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autisticlancemcclain · 1 year ago

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“Keith, I need a favour.”

Keith stops in his tracks. Slowly, he sets down the helmets he’s holding, freeing his hands, then holds the phone out in front of him. He ponders it carefully.

“I could throw you into the sea,” he says to it. He does some quick calculations. If he drives to the nearest seafront now, he will be approximately twenty-three hours late to his date with Lance by the time he gets back. However, if he skips the fanfare and drops his phone into the disgusting oil-filled puddle right next to him, he can proceed to his date on schedule.

“Decisions, decisions,” he muses. Fanfare is important. Dropping his phone into a puddle is whatever. It’s derivative. But dropping his phone into the North Atlantic…now that is revolutionary.

“Fucksake. Keith,” sighs the voice coming from the phone. “If you don’t answer me, I am going to change the Netflix password.”

Keith frowns. “Hey.”

“Thank you,” says Shiro emphatically, “you brat.”

“Netflix is sacred,” Keith protests. “You can’t joke about the Netflix. I am a delicate orphan, Shiro. What will happen to me if my primary care figure breaks his promises? I’ll regress and act out and end up in prison. Do you want me to end up in prison?”

“A little, honestly.”

“Gasp, Shiro. Gasp. How dare.”

“I think you should consider a degree in the dramatic arts.”

“I think you should eat my farts.” Keith snickers. “Hey, that rhymed.”

Shiro sighs, long and loud, and Keith can practically see the smile twitching on his face. “Where did I go wrong. Truly. To think I tried to raise an upstanding young man, respectful to his elders, happy to help when needed. Shame that you’re a gremlin and a changeling.”

Keith rolls his eyes. “Blah blah. Get to begging for my help. I have places to be, old man. A new jacket Adam bought me to wear in front of pretty people. Well, one pretty person. Anyways.”

“God, you’re whipped,” Shiro says, and Keith ignores that because if he doesn’t he’ll combust. “You and Lance going out?”

Keith tucks his phone between his ear and his shoulder, picking the helmets back up and continuing his walk to his bike. “Yep.”

“Where’re you going?”

“Dinner at Caribella. It’s an excuse for a ride, really. Maybe walk around downtown for a bit.”

“Sounds fun. How much more fun would it be with your little sister, huh?”

Keith stops for the second time. He can see Red maybe fifty metres away. He looks at her mournfully.

“So close,” he despairs quietly, then turns back to his phone. “Not super fun, Shiro. Since she’s, you know. A year old. And a date is something you traditionally do with your boyfriend. Alone.”

Shiro makes a weirdly strangled noise halfway between a laugh and a stressed croak. “Well! The thing is.”

Keith waits. No thing is listed.

“Shiro.”

“It’s no big deal! Really.”

“Oh? I guess I’ll just hang up, then —”

“It’s just that Adam and I are at his sister’s, right, and —”

“There we go.”

“And we have a sitter. Obviously. All is well. Except, you know. The storm forecast. And everything.”

“And you’re four hours away with a car that you haven’t put snow tires on yet,” Keith surmises. He looks forlornly at his bike, sitting all pretty in her parking spot, freshly polished red paint gleaming under the fluorescent lights of the parking garage. So, so close. “You dumbass.”

“The forecast was clear this morning!”

“You’re a dad! You’re supposed to know these things!”

“Well!”

“Can’t the sitter just — stay? Overnight, or something?”

He feels bad. Any other day, he’d be happy to have Hana over, or go stay over there. He does it all the time. Hana is the coolest. He has no idea how she’s the daughter of the two biggest goobers he knows. Hell, he’s already got plans to watch her this Thursday, so Adam and Shiro can go to their old person museum date thing.

But he has plans tonight.

Fuck.

“She’s sixteen, Keith,” Shiro explains, sighing. Keith envisions his brother slumped against a wall somewhere, rubbing over the scar on his nose. “She’s too young for that. She’s Adam’s friend’s daughter, and she’s a sweetheart, but she’s got school. She can’t be responsible for a baby overnight.”

“No, I — I figured.” He drags his free hand down his face. “You need me to go over there?”

“Yeah. Mara – the sitter – can’t drive yet. Her parents are coming to get her in an hour.”

Shiro’s voice is quiet, subdued. He sounds guilty. Keith hates when Shiro is guilty. He covers his hand over the phone so Shiro can’t hear, screams a little, breathes deeply, then forces a smile wide enough that it will bleed into his voice. Hopefully.

“It’s fine, Shiro. Seriously. Lance and I’ll reschedule, Hana and I will make sure to fuck up your Netflix profile. All is well.”

“Thank you, Keith. I owe you.”

It is a dire thing when Shiro doesn’t complain about Keith messing up his Netflix profile. Once, three years ago, Keith forgot to switch the TV in their living room and watched some Hallmark movie as he sketched, just to make noise in the background. Shiro made snide comments about his taste for three months, because he’s a pretentious indie loser who watches shit like Empire unironically.

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll start a tab.”

That, thankfully, makes Shiro snort. “Brat.” He brightens. Keith can almost hear the ding of a lightbulb going off in his head. “Hey, I know it’s dorky, but maybe you and Lance can still go on your date! Me and Adam used to when you were little, in the old apartment.”

Keith furrows his brows. “What, like when you marathoned Lord of the Rings on the shitty futon and ordered the greasiest pizza known to man? That’s not a date.”

“Is so! We enjoyed it, you had pizza so you weren’t having a tantrum, what else could we need?”

“You guys have been weird old people your whole entire life. Did you know that?”

“Only because you aged me. You pain. Anyways. Go pick up my daughter, or you can stay at our place. Minivan keys are where they always are. I gotta go. Love you, kiddo.”

“Ugh. Love you too.” He hangs up, blowing a raspberry at the phone. “Minivan keys are where they always are, he says. What a soccer mom.”

He stares, hands on his hips, at his bike.

What to do, what to do.

He really doesn’t want to cancel on Lance. It’s been a couple days since they’ve seen each other, because Lance’s job hates him. Plus, Hana isn’t very fussy. It’s kind of dweeby and embarrassing, but. Well. Lance likes kids. So it could be fine, honestly.

“Hana first,” Keith decides, nodding to himself. He lifts the seat compartment under the bike and shoves the extra blue helmet in, strapping on his own and starting Red up. To bring Lance to Shiro’s for an embarrassing old person date, or to cancel. That is the question.

Eh. He’ll decide on the ride.

— — —

He does not decide on the ride.

“What do you think,” he asks his sister, lips pursed. She gurgles happily at him from her high chair, shaking her soggy-Cheerio-covered fist at him. “I mean, you go to bed in a couple hours. So it’s not like it’s pure babysitting.”

“Abdalalala,” she says, which Keith translates to mean actually, now that I know you want me to sleep, I will spend tonight completely resistant to sleep, as karma. Enjoy.

“That’s rude,” he informs her.

You’re batshit, says the Pidge that lives in his brain. Also, quit procrastinating.

“Ugh,” he says, out loud. He pulls out his phone and hesitates over Lance’s contact.

to: lance <3

hey you like kids right

from: lance <3

oh my god

from: lance <3

keith, are you…

from: lance <3

pregnant??????

Keith laughs.

to: lance <3

you are not funny

from: lance <3

i’m hilarious actually it’s a tragedy

from: lance <3

i carry the burden of knowing i am solely responsible for my friends’ good humour

from: lance <3

heavy is the head that wears the crown. pensive face emoji solidarity fist emoji broken heart emoji

Keith refuses to dignify that with an answer. Also, he has been informed by Lance’s best friend that if he ignores the emoji bit it will go away eventually. So far it’s been going strong for three months, though, so Keith’s not certain. He can only hope Hunk is correct.

from: lance <3

anyways yah i like kids why

to: lance <3

how much cooler and charming would i be if i picked you up in a minivan. with my sister

from: lance <3

aw, keith!

from: lance <3

to be coolER and MORE charming you have to be cool and charming to begin with :)

from: lance <3

and you are a dweeb 💖

from: lance <3

sounds good tho

from: lance <3

Bring Forth The Child

from: lance <3

oh also bring forth burritos on ur way over

from: lance <3

i’m hungry

Hana yells and bangs on her tray. When Keith looks up, she lobs a Cheerio at him. It hits him squarely between the eyes.

“You’re right,” he says sagely, peeling it off and flicking it back at her. She shrieks in joy. “I cannot let this shit slide. I cannot simply allow myself to be roasted, Hana. I must have self respect.”

She blows a raspberry at him and bangs harder on her tray. Baby conversations are, honestly, riveting.

“Exactly, squirt. You get it. Let’s get cleaned up and go, hm?”

— — —

He picks up burritos on the drive.

Hana laughs at him.

— — —

He’s hardly pulled up in front of Lance’s apartment building when a blur streaks across the front walkway, yanking open the van’s side door.

“Oh, hell-o, precious darling!” gasps Keith’s boyfriend, tumbling into the backseat and slamming my the door shut behind him. “Hi, Hana! Hi hi hi! Aren’t you the bestest ever? You are!”

Hana, evidently pleased with the attention, babbles something incomprehensible and pats Lance’s cheek. He melts, babbling something so quickly it’s equally incomprehensible and shaking her hand. Keith watches, torn between endeared and affronted.

“Hello, boyfriend I have not seen in days,” he deadpans. “Yes, I missed you also. No, I don’t mind at all that you leave me to wither away, alone, in the front seat. Excellent chat.”

“You have a very very grumpy brother, don’t you, Hana,” Lance coos. His shoulders shake with held back laughter.

“Lance, get your ass in the front.”

“But I’m meeting the baby!”

“She is not going anywhere! Meet her at home! You turd!”

“Name-calling is not very nice,” retorts Lance primly, crawling over the console and finally settling in the passenger seat. “What kind of example are you setting, huh?”

He leans over the armrest once he’s buckled in and kisses Keith gently, cradling his hand against his jaw and tilting their heads together. He smells, as he always does, of flowers and sunshine, and Keith sighs as he sinks into the softness of him, the curve of his smile and nip of his teeth.

“Hi,” Keith murmurs, pressing a kiss to the corner of his mouth, his chin, and then squarely on the mouth again.

“Hi,” Lance responds, a little breathless, grinning widely. His hair is damp and curling at the edges. He’s left out his contacts for the night and the gold lenses match the gold flecks in his brown eyes. Everything he’s wearing is stolen right from Keith’s closet, except his socks, which are bright purple and covered in obnoxiously orange weiner dogs. Keith is so in love with him that the intensity of it embarrasses him, and he pulls away, face red, very interested suddenly in adjusting is rearview mirror.

Lance, knowing, only smiles.

“These are for you,” he says gruffly, shoving the paper takeout bag at Lance’s chest. Lance wastes no time digging through and shoving half of one in his face.

“Aw, baby,” he says, mouth completely full. “You’re literally the best. Sweet, attentive, manipulable, obsessed with me. Everything I intended when I did the love spell on you.”

Keith eyes Lance from his peripherals. He’s digging through his patched backpack, face completely serene. Keith is reminded of the actual sigil he has tattooed on his ankle. (He’s very familiar with it. It’s often right at eye level. Hard to miss, really.)

“…You’re a strange, strange man.”

“Anyways!” Lance continues, visibly gleeful. Keith reminds himself to focus on the goddamn road and remember his sister is watching with her giant wide eyes in the backseat, probably committing all his embarrassing actions to memory to report to Adam the second she is capable of speech. “I brought lots of movies. Mostly Jurassic Park, but also some educational stuff for the baby. Ghostbusters, High School Musical, you know. All that good stuff. And I stashed popcorn behind your microwave last time I slept over so we’re set for snacks.”

“Oh, we’re going to my brother’s place, actually, ‘cause Hana’s more comf— wait, behind the microwave? Why behind?”

“Wait, wait, hold on. We’re not going to your place?”

“No,” Keith says carefully. “I have some baby stuff in my apartment, but not a lot. Plus, Shiro has a better T.V. and also Adam just bought Moose Tracks. So.” He slows to a stop at a red light, noting Lance’s odd expression. “That okay?”

Lance screws up his face for a second, thinking. “I’m pretty sure? As long as there’s an extra toothbrush there. I have one at your place so I didn’t bother bringing one. And I guess I can survive a night without my face serum, but if I get one single wrinkle we’re beefing.”

“You’re not gonna get a stupid wrinkle,” Keith grouches. “And why would you get pissy if you get a wrinkle? We’re gonna get them eventually, and you —”

“‘We’?” Lance teases. “You gonna grow old with me? Gonna marry me someday, Kogane?”

“—can even use Shiro’s face stuff, anyway, I’m sure it’s the same.” Keith clears his throat. “And plus —”

His voice cracks horribly. Lance makes a valiant effort to keep his giggles to himself, but as Keith face continues to get hotter and hotter he loses control and laughs, head thrown back, adam’s apple bobbing with every hitched breath. His laughter sets Hana off, too, both of them encouraging each other’s ridiculousness until they’re as red as Keith is, gasping for breath.

“I hate it here,” Keith mutters darkly. “I’m turning around and bringing you back. You’re the worst. Why do I go out with you.”

Lance, barely recovered, makes kissy faces at him. “Because you want to maaaarrryyyyy meeeee, you think I’m seeeeexxxyyyyy, you want to kiiiiisssss meeeee —”

He cuffs Lance in the back of his head, pretending to check his blindspot and ignoring Lance’s cries of spousal abuse. “I actually just want you to watch Miss Congeniality twelve percent less often. For your own mental health.”

“Lies and slander! Peddling of falsehoods! Perjury and defamation!”

“I’m burning your thesaurus.”

“And now threats! Hana, you shall be my witness! I will testify against you in court! You will be jailed! I will visit you twice monthly!”

“That’s the second person today who wants me in jail,” Keith comments, pulling into Shiro’s driveway. “You’d visit me even if you put me in there?”

“Well, duh. Have to make sure you don’t go around kissing cute criminal boys or I will become a cute criminal boy.”

“Right, of course. I should have known.”

“You should have, yes.” Lance leans over and kisses him on the forehead with an exaggerated ‘mwah’ noise. “But it’s okay, I like ‘em a little dumb.”

“Help me get the diaper bag, goober,” Keith snorts, shoving him away. “I want to get inside so I can have a burrito before you eat them all.”

———

Lance was not kidding about High School Musical.

Obviously.

“Do you want her to grow up with no understanding of community, Keith,” he scolds, and pays no mind when Keith replies, “Well, she has a family, dude, so I’m not worried.”

They watch the stupid musical.

Keith is horribly endeared by Lance’s extensive knowledge of the choreography. Lance is horribly appalled at Keith’s ignorance. Hana is intrigued, mind body and soul, by every scene with Sharpay Evans. Keith assumes this will be a problem for Adam in the near future, and resolves to make that problem worse.

All this to say he’s having a very embarrassing night, in terms of mushy thoughts and feelings.

“I can’t wait to have kids of my own someday,” Lance sighs, a very sleepy Hana tucked into the crook of his arm. He watches her, soft, and Keith pauses with a DVD held loose in his hand, enraptured, because there’s a curve to Lance’s smile that he’s never seen before, and suddenly his left hand looks bare. “I know it’s supposed to be stressful and everything, but I used to force Hunk to play house with me when we were kids. Literally every day. And when my neice and nephew were born I hogged them all the time, even when they were screaming. I dunno. Being a parent sounds awesome. You get to…like…grow a person. It’s like growing a plant but a bajillion times better, probably.”

“Yeah,” says Keith, softly, and without meaning to he’s thinking of Shiro’s tired smile and the gentle hand Adam lays on the back of his neck, of their door that was always open for Keith’s nightmares, of Shiro’s clothes ruffling as he slid to the floor and sat for hours as Keith screamed himself hoarse and cried for a mother who left. Of Adam’s boiling pots and gentle hands as he guided Keith around a chopping knife. Of both Shiro’s choked-off sobs and Adam’s right embrace as Keith came back, thirteen, in the middle of the night, scared and no longer angry, and their quiet I’m so glad you’re safe. Thank you for coming back. “Yeah, family is important.”

Lance hums. He’s quiet long enough that Keith looks up, realising for the first time his gaze has been locked, unseeing, on the pictures on the wall, of Shiro and Adam and the two of them together and with Keith and with Hana and with Keith and Hana. Lance is watching him, quiet, dark eyes knowing, Hana finally asleep in his arms, beautiful and strong and everything Keith has ever wanted, suddenly, at once.

“I love you,” he blurts.

Lance smiles. “I’ve noticed.”

“Oh, you dickhead.”

“I’m saying it back!” Lance says, snickering, free hand held up in surrender. Keith walks over and slots their fingers together, squeezing slightly, leaning in and holding, a second, a hair’s breadth away from Lance’s mouth, watching his lips part, feeling the heat of his breath. His words are breathless, near silent, mouthed as much as spoken. “You changed my life, you know. I made you chase me because I thought it was funny, but — I made Hunk get me your number from Pidge the night I left the bar. I was going to text you if your brother’s tweet didn’t go viral and cement your dorkiness for eternity.”

“That’s a lotta words to say ‘I love you’, dorkbrain.”

“I know. You make me nervous.”

“You never get nervous.”

“I do with you.”

“Yeah?”

They’re so close now that their lips brush with every word, and Lance is grinning, eyes crinkled and lashes fluttering against Keith’s cheeks, and Keith has a hand careful on Hana’s head so he doesn’t crush her and is smiling just as wide. Cheesy, dorky, corny, and everything Keith wished for after every romance novel he’d steal, fooling no one, from Adam’s shelf and read long after bedtime.

“Yeah. ‘Cause I love you. Even though you’re a dweebus and a simp.”

He is, really, because he lets Lance get away with that, kissing him to shut him up, to feel his laughter right up close. It’s sparks flying and warmth spreading and heart slowing, and in the gentle darkness of the night.

It’s the promise of more to come.

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despairat6oclock · 7 months ago

Text

Falling like Snow on the Beach

GN! Reader x Arthur TV

Synopsis: Two childhood friends cross the bridge they never thought they would while being snowed in.

Word Count: 1.0k~

Contains: Fluff

Warnings: None really!

[m.list]

Arthur huffed, arms crossed as he stared out of the cabin window. The snow is piling up more and more by the hour.

“So, who's idea was it to travel on the one weekend out of the whole year it would storm like this?”

“It's Chris’s video.”

Turning to face me, his arms beautifully sculpted as they sat perfectly crossed before his body. Looking down at me perched on the edge of the bed cluelessly.

I replied with a bored sigh, instantly regretting not packing a book or some other form of entertainment other than my phone and laptop.

I added, hoping to give him motive to do anything rather than focus on how everything isn't going to plan.

“You should change,”

“I changed back into my pajamas once we knew we weren't getting back out.”

Looking up at him as he looked down at me, arms falling to his sides as he nodded.

Walking behind me to his suitcase, grabbing a pair of sweatpants and a hoodie before heading into the small bathroom connected to the bedroom.

When he returned, I was lounging against the headboard. Remote in hand as I typed in my Netflix password.

Crawling into the empty spot beside me, Arthur now dressed in more comfortable attire sighed. Taking out his phone and typing out a message I could only assume was to the others we had traveled here with.

“It's going to be ok, Arthur. You're stressing over a video that's not even yours.”

Trying to reassure him, gently grabbing his hand and molding it around the remote.

Laying on his side facing me, arm beneath supporting him while the other was stretched out surfing through the TV.

Clicking on something and letting it play. Placing the remote right beside his faced down phone. Laying his head on his arm below him, while his free hand was now placed on my knees and toying with the furry fabric of my cartoon pajama bottoms.

He whispered, almost to himself more than to me.

Arthur's eyes followed each stroke of his fingers, his mind somewhere miles away.

“How long have we known each other?”

My answer matched his quietness, fingers combing through his hair in the way I knew cooled down his senses.

“Like sixteen years”

With eyes now meeting mine while he smirks, his fingers now tugging at the furry fabric.

“Remember when we dated?”

I spoke between small falls of laughter.

“For like a week when we were like fifteen!”

“We never technically broke up.”

Playfully deadpanning at him, “So what, we're still dating?”

“Technically.”

“Wow, we're going fourteen strong?”

Continuing with the joke for a while longer before both being sucked into the film playing.

Before long, our eyes started to droop as the snowy weather outside dimmed the light from outside.

Arthur's head found its way into my lap as my fingers stayed tangled into his brown locs.

Only an hour or two had passed when Arthur arose first. Rubbing his eyes drowsily while picking his body up from mine.

The room was dim and the TV had long stopped playing. With the sight of me slumped against the headboard rather than properly laying down made Arthur wince.

Wrapping a gentle arm around my waist with the other behind my head, softly dragging me down to lay comfortably against the pillows.

A sigh living his lips before laying back down beside me, using the last of the natural light peaking through to trace my features with his eyes.

From the curve on my closed eyes to the slope of my nose and the pout of the lips he yearned to touch with his own.

Arthur was convinced Chris had done it on purpose with rooming us together. He was always doing something.

The three of us had known each other far longer than our online careers showed, it was honestly a blessing we all were able to work together in a field none of us had expected.

And when her eyes fluttered open and Arthur's face flushed in a way he knew he'd been caught the second a small giggle left my lips.

And now, Arthur was sharing a bed with the girl he yearned for since his early teenage years for work purposes.

“Why were you just staring at me?”

I softly chuckled, my voice rough with just waking and no louder than a whisper.

“Just thinking”

“Of?”

Arthur wasn't quite sure what possessed him to answer in the way he did next, embarrassment creeping into his neck quickly after; the only answer he got was another soft giggle.

That small dribble of laughter made Arthur unsure if I was laughing at him or with him.

“You.”

“What about me?”

I was unsure when it happened, but the air around us turned intimate. Alone in this tiny room where all the outside forces couldn't and wouldn't affect us. My eyes drifted to his lips, his nose, and beautifully brown eyes.

Hand crawling along the space between his like a spider, pointer finger gently rubbing loose each of his tense knuckles.

With no answer and hand gripping at the sheets as to hold himself back, eyes searching mine for reassurance and a bit of something else.

“Show me?”

Encouraging with a nod, his face growing closer to mine.

Arthur's nose tickled mine, his forehead against mine as if this was his way of pouring every declaration of adoration that racked his brain into mine.

And mere seconds later the ghost of his breath mingled with mine.

His lips were soft and tasted of something sweet. The longer it went on, the more we molded and melted together.

One hand tracing my jaw while the other was laced with my own fingers.

This kiss wasn't lustful, or demanding, or persuasive for more. It was soft, passionate, sweet; it was lovely, it was love, full of it. The kind you read in books and wish upon a star for.

Pulling away was only to take in a breath before going back in.

And when we did separate, with swollen lips and flushed faces, it was to admire the state of the other.

His hands didn't grope at my body, and my hand was only laid upon his neck to bring him closer.

Arthur proclaimed, fingers squeezing mine in promise and conviction.

“I love you,”

“And I don't want to move slow, or at any set pace. Just give me a chance.”

He continued, eyes boring into mine that made my stomach flutter but also twist.

Simply responding with a nod and moving my face to rest against his once again, all the previous tension and stress leaving our bodies as we just lounged against each other.

Limbs tangled in a way to get closer, and whispers that would stay hidden in the dark and travel across light.

But, for now. Each flake with an exotic pattern that danced in the air was the correspondent for each drop of adoration that flooded our hearts.

The snow outside falls slowly around, and the next day would be shoveled by the staff of the building.

#arthur tv #arthur tv x reader #Arthur tv x you #youtuber #Arthur tv youtube #Arthur tv fanfiction #uk youtubers #fanfiction #despairat6oclock #Arthur Tv imagine #youtube imagine #oneshot #Arthur Tv oneshot

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runningincircl3s · 8 months ago

Text

Nothing Ever After

Noah Sebastian x Reader x Vinny Mauro

Chapter 8

chapter warnings: NSFW!! good lord this entire part is pretty much just smut. and weed is mentioned!

i spent a whole year basically just writing smut as it was the only requests i was receiving on my other blog so now writing it isn't so fun anymore unless i'm really feeling it and I TRIED SO HARD with this one because vinny mauro. but I thought this was worth mentioning and if any others writers know how to stop this PLEASE HELP ME OUT <3

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

“I don’t think you’ve been on our bus yet.” Vinny says as he takes the keys from his pocket. He had to tell Chris he left his phone charger behind so he could get the keys from the driver without any suspicion.

“No, it’s not much different from our one though. Except it looks cooler.” You laughed as you followed him on.

“How the hell do I.. oh, wait is it this button?” He pressed a button by the door and it slowly shut, he turned around and held his arms up in victory, making you shake you head.

“So what movie should we watch?” You ask, setting the pizza box down on the table.

“Whatever you want,” he says, turning on the tv, “We get netflix on here, it’s Rick’s account but I don't think he knows, I memorised his password back in 2018 and it hasn’t changed since.”

“Ooh, okay,” you smile as you both sit together, a small gap between you both, he passes you the remote and you look through the movies as Vinny makes a start on the pizza, “Have you watched superbad?”

“Duh!” He exclaims, his hand over his mouth as he ate. What a date.��

“Should we put it on?”

“Sure, baby.” He says, too busy eating to realise the word slipped off his tongue.

You pressed play and reached for a slice of pizza, telling him about the first time you watched this movie, and how cute you found Michael Cera.

“The first time I watched this was- I think- the second time I ever got high. I was at a friend's house and we had to put something on that wasn’t too overstimulating or would make us question our existence.” He laughed, taking another bite of pizza.

“Do you smoke often?” You asked.

“...What do you mean by often?” He chuckled, “I don’t do it as much now as I used to, maybe a couple times a week? What about you, I don’t think I’ve seen you smoke or even vape or anything.”

“I don’t.” You state, “I never have."

“Because you’ve never wanted to, or..?”

“If I tell you the truth please promise me you won't laugh.”

“I solemnly swear!” He said with a smile, his hand on his heart.

“I’m too scared to make a fool of myself, I tried Bryan’s vape once a few years back and almost choked up a lung.”

Vinny couldn’t help but laugh, and you frowned, feeling half embarrassed.

“I'm sorry!" He tried to stop laughing, "You must’ve been inhaling it wrong,” he said, trying to hide his smile, “Y'know I think I’ve actually got some weed in my bunk at the back if you want to try it? Don’t think I’m pressuring you or anything though, I know that wasn’t a part of your ‘dream date’. I've literally just remembered I left it there.”

You thought for a moment, did you really want to do this? You didn’t really care about trying it, but you remembered how hot Vinny looked a few nights ago when he was smoking with Folio, so with a slight smirk on your face you replied,

“Sure, you can teach me how you do it properly.”

“Now this sounds like my dream date.” He smiled, reaching for another slice of pizza.

Once the two of you had finished eating and the movie was over, Vinny went into the back and came back with a grin plastered on his face.

“I had one pre rolled for after the show last night that I never got round to having.” He said, walking back to where you were sat, quickly opening a window before he sat down. “You definitely sure about this?” He asked as he slid his hand into his pocket to pull out a lighter.

“Of course!”

You watched closely as he put it between his lips and lit it, taking a hit and blowing out the smoke. It took everything inside of you to not show any reaction, yet you pressed your thighs together, covering it up by crossing your legs whilst he took another hit.

“You ready?” He asked, holding it out for you.

You took it from him and placed it between your lips, waiting for him to tell you what to do.

“So when you inhale, do it from here,” he places his hand on your chest.

You swear you were losing your mind as his hand was pressing on your chest, and instead of listening to him you just breathed it in and started coughing as you felt the smoke hot in your throat.

“Sorry.” You laughed as you continued to choke, he smiled and shook his head, taking it back from you.

“Do you trust me?” He asked, talking with it between his lips as he slipped his lighter back into his pocket.

“I do, why?”

“We can try it another way.” He suggests, “But I need to be sure you’re alright with it.”

“I trust you, Vinny.” You say, and he nods his head, taking a hit of the joint.

“Look at me,” he says, blowing out the smoke as he gently places his hand on your cheek, the rough pads of his fingers contrasting against your soft skin, “Open for me.” He grazes his thumb over your lower lip as he brings the joint back to his lips, holding the smoke in his mouth as he leans in, your lips barely touching as he exhales, blowing the smoke directly into your mouth.

If you weren’t turned on before, you certainly were now. Your eyes fell shut as you inhaled the smoke the way he told you previously, and blew it back out as your heart pounded in your chest.

“Fuck.” You whispered, opening your eyes to see Vin’s eyes had darkened, his breathing had become heavier and the way his lips were slightly parted, and it told you he was feeling the same way as you right now. The weed hadn't hit yet, but you were already feeling lightheaded from having him so close to you like this. You just wanted to lean over and-

You made a bold move as you took the joint from his hand as you lifted your leg over his, straddling his hips as he sat back on the couch, a lazy smirk on his face as he looked up at you through hooded eyes. His hands founds your hips instinctively, not breaking eye contact for a moment as you took the joint between your lips again, inhaling and passing it back to Vinny, who took it in his right hand, his left remaining on your hip as his thumb rubbed slow circles over your leggings. Cupping his face with your hand, you leaned in and blew the smoke into his mouth as he had done with you. You craved nothing but his touch, as you pulled back for him to exhale the smoke you hated the loss of contact, so you leaned back in, your lips finding his again but this time meeting him with a kiss, and you swear you've never felt lips softer than his.

Your hips rocked slightly as he kissed you back, a small whimper leaving your lips as his grip on you tightened.

“Shit, y/n if you carry on I won’t be able to control myself.” He groaned, his voice low as he pulls back from you and pushes his hair out of his face.

“What if I don't want you to,” you said, your hand resting on his chest as he puts out the joint that he had taken back from you, “You don’t know how bad I fucking wanted this since that night at the club, Vin. I’ve never felt like this so quickly about anybody.” You admit, your hands trailing down from his chest to press against his hardening cock- and without saying another word, his lips crashed into yours again with such hunger and lust that it almost knocked the breath out of you. You smirked against his lips when you felt his hips twitch against yours, so you moved your hand back up to tug on his hair, running your fingers through his brown locks as his hands grabbed your waist.

All of a sudden you were flipped over, his strength taking you by surprise. You were now lying beneath him, your back flat against the couch as he kneeled between your legs, pulling his hoodie and tshirt off. You reached your arms out in an attempt to pull him back down and get him to kiss you again, needing to feel his lips on yours, and he smirked, his hands placed either side of your shoulders on the couch as he leaned back down, his lips trailing from your jaw back to your lips, all whilst you couldn’t help but focus on his biceps, how was it that you hadn’t noticed this before?

“We could always go back to the hotel?” You said against his lips breathlessly between kisses, and he shakes his head.

“I’m sharing a room with Ricky- and I don’t think I can wait any longer.”

Your arms wrapped around his neck, letting out a soft moan as his lips trailed sloppy kisses down your jaw and towards your neck. He nipped and sucked at the delicate skin as his hand slipped beneath your tshirt, cupping your boob over your bra before you felt his fingers slide in beneath it. He let out a low groan as his fingertips brushed over your hardened nipple, and you couldn’t help but whine as his fingers experimentally pinched it. The weed seemed to have made you extra sensitive and even more responsive to his touch, and he was loving every second of it.

“Vinny.” You whispered, and you felt him smirk against your neck.

“Need to get this off you.” He said, reaching for the hem of your shirt, pulling it over your head as you reached behind to undo your bra to save him the embarrassment of trying to take it off for you, throwing it down in a pile with your clothes before he dived in, taking your nipple between his teeth.

You could only moan his name and tug his hair as he worked the other one with his other hand, you still felt the need to get impossibly closer to him, this still didn’t feel enough. You wrapped a leg around his waist, pulling him in closer in an attempt to relieve the ache you were feeling between your thighs.

“Didn’t expect you to be so needy, baby. Why didn't you tell me you've been wanting me this bad?” He teased, pulling away from your tits to focus his attention elsewhere, his hands exploring your body. “Tell me what you want. baby.” He whispered, his fingers playing with the waistband of your leggings.

“I need you to touch me... Please..." You whine.

His eyes were so full of hunger as he pushed himself up, pulling you up with him so you were both now standing. He got down on his knees, keeping his eyes on yours the entire time as he lid his fingers beneath the waistband of your leggings to tug them down, allowing you to step out of it and kick them to the side, leaving you stood with only your panties on as he took in the sight in front of him.

You wondered who really was the needy one when mouth was almost watering as he kissed over your panties in the spot where your clit was covered, you could already feel your knees becoming weak as he lifted one of your legs over his shoulder, allowing him better access. Whilst he was borderline making out with your pussy through your panties, you ran your fingers through his hair, begging him for more between moans of his name and whimpers that slipped your lips, and your prayers were answered as you felt his hand slide towards your ass.

“Can I take these off?” He asked, his fingers dipping beneath the waistband, and all you could do was nod your head, your lips sealed shut, trying your best to keep your composure. “Baby, we’re not in the hotel, you can be as loud for me as you want, okay? I wanna hear you.”

Once your panties were off, that was it. He took in the sight of your pussy for a moment, spreading your lips apart, ghosting his finger over your clit, complementing how pretty you were, and then with no prior warning you felt his lips wrap around your clit, sucking on the delicate bud whilst his fingers found your hole, teasing your entrance as his warm tongue worked on you. He watched how you reacted as he slipped one finger into you, taken back by the resistance he was met with.

“When was the last time you were fucked?” He asked, his voice dripping in lust as he didn't even bother to look up at you, too lost in giving you pleasure.

“Fuck, it’s been years.”

“Mm, I can tell,” he says, adding another finger as he works you open, feeling his hot breath against your inner thighs, “God, you’re so fucking wet, fuck.”

“Oh Vinny…” You whimper, a hand gripping the table so tight you were scared your knuckles would pop out.

His fingers curled inside you, searching for the spongy spot that made you see stars as he lapped at your clit. The sounds being made were so filthy, you couldn’t believe it was actually happening.

“Fuck, Vinny, I don’t know how much longer-”

He pulled away, his mouth making a pop sound as he let up from your clit, but not without delicately placing a kiss right on it. His thumb began rubbing circles on your clit as he kissed around between your thighs, nipping and biting at the skin, sure to leave marks.

“Let go for me, let it all go, baby.” He says, nuzzling his face against your thigh before turning and sucking your clit into his mouth again, needing to see you go over the edge for him, needing to see you fall apart for him. He could've cum in his pants at the sight of you above him right now, your hair falling over your face as your arm shook, trying your best to hold on to the table to stabilise yourself.

You couldn’t believe the sounds that were leaving your mouth as your orgasm suddenly took over you, like a wave of electricity radiating throughout your body. You felt tingles in your fingers and toes as you came undone, your legs shaking as the most intense orgasm of your life washed over you, and Vinny gently lifted your leg off his shoulder, helping you put it back to the ground as he watched you with awe. However, you weren’t completely satisfied yet.

When you came back to reality, you didn't hesitate to reach your hands down to unbutton Vin’s jeans, undressing him with ease before you cleared the table. You wrapped your arms around Vinny’s neck, pulling him in for a kiss before pulling him down with you as your back hit the table, grinning against his lips as he growled and you felt his hardness through his boxers, aching to be released. His hand found your waist, holding on to you in fear that you’d slip away if he ever let go as his tongue slipped into your mouth.

He couldn’t ignore how painfully hard he was anymore, he knew he wouldn’t last long once he was inside you, but you didn’t care, you just needed to feel full again, it had been so long since you’d been so intimate with somebody, and he could tell by the way you were desperately reaching for his cock.

He pushed his calvin kleins down his thighs and the tip of his cock brushed against your clit over and over again as he grinded his hips into yours, and you whined at how sensitive you were, still coming down from the high of your orgasm. However, when he positioned himself just right and you felt the head nudge past your walls, you broke away from the kiss, holding his body as close to yours as possible, your nails digging into his back. He groaned at the feeling, you were so unbelievably tight, and he was aching for release, it was like you were both experiencing your first time again.

“I'm sorry I don’t think I can-” Vinny began, but you shook your head.

“Don’t worry… Just needed to feel you.” You whispered into his hair before he began to move, painfully slowly to begin with. You could feel every stroke so intensely and this mixed with the feeling of his thumb on your clit was enough to drive you over the edge once again.

Just as he was beginning to pick up the pace, your walls started clenching around him, and by the way your nails were clawing at his back, he realised you came again, and with one last thrust of his hips he quickly followed, coming undone as well, releasing deep inside of you, the added warmth only making your walls clamp down harder around him as he buried his face in your neck.

"Fuck." You whispered, breathlessly, earning a lazy chuckle from Vin.

The two of you stayed like this for a moment, completely bare, your bodies engulfing each other as if you were one. When he finally came back to reality, you felt Vinny press a kiss against your neck before pushing himself back up, looking down at you with a dazed smile.

“You’re so fucking beautiful, y/n.” He says, slowly pulling out of you, beginning to get himself dressed.

As you sat up on the table, watching him, you couldn’t help but smile. Everything that was causing you so much stress over the last week was completely forgotten about in this moment, it was just you and Vinny.

“I don’t usually fuck on the first date.” You chuckle, watching as he collects your clothes that had been thrown across the bus.

“And I promise I don’t usually only last 2 minutes, we all have our exceptions.” He says with a smirk. “We better get back, Rick's going to start to wonder why I’ve been gone so long.”

“Yeah, good idea. I’m starting to feel tired anyway.”

"Let's get you to bed, baby."

Vinny helped you off the bus as your legs were still a little wobbly, and as the two of you walked back to the hotel there was a peaceful silence.

“Goodnight Vin.” You smile as you get to your room, scanning the key on the door for it to unlock, “Are you sure I can’t convince you to stay the night?”

“You know I’d love to but not tonight, I told Rick I was going to meet up with a friend that just happened to be in town so if I didn’t come back he might just assume that this ‘friend’ kidnapped me or something,” he laughed, “but I had a great time tonight, I’d love to do it again.”

“What? Get high and fuck over the bus table?” You raised your eyebrows, smirking as he shook his head.

“No, I mean spending time with you, y/n. I like your company, and I don’t say that about a lot of people.”

You felt warm and fuzzy inside at his comment and reached out to give him one last hug and a kiss on the cheek.

“Goodnight y/n.” He says as you walk into your room, leaving you all alone to process what the fuck just happened.

After having a shower, brushing your teeth and changing into your pyjamas, you finally get around to checking your phone after having it on do not disturb all evening to see you had texts and missed calls from Noah.

“The guys and I are going out for dinner soon, want to come with? X”

*2 missed calls from Noah*

“Y/n I swear if you’re asleep.”

“Don’t complain about being tired tomorrow”

“I’ll bring you something back :)”

*1 missed call from Noah*

“Got you some food but Jolly ate it. We travel to our next venue at 10. Soundchecks at 1.”

You couldn’t help but feel bad reading Noah’s texts, and you felt even worse knowing what you were doing whilst he thought you were just sleeping. You frown, thinking of a message to send back.

“Hey I’m so sorry, I’ve not been feeling well I think I’ve been asleep most of the day. I’m starting to feel better now though, I’ll see you tomorrow :)”

It only took a couple minutes for him to reply.

“Glad you’re feeling better x”

You knew this was a bad idea, entertaining Noah and Vinny at the same time, but it was all just fun, right? They're band guys, surely they have one night stands all the time.

But after tonight, you didn’t want Vinny to feel like you’d used him in any way. You thought it would be best to text him, and so you thought and thought of what to say, writing and deleting and rewriting a text and you eventually settled with...

“I had such a great night tonight Vinny, and I love spending time with you, but I don’t want to lead you on at all. You kinda know the situation between me and Noah, and it’s not fair on either of you that I can’t work out my feelings for the life of me. If you’re happy to, we could have a kinda no strings arrangement?… I really like you, and I don’t want to hurt you or Noah which is why I need you to know I just can’t commit to anything whilst we’re touring, my minds all over the place and I just want us all to have fun. I don't want to risk anything that could possibly affect any of our careers. But thank you for tonight, goodnight x”

And you hit send.

————————————————

@rumoured-whispers @collisionofyourkissmakesitsohard @lma1986 @thisbicc @dominuslunae @miss570 @miamore0570 @jilliemiw86 @itsyaboinoah

#noah sebastian x reader #noah sebastian fanfic #vinny mauro fanfic #vinny mauro x reader #nothing ever after <3 #bad omens fanfic #motionless in white fanfic #vinny mauro smut

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bio1 · 8 months ago

Text

Here a treat for Halloween, my complete fanfic in one post. Hope you enjoy this Earthspark horror themed story and thanks to @billy-jay-kisses-robots for co-writing and spell checking.

Let use begin

Act 1

Despite how close to midnight it was, the sound of footsteps could still be heard throughout the dugout. A combination of caffeine and late night movie watching was keeping Twitch Malto wide awake, while the rest of her terran siblings dozed off peacefully. In her defense, if Robbie didn’t want her drinking his energy drinks, he should have kept them hidden better. And the password to her father’s Netflix account should have been more secure than ‘bumblebee123’.

Though the entirety of the terrans had all stayed up to binge as many horror movies as they could think of (with the exception of Jawbreaker, who had his eyes closed the entire time out of fear), only Twitch was still awake. As she paced nervously up and down the dugout, she looked over her sleeping siblings one by one. Thrash was in his alt mode, somehow completely upside down. His engine was repeatedly reving up and stalling in a cycle, as if he was snoring. Jawbreaker was laying facedown on the floor, a comically small teddy bear perched carefully on top of his head. Hashtag, who had tried staying up later herself by watching youtube, had eventually fallen asleep as well, her phone autoplaying what sounded like Russian dashcam crash footage. And Nightshade… Hm, actually, she didn’t see Nightshade anywhere. Not that she was really paying attention, however. Her mind was too busy replaying everything she had seen earlier in the night over and over.

The kids had essentially gone to the horror section on Netflix and watched as many movies as they could before they got tired. From goofier horror comedies like "Critters" to things genuinely terrifying thrillers like "Halloween", and some striking and odd balance of the two like "Scream". What really got to her, however, was John Carpenter's "The Thing", and not just because of what happened to those poor sled dogs. That awful, morphing monster, the way it ripped the research team apart, really stuck with her. Possibly because it reminded her of a few of Mandroid’s own creations she had to fight before, especially that bear mutant from mother’s day.

She was so caught up in her own head that she didn’t even notice Fluffy Ears right in front of her. Twitch ended up tripping right over the family’s pet cow, who decided it would be a good idea to sleep in the middle of the dugout’s hallway. She managed to catch herself mid fall by switching into her alt mode just before hitting the ground. The sleepy calf roused her head, looked at the little red drone hovering directly in front of her, gave her a quick lick, and fell back asleep. The whole ordeal was quiet enough not to wake anyone else, but it did catch the attention of Nightshade, who poked their head out from around a corner near their lab.

“Oh, Twitch, I didn’t know you were still up.” They smiled. “Is everything alright? You look nervous.”

“How can you tell that if I’m in my alt mode?”

“Well, you’re shaking. Pretty violently.”

She hadn’t even realized that, but they were right. She even accidentally bumped into Fluffy Ears pretty hard. Startled, Twitch switched back into her normal mode and tried profusely apologizing to the calf. Fluffy Ears didn’t seem to mind, and got up from her spot to start aimlessly wandering around the dugout.

“I’m, uh, I’m fine, Nightshade. What are you doing over there, anyway?” Twitch attempted to change the subject, making her way over to Nightshade’s lab. At the very least, this might be a fun distraction. Nightshade’s bright green optics lit up at this, clearly excited to show someone their work.

"I am so glad you asked." They tugged on their sibling's arm and pulled them into their lab. On a table in the center was a large, ominous looking metal contraption.

"Wait, isn't that-" Twitch began, before getting cut off.

"The reverse beartrap from Saw, yes!" Nightshade beamed, proudly holding it up. "The movies we watched tonight weren't particularly the type I enjoy, but I did appreciate some of the creative inventions a few of them displayed." They looked over to see Twitch with a completely horrified expression on her face. "Oh, are you wondering if it works? I am too. This is just a prototype I whipped up based on how it was explained in the film. I was actually just about to test it-" They reached under the table and pulled out a full pumpkin. Nightshade extended their arms and eagerly gestured for Twitch to take the gourd. "Since you're up, would you like to do the honors?"

"... Actually, I was wondering why you built a torture device in the first place." She finally responded, nervously looking it over. "I mean, you've built some crazy stuff in the past, but this is, uh, kind of disturbing, Nightshade."

Nightshade looked somewhat disappointed at this, shaking their head a bit. "You've got the wrong idea! A torture device implies that the victim is meant to survive."

Nightshade set the trap down and activated it themselves. Within seconds, it ripped the pumpkin open, its guts splattering messily onto the floor.

"A person wouldn't have survived that." They added, clearly happy the machine worked as intended.

Twitch flinched and stood back, her eyes growing to the size of dinner plates.

"Twitch?" Nightshade asked, concerned. "What is-oh. I get it. Don't worry, it was never my intention to use this on any living being. I just like challenging myself, and building this seemed like it would be an interesting experiment." They began scooping the guts off the concrete floor. "The thought of this device ever being used for its original purpose… that's something I wouldn't even have wished for on Mandroid." They muse. Noticing their sister was still silent, Nightshade approached her, a worried look forming on their features.

"Are you sure you're alright? You didn't think I was really going to-" Twitch interrupted them.

"No! Oh, no, I know you wouldn't, Shady. I'm just kind of on edge tonight, I guess. Probably shouldn't have stolen Robbie's energy drinks." She attempted to brush off their concern as convincingly as she could.

"You probably shouldn't have! Caffeine can worsen the hyperactive aspects of ADHD after all." They agreed, patting her on the shoulder.

"...You think I have ADHD?"

Before Nightshade could respond, a massive crunch boomed out from above them.

"What was that!?" Twitch flew out in search of the cacophony. Nightshade, trying their best to keep up with her, tiptoed as softly as they could to prevent waking the others. They found Twitch looking through the camera screens in the main room of the dugout. There was nothing unusual on live feed, just a few autumn leaves blowing past the cameras Nightshade has placed around the ranch.

"Should we-" Nightshade began, getting cut off again.

"Check it out? Yes, obviously!" She seemed a little too excited to see what was out there. Perhaps she was just looking for an excuse to feel useful, or burn off some of her energy.

Without a second of hesitation, she switched to her alt mode and flew outside, wildly darting around the sky above the dugout. Twitch changed back into bot mode as she landed on the barn's roof. With the moonlight nearly hidden behind a thick layer of clouds, it was almost pitch black outside. Nightshade caught up with their energetic sister, surprised to see her standing still as a statue.

"Twitch! There is nothing out here but the nocturnal wildlife. Perhaps it was a raccoon who made that sound." Nightshade reasoned.

Twitch responded in a shaky tone. "Nightshade, what kind of raccoon could make a noise that loud?"

"...One with rabies?"

"Wait! Listen for a moment." She hushed, falling silent again.

Nightshade listened for something out there to satisfy their sister's paranoia. "I hear nothing Twitch."

"Exactly, Nightshade! There's nothing! No crickets chirping, none of the cows are making any sound, there aren't even moths near the lights!" She exclaimed frantically.

"Oh goodness, you're right. Now that is odd. The only time it's ever perfectly quiet outside is when there is something…dangerous around."

Nightshade glared in front of them, attempting to make out the source of the eerie calmness.

"That tree… wasn't there before." They noted, their voice shaky as they pointed ahead.

Twitch turned to see what her sibling was referring to. In the middle of the forest, several hundred meters away from the barn, a massively tall, crooked tree stood high above the rest. It only had three twisted branches, growing out of its spindly stalk in such a way to vaguely resemble a humanoid figure with bending limbs. One branch in the middle rounded out at the end to form the "head" of this horrific plant.

"Ok, so that certainly wasn't a raccoon then." Nightshade commented. Their sister began switching into her alt mode, before the younger green bot grabbed hold of her. "Twitch, wait! Going out to investigate… whatever that is right away probably isn't a good idea. We should at least think this through first."

Twitch struggled in their grip for a second before shaking herself off, but didn't immediately fly out like she wanted to. "What's the hold up? You seriously want to just head in and call it a night?" She snapped at them.

"No, of course not. I just think we shouldn't do it alone." They added, remaining calm.

"And give that tree-thing a chance to move in first? I don't think so." Twitch shifted and took off into the sky. Reluctantly, Nightshade changed into their alt mode as well, flying directly in front of her to block her path.

"Twitch! What's gotten into you?" They asked frantically. Thankfully for them, Twitch did stop in her tracks. "You clearly aren't doing well tonight. Whatever's got you troubled, I'm here for you, and so is the rest of the family."

"We obviously have bigger issues than my anxiety to deal with right now!" She shouted. "Things like… that are just more proof I haven't been doing enough to keep us safe."

"Is that what this is about? Twitch, this isn't your fault-" she cut them off.

"Well it'll be both of our faults if that tree monster gets its dirty roots on the others because we were busy screwing around here!"

Nightshade wasn't sure how to respond. Twitch’s panicked tone and expression made it clear how stressed and out of it she was. But how were they supposed to comfort her? This entire situation was making it hard for even them to think, especially with that giant tree staring at them-

Wait, the tree was staring at them?

Nightshade slowly turned their head to get a better look, and to their horror, the tall head of the ominous tree had sprouted a pair of huge, glowing eyes.

“We need to go back inside, now!” They grabbed Twitch's arm with their talons, dragging their sister behind them. Almost involuntarily, the younger mech let out an owlish screech as they dived back into the dugout from the entrance in the barn's roof.

Switching back into their alt mode, Nightshade rushed over to the console displaying the security cameras’ feeds. They displayed nothing but static, oddly enough. Nightshade, frustrated and confused, frantically tried fixing the console, but nothing seemed to be working.

After a few moments, Twitch quietly approached her sibling, meekly tapping them on the shoulder. “Shady, I need to tell you something…”

“I'm not mad at you, Twitch. Just, I need to focus right now-”

“That's not what an owl sounds like.” She continued.

Nightshade stopped what they were working on and turned to face her. “...I'm sorry?”

“I've been meaning to say this ever since you got your alt mode, but that owl screech you do isn't actually what owls sound like. The noise you make is more like an eagle or a hawk.”

Nightshade just sort of stared at her, not sure what to say.

“Oh.” Was all they could think of as a response.

“Wait, why would you bring that up now?”

“I'm sorry! I'm scared! I can't even really think straight, it feels like my brain is shutting down…” She grabbed onto her head and shook it, as if trying to forcefully wake herself up.

Nightshade tried to go back to fixing the camera system, but found that their own mind felt somewhat fuzzy as well. They've repaired similar errors on this exact console plenty of times before. Yet for some reason, the solution just wasn't coming to them now.

“It had eyes, didn't it? That's what those were, in the tree, I mean. Huge eyes.” Twitch finally spoke, her usually energetic voice noticeably slowed. “Do you think… that was something Ghost made?”

“I can't imagine what use they would have with a giant, monstrous tree.” Nightshade answered, putting down the wires they were fiddling with. “We should alert the others.”

“...Right.” their sister responded. She glided over to the nearest Malto sibling, that being Hashtag. The large purple bot was still peacefully dozing off with her phone now playing, of all things, Wendigoon’s conspiracy theory iceberg. As if this whole situation wasn't ominous enough.

Twitch gently nudged the larger Terran’s shoulder. “Hashtag? Get up, something happened.”

No response. She was completely out of it.

“H-hashtag?” Twitch shook her sister a little more forcefully now.

She still didn't stir.

“HASHTAG! WAKE UP!” Twitch yelled as loudly as possible, but this didn't do much besides startle the already well-awake Nightshade.

The smaller red bot, frustrated at this point, switched into her alt mode and fired a laser several inches from her sleeping sister. This also accomplished nothing.

“Twitch! What on earth are you doing?” Nightshade called out frantically.

“I wasn't going to hit her! I… I couldn't think of anything else, I thought that would work.” She admitted, her voice shaky.

Twitch flew over to Thrash and Jawbreaker, shouting their names and firing controlled lasers inches from their bodies in a reckless attempt to wake them. The brothers were similarly out cold, however, and nothing she did had any effect on them.

“You need to stop that! If you miss and hit them…” Nightshade began, stopping themselves off as they watched the red drone revert to her bot mode, a defeated and exhausted expression washing over her face. Her large yellow optics seemed to almost wobble in place, a streaking, cold light emanating from them. Nightshade got the impression that if Cybertronians were physically capable of shedding tears, she'd be sobbing right now.

“What's going on, Shady?” She barely managed to speak, nearly choking on every word.

Seeing their usually cheerful, energic sister in such a miserable state was utterly heartbreaking for Nightshade. It wasn't her fault, but Twitch seemed to truly believe whatever misfortune her family had fallen upon somehow could have been prevented by her.

Nightshade, not being the best at emotional support, tried to go for a more practical way of comforting her. “They… they aren't dead.” The younger Terran informed her. Walking over to Jawbreaker, Nightshade gently pried his eyelids apart to reveal intact, glowing optics. They weren't responding to any stimuli, but the fact that they were on was proof that the bots were in some kind of comatose state.

“How did you…” Twitch started speaking, but seemingly lost the strength to continue partway through her question.

“How did I know?” Nightshade presumptively finished for her. “I've installed vital trackers in all of us. If any of us were to go offline, I would get an alert.” They informed her.

“Oh, that's good. Thank you.” She seemed a little relieved, before realizing the full consequences of what her sibling just admitted. “Wait, I don't remember… when did you install those?”

“That's not really something we need to worry about now…” Nightshade mumbled, not expecting her to question their actions.

“...Nightshade, how many… things have you added to us?” She lowered her gaze a bit, inquisitively. Before questioning them further, her optics lit up, having remembered something.

“I just realized, we never saw Fluffy Ears!” She blurted out frantically. Twitch began zooming around the dugout in her alt mode, looking for the baby cow.

Nightshade gave a sigh of relief that her line of questioning was over for now, and joined her in the search.

“Where was she last?” They called out, looking around their lab while Twitch scanned the dugout’s hall.

“I… I don't know, she just sort of wandered off-Oh!” Twitch flew over to a far corner of the room.

“I found her! What are you doing over here, silly cow…” Twitch nudged the calf, who seemed to be fast asleep, resting her head on her flank. Fluffy Ears didn't stir, however.

“...Fluffy Ears?” Twitch was significantly more worried as she spoke this time, her voice getting louder. The calf didn't respond.

Nightshade looked over their sister's shoulders, noting that, thankfully, the little cow was still breathing.

“That's odd, very odd… whatever happened to our siblings seems to be affecting her as well.” Nightshade leaned down and gently stroked Fluffy Ears head, mostly in an attempt to steady themselves down. This entire situation wasn't making any sense, and that scared them. They needed to remain calm, however, if only to reassure Twitch.

The smaller bot looked to her sibling for answers.

“...Do you think it's gotten to everyone in the house?”

“Are you referring to whatever has put everyone here to sleep?” Nightshade attempted to clarify.

“Yeah, I mean, if it got to Fluffy Ears… Mom, Dad, Robbie, and Mo are also organic.”

“That's a good point, actually.” Nightshade pondered. They didn't even think of that. “Are we dealing with some kind of virus that affects both organics and bots? Does such a thing even exist?”

“Forget virus, it's obviously coming from that messed up tree outside.”

“The tree? That can't be right. How could it even…” Nightshade was at a complete loss.

“Seriously, Nightshade? This thing shows up, and suddenly, all of our family is out cold. That can't be a coincidence.” She was exasperated.

“I agree it's strange, but there shouldn't be any way a plant could incapacitate both organics and Cybertronians by just… I don't even know…” Their head was starting to throb, like a migraine. Trying to think critically was physically hurting them.

The two siblings just stood there, feeling their own bodies growing weaker with every passing second. It was a sensation similar to being sedated. A feeling they probably would have given into, had Twitch not noticed a strange black tendril poking out of a nearby vent.

“Is that a rat?” Twitch asked groggily. Wouldn't be the first time a rat got into the dugout. But said rats usually weren't so long. And slithering…

“Nightshade! Get down!” Twitch jumped and pushed her sibling down to the ground, just before a huge tendril swung at their head. The tendril instead hit the monitors Nightshade had attempted to fix. A single whack caused not only all the monitors to shatter, but the concrete wall behind them to violently crack.

Nightshade's optics widened with horror. There was no question about it. If that tendril had hit them instead, their head would have been knocked clean off.

The tendril dove for the pair of them, seeming to know exactly where they were despite not having eyes. They both moved to opposite sides, barely avoiding getting stabbed. As it pulled out of the small hole it burrowed into the floor, the tendril opened up for a second, briefly revealing a crimson reptilian eye that scanned the room before closing again.

Nightshade, in an effort to get out of the way, bumped into the table they had placed the reverse bear trap onto earlier. It fell into their lap with a clattering thud. An idea came to them, and they armed the trap to go off again.

“Twitch, take this and have it dive for you again! When it gets close, have it aim for the trap! I think it only keeps its eyes open for a few seconds at a time!”

Twitch, being the faster of the two even in her groggy state, agreed with a nod and flew past the tendril, the trap in her grasp. It took the bait and launched itself directly towards her, where it got the last several feet of its body caught in the trap’s mechanisms.

The tendril squirmed and rattled as the reverse beartrap’s countdown ticked. After a few agonizingly long seconds, it finally went off. Just as it had with the pumpkin earlier in the night, it absolutely ripped its prey apart with ease. Shards of metal and some kind of fleshy material flew to all corners of the dugout.

The worst part wasn't the sight of the impact, however, it was the dreadful noise it made. Whatever the tendril was attached to screamed in pain as its appendage was destroyed. It had a cry like a nuclear siren, low, loud, and ear-piercing. It felt like something you were never meant to hear, and simply perceiving was a sign that you as the listener were at death’s door.

What remained of the tendril receded back through the vents, leaking a runny black liquid with an odd, iridescent shimmer. A few of the larger chunks that had been ripped open were still slightly animate, curling where they lay like a dying spider.

Nightshade cautiously approached what appeared to be the eye of the tendril, or atleast what was left of it.

It was a translucent, jelly-like red substance with an awful black slit for a pupil that had sort of melted into the iris due to its injury. Said pupil shuddered in place one last time as Nightshade got closer, almost as if it could still perceive the bot somehow.

“Nightshade! Are you alright right!?” Twitch said, sounding out of breath despite not actually having lungs.

“Yes, I'm just a bit scratched up. It's nothing but a bit of polish won't get out.”

Without saying anything else, Nightshade grabbed and chugged down one of the energy drinks that their sister left out. “I know I said earlier that us drinking these was probably a bad idea, but I think they might help.” Their sister nervously fiddled with the can’s lid before managing to get it open for herself.

Nightshade scooped up what's left of the otherworldly tendril and brought it back to their lab.

Pausing to consider their next move, Nightshade eventually settled on attaching the still pulsating fleshy bits to a battery hooked up to a light bulb. After a few seconds, the light dimmed before going out completely. The battery was instantly dead.

“It appears you were right after all. Whatever this thing is, it emits some kind of field that drains energy from anything it's near.” Nightshade concluded.

“So that's what makes us feel so exhausted?” Twitch looked very concerned, her optics darting between Nightshade and her unconscious siblings.

“More than likely, yes. And you might have already guessed this, but I assume it's also keeping all our organic family members asleep. My current theory is that this is a hunting tactic.”

Twitch knew immediately what they were getting at. “Sleeping prey can't fight back.”

“Exactly.” Nightshade confirmed. “The fact that we were previously awake is most likely the only reason why we aren't currently unconscious.”

An uneasy silence filled the dugout. The siblings stood in place, the air around them cold and heavy with tension. Without saying a word, both of them knew what the other was thinking: that monster would be back any moment, and they couldn't keep up the energy to fight it back for long. It was a terrible calm before the storm, a feeling reminiscent of succumbing to hypothermia. An overwhelming, intoxicating urge to close your eyes and drift into a sleep you were well aware you'd never wake up from.

And at this moment, every light in the dugout switched off.

Act 2

The Terran siblings' optics were the only source of light in the now otherwise pitch black dugout. After the dreadful clicking of the lights switching off, the room was now eerily quiet once again.

“We didn't kill it.” Nightshade finally broke the silence, stating the obvious.

“No, you didn't.”

A voice replied, taunting the young bot. Well, perhaps calling it a voice would be too generous. Whatever responded spoke in a manner similar to rusted nails scratching at granite. Its pitch and tone managed to fluctuate in a manner that just barely could be recognizable as words. It was a sound that shouldn't be possible, as if scrap metal could somehow speak. It went beyond uncanny. Hearing something that otherworldly felt downright violating.

“What clever children you are, deducing my traits so quickly.

Most don't last long enough to find that out.”

Whatever monitors still remained attached flickered on, although they broadcasted nothing but static. When their adversary spoke again, the static shifted in time with its voice.

“My, such a colorful collection. So bright and shiny, sturdy with youthful vigor. Small you might be, but your remains will a part of something far bigger than you could ever dream.”

Twitch, with all her remaining energy, was not having any of this cryptic nonsense. She stormed up to the monitors and put her face meter inches from the screen in a confrontational manner.

“Get away from my family, NOW!” She boomed, slamming her foot onto the concrete floor.

The dying power on the monitor only showed one thing, the white enormous eye of their torturer.

“Oh my child, it's far too late for that.”

Twitch stepped back, trying her absolute best now to show how terrified she truly was. Too late for what? What was this thing implying?

“You're bluffing! You haven't gotten to them yet!” Nightshade answered back for her. “Now how about you save us all time and tell us what you want!”

Twitch wasn't sure what her sibling was getting at. Did they want to give into this thing's demands? And how could they know that their family hadn't been harmed yet?

“If you're already awake, I thought we might as well have a little fun.”

It was pretty obvious the creature was trying to be creepy, but neither of them knew whether or not it fully understood the context of what it just implied.

The dugout was completely silent and nearly pitch black, the abyss around them only just illuminated from both of the bots’ glowing optics.

“Nightshade! What do we do?! Our family is out there with that… that thing! I don't even know which way the exit is anymore, it's too dark…”

“There’s no reason for alarm, the dugout has a backup generator in the barn.” Nightshade tried their absolute best to remain calm for her, despite the gravity of the situation weighing on their mind as well.

“I'll go check on everyone in the house. In the meanwhile, you can start up the generator.”

“Wait, shouldn't that be the other way around? I can actually fit in the house, and you would know how the generator works.”

“Because I can grab everyone in one trip. It would take too long for you to back and forth. Plus, turning it on is rather simple.”

“Nightshade, I've seen the things you make, and none of them are simple.”

“It's literally just a red button labeled ‘generator’.”

“Nevermind, I should be able to handle that.”

Both of the bots carefully exited the dugout. With neither spotting the monster, Nightshade and Twitch split up, their goals both in sight.

Twitch approached the generator, optics darting around herself in paranoia.

“It's okay, Twitch. Just a few more steps.” The red bot assured herself, voice still shaky.

She stood in front of the machine, just barely out of arms’ reach. A chill ran down her metallic spine. Thoughts of what occurred earlier in the night ran through her mind. She kept imagining that if she pushed the button, something would come to remove her head from her shoulders.

“Twitch! HURRY!”

The loud voice booming from the doorway startled the poor bot. It was Nightshade, already back with their human family in tow. They were peacefully sleeping, blissfully unaware of the danger around them. Nightshade dashed into the bunker, leaving Twitch to finish her task.

With a deep sigh, she pushed the red button, the lights around her flickering on. Twitch turned back to join their sibling before stopping dead in her tracks. Something was pushing itself through a gap in the barn wall. A black, pulsating mass with gray armor grew larger as more of its amorphous form forced its way into the room. Five huge tendrils sprouted from a central metal lump. It almost looked like…

“A hand.” She breathed, the terrifying realization overcoming her.

A monsterous hand, almost bigger than her entire body.

She drew out her swords as the hand flexed its grotesque fingers.

The monster, noticing her presence, immediately lunged at her. She barely had enough time to dodge or before the gnarled fingers could ensnare her. The hand instead grabbed hold of a solid wooden support beam directly behind her. Smaller tendrils unwind themselves from the fingers joints, constricting the beam completely until the pressure caused it to cave in. An entire, solid cylinder of wood, crushed by a single movement into dust. The hand, realizing it has missed it's intended target, reared around with gelatinous eyes protruding from its finger joints, searching for Twitch.

“Hold still.”

“How about no!” She yelled before jabbing her blade into its wrist. The palm of the hand writhed in pain, fingers bending backwards as it struggled to pull the foreign object out. The wrist was almost jammed like a metal rod between two gears.

Twitch grabbed the handle of the embedded sword and twisted it clockwise, separating the hand from its wrist. A spray of oily fluid landed on her optics, muddling her vision. The hand writhed in pain for a moment, finally curling up on itself.

A distant sound of pain could be heard, but Twitch felt like she had no time to celebrate as she went to join her family. The young bot slammed the vault door shut as soon as she made it to the bunker, not wanting to take any more chances. Nightshade has laid the siblings’ organic family into individual sleeping quarters.

“Twitch, are you alright?” Nightshade asked, concerned. Their sibling’s face was drenched in the black, oily blood of their adversary.

“Yeah, I just had my hands full.” she responded confidently. Though her words had the cadence of a joke, Nightshade didn't seem to pick up on it.

“Seriously, what happened?” They prodded further.

“That monster tried to crush me. Sort of like this.” Twitch crushed one of the emptied energy drink cans as a demonstration.

“But it doesn't know who they're messing with, and I manage to cut their hand off.” She smiled proudly, but residual unease from the near death encounter still hung to her tone. This bravado was an attempt to force her mood to improve, and it wasn't entirely working.

“Here, to wipe the oil off.” Nightshade handed her a large cloth.

“Oh, thanks.” She cleaned her face up, before looking down at the now dirtied rag. “Wait, isn't this Robbie's shirt?”

“Yes. I borrowed some spare clothing from all of the family and store it here, in case of emergencies.”

“Borrowed? He told me he couldn't find this shirt for months….” She held out the soaked t-shirt in front of her, rancid oily blood dripping onto the floor.

“Emergency preparedness is more important than a diverse wardrobe.” Nightshade took the soiled garment and threw it into a basket. “That'll come off in the laundry. Probably.”

In the corner of Nightshade’s sensitive optics, they picked up some movement on the now activated surviving monitor. The pair raced over to see what it was. Out of the darkness of the forest above, something jumped into fame. The figure startled Nightshade badly enough that they fell to the floor. After recovering from the near spark attack herself, Twitch realized what it was.

“Oh, it's just a deer.” She gave a sigh of relief.

Nightshade got a good giggle from the pair of them getting so startled by a cute little buck. Twitch had mentioned she cut off the monster's hand, right? Surely, it wasn't coming back…

Gazing at the screen, something reached out and snatched the poor animal. Their monitor’s audio played a sickening crack the moment after. It was the unmistakable noise of snapping bone.

The culprit emerged from the woods, towering above even the tallest of trees. In one gnarled hand, it carried the limp body of the deer, whose neck was now bent at an unnatural angle, clearly dead.

The other hand was missing, leaving a stub of black tentrals.

It was clear this wasn't some kind of wooden monster they had thought of earlier. This was far more alien.

This monster appeared to be wearing the outer armor of a Cybertronian, held together by mangled tendrils and rusted metal sheets. Its abdomen, neck, and joints were made of thick, wiry tentacles twisted together like ropes of licorice. Long, clawed fingers clutched onto the ragdolled deer. Its face, seemingly normal at first glance, appeared to have enormous spotlights for optics, surrounded by deep black rings. It was as if it had carved holes in whatever unfortunate mech’s face it was using to fit its massive eyes.

The abomination was mostly gray, with any remaining colors on its shell muted and drained. It reminded Nightshade when they learned from Bumblebee. When a Cybertronian dies as a result of having their spark extinguished, their body will lose its color. All that's left behind is a gray, empty shell.

The monster lifted the deer so that it was held directly in front of its ghastly face. Instead of simply opening its mouth, it split its own jaw completely in half. Row upon row of sharp yellowed greeted their prey, before sinking into the buck’s head. It antlers sloughed off and fell to the forest floor. The poor deer's head barely gave any resistance to the creature’s bite, getting chomped away easily as a stalk of celery.

Twitch immediately felt sick, the urge to vomit filling her despite not even having a stomach.

Nightshade starred, wide-eyed with morbid curiosity, unawall to tear away their gaze.

With one of its clawed fingers, it easily gutted and flayed the remainder of the deer with the precision of a surgeon. It swallowed each limb whole, not even stopping to back a breather between each bite. The deer's torso was impaled on the tallest tree around, seemingly leaving it for later.

Full enough for now, the metallic corpse leaned over, resting its damaged arm on the forest floor. Slowly but surely, the severed tendrils twisted and grew, sprouting forward from the site of the injury. Soon enough, it had a brand new hand, identical to the original.

All of the damage the siblings had inflicted on the creature was undone in a moment.

“This isn't happening…” Twitch’s voice was barely a whisper, her entire body fighting back the urge to retch.

“A Valiant attempt, little one, But not good enough.”

The creature's unnatural voice made the static on the monitor worse as it spoke. How it had heard her from so far away was a complete mystery.

The thing bent forward to show its back, smaller tendrils poking out of the monster's armor. They wriggled and writhed, pulling themselves from the beast's back. Falling out from the cracks in the metal, two smaller creatures collided on the ground before standing up. They superficially resembled Cybertronian protoforms, but were differentiated by the claws and soulless eyes of the original monster.

“Go get me the green one. The red one is yours… consider it a treat.”

It pointed towards the camera at the base of the tree. The pawn-like monsters listened, immediately making their way towards the barn.

“I'll be seeing you shortly, Maltos.”

It bowed at the camera, before walking backwards out of site, into the woods.

“We are sooooo screwed.” Twitch mumbled, once the whole ordeal had concluded. “How did it find that tiny little camera? And when did it learn our family's name?”

“Don't worry, we, um…” Nightshade’s usually calm demeanor was shaking, the panic getting to them as well. … ‘“We should be safe here.” They placed a hand on her shoulder reassuringly, metal clicking as they touched. Twitch immediately swatted their hand away, turning in place to face them.

“Safe?” Her optics went wide, sparking with a furocity Nightshade had only seen a few times before. “Safe?! You just saw that thing make more of itself, Nightshade! We are anything BUT safe right now!”

They knew she was right, and that their reassurance was an empty gesture she had easily seen through.

“I’m sick of this.”

She drew out both of her swords.

Nightshade looked visibly shaken from Twitch's outburst, justified as it might be. If they could cry, they would be tearing up.

“Twitch, I-”

Twitch cut them off again.

“I'm going out there to defend what I love!”

Even though Twitch was running off fumes, she would fight an army if it meant keeping their family safe.

Nightshade rubs their optics before putting a hand on her shoulder once again.

“Not by yourself. I'm coming with you.” Nightshade informed her with an uncharacteristically stirred tone.

“You need to stay here, with them.” She pleaded. “I've got more training than you. I can handle this.”

“With all due respect, there isn't a chance you'd survive going head to head alone with our advisory here. I doubt even Optimus could take that monster down by himself. I get why you want to me stay back, but we won't be of any use without each other.” They leaned in, giving Twitch a big bear hug.

“We're doing this together,” said Nightshade.

After a moment of hesitation, Twitch nodded firmly.

“Together.” she replied, hugging them back.

They made sure everything was secured before drinking what was left of the energy drinks in hopes of staving off the creature's parasitic exhaustion. Venturing out of the dugout, they double checked to guarantee the door was locked behind them.

The bots stuck close by to one another, Twitch leading slightly ahead. Just as Nightshade got an arm's length away from their sister, something jumped on their shoulders and wrapped its arms around their neck.

It was one of the odd gray things the creature had produced. The thing was about Twitch’s size, only barely taller than the average human. Nightshade was able to pull their assailant off them, slamming it against the dirt.

Cracks formed on the monster's armor, its left leg was bent in the opposite direction.

This seemingly didn't slow it down, however, as with a high pitch grunt it snapped its leg back in place before charging at the green mech.

“NIGHTSHADE! Go high, I'm going low!” Twitch changed her hand into a blaster before taking aim and firing. The laser shot hit the monster's bad leg, blasting it off from the knee down.

As the creature stumbled, Nightshade’s talons struck against its face. This almost completely destroyed one of its eyes, leaving a deep gash. They knock it back with a powerful upcut to its jaw, sending half of its pointy teeth into the air.

As it fell backwards, Twitch raised one of her blades. She sent an aggressive slash on its shoulder. The sword moves in a round arc, cutting its torso in two like a knife through warm butter.

Both halves of the body fell down. Horrifically, even though all the monstrosity had left was a single arm, it continued to drag itself towards them. The thing seems either unaware or unbothered by the fact that its insides were being scrapped across the ground as it moved.

Nightshade backed up a good distance from their pursuer before running back at it, full sprint. With one solid kick, they sent its head flying over the house.

“Goal!” Nightshade cheered, twisting around to check on Twitch. Their little joke seemed to have worked at lightening some of the tension, and she smiled back at him widely. “That was incredible, Nightshade!”

As the small monster's corpse finally fell still, the siblings celebrated by high-fiving each other.

Their victory was short-lived, however, as an enormous hand rapidly grabbed Twitch from around the house. Nightshade ran after it, coming to stand in front of the Goliath.

“Let me go!” Twitch demanded, taking a shot at the thing’s chest, leaving nothing but a small burn mark. It retaliated by squeezing her tighter. With its other hand, it picked up her swords before tossing them away into the woods.

“You! After all this… chaos! What more do you want?” Nightshade yelled as loud as their vocal processor would allow.

The creature flexed its long neck towards the ground, gargantuan eyes boring holes into Nightshade's very being.

“It appears your human masters didn't raise you with any manners, child. But for future reference, it's not considered polite to ask such questions before being given a proper introduction.”

It gave a devilish, cocky smirk. The sickeningly smug expression of a creature who knew it had already won. It was just toying with its prey now, watching them squirm and suffer for its own amusement.

“You may call me Exquisite Corpse. I've seen how smart you are, I assume you can guess how I earned such a title.”

Nightshade wasn't even sure how to respond. This thing's manner of speech was infuriatingly civilized, clearly in an attempt to further provoke them.

“As for your question, I am after you in particular, little owl.”

“Me?!” They blurted in response. “And what makes you think I'm going to go along with this?” Nightshade challenged, trying not to let their confusion and fear show.

The haughty grin on Exquisite Corpse’s face never faltered.

“Oh, I suspected resistance from you, child. There's a good reason I made my powers known to you from the start.”

It leaned in even closer, its massive face just inches from Nightshade. Bits of blood and refuge from the deer it had previously consumed clung to its metal fangs.

“You know what I'm capable of. You know what I could do to not only her,”

It shook Twitch around in its hand, causing the red bot to yelp in shock and discomfort.

“But to your entire clan if I wanted. So now that you're aware of what's at stake, I don't think you'll put up any more struggle when I tell you to come with me.”

“Don't even think about it, Nightshade!” Twitch barked.

“I didn't say you could talk, fly!”

It screeched, pressing its claws against her even further. Twitch's body creaked as she tried not to scream from the pain. It was clear that if Exquisite Corpse's grip got any tighter, those claws would rip right through her.

“Stop!” Nightshade begged. “Please, just put her down…”

“Oh, I'll do a lot more than that. Do as I say, and your entire family will get left out of this unfortunate little affair.”

It leaned its empty hand in front of the bot.

“How does that sound, owl?”

The lights in Nightshade's optics streaked, making their vision go blurry. Tensing up, they reluctantly grabbed a finger of the giant hand back, shaking it.

“I accept your terms.” they solemnly said, biting their lip in anguish.

“I knew you were smart. Very good.”

It tossed Twitch to the ground, the minion pawns standing behind her with baited breath, held back only by their obedience to their master like a dog on a leash.

Exquisite Corpse gently picked up the owl, exhaling a deep purplish smoke in their face. Nightshade immediately felt more tired than they ever had in their life. As their body went limp for exhaustion, they heard one final exchange from the monster to its servants.

“She's all yours.”

As they walked off towards the woods, the last thing Nightshade could process was Twitch's voice, violently screaming out for their sibling to help her.

Act 3

The cold, metallic clicking of leaking rainwater rose Nightshade from their unconsciousness. They managed to pry their optics open, the young bot's vision blurred from exhaustion and their injuries. Nightshade silently prayed to whatever might be listening that all this had just been some sort of horror movie induced nightmare. That when they got up, they’d find themselves awake in the cozy dugout, surrounded by their siblings. That they could go on and have another fun, peaceful day with those they loved.

But they were met with no such luck. They were lying on an unfamiliar rusted floor, faint light leaking in from a hole above them. Scattered drops of fresh rain pattered down, keeping the air around them cool. It was a sound they usually quite enjoyed, under happier circumstances. With no idea where they were, however, it only brought them a further sense of alienation.

As they tried to gather their thoughts, a voice they had gotten to know far too well over the past few hours made itself heard.

“Rise and shine~”

The voice called from a pitch black doorway, only the speaker's white eyes indicating someone was there. Nightshade tried to change forms, but residual weakness kept them barely able to move. Honestly, they were surprised still able to move at all, being so drained of-

“Energy” it said.

“You need it to survive like all things do. It will not be good if you're too weak to stand.”

Its eyes narrowed to pin pricks of light.

“Lucky for us, it seems like your kind is able to process organics. Looks like we have something in common.” A wheezy laugh escaped the beast’s mouth.

“Unlike your inferior kin.”

It tossed a plastic-wrapped packet into Nightshade's cell.

“Is this Jerky?” they mumbled, looking over the bag with bleary optics.

“Better than rats, I suppose. Or do your animalistic instincts crave raw vermin?” It tilts its head.

“How would you know my body can process organic material?” Nightshade questioned, weakly.

“You and your sister seem to process those caffeinated liquids just fine. Besides, I can't see it being possible for a techno-organic species to survive solely off of polluted water.” It leaned its metallic face closer, its nightmarish grin now barely visible in the pale light. “You mean to tell me that in the year or so you’ve existed, you never bothered trying any food?” Its smile somehow grew wider.

Nightshade cut the side of the packet, pulling out one strip of dry meat. They placed it in their mouth and chewed a bit. It was pretty good, surprisingly. Under different circumstances, they'd be excited to try out other human foods. After swallowing it, they still felt off, like there was a hollow feeling in them that the small piece of nourishment slightly filled.

The beast spoke once more.

“I will return when you recover your strength. Until then, stay here.” It taunted, knowing damn well they weren't going anywhere.

It shut the thick metal door behind it with a cold clank. Alone and in the dark again, the green bot pulled out another piece of jerky.

“I hope Twitch is ok.”

---

Sharp claws rendered the air next to Twitch, the red bot barely managing to dodge the swipe by a hair. She reared in for a punch to its face, but was instead met with a monstrous knee to the abdomen. She failed to stop her battered fame from involuntarily folding up like a lawn chair from the pain. Orange, shaky optics stared down the approaching behemoth as it made its way to the barnside.

Twitch managed to activate the fans on her circular wings, blowing the monster back as it lunged directly towards her. The thing yelped as it was knocked backwards, but didn't remain stunned for long.

With her processor still hazy and her movements sluggish, Twitch knew this wouldn't be an even fight. She'd need to end it quickly, because there was no way her stamina would keep up for long.

As the husk made its way towards her once again, Twitch used what little remaining energy she had to back herself up into the garage. She frantically slammed her fist down on the button used to close the garage's metal door, hoping it would buy her a little more time. As the husk lunged at her again, she raised her arm, with just enough space between them to take a clear shot.

In less than a second, her laser blew a hole directly into the monster's head, sending it flying backwards. The garage door slammed shut right as its body was about half way through the exit, moving quickly enough to bisect the creature horizontally. The thing’s lower half laid on the garage floor, legs violently jerking one last time before going still.

After a moment's hesitation, she carefully moved to get a better look at the split torso. Oily black ooze and wiry threads leaked from the opened wound. Inside were tightly wrapped threads, somewhat resembling muscles, clinging tightly to shiny silver bones. The red bot hesitantly nudged the tattered mass with her foot. Satisfied when it didn't move, she let out a sigh of relief.

She decided to inspect the garage doors, wondering how they had closed so fast. It appeared that Nightshade had added some sort of speed adjuster, currently set onto “Turbo”.

“Nightshade’s going to get one of us killed these days, if they keep messing with electronics like this.” She mumbled. “Oh no, Nightshade!” Twitch's mind was flooded with thoughts of the monstrosity dragging away her sibling. Panic surged through her circuits, making her trace the room in circles, cradling her head in her hands. If she could barely take one of its minions, she wouldn't stand a chance against the creature alone. That's when her optics landed on a car battery and jumper cables.

“What would Nightshade do…” Twitch pondered aloud, gazing over the batteries with inquisitive optics.

_ _ _

Nightshade had just barely regained the strength to stand when their host decided to return.

“Please, follow me, honored guest.” It gestured, holding a slender hand behind itself. Not seeing any other viable options, Nightshade did as they were told.

As the young bot trailed behind their captor, it became apparent to them that they didn't even reach past the monster's knee in height. Wherever they were, the quiet halls of this place were clearly designed to be occupied by beings of immense stature.

Nightshade decided now would be as good a time as any to ask the burning question on their processor. “Are you going to kill me?”

“Blissfully foolish little thing. If I planned to kill you, why would I have kept you alive this long?” Seemingly just to taunt Nightshade, it dragged its claws against the stone walls, leaving shallow marks and a grating noise as they continued.

“I don't know. You could have plenty of reasons. That's why I asked.”

The monster looked back at Nightshade incredulously, only to be met with a sincere expression from the green bot. It was genuinely a little surprised at how curious their captive was. If anything, they seemed just as interested in the logistics of this operation as they did their own fate.

“I want you to join me… Nightshade.” The thing’s smile grew to enormous proportions, only to fade as they realized Nightshade gave no visible reaction to having their name used.

“Aren't you curious how I knew your name?” It tried to sound intimidating, but the bot just continued to stare at them with a wide eyed, yet steady expression.

“I just assumed you overheard my sister referring to me as such.” They answered. “Is that not the case?”

“Uh, no, I… Nevermind.” It seemed embarrassed of all things, not getting to use its usual mindgames. “Scrap, I lost my train of thought. Where was I?”

“You mentioned you wanted me to join you in something?”

“Oh, right, thanks.” It coughed awkwardly. “Ahem. Anyway, my kind has a unique way to produce more of our species. It all starts with a small injection.”

Its tongue formed into a sharp, needle-like point. Nightshade's optics went wide, nervously taking a step back.

“Your body will undergo a beautiful transformation. You'll be stretched, strained, melted. Your insides will dissolve and reform into divine fibrous threads, while keeping your outer casing mostly in tack.” Having regained its sinister mojo, it leaned in menacingly.

“And most importantly, you will be able to spread your variation of life to all that you see. Your unique biology, I believe it's called your alt mode… it's the perfect blend of organic and inorganic material.”

It gestures to the room in front of them.

Inside, dozens of stasis pods filled with an odd silver liquid Thing against the walls, each with a glowing ball of light in their chests.

Nightshade peered in, before being struck with dreadful recognition. “No, those aren't-”

“Oh, but they are! Protoforms, just for us. You can think of them as our new family.” It laughed, a sound like metal scraping against itself.

“Your techoraganic DNA will make them perfect hybrids between you and I.”

“And why was I chosen for this?” Again, Nightshade’s tone, while clearly uncomfortable, also was bizarrely curious given the circumstances.

The monster scratched at its eye socket, as if it was getting bored.

“Your alt mode, little owl. Strong, swift, and capable of flight. None of your kin can compare in potential.”

“And why can't you just make your army on your own?”

Their bright-eyed, inquisitive questioning seemed genuinely rooted in fascination with this process, which was almost annoying to their captor. It sighed, and begrudgingly answered.

“My body is beyond repair, as you may have noticed. Its previous occupant was gravely injured when I took their place. I was going to just scavenge for more parts… but upon picking up signs of unique, *living* biomechanical parts nearby… Well, that gave me a better idea.”

The two of them continued their walk, finally ending up in an enormous room.

Trashed control panels for an unidentifiable drive and gnarled viscera littered the floor. The foul stench of copper and rot emanated from a tub in the dead center. The beast pushed a reluctant Nightshade towards it.

The scared bot hesitantly peered over the vessel, only to be greeted by a viscous red liquid.

Nightshade nearly gagged upon recognizing the horrific sight in front of them, stumbling backwards away from the blood. Their captor, apathetic towards their discomfort, grabbed the young bot with a single clawed hand.

“But before we comment, I will need approval from a higher power.”

It dipped its free hand into the blood, and began to paint a sigil on the wall.

It licks its filthy hand clean before hovering a clawed finger over Nightshade's face.

“I require one last ingredient to achieve communication.”

Nightshade tried to squirm away to break free as the point of the monster's claw made contact with their cheek. Searing hot pain engulfed their entire face.

The young bot desperately tried to hold in their screams, not wanting to give their tormentor the satisfaction. Having never experienced anything like this, anything this unbearably horrible, how very, they gave in, screeching at the awful sensation. The whole ordeal lasted only a moment, and the monster revealed to them a luminous green liquid on its finger tip.

For a second, Nightshade was confused in its origin. Realization dawned on them as they felt the liquid trickle onto their chest.

“I'm bleeding.” They stated, their tone cold and grim from shock.

“A nice pretty green.” It laughed, mixing Nightshade’s blood into the sigil.

Nightshade watched in helpless horror as the blood twisted and moved upon contact, changing colors until eight white, luminous eyes took form.

_ _ _

Twitch shakily touched the two ends of the jumper cables together, watching with wide optics as they sparked at the contact. The jolt nearly scared the sprockets out of her, but she managed to take a deep breath to steady herself again. She stood over her unconscious younger sister, attaching the cables with an uncertain hum. A zap of energy filled the air before the car battery made a “pop” and went stone dead.

Twitch clutched her fists tightly, heat welling up in her face as her desperate attempt to wake Hashtag failed. She felt her knees go weak, and a strong urge to curl up into a ball and cry. Before she could give in, a faint whirring noise caught her attention. It was Hashtag's optics, groggily prying themselves open.

“Twitch? What's going on-”

With her energy revived by hope, Twitch rushed in to give her sister one of her famous bear hugs.

“Uh, good morning to you too.” Hashtag said awkwardly, patting her on the back.

Twitch grabbed her sister's hand, desperately tugging it as she tried to pull the larger bot up.

“We need to go, now! Something horrible took Nightshade and-”

“Whoa, slow down, Twitch. I just woke up.” Hashtag stood up, feeling the odd cables attached to her neck.

“I didn't go to sleep with these on, right?” She questioned.

“There's a giant monster keeping everyone asleep! I had to jumpstart you awake with that.”

Hashtag narrowed her optics incredulously.

“Giant… monster?” She parroted back.

“Yeah, the thing is probably twice the size of Mr Prime!” Twitch was practically dragging Hashtag outside at this point. “It sent creatures to attack us. But me and Nightshade destroyed one and I took care of another myself.”

Now outside, Hashtag didn't see anything out of the ordinary.

“Really?” Hashtag rhetorically asked. She thought this had to be some kind of poorly planned joke.

“Yes, really!” The smaller answered, frustrated that she wasn't being taken seriously. “Look, its remains are over here-”

The bisected upper half of the monster was gone, only leaving a puddle of oily blood by the opening of the garage.

Before Hashtag could react, her sister let go of her arm, frantically looking around the building’s exterior for any signs of the missing body.

Hashtag did her best to keep up with her, eventually finding Twitch directly behind the barn, seemingly frozen in place.

“Hey, what's wrong? You're acting-”

The upper half of the creature that Twitch fought previously cut Hashtag off. The two sisters watched in stunned silence as what should have been a corpse pulled parts of the other slain monstrosity into itself. Threads from its wound skewered and pulled scattered limbs, bones, and plating together to reconstruct itself. The final result took the form of a metallic homunculus centaur.

“So that's what you were talking about.” Was all Hashtag could say before the beast spotted the pair, instantly lunging for them.

They both were barely able to dodge the strike, causing the centaur’s arm to slash at a nearby bench, slicing it in two. After realizing it had missed, it started galloping on clawed legs in another loop before heading towards Twitch. She didn't have time to get up before it was upon her. Its front legs, the former arms of its lower half, held Twitch down as it prepared for a devastating swipe.

Hashtag took a moment to recover, before her optics lit up. She was right next to the family grill’s propane tank.

She ripped it out and triumphantly held it above her head.

“Hey, freak!”

The thing turned around just in time to have the tank smash its face in. Twitch scrambled free as it loosened its grip. She zipped away as the monster's head weakly turned to face her, its jaw hanging on by a few sinews.

She aimed her blaster at the propane tank.

“Yippee kayak other buckets.” Hashtag didn't get the Brooklyn 99 reference.

The tank exploded into a huge fireball. Chunks of the creature’s flesh and limbs flew all over the place. The sisters didn't have much time to celebrate before panic set back in.

“That thing must be doing something horrible to Nightshade!” Twitch belated frantically.

“Twitch, I mean…” Hashtag loosely kicked one of the detached parts. “It looks pretty dead to me.”

“No, a much bigger one got them!”

“Oh…wait, I've got Nightshade's signal! We can track them!” Hashtag said cheerfully.

“Wait, what?”

“What do you mean, what? Did Nightshade not tell you about those tracking implants they put in us? I can follow them.”

Twitch decided this wasn't the time to question that. She picked up her swords and gave her sister a solid nod.

“Let's get ‘em, Hashtag.”

_____

The bloody figure in the mural was similar to the monster’s minions, except for the enormous horns and eight spider-like eyes. Nightshade looked towards the thing to see a snarl replaced its grin.

His captors began, furious. “Where is SHE! I must speak with her you-”

“How rude of you to yell at your superior. Besides, she is busy at the moment. You should know that better than anyone… leach.”

The painting could somehow move, as if each brush stroke independently changed on their own.

“If you're asking to start your own colony, then the answer is still no. Even if she was here to allow it.”

“Why not? This one has the potential to bring a new generation into being. Plus, I have the strength and knowledge to lead the way to greatness.”

It pushed Nightshade forward like it was showing their teacher its homework, with a tinge desperation is in its voice.

“For one, you think you're anything special because you fused to a cybertronian body? Any brain dead husk could do that. Second, you are considered on line for execution for abandoning your duty and attempting to start a hive. Third, my lady wouldn't like to see this poor child be subject to your will.

So I suggest you just save us all the trouble of hunting you down, and end your life before we can.”

It finished with a scrap-eating smile.

“Leach.”

The beast's eyes narrowed, it's expression morphing into pure anger.

“You ugly son of a-” A barrage of swears and curses that Nightshade only heard in the movie came out of its mouth. Some of them were for languages they couldn't even begin to understand.

This gave Nightshade the chance to sneak away while it was distracted. When they were sufficiently far enough, they ran down what they thought was the outside door. They were met with a control panel that required a code to progress. Completely over this scrap, Nightshade just ripped the panel off.

After a bit of fiddling with the wiring, the door swung open. Nightshade sprinted into the cool night. They looked behind them to see their captor had apparently kept them in a crashed alien ship.

“Look, they're over there!”

A wonderfully familiar voice rang out of the forest. Not a moment later, Nightshade recognized the bright headlights of Hashtag’s alt mode, with Twitch, curiously, riding on her back.

“Hashtag! You're awake! Twitch, did you-”

Of course, they were interrupted by Twitch ramming into them for a hug. Nightshade awkwardly patted their sister on the back.

“Woah! Were you in there, Nightshade?” The largest of the siblings eagerly drove up the entrance of the downed ship. She was knocked backwards as the monster reared its head out of the entrance.

“YOU!” It bellowed, fangs bared. It reached towards Nightshade with feverish rage, clearly infuriated that it had been cheated.

Hashtag, still in her alt mode, took the initiative to drive at the monster's leg at full speed. Having taken it by surprise, it was off balance enough that she managed to cleanly snap its calf from its thigh. The leg went flying, and the monster screeched in pain.

“Wow, that actually worked?” She seemed genuinely surprised.

Twitch grabbed Nightshade and the satellite of Hashtag's alt mode, attempting to yank the two forward. “It's not going to stay down for long! We need to get out of here!”

“Aw, really? I mean, we took out its leg, right? That's gotta be enough. Can't I atleast get to check out the spaceship?” Hashtag pleaded.

The monster screamed again, rearing up to charge at them on its three remaining legs. “INSOLENT CHILDREN! I'LL WEAR YOUR CADAVERS AS NECKLACES WHEN I'M DONE WITH YOU!”

“...Nevermind, I want to go home now.”

With Hashtag having the most energy of the siblings (and being the largest), she stuck to her alt mode with the other two on the roof of her van, racing through the woods with the alien on their tail. Having removed its leg had slowed it down, but not enough that out running it would be easy.

Twitch was using what little strength she had to fire lasers back at their pursuer, to little avail.

“Hey, I probably should have asked this earlier, but where are we going?” Hashtag's radio called out.

Nightshade glared daggers through the window of their sister’s alt mode. “What?! Hashtag, you're the one driving! Are we just headed in a random direction?”

“I panicked! This is terrifying! Just be grateful I'm not leaking oil or anything!”

Before Nightshade could respond, they heard the familiar chugging of a train. Sure enough, just up ahead was one of the unmanned Ghost trains. Finally, a fighting chance.

“Is that a train?” Twitch took a moment's break to look behind her. A flash of recognition in her optics told Nightshade she had just gotten the same idea they did.

“Hashtag! Can you control the-” She began, but it seems her sister was also on the same wavelength. Using her remote hacking abilities, she had the cybernetic train slow down, allowing her to drive across the track. “Hold on, I'm going to make a hard left!”

The monster, clearly not giving it the human made locomotive a second thought, turned around to continue its chase. The nanosecond it stepped foot on the tracks, Hashtag had the train pull forward at max speed, obliterating its remaining hind leg. With a hellish roar, their pursuer fell to the ground, where Hashtag preemptively ran its torso over and over again with the train until she was satisfied.

“I saw that in a movie once, it's called double tapping. You don't stop until you know it's dead.” She chimed, seemingly happy with the results.

Shifting back to bot mode, all three siblings cautiously approached the slain beheatmoth, its nightmarish body splayed in half. Oily guts coated the tracks and train, leaving a thick smell of burned rubber and iron in the air.

“...I think I'm going to pass out.” Twitch fell to her knees, exhausted, clutching her forehead. Both Nightshade and Hashtag ran to her side, picking her up by the shoulders.

“Woah, hey, Twitch, you're good, you're good. That was the main monster, right, Nightshade?” Hashtag's big blue optics glittered with hope in their sibling's direction, waiting for a positive response.

“Well… yes and no. From what I saw, this creature is part of some alien society with others if it's kind. However, it seems its… higher ups, for lack of a better term, don't have much interest in coming to earth.”

“So… it's working alone, right? We're done?” Twitch pulled herself up, gaining a bit of balance.

“For now. This is something we'll have to discuss with Optimus Prime and Megatron.”

“Oh man, Optimus… are we going to get in trouble for destroying this train?” Hashtag worriedly looked over the damaged Ghost train. Unsurprisingly, repeatedly ramminging it into a giant alien had done a significant amount of damage.

“I think they'll understand.” Nightshade reassured her.

“Are we… we need to check up on the others at home.” Twitch began hovering back to the direction of the family house, still determined as ever to keep her loved ones safe.

A giant claw smacked her out of the sky without a moment's notice, breaking both her wing and the eerie silence of the forest.

It wasn't dead. Not completely, anyway.

The monster's head and shoulder were still loosely held onto its right arm by a few mangled tendrils, allowing the wounded creature to drag itself slowly across the grass.

“Nightshade, we aren't done. Please, listen to me. I can promise you-”

Nightshade noticed a glowing orb hanging on to the lower part of its neck, appearing to be some sort of power cell.

They walked over as the creature continued its monologue. It seemed to believe the green bot was considering its offer.

Nightshade stomped on the power cell repeatedly, until it exploded into a pile of azure sludge. As they had predicted, all life signs from the creature faded, and its tendrils loosened their grip on its body completely.

“I am so tired of that thing.” They sneered, unusually bitter. Their facial expression softened as they turned back to their injured sister. “Are you alright, Twitch?”

“Ugh, I'm… yeah, I'll just need to get this fixed.” She confirmed, shaking her loosened wing to test its durability.

Hashtag transformed, honking her van’s horn. “Ok, you guys need to tell me everything on the way back. I'm so confused right now. Hop on already!”

---FIN—

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sentient-softdrink · 8 days ago

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John: "I just don't get it... This guy somehow always knows my Netflix password, no matter how many times I change it..."

Elias Bouchard: "sucker"

#tma #the magnus archives

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crplpunkklavier · 2 years ago

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i don't really care enough about daryan crescend as a character to determine whether he'd realistically be a cheater, but i do think. as much as klavier gavin loves honesty and clear communication we simply must not forget that he also grabs any non-lethal opportunities to be a petty little bitch. and i think he'd find out (because of course, duh) and instead of confronting daryan about it he'd just start writing songs about how he'd deal with a cheating bastard of a boyfriend, you know, if he had one. and whenever anyone (including daryan) asks him who those songs are about he's like "ohhh no no they're not about anyone irl 😊 they're about a fictional couple with a lot of problems! you know like the mountain goats' tallahassee album? i just thought that'd be a fun writing and storytelling exercise! anyway please enjoy our new album, How I Brutally Murdered My Cheating Ex and Got Away with It Too Because All Our Friends Are on My Side, with special bonus track I Changed Our Netflix Password, Detective." and daryan would have to stand on stage playing all those songs sweating and pissing himself and not saying anything. and slowly die of a stress induced stomach ulcer

#ace attorney #imco

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cleo-fox · 1 year ago

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The Definitive List of Acceptable Abbreviations in Reader Fan Fic

Official Notice: In order to standardize and streamline the reading experience, fanfic authors are now required to use the following list of abbreviations. Going forward, all reader fanfic must use the abbreviations as stated below. Additionally, all reader fics are required to use all of the abbreviations named below.* No exceptions. Violators will be barred from the reader community.

Approved abbreviations are as follows:

YN = Your name

YLN = Your last name

YMN = Your middle name

YHC = Your hair color

YEC = Your eye color

YBT = Your blood type

YBFN = Your best friend’s name

YMPT = Your most problematic take

YBRN = Your bank’s routing number

YBDOTJCFTGS = Your birthday on the Julian calendar, fuck this Gregorian shit

YNP = Your Netflix password

YEAAWYNA = Your email address associated with your Netflix account

YLOSTTAOTPITTSYNA = Your level of suspicion that the author of this post is trying to steal your Netflix account

YLOUTSCFOSS = Your likelihood of using the same credentials for other streaming services

YDEGFCN = Your dad’s ex-girlfriend from college’s name

YWIIWACTIWTWB = your weirdest injury if we aren’t counting the incident with the whiffle bat

YCSWYPSWYDYPTYRDNTKTI = Your conception story which your parent shared with you despite your protestations that you really don’t need to know this information

YCMHIARLAACLOMACIFYHCP = Your current medical history, including all relevant labs and a current list of medications and contact information for your healthcare providers

YFC = Your favorite color

YBGAATLO = Your best guess at Alex Trebek’s lunch order

Please incorporate these changes into your writing immediately. As previously stated, these abbreviations are now required in all Reader fanfic. Failure to comply will result in expulsion* from the community and other unspecified penalties.

Sincerely,

The Powers That Be

————

(* I debated whether to add this because saying it’s a joke kind of ruins the joke, but I’ve also been on tumblr dot com for more than 5 minutes and I want to mitigate the risk of some outraged person with dodgy reading comprehension taking this seriously and accusing me of crimes against fandom. My actual opinion: write what you want how you want, there are no rules, just tag your shit).

#fanfic #reader fanfiction #reader fan fic #fan fic #fanfiction #shitposting

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darlynn-dindjarin · 8 months ago

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Why Darius X Brooklynn Is Going To Be Endgame For Jurassic World Chaos Theory.

"Jurassic World: Chaos Theory" is an animated series that serves as a direct sequel to "Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous." The show, which airs on Netflix, is set six years after the events of Camp Cretaceous and follows the adventures of "The Nublar Six," a group of characters who are navigating a world now populated by dinosaurs. The series delves into a conspiracy that threatens both dinosaur and human life, while also exploring the personal journey of the characters as they learn the truth about what happened to one of their own.

Season 1 of "Jurassic World: Chaos Theory" introduces us to something the fandom has wanted for a long time, that is the romance between Darius and Brooklynn.

Season 2 of "Jurassic World: Chaos Theory" introduces us to what actually happened, in Brooklynn's point of view, and even what made Darius not show that night. A lot of fans were disappointed when the show's sequel, "Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous" failed to put these two characters together, knowing that they had more chemistry than Kenji and Brooklynn. But it seems the show writers might actually fix this wrong. Here's why: 1) Why Introduce it? A lot of people will argue that even though the series mentioned it, it doesn't mean they will build on it. But that's where they're wrong. Everything happens for a reason. The Writers will not have introduced it, unless they have some plan to build on it in the future.

2) Why Go To Darius? We know that Brooklynn went to stay with Darius, while she was going to go "Buy the Allosaurus". Now, Brooklynn could have easily stayed at a hotel, but she choose to stay with Darius, Darius of all people. 3) The Phone Code. We see in Season 1, Kenji and Darius find her phone. When Kenji Attempts to unlock the phone, he fails after a few attempts, however when Darius tries to unlock it, it immediately opens. Why Brooklynn Trusted Darius with her phone code more than Kenji, we don't know. But, why if you didn't trust/care for someone, would you give them the key to your phone, one of the most private places? And why could you not trust your Ex-Boyfriend with that password? 4) Her Response. When Darius accidently told her about his love for her, she never flat-out denied it. Now again, Many claim "It doesn't mean that she did." BUT, it also doesn't mean that she didn't. We see Darius backtrack, similar to what Kenji did in Season 4 of Camp Cretaceous, and Darius DOES NOT let her finish her sentence. Could she have felt the same way, we don't know. We really won't know until Season 3 of Chaos Theory, comes out. 5) Her Reaction To Seeing Him In The Season 2 Finale.

Notice How her eyes expand MORE with Darius rather than Kenji. This is my convincing factor that Darlynn is going to happen and that it isn't just some obsession we aren't going to get.

Further Evidence:

In Season 5 Of Camp Cretaceous, When The Two Were Alone And Darius Confided In Brooklynn, We See Her Say These Words. B: Trust me, Kenji is the one who lost his way, not you.

D: What if I'm changing? All the "life or death" situations, the choices between this bad thing or that even worse thing, it's turning me into someone I don't know. Someone I might not like.

B: You know why we all look to you? Because your light burns bright, Darius Bowman. No amount of terrible choices can put it out. And I'll follow you anywhere. This was my further convincing factor that this story isn't over. What Do You Think, Will We Get Darlynn Or Will We Be Disappointed, Yet Again? Thank you for your time, and I hope you have a great day!

#dinostar #jwct spoilers #jwct #jwct theory #darilynn #jwcc #otp: noble dummy #analysis series #analysis #this is brainrot levels you'll never see again for this show i think but i had to get this out

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fairytales-and-folklore · 3 months ago

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Task Failed Successfully

The Owl House » Huntlow

Title: Task Failed Successfully

Author: fairytalesandfolklore

Fandom: The Owl House (Masterlist)

Relationship: Hunter | The Golden Guard x Willow Park

AO3 Rating: Teen & Up (a complete collection of author's notes, inspiration credits, content warnings and tags can be found on AO3)

Summary: Convinced she'll never feel the same, but intent on not keeping any secrets from one of his best friends, Hunter's grand plan to confess his feelings for Willow backfires in the best possible way.

Hunter takes a deep breath, studying each change in Willow's expression. In the last few seconds, her face has gone from pale to pink to a deep shade of scarlet, and for a moment, Hunter worries that he has made her angry, or at the very least, embarrassed her. Because of course he has. This is embarrassing. He is embarrassing. He thought he was doing the right thing, being honest about how he feels, but maybe he was wrong. Maybe dumping all of these unwanted, one-sided feelings on her had been a mistake, because now she's faced with the uncomfortable task of rejecting him, and someone as sweet and kindhearted as Willow should never have to— "Do you want to go out with me?" Willow blurts out in a giddy, flustered rush.

Read On AO3 | Read On Tumblr:

One of the best things about having a fully functioning portal back up and running (you know, aside from the whole not being trapped in another realm and having no idea if your friends and family are still alive thing) is that the demon realm has access to wifi again, which means Gus gets to borrow Luz's Netflix password and binge-watch all the popular human realm tv shows he wants.

It's become something of a tradition these past several months, sleeping bags strewn across each other's living room floors, all five of them crowded around Luz's old laptop, marathoning movies and mindlessly shoving popcorn into their mouths — a comforting bit of nostalgia from their time in the human realm.

But today is Luz and Amity's one year anniversary, and Willow had noped out the minute she found out the new show Gus wanted to watch featured some kind of demonic plant entity as its main antagonist (she doesn't need to give herself nightmares every time she goes to work in her greenhouse, thank you very little) so tonight, Gus sets up camp on his bedroom floor, queues up an episode of Stranger Things, and waits for Hunter to come over.

In the meantime, Gus is texting Willow, who has finally, finally admitted to having feelings for Hunter. Only took her the better part of a year.

See, Gus has known for quite some time now that Hunter and Willow have got it bad for each other (it's painfully obvious to everyone but the two of them.) And look, he's not interested in playing matchmaker or anything (he's not Hooty, for Titan's sake) but he does want to help nudge them in the right direction. Much as Gus loves his best friends, he's not sure how much longer he can stand to watch the pair of them make heart eyes at each other whenever they think the other isn't looking.

So he's texting Willow, telling her it's obvious to anyone with eyes that Hunter likes her back — boy blushes so hard whenever he's around you I'm afraid he's gonna give himself third degree burns — encouraging her to go for it and tell Hunter how she feels, but Willow won't budge. Keeps insisting that it'll just freak him out. That if he does like her back ("and that's a very big if," she says, and Gus has to fight the urge to roll his eyes) then she needs to wait for him to make the first move.

Which would be super sweet, if it wasn't totally a front for her own insecurities. Gus has known Willow for a long time, and while she's made some amazing strides in gaining back her confidence, evolving from the soft-spoken, brokenhearted little girl who used to let herself believe she wasn't good enough, to the strong, fierce captain of her own self-started team, fearlessly fighting alongside friends that she knows, without a shadow of a doubt, she could trust with her life…deep down, there's still that little tendril of fear, that what if that stops her from going after what she wants, if she thinks there's even the slightest chance she'll get rejected by someone who means the world to her, all over again.

And then there's Hunter, whose inherent lack of self-worth is so hard-wired, he won't even entertain the idea of asking. He just assumes unrequited feelings are an inevitable certainty, automatically rejecting himself before anyone else even has the chance.

At least, that's Gus's guess, but he'd like to think he's gotten pretty good at reading his closest friends.

He's about to text back something along those lines — a softer, more tactful version, of course — when he hears a familiar set of footsteps trudging up the stairs, and instead types out a hasty, "he's here, we'll talk more about this later," smiles at Willow's reply of, "sounds good, you boys have fun," and vanishes his scroll.

On cue, Hunter comes strolling into his bedroom, sleeping bag, pillow, and little pink frog plush curled under one arm, the other laden with all manner of tooth-rotting snacks, some of which fall to the floor as he hastily tucks his scroll into his back pocket. As he swoops down to pick them up, Flapjack flitters out of his makeshift nest in Hunter's hair and lands on the bed next to Emmeline, the two of them striking up cheerful conversation.

"Darius says I can sleep over tonight, but that I need to, and I quote, 'go to sleep at a reasonable hour or so help me Titan, I will go full dad mode and ground you, we don't fly coach in this house and those duffel bags under your eyes aren't designer'," Hunter says, huffing out a laugh as he drops his overnight bag on the floor and settles in at Gus's side, dumping all his snacks into one big bowl so the two of them can share.

Two minutes in and they're completely transfixed, concepts like sleep and dinner thrown out the window as they marathon their way through most of the first season, shaking each other by the shoulders as they shout things like run! and hide! and don't be an idiot, tell them what you saw! at the characters on the screen.

They're picking through the remnants of the snack bowl, playing roulette with handfuls of Skittles and M&Ms, when the iconic friends don't lie scene comes up, and Gus nods sagely, mumbling, "So true. What a lovely random moment of wholesomeness amidst all this horror and chaos," through a mouthful of rainbow corn syrup.

And Hunter just sort of blue screens because, well, shit.

Every once in a while, Hunter's past mistakes catch up with him, seemingly out of nowhere, triggered in ways he never would've expected (like, say, a line of dialogue from a television show.) It's been over a year since the whole recruitment incident, and he knows they've all forgiven him a thousand times over, but in this moment, Hunter can't help the guilt that courses through him when he hears the words friends don't lie, when he sees Gus so readily and enthusiastically agreeing with the sentiment, branding it as a law of friendship. He doesn't think he's lied to any of them since that first day, unless…

"Hey Gus?" Hunter asks, hesitant. "Do secrets count as lies?"

"Hmm?" Gus says distractedly, far too engrossed in the episode to give Hunter's query his full consideration. "I mean, I guess so. Kinda depends on the context."

Hunter mulls it over, momentarily panicking that he's been a bad friend this entire time without even realizing it, because, well…as it happens, he's kind of been keeping this monumental secret from all of them for months now.

But maybe if he just comes clean, it'll all be okay?

Oh, but talking about it is scary.

But friends don't lie, and if secrets count as lies…

"Okay, if that's the case, then I need to tell you something," Hunter prompts with the somber severity of someone about to deliver shocking news. He takes a deep breath, steeling his nerves as Gus turns to face him with a look of mild concern, and says, "I think I might have a crush on Willow."

As soon as the words leave his mouth, Hunter winces, waiting for the inevitable fallout — laughter, ridicule, a lecture about how stupid and hopeless he is, or, oh Titan, maybe Gus'll give him the shovel talk, complete with a novel-length list of reasons he'll never be good enough for Gus's long-time best friend and honorary big sister — but to Hunter's immense surprise, Gus merely blinks at him, mouth curving into a smile that's half fond, half amused, and says, "Yeah, I know. That's not exactly a secret."

And Hunter panics even harder because what? He thought he'd been hiding it so well. After a bit of a freak out, during which Gus has to reassure Hunter that he hasn't been embarrassingly obvious about his feelings for Willow (a white lie, because while he's been obvious, Gus wouldn't call it embarrassing, especially since Willow is just as bad) Hunter breathes a sigh of relief, feeling like a Titan-sized weight has been lifted off his shoulders, and sets about plotting his next course of action.

"Willow is my friend," he reasons, twisting the ties of his pajama bottoms until the threading comes loose. "And friends don't keep secrets from each other, so I think…" Hunter swallows nervously, a muscle ticking in his jaw as he squares his shoulders and gives a resolute nod. "I think I need to tell her."

Gus purses his lips to hold back a beatific smile because this is it! Willow has been waiting so long for Hunter to make the first move, and now it's finally gonna happen! His best friends, falling in love and finally getting their shit together. This is truly a momentous occasion. He wonders which one of them will win in the fight to have him as their best man…

"I think that's a great idea," Gus says encouragingly, hastening to add, "As long as you're ready to. For the record, it's not a requirement of friendship for you to divulge all your secrets. You're entitled to your privacy."

Because ultimately, this needs to be something Hunter does because he wants to, not out of some misplaced sense of guilt or obligation.

Hunter takes another deep breath, much steadier this time, and nods.

"Thanks," he says, lips tugging up into a small, self-assured smile. "But I think I'd feel better if I did, so…yeah, I'm ready."

• • •

A few days later, Hunter comes barreling into Gus's room with a whiteboard under his arm, a fistful of note cards, and a foolproof plan. Tomorrow, after flyer derby practice, he's going to pull her aside, deliver his confession as professionally and succinctly as possible, and when (not if, but when) Willow politely rejects him, they can move forward as friends with no secrets left between them.

"So, what do you think?" Hunter asks, a little breathless after reading from a set of cue cards upon which he has handwritten some long-winded confession speech. Gus stares at him in disbelief, glancing back and forth between Hunter and the whiteboard, where two poorly-drawn stick figure representations of Hunter and Willow appear to be shaking hands like they're closing a business merger.

Well…at least Gus can say he knows his friends very well. He didn't want to be right, but…called it.

"Hunter," he says with as much patience as he can muster. "Buddy, I don't think you've thought this all the way through."

"What?" Hunter huffs out an incredulous laugh. "But I have a whiteboard! I made cue cards! I—"

"No, I can see that," Gus reassures him, pursing his lips in an effort not to laugh. "I just meant…I don't think this confession is gonna go the way you think it is. I think you need to be prepared for all possible outcomes."

"Oh," Hunter says, looking crestfallen. "What, like…you think she'll be mad?"

"No, that's not—" Gus falters, patience wilting by the second. How in the world is he supposed to talk date night contingency plans with a guy who won't even entertain the idea that this little confession plan of his might actually work out in his favor?

"Look," he sighs. "All I'm saying is…have you considered the possibility that Willow might reciprocate your feelings?"

Hunter stares at him for a moment, arching an eyebrow like Gus has just spoken some strange alien language and he's waiting for the script to finish running through an internal translator.

And then he's doubled over, bursting out laughing.

"Oh sure," he says, rolling his eyes like Gus has just suggested something utterly absurd. "Like someone as beautiful and sweet and smart and strong as Willow would ever fall for someone like me. Pfft. Good one, Gus."

Gus heaves a long-suffering sigh, resisting the urge to facepalm.

"I think you need to give yourself a lot more credit here, dude," he tries, but Hunter is already making his way out the door, still laughing, whiteboard and cue cards in hand.

"They're both utterly hopeless. Worse than Luz and Amity. I am hanging on by a thread here, Matty," Gus groans a little while later, sinking down the length of his bed and ending up in a puddle on the floor in front of his crystal ball, where Mattholomule's smirking face stares back at him, one eyebrow arched because seriously — pot, kettle.

(Little does he know, Matt has been dropping hints like crazy, but every time he tries to ask him out, putting all of Steve's dating advice to good use, Gus just assumes he's asking to hang out as friends. Honestly, it's a wonder anyone in their friend group managed to get into an actual relationship.)

• • •

"Alright team, that's a wrap for today!" Willow calls out across the field as she dismounts from her staff, beaming around at her fellow teammates, breathless but euphoric. "You guys did amazing out there. We're totally gonna crush Glandus at next week's tournament!"

She's about to head to the front gates, zipping up her sports bag and slinging it over her shoulder, when she rounds the corner and crashes face-first into Hunter, who stutters out an apology and blushes bright red when he glances down and notices that Willow's hands are splayed across his chest in an effort to brace her fall.

"Hunter!" she exclaims, cheeks flushed an adorable shade of pink from the efforts of their practice session, turning darker as she lets go of him with a breathy chuckle and moves to readjust the strap of her bag. Hunter has half a mind to offer to carry it for her, but if he's being honest, he thinks even the weight of a feather would be enough to knock him down right now.

"Captain!" he says, wincing at how loud and screechy it comes out. "I was wondering if I could talk to you about something…just the two of us?"

"Oh," Willow replies with a soft little gasp of surprise. "Um. Yeah, of course. What's on your mind?"

In the distance, Hunter catches sight of Gus giving him an encouraging thumbs-up, arm in arm with Skara and Viney as the three of them make their way through the front gates, leaving Hunter and Willow alone together on the field.

"Captain," he prompts, spine ramrod straight as he forces himself to maintain steady eye contact as a sign of respect. "It has come to my attention that friends don't keep secrets, and so I must inform you of a secret I have been keeping from you for quite some time now."

Willow arches her eyebrows, gazing up at him expectantly.

"You see, several months ago," he starts, so nervous he's practically shaking, palms sweating, voice cracking, full body blushing like someone's just poured a vat of fire bee honey down the back of his shirt, but somehow, he manages to barrel his way through it. "I became afflicted with an ailment that caused me to experience momentary lapses in cognitive function, heart palpitations, and fever-like heat concentrated primarily in my face, any time I found myself in your presence."

He maybe takes the professionalism a bit too far, diving straight into pretentiousness and speaking like he's from the Deadwardian era, but he thinks he still manages to get the point across well enough. He presses on, willing himself to get through the hardest part (i.e. the confession) without said heart palpitations and fever blushes tripping him up.

"Extensive research into the subject lead me to the conclusion that I had developed something called lovesickness, and that the object of my affection was— is— you. I had hoped that, in time, this malady would fade, but it's only gotten worse the stronger our bond has become. I think it's because…well, you make me happier than I ever thought I could be, and I—" he falters, heart threatening to beat right out of his chest as Willow's lips part in surprise, a soft gasp escaping them. "I've never been in love before, but I'm pretty sure this is what it feels like."

"So," he exhales on a shaky breath, forcing himself to keep going, to get to the part where Willow lets him down gently, reassures him that she'll keep being his friend, and then everything can go back to the way it was. "Before this gets any more out of hand, or you find out through some other means — as it has recently come to my attention that I am not very good at keeping feelings of this nature hidden from the observant eyes of our friends — I thought you should hear it from me. I hope that my candor will not negatively impede your life in any way, and that, now that it's all out in the open, we can continue to move forward as friends."

He holds out his hand, actually holds out his hand for her to shake, and for a moment, all Willow can do is stare down at it in utter astonishment, because what? Did that really just happen? Did he really just tell her that he likes her and then reject himself before she even had the chance to—

Hang on.

Willow's brain rewinds the conversation, zeroing in on one cardinal detail — I've never been in love before, but I'm pretty sure this is what it feels like — and a blush like a summer sunset spreads from the bridge of her nose to the tips of her ears.

Because of course he has. This is embarrassing. He is embarrassing. He thought he was doing the right thing, being honest about how he feels, but maybe he was wrong. Maybe dumping all of these unwanted, one-sided feelings on her had been a mistake, because now she's faced with the uncomfortable task of rejecting him, and someone as sweet and kindhearted as Willow should never have to—

"Do you want to go out with me?" Willow blurts out in a giddy, flustered rush.

"What?" Hunter blinks at her, certain he must have misheard her.

"I just figured—" Willow falters, suddenly unsure of herself. "I mean, I like you and you like me, so maybe we could—"

"You like me?" Hunter blurts out, positively awestruck.

"A bit more than like, if I'm being honest," she says, shy smile dimpling her sun-kissed cheeks, and for the first time in months, possibly his whole life, Hunter's mind goes blank. Blissfully, wonderfully blank. No thoughts, head empty, just her. All he can do in that moment is stare at her, a slow, utterly besotted smile spreading across his bright red face.

"So, does this mean we can be together now?" she asks, gazing up at him with a hopeful smile, sending his heart into overdrive. "Do you want to be my boyfriend?"

• • •

Hunter lays against his pillows later that night, not entirely certain how he'd managed to make it all the way back home after his brain melted into soup and spilled out of his ears onto the flyer derby field.

All he remembers is that somehow, in his delirious state of giddy euphoria, he'd managed to stutter out the words, "yeah, absolutely," and then offered to walk Willow home, singular brain cell zeroed in on the feeling of her fingers interlaced with his, how soft and warm and small her hand had felt holding onto his. Cheek still burning from where she'd stood on her tiptoes to kiss him goodnight, the way her dads had smiled at him and called him a nice young man.

He's pretty sure he's going to have permanent dimples from how hard he's smiling right now.

Hunter feels his scroll vibrate in his outstretched hand and absentmindedly lifts it up to check his notifications. There's a new message from Gus — "So??? How'd it go???" — and a notification from Penstagram informing him that Willow Park has updated her status to in a relationship.

For a moment, Hunter's whole world crumbles, heart sinking into a pit of despair, until he realizes, with no small amount of wonder— oh Titan, the relationship is me.

He didn't just get one date. No, they are dating. They are in a relationship. Willow is his— he can't even think the word girlfriend without breaking out into a full-body shiver. Of all the ways he'd imagined confessing his feelings would go, he never once considered the possibility that this could be the outcome.

Willow Park is his girlfriend.

He is Willow Park's boyfriend.

Oh hey, who's that blond guy walking down the halls of Hexside, hand in hand with the most amazing witch in all the realms?

That's Hunter, Willow Park's boyfriend.

He sends back a quick, "it went amazing, thank you for everything" to Gus, and then logs onto Penstagram, clicks the little heart on Willow's status update, and swiftly sets his own to in a relationship, wearing his brand new title with far more pride than he'd ever felt as the Golden Guard.

A few seconds later, a notification pops up informing him that hello_willow has just commented on his status with a trio of green and gold hearts. Hunter buries his face in his pillow, kicks his legs in a little flail, and lets out a hysterical laugh so loud he's got Darius knocking on his door a few seconds later, asking if everything is alright. Hunter resurfaces, rolling over and laying flat on his back with his scroll clutched to his chest.

"Oh yeah," he responds with a swoon-worthy sigh, beaming over at Darius with one of those rare smiles that puts the adorable little space between his two front teeth on full display. "Everything is just fine."

"Oh? Did something happen today after practice? Something involving a certain plant witch, perhaps?" Darius prompts with a knowing smile, folding his arms and leaning against the doorframe.

In lieu of a reply, Hunter buries his face into his pillows and resumes his manic giggling, the tips of his ears practically glowing bright red.

Darius chuckles, shaking his head in fond amusement as he closes the door behind him, murmuring, "Oh thank Titan, finally," as he heads back to his room.

The plot of this story was inspired by this post by lollytea and the title was inspired by this comic by moringmark

#the owl house #huntlow #hunter the golden guard #willow park #the owl house fanfiction #huntlow fanfiction #task failed successfully #fairytalesandfolklore #fairytales-and-folklore #fairytalesandfolklore fanfiction #fairytalesandfolklore the owl house #fairytalesandfolklore huntlow

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