthouse on the top floor. Everybody knows that. 

To get the elevator to run up to the executive floor, Y/N would need to have a card with a chip, which she doesn’t, and she feels stupid to have just realized it. And now she’s standing here, lost, with a hot black coffee in a lidless plastic cup that almost burns her fingers off.

Ugh. 

She’s so fucking stupid.

Well, she could still try, couldn’t she? She jumped over her own fear and has come this far. She definitely shouldn’t give up now. 

Her finger hovers over the buttons. Closing her eyes and exhaling loudly, she gives the button a push. Standing back, she waits, her heart is drumming loudly against her ribcage.

And she doesn’t even have to wait long because not even thirty seconds later, the elevator dings and opens up to reveal a man in a nice suit staring back at her.

It’s him.

Ch. 02

Please share your thoughts with me, I’d love to hear your feedback.

[solomonish]

How To Keep Your Demon Entertained At A Walmart

Congratulations! You've earned yourself a few demon date days up in the human world! But what's this? You have errands to run? Well, we all know these demons can't function without you for more than five minutes....but an entity that's thousands of years old gets a little bored and restless in the hyper-market wasteland of a Walmart...

Nowdateables: coming soon!

Lucifer

if you don't want him getting passive-aggressive about how you should've done this before he got here (yeesh Lucifer some of us have jobs or responsibilities that we can't shove onto our siblings for a day to see our precious mc) then you better be ready to make conversation

definitely not the type to allow you to even think about sending him off so you can get stuff done. he's not even that bothersome, so he'll get offended if you even think about it, but also wouldn't you rather keep him around to reach the top shelves?

basically if you don’t want to keep Lucifer entertained, you have to be the one he needs to keep entertained

do that thing where you roll around on the cart like a skateboard and he’ll be trying to put a stop to it immediately

put random things in your cart that he knows you don’t need and let him take it out and put it back where it belongs

stare him in the eyes as you put that party size brownie mix in your cart then speed walk away. he will come up from an aisle in front of you and silently pluck the box out and take it back. he will come back to see seven boxes of corn dogs and momentarily considers breaking up with you

does not need a treat as a bribe, but will definitely forgive your antics if you bought something from the bakery to snack on as you go home (especially if you did it without him noticing, considering the eagle eye he’s had to have on your cart the whole time)

just don’t have the nerve to complain about the crumbs in your car after that

Mammon

I would say to ask him to scan the area looking for dropped coins on the floor but he'd probably knock down shelves trying to look beneath them so....maybe don't?

also please keep an eye on him or he WILL be shoplifting. human jail is (probably?) a step up from demon jail but like. let's aim for no jail, ok mammon?

instead, give him a pre-portioned off list and tell him it's like a scavenger hunt. he'll scamper off to explore the walmart and his duty to keeping you happy has like a 70% chance of preventing him from stealing anything too important

make sure the stuff you put on the list is kind of hard to find but not too hard. you wanna keep him occupied without risking him freaking out because he can't find this super specific spice you want

either that or only make a really vague list like. tell him you need bread and he'll stand in the bread aisle trying to remember if you like white bread or whole wheat bread until you come to retrieve him

bring money for a treat. if it's near st patrick's day go in the seasonal aisle and hope they have chocolate gold coins

he's not too hard to deal with, but figuring out what's sneaky enough to put on the list is a chore of its own so going by yourself is less work anyway

Leviathan

taking him to walmart was your final fatal mistake

seriously? he has to go in? you could have just left him in the car!!

you take him intending to have him pick out some normie snacks (since you don't have any limited edition whatever-the-fucks in your house right now) but he looks so uncomfortable you make a detour towards the games

just leave him to play on the trial device and go pick out a few things for him to choose from when you circle back to him

arguable the least stressful trip for you until you have to wade through the pool of kids surrounding him and watching him play when it's time to pay and leave

you won't have to buy him anything but you will have to wait for him to finish the level he's on before he lets you drag him away. and he'll probably complain a little bit in the car about how terrible it was to go in in the first place, which a treat would help minimize.

so i guess just pick your battles with this one?

Satan

satan is a refined individual with startling amounts of self control. he does not need pointed in the direction of the books. he can entertain himself on a grocery run.

point him in the direction of the books anyway

their selection is always small (because it’s a walmart not a bookstore) and half of it is children’s anyway so he’ll probably wander off real quick

satan doesn’t need to be entertained, no, he’s past that. he needs to be kept on a leash

you have no way of knowing where he’ll end up. sometimes he’ll be somewhere that makes sense like in the stationary but sometimes you’ll find him staring at the paint samples like it’s a masterpiece in a museum or over by the fishing hooks reading up about local fish populations and how to get a fishing license and you’re just like “???? i’ve been looking for you for twenty minutes???? don’t give me facts about salmon???”

will ask you why you need to buy tires in the same place you get your food. isn’t that suspicious? what do they specialize in?

answer him only with the word “bargains” and he’ll stop asking once he understands or gets annoyed

you don’t need to buy him a treat unless he finds a book he wants. then come on mc, you dragged him out here and you’re NOT gonna let him get this one thing??

Asmodeus

he's fine with making an errand run with you actually!

he's up on the human world for you baby, just make sure to hold his hand so he feels appreciated

asmo is far too entertained with the concept of a walmart for his own good. don't go with him if you want it to be a quick trip because he'll want to go around the whole store

thinks at first that it's kind of nifty that humans just dump all the things they need in one store but is quickly turned off from the novelty when he realizes how short the distance is between the clothes and the nearest package of raw chicken

even if the selection is small, he will want to spend time in the makeup department. probably goes on rants about how he can’t imagine this quality of product is good for your skin

will still buy nail polish though if you let him

overall? not terrible to have around, but make sure you don’t have anywhere to be in the next hour when you take him

Beelzebub

pack a gallon bag of cheerios like he's a toddler and get ready to fucking book it in and out of there

you know how you should never go grocery shopping when you’re hungry? what were you thinking bringing Beel around??

another brother who’s good for reaching tall shelves if you need it

Beel also has this talent where he can just list off the ingredients you need if you happen to forget your list

if you want, you can distract him momentarily by just throwing out random dishes and he’ll get the ingredients right every time (even though they’re human dishes!!) but you’ll end up giving him like five different cravings by the time you leave

only take him if you want to speedrun grocery shopping, because he will start eating food you haven’t paid for if you take too long

bring extra money for that too, just in case he gets caught :(

Belphegor

bringing belphie to walmart isn't a matter of keeping him entertained moreso than keeping him awake

which you will inevitably fail to do

so even if you only need like three things, get him a cart and let him fall into the basket

he’ll try to stay awake (and he’ll give very self-satisfied grins to the people who stare at him ((and especially the ones who say “wow i wanna do that”))) but he can only fight off his sin for so long

stop by the blankets so he can stuff a few soft things in (bc he’s gotta be uncomfortable cramped in the little basket) and he’ll make himself a tiny nest

the good news is you can put anything on top of him and he won’t complain. just don’t drop any gallons of milk on him or anything that’ll wake him up

go to a self check-out so the employees don’t yell at you

after you put your groceries in your car, just dump his ass on the pavement. he’ll forgive you if you bought him the blankets.

[mgsdays]

do u know any other comics/BLs like 19days? #🥪

Hey dear!

Ohh that's a good question. I don't know any quite like 19 days, an ongoing story that is ultra slow burn. I have read some other amazing BLs though. Here's some that I like:

.

Totally Captivated

• Complete | 49 chapters plus some extras

• General vibe: humor, romance

If you like the mafia background of 19 days, an amazing manhwa is Totally Captivated. Lighthearted, fun and very hot 🔥 One character gives me strong He Tian vibes, both in appearance and in attitude. Plus, the main couple has some fantastic chemistry.

Summary: Jung Ewon has always let his curiosity get the best of him, but even he could not have predicted that his latest venture would lead to him working for the mafia.

After cheating on his boyfriend and consequently being dumped, Ewon longs for the two of them to reconcile. However, his ex's new boyfriend, the handsome Eun Mookyul, begins to take an interest in him. Finding Ewon intriguing, Mookyul, a mafia boss, decides that he wants Ewon to become his underling—and that's just the start of Ewon's problems.

As the new errand boy in Mookyul's gang, Ewon must now learn to navigate the dangerous world of the mafia all while resisting the advances of his ex-boyfriend's new lover. Should he give in to his desires, he will risk more than just another heartbreak.

At the End of the Road

• Complete | 57 chapters plus extras

• General vibe: dark themes, romance, plot heavy

The summary makes this one sound pretty complicated so I procrastinated checking it out for a bit. When I finally read it I was blown away. The plot is incredible, the romantic interest is ugh so good. The entire story leaves me with a warm feeling of destiny and serendipity. It gets dark and it demands quite a bit of attention but it is definitely worthwhile.

Summary: After a car accident, Taemin finds himself in the body of Siwon, a victim of bullying at school. No longer a pushover, he starts standing up for himself but then meets Woojin, an old friend from the past. Somehow, Woojin immediately picks up Taemin's 'scent' from Siwon. What happened between these two in the past and how will it affect their future?

Walk on Water

• Complete | 62 chapters

• General vibe: romance, hot sex

Ok, this one is a delight to read. It's another one of those "straight guy goes gay for the right guy" kind of plot, but it's beautifully done. The characters' progress feels authentic. You're on the edge of your seat rooting for them. Plus, the art is amazing?? I'd stop reading sometimes just to admire it. @ the artist you didn't have to go this hard and yet you did dude!! Fantstic job.

Plus the sex scenes are just on fire. Phew 🥵

Explicit sex so don't check it out if you're under 18, stay safe, yadda, yadda.

Summary: To earn money, Ed decided to enter the pornographic industry. Secretly, he begins working under the alias of "Tommy". One day, it was suddenly decided that he would be filming as a bottom instead of a top and he's doing it with the famous Glen McQueen as his partner?

No. 6

• Complete | 9 books or 9 mangas (I read the books actually, but the manga is the same story)

• General vibe: social commentary, romance, plot heavy

My all time favorite on the list might be No. 6. No. 6 reads more like 'social political commentary ft. a couple that happens to be boys', rather than a boys love story per see. The plot doesn't revolve around their romance, their romance is also happening in the midst of the chaos. And it is beautiful to watch.

Story wise, No. 6 is a dystopic tale, and it brings up themes of consumption under capitalism, outsourcing of labor, outsorcing of inequalities and goverment control. It's not recent so you might have read it already - if you haven't I can't recommend it enough.

A PERFECT LIFE, IN A PERFECT CITY

For Shion, an elite student in the technologically sophisticated city No. 6, life is carefully choreographed. School, study, and the occasional visit with his friend and classmate Safu. One fateful day, however, he takes a misstep, sheltering an injured boy his age from a typhoon. Known only as Rat, this boy is a VC – a fugitive living outside the computerized tapestry of city control – and helping him will throw Shion’s life into chaos and start him down a path to discovering the appalling secrets behind the superficial perfection of No. 6.

Seven Days

• Complete | 2 volumes

• General vibe: school life, romance

No way you haven't read this, but just in case: seven days!! Go check out seven days!! Seven Days is the BL. School life plots peaked with this one haha It's just two volumes and the story is beautifully done. I re-read from time to time when I want a pick me up.

Summary: On a whim, high school third-year Yuzuru Shino asks out first-year Toji Seryo, who is notorious for being a weeklong lover—he’ll date the first girl to ask him out Monday morning and then promptly dump her by the following Monday! The boys start dating, and by Tuesday, the first inklings of attraction hit. Can these two put words to their feelings before Monday comes, or are old habits too hard to break?

Blue Sky Complex

• Complete | 23 chapters

• General vibe: school life, humor, romance

Another school life story for the list. Blue Sky Complex has some truly hilarious moments, with teenage fumblings that ache with how true to life they are. Zero drama, zero outside interference, just the two main characters slowly (but surely) figuring things out.

Summary: Narasaki only wanted a place where he could sit and read books in peace, but was blackmailed by his teacher into supervising a delinquent called Terashima while working at the school library.

As they spend their days in silent but close proximity, they begin to feel drawn to each other. And then...

Doukyuusei

• Complete | 2 volumes (second is called Sotsugyousey)

• General vibe: lightehearted fun

Fun fact: I went to Japan once and I wanted to buy a book in Japanese just to have it, you know? I don't speak Japanese, I just wanted a book as a souvenir. I bought Doukyuusei. Clearly I'm biased towards this story in particular haha

Everything by this author is gold. Their art style flows, the characters have a certain lightness to them that makes them almost dance in the pages. The author usually draw at least one of the leads with long hair and the hair is so well done, GOD. I could gush about the hair all day.

Perhaps one of the most realistic ones of the list, Doukyuusei is a school life story about when you meet someone at just the right time.

Summary: "A boy boy met a boy. They were in the flush of youth. They were in love that felt like a dream, like sparkling soda pop."

High school students Hiraku Kusakabe and Rihito Sajou are as different as day and night. But opposites attract and before they know it, they've embarked on a journey neither one can quite define but which anyone with eyes can see is "Love."

Mo Dao Zu Shi

• Complete | 126 chapters

• General vibe: slow burn, historical, epic romance

At the risk of being very cliche here: if you haven't read Mo Dao Zu Shi, you're wasting time. Go. This one isn't a manga, but it a fantastic book. It became uber famous for a reason, you know? All the attention is very much deserved. I can't emphasize enough how good it is.

You can watch the TV show The Untamed as well (and the acting is fantastic) but, to me, the experience is just not the same. The TV show removes all explicit romance references from the story, in order to comply with China's censorship. The book leaves nothing out. It is very much a romance, through and through, and it's an epic one. There's slow burn, pining, misunderstandings, fighting everything and everyone for your loved one and coming out stronger on the other side. Truly worth the read.

As the grandmaster who founded the Demonic Path, Wei Wuxian roamed the world in his wanton ways, hated by millions for the chaos he created. In the end, he was backstabbed by his brother and killed by powerful clans that combined to overpower him. He incarnates into the body of a lunatic who was abandoned by his clam and is later, unwillingly, taken away by a famous cultivator among the clans — Lan Wanji. This marks the start of a thrilling yet hilarious journey of attacking monsters, solving mysteries, and raising children. From the mutual flirtation along the way, Wei Wuxian slowly realizes that Lan Wangji, a seemingly haughty and indifferent poker-face, holds more feelings for Wei Wuxian than he is letting on.

[theysayitscrazy]

Chapter Three:

Once Kara had given the guys the all-clear to head into Clay’s room, they went in pairs, and Metal convinced Kara she needed to get some food. Jason had to marvel at the relationship between Metal and Kara. He’d never seen Metal act like he did with Kara, like he genuinely cared about her; and Kara seemed to let her walls down whenever Metal would ask her something or call her out on her selfcare.

Jason was headed down to the main entrance of the hospital with Ray, Metal, and Kara. As they walked into the waiting room of the Emergency Room, Hawkins called out to them from across the room. Kara smiled as he and Nic walked over. “Hey, how’s Clay doing?” Nic asked with a friendly smile.

“He’s doing okay,” Kara answered easily. “The guys are with him. I’m gonna head out with these guys for a few to get some food.”

Hawk tilted his head and looked at her. She stared right back him, clearly daring him to say something. “He’ll be fine,” Nic spoke up, looking between the two of them. “We’ll keep an eye on things.”

“Besides, Hawk,” Metal drawled, staring right at Hawkins. “Our girl here needs to take better care of herself, right?”

Hawkins nodded once but didn’t look away from Kara. “Right.”

As they were standing around in circle talking, Kara looked to the left and glanced at a dark-skinned man wearing a heavy jacket and talking on a cell phone. He was speaking a language Jason didn’t know. Her eyes darted back to Hawk as she tilted her head to listen better.

“What’s happening?” Hawk asked her, watching her intently.

“How’s your Swahili?” she questioned him.

“Not great,” Hawk narrowed his eyes on her. “You?”

“Fluent,” she shot back immediately.

“Alpha Seven, sit-rep,” Metal immediately demanded, voice low.

Kara snapped into action, her eyes stayed on Hawk as she spoke, a small smile graced her face. “Fighting age male, dark-skinned, wearing a heavy black coat, speaking Swahili on the phone. He specifically stated that he was wearing a vest and was ready. 2nddark-skinned, fighting aged male twelve o’clock, also wearing a heavy dark coat. It’s 85 degrees outside. There are 34 people in this room. 6 children, 15 women, including Nic and myself, and 9 men not including the four of you. Of the 15 women, 3 are geriatric.”

Jason was immediately on alert. The moment she started speaking and rattling off the statics of the room around them, Jason was able to zero in and see what she had seen in a moment’s notice. Sure enough, there was 2nd possible tango near the wall of windows that overlooked the parking lot beyond the hospital.

“You caught all that the moment we walked in here?” Ray asked.

“Kara can see the matrix,” Metal explained.

Jason turned to Metal and raised an eyebrow. Metal only nodded back at him. Jason looked down at Kara who was still looking at Hawk with a slight smile on her face, being completely inconspicuous. “Alright, how do we handle this?” Jason asked, differing to her and Metal for a plan.

“Hospital policy dictates in a potential hostage situation to immediately call 911 and avoid contact,” Hawkins stated and pulled out his phone from his pocket.

“We need to go into lockdown,” Nic said. “Keep people from entering the building. We could pull the fire alarm,” she suggested.

“We do that, and every door closes and locks, and we’ll be trapped in this room with two true believers and roughly 40 victims. No, we alert the staff and do a compacity close,” Kara turned to Nic. “Nic, send out a code 8 alert. Close the hospital to all incoming ambos and patients. It’ll lock all exterior doors.”

Nic immediately pulled out her phone and started texting.

Kara turned back to Hawkins, “Call 911, discreetly explain the situation,” Kara ordered.

Hawkins walked away, phone pressed to his ear and purposely going in the opposite direction.

“Won’t that draw suspicion?” Ray asked.

“Not if we play off the overcrowding,” Nic answered looking around.

“I’m gonna need you guys to blend in,” Kara said, and glanced at Metal.

He nodded once to her, clearly trusting her.

Kara glanced around the Emergency Department and sighed. They had gathered attention. Both men were watching them. Kara suddenly laughed and grabbed Nic’s hand in an exaggerated belly laugh as she doubled over. “Oh my god! You’re right!”

Nic immediately followed and laughed too, clutching Kara as they stumbled away from their little group over to the check in desk.

The girls finished what seemed to be a lively conversation in front of the reception desk before they both looked down at the check in sheet. Jason, Ray, and Metal headed dispersed amongst the crowded waiting room, looking for a seat that would allow for a clear line of sight in case they needed to do anything. Without weapons though, it was going to be hard.

Jason could see Nic talking to the check in girl who nodded once before she stood up and headed into the room behind the reception desk.

Kara picked up the sign in clipboard and looked it over before she then looked around the room. “Alright everyone, listen up!” she called out loudly over the noise of the waiting room. She waited briefly for the noise to die down before she continued. “Welcome to Chastain Memorial Hospital in Virginia Beach, Virginia, USA,” Kara drawled, adopting her best gameshow host voice, and letting her eyes make a slow and casual sweep of the room. “My name is Dr. Kara Spenser. As you can see, we are quite busy here in the Emergency Department. Yes, Emergency department. It is no longer classified as just the Emergency Room; we are a whole department. A whole department dedicated to ensuring you get the absolute best care you so rightly deserve. So, I have one rule, and one rule only here in my E.D. and that is, ‘My way or the highway. My word is law.’ If you don’t like that rule, I don’t really care. I’m not here to be your friend, I’m here to ensure that you do not bleed out. And there will be no blood on my E.D floor,” she smirked at Hawkins, who had walked back in the room with his phone nowhere to be seen. “So, this how we’re going to things,” she turned toward Nic. “This is Dr. Nevin, she’s going to take our children directly up to pediatrics. Why wait here, when you can wait there?”

There was a bit of a grumbled from the parents of the children, but they slowly gathered their things and their children and followed after Nic, roughly clearing out a dozen people.

Ray’s throat tightened when he saw Naima walk out of the back room behind the reception desk and glance around.

Kara glanced over at her briefly before she launched into her next spiel, “Next we have our lovely elderly patients. You’ve done a lifetime of waiting now, so we’re gonna get you up and out of my E.D. The lovely nurses Naima and Brenda here, are gonna assist you lovely ladies on up to our geriatrics ward.” There was a shuffle as Naima and Brenda helped the three patients to their feet and they shuffled out.

Kara started to pace the room as she continued. “The rest of you, I apologize for the wait. Dr. Conrad Hawkins and I will be with you shortly. We have your check in information. We will go down the list according to who checked in first.”

Jason had to admit he was impressed with Kara’s quick thinking. She managed to clear half the people out of the room, including Naima and the front desk woman Brenda. All the children and elderly were evacuated. All that was left was the four trained Navy SEALS, Hawkins, Kara, two armed men, and roughly ten others that they could hopefully get out of harm’s way before the men decided they were done waiting.

As she finished speaking one of the men, the one that had been talking on the cell phone, had decided he was done waiting and stood up managed to grab Kara as she was walking by. He managed to get an arm around her neck and pull out a gun before Kara could even move. She froze and flashed her gaze to Metal, as the gun was waiving around in front of her.

The gunman started yelling and chaos erupted in the E.D.

“Hey, hey,” Jason tried to call over the yelling of the room, but the gunman yelled louder.

A hush finally settled over the crowd in the E.D while the gunman assessed the situation around him. He was flighty and waiving the gun in front of Kara. His other arm was locked in a headlock around Kara’s neck. She was clawing at his arm to no avail.

“Come on man, let her go,” Metal’s voice was soft and gentle in a commanding sort of way.

Kara’s eyes left Metal’s and landed on the other man in a coat in the room. The man stood up, pulled out a 9mm and turned his back on the crowd behind him. With his back turned, it took Jason all of a second’s decision making to tackle the man.

His gun went flying out of his hand and scattered across the floor at Kara’s feet.

She made a split-second decision and a tossed her head back into her assailant’s head, with a sickening crunch in her ear, his nose broke. He broke his hold on her and she dropped her weight and lunged for the 9mm lying at her feet.

In a trained and liquid move, she grabbed the 9mm, rolled onto her back and with both hands on the weapon, fired off two shots into the extremist’s chest in a tight pattern. His body hadn’t even hit the floor before she turned her body and eyed Jason struggling with the man in the vest. With the gun trained on them, she watched the extremist knock Jason off his back and reach for his torso.

Kara fired off a single shot, straight through the skull.

There was a moment of deafening quiet in the E.D before Kara got to her feet, holding the gun down and aimed at the ground as she assessed the situation around her. Both assailants were dead, everyone else in the room was crouched down, except for the SEALS that were on their feet also looking around for a threat.

Metal slowly walked over and pulled gun out of her hands and flipped the safety into place before he pulled her into a hug. She didn’t even hug him back, just rested her forehead against his chest and breathed in deep, taking in his familiar and comforting scent. “Good work, Alpha Seven,” he stated clearly as he pulled her against him.

Kara had to chuckle softly as she shook her head. “Fucking hell,” she grumbled and wrapped an arm around his waist.

[c4pricornc4ts]

Sbi + Friends Rec List 3

This list is split into two sections; fanfics in the real world and fanfics in minecraft. 

They are in order from fluffiest to heavy angst so if you want to laugh, use the top of each list, and if you want to cry, bottom of the lists. Thank you for all the support and as always, please message me if there’s anything wrong with the links and I will fix them. Enjoy!

Real World

Sisterinnit - amooniesong 

2.1k 1/1 Family, Fluff 

“Wilbur, do you know anything about babies?”

“Tommy, I am not giving you the talk on my stream.”

“Wha-- Wilbur!” Tommy scoffed, his familiar high pitched laugh blasting through Wilbur’s headphones and broadcasting into the ears of the twenty-four thousand people watching Wilbur. “That is not what-- I don’t-- I mean, what do they do? Other than just piss and shit and sleep?”

A Day on The Farms - Moonbear_Meliox 

1.9k 1/1 Family, Fluff 

They're farmers now

the art and (mine)craft of war - bluesandbirds 

4.2k 1/1 Family, Humor 

Tommy is a gremlin. An absolute, evil gremlin child and sometimes it's a curse to be related to him. But who is this Dream guy, and why is Tommy suddenly talking about him all the time? Alternatively: Techno, nobody is trying to steal your little brother, that would be kidnapping, please calm down.

ok maybe ghosts exist - itsjosh 

1.2k 1/1 Humor 

The ghost stream is as much of a success as it can be.

pick me up, take me home - meridies 

24k 3/4 Family, Angst 

With barely three hours notice, single father Phil receives a new child to foster. And unlike his two other adopted children, Wilbur and Techno, Tommy is seemingly hellbent on creating chaos. As their close-knit family begins falling apart, all four of them are forced to learn what it truly means to have one another.

Fever Dreams - RedHairedN3rd 

1.5k 1/1 Family, Angst 

Phil reflects on when his youngest had a fever.

Just a Fluke - kageyamas_meat_dance

4.4k 1/1 Angst, Hurt/Comfort

Tommy is going through it and isolates himself and everyone else gets really worried. 

The child who is not loved by the village will burn it down to feel it’s warmth - ChipperDotChar

1k 1/1 Angst, No Comfort 

Tommy gets tired of being insulted and treated like a toddler by the people he looks up to, and he’s also armed with a lighter.

A little pyromania never hurt anyone.

Kidnapped - MeltingAutumn 

3.7k 2/? Angst, Hurt/Comfort 

“Tubbo?” Wilbur finally shatters the silence with a gentle, broken voice. “Did, um… did you hear?”

Instead of replying, Tubbo bursts into tears.

A Loud Boys’ Guide To Unhappiness - soupstarsandsilence 

3.8k 1/? Angst, Hurt/Comfort 

Late one night, Tommy runs away. He's going to stay with Will (not that the older man knows it yet), and maybe while he's there he'll remember how to be happy.

Minecraft 

family in all its forms - subwaywalls

6.8k 2/? Family, Humor

Philza joins Dream SMP, finds several children, and realizes he is the only responsible adult here.

A Survivor and His Bloodthirsty Son - CakeCleaner 

7.4k 3/? Family, Hurt/Comfort, Angst 

“You’re a strange one aren’t you, mate?” The piglin gave him a huff that sounded way too deep to be a child’s and an indifferent expression, his previously petting hands retreated back to his side and he stared the elder down with no hints of aggression or fear, as if he was the one dawning Netherite gear and not the other way around.

Or: Phil adopts a little piglin and said piglin grows up into what legends would whisper with fear as the Blood God

“You’re What!” - Thing_Of_Trash

300 1/1 Family, Humor 

Tommy sees what's happening to his Older Brother and knows he has to take drastic measures.

A Winter’s Ball - Syverne 

4.9k 1/1 Angst 

Wilbur Soot, Tommyinnit, and Technoblade are invited, among others, to restart an old tradition of celebrating the winter solstice by attending a masquerade ball hosted in Manburg. This is the first winter's ball since the devastating volcanic eruption rocked the world and wiped out most of Earth's population - and had strange effects on those who survived. Despite worries that it might be a trap, the citizens of Pogtopia attend this ball under promises of a truce, and Wilbur comes face-to-face with an old friend whom he thought had long turned to hate him. or; Wilbur Soot and Jschlatt dance.

Turn Back Time - ErrorCode_21891711 

3.2k 1/1 Angst 

Wilbur didn't expect to find Tubbo and Tommy turned into children. An accident with potions leads to Tommy and Tubbo being turned into 9 year old children and it's up to Wilbur and the rest of the people of the Dream SMP to take care of they're youngest members until they find a way to either reverse what's been done or wait until it might wears off. They didn't expect to learn some unpleasant things about Tubbo and Tommy's past along the way.

Even the strongest can be weak - fan_fics_are_life

1.6k 1/1 Sickfic, Mild Angst 

Technoblade wants to train Tommy but his health says no.

flower fields (and the bees that live there) - noahloveszombies

1k 1/1 Family, Comfort

niki, tommy and tubbo finally get away from the war.

or; niki becomes a big sister.

Father Goat & Mother Duck - Valkohai  

6.3k 5/? Family, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort 

Sometimes, a family can be found in even the oddest people. In Tubbo's case, those people were tyrannical dictators. Just his luck, huh?

Don’t hurt him - AlpineWasTaken 

1k 1/1 Angst 

Bad's skin crawled with discomfort and phantom pains as he stood firmly in front of Tommy.

"Don't hurt him."

“Show him the door.” - ViolentVioletEye 

3k 1/1 Series, Family 

Schlatt will do anything to protect his son. Even if it means becoming President for a nation he knows next to nothing about. He's been thrust into stranger situations. He can handle this.

Tar Filled Lungs and Bloodless Hearts. - gayblockz (lizandre)

1.7k 1/4 Angst, Hurt/Comfort

Cigarettes are merely a lousy distraction that keep him from doing what needs to be done. Cigarettes are a futile attempt at keeping warm. Cigarettes are the reason Manburg is still standing.

A story detailing Wilbur Soot's seven last cigarettes.

“It’s okay. I trust you.” - Lilian_nator

1.2k 1/1 Angst

"It's okay Wilbur. I trust you. I trust you will do the right thing."

mother drake (your duckling drowned) - anon

3.8k 2/2 Angst, Character Study

After the Manburg Festival, Quackity takes a walk alone. The thought keeps coming back to him.

Hell Hath No Fury - lavender_macaronss 

900 1/1 Angst 

“Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned” Niki finds out about Wilbur’s plans, and she does not take kindly to them

The trial of Tubbo - EfoxKitty

11k 4/8 Angst, Major Character Death 

It's finally over. They've won and L'Manburg is free once again. The president is dead and his tyrannical regime is over. But now they have to deal with a question: What are they going to do with Schlatt's right hand man? Tubbo, only a child, yet still a murderer. How can they fairly judge his involvement in the new government? By organizing a trial with Tubbo as the main witness/suspect.

[mollygetssherlockcoffee]

Thirty Seconds

Pairing: Spencer x Fem!Reader

Summary: (Five Minutes, Part 4) Y/N enters the maze

Warning: Blood, kidnapping, maths (yes there’s a warning for that because it kills me)

Words: 2,360 

A/N: I hope no one looks at my search history because... not good

Part One  Part Two  Part Three  Part Five  Part Six

Master List HERE   Permanent Tag List HERE

You look at the LED display which gives you your instructions.

 Unlock the door at the top of the stairs. Enter the maze. Forty-five minutes.

 You don’t bother to step over the pictures, not caring about the dirt from your shoes transferring. The steps are framed by a washer and a dryer, both in a dishevelled state from where you had searched them. Gripping the key tightly, you climbed the stairs and slid it into the lock. You turned the key, unlocking the door and pulling it open.

A wall extended from each side of the door, floor to ceiling and, once again, made completely of concrete. The path extended away from you, but the ceiling lights showed that it veered into two different directions.

 With the walls being floor to ceiling, there was no way for you to see above them and determining how big the maze was. The forty-five-minute timer set could be wholly unrealistic but what choice did you have? You had to at least try.

 You put your right hand on the wall, just like Spencer had said back in October, and take a final deep breath. You stepped into the maze, ready to begin your next task, one that you hoped was both your last one and not. Last, if it meant your team finding you. Not your last, if your team didn’t find you and you needed to survive.

 You kept your right hand on the wall as you travelled through the maze, the concrete scrapping at the delicate pads of your fingers. It wasn’t a painful feeling, but it was slightly uncomfortable. You ignored it, concentrating on keeping a level head as you walked through the maze.

 You had been close to death. You had barely found the key in time before the timer had run out. You had thought you were going to die for sure, that you would fail the task and the unsub would appear and kill you.

 You could have died and you would have never had seen your friends or family again. No more well-meaning lectures from your parents. No more worrying about how your younger sibling was fairing at college. You wouldn’t have Penelope dragging you shoe shopping again, and Emily wouldn’t be able try and convince you to have a drink with the team. Hotch wouldn’t stand behind you during interrogation sin a silent display of support, and there would be no more dinner parties or personal conversations with Rossi. Derek wouldn’t tease you about your ‘twin telepathy’ with Spencer.

 And, oh, Spencer. You’d miss out on so much, you had so many plans. You were going to take him to a concert your favourite band was holding. In return, he was planning on taking you to a lecture on molecular physics. You wouldn’t be able to bounce ideas off each other again, he wouldn’t be able to supply the words you couldn’t quite grasp when trying to describe something.

 No, stop it. You were going to be okay. You had made it this far. As long as you followed Spencer’s directions and kept right, you would make it out of the maze. You were not going to let some unsub beat you.

 You had went up against unsubs before. Everyday of your career was full of them and you hadn’t lost yet. You were not going to lose this time. You had been there to help stop Tobias Hankel, Mason Turner, and Robert and Linda Reimann. If you could get through them, you could get through this.

 Your nose scrunched up as a rancid odour filled your senses. Your left hand lifts to cover your face as you choke on air, the smell turning your stomach. The smell is strong and sharp, and almost seems to burn your nose.

 And its coming from your right.

 You have no choice, you have to follow it around, you can’t detour from your path or you’ll never make it out of the maze.

 You turn the corner.

 There, on the floor, is a large stain. It’s a dark, rusted red. Smeared across the floor, as if someone had half-assed trying to clean it us, the blood was easily identifiable. Someone had died here. It could only have been the second victim or the fourth. However, the second victim refused to participate and the fourth completed it… maybe the second victim refused to continue and was then killed? Or did the unsub have more victims he didn’t advertise?

 You stepped over the blood stain and continued on.

 From the stain, you know that the method of death wasn’t pleasant. You knew the unsub killed his victims by stabbing them but with the large stain on the floor, you knew it would be overkill. That means it would be painful but hopefully quick. If you were going to die a painful death, you hoped it would be over quickly.

 You turned right again and ahead of you; you could see a door with a LED display above it reads;

 Seven minutes and eleven seconds.

 You had made it. You were about to finish the maze, the second task. You breathed a sigh of relief, rushing for the door and twisting the handle, pushing it open and stepping inside.

 -

 Spencer stood with team as they delivered the profile of the unsub who had taken Y/N. He stood at the back, arms folded across his chest and remained uncharacteristically quiet as the other members spoke.

 “The unsub we’re looking for will be a white male in his thirties.”

“He is probably a man who is of average height and build, and is able to appear unassuming and non-threatening.”

“He most likely works in a profession relating to science in some way. Perhaps as a chemist, a schoolteacher even.”

“He’ll live in the north west Washington area and will be single with no children.”

“His interactions with women would be awkward, perhaps limited. He stabs his victims to get sexual release that he can’t get any other way.”

“He’ll probably drive a hatchback or sedan, nothing that would stand out, nothing flashy.”

 Spencer didn’t know how this profile would help. They currently had no witnesses, no suspects. There were multiple men in Washington who would fit the profile. They’d solved cases like this before but now it was personal, and Spencer couldn’t see the light here.

 Derek’s phone rang he quickly answered it, putting it on speaker. “Talk to me, baby girl.”

“Okay, I got a hit off the car and the partial plate. I’ve followed it back to two separate cars, with single differences in their plates” Garcia informs them. “Lewis Rakers and Bailey Peterson.” “Rossi, Prentiss, you go to Rakers. Morgan and I will go to Peterson’s” Hotch orders. “Garcia send the addresses to our cells and I want a full background check on both of them.”

“Yes, sir” she hung up.

Hotch turned to Spencer, “Go over all of the victim’s schedules again and see if their paths crossed in anyway, make sure we didn’t miss anything.”

 Spencer knew they hadn’t missed anything, that Hotch was just trying to give him something to do because he refused to let Spencer into the field. He nodded anyway, moving back to the room which held the case files while Hotch instructed JJ to visit the ME to find out more about the newest body found, that of Lydia Webb.

 -

 Lewis Raker opened the door to his basement, his arms full of washing as he climbed down the stairs. He shoved the dirty laundry into the washing machine, adding the detergent before pressing it on. He sighed as he looked around the messy basement, he’d have to clean it up soon. A knock sounded from upstairs and he left the basement, closing the door behind him as he went to the front door.

 -

 Bailey Peterson put away the final item, looking around his basement. Once a mess, he had managed to tidy it up in less than an hour. It had involved moving some items, picking up rubbish off the floor but it was done now. The bell for his front door sounded and Bailey quickly hurried to answer it, pulling the door shut behind him.

 -

 David Rossi and Emily Prentiss climbed back into their car. Lewis Raker had answered their questions without hesitation. He had, however, denied them entrance into his home. It was a one storey property, made with grey bricks and had a wooden porch. Thirty minutes outside of Washington, it was in a quiet area with limited neighbours.

 “Do you think its him?” Prentiss asked, not looking away from the house.

“I don’t know, but its strange that he won’t let us inside” Rossi comments, eyes narrowed as he eyed the house with equal scepticism. “Call Hotch, see how he’s getting on.”

Emily pulled out her phone, dialling Hotch’s number and putting it on speaker.

 -

 Aaron Hotchner and Derek Morgan walked away from the Peterson residence. A two-storey building made of bricks, it was an eye catcher in the neighbour-less area of north west Washington. They climbed back into their car, not bothering with their seatbelts as they stared at the building in front of them.

 Hotch’s phone rang and he pulled it out of his suit pocket. “Hotchner.” “Hey, we just got done with Raker. He gave nothing away and wouldn’t let us into the house without a warrant” Emily informed him.

“We just had the same interaction with Peterson” Hotch confirmed. “I’ll patch in Garcia and see if she’s found anything.”

 Putting the phone on speaker, Hotch dialled Garcia’s number and added her to the call. She answered the call on the second ring, greeting the team with her usual quippy comment before jumping straight into giving them the information they needed.

 “Okay, only one of our duo matches the profile. He’s not a chemist or science teacher, but his dad was. He works as a janitor at a local high school though, so he could get access to the ingredients to make the chloroform. No wife, girlfriend, boyfriend or anything that can be seen. I also went over CCTV of the areas where the victims went missing and it took a while, but I found the car in every camera. Sometimes the times aren’t exact, but its within half-hour either way.”

 “Who is it Garcia?” Hotch demanded.

Garcia took a deep inhale of breath before she told them the name.

 -

 You were in a new room. It was tiny, if you were to reach your arms out in either direction, you’d be touching the wall. Ahead of you is a door, an alphabetical keypad beside it. Above the keypad is a laminated piece of paper and a timer counting down from three minutes.

 The laminated paper held a riddle and you stepped closer to read it.

 ‘I speak without a mouth and hear without ears. I have no body, but I come alive with wind. What am I?’

 You know the answer to this riddle. You, Spencer and Penelope had a game you would play with each other. You would tell each other riddles, hoping the others wouldn’t know the answer. It was a playful game, something to occupy the downtime when you didn’t have a case. This had been Penelope’s first riddle and she had been annoyed when Spencer had guessed the answer correctly before she had even finished telling it.

 ‘Echo’ you typed into the keypad.

 The door slid open and you stepped through. The new room is exactly the same as the first, the timer reset to read three minutes and it was already counting down. You turned to the riddle.

 ‘I have cities, but no houses. I have mountains, but no trees. I have water, but no fish. What am I?’

 This was a riddle you had given to Penelope and Spencer. You had spent ages on Google looking for the perfect riddle before finding this one. You had been proud because Spencer hadn’t been able to answer the riddle straight away. It hadn’t taken him long, only a few minutes, but you still counted it as a victory.

 ‘Map’ you typed into the keypad.

 The door in front of you slid open and you stepped through again. Its exactly the same as the first two and you groan. Riddles were fun but under pressure, you already knew you were going to struggle.

 ‘How can the number four be half of five?’

 This one stumps you. You’re not the best at maths and would admit to that any day. This was not a riddle which was made for you. While you struggled with large sums off the top of your head, you knew that half of five was two-point-five. The math was impossible. Maybe it doesn’t mean the literally number though. The numbers are written as words, maybe that was a clue. It could be ‘fi’ or ‘ve’ or…

 Roman numerals. They used letters, didn’t they? You hated Roman numerals, they were stupid and confusing, not following a logical order which you hated. What was the answer? IIII or IV… wait, IV. Those are two letters which are in five. You couldn’t be certain that they were the Roman numerical version of four, but you were running out of time.

 ‘IV’ you input into the keyboard.

 You hold your breath but then the next door slides open and you walk through. There’s another riddle.

 ‘Find the next three parts of the sequence…. OTTFFS’

 What? You didn’t understand. What was the sequence? It made no sense, there was no method to the layout of the letters. What could they mean? You didn’t even know what the letters could stand for.

 You would have to guess because you had no way of knowing. You looked at the timer, thirty seconds. What were you going to put? You bit your bottom lip and reached for the keypad.

 “SOO” you typed.

 The timer reached zero and the door remained closed. You held your breath, turning around in your spot. The lights went out and you were left in the dark. 

A/N: What’s the answer to the riddle? And, who is the kidnapper/killer?

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[hoekaashi]

3 am Talks - hq pt 1

a/n: time for the hq series! these ones are shorter since there are more people. next is seijoh and nekoma! pairings: hinata x reader, kageyama x reader, sugawara x reader, daichi x reader, noya x reader warnings: post time-skip spoilers, a bit suggestive (daichi) taglist: @babydabi, @suckersuki, @bakugoustanaccount​, @animoozies part 1 | part 2

‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾　*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 　☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙

⇾ he would probably be jumping all over the place at first, not knowing which topic to settle on ⇾ but he would end up settling on a “meaning of life” type of conversation ⇾ more specifically, what’s his purpose in this world ⇾ when he saw the Little Giant play, it inspired him to become a volleyball player but why was HE put on this earth ⇾ I feel like he would get deep without even realizing it ⇾ like you would just be staring at him and he would be like ???

“I don’t know why I’m here. I want to know my purpose.” You stared at Hinata, surprised at how the conversation took a turn. He merely stared at you with those big, curious eyes. “...what?” you asked. “Watching the Little Giant play, it felt like everything made sense. He was put here to inspire others and show them the greatness of volleyball. But why was I put here? It couldn’t possibly be just to follow in someone else’s footsteps. What am I leaving behind once I’m gone?” You hummed. “Well, I mean, you made it as a wing spiker on a national team. You played for the country at the Olympics. I think you’ve done a lot more than just ‘follow in someone else’s footsteps’. You paved your own way, and who knows, maybe you inspired a little Shoyo out there to play volleyball too.” Hinata perked up hearing that. “You really think I inspired someone?” That sent him off on another tangent and you listened to him speak with a soft smile on your face.

.・゜-: ✧ :-　-: ✧ :-゜・．

⇾ he would talk about milk, all kinds of milk, the different flavors ⇾ why is it called almond milk if you aren’t milking the almonds? Shouldn’t it be called almond juice? ⇾ jk jk ⇾ he would talk about his goals beating hinata ⇾ delve into his insecurities being on a national team with other pro players who have been doing this for a much longer time than him ⇾ even as an adult, I feel like the fear he had from his first year of high school lingers in the back of his mind ⇾ if he’s moved on and it doesn’t bother him anymore, it’s still there as an after-thought

“Are you still keeping track of your wins and losses?” you asked, rolling over in bed, looking at your boyfriend who was writing furiously in a notebook. “I will beat him, no matter what.” “You’re on a national team, you already have.” Kageyama didn’t say anything for a while and you began to drift off to sleep. “I still think back to when I was at my lowest. The person who pulled me out of that was Hinata. If it weren’t for his annoying, dumb ass, I wouldn’t be where I am today. The only thing I can do is to keep growing, to never become complacent with where I am. The moment I do that, he’ll win and I’ll never be able to catch up to him.” Kageyama continued to speak to himself, knowing that you had fallen asleep. It was his fault you woke up to begin with.

.・゜-: ✧ :-　-: ✧ :-゜・．

⇾ sugamama would talk about the future ⇾ like getting married and settling down, how many kids he wants, even the names he had picked out so far ⇾ he would talk about what he wants for the wedding ⇾ which is funny because he hasn’t even proposed yet ⇾ but he’s not really talking about all this because he wants to see your reaction of if yall are on the same page ⇾ it’s just genuinely what would be on his mind

“I want a vineyard wedding. Something small and intimate. Only immediate family and closest friends.” You looked up at him from where you were sitting in his arms. “Maybe a bigger reception where all the other people can come!” “You just want to go to a vineyard to have a reason to get drunk.” He pouted. “You would too if you were surrounded by a fresh batch of seven year olds every year that never listen.” “You love them though.” “I do,” he said with a smile. “Oh! That reminds me. I want maybe like three or four kids. A big family! And I want them to be around the same age so they can be friends with each other.” You mock saluted. “Anything else?” “I had some names saved too…” The act of him reaching over for his phone caused you to fall over with him. He helped you back up and snuggled you close to him while he searched for the list. “Where is it… Found it! Okay so…”

.・゜-: ✧ :-　-: ✧ :-゜・．

⇾ he would be similar to Sugawara ⇾ he would be talking about the future but with you ⇾ it would be like The Talk yall have while trying to figure out if you have similar views on the future you want ⇾ but at the same time, he would also talk about his friends ⇾ how important it is for them to be in his life as they grow older ⇾ how he wants their children to be friends with his to carry their friendship on to the next generation

“Okay so what about kids?” you asked as you turned on your side to face him. Daichi moved your hair behind your ear. “Two?” You smiled. “Two sounds perfect.” “But I think I want to stay here in Miyagi. I want my kids to be friends with Suga and Asahi’s kids -” “If they have kids,” you interrupted. He chuckled. “If they have kids,” he agreed. “And maybe a medium sized wedding? Nothing is set in stone though.” You hesitated. “What?” “You have your thoughts on your kids, I have my thoughts on my wedding.” “You want a big wedding?” he asked, a little surprised. “I’m only getting married once! I deserve to have a big one.” Daichi smirked. “A big one, huh?” He moved so he was hovering on top of you. “Stop! I have class in the morning!” you groaned, knowing exactly what he was thinking and that you were going to cave in a few minutes.

.・゜-: ✧ :-　-: ✧ :-゜・．

⇾ he would be the person who is up until 5 am just on tiktok ⇾ and you couldn’t get any sleep because he kept showing you a new one every few minutes ⇾ his laughing would also keep you up, but if you were really bothered by it, he would stop ⇾ once he’s done with tiktok though, he would start talking about the world and getting deep ⇾ but once you thought you were having a real heart to heart and getting to know how his brain works more, he would start talking about like government secrets and he would start goofing off again

“Wait, look at this one,” Noya said, nudging you awake again for the fifth time that night. “I’m trying to sleep,” you whined. “But watch it!” You rolled over and watched the tiktok, the smile on your face betraying you. “See, I knew you would like it.” You watched as he laughed to himself as he watched some more videos when all of a sudden he closed his phone and stared at the ceiling. “Ya know… I want to keep traveling and seeing the world. I want to learn more about other people and cultures. It’s so enlightening seeing how different the world is compared to the small city where we’re from.” He glanced down at you, smiling at how you were trying to stay awake for him. “I also want to find out the secrets the governments are hiding. Are pigeons real birds? How are there so many of them if they are?” At that, you turned around and told him you were going to sleep.

[sigynthevictorious]

Reunited?

Bit of filler because it's stuck in my head 😂 @naganye

Nine months after Aradir’s ‘death’ 

Not a day went past where Valka didn’t think of Aradir, she no longer cried everyday but the ache remained. For a moment it felt as if she had everything, but as quickly as their love blossomed, it was taken just as quickly. In a day everything had crumbled around her, now all she had to remember that he was even real were a few photographs and the child that stirred within her belly. 

It hadn’t been easy, everything seemed to happen at once and she had lost count of the amount of arguments and lectures she had been given by her father. Of course neither of her parents would ever kick her out, but the tension was heavy. 

Her room, once filled with countless musical instruments that had now been sold, was now adorned with various baby furnishings. The crib was set up where her desk and keyboard once stood and her extensive wardrobe was sacrificed for baby grows and bibs. She missed her old life, part of her didn’t want this. She was still young, and now unable to finish college with her friends she felt as if she had nothing that was her own. Occasionally she resented Aradir and her choices, but as quickly as those feelings came, they were just as quickly replaced by pangs of guilt and sorrow. Both for herself, him and the fact their child would never meet their father and that Aradir was never given the chance to be told that he had a proper little family waiting for him. 

Her feelings of sorrow and the realisation that he wasn’t here with her only intensified the morning her waters broke. Her mother was beyond reassuring and helpful, while she was saddened this had happened to her youngest child she supported her the entire time so she was not alone. So as the contractions grew closer and Valka was admitted to hospital, she hardly let go of her mother’s hand. 

The pain was unbearable, she couldn’t help but scream and cry through every contraction as she felt as if she were being ripped apart. Too far gone for an epidural she could do little else but pray the child came quickly. Which thankfully it did. 

After getting slightly stuck, soon a strong cry filled the room and a bright pink screaming child was placed upon Valka’s chest. In that moment nothing else mattered, as she looked into the face of her child she knew she had made the right decision and was utterly devoted to them. 

“It’s a boy,” the midwife confirmed. 

“A boy” Valka sighed, exhausted but elated as she held her son, drying him off with a blanket and pressing a kiss to his fair forehead. 

Valka spent almost every day staring at her son, he was so perfect. “I wish you could meet your daddy” she sighed, rocking him in her arms before crying as he opened his pale eyes at her. “I think he would have loved you so much,” she sniffed, wiping her eyes. “He was funny, kind, handsome and so, so brave, just like you will be,” she continued, “and I loved him, and I promise I’ll tell you all about him when you’re older.” she promised. “Parker Aradir Noreth” she cooed, rather liking the name as it rolled off her tongue. 

---

Three years after Aradir’s ‘death’

Every day was a delight, well almost, as Parker grew. He was such a happy child, a mop of bright orange hair covered his head and his pale eyes gleamed with mischief constantly. 

Still living with her parents, Parker was doted upon by his mother, grandparents and uncle when he came to visit. Everyone that met him adored him, even when he started daycare and nursery he seemed to make friends with all the other children with ease. Valka was immensely proud, her thoughts of Aradir lessened but every so often she would see her son laughing on the swing set and be reminded of her lost love. 

---

Seven years after Aradir’s ‘death’

Parker thrived at school, top of his class and a well liked figure amongst the other students. Valka managed to finish college and with the support of her parents got her university degree too. Working at a publishing house as a translator she loved her life. Now Parker was growing up she even moved into her own flat and started playing music again in the evenings. Everything seemed to be falling into place. 

“Mum, I need some help” Parker said one evening, sitting up at the dining table whilst going through his homework. “We have to make a family tree for history, and grandpa gave me lots of things but...everyone writes about both their mummy and daddy. What should I put for my dad?” he asked nervously, not wanting to potentially upset his mother. He knew little about his father, only that he was a soldier. But now it seemed he was at that age where he wanted to know more. 

Valka dried her hands and stepped away from the washing up, her heart both warming and sinking at the question. “Well, I don’t know a lot of things. But I’m sure we can put something together” she agreed, going to her bedroom for a moment and coming back out with a shoe box. 

“Now, we can copy some of these if you want and stick them in” she explained as she opened the box. A collection of photographs and momentos filled it. The cinema ticket from their first date, the recipes he had written for her, pictures of their dates and a CD filled with the songs she had written for Aradir. “This was him, he was an orphan so I don’t know anything about the rest of his family. He grew up in care” she began, placing a picture of Aradir in his uniform in front of her son. 

“Like the children that nanny looks after?” Parker asked, picking up the picture to get a better look at the pale eyed stranger. 

“Yes, just like them. Then, he joined the army and became one of the youngest ever lieutenants” she continued proudly, smiling as she watched Parker’s pale eyes examine the photo. “You have his eyes, and you’ll be tall like him too” she explained whilst looking at the photo of her and Aradir on their second date, just after they became ‘official’. “Not long after we met, he had to go away with the army to another country. Now you have to remember that sometimes bad things happen, even to the bravest of people and well, he was in an accident, and he died out there” she tenderly explained so Parker could understand. 

The young boy nodded, glancing at his mother before looking back at the photograph. “Can I keep this?” he asked, to which his surprised mother agreed. She helped him write out the family tree and added a bit of artistic flair to it. It did look rather lopsided, with her enormous family detailed on one side, then with the lonely Aradir on the other it was upsetting. But she was proud he was there. 

“I wish I had a dad,” Parker said as they finished, “one that was here.” 

The words cut Valka and played on her mind for weeks after. Maybe she had been selfish in not giving him a fatherly role model, but she had never had any desire to get into another relationship. But perhaps it was time she did, at least for Parker’s sake. 

---

Ten years after Aradir’s ‘death’ 

There were plenty of suitors, but as soon as they heard about Parker they all quickly left, not wanting to get involved with a woman who had a child. But there was one who stayed. Derek was nice enough, he came from an army background too and was conventionally handsome and seemed genuinely interested in Parker. Most importantly Parker liked him too. She didn’t feel for him the same way she had with Aradir, but maybe that was part of growing up? A teenage romance surely wasn’t the same as an adult one? So after a couple years together, she agreed to marry him.It felt like the right thing to do. And he was very insistent. 

The ring was a beautiful vintage art deco emerald and diamond design, to match her eyes apparently, and Derek was adamant no expense was to be spared for their big day. Valka was excited, but not as overjoyed as she had always imagined she would be. Surely that would change once she got her dress she thought, and when it didn’t then perhaps once she got the cake things would fall into place. 

She searched through various bakeries, getting quotes and going to tasting sessions but nothing took her fancy until Derek suggested one that was run by ex-forces members and how it would mean a lot to him. She let Derek arrange a cake tasting appointment with them and actually felt rather excited. Derek was running late from work so she took Parker with her instead, after all he fancied himself quite the connoisseur when it came to eating and cooking. Just like his father. 

“Can I get a gingerbread man?” Parker asked as he walked hand in hand with Valka into the quaint bakery, his pale eyes lighting up at the cabinets filled with various sweet treats. 

“If you’re good and they have some then yes” she agreed, smiling as she admired the bakery before going to the till. “Hi, I’m here for a cake tasting. It’s under the name Derek Henderson” she explained, the girl behind the counter nodded and went out back, explaining she was just going to fetch the owner for her. 

Valka knelt beside Parker as they admired some of the beautiful pastries, Parker making an ever changing list of what he wanted to try. Tucking some of her now short hair behind her ear she too made a wish list of what she wanted and seeing that they made banana splits upon request made her feel it was some kind of fate she came here. 

“He’ll be out in a moment” the sales assistant said when she came back out, but when Valka turned upon hearing the footsteps come out from the kitchen she froze in her place as if she had just seen a ghost. 

“Aradir?” 

[angst-fairygodmother]

Soft comforting cuddles with your pick of TUA?

A/N: You say “my pick” but all I hear is “MINI-FICS FOR EVERYONE! SEVEN CUDDLES FOR THE SEVEN CHILDREN!” Except that it’s actually only 6 of them because I don’t feel comfortable writing this prompt (most prompts) for Five. Also I feel like he’s not one for physical contact anyway so I don’t think there would be cuddling. Word Count: 1508 (or 202+244+257+350+239+216) Now cross-posted to AO3: here

LUTHER

He had never been comfortable in his own skin, especially since the accident and the serum which changed his physiology. He was too big, too strong, too much. Clumsy and never quite sure of his own capabilities. Every day was spent with the lingering fear in the back of his mind that he would accidentally hurt someone he cared about.

But when you slip silently into his room, dropping face first onto the bed (or him if we’re being technical) with a sob, his arms wrap around you on instinct, as if the circle of them is enough to protect you from the world.

“Y/N, what’s wrong?” he asks softly.

When you shake your head and refuse to answer, he tries a different angle.

“What do you need? How can I fix it?”

Because Luther is, underneath everything, a giver and a problem-solver, and he’ll do anything for the people he cares about, and you rank the highest of that list.

“Just you,” you murmur, snuggling closer to him. “Just hold me, please?”

He tenses for a moment before giving in, tucking your head up under his chin and holding you as tightly as he dared, smiling softly when you sigh contentedly.

DIEGO

The late nights of being a vigilante’s significant other are hard, even if you would never admit it to him. Proper date nights were rare, you often had to go to bed without him, and almost always you worried that tonight would be the time he didn’t come home at all. Which is why, when you were awake (more often than he would like, and he felt guilty about disrupting your sleep patterns so completely) when he came home, you were seeking his touch as soon as he came through the door.

You snake your arms around his waist, resting your forehead against his or leaning to the side to lay your head on his shoulder. He responds by mirroring your action, hands tight around your middle and head resting on the top of yours.

If it’s a night when you are particularly tense, which he always picks up on, he’ll whisper how much he missed you as the pair of you walk in tandem toward the bed so that he can hold you properly. And properly usually means as tightly to him as possible, almost enough to be uncomfortable, legs tangled together, skin against skin, his fingers trailing patterns over your shoulder and lips pressing occasional kisses to your temples and cheeks.

“I love you,” he’ll say, waiting until you’re half-asleep as if afraid that if he says it for real you’ll vanish in a puff of smoke, nothing more than a dream.

ALLISON

Most of the time, Allison is prim. Gossip magazines are so invested in her life, both as a famed actress and as a former child superhero. And she is so determined to keep them away from you, from the one private thing she has, that it often gets in the way of casual intimacy. For the first months you are together, you can’t even get her to hold your hand in public.

She still occasionally freezes, stiff and tense as if afraid of the contact when you lean into her side while the two of you are on the couch. Even though all you want is her arms around you and a quiet night watching a movie (that she does not star in) and forgetting both your troubles, you shift away again, turning to face her, taking her hands in yours.

“Allison,” you say softly. “It’s okay.”

“What?” her answer is startled, as if she doesn’t even realize she’s shutting you out. “What are you talking about Y/N?”

“It’s just us, love.” You smile, coaxing. “You can relax. You can trust me.”

She smiles back, and though it’s hesitant, it is still the most dazzling sight in the world.

“You’re right, sorry. Come here?” she raises an arm, making a perfect space for you to curl into, resting your head against her chest as she drapes it back over you, resting along your side.

“You know, my girlfriend makes the best pillow in the world,” you say sleepily, grinning as her laughter echoes through your living room.

KLAUS

Once he has someone, you can guarantee that cuddling is almost always happening. Your space is his space, and he is determined to prove it. Usually the one to initiate physical contact anyway, he loves getting you to cuddle, loves the moment of calm and quiet and peace.

He’s also empathetic as hell and doesn’t even need a word or odd behavior to know when something is off with you. As soon as he senses it, activate cling-mode. Of course, if you’re the stubborn sort who doesn’t want to bother others with their problems (and who would) he’ll find a way to make it seem like he is the one that needs you, to let you pretend to be the strong one. He’ll make something up about a bad trip or ghosts being particularly chatty (things he has enough experience with for real to be able to bullshit well) and whine until you relent.

“Oh Klaus,” you’ll sigh, biting back your emotions in order to care for him, holding your arms open to him. “Come here.”

But no, a hug will not do here. He wraps his arms around your middle and tugs, guiding you to the nearest acceptable surface. Normally it would be the couch or a chair or the bed, but tonight he can feel the way you tremble almost imperceptibly, tonight the floor will do because you need to hold and be held and you need it now. He keeps you hugged close as he folds his long legs over you, sitting in your lap. His chin rests on your shoulder, face buried in your neck, and if he sneaks little kisses, neither of you are complaining. Eventually he releases his hold so that his hands can roam your body, reassuring you both that you are real and solid and there with him (also because the handsy boy just likes to be touching you all the time). He may even make an attempt at massaging your shoulders and limbs from your entwined position, whatever it takes to feel you sigh contentedly, to know that you’re okay again.

BEN

You come home after a long, hard day, the door slamming violently enough to piss off the neighbors. Ben is sprawled on the couch reading, as usual. He doesn’t say anything, just lifts his book up in the air, away from his chest, making room for you to slip in between him and it, lying along him from shoulders to toes. Then he brings it back down, resting the base of the spine between your shoulder blades and keeps reading, arms framing you and gentle breathing coaxing you into a sense of calm.

When he reaches the end of a chapter, he’ll stop, setting the book aside to ask you about your day now that you’ve had time to relax. Only when he looks down, he’ll find you asleep with your face buried in his chest. He’ll smile down at you, heart swelling with how much he loves you, and with how much it means to him that you trust him enough to surrender so completely, knowing that he was there and you were safe, a feeling he never expected to have. It had taken him a long time to reach this point, where he didn’t question if you were secretly afraid of his abilities, where he would let you have contact with his stomach like this. And now, there is nowhere he’d rather be than lying there under you, even if you were drooling on his favorite sweatshirt.

VANYA

She’s not a cuddler. And not just because she’s spent her entire life touch-starved and unsure of herself. It just feels awkward to her. When she’s upset, she needs space to breathe, and she doesn’t understand how someone could be the opposite.

But when you come home, upset, crying, her heart aches. She reaches out to you, to cradle your face and brush away the tears. Then she laces her fingers through yours and tugs you over to the couch where you sit, facing each other, knee bumping knee.

“Y/N, talk to me?” she’ll ask quietly, staring at your still linked hands.

Her gentle words are all it takes, and you break down, crying yes, but telling her everything. She’s angry at whoever or whatever upset you, but she knows that isn’t helpful, so she takes a deep breath and she listens and when you sag, overwhelmed and exhausted, she wraps her arms around your shoulders and pulls you into a hug, letting you cry on her, supporting you and holding you up literally. All the while she mutters soothing things about how much you mean to her and how no one else mattered but you and her.

It’s awkward and it’s stiff, but it’s heartfelt and she makes you feel better in her own way.

[justgayangelthingz]

The Parent Trap AU Chapter Two: Happy Campers

(I would quickly like to say that I'm so so so very sorry it took this long adhd is a real bitch sometimes)

Amazinggggg art by @sanderssidestrash27 !!!!!

Summary: Almost twelve years later, separated at birth twins Roman and Remus both end up at the same Camp Sanders. What chaos will ensue those short eight weeks?

~~~

11 years and 9 months later

    The sounds of screeching tires filled the air as another bus pulled up. Contained in it’s heavy metal doors were children, all of them waiting eagerly and excitedly to get started on the day ahead of them. The doors opened, and out ran at least thirty of them all jumping out and running around the open area. One after another, the bright yellow vehicles pulled up under the ‘Camp Sanders’ sign and besides the camp counselors, who were all grabbing bags and waving at the new campers. All of the campers were giddy as they found other kids, new and old, to stand and congregate with while they awaited instructions. Some were more excited than others. Phrases like, “Wow, this place is so big!” And, “I don’t have any signal!What am I supposed to do all summer?!” Were thrown around as kids and campers alike tried to sort through all of the madness. As more and more kids joined in the clearing out in the woods, a voice tried to ring out above everyone else’s. 

“Attention campers! May I please have your attention! Over here!” The voice yelled through a megaphone. “I’m head of the camp,Mr. Leo, Now if everyone could partner up with one or more other campers, doesn’t matter who, I’m going to pass this over to my cousin and right hand man, Gavin! He’ll be calling out your name and cabin so everyone can get situated, so make sure you listen up! Now, we have a big first day of camp ahead of us, so let's hurry along. Come to me, Gavin, or any of the other camp counselors if you need any help or assistance. Thank you!" With that, Leo handed the mega phone over to Gavin, who immediately started calling names and cabins, to help the other counselors throw luggage into a big pile near the grass. 

Among this pile, however, happened to be one particularly happy camper. As another bag was thrown in, the head of the new eleven (twelve, he would strongly argue if you mentioned it) young camper. His usually messy, shaggy brown hair was thrown around even more than usual. He brought a hand up to his forehead, raking his hair with his finger to reveal light brown eyes and bright freckles that stood out in the morning sun. The boy let out a humph, cracking his knuckles. He dove back into the pile in search of his bag that'd he'd been looking for for at least five minutes now. He peeped around the pile a few times, before finally spotting the light green duffel bag. 

"Yes!" He exclaimed, running to the other side of the pile to grab it. The only problem with that plan, however, was that the bag appeared to be stuck. Very stuck. He tugged the bag left and right, up and down, all over the place. But no matter which way he pulled, the bag remained deep in the pile. He huffed again before raising his right leg and kicking the pile in frustration. 

"Need some help?" An unfamiliar voice called out from behind him. He turned around to see a boy about his age standing with his hands on hips and wearing a smile. 

"Sure do!" He said, mood immediately changed. He lifted his sparkly green sunglasses to watch the other boy walk towards the pile. He tugged at the bag, once, twice, before releasing the bag without much effort. Once it was retrieved, the boy handed him the bag and came to stand in front of him. 

"Thanks!" He said, slugging it over his shoulder. 

"No problem. You must be new here, though. Me, I've been going through that pile since I was seven. It's easy now. My name's Terrence by the way." Terrence stuck out his hand towards the other bot with a friendly grin. He slapped it hard before shaking it fast and hard, and, probably, just a little too long, but Terrence didn't seem to mind. 

"Hiya! I'm Remus!" He said, grinning from ear to ear. He was always happy to make a new friend. 

Terrence looked down at Remus's duffel before looking shocked. 

"Wow! You're from California?" He asked. 

"California?" A passing by camper chimed in. "That's so cool!" 

"Do you live in Hollywood?" Terrence piped back in.

"Do you know any celebrities?" Asked the new camper. 

"No guys, I wish though!" Remus said with a laugh. "I've never even been to Hollywood! I live in Northern California in Napa next to a vineyard." The other two campers looked confused when he said that. "It's like, a whole field of grapes that you crush up and make wine with. People in Italy even step on the grapes with their own feet! Like, how cool is that?! That's what me and my dad do, we make wine! Well, we don't get to step on grapes though, I wish. I still step on them though lot when my Dad's not looking but that's only the really bad grapes that Dad says are too bitter to make wine with. And then I eat a lot of the other grapes when he's also not looking. But yeah, that's what a vineyard is!" 

"Oh, that's super cool!" Terrence laughed.

"Not as cool as Hollywood though," the other camper said. The three of them burst out laughing in agreement. 

"Parker, Remus!" Gavin called out, momentarily ending the three boys laughter. Remus raised his hand over to the counselor. "Arapahio."

"Hey, me too!"

"Same too!"

"Awesome!" Remus said. They all picked up their bags and started off towards their cabin. On their way there, Remus asked, "Do you guys know how to play poker?" The others shook their heads. "Damn. Bummer. Hey, by any chance, how much money did you guys bring with you to camp?"

~~~

Honk! Honk Honk!

"Woah, who is in there?" A camper called out. 

"Must be someone famous or something," another camper said. 

All eyes turned to the black car as it pulled up after a few buses. Many campers gasped and whispered as they noticed it was a limo. As the car came to a stop, a man stepped out from the backseat. He looked around for a moment before adjusting the cuffs of his black suit and smoothing out the rest of it at his torso. With one last glance at the rest of the camp, he stepped to the side and reached his hand out towards the inside of the car. A hand came out from the interior and placed itself in his hand, grabbing it lightly. Seconds later, feet donned in shiny black loafers popped out and landed on the soft dirt. 

The young boy was wearing a bright yet shirt, ironed and tucked into his green shorts. The sleeves of the shirt were cut short, revealing his tanned arms. The best thing he wore that day, however, was the bright grin across his face as he looked at the camp for the first time. His freckles stood out in the summer sun, and his eyes were bright with wonder. The other campers looked away as the moment of curiosity passed, but the boy couldn't help but keep looking out at the rest of them. 

"Well, Roman, here we are. Camp Sanders for boys," the man said. "Were traveled here all the way from London for this?" 

The boy, Roman, said, "I think it's quite charming, don't you think?" As he spoke, a bee buzzed on by, causing the formal attired man to try and swat it away. 

"Not quite the word I would use to describe it," he laughed. "Now, let's review the list your mother made, shall we? Now let's see, hmmm; Vitamins?" 

"Check."

"Minerals?" 

"Check."

"List of daily fruits and vegetables?"

"Double check check." The man looked up from the list to eye Roman, confused. Roman laughed, then clarified, "A check for the fruits and a check for the veggies."

"Ah, yes, right. Okay, sunblock, bug repellent, chapstick, stationary, stamps. And photographs of your mother, grandfather, and who of course! Me, your glorious, amazing, trusty butler!"

Roman couldn't help but laugh at that part. "All packed up, I think!" The butler grinned, slipping the small notebook back into his interior suit jacket pocket.

"Oh and a, one more thing! Here’s a little gift from your grandfather, can't forget this! A brand new deck of playing cards." He glanced back and forth playfully, holding up the cards to Roman. "Maybe there will actually be somebody on this continent who can beat you at poker." 

"Well, I highly doubt it, but I'll let you know if that every happens. Thank you. And thank you for bringing me all the way over here, Thomas."

Thomas made a face looking close to tears. He bent down and clasped the small boy in a tight hug. 

"Remember now, Roman, if you change your mind at all, if you want me to come here and pick you up at any point and time, I'm only one phone call away."

"Thank you, Thomas, really, but I'm sure I'll be fine. Really Thomas, I will." He paused, smiling and taking a deep breath. "See you in eight weeks, Thomas old pal."

"Oh geez, look at me. I miss you already. Prince of my heart," Thomas said. He held out his right hand and Roman grinned, taking it in his own and shaking it. The two clapped their hands up and down, back and forth, even stacking them a few times and grinning all the while. They excitedly turned and jumped around, bumping their butts two times. They got close to each other, Thimas bending down and Roman going on his tippy toes as they made a weird face and wiggled their finger under their chins. Finally, they circled each other, grabbing their hands and shaking them one last time, finished with their signature secret handshake. Thomas lightly brought his hands to rest on Roman's upper arms before kissing him gently on the crown of his head sweetly. 

"Have fun, Roman," he said. 

"I will, Thomas." And with that, Thomas walked off back towards the limo. He stopped at the door to turn and smally wave, calling out a 'Toodle-oo' which Roman said back in return.  

Thomas opened up the car door and slid into the seat. "Airport, please." Thomas closed the door, and the limo slowly started off. Thomas looked back through the window, smiling and waving at Roman, the car soon so far in the distance that Roman couldn't even see Thomas's sad smile anymore.

~~~

The mess hall of the camp was filled to the brim with young boys of all ages as they ate breakfast. Pictures of former 'Camp Sanders' members and trophies from years past were displayed all around the hall. On the speakers, 'Top of the World' by Shonen Knife blared, not that many could hear it over the voices of the campers. Some people were still in line getting their food, while others sat at the many tables, talking and playing games like avocado and Whisper Down the Lane. Soon, Remus and his new friends Terrence and Camden all ran into the mess hall and to the food line. Along the way, they almost ran into a counselor, who  had to tell the three to slow down and stop running. The three boys grinned and mumbled their apologies before speed walking as fast as they could (no not running, the boys would argue, just quickly speed walking) into the end of the line. 

"You have to try some, it's amazing!" Someone said, handing Roman a sweet looking dessert. He lifted it up and smelt it, letting out an mmm before giggling and putting one on his tray. 

"I'll save you a seat Roman, 'kay?" 

"Thanks!" Roman replied, turning back to the food. Behind him, Remus walked up, the two both reaching for the same bowl of peaches at the same time. Roman was about to look up at the other boy, before Leo came in between them

"Sorry, 'scuse me boys. I've just gotta grab some strawberries. How about you, do you want any?" He asked, turning to Remus.

"Oh thanks,but I can't, I'm allergic," said Remus with a smile.

"Aw man, what a bummer," Leo replied as Remus walked off towards his seat. "How about you, do you want any strawberries?" He asked, glancing at Roman.

Roman said, "Oh, I'd love some, but I can't, I'm allergic."

"Right, right, allergic, my bad. You just told me that-" he looked over to where Remus has previously been standing and then back to Roman, doing it a few times out of shock. "You-but you were,-you were just over three-hole did you get over there?" Leo stopped and shook his head, chuckling. "Well, bad memory I guess. Besides, it's only the first day of camp I'm sure I'll get it straight soon enough." Roman awkwardly but politely smiled, walking away and to his friends at his table. Leo looked back over to where Roman was standing mouth open and ready to say something, before noticing that the boy was gone yet again. "Now where did he disappear to?" 

Taglist: @sanderssidestrash27 @dew-drop-of-honey @ab-artist @iinyxtello @safesandersides @yep-another-fander @savetheupholstery

[emospritelet]

Since the KOL!babies are married when can they expect their own baby? Maybe Gold thinks Belle got the virus again when he hears she's at the hospital. - 41. “What did the doctor say?”

Prompt list here

Follow-up to Late Shift in the Kiss of Life verse

[AO3]

x

Seven a.m.

Stirling Gold stared into his coffee, his body feeling heavy and slow, weariness weighing down on him. The kitchen tiles were cold beneath his bare feet, and he shifted his toes a little, pressing them down hard before pulling them off.  Belle was cooking eggs, humming to herself as she did so, and he could smell the pleasant aroma of hot toast. He was almost too tired to feel hungry, but he knew he needed to eat. Several days of working twelve to fifteen hour shifts took their toll. He took a sip of his coffee, relishing the bitterness as it spread across his tongue. Seven hours until he had to be at the hospital again. Seven hours to rest, recuperate, and spend some quality time with his wife. His wife. He wasn’t sure he would ever get over the wonderful feeling that went through him every time he realised that they were married.

With the library closed until further notice and him working seven days a week to cope with the influx of patients, Belle was alone for much of the day. Or the night, depending on how his shift pattern fell. It wasn’t how he had expected the first year of their marriage to be, but there again he hadn’t expected a deadly disease to sweep across the nation. There was the faintest glimmer of hope that they might be over the worst of it; the number of new cases each day had stopped rising a few days ago, and Gold was keeping everything crossed that the falling numbers would continue. They had already had their hopes dashed more than once.

Belle stopped humming, the pan clattering on the stove as she dished up, and Gold took another sip of his coffee, setting down his cup and leaning back in his chair. She set a plate of buttered toast and scrambled eggs in front of him, bending to kiss his cheek before sliding into the seat adjacent to him with her own plate. She grinned at him, blue eyes shining, and he couldn’t help smiling back. She had been clear of the virus for a week, and was back to her old self.

“You look tired,” she said. “Didn’t you sleep?”

“I did,” he admitted. “But not enough.”

“Go back to bed,” she suggested, and her eyes gleamed. “Maybe I could join you.”

“I think we both know that neither of us would get any rest at all in that scenario,” he said sternly, and she giggled, scooping up eggs with her fork.

“Okay, suit yourself,” she said. “At least I get you all to myself for the morning.”

He grinned at her, and turned to his breakfast, eating a forkful of eggs and cutting off a piece of buttered toast to follow them. Belle poured herself some tea, and there was a moment of silence while they ate.

“I thought we might take a walk today,” she said. “It would do you good to get some fresh air. I don’t think you’ve done anything but work and sleep these past three weeks.”

“Well, there was that hour on Sunday when neither one of us was asleep...” he said, and she smirked, reaching for her cup.

“Ah yes, I remember,” she said. “I don’t think that counts as exercise, though. At least not in the fresh air.”

“We could do it in the back garden, if you insist.”

Belle giggled.

“I think the cold weather might have something to say about that.”

“Fair point,” he said. “Very well, a walk it is. Not too far, though. You’ve been complaining of tiredness a lot recently, and I don’t want you coming down with this thing again, okay?”

Belle rolled her eyes.

“I keep telling you, I’m fine!”

“And your sudden passion for mid-afternoon naps is a coincidence, is it?” he remarked. “Listen to your doctor and get some rest.”

“Maybe the doctor should take his own advice,” she said dryly.

Gold grinned, and turned back to his breakfast. His appetite seemed to be improving, and he cleared his plate, gulping the rest of his coffee down. His phone buzzed from its place on the table, the noise insistent, and he felt his heart sink as he reached for it. Belle watched him anxiously as he swiped at the screen.

“Jefferson,” he said, and Belle’s face fell.

“Hey,” said Jefferson, sounding as tired as he felt. “Look, I wouldn’t ask if I wasn’t desperate…”

“You need me to come in early,” guessed Gold.

“I’m really sorry,” said Jefferson sincerely. “Whale almost collapsed on the ward, and he’s burning up - I sent him home.”

“He’s positive?” asked Gold, worried, and Jefferson sighed.

“No, it looks like just a regular cold, but he’s exhausted. He’ll probably be out for a few days at least. Which means we’re a doctor down. I can cover his patients as well as my own, but we’ll need you to handle the ones that aren’t virus-related. At least that means you don’t have to suit up in PPE to the extent I do.”

“I’ll be there by eight.”

“You’re a life-saver,” said Jefferson. “Which I guess isn’t hyperbole, huh?”

“See you soon.”

Gold hung up, putting his phone down on the table and sighing heavily. Belle was watching him, looking troubled.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I - I really wanted to spend some time with you.”

“No, it’s fine,” she said immediately, putting a hand over his. “Really it is. I married a doctor. Nine to five was never gonna happen, and I knew that. You go and do what you do best, okay?”

He smiled broadly, and leaned in to kiss her.

“I love you,” he whispered. “Thank you.”

x

As always when he was working, Gold’s weariness had disappeared like smoke as soon as he stepped onto the ward in his scrubs. The hospital was never quiet, but in the midst of a pandemic it was hectic, and he had almost collided with a porter pushing a wheelchair. He did his round of the children’s ward first; there were thankfully very few children in there needing attention. He had half-expected Henry Swan-Mills to have come down with the virus; the boy was accident-prone and always in and out of hospital, but he had seen nothing of him since treating him for a broken collarbone three weeks ago. He suspected that the Mayor and Sheriff between them were pretty strict on enforcing the lockdown on their son.

Six hours into his shift he was beginning to flag, and went to the canteen for coffee and the lunch that Belle had put together for him while he was dressing. He smiled as he saw the little note she had placed on top of his sandwiches: I love you and I’m proud of you xxx. 

There had been a shift change, so when he got back out on the ward the personnel looked fresh-faced and ready to face the day. He was pleased to see them. Less pleasing was the fact that Zelena Mills was among them. 

He had thought that Zelena would have gotten over her weird obsession with him since he was now very happily married, but while she had certainly backed off a little, she still made inappropriate comments on a regular basis. He was able to ignore her for the most part, but with staffing levels dwindling by the day, it was likely that he was going to have to work with her more often. The virus had a lot to bloody answer for, in his opinion. 

She veered towards him as soon as he entered the room, and he took two steps back to maintain six feet between them. Zelena pouted, but there was a predatory gleam in her eyes which he had learned not to trust.

“Dr Gold,” she said, with a simper that made his teeth clench. “On your own today?”

“Dr Whale is ill,” he said dismissively, reaching for the nearest patient’s chart. “Dr Milliner is covering his patients as well as his own, and I’m covering everyone who isn’t infected with the virus. I’d appreciate any help you can give in that regard. Maintaining the necessary social distancing at all times, of course.”

Zelena’s pout grew sulky.

“It’s hard to flirt when we can’t go within six feet of each other,” she said, and Gold wanted to roll his eyes.

“A good thing we’re here to work, then,” he remarked, making a note on the patient’s chart. “Are you short of tasks to occupy yourself with? I’ll have a word with Nurse South, if so.”

Zelena scoffed.

“Hardly,” she said. “Dorothy left us in the lurch. Didn’t show up to her shift. Typical.”

Gold looked up.

“Dorothy didn’t show?” he said. “That’s not like her. Did anyone call her?”

“I did.” Glinda South had walked into the room, and was eyeing Zelena sternly. “Nurse Mills, you’re here to do your job, not distract Dr Gold. Go and change the beds in Arendelle Ward; we’re changing it from prenatal care to an overflow ward to deal with virus patients.”

Zelena huffed, stomping off, and Gold gave Glinda a grateful look.

“Is Dorothy okay?” he asked, and she sighed.

“Well, she has the virus,” she said gloomily. “She doesn’t feel too bad, so at least that’s something, but it means she’s self-isolating. We’re short on staff as it is.”

“I should call her,” he said. “I know how awful this thing can be. How are we for shift cover?”

“It’s tight,” she admitted. “We should just about be okay, though.”

“Good.”

Gold moved on to the next patient, checking the chart and nodding to himself. Some improvement. Good. 

He continued on his rounds, working his way through the wards, and managed almost an hour before Zelena caught up with him again. 

“Ah, Dr Gold,” she said, walking towards him with her hips swaying. “I have to say I’m surprised to see you here.”

“Yes, seeing the doctor in the hospital must indeed have been a shock to the senses,” he remarked, picking up a patient’s chart and scanning it. “Next you’ll be telling me you saw patients being treated.”

“Well, I don’t know about being treated,” she said airily. “But I did see Belle French.”

Calling Belle by her old name was a habit of hers, and usually it was only a minor annoyance, but Gold wasn’t in the mood. He opened his mouth to snap at her that Belle’s name was now Gold and that she was his wife, when something she had said made prickles of anxiety run over his skin.

“You saw Belle?” he said. “Here?”

“Yes,” she said, her eyes glinting wickedly. “She went rushing past me, said she needed to see a doctor.”

Gold licked his lips.

“She was probably looking for me.”

“Didn’t look that way to me,” she said, looking at her fingernails. “Oh, is she sick? How tragic that would be...”

Gold tossed the chart aside and stormed out as fast as he could. She was making up beds in Arendelle Ward. That’s the ward we’re using as overflow for the virus patients. Oh God, please don’t let her be sick again! I should have fucking noticed when she said she was feeling tired all the time, I should have known!

He burst through the double doors, almost sending a nurse flying and throwing an apology over his shoulder. His leg was hurting, the pain of being on it for hours and walking too fast, but he didn’t care. He turned the corner at speed and almost collided with Belle, her eyes widening as she put out an arm to stop him.

“Stirling!” she said. “Slow down! Are you okay?”

“Am I okay?” he gasped. “What - what are you doing here? Are you sick?”

“I’m fine,” she said assuredly. “Everything’s fine.”

“But - Zelena said you’d been rushed in, that you were seeing a doctor…” 

He flailed, trying to gather his thoughts into something coherent. Belle put a hand on his arm, smiling up at him, and at once her touch seemed to calm him, to ground him.

“Stirling,” she said gently. “Yes, I did need to see a doctor, but I’m fine, really. And you should learn not to take any notice of Zelena. She always pushes your buttons when you’re stressed.”

“Right.” He ran a hand through his hair, feeling a little better. “Right. So you’re not sick?”

“I’m not sick,” she confirmed, and Gold felt anxiety drain out of him, leaving only relief and weariness in its wake.

“Good,” he said absently. “That’s good. What did the doctor say?”

Belle’s smile grew, and he wondered why he had only just noticed how radiant she looked. As though she was filled with light, with joy. With life.

“I’m pregnant,” she said. “We’re going to have a baby.”

Gold felt as though he’d been punched in the chest. He staggered back, hand gripping the handle of his cane to steady himself. She was beaming at him, and he could feel tears prick his eyes as his heart swelled with love for her. Belle stepped forward, hands sliding around his waist, and he reached up to cup her cheek, feeling his heart thumping hard in his chest.

“A baby?” he whispered. “We’re having a baby?”

“We are,” she said. “You’re going to be a father. How does that sound?”

Gold bent his head to kiss her, eager for the taste of her lips and the softness of her mouth. She melted into him with a tiny moan, and he pulled back gently, resting his forehead against hers as he breathed her in.

“It sounds wonderful,” he whispered. “It sounds perfect.”

[duhragonball]

[FIC] Luffa: The Legendary Super Saiyan (138/?)

Disclaimer: This story features characters and concepts based on Dragon Ball, which is a trademark of Bird Studio/Shueisha and Toei Animation.   This is an unauthorized work, and no profit is being made on this work by me. This story is copyright of me. Download if you like, but please don’t archive it without my permission. Don’t be shy.

Continuity Note: About 1000 years before the events of Dragon Ball Z.

[23 November, 233 Before Age. Nagaoka.]

Through his mastery of the alchemical arts, King Rehval III Trismegistus had conquered the universe. The Saiyan had merged his life essense with the Planet Nagoka, making both impervious to any attack. The bulk of the Saiyan species had bound themselves to his will, and any galactic powers who dared to defy him would suffer the wrath of giant earthen creatures that he could control like puppets. The cult of Saiyans who served him had been in high spirits. Their greatest enemy, the Super Saiyan Luffa, had failed to destroy them, and she had fled the Nagaoka System, disgraced and alone.

Then she returned. King Rehval believed she had come back to die in a blaze of glory. For all her power, she was no match for him, or his army of alchemically powered Saiyans. He expected his warriors to hunt her down within a matter of hours.

Eight days later, Luffa was still at large, and the morale among Rehval's followers had declined sharply.

What frustrated everyone was that no one understood Luffa's plan. If she only wanted to die in battle, then there was no need to drag things out. Whatever she was trying to do, she needed at least eight days to make it happen, and in the meantime, Rehval's cult had been powerless to figure out what it was or how to stop it. The two prevailing sentiments among the cultists were:

"Why doesn't Trismegistus do something?"

And:

"Trismegistus has it all under control. Trust the plan."

Because of these contradictory opinions, the growing list of Luffa's victims were viewed both as "heroic martyrs" and "unfaithful losers".

From her lowly position in the cult, Lesseri heard it all. Scrubbing the breeding pits, she would catch parts of a conversation from passers-by. Trimming wicks for the candles, she would overhear idle chatter from the barracks. Disposing of diapers in the nursery, she would see how frightened the children were when they could sense Luffa's ki on the attack. There were a multitude of perspectives, but it boiled down to just two. Either their omnipotent leader couldn't kill Luffa, or he was allowing this terror to continue for unknown reasons.

Lesseri's own thoughts were usually focused on binaries like these. Strength and weakness, acceptance and rejection, good and evil. Of all the cultists, she had actually trained under Luffa during a brief period in her former life. The cult had a dim view of this past association, and Lesseri had been struggling to redeem herself ever since. She found herself awed by their grace, but also frustrated with the way they punished her for something so trivial.

For Luffa, that training camp had been a passing fancy to try to teach other Saiyans her ways. For Lesseri, it was just an opportunity to get close enough to kill her own mother. Vigurd had abandoned Lesseri and her sister in a gestation facility, and Lesseri had been bitter about it ever since. It seemed strange to Lesseri that the cult approved of her ruthless assassination, but not of the way she had manipulated Luffa to achieve it. It wasn't as if Luffa had passed on forbidden knowledge to Lesseri and the others. Mostly, Luffa had nagged them all for not being "Saiyan enough". Lesseri had dismissed Luffa as a hypocrite a long time ago, but the cult still demanded more contrition from her.

But now that Luffa was here, and Lesseri could sense that immense Super Saiyan ki once more, she was reminded of just how deeply Luffa's harsh words had cut. Luffa accused other Saiyans of cowardice. On Nat-Chezz, they had encountered a pair of aliens with the ability to to fool ki senses. They used this power to bluff stronger warriors into surrendering without a fight. Only Luffa had the courage to stand up to them, not because she saw through the deception, but because she alone wanted to fight enemies stronger than herself. The lesson of that incident had been lost on Lesseri that day, but now, Lesseri was experiencing it all over again. Nagaoka was supposed to be an invincible stronghold of power, and yet Luffa had dared to attack it all by herself. Rehval's followers had the advantage, and yet they were still anxious about what would happen to them. None of them were eager to die when they were so close to achieving final victory.

It hurt Lesseri to think about it. She had given herself over, body and soul, to Trismegistus, and yet her old frustrations and doubts still lingered. It had been convenient to blame everything on Luffa, but now she wondered if Luffa's only crime had been to point out the problems that had always been there. And now, she had come to Nagaoka to pass final judgment on them all.

Lesseri didn't know or care who would win in the end. She only knew that, no matter what happened, that Lesseri would surely lose...

*******

The surface of Nagaoka was desolate, but not completely uninhabitable. The persistent cloud cover made the scenery especially gloomy, but enough sunlight made it through to support some vegetation. Most of it was inedible, although Luffa had discovered some roots that were nutritious enough to justify the effort of picking them. Game was scarce. The apex predator in the grasslands of Nagaoka was a small, four-legged dinosaur that chased after rodents. It took patience to catch them, but that was no problem. She needed something to pass the time anyway.

As she chewed on the raw carcass of a fresh kill, she walked back to her latest campsite, which was little more than a small fire and a Saiyan skull she had been using to carry her stone tools. The only other item was her prisoner, a cultist she had captured on one of her raids, three days ago.

"I killed six more," she told him as she slung the carcass by the fire and picked up the skull. "They sent more after me, but it didn't help much. I think Rehval's trying to do a pincer thing this week."

The man lay helpless on the ground, his arms and legs fractured in several places. Luffa had hurt him so badly that he lacked the ki energy to be sensed by his comrades. She estimated that he would die in another day, if not sooner. She kept talking to him anyway.

"Pincer. You know what I mean? Spread out his forces across the planet, then when one group is close enough to engage, some of the others can come in from the other direction and cut off my escape. What he doesn't get is that it just gives me a bigger target to shoot at while I run away."

The man groaned, either from the pain of his injuries, or from hunger, or terror, or delirium, or from all of these. Luffa ignored him and began carving up her kill.

"Funny, that's the same thing Jerk Number Seven said when I killed his six buddies," Luffa said. "You should have seen it. They tried to surround me, but I rushed right into a group of them, like I was trying to slip between them. Then I set off an explosive wave right in the middle of them. The six died right off, but the seventh was far enough away that he just got hurt really bad. He's probably still alive, though. For now."

"Triis... mej... isssss..." the man tried to say.

"He's not here and he's not coming to save you," Luffa said. "You can pray to him all you want, but he doesn't give a damn about you. Idiot. You sold your pride to that fool, and he doesn't even know you're still alive. I doubt he'll bother giving you any medical attention, not after that stunt I pulled on their hospital ward a few days ago. No, he'll want to conserve his supplies for the healthiest troops. The ones who stand a chance of pulling through in time to defend his sorry ass. That won't be you."

She put the bulk of the dinosaur on a spit she had fashioned from a spear she had taken from one of her victims, and carefully positioned it over the fire. "Ahhhh," she said. "This is really gonna hit the spot. It's like the old proverb: hunger is the best seasoning. So how was your day? Anything cool happen while I was gone?"

"Wh-wh-why... are you... doing this?" the man whimpered.

Luffa lay down on the ground, propping her head up on a pile of brush she had gathered. "Really?" she asked. "I mean, we've been over all that, haven't we? I told you all about it. How Rehval's a monarchist fool. How he took my son from me. Twice. He wrecked my marriage-- although I'll take partial responsibility there. And he even showed me that my own species is a worthless band of hooligans that deserves to die. Oh, and he's trying to conquer the universe, which wouldn't bother me so much except for the rotten way he's going about it. Magic potions. Really, what is that?"

"Nooooo..." the man whispered. "Not that... Why...... why... keep me... alive?"

"Oh, that," Luffa said. See, it's actually pretty simple. I learned this when I was a kid. I guess your parents never filled you in on it. See, when you're up against a superior force, you can even the odds with some psychological warfare. Wreck their morale, they start making little mistakes. Before they know it, their advantage starts to fritter away. That's why I hit their medical supplies. I'd like to taint their water supply too, but I haven't planned that out yet. I may not have time to get around to it, actually. Make sure you tell Rehval that when you see them."

"See...?"

"Yeah, they should track down this camp before too much longer. If not, I'll just transform and they'll come running. I'll be long gone when they get here, but they'll find you. And you can tell them everything I've been telling you this whole time. Every last word. Or as much as you can remember. I think the message will get across."

"M-message...?"

"Yeah," Luffa said. "See, I'm not 'keeping you alive'. You'll die eventually, no matter what. But I want the others to see what I've done to you, and hear what I've said to you, and I want them to realize exactly what it is they're dealing with."

She reached into the pockets of her yellow pants and pulled out a wooden stick, about five inches in length. There were several notches cut along its length. As she spoke, she stared intently at it.

"I think a lot of them see me as some sort of ultimate foe, and they get to have this big epic showdown with me, or at least they can die for their master, quick and clean. Makes sense. I'm the Legendary Super Saiyan, and Rehval's taught them all that I'm the devil or something. They want a big dramatic battle, like in a movie. A few of them might get their wish. But not you. No, you get to suffer. And I want them to know that any one of them might get the same treatment as you. Or not. Some of them might luck out and take a Vengeance Cannon through the brain and die painlessly. Some choice, right?"

He shivered, either due to the cold, or the onset of some infection he had contracted, or perhaps simply because Luffa's words horrified him so. Luffa simply did not care. She watched her meal cooking, monitored enemy movements with her ki senses, and then carved another notch on her stick with her thumbnail.

*******

[25 November, 233 Before Age. Nagaoka.]

"The water supply? You're absolutely certain that's what he said?"

The cultists who found Luffa's prisoner bowed low to the ground as they murmured in the affirmative. "He was insistent on this point, Master," said their leader. He rambled like a madman, repeating everything she had said, including many unspeakable insults towards you and your ancestors, but--"

"Enough," Rehval said. "Return to your duties. No, wait. You three." He gestured to the trio of men on the right side of the group. "Go and help the repair efforts on tunnel six. Dismissed."

Normally, he spoke to his followers in more parental tones, closing with words like "Let my triple-blessing be upon you," or "Go with Jindan, my children." But Luffa had been laying siege to his planet for ten days straight. He no longer felt the mood to keep up his role as Trismegistus, the almighty Alchemist Supreme. Even the easy diplomacy of King Rehval seemed to escape him these days. Nearly two thousand of his followers had been killed since Luffa had arrived on Nagaoka, and with each hit-and-run attack, Luffa always found a way to hint that this was only a warm-up act.

"Having trouble, dad?"

He had begun to find a measure of comfort in his daughter, the Princess Seltiss. In his heart of hearts, he had always viewed her as more of an apprentice in statecraft, or a great bridge he had engineered to lead the way to the future. Now that she was back in his life, and now that they were stuck together on this planet, he finally began to appreciate her as family. Of all the Saiyans on the planet, she knew him best, and was never afraid to speak her mind.

"You saw the man they brought in this morning," he grumbled as she walked into his chamber.

"Yeah, I just came from the infirmary. They just pronounced him dead," Seltiss replied. "I came over to tell you. His last words were something about the water resevoir--"

"I already know," Rehval said. "It's bait. It has to be. There's fresh water all over Nagaoka. Even if she does poison our wells, even if she takes out our geothermal stills, it would only be a minor inconvenience."

"Like the spaceport," Seltiss said. "And the medical supplies. And Tunnel Six. She's not interested in striking decisive blows. She's wearing us down, a little bit at a time."

"It's more than that!" he insisted. "She's... building towards something. She threatened to kill us all, even me, when she already knows that's impossible!"

Seltiss shrugged. "She probably thinks that if she kills enough of your followers, then you'll lose the power you took from them, and that'll weaken your connection with the planet," she said. "Could that work?"

"Not well enough to do her any good," Rehval said. "I need the Saiyans. Without them, my work has been in vain. But there are other Saiyans in the galaxy. Weaklings, and not many of them, but enough for me to begin anew. As for this planet, my connection to it is complete."

"Cool beans. Then you have nothing to fear," Seltiss said. "It's like you told us before. Luffa's no threat to you anymore."

"That doesn't matter!" Rehval shouted. He rarely raised his voice. He considered it one of his more admirable qualities. What surprised him more than his outburst was the way he had slammed his fist on the armrest of his throne. Without thinking, he had pulverized it, and sent cracks running down the right side of the seat.

Seltiss had never seen him like this before, and though she tried to mask the shock with cool indifference, he knew better. He leaned back in his seat and rubbed his forehead. "She is the serpent in my garden," he said. "Rebelling, even when there's no possible way for her to win. I have to kill her or control her, or my authority will never be absolute. Her defiance proves that I can never tame the Saiyan heart, no matter how completely I control the others."

"So control her," Seltiss said. "You keeps saying you have the power. Find her, and put an end to this."

"She can mask her ki, and somehow use it at the same time," Rehval said, more despondently than he meant the reply to sound. It was unseemly for him to whine before his own child. "I suspected that she could do something like this, but I didn't realize to what extent. The squads can't find her."

"Then take away her hiding places," Seltiss said. "We know she's living off the land. Like, you keep saying you are the planet now. You can do with it as you please, right? Take the land away from her, and what does she have?"

Throughout this crisis, a thin beard had begun to grow on Rehval's face. He had been too preoccupied to shave. Now, he rubbed the stubble thoughtfully as he considered his daughter's advice.

*******

[30 November, 233 Before Age. Nagaoka.]

Luffa waited for the squad of cultists to fly directly overhead, and then she attacked, transforming into her Super Saiyan form so quickly that none of them had time to react. There were twenty of them in all. The first died instantly, and she used an explosive wave to kill two more, and throw the rest off balance. Then she flew away, leaving the other seventeen to wonder what had gone wrong.

As she flew into the clouds that covered the Nagaokan skies, she took a moment to admire the destruction taking place on the surface. Rehval had finally grown impatient enough to order a carpet bombing of the wilderness. As before, there were groups of twenty or more Saiyans spread out across the planet, but instead of hunting Luffa, they were now scouring the land with ki blasts. This suited her perfectly. With so much Saiyan energy being tossed around all at once, Luffa could fly much more freely across the planet without being detected.

Adjusting her trajectory, she propelled herself directly into the path of another squad two hundred miles away, and powered down so they wouldn't sense her approach until it was too late. Then she transformed again, and tore through them like so much paper. Just as they began to get their bearings, she flew away again, leaving them completely disorganized.

She repeated this trick again and again, picking off targets across the entire planet. It would have been glorious, if she wasn't so furious with them all.

"It's not like it was in the Federation, is it?!" she screamed as she impaled a warrior on his own short spear.

"Boxing me in, forcing me to jump from planet to planet to keep you from hurting innocent people!" she screamed as she broke another's neck three thousand miles to the southeast.

"You thought you could wear me out! Well I'm still standing!" she yelled while blasting four of them with a barrage of energy needles.

"And now you're the ones on the back foot!" she roared. At the equator, one of them managed to get off a decent shot at her, but she pulled one of his teammates into the line of fire.

"You've got nowhere to run!" Her boot slammed into a Saiyan's back at twice the speed of sound, and she grinned at the wet snap she heard on impact. Nearby was Nagaoka's fourth-tallest active volcano.

"This time you're trapped here with me, and I've got nothing and no one to protect!" Near the south magnetic pole, her Vengeance Cannon technique cut through five of them in one shot.

She doubled back to the fourth-tallest active volcano and shoved a woman face-first into a lave floe. "You all move so slow you might as well be standing still!"

She found a beach and decided to stand her ground for a few minutes. This wasn't for sport, but just to remind them that she could. The squad she attacked seemed almost grateful for the chance to try to fight back, but they soon found that their numbers weren't as effective as they'd hoped.

"I've been fighting you clowns for months!" she screeched as she slashed her nails through a Saiyan's throat. As he fell back and clutched his bloody neck, Luffa rolled forward and caught one of his partners with her legs. She flipped him over and sent him crashing down to the surf below, and then fired ki blasts down at him, then towards a third Saiyan who was trying to catch her off-guard.

"All that ganging up you punks do? It doesn't mean anything to me anymore! I've seen all the routines a dozen times! Hah!" She suddenly flung her left hand under her right shoulder and fired backward to catch a Saiyan coming up from behind. "Six? Ten? Twenty? It won't save you!"

One of them had the good sense to focus his ki on protecting his vital organs. Luffa punched him in the forehead and was surprised that he withstood the blow. She kept on punching him, like a jackhammer, until his skull finally gave way.

Before long, she had finished them all off. She sensed reinforcements coming, and by the time they arrived, they found her in a half-squat position, charging her power. Once they were within range, she unleashed it all at once, creating a massive explosion all around them.

"Still alive..." she observed as she flew towards handful of survivors. She rose up into the air above them and swung out her arm at the ground. "Now that's what I like to see!"

Her follow-up fused the sand into glass, but could not penetrate more than a few feet into the ground, thanks to Rehval's mystic power that tied him into the planet. Instead, the energy Luffa released was reflected back upon her targets, and they were helpless to resist the intensity of it. A few survived, and Luffa slaughtered them, lopping off their heads by using the edge of her ki-charged left hand like a knife.

"Enough, Luffa!"

She turned and found a familiar face, and she grinned savagely at the sight of it.

"Well, well," she said. "Look who's finally come out to play."

The ground behind her had swelled up, forming a hill, which gradually shaped itself into the image of a man: King Rehval.

"I'll say this for your stupid alchemy powers," Luffa said, "You've made this planet a lot sturdier than anywhere I've ever been before. I can't destroy it, but that's kind of handy too. It's nice to know I can cut loose while I fight your lackeys, and not have to worry about the whole planet exploding out from under me."

"I command you to stop this immediately!" he shouted.

Luffa responded with a Gallick Gun to his stony face.

"You can't harm me in this form!" he said. Indeed, the attack had left his earthen avatar completely undamaged. Luffa didn't find that very disappointing.

"Don't worry," she said. "That Gallick Gun was just a baby, Rehval. When I'm ready to hurt you, you'll know it."

"Damn you, woman!" he seethed. "You know this is pointless!"

"Sure it is," Luffa said with a grin. "And you came all the way here to remind me, just in case I'd forgotten how pointless this is. Very thoughtful of you."

"If you already know that, then why do you persist in this--?! Arrgh!"

As he had spoken, she gathered her energy and plowed directly into the avatar's body, then released it in a massive explosion. The surrounding area was reduced to charred wasteland, and Luffa alighted near one of the largest fragments of the rock-Rehval she had destroyed. Slowly, it merged with the ground below it, and rose up again to form a new body.

"Will you--! Stop that?!" Rehval seethed.

Luffa laughed again. "What's wrong? If what I'm doing is so pointless, what does it matter whether I do it or not? Don't tell me the almighty god-alchemist, his royal majesty King Revahl the Third is getting flustered over little old me."

"I'm not!" he shouted, and then he attempted to regain his composure. "I just... I don't like when you... when you flout my authority. I wish you would... not do that."

Luffa raised her hand high over her head and extended her middle finger. "And I just don't like you. I don't like your authority much either. I don't think anyone else on this planet likes it much either. I'm just the only one around here with the guts to do something about it."

"I'll kill you," Rehval said. "You won't be able to avoid my forces forever, Luffa. There's only so much habitable land on this planet, and there's less of it each day. Once you run out of hiding places, you'll have no choice but to face the full force of my power."

"It's a date," Luffa said. "You're going to rue the day you first heard my name, Rehval. But right now, I gotta go. See you real soon!"

With that, she shot into the sky like a rocket, just as another squad of Rehval's followers arrived.

"My lord," gasped their leader as she fell prostrate before his earthen likeness. "We came as quickly as we could..."

"The Saiyans who joined us," the rock-Rehval said. "Seltiss's band, the Free Companions. Have they received the Jindan power yet?"

"N-no, Master," the leader said, now rising to an upright position. "There hasn't been time for them to complete the initiation rites, and--"

"I don't care about the rites!" he snapped. Go back and prepare them immediately. I want them as strong as possible, so that I can crush that vile little throwback once and for all!"

The leader was gravely disturbed to hear this, but she was too loyal to question the command. "Yes! It shall be done right away, Great One!"

Then they flew back in the direction of their base. Having no further use for the rock-creature, Rehval allowed it to collapse back into the ground.

From her hiding place in the sky, Luffa saw all of this while she listened in on the comm-link she had stolen from one of Rehval's soldiers. She made a grim smile, then cut another notch in her stick.

*******

[3 December, 233 Before Age.]

As Trismegistus, Rehval had established a lengthy series of rituals and trials for initiates in his cult. He claimed that these were necessary to make the applicant worthy of receiving the potion that granted the Jindan power. In truth, their actual purpose was to brainwash the cultists and erode away their sense of independent thought. Now, as Rehval became more desperate to put an end to Luffa's rampage on Nagaoka, he chose to skip the protocol and dispense his potion to the newest recruits into his fold.

His daughter, Princess Seltiss had assembled a band of independent Saiyans, with the idea of establishing a new Saiyan nation in her father's absence. She had allied this Free Company with Luffa's Federation, but then switched sides, rejoining her father once it became clear that he was unstoppable. Seltiss considered herself a pragmatist above all. In her mind, joining her father in his moment of triumph was completely consistent with turning against him during his apparent madness. The decision was simple. There was no hope in opposing an invincible enemy, one who held every card and offered no weaknesses to exploit. And yet, she still feared for his sanity. The decision to join him had been a simple one, but it was by no means easy for her.

On the other hand, convincing the Free Companions to accept the Jindan potion had turned out to be very simple and easy. Luffa had killed over three thousand Saiyans since she arrived on Nagaoka's surface, and most of these had been Free Companions. The Jindan-empowered cultists were stronger and faster, and while Luffa had killed plenty of them as well, the Free Companions made much easier targets. As much as Luffa despised the cult, she had a real talent for driving Saiyans into Rehval's open arms.

In her quarters, Seltiss contemplated the bottle containing her own dose of the Jindan elixir, the last one. The cultists seemed to trust her to drink it, or perhaps they didn't see her empowerment as a high priority, since Seltiss didn't have a high power level to begin with. There was really no point in anyone checking to make sure she took her medicine. It was a matter of survival now. The curious red liquid might be the only thing that would save Seltiss' life during Luffa's next attack. And even without Luffa rampaging in their midst, she had already resigned herself to drink when she ordered her ship to surrender and land on Nagaoka. Things were happening faster than expected, but the cold equations had not changed. Her continued survival depended on swallowing her father's concoction, and then washing it down with whatever was left of her pride. What was she waiting for? Seltiss herself didn't seem to know.

And then, just as she brought the bottle to her lips, she sensed that terrible ki once more. Luffa was on the move again. Startled, she dropped the bottle, and so great was her dread that she didn't even notice it until the glass shattered on the stone floor. All that remained of the potion was a strange discoloration on the rock, and some maroon stains on her pink Montablanian leather boots.

Seltiss wasn't sure whether to be relieved or afraid. As she sensed the rising powers of her father's followers, she realized that it might not matter how she felt any longer.

*******

There were no names for the places on Nagaoka, and even if there were, Luffa wouldn't have known them. She had chosen a particular location to make her stand, but mostly for aesthetic reasons. It was a dry lakebed surrounded on all sides by buttes and mesas. It reminded her of some of her favorite hunting grounds on Dorlu Prime. More importantly it offered the best of both worlds for a battle: The lakebed was a wide-open space for fighting, while the surrounding topology allowed plenty of nooks and crannies to hide behind for ambushes. Luffa didn't expect any of this to matter, but she had a sentimental reason for choosing her battleground.

She expected it to be her last.

Rehval's forces had destroyed most of the terrestrial life on the planet by now. His hope was to cut off Luffa's supply lines by taking away the flora and fauna that she fed upon in between her hit-and-run attacks. But he had utterly failed to consider the seas, which were abundant in edible wildlife. While his followers had scoured the land in a desperate attempt to flush her out of hiding, she had been diving under glaciers for aquatic mammals. In the lakebed, she now chewed on a piece of blubber while she prepared herself for what came next.

The skies of Nagaoka were perpetually overcast, but on this night there were peals of thunder that hinted at a storm. It was completely dark, save for an occasional faint flicker of distant lightning in the clouds. Luffa took the stick out of her pants pocket and felt the notches that she had made in the wood. Satisfied with the count, she cut one last notch with her fingernail, and then tossed the stick to the ground. The time was right.

She transformed. Since coming to this planet, she remained in her Super Saiyan form only long enough to attack or to outmaneuver an enemy. This time, she stood and waited, letting the yellow glow of her aura illuminate the desiccated ground. She could sense Rehval's minions all over the planet, searching in vain for her. Now that they could sense her power, now that she was staying in one spot, they all began to converge on her position. Within minutes, she was surrounded. Thousands of Saiyans stood on the rocky outcroppings in all directions, all of them dressed in dark red uniforms, and carrying short spears, which seemed to be the signature weapon of the cult. The tips of the spears glowed a pale blue color. Luffa had been dealing with these weapons for some time now, and could only guess that there was some trick to making them work. Every time she had taken one for herself, it only behaved like an ordinary spear.

They all kept their distance. Luffa might have accused them of cowardice, but she couldn't deny that it was the smart play. Anyone who might have broken ranks to rush at her prematurely was probably already dead from all of the previous skirmishes. Those that remained knew that best hope of defeating her was to put their combined might into a single, concentrated force. If they could cut off her escape, if they could keep her surrounded and attack her on all sides, then they would have the power to overwhelm her.

Or so they believed.

At last, King Rehval himself showed up, after a fashion. She could still sense him staying behind at his underground compound on the opposite side of the planet. She had expected as much. He was a coward, above all else. Instead of appearing in person, Rehval used his avatar again. By whatever mystic alchemy he used, he formed a mass of earth and rock to rise up from the ground and assume the shape of his own body, more or less. The eyes of this two-hundred foot tall creature glowed purple as he glared down at her.

"Enough, Luffa. This time, there will be no escape," he announced.

"That's what I was about to say to you," Luffa replied.

"I thought you had some plan," Rehval said. "But I see now that you really did come here to die, after all. You just decided to drag things out for as long as possible. You wanted to kill some of my flock to get a measure of revenge, but now you've run out of hiding places, haven't you? Why else would you stand still and raise your power level? You practically summoned us here to destroy you. You've clearly given up hope."

She turned her head and spat on the ground. "You don't get it, Rehval," she said. "I already gave up hope before I came to this stupid planet. Everything since then has been rage. And patience. The waiting is over, Rehval. I'm ready to kill you all now."

"You don't have the power for that," Rehval said. "And even if you did, you could never kill me, Luffa. I have transcended beyond the mortal realm. I am more than anything you could imagine. I have the power of this entire solar system behind me. What do you have, besides that garish transformation?"

Luffa smiled. "Let me show you," she said.

And then, she began to yell.

Rehval and his forces held back, unsure of what to expect. Luffa's body glowed brightly, and for a moment, some of them expected her to attack, but instead she fired a ki blast straight up into the sky. The energy dissipated into the clouds, and for a moment the thunderheads turned yellow from the light. Then they parted, opening up a hole of clear skies directly above Luffa's head. For the first time in untold centuries, starlight shone down upon the surface of Nagaoka. The hole expanded in diameter, until at last, the clouds had retreated to the horizon, leaving only a panoramic view of outer space.

And there, high above the battlefield, was Nagaoka's moon.

It was full.

Luffa looked straight up to admire it. Her lips curled into a wicked smile, and her green eyes suddenly turned blood red in the moonlight.

"No..." Rehval said quietly as he realized what was happening. Panicked murmurs could be heard among his troops, as the ones who understood explained it to the ones who didn't. Luffa could barely hear them over the pounding of her heart in her chest.

"The tail!" Rehval shouted. "Destroy her tail! Now, before she has a chance to--!"

But it was already too late. Luffa began to laugh, and then a wave of golden energy spread out in all directions. Then another, and another. The Saiyans attacked, firing their own energy in unison, but none of their ki blasts could penetrate through to Luffa herself. They couldn't even see her.

But they could hear. The lakebed echoed with the giddy laughter of a Saiyan woman with nothing left to lose. And they heard this laughter gradually transform into the low, feral growl. Bolts of yellow lightning arced out across the lakebed, dancing from one mesa to the next.

At the epicenter of this terrible disturbance, Luffa continued to stare up at the moon. Her heart beat harder and faster with each passing moment. She let the transformation carry her away, neither knowing nor caring where it would take her. Normally, her body was only sixty-three inches tall. Now, she expanded with each breath, swelling to ten feet, then twenty, then thirty, and more! Her limbs and torso changed proportions as she grew, and a thick coat of fur sprouted from her skin. Her face contorted, warping her nose and mouth into a savage muzzle lined with sharp teeth, and her ears formed slight points on top. Her clothing was ripped to shreds by this awesome change, but this was the furthest thing from Luffa's mind. In that moment, all she cared about was power, and the retribution it would bring.

At last, when the transformation was complete, and her enemy could finally see her clearly, she loomed over them in the form of a giant ape. The Saiyans knew the Oozaru form well, but this was different. For Luffa's Great Ape had glowing yellow fur instead of the usual dark brown. Her blood red eyes glowed with murderous intent, and her bestial lips twisted with fury as she looked down upon them all.

By now, Rehval's followers had been fighting Luffa for some time, and they had allowed themselves to believe that they were used to the idea of what Luffa had become. Now, as each of them felt their blood run cold, they realized that they had no idea what to do. They all stood transfixed at the sight of this new horror, unsure what would happen next.

Luffa threw back her head, and began to pound her fists upon her chest. And then, she made a deafening roar.

NEXT: The Golden Oozaru.

[cupcakemolotov]

Go Where You Go

Written for @goldcaught, @thetourguidebarbie and @candycolamorgan who love this trope. I’ve been trying to write it for ages in a mafia setting BUT FOR ONCE my muse decided nah, we’re going to roll this as solid AH. This is 100% SFW and is mostly sweet and fluffy. Can’t think of anything that needs a warning other than the fluff?

Caroline recognized the smell of the hospital before she registered anything else. Hazily wondering if she’d fallen asleep in the break room again, she blinked open her eyes and tried to understand what she was looking at. She was definitely in one of slightly less uncomfortable hospital beds, and one of the nurses had clearly brought her extra blankets. 

It was the loud beeping of machines and the pulse monitor on her finger told her that she was definitely not in the break room. The chill from the IV bag definitely sucked as much as she remembered from her last bout with food poisoning. But the biggest clue was the man sitting across from her with his eyes closed. 

Her step-brother wasn’t part of her usual hospital experience. Blinking hard to make sure he didn’t disappear, Caroline cleared her throat. “Klaus?”

His head lowered immediately from where it had been tipped back. He looked tired, the faint start of shadows beneath his eyes matching the days growth of beard he usually kept to much neater stubble. His clothing was disarrayed and didn’t quite match, as if he’d pulled everything on in a hurry, though she spotted a bag at his feet. 

“Caroline. How are you feeling, love?”

Bewildered, she shifted her weight and immediately regretted the decision to move. Her right ankle hurt, though in a weird distant way. Glancing down at the end of the bed, she frowned. Was her foot in a sling? 

Finally recognizing the haze of pain killers for what they were, she looked back to Klaus and blinked hard. “What happened?”

“I was told things might be a bit fuzzy. You apparently took quite a knock to the head.” His eyes were sympathetic. “I’m supposed to ask what you remember before giving you details.”

She glared at his words and the curve of his mouth tilted at the edge. Huffing, Caroline tried to remember specific details. “Yesterday was Tuesday. We operate on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Our last patient’s procedure took longer than anticipated.” Caroline paused, and then frowned. “I took a Uber home.”

A hint of ire crossed his eyes but quickly disappeared. She appreciated his restraint. It was a fight they’d had before. None of her step-family seemed to appreciate that she was on a strict budget and would be for another two years. She was not spending thousands of dollars a year on a car service. Most of them had been smart enough to drop the subject after she’d shut Elijah down, but Klaus was stubborn. 

“The Uber didn’t make it,” Klaus finally filled in once it was clear she was done talking. “We had a bit of inclement weather come through yesterday. There was just enough sleet to make the roads slippery. I imagine you didn’t notice if you were in a procedure for several hours.”

Caroline pulled a face. “They moved the pick up zone to a different location in a garage. I didn’t even look outside, it’s been freezing for days.”

Klaus nodded. “My understanding is the other driver had just received his license; he over corrected.”

“Is he okay?”

“A tad traumatized though uninjured.” His face made it clear just how much sympathy he didn’t have for the boy. 

Caroline worked her lip between her teeth and tried to remember the events he described. Finally, shaking her head, she sighed. “I don’t remember the wreck.”

He nodded. “I’m sure someone will do a concussion test on you once they know you’re awake. You’re going to be here for a bit I’m afraid.”

She grimaced. “Is my chart close by? What’s the damage?”

Klaus gave her a long look. “I’m told doctors make terrible patients. Particularly surgeons.”

“I’ve completed five of my seven years of residency, after acing four years of med school,” she pointed out reasonably. “I can read a chart, Klaus. Have they scheduled an x-ray for my ankle? It definitely feels like something that needs to be looked at if they haven’t. Moving it was not awesome.”

Both of his brows lifted even as his mouth tightened at her admittance of it hurting. “You operate on brains, love. Not ankles. Let the doctors who have finished their schooling do their job.”

She scowled, carefully shifting into a more comfortable position. She knew that look. He was determined to be stubborn. “Why are you here exactly?”

“Ah, now that’s a bit of a story.” His fingers folded across his lean abdomen, and Klaus leaned back with a hint of something unreadable in his eyes. “Rebekah called me sometime in the early hours of the morning in quite the panic. You can imagine my surprise when she insisted that I make my way to the hospital. She was quite insistent that you were a patient instead of a doctor.”

“Rebekah?” Caroline repeated, brows furrowing. “Isn’t she in Milan?”

“Rome this week.”

That sounded about right. “So why did she call? Bonnie is my emergency contact.”

The flicker of emotion she had seen earlier was back and she didn’t know what to make of it. “So I was made aware.”

Squinting, she frowned at him. “Klaus. Seriously? Details.”

A hint of a smile touched his mouth and his shoulders finally seemed to loosen. “Your friend Bonnie called Rebekah. She is apparently on a business trip and not in the city, and whatever details were given to her were apparently not adequate.”

“Oh no.”

The gleam behind his gaze shifted to amusement. “While I appreciate why you’ve chosen not to make Bekah your emergency contact, you should perhaps consider adding her to your list. When she was unable to get additional information out of your nursing staff, she called me. Frantic and certain you were dying. You’re lucky I’m the only one stateside currently.”

She tried to disappear under the blankets. “Please tell me you’re the only one she called.”

“I’m afraid not.”

Caroline pressed her face into her pillow and groaned. “Noooo.”

“Hmm, yes.” Klaus said with a hint of laughter in his voice. “Finn put his foot down on the plane fetching Rebekah and Kol, as he is currently using it. Coming home would ruin his plans, though I’m sure Sage will sure will send a lovely bouquet of flowers.”

She groaned again, shoving her overly warm face into her pillow. There was a creak of a chair, and then Klaus’ warm hand curled around hers. “Caroline.”

She peaked at him, and a dimple creased his cheek. “Elijah and I both agree that having Kol and Rebekah around will just make matters worse. He’ll handle their dramatics. You, on the other hand, will have to deal with me.”

Underneath the rush of embarrassment from his teasing, her heart started to pound. Behind her, the heart monitor sped up and Klaus glanced at it with a curious expression. “It’s not that bad, love.”

Caroling snorted and pressed her free hand to burning cheek. “Says you. I miss being an only child. How long did it take you to charm your way past the staff? How did you even get in here? I’m pretty sure we aren’t in visiting hours.”

His smile was abrupt and dimpled, and something tightened in her chest. Her lips part but a loud crash in the hallway had his head swiveling, and it briefly gave her a chance to study his face. Of all her inherited family, Klaus was the one she struggled with the most. Mostly because she never actually managed to look at him as a brother, and no matter how she tried to ignore it, there was a spark of chemistry there that never went away. 

It helped that he hadn’t been around when she’d been trying to acclimate to his family. 

Her mom had married Mikael the spring of her sophomore year of high school. At the time, the custody agreement had her spending her summers with Liz and the school year with Bill. So Caroline hadn’t been around for the dramatics of their meeting - her mom had written the visiting recently widowed businessman a ticket for speeding, and he’d asked her to dinner. 

Shockingly, Liz had said yes. 

And while Caroline had approved the hallmark romance, she hadn’t liked the Mikaelson children’s suspicions about her mom. Her new step-dad had been loaded, and though there was a prenup in place, it’d been clear his kids had viewed Liz as a gold digger. She’d gritted her teeth because while Mikael was overbearing and not particularly kind to his older children, he’d been besotted with her mom. 

Since she’d spent her summers with her mom, she’d moved into Mikael’s giant house once they’d gotten back from their honeymoon. It had been her, her mom, her new step-dad and three of his five kids. That first summer post-wedding has been rough for everyone. Rebekah had hated no longer being the only girl, Kol had been a little shit, and Elijah has loomed like a silent specter of judgement. Finn, thankfully, had declined coming home from his fancy English University. 

Caroline had learned to adjust to a sort of territorial Cold War with Steven’s daughter, she thought she could handle the new family. At least at her new place she didn’t have to share a bathroom. But Rebekah and Kol were dramatic and nosey, and having a younger brother was not something she enjoyed. At all. Her summer plan for cramming in college credits in the peace and quiet had evaporated, the staff kept trying to clean her spotless bathroom, and Kol thought his pranks were funny. She’d gone back to school vowing to hate all of them to her grave. 

But not before she’d eked out a little revenge on her own. Her mom had called her when she’d landed in Atlanta and conveyed her disappointment that they’d had to shave Kol’s head, but Caroline hadn’t cared. He’d deserved it. And if he’d thought she’d be over his dickery by the time she got back, he’d been very mistaken. 

But Klaus hadn’t been around for any of that. He was a half-brother to Mikael’s kids, and when Esther had died, his Dad, Ansel, had wrangled custody. Both Rebekah and Kol had seemed bitter about it, but she had noted that both got regulars texts from him. It had been a few years before she’d met him properly, which likely contributed to her lack of familial feelings for him.

Sometimes she still wasn’t sure how she started to care about the Mikaelsons. They were all trust fund babies who were usually was missing the common sense God gave children, but she loved them anyway. But those first two summers, such a thing had seemed impossible. 

But then her mom had gotten sick. 

Not wanting to dredge up those memories, Caroline glanced down at his hand still covering her own and her lips curved at the sight of paint streaked across his knuckles. “I thought you’d sworn off painting until you recovered from the last gallery.”

“I had an idea or two that wouldn’t leave me alone,” he responded vaguely. “The curse of a muse, I’m afraid.”

She snorted and let her eyes close. “Rebekah will murder you if you end up painting through Christmas again.”

“So says the surgeon who keeps volunteering to cover the holiday shifts for her fellow residents. Avoiding us?”

Her eyes popped open. “What?”

His fingers slid through hers when she would have pulled back, squeezing lightly. “While you were asleep I had a number of very concerned junior residents who all wanted to assure me that they’d cover your shifts until you are back on your feet. They all drew straws to see who would take over the holiday dates this year, since your upcoming surgery will leave you unable to cover this year.”

“Surgery?” Caroline yelped, fingers tightening on his. “Klaus, where is my chart?”

“I’m sure the doctors will explain everything when they come in,” Klaus said without a hint of remorse. “Your minions were all quite concerned.”

She dug her nails into the back of his hand. “Why did they even talk to you about this? I don’t have you on any of my paperwork. They so know better.”

His smile was slow and satisfied. “One of them recognized me from some pictures on your phone from the night of my gallery. She wanted to know if we were dating.”

She refused to blush. The picture he was speaking of had been one that Rebekah had taken of them and sent her the next day with several pointed emojis. Something about the way Klaus had been looking at her, the placement of his hand on her hip, had left her breathless when she’d seen it the next day. 

“I’m going to murder them.”

His laugh was soft and his expression was fond as he studied her disgruntled face. “So are you avoiding us, then?”

“It’s not avoiding when no one is here,” she pointed out in exasperation, tugging on his hand. “Christmas isn’t exactly your family's favorite holiday.”

Mikael’s first wife, Esther, and their younger brother Henrik, had been killed in a car crash on Christmas Eve. It had not been a cheerful holiday for the family since. Caroline grimaced a little and supposed she could let Rebekah’s dramatics of her recent accident go under those circumstances. Another holiday car accident was going to be hard on her sister. There was a lot of squish under the bitch. 

“Be as that may…” Klaus started, and she cut him off. 

“My mom was married to Mikael for less than four years before she passed. I didn’t like any of you for years. I’m still iffy on how Rebekah and I become friends, much less family. With Mikael gone, there isn’t much reason for you lot to stick around.”

Klaus tipped his head, studying her. “In this family, liking each other isn't necessarily a prerequisite, as you know. And I don’t recall you ever asking us if we have plans. Particularly since you moved back to Chicago to start you residency. Strange, since we are so close together.”

She blinked at him. “Should I have? Finn only tolerates me because I never ask for money. Can you imagine his face if I rang him up and asked him what the plans were for him and Sage over Christmas? Actually, you know what? Maybe I should do it. He’s been a dick to Kol lately.”

“Finn is a pillock.”

“He really is,” she agreed. “I kept hoping getting laid regularly would pull that stick out of his ass but it didn’t.” 

Klaus’ lips pressed together in a clear struggle to fight a smile. “Kol has expressed a similar sentiment, if I recall. Directly to Finn.”

“I bet that went well,” Caroline muttered, gaze brightening. “I’m sorry to have missed it.”

“You do dodge us.”

“Ha!” Caroline said at his droll tone. “You’re just jealous I have better excuses than you. Elijah stopped trying to talk me into his get together after I fell asleep on his couch after a nightmare shift and missed dinner entirely. I’m pretty sure he only invited me then because he has some weird sense of obligation.”

His look was amused. “And to think Elijah likes you. Can’t say the same for the rest of us, he’s made a comment or two that makes it clear he only tolerated our antics.”

She snorted. “Sure. And even if he does, can you imagine Christmas with Elijah? He had a dress code for everything. I don’t have the energy for the kind of outfit with he’d require for Christmas dinner. He’d want fancy footwear with a pretty dress and I just want my comfy Christmas pajamas. Last year I ordered in Chinese and ate out of the cartons for three days. Does he know what good take out looks like?”

“He isn’t quite that bad.”

Catoline rolled her eyes. “The last time he caught me watching hallmark romances, I could feel him radiating his disapproval on the other side of the mausoleum he calls a home.”

Klaus blinked. “He let you near the remote? He hides it now, because of Kol.”

“Apple TV.” She waved her hand. “As if it was hard to figure out. And for the rest of your siblings? Last I heard from Kol he was sleeping his way through culinary school and ignoring my warnings about gonorrhea being a superbug. I honestly cannot believe people actively touch him, but whatever. And Bekah? We both know we won’t see hide nor hair of her until she’s finished rage shopping after what’s his name had the audacity to break up with her before the holiday season.”

Her face darkened as she realized she was going to miss being Rebekah’s wingman for the upcoming parties. She would be determined to be seen this year, looking particularly hot, and whatever his name was would have a lot of regrets very soon.  While she would welcome the rest, she’d been toying with an idea or two to make him regret his choices. 

Oh well. Maybe she’d drag Enzo along to one of their parties once she was back on her feet. He seemed to like Rebekah and a little harmless flirting might brighten her day. 

Klaus’ expression had turned speculative. “And me? What box have you conveniently put me into?”

She bit her lip, trying to find the words to describe Klaus. Her first real memory of I him had been at her mom’s funeral. He’d sat next to her, warm and silent while his siblings had crowded around Mikael. She’d appreciated that. 

She had appreciated it again five years later when he’d sat with her at her dad’s funeral. By then, she and Rebekah had somehow become friends and not just step-sisters. They’d ended up at the same university, abd Caroline thought Rebekah would pretend she didn’t exist. 

She hadn’t. And somewhere in those four years of her undergrad, she’d started thinking of Rebekah, and sometimes Kol, as family. Actually having a quasi sister she liked had been weird. 

So when Rebekah had dragged her two favorite brothers with her to the Bill’s service, Caroline hadn’t been surprised. There was a lot of squish under Rebekah’s bitch. That the Mikaelson siblings had stayed after the service and helped her sort her Dad’s things, acting as a barrier against Steven’s grief and his daughter’s icy anger? It’d been nice. 

And after that, she’d stopped fighting them so hard on family dinners. Rebekah and Kol took turns bribing her into attending anyway, and she did like Elijah for all her complaints about his stuffiness. Even Finn’s attitude had become far more tolerable when she’d gotten into her residency of choice, but Klaus?

Klaus was the brother Rebekah drunk dialed to complain about her terrible dates from Caroline’s couch while refusing to drink a glass of water. He was the one who quietly glowered when she refused to get a car service instead of an Uber after late night shifts at her hospital. He was a little mean, exasperated at her most of the time and he had a with a truly terrible sense of humor. But sometimes the way he looked at her left her skin prickling. She thought about him in his suit at his art gallery, his hands and his lips, a little too often to be sisterly. 

Klaus was dangerous to her sanity, and letting him know that was probably playing with fire. If she let him in and it went badly, holidays were going to be a nightmare. But she was starting to wonder if it was worth the risk. 

“We’re friends,” she said slowly, finally answering his question. “Kind of.”

His thumb ran across her knuckles, but the hint of heat in his gaze left her pulse thudding. “Of a sort,” he agreed slowly.

“And you’re usually not here,” Caroline continued as if the motion of his hand hadn’t shifted to something more like a caress. “But hey, I’m sure I can find super tacky pajamas in your size if you’re feeling left out.”

“Your concern is noted,” Klaus said dryly, but there was something satisfied about his expression as he leaned back, fingers still tangled with hers. “But I’m sure I’ll live without your idea if tacky pajamas.”

“I might do it anyway,” she threatened. His expression was unimpressed, and she struggled to hold in a laugh. Shifting her weight, she winced as her ankle throbbed with the motion. 

Glancing at his watch, Klaus tipped his head as he clearly considered what he wanted to say. “The nurses should be here in another half hour or so for your next dose of meds. I’m expecting the on call doctor half an hour after that.”

She tugged at his hand, gaze narrowing. “Why do you expect him?”

He met her gaze steadily, dimple peeking from one cheek as his lips curved. “I spoke to him earlier.”

Caroline spluttered. “Klaus!”

He held up his free hand. “You were unconscious. Other than a brief discussion of what to expect in terms of pain management, they didn’t have much to offer at the time. Your ankle is a bit of a mess, sweetheart. It’s likely to need surgery, but you can quiz the doctor on those details once he arrives.”

She closed her eyes and tried to calculate what that meant for her residency and groaned. “God dammit.”

“It’ll work out. I have no doubt you’ll talk your bosses into what you need,” Klaus said soothingly, clearly understanding why she was upset. “You’re nothing if not persuasive.”

Caroine cracked a smile. “Thanks.”

He made a low noise of agreement and studied her face. “I’d like you to think about temporarily staying with either Rebekah or me once you’re out of here.”

“What? No!”

“Caroline,” he said patiently. “The elevator in your building has needed repairs twice in the last year, and Rebekah has been known to take the stairs to avoid using them. You’re on the seventh floor and she’s never met a sensible pair of shoes she has liked in her life. We have doorman who can assist with anything you need brought in, and your mobility will be limited. Think about it.”

She pressed her lips together tightly for a long moment before nodding. “I’ll think about it.”

“Good,” Klaus murmured. Finally releasing her hand, he leaned over and dug through the bag at his feet. He came up with an iPad and offered it to her. “Your phone hasn’t been recovered, but this should tide you over for a bit. If you’re eyes start hurting, put it down. No need to aggravate that possible conclusion.”

Smiling brightly at his bribe, she took it before fumbling with the remote to adjust the bed so she could comfortably sit up. Her ankle was heavily wrapped and she knew the discussion coming would be a fun one, and she really was sore,but it wasn’t the conversation bouncing around the back of her mind. Glancing at Klaus from the corner of her eye, she let herself look at him. 

Rumpled, tired and a lot scruffy, she wanted to smooth his curls in a decidedly non-sisterly way. 

After a moment, his gaze caught hers in question and she shook her head. Turning to one of the game apps she knew Klaus despised, something warm filled her chest. She was pretty sure she wasn’t going to be able to avoid whatever was growing between her and Klaus forever. 

And for the first time, she was looking forward to seeing what that could mean. 

[philip-seville-archive]

BDRP 2021 Resolutions

Write your RPer Resolutions for 2018! (What are some goals for yourself as a writer? Improve descriptions? Plot with more members? Etc.)

A silly goal but I would like another female character lol

More one-shots! I always have these ideas for them but because I let them grow too large in my brain or I feel like I need to turn them into a proper ‘short story’ I intimidate myself out of doing them and then let the opportunity to slide. So this year I hope to fix that and once again be more chillax with myself. (Though here is a shoutout to me bc I published some one-shots last year I was happy about, like Nemo’s “Breath,” Berlioz’s parentage reveal, and my John Darling stuff!) 

Do One Task Every Month. Another small but very doable goal 

Learn how to say no: ahaha this seems a weird thing to put here but its actually about events and i feel this is a safe space to admit that i love love events but they like, truly take a toll on my arthritic hands which means i really can only do two characters probably. But i feel bad only rping with just two ppl etc esp if other people hit me up, or if there are other people i WANT to rp with, so i end up not doing it at all because i get overwhelmed and feel like no one will believe me about my shitty hands (which is of course silly but man chronic illness anxiety am i right). Sooooo i need to find a better way to enjoy events and manage my own health! 

Finish some of the fairy lore stuff i got in the works lol 

Write at least one resolution, or “goal,” that you have as an RPer for your character(s)

These vaguely feel like spoilers but oh well i love spoilers 

Berlioz: Find His Daddy. Also groove room stuff. 

Hades: Pokevolve his emotional intelligence! Also would like to do more Board things with him actually, esp bc he will have to run for office so: focus on his political aspirations

Merida: Integrate into society! She is doing it more but I really hope her friendships with the knights will let her fully embrace herself again. ALSO ALSO alpha Merida! 

Charlie: Greater control over his magic and more confidence in himself. We gettin there bb

Ashleigh: Entangle her further with the knights/Henry and eventually reveal she’s a mara bc i would like that for Henry it will be horrifying for him

Nemo: embrace dance as a career option and therefore overcome the systematic factors that have convinced u that u cant! YOU CAN 

Jun: Date. (Horrifying for him. Not his goal.) Also just more hijinks, I love love hijinks, would love business-related hijinks. 

Olaf: Get more involved on campus!! More uni plots for him would be great esp when it comes to figuring out if he’ll stay on campus after this year (and also like how this affects his friendship with Sindri) 

Atta: QUEEN STUFF. This is first on my list so we’re gonna make you happen. Blow up Atta’s life, really make her deal with that imposter syndrome. Love it. 

Pip: Put the mortifying fear of being known into Pip. aka open up about his mum a bit with like, someone. Or just admit that the people he says are his enemies are actually his friends.

Write at least one resolution IN CHARACTER for your characters. What do THEY want to accomplish or change in the New Year?

Note that I love seeing which characters echo my goals and which ones don’t at all. It’s just fun and neat. Probably says something about each one’s emotional self-awareness. (Mostly pointing out how Hades is extremely self-aware i love that for him) 

TW: weight 

Berlioz: Literally nothing. Sorry he just thinks resolutions are stupid and life is pointless (he is in a state). 

Hades: Prepare for his election next year, raise his children well, help Belle in her recovery 

Merida: Assist King Arthur. Become a good alpha to Alice specifically (not u lou i mean like she is but she’s like that bitch doesnt need me) 

Charlie: Reup his certs! Figure out a specialty! 

Ashleigh: Revenge against Romeo, revenge against John Darling + company for destroying her tree 

Nemo: Get an apprenticeship this year. Work on Hangul. Lose seven stone. Work on wing sprints. Be better son. Be more responsible and help Appa. Get job again? ...Quit dance? 

Jun: something nerdy about increasing the overall revenue or something of the market i dont know im not a business person. Also something nerdy about Animal Crossing, maybe he wants to add a new room to his house. Jun’s goals have nothing to do with himself personally. 

Olaf: Get involved in uni! Learn more about his talent and practice it intentionally, including how to control it better so he is not overwhelmed in situations like the nightmare fog. 

Atta: Help Dot with her apprenticeship!! Learn more stuff about clumsy culture. Pass her petition about water fountains. 

Pip: Grow SSIC followers by 100+; grow Spill engagement by 20%; arrange guest speakers for SSIC and maybe help SSIC write a petition together?; get a solo for the spring concert; get a lead role in the summer musical; read 50 books in a year; drink less coffee (he will fail this last one) 

List one or more characters you have never interacted with that you would like to do so

Ferb. Technically I did interact with him but it was just ONE gif chat when he first got here and I would like to do more!! I think he’s great, i love all of Sid’s characters! 

Bianca: HOW HAVE I NOT RPED WITH BIANCA! I don’t know but I want to. Maybe Merida and Bianca would be interesting bc of RAS things! (Also I have interacted with Kristoff but I want to do stuff with Kristoff and trolls please message me bee if u want to do troll things...i love. them.) 

Rita: In a similar vein, I think Rita/Ber or Rita/Pip might be interesting. Pip totally looks up to Rita and sees her as a role model so i dunno that could be cool. 

Rose: Whitman: Kit, we need to have Rose and Merida interact. Fighty ladies. I am sure with the knights this can happen! 

Pacifica: Hello Lins, Pacifica and Ashleigh should be Best Friends Of Course. I could also maybe see Pacifica and Jun if Pacifica wants to do some kind of business philanthropy for her image etc. Or Olaf and Pacifica! Sounds like a wild time, that. 

Tod: Olaf/Tod would probably be very fun, I love Pixie friendships! Also maybe Ber bc i think Ber knows Tod from way back when maybe? 

Edward: Z PLEASE. PLEASE. Pip and Edward bc they are from the same movie and no other reason!! But I will also throw literally anyone at him. 

Plotting Exercise! Pick one of the resolutions/goals in #2 and plan a rough guideline to how you could accomplish it. Here’s an example.

ATTA’S ROYAL TALENT AWAKENS 

Attendy: Atta goes ice skating with Wendy and has to stop bc of a headache and faints on the ice!!! 

@: Directly after attendy, Dot panics about Atta’s health and wants her to come clean. They fight! 

Full Moon Event: Atta faints again in front of everyone. MARLIN helps heal her and Dot/Sled confesses to Queen Clarion what’s going on. 

Clarion/Atta: Oh Honey You Got A Big Storm Coming