#I'm not kidding it's like 2300 words

[perfectlyvalid49]

On being Jewish, and traumatized (It’s been 5 months and I want to talk):

Judaism is a joyous religion. So much of our daily practice is to focus us on the things that are good. I know that there’s a joke that all our holidays can be summed up as “they tried to kill us. We survived – let’s eat!”, and you might think that holidays focused on attempts at killing us might be somber, but they’re really not. Most are celebrated in the sense of, “we’re still here, let’s have a party!” When I think about practicing Judaism, the things I think about make me happy.

But I think a lot of non-Jews don’t necessarily see Judaism the same way. I think in part it’s because we do like to kvetch, but I think a lot of it is because from the outside it’s harder to see the joy, and very easy to see the long history of suffering that has been enacted on the Jewish people. From the inside, it’s very much, “we’re still here, let’s party” and from the outside it’s, “how many times have they tried to kill you? Why are you celebrating? They tried to KILL YOU!”

And I want to start with that because a lot of the rest of this is going to be negative. And I don’t want people to read it and wonder why I still want to be Jewish. I want to be Jewish because it makes me happy. My problem isn’t with being Jewish, it’s with how Jews are treated.

What I really wanted to write about is being Jewish and the trauma that’s involved with that right now.

First, I want to talk about Israeli Jews. I can’t say much here because I’m not Israeli, nor do I have any close friends or family that are Israeli. But if I’m going to be talking about the trauma Jews are experiencing right now, I can’t not mention the fact that Israeli Jews (and Israelis that aren’t Jewish as well, but that’s not my focus here) are dealing with massive amounts of it right now. It’s a tiny country – virtually everyone has a friend or family member that was killed or kidnapped, or knows someone who does. Thousands of rockets have been fired at Israel in the last few months – think about the fact that the Iron Dome exists and why it needs to. Terror attacks are ongoing; I feel like there’s been at least one every week since October. Thousands of people are displaced from their homes, either because of the rocket fire, or because their homes and communities were physically destroyed in the largest pogrom in recent history – the deadliest single day for Jews since the Holocaust ended. If that’s not trauma inducing, I don’t know what is.

And there is, of course, the generational trauma. And I think Jewish generational trauma is interesting because it’s so layered. Because it’s not just the result of one trauma passed down through the generations. Every 50-100 years, antisemitism intensifies, and so very frequently the people experiencing a traumatic event were already suffering from the generational trauma that their grandparents or great grandparents lived through. And those elders were holding the generational trauma from the time before that. And so on.

And because it happens so regularly, there’s always someone in the community that remembers the last time. We are never allowed the luxury of imagining that we are safe. We know what happened before, and we know that it happened again and again and again. And so we know that it only makes sense to assume it will happen in the future. The trauma response is valid. I live in America because my great grandparents lived in Russia and they knew when it was time to get the hell out in the 1900s. And the reason they knew that is because their grandparents remembered the results of the blood libels in the 1850s. How can we heal when the scar tissue keeps us safe?

I look around now and wonder if we’ll need to run. We have a plan. I repeat, my family has a plan for what to do if we need to flee the country due to religious persecution. How can that possibly be normal? And yet, all the Jewish families I know have similar plans. It is normal if you’re Jewish. Every once in a while I see someone who isn’t Jewish talk about making plans to leave because they’re LGBTQ or some other minority and the question always seems to be, “should I make a plan?” It astounds me every time. The Jewish answer is that you need to have a plan and the only question is, “when should I act?” Sometimes our Jewish friends discuss it at play dates. Where will you go? What are the triggers to leave? No one wants to go any earlier then they have to. Everyone knows what the price of holding off too long might be.

I want to keep my children safe. When do I induct them into the club? When do I let my sweet, innocent kids know that some people will hate them for being Jewish? When do I teach them the skills my parents and grandparents taught me? How to pass as white, how to pass as Christian, knowing when to keep your mouth shut about what you believe. When do I tell them about the Holocaust and teach them the game “would this person hide me?” How hard do I have to work to remind them that while you want to believe that a person would hide you, statistically, most people you know would not have? Who is this more traumatic for? Them, to learn that there is hatred in the world and it is directed at them, or me, to have to drive some of the innocence out of my own children’s eyes in order to make sure they are prepared to meet the reality of the world?

And the reality of the world is that it is FULL of antisemitism. There’s a lot of…I guess I’d call it mild antisemitism that’s always present that you just kinda learn to ignore. It’s the sort of stuff that non-Jews might not even recognize as antisemitic until you explain it to them, just little micro-aggressions that you do your best to ignore because you know that the people doing it don’t necessarily mean it, it’s just the culture we live in. It can still hurt though. I like to compare it to a bruise: you can mostly ignore it, but every once in a while something (more blatant antisemitism) will put a bit to much pressure on it and you remember that you were already hurting this whole time.

On top of the background antisemitism, there’s more intense stuff. And usually the most intense, mask off antisemitism comes from the right. This makes sense, in that a lot of right politics are essentially about hating the “other” and what are Jews if not Western civilizations oldest type of “other”? On the one hand, I’ve always been fortunate enough to live in relatively liberal areas so this sort of antisemitism has felt far away and impersonal – they hate everybody, and I’m just part of everybody. On the other hand, until recently I’ve always considered this the most dangerous source of antisemitism. This is the antisemitism that leads to hate crimes, that leads to synagogue shootings. This is the reason why my synagogue is built so that there is a long driveway before you can even see the building, and that driveway is filled with police on the high holidays. This is the reason why my husband and I were scared to hang a mezuzah in our first apartment (and second, and third). For a long time, this was the antisemitism that made me afraid.

But the left has a problem with antisemitism too. And it has always been there. Where the right hates the “other”, the left hates the “privileged/elite/oppressors.” It’s the exact same thing, just dressed up with different words. They all mean “other” and “other” means “Jew.” It hurts more coming from the left though. A lot of Jewish philosophy leans left. A lot of Jews lean left. So when the left decides to hate us, it isn’t a random stranger, it’s a friend, and it feels like a betrayal.

One of the people I follow works for Yad Vashem, and a few weeks ago she mentioned a video they have with testimonies from people who came to Israel after Kristallnacht, with an unofficial title of “The blow came from within.” The idea is that to non-German Jews, the Holocaust was something done by strangers. It was still terrible, but it is easier to bear the hate of a stranger – it’s not personal. But to German Jews, the Holocaust was a betrayal. It wasn’t done by strangers, it was done by coworkers, and neighbors and people they thought were friends. It was done by people who knew them, and still looked at them and said, “less than human.” And because of this sense of betrayal, German survivors, or Germans who managed to get out before they got rounded up, had a very different experience than other Holocaust victims.

And I feel like a lot of left leaning Jews are having a similar experience now. People that we’ve marched with or organized with, or even just mutuals that we’ve thought of as friends are now going on about how Jews are evil. They repeat antisemitic talking points from the Nazis and from the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, and when we point out that those ideas have only led to Jewish death in the past they don’t care. And if someone you thought of as a friend thinks of you this way, what do you think a stranger might think? Might do?

The Jews are fucking terrified. I’ve seen a post going around that basically wonders if this was what it was like for our ancestors – when things got bad enough to see what was coming but before it was too late to run? And we can see what’s coming. History tells us that they way people are talking and acting only leads to one place. I’m a millennial – when I was a kid the grandparents at my synagogue made sure the kids knew – this is what it looked like before, this is what you need to watch out for, this is when you need to run. I wonder where to run to. It feels like nowhere is safe.

I feel like I’ve been lucky in all this. I don’t live in Israel. I have family and acquaintances who do, but no one I’m particularly close to. Everyone I know in real life has either been sane or at least silent about all of this (the internet has been significantly worse, but when it comes to hate, the internet is always worse). I live in a relatively liberal area – there’s always been antisemitism around anyway, but it’s mostly just been swastikas on flyers, or people advocating for BDS, not anything that’s made me actually worry for my safety. But in the last 5 months there have been bomb threats at my synagogue, and just last week a kid got beat up for being Jewish at our local high school. He doesn’t want to report it. He’s worried it will make it worse.

I bought a Magen David to wear in November. At the time it seemed like the best way to fight antisemitism was to be visibly Jewish, to show that we’re just normal people like everyone else. Plus, I figured that if me being Jewish was going to be a problem for someone, then I would make it a problem right away and not waste time. I’ve worn it almost constantly since, but the one time I took it off was when I burnt my finger in December and had to go to urgent care. I didn’t think about it too much when I did it, but I thought about it for a long time after – I didn’t feel good about having made that choice.

The conclusion I came to is that the training that my elders had been so careful to instill in me kicked in. I was hurt, and scared, and the voice inside my head that sounds like my grandmother said, “don’t give them a reason to be bad to you. Fight when you’re well, but for now – survive.” It still felt cowardly, but it was also a connection to my ancestors who heeded the same voice well enough to survive. And it enrages me that that voice has been necessary in the past. And it enrages me that things are bad enough now that my instinct is that I need to hide who I am to receive appropriate medical care.

I wish I had some sort of final thought to tie this all together other than, “this sucks and I hate it,” but I really don’t. I could call for people to examine their antisemitic biases, but I’m not foolish enough to think that this will reach the people who need to do so. I could wish for a future where everything I’ve talked about here exists only in history books, and the Jewish experience is no longer tied to feeling this pain, but that’s basically wishing for the moshiach, and I’m not going to hold my breath.

I guess I’ll end it with the thought that through all of this hate and pain and fear, we’re still here. And we’re still joyful as well. As much as so many people have tried over literally THOUSANDS of years to eradicate us, I’m still here, I’m still Jewish, and being Jewish still makes me happy.

Am Yisrael Chai.

[imfluentinfangirlandgay]

A Father's Resolve - Ch 7

Ingo returns after a decade - with two extra cars in tow. Years later, his kids are swallowed up by time in the same way he was. Will he be able to find them? Will they be able to make it out alive?

Word Count: ~2300

"Come on, Rei, we should battle! See what our new teams can do!" Akari begged. 

"Isn't there a request from someone in the Diamond Clan that Laventon mentioned?" Rei asked. 

"Yeah but this won't take long! Promise!" 

"Fine," he relented, "but I'm bringing Spark Plug with me. I know you'll just spam some new water move on Campfire." 

"Telling me your losing strategy already?" his sister teased as he gathered up the pokeballs. 

They trekked to the pastures to make a better team for themselves as they considered what they would bring. It was so odd to see their captured, but not in use, pokemon playing together in the fields. The townsfolk avoided this area. 

Then they set off for the dojo that Laventon had pointed out the night before. It was caged in by a half-wall, with a dirt patch set up like a fighting arena. It was small, but it would definitely work. 

"Let's do this," Rei breathed. They hadn't properly battled in weeks. 

They both sent out their starter first, Rei with Campfire and Akari with Riptide. Unfortunately, Rei knew exactly where this was going. “Campfire, return!” He threw out Spark Plug, the little Shinx meowing in challenge. Akari smirked. As Rei fired off a Thunder Shock, she sent out Bonnie the Ponyta, who took it like a champ. Rei gritted his teeth. 

“Bonnie, Stomp!” Akari called. Rei flicked his wrist. The horse stomped onto thin air as Spark Plug dodged with blinding speed, setting off in a Quick Attack, which hit the horse square in the chest, sending it skidding back a few paces. It still stood its ground. 

“Spark Plug, one more Quick Attack!” The cat responded with a speedy headbutt that the horse did not have time to respond to. It fell to its knees with a mournful whinny as Akari recalled it, sending out Riptide once again. She gritted her teeth. 

“Tackle! Now!” Oshawott screwed its eyes in a glare and ran at Spark Plug, throwing its entire body into its opponent. It was a critical hit. Spark Plug fell quickly. Rei hurriedly sent out a different pokemon as Akari smirked- and then her face fell. It was not Campfire that Rei had sent out. 

An Eevee stood on the field, it's body in a battle stance. He was hoping for the best with this. He watched as Akari scanned the field. “Swift!” Five white stars shot from Eevee, locking onto Riptide and following it even as it tried to run. The water pokemon tripped as it took the brunt of the attack, but it still stood back up. It managed to shoot off an Aqua Jet and took out the fragile Eevee. Rei recalled it and sent out his final pokemon. He needed to end this. “Quick Attack!”

“Aqua Jet!” 

Both twins watched with bated breath as the wounded Oshawott and the disadvantaged fire type both carried out their commands, both colliding a with each other and bouncing back, residual ocean spray and dust kicking up and blocking out any vision and making Rei blink away debris until-

Only one pokemon still stood. Cyndaquil, its body coated with mud as it's back flames flickered for a moment before glowing brightly once more in triumph. Riptide was laying in the mud on its back, unconscious. 

Rei whooped and ran over to his little pokemon, lifting it up by the armpits. “You did amazingly, Campfire! I'm so proud of you!” The fire-type smiled at him and whistled in excitement as the swung it around in the air. He set the baby back down as his sister was approaching her pokemon, bringing the Oshawott back to consciousness. “You did really well, too, Riptide.”

“You sure did, bud. Get some rest now.” It disappeared into the pokeball in a flash of light. Akari turned to Campfire and patted him on the head. “And good job to you! It's impressive that you could bring down a pokemon of a type that has an advantage over you!” It hummed at her as Rei recalled it and helped her to her feet, brushing off her pants. 

"Oh, so you're the rookies everyone's been talking about!" Rei jumped at the booming voice and turned, his smug expression wiped clear off his face. Before him stood a tall, muscular woman. She was broad, with a red tunic emblazoned with the Galaxy Team logo. Her fiery red hair was pulled up into a flowing curly mane on top of her head. "Name's Zisu. You two have some fight in you. I wanted to stop by and give what advice I could." She grinned and slapped his back, making him see stars. 

How was she this tall? She had to be at least 7 feet tall. She towered over Rei, her hands relaxing on her hips. "You know, if your pokemon masters a move, you can use it in different styles!" Rei tried to listen, he really did, but his ears were ringing. He remembered something his father had mentioned a long time ago. 

"Daddy?" Rei picked up his Lillipup plush and stared at it, making it hop up and down. 

"What is it, little cub?" Dad had asked, turning his head to gaze at his son over the paperwork he was filling out. 

"What was Mommy like?" The boy's silver eyes had laid upon his father's as he awaited an answer. His sister had looked up from her playing as well, her small hands that gripped her dolls pausing in their actions. 

"Well," he had said, sitting up and pushing away the paper, "she was a fighter, for one thing. Loved pokemon battles, almost as much as your uncle," he chuckled. He stared out the window, his eyes misty. "I wouldn't be surprised if you both grew up taller than me." 

"Why?" Rei had asked, hugging his plush to his chest and cocking his head. 

"Your mother was very, very tall," his father said. "Towered over me and just about everyone else. She was good at pokemon battles and wrestling." He looked between his twin children. "I do wish one of you had gotten her red hair," he lamented, ruffling Rei’s hair and making him giggle, "but this way you two get to match!"

"She's the one who wanted to name us, right Daddy?" Akari had joined them at the table, her small hands grabbing the edge and standing on her tiptoes to see them. 

Ingo had taken her into his lap. "That's right, cub. The heros were the only ones to ever beat her in a pokemon battle." 

"Wow," Akari said in wonder, her silver eyes sparkling, "she must have been really good." 

"She was very good," their father had said. "Very very good." 

Rei locked eyes with his sister, who looked just as shocked as he did. She'd figured it out, too. 

"... and if you need any cool new moves for your pokemon, just let me know!" Zisu boomed, her grin wide. 

"Y-yeah, we will," Akari stammered. "We should probably go, uh, check with Laventon about the Diamond Clan stuff now." Rei nodded in agreement, his wits slowly returning to him. 

"I'll see you two around, then," she waved as they made their escape. 

"I didn't think she'd be here!" Rei whispered in Unovan to his sister. 

"I thought she'd be someone from the Pearl Clan!" 

"I did too!" 

"What do we do?" she whispered to him, her hands shaking. "Our dead mom is just living in the village! With us!"

"She doesn't know yet," he pointed out, "we haven't been born yet. And she's not dead. Here. Yet. Has she even met Dad?" 

"I have no idea," Akari whispered. 

"I say we just pretend everything's normal. Maybe we can get to know her a bit," Rei said. 

"How? She might figure it out!"

"That we're her kids from the future that she had with a member of a different Clan? I don't think that's the first conclusion she'd jump to," he retorted. "Look, it's weird, yeah, but if we pretend everything's fine, then everything's fine. We're essentially strangers to her. We don't even really look like her." 

Akari sighed. "It just feels so weird." 

"Oh I agree," he remarked, "but I mean, what do we say? We need to do our jobs and she has things we can use, like training. I think that's gonna be a rare thing out here. We can't just say we refuse to see her just because." 

"Yeah," his sister sighed. "You're right."

"I know I am," he smirked. "Now let's go see what this mission entails." 

They met up with Laventon, who informed them that they should go meet with Mai, a Warden from the Diamond Clan, in the Obsidian Fieldlands. That was easy enough, Rei thought. The sun was up and out, the sky almost unbroken blue. There was a light breeze, but not much to complain about. They trekked to the Fieldlands, the now-familiar tents beginning to come into view as they came over the hill.

“Boo!” Rei jumped at the voice suddenly behind him and whirled around. A head of blonde hair bobbed in laughter. “Did I get you? I bet I did. Just wanted to come by and wish you guys luck. You know about the Back Strike Technique? It's a bit of a secret.” Rei breathed a sigh of relief. It was just that merchant from the other day. 

“Oh- uh, yeah, thanks, Volo,” Akari stammered. “We best be on our way…”

“Of course, don't let me keep you up!” He waved at them jovially and set off in the opposite direction down the path. The twins looked at each other and shrugged. They kept walking. 

Laventon waved to them from the camp and pointed to the bridge. “Down there is where Mai is waiting. She said she needed help with something important. I'm sure you'll be the perfect folks for the job!” 

The twins bobbed their heads and immediately set off, making sure to give any Shinx a wide berth lest they get a repeat of yesterday. 

—-----

After their spat, Elesa had insisted on taking the trio out for dinner. And in order to do so, showers were in order. Emmet had gone first, allowing Ingo and Elesa some time to themselves as he scrubbed himself clean. His hair regained its light silver hue. He shaved and scrubbed and cleaned for well over half an hour before finally emerging, a towel over the bottom half of his body and wet hair dripping into his eyes. 

“You'd better not be dripping water all over the carpet!” Elesa shouted from the kitchen. 

“You don't even pay the mortgage here!” Emmet cursed to himself as he shivered.

Arceus. It was cold out here. He hurried to his bedroom to get clothes on. 

He heard Elesa arguing with his brother and a few short minutes later, the shower turned on again. Emmet rolled his eyes as he threw on a t-shirt and some pants and ruffled his hair with the towel. He'd left his hairbrush in the bathroom. 

“Who's in the bathroom?” he asked as he approached the door. 

“S'not me,” came Elesa's reply from the kitchen. Emmet opened the door without any hesitation. The steam was the first thing to hit him square in the face, warm and humid. Then Ingo's shout as his gaunt face poked out of the shower curtain, his hair in his eyes, still with shampoo in it. 

“Hey! I'm showering here!”

“As if we don't have literally the same junk. I'm grabbing my hairbrush, ya big baby.”

“I've heard of this fantastic new phenomenon called knocking!” 

“Oh! You'll have to show me sometime, I must not have gotten the memo.” Emmet stood stubbornly in the bathroom, the door still half open as he brushed his hair in the foggy mirror, smirking. 

“Oh my Arc, get out. You're letting in the cold air.” Ingo flung water at him, forcing him to make a tactical retreat as he sniggered. 

Emmet brushed his hair and made himself presentable as the shower shut off. Elesa was scrolling her phone on the couch as she waited for the twins to finish up. “How do you feel about Carthey's?” 

“That sounds fine to me.” He knew Ingo also like Carthey's well enough. Emmet adjusted his button-up, popping the collar and making sure the buttons were all fastened. Before long, his brother appeared in the front room as well, looking identical to Emmet. “One of us is going to have to change,” Emmet grinned. 

“You've been recycling that joke for over thirty years.” 

“And it's funny every single time!” 

“I beg to differ.”

“Then beg.” Ingo squinted at Emmet, who was grinning like an idiot. He scoffed, but Emmet could see the twinkle returning to his eyes. Good. 

“Ig? Carthey's? Yay or nay?” Elesa cut in. 

“That sounds lovely tonight. Been awhile since we had it.” Ingo was popping his own collar and smoothing out his shirt. He looked worlds better than he had the night before. He was still struggling, that much was obvious; the bags under his eyes were still there and his fingers still shook slightly with exhaustion. But the shadows were not as consuming, his shaking had reduced to tremors, the lights in his eyes had somewhat returned. Emmet knew from firsthand experience that he would not be okay until he got his babies back, but in the meantime, Emmet was happy to see his brother back from being a walking corpse. 

“I'm willing to bet it's been awhile since you had anything. I'm ready to go whenever you dorks are.” The trio crowded out the door and Emmet locked it behind them, telling Haxorus to watch over the house while they were gone.

[First] - [Previous] - [Next]

[srmthg]

what’s it like being fandom vip for an almost-20 year old mid-00s show? got any interesting stories?

OOOOOOOOOOHOHOHO DO I

I've been in this fandom since it was airing on TV - got into it about partway through. I was in charge of the fandom's largest message board for a while at an age and tendency to go a little power mad where I should not have been in charge of anything TBH. Overall it was a great place to be, but there was the occasional drama that comes with a bunch of teenagers governing themselves. It's hard to put into brief words just how different early 2000s fandom was on so many levels, both as far as how fandom operated and what its general values were. IDK how old you are, anon, but for younger readers, social media as we know it didn't exist and interacting with creators of shows was a VERY rare occurrence. I think Ciro popped in once or twice but when I still lose my mind whenever I mention a show on Twitter and a staff member so much as "likes" my post. It's still kinda surreal to me. But glass half full - I met people there who helped me become a better person, a lot of whom I'm still friends with to this day, one of whom is now my queerplatonic partner. I got to travel to meet a few of them in person for the first time this year and it was one of the best experiences of my life. I wrote a looooot of fics back in the day too, but I think a lot of people don't realize just how prolific this fandom has been in general fanfic wise, because most of it is still only on fanfiction.net. AO3 has a little over 400 fics, about 1/3rd of which are mine. On FFN, there are a little over 2300 Monkey Team fics - more than some of its fandom contemporaries that has much bigger fanbases such as W.I.T.C.H., Jimmy Neutron, and Jake Long. This fandom WROTE. (Fun fact: IIRC I was the first one to start using "Spova" instead of "SprxNova" for the ship name and now that's a pretty universal thing, which I just think is neat. It's like I left a little mark on something I really love. ) But yeah, I could write a book about this but TL;DR this fandom is honestly the best and has only gotten better with age. I've seen so many talented kids grow into even more talented adults and shared so many memories with them - I feel more like I "grew up" with this fandom than my actual peers in high school. No other fandom is really like it and I'm so thankful it's still around and active. <3

[sapnapsimparc]

Cover me in sunshine

pairing: Dream/George/Sapnap

i cant be assed to do a whole ao3 tagging thing but they get naked. no smut though.

implied dnn to real dnn, oblivious clay | dream, idiots to lovers, all the good shit.

i was at 2300 words when i accidentally posted it and it just got longer

not proofread sorry

read it on ao3

''Dude, you gotta put some sunscreen on! You're gonna burn!'' Sapnap exclaimed, trying to reach his own back to put sunscreen on himself, his cheeks already white with it.

''I'll be fine'' Dream replied, gesturing for Sapnap to turn around so he could help him out.

''If you say so, man, but I won't be listening to your whining tomorrow, that's for sure'' Sapnap shrugged, pulling his Balenciaga hat down on his head so he doesn't get blinded by the sun as soon as he's out the back door. The two boys left the house, both ready to splash around and cool down from the Florida heat.

''Are you both sunscreened up?'' George asked, already sitting on the side of the pool. ''The sun here feels more intense than it does back in London, and I was already dying everytime I left my flat in the summer'' he complained.

''I am, this idiot is not though'' Sapnap pointed at Dream, and dropped his towel in one of the sunbeds.

''Dream, you have to protect your skin! You're white as a ghost, you will burn in two seconds!'' George scolded him, then moved a bit away from Sapnap, who just sat down, muttering a ''don't you dare stick to me, idiot'' as he did so.

''I'm fine, my skin is used to it. I used to be outside all the time as a kid, it's fine'' he rolled his eyes and jumped in the deep end of the pool without further comments. He didn't stay underwater for long, just enough to get used to the cold water. ''At least I can just go in the water already'' he boasted to his friends, who were still just on the edge of the pool, waiting for their backs and arms to dry.

''At least we won't be crispier than your mom's chicken, idiot'' Sapnap called back, pouting at the fact that he had to wait. ''You're not even wearing a hat, what if you get a sunstroke as well?''

''Would serve you right, going all the way, huh? Sunburn and sunstroke, all in one!'' George laughed at him, standing up and going into the house.

''Are you too hot already? Can't take a bit of sunlight?'' Dream teased, masking his curiousity as to where George was heading this soon.

''I am hot, yes, thank you'' was all he replied, then disappeared into the house.

Dream shrugged and started swimming on his belly, head out of the water so he could watch Sapnap kick the water with his feet idly.

''Come on in, I'm sure it soaked in already!'' Dream called him into the water.

''You're like a siren, dude, tempting me into the depths of the water just to watch me suffer later'' Sapnap laughed, but shook his head no. ''I burn very fast, don't wanna risk it. You shouldn't either, by the way'' he added.

''You're no fun'' Dream replied and swam away, this time properly.

''Dream!'' he heard a shout that made him stop and turn to the source of the voice. ''Catch!'' George said, and threw his OU baseball cap at him.

It landed two feet away from Dream's reach, floating towards him slowly.

''It's all wet now'' Dream pouted.

''Your hair is already soaked, you'll live! But you won't if you die of a sunstroke right in the middle of the fucking pool!'' George rolled his eyes at him, but Dream still felt a bit of warmth in his chest at the thought of George caring so much about him that he brought out his hat for him. He did end up putting his hat on, although overdramatized, huffing.

''Can you two come on in already?'' he asked impatiently.

George cautiously touched his own shoulders, then carefully placed his hand on Sapnap's back, but he must have deemed it dry enough, because he tried to push the younger in with all he had in himself.

''George, you bitch, you thought you were strong enough?'' Sapnap laughed when he noticed what was happening. He started getting up, making George run away from him, screeching like the idiot he is.

George ended up running to the stairs of the pool, running into it himself before Sapnap could throw him in. He started screaming even louder when his heated up skin made contact with the water, but he got used to it fast enough. He looked around for the other two, finding Dream in the far corner of the pool, grinning at the scene. Sapnap was nowhere to be found thoough.

He was just about to push himself from the floor of the pool into a swimming position, when Sapnap suddenly grabbed his waist from behind and threw him ahead, George screaming again, Sapnap laughing manically.

''You idiot!'' George came back up, wiping water from his eyes, catching his own bucket hat floating near him. ''I could've died!'' he yelled.

''Come on now, Georgie, don't be like that'' Dream teased as he swam closer.

Their morning and early afternoon was spent in and around the pool, playing and jumping around, swimming and breath holding contests never ending.

Once they got tired and hungry enough, they dried off, and Sapnap and George ran off to take a shower while Dream thought up some lunch. His mom's roasted chicken did sound really good, and they had some leftovers from the day before, but it wasn't nearly enough for three grown men. He set about to roast some vegetables and make some fries in their airfryer, something the other two could finish up if he goes to shower too.

--

After lunch, they opened the big couch in the livingroom, all of them spreading out, ready to take a nap together. Usually when all three of them got in bed, Sapnap would be in the middle, because he loved to cuddle the most, but this time they didn't even have the energy to get in position.

Dream was the first to wake, and as he went for a quick bathroom run, he caught himself in the mirror, red in the face. Cautiously he pulled his tshirt up on his back and craning his neck he checked - yup, his back was just as red as his face. He swore to not let the other two notice, lest they start their ''told you so'' rants. It didn't even hurt.

--

The next morning found them in cuddle formation in Dream's bed, and Dream gave silent thanks to every god ever for not being in the middle, so he could easily slide away from the other two without waking them. He held himself back from cursing until he got to the bathroom, opting for a quick cold shower in hopes of soothing his raging skin.

It didn't work. He was in pain fighting his shirt off, but as soon as the water hit his back he was hissing and cursing like an angry snake. That could be the reason he didn't hear the bathroom door opening, or George coming in, also getting undressed and ready to step in the shower with him. He did hear George's yelp, however, and he saw him jump away from the cold water.

''What the fuck is wrong with you?'' George yelled at him.

''What are you doing here, idiot?'' he yelled back, unable to decide whether he should cover his intimate parts or his angry red back and shoulders.

''I was going to join you, but why the fuck are you showering with cold water? Is our boiler broken?'' he asked incredulously. ''Did you have a wet dream or something?''

''I- No, wha- George!'' Dream spluttered, and closed the water off.

''Why are you two yelling?'' asked Sapnap from the doorway, sleepily rubbing his eyes. ''And why was I left alone to wake up?'' he pouted, finally looking at the two. ''Oh'' he concluded. ''You were gonna leave me out of the fun?''

''No, we-'' Dream started, right as George answered, ''Yes.'' The answer left Dream gaping at him and Sapnap pouting once again.

''That's rude'' Sapnap said and started taking off his sleep clothes too. ''Move, Georgie, we all gotta fit in there'' he pushed the other lightly.

''No! What? What are you both doing?'' Dream asked, now reaching for a towel to cover himself.

''Come on now, let's just shower and then get something to eat'' Sapnap reached for the shower handle.

''No!'' Dream stopped him, making the youngest jump a bit, then stare at them in confusion.

''Dream was taking a cold shower before I came in'' George butted in, arms crossed, eyebrow quirked.

''Oh. Why?'' Sapnap asked, looking at Dream for answers.

''I- Uh. Well-'' Dream stuttered, but one look at George's unimpressed face told him it wasn't enough. ''Igotsunburntandithurtsand. Ihopedacoldshowerwouldhelp'' he mumbled quickly, hoping the other two would leave him be.

''Wha'?'' Sapnap cocked his head to the side.

''I got sunburnt, okay? And it hurts. I hoped a cold shower would help, but it doesn't, it hurts when anything touches it, okay?'' Dream huffed angrily, on the verge of tears at the pain and also the embarrassment of the other two having been right.

''Oh, baby'' Sapnap muttered, grabbing his arm carefully and turning him around to inspect the damages. Both Sapnap and George hissed at the sight of Dream's muscly, toned back staring back at them like a ripe tomato. ''Oh, darling'' tutted the youngest, softly running a finger down the blond's back, taking it away quickly when he flinched.

''Hey now'' George took his other hand. ''Come on, put on some pants and lay on the bed, yeah? I'll get some cream for you'' he instructed gently, leading the sniffling boy out of the shower. He nodded at Sapnap, signaling him that he was free to go ahead and freshen up himself. ''I'll be back in a minute, okay? Get comfy'' he told Dream once they were in the bedroom, and George left for his own room, looking for his suitcase in hopes that it still held his second toiletry bag, full of creams and shit he never thought he'd need, aloe vera gel amongst them. He hurried back to the boy in pain.

''I'm back, it's okay'' he said softly, only then noticing he was still in his birth costume. ''Hold on'' he looked for some pants for himself as well before getting close to Dream. ''It will be a bit cold, okay? I'm sorry'' he muttered as he took some of the aloe gel in his hands and started carefully spreading on his back.

Dream hissed and whined, but he kept still as George worked the gel into his skin. He had the urge to jump up and run away, hide forever (or at least until his skin heals), but he powered through it.

''Good boy'' George muttered softly.

''Pff- Do- Do not call me that'' Dream choked on a laugh. ''I know twitter says I have a praise kink, or whatever, but I don't'' he explained intently.

''I don't care'' George replied. ''I wasn't saying it that way, anyway. You are just doing really good, I know it hurts but you pushed through. We're almost done'' he continued in a quiet voice, putting the bottle away and wiping his hands on some tissues.

''Oh'' Dream said. ''Oh'' he said again as he felt cold air hit his back. George was blowing gently on his lathered skin, cooling it even more after the soothing aloe gel. Dream relaxed a bit, trying hard not to feel weird by the interaction and also shutting out every memory from their morning.

--

The boys were all lying in bed, Dream on his stomach, the other two across each other in a way that couldn't be comfortable. They had breakfast in bed, courtesy of George, and now it was nearing lunch time.

''Why-'' Dream started, stopping as the other two jumped in unison. ''Sorry'' he said with a small laugh.

''Dude, you scared the shit out of us'' Sapnap said for the both of them. ''What?''

''Sorry, sorry'' Dream apologized again, smile on his face. ''So. Why were you two getting in the shower with me this morning?'' he asked the ten million dollar question.

''I thought that was normal?'' George asked back.

''Was it?'' Dream asked, not mad just confused.

''Well, at least one of us is with you each time you take a bath'' he explained. ''You come in all the time I shower. You left bed early and I wanted to check on you anyway.''

''Yeah, but we are just in the same room, those times. Not actually in the shower together!'' Dream exclaimed.

''Same difference, yeah? Sapnap and I shower together all the time'' George shrugged.

''You do?'' Dream asked, now even more confused and surprised.

''Yeah?'' Sapnap looked at him like he was in the wrong here, like it was common knowledge.

''Why?''

''Well, personally, I love looking at George when he's wet'' Sapnap said, grinning like the idiot he was at his own wording, earning a hit to his shoulder by George.

''Don't say it like that'' the other complained. ''For the record, I don't like looking at you with your hair all sloppy and in your face. You loon like a soaked dog'' he said with his usual cool tone.

''Can we back up and rewind to the part where you two shower together? Since when?''

''Since George got here, I guess?''

''Yeah. To be fair, it started out with me not being able to figure out how your shower works'' George explained, as if that should've helped Dream understand any better.

''So what, are you two like, fucking and shit?'' Dream lost all filter he had in his confused state. Maybe the heatstroke (that he didn't even have) was also hitting in.

Sapnap and George looked at each other for a second.

''No'' George answered in the end. ''We wanted to wait for you'' he said as if that was supposed to be clear from the start.

''What do I have to do with all of this?'' Dream asked, feeling like he was losing any and all sanity he ever had.

''Well... You are part of this relationship, right?'' Sapnap asked, now a bit worried himself.

''This... what?''

''Oh my god'' George sat up suddenly. ''Are you. Oh my. Fuck. Okay, let's. Let's just start from the beginning, yeah?''

Dream nodded, sitting up as well, suddenly feeling exposed without a shirt on.

''Dream, do you remember that time we were in the call as I was packing for moving? After my visa got approved'' George started off.

Dream nodded again. He remembered. He was so excited, he was finally getting to see George after so long.

''And we said, and I quote, 'We can finally be together in every sense of the word', you remember that?'' Sapnap continued, also sitting up, leaning on George's shoulder for support.

''Yeah. 'Physically and shit''' Dream finished the quote.

''Exactly'' George agreed. ''And then we listed all the things, again, that we were going to do. Do you remember those?''

''Kiss and cuddle every night, cook together, never let each other go?'' Dream recalled the list, slowly but surely seeing where the other two were coming from.

''Going on dates and holding hands'' Sapnap finished off the list.

''We do cuddle a lot, cook and eat together, basically attached at the hip'' George started, ''we just figured you weren't ready for the kissing and the... more physical part of it all.''

''And like, it's fine if you're not ready, you know?'' Sapnap added. ''We will wait for you, always'' he said eagerly.

''If that is something you want?'' George asked softly. ''Dream, listen. You honestly look like it's news for you that the three of us- we are dating. All three. So if that is not something you want, or if you need time to think, we can leave you for a bit, or even call it all off, okay? Take your time, ba- buddy.''

''Buddy'' Sapnap snickered. ''But yeah, we love you but we also love you as a friend, okay? You're important to us, whichever way we get you'' he said sincerely.

Dream just stared at them.

''As in like. We are... boyfriends?'' he ended up asking.

''Yeah.''

''If you want.''

''Oh'' was all Dream could say.

''Okay. Uhm. You look really. Perplexed. So we're gonna leave for a bit, okay? We're gonna order lunch, let you think it through, yeah?'' George stood up, taking Sapnap's hand and pulling him up. ''We'll let you know when the food is here, but you're free to stay alone if you need to, okay?'' George reassured him from the door. ''We love you, never forget that'' he smiled at him, and moved to close the door.

''Wait!'' Dream called after them weakly. ''Don't- Don't leave me!'' he said, but the boys on the other side of the door couldn't hear him anymore.

--

''Are you sure this is a good idea? To leave him alone I mean?'' Sapnap asked quietly, glancing back at the closed door.

''I have no idea'' George sighed, moving to hug the boyfriend he was sure he had. ''I'm just not sure how he missed the memo'' he admitted. ''I know we joked a lot, but... these were never jokes, right?''

''Not to me, they weren't'' Sapnap said reassuringly, holding George close. ''Let's hope for the best.''

''But prepare for the worst, right?'' George pulled away suddenly, moving towards the kitchen to actually look for some food or at least do something. ''What if he decides he doesn't want to be with us? I mean'' he ran his hand through his bedhair. ''I mean, obviously, we won't force him! But Sapnap, as much as I love you and love being with you, we're a trio! Right?'' he paced around nervously.

''Hey, hey, baby, darling, look at me'' Sapnap caught him mid-pace, turning him to look him in the eye. ''He belongs with us, okay? Us three, we belong together. Friends or more, but it's always a three, okay?''

''But I love you. Both of you'' George muttered, tears in his eyes, focusing his eyes on Sapnap's, trying to match his breathing to his.

''I do too, you know that'' he reassured. ''How 'bout this, then, yeah? If he says no, which I don't think he will, but if he does. If he says no, we also stop for a bit. If we can all just be friends, we stay friends. If we can't, we, us two, we keep dating, yeah? I need to kiss you right now holy shit'' Sapnap interrupted himself, pulling away quickly.

''Do it then'' came a voice from behind them, making them jump.

''Dude! That's twice in one day!'' Sapnap complained.

''Sorry. Wasn't trying to. But do it. Don't hold back on my account'' Dream told them, almost like an order.

''Dream-'' George started, but he got interrupted by the man himself.

''No, whatever I say, I don't want you holding back because you are waiting on me. You two- well, us three? Anyway. You have been dating for three weeks now. Kiss. Hug. All that shit. You deserve it. Regardless of what I am ready or willing to do'' Dream explained, but it felt like he was holding something back.

''And? Where's the catch?'' Sapnap asked, suspicious.

''Okay. I kinda want to see you two kiss. Just to make sure it makes me. Feel. You know. That I want to be in it with you both'' he explained, shrugging.

''That's bordering on exhibitionism'' George teased.

''George! What? No!'' Dream defended himself quickly. ''I guess I just want to know if... you know. If I feel jealous, or if it seems... right, I guess? Because if I'm jealous, that means I only want one of you, right? If I want to be with both of you I should feel comfortable watching you two be in love. Right? Is that how this works?'' And for once in his life, Dream's curved way of thinking actually made sense.

And he was also in love with both of them.

As George and Sapnap reluctantly leaned in and kissed for the first time (well, first time sober, they don't talk about the first time when Sapnap visited George in London), Dream only felt peace. He felt happy seeing his favorite people love each other, lose themselves in each other. He did feel a bit like he was missing out, though.

''Okay, enough now, come on, my turn!'' he walked closer to them, worming his way into the embrace.

They had a lot to talk about, boundaries and all that. But for now, being able to finally be close and call each other boyfriends was enough for them.

[littlegodzilla]

Hi! I know I left this story time ago a little abandoned but I have a few new ideas and I wanted to write a little more.

I hope you like it!

I put the links from the other parts if you want to refresh your minds with the story.

Part 1 Part 2

*****

The Story about Music a Chickens

Daryl Dixon x Reader.

Mini serie part 3

Alexandria Non Canon but with little details from all seasons.

Warnings: None.

Words: 2300

Taglist: @phoenixblack89 @browneyes528 @pncnsc @lilythemadqueen @darylsgarden @thefemininemystiquee @ruinedbythehobbit @xxtinasxxblog @hail-yourselves @ravenwings73

≈≈≈≈

Part 3.

-

A small silence settles between you, you collect the eggs from the nests of the laying hens and peek into the other henhouse where the hens live with the rooster, you smile half-sideways to discover several chicks, nervously looking around, their mothers have gone out into the small enclosure to peck the seeds and bugs they find, but they are scared, and your presence does not improve the situation. So as not to overwhelm them you go out again, letting the animals run around freely a little longer. Daryl watches you from outside, the rooster is still threatening his integrity and to avoid accidents the archer prefers to wait outside.

"Looks like ya've an admirer." You hear him say, you turn around discovering a small chick walking behind you, but seeing himself discovered he chirps coming back inside the coop making you laugh, Daryl smiles too.

"They are growing very fast, and they look healthy, that's a very good sign." You say walking out of the enclosure and show him the basket with the eggs.

"Yeah, Alexandria's gettin' a lucky break, finally." He picks up the basket looking at the eggs and chews her lip several times. "What did ya plant with Tara? Ya seemed excited." He wants to know curiously and your smile widens.

"Pumpkins and watermelons." You smile proudly. "It's still very early, but hopefully by the months of what we'll discover as summer, it will all come out." You say and nod.

"If we can figure out when it's summer." He jokes and you laugh with him.

"It will be fun to watch them grow and the kids will love the watermelon, fresh and juicy."

"I'm sure they will." He nods his head as well.

The two of you set off back to the main house, to leave the food there, leaving Olivia to ration it out for the rest of the community. Daryl walks beside you, thinking about the joke you said earlier, about flirting with you openly, he'd rather walk away, he missed his chance, he knows it, however when you look at him and smile at him like that, he can't walk away.

**

You are at home looking at your radio, trying to make it work yourself. The solar panel is being repaired by Eugene, but the man has told you that he may need some microchip and radio parts to get it working again. You fiddle with the wires even though you're not sure what you're doing. You sigh wearily setting the device aside.

"Is everything okay?" Carol's voice next to you makes you blush.

"It's nothing." You shrug it off as unimportant.

It's been a month and a half since Carol last went to Alexandria for community issues and to visit her people. Every so often all the leaders meet in Alexandria to give a report that everything is going well, any changes that may have occurred and if there are any emergencies that require the help of extra manpower or to watch out for people who don't seem to have good intentions. For the moment it is just a routine meeting, King Ezekiel has returned with Carol, Henry and with Jerry, Maggie, Glenn and little Hershel have also come, the children at once have gone to play while the adults were in meeting, but apparently it is over and now Carol looks at you with that face of knowing what is going through your mind, but letting you be the one to tell her what you feel ready and you sigh again.

"I think I've upset Daryl..." You mutter looking at her out of the corner of your eye.

"Daryl? What happened?"

"I joked that if he wanted to hit on me that he should do it directly and I think he's been avoiding me since then."

"I thought you were the one avoiding him."

"No, I'm not..." You shut up and look at her frowning, confused.

"Daryl told me that you're avoiding him..." She shrugs and looks at you curiously.

"He told you that?" You're surprised but then you remember Eugene's words again and stammer. "I didn't... well yes, but not on purpose, I..." You lick your lips nervously. "Eugene knew that I liked Daryl and I was.... I was afraid Daryl would find out too..."

"So yes, you were avoiding him."

"A little..." You mumble lowering your gaze.

"Why don't you talk to him and have him help you find those pieces you need? You two have always gotten along, for you to be avoiding him now is strange, don't you think?"

You look at her trying to find an excuse, but you stay quiet, maybe she's right, pushing Daryl away just because you're afraid of him knowing your feelings is acting like a child, if the man knows and someday talks about it, you'll face whatever he has to say about it. Whatever it was.

**

The rest of the day passes calmly, everyone continues to work, reinforcing Alexandria, teaching the children, both with their studies and teaching them fighting techniques, you go back to your vegetable garden, you want to water the seeds you planted, pick some lettuce and even some carrots. You stop when you discover Daryl there, he is with the hose, watering the vegetables that are starting to grow and what is still underground, he has his finger in the mouth of the hose so that the water doesn't hit the smaller plants directly and spoil them. You watch him silently, hair sticking to his forehead, sweat rolling down his neck, he frowns due to the sun beating cruelly into his eyes and bites his lip as he moves across the field.

"It doesn't look bad on you." You tell him suddenly and he turns to face where you are, bends the hose and the water stops coming out. "Maybe when you retire you could take up farming, as a market gardener." You joke and see him snort in amusement.

"When I retire? How old do y'think I am, girl?" you notice he's joking too and you relax, pretend to think.

"You're right, you should be retired by now..."

A scream escapes your mouth as Daryl lets go of the hose, the water runs again and hits you directly, the water is cold, the heat is starting to take over the community and you are grateful for the cool temperature, but it was such a surprise that the scream was involuntary. Daryl picks it up again, he doesn't want to laugh, but it's unavoidable, laughter escapes between his teeth seeing you there completely soaked.

"Ya need anythin' or did ya just come to make fun of this old man?"

"Well..." You shake the water off your arms and body and show him your basket. "I was coming to get some things for The Kingdom and Hilltop, but I didn't expect you to be here."

"Someone had to." He shrugs out of the field and walks over to the faucet where the hose is and turn it off.

"Thanks..." You smile a little getting closer watching him silently.

You leave the basket at the entrance of the vegetable garden and bend down to pick the lettuces that are already grown, you also discover some ripe tomatoes and even some cucumbers. You smile broadly, you are excited and put your nose on one of the tomatoes, you almost feel like crying with the smell of wet soil and the characteristic smell of the tomato itself.

Daryl looks at you from the other side as he picks up the hose, he likes to see you so excited about the garden, about taking care of the animals, about teaching the children, Alexandria has been through some tough times, almost building from scratch again, but you have been able to move forward, to fight for your future. Daryl walks up to you and helps you pick up everything that is already edible.

"Do you want to come with me to the mall again?" You say to him suddenly. "We could look for parts for my radio, it's broken and Eugene needs them... maybe we could find some more music..." You say looking sideways at him.

"To the mall? Yeah sure, I'll talk to Rick in case he needs us to bring anythin' in particular... Do ya like the music I brought ya?" he asks with a shrug.

"It's not what I used to listen to, but I love it." You smile broadly. "Eugene's fixing my radio, it got messed up with the Lord of the Rings soundtrack and now I can't hear it again, but... I'd like to find something new."

Daryl smiles and nods, when you arrive at the main house, you go straight to talk to Olivia to give her what you took from the farm, Daryl looks for Rick throughout the house finding him with Michonne and the rest of the council, when he sees his friend appear, he smiles under his beard approaching towards him.

"Everything okay?" He asks looking at him intently.

"Yeah, I'm gonna out to get some stuff, quick trip." He explains and comments that he's going with you, Rick's intense gesture turns into an amused grimace. "Ya need us to get anythin'? We're going to the mall again."

"Okay, be careful and stay alert, anything you see or notice...and if you see anything that might be of use, it's always welcome."

"Perfect, we'll be back before dark."

"Okay, Daryl." He stops him before he walks away, he looks at him raising his eyebrows by way of question. "I don't know what's going on with you and her, but... maybe you both should talk while you're... alone." He shoots her a meaningful look and Daryl feels his cheeks burn.

"I dunno what ya mean, I ain't..."

"Don't worry, you don't have to explain yourself to me if you don't want to, if you don't feel ready." He calms him down and before he says anything, he goes back to Michonne and the others.

Daryl stands there for a second longer before turning and walking out of the house, biting his thumb thoughtfully, waiting for you to leave as well to go on your patrol to the mall.

**

You cuddle up against his back as you leave the community, the bike roars with you and you close your eyes letting yourself drift with the purr of the vehicle and the warmth his body gives off. Daryl doesn't say anything he lets you settle against him as he drives towards the mall, Rick's words still echoing in his head but he tries to push it from his mind, he doesn't need that now.

He stops the bike when you both reach the mall. You separate from his back getting off the bike just as he does, he picks up the crossbow fitting it on his back and you follow him to the huge building. You don't open your mouth again, like last time he knocks on the door several times, you look out, but there is no movement which relieves you both. You enter in silence, it doesn't look like anyone has been through there since last time, there are several leaks and puddles on the floor from past storms, but nothing more serious.

"Where's the store?" You ask at last and Daryl points his nose up.

"Upstairs."

Watching for any movement you climb up towards the record store. A small smile comes across your face as you enter the place discovering the long shelves full of records and albums. You stroll down the long aisles running your fingers along the covers of the various bands that are there. Daryl watches you curiously looking absentmindedly through the shelves.

"What kind of music...did ya used to listen to?" he asks you when you stop to look in a drawer.

"Well, I have a varied taste, my brother influenced my tastes a lot." You laugh because there is surprise in his look, he clearly wasn't expecting it. "There were four of us; three girls and a boy... he was the oldest, he's always been the one who guided us a bit." You tell him with a sad smile, Daryl regrets a little that he said anything.

"I'm sorry..." He mumbles, but you shake your head dismissing it as unimportant. He smiles a little and between his hands he plays a CD of a band you don't know.

"Do you recommend it?"

He looks at you in surprise, you shrug and he chuckles.

"Ya've never heard anythin' by them?" He says showing you the album and you shake your head. "They didn't last long, but they weren't bad either." He tells you and you pick up the record looking at it curiously.

"Possibly I wasn't even born." You laugh at the band's year, but put it away in your backpack. "Will you listen to it with me? You found it." You offer and bite your lip looking at him pleadingly. "Please?"

"Sure." He laughs low with a shrug. "I can help ya fix the radio."

"Eugene wanted to get some parts to fix it, but maybe we can get one of these to work." You say looking at the different radios and turntables in the store.

"We'll take a few of them, I'm sure the kids will like them." He agrees and walks over to one of the shelves picking up one of the record players that is full of dust.

Daryl walks around the shelves grabbing what you could take with you on the bike, the turntables are a bit bigger and heavier, they couldn't take it all, but if people liked the idea of music they could come back with a bigger car. A small smile breaks out on his face at the thought, but it doesn't last too long.

The unmistakable sound of a rifle loading reaches his ears. Daryl's body tenses, his pulse quickens and his heartbeat echoes in his ears as he turns to look at you, you're excitedly grabbing some records and tapes you didn't even realize you were alone.

"Get down!" Yells Daryl.

Your gazes meet, in both of your eyes there is surprise and fear. Daryl runs straight towards you.

A gunshot is heard from behind him.

To be continued...

***

I hope you liked it!!

See you in the next stories!

[bobthebobking]

POKES YOU POKES YOU POKES YOUR tell me abt your wips <333 super interested in ink's awakening and ALSO,,,,, any tidbits of info you could give me about niko and link <33

for this ask meme. anyone else who sees this, feel free to send an ask if anything catches your eye! and ty hyper for my life <3

i’m gonna post a snippet about niko and link first, assuming u mean link & niko leaving new hyrule bc i love it sm and want some of it to see the light of day kdfjgnjd disclaimer that i haven’t really edited this at all :’) 

premise is that link feels restless and wants go sailing again, he and niko are around mid-late 20s and New Hyrule is becoming decently established. i have like 2300 words written in the doc for it, this is just the beginning >:)

~ ~ ~

Link thought he was safe, that he hadn't been seen. But apparently he'd lost some of his sneaking ability in the years since settling in New Hyrule, because hurried steps crunched along the shore toward him. 

"Link?? What the hell are you doing out here so late?" an incredulous whisper hissed behind him.

"I'm leaving." 

"On your own? Does Tetra know?" 

"Duh, I'm not an idiot." 

"What about Aryll?" 

". . . She'll figure it out." 

Niko stared at him, stunned, and nearly shouted, "You didn't tell Aryll!?" 

"Shh!" Link rushed to cover Niko's mouth with his hands. 

Niko slapped them away and lowered his voice to an angry hiss, "You're the only family she has and you're just leaving?”

Link huffed as he turned back to the S.S. Linebeck, "She'll be fine, Niko, she has-" 

"Link," Niko ground out through his teeth. This argument was going nowhere. Link took a breath, trying to avoid escalating this into a shouting match. 

"You can't change my mind about this, Niko." Link finally looked at his friend properly to find wide, wet eyes staring up at him beneath the angry furrow of his brow and oh, gods, if Niko cries… Link straightened his shoulders as he turned to fully face the shorter man. Much softer than he intended, Link repeated himself. "I'm leaving." 

Niko worked his jaw for a few moments, staring at Link, until-

"I'm coming with you." 

Link blinked. 

"What? No you aren't." 

"Yes I am, you big octo bastard. Someone has to make sure you don't get yourself killed. Give me 20 minutes." 

With that, Niko ran back to his house, presumably to pack his things, leaving a stunned Link on the dock.

~ ~ ~

what if.. niko and link went sailing together and fell in love... haha just kidding....... unless? KDFNGKJD they mean sm to me and its CRIMINAL that like there isn’t any content about them. niko gave link bombs theyre practically soulmates HELLO!!! in this fic they’ll have some shenanigans and close calls and a fun lil adventure exploring the sea <3 also yes they’re stealing the ss linebeck bc linebeck’s out exploring new hyrule for treasure. link’s been maintaining it in his absence n hes just like ok u know what? free ship. byeeee

gonna put the stuff about ink's awakening under a read more bc talking about it might reveal major spoilers about exit/corners, a free browser puzzle/mystery vn that you can play in its entirety HERE. I highly encourage everyone to play it bc it’s amazing and free :]

ok so the ink’s awakening stuff is basically just like.. a universe swap? bc e/c and link’s awakening have similar aspects, especially in the beginning and the general premise. ink and link both wake up in a strange bed with a pretty girl, fall in love with her, and have to go through many puzzles and near-death experiences and such in order to leave... and then 🙊🙊🙊

i really just wanted to doodle ink+aether and link+marin in each others outfits and cutscenes bc like it would just be so good! marin is so wild she would do so well in a death game vn, she’d finally be allowed to say fuck. and aether is so sweet she deserves to have a nice little island life <333 here are aether and marin’s outfit swap doodles i’ve already done, i love them so much

i havent had the chance to do ink and link yet but here are lil doodles kdfjngkd

the text says “well, this is awkward!”, one of the first dialogue options in e/c and it makes me laugh every time i love ink so much <333 and imagining him saying that after being shipwrecked on a remote island is even funnier KJDFNGD and link in a lil detective coat and scarf like.. how can u not want that in ur life!! link is a master puzzle solver and he would do amazingly well in exit/corners (exit/koholint hehe)

ty again for the ask!! <3333

[peterjonesparker]

i have too many feelings about michelle jones so here have headcanons and peter x michelle

this was obnoxiously long because i have no control so lots of stuff is under the cut and it became very fic-like at the end there, whoops. 

one (THIS ONE!) | two | three | four | five | six | seven | eight | nine

so michelle moved with her family to new york when she started high school

and mj was actually pretty sad to leave her friends back in chicago because it had taken a long time to make those friends and she always feels awkward around new people

so she isn’t very happy about The Move

she comes from a loving family

like, she gets kissed every night before she goes to bed, her parents read her bedtime stories until she was ten, she used to wear matching outfits with her mother, family movie nights were every friday

her parents were really good to her for the most part and just loved and supported her

they’re also pretty smart and since mj has pretty much always been inspired by them so intelligence and the acquisition of knowledge is really important to her

hence reading and academic decathlon, but she’s also into math and science too because she’s very driven and doesn’t have that many friends in new york so what else is she gonna do?

and her parents are an interracial couple and they’ve encountered a lot of hate and mj was always so sad when she walked out with her mother and people would give them weird looks

so she’s tried to end hate whenever she can and fights to give a voice to those who are silenced

but now cue mj going to high school in new york

she joins academic decathlon ofc because who do you think she is she lives for this shit

and then! there is this little shithead on the team PETER PARKER

like who the fuck does this kid think he is

answering all these questions, acting like he’s sooo smart just because he happens to know a lot of facts and is really good at physics and speaks spanish really well and also happens to be really dorky and adorable and okay maybe he’s kind of attractive too and maybe mj starts throwing herself more into academic decathlon and possible CONSIDERS joining band but that’s ONLY BECAUSE PETER IS A SHITHEAD AND SHE NEEDS TO SHOW HIM HE ISN’T THE ONLY TALENTED ONE OKAY

anyway

she spends most of the year coasting by

she does super well in her classes but her parents start to worry that she isn’t making friends so she starts spending time in detention (not because she actually got it, though she has yelled at a few people here before) so that they think she is making friends and busy with them

and peter always just kind of…exists…in her space

he’s in nearly all the same classes, he’s in academic decathlon which takes up literally so much time, she even took to sitting at the same table as him and ned but she sits further down from them

and maybe she notices that peter stares at liz all the time but like liz is beautiful so it makes sense

hey mj stares at liz sometimes too, who is she to judge, but she is STILL MAD AT PETER

but then peter becomes weird

at the beginning of sophomore year he gets this stark internship and he quits band and he LOVED band

he skips some classes and starts flaking on academic decathlon and maybe she is more hurt than she lets on about that but HE IS A SHITFACE

anyway

things continue as they are for the most part. peter starts being weird and shows up to things less so she doesn’t see him as often

but then he starts showing up in detention very occasionally

and he’s always running off and disappearing, no matter where they are

and it’s like he’s dying to get out of school, but he’s pretty good at school and he has some friends so honestly what’s his deal

flash forward to academic decathlon finals

they win and she gives the winning answer in sudden death and she is SUPER pumped about it but she tries not to let it show

and then the washington monument starts to break and that’s not supposed to happen and shit her FRIENDS are in there

and then spider man walks by her

and he says things to her

and

well

he’s very heroic

and he saved her friends, and a lot of other people too but he doesn’t actually get any glory

so maybe she allows herself to forget about peter fucking parker for a bit and fantasize about someone else with a nice butt

because spider man is selfless and doesn’t disappear on people

so maybe she tries to draw spider man instead of peter parker because like…come on…have you seen the man’s abs? or his THIGHS?

but then she goes to the homecoming dance because liz was in charge and she really admires liz

she was their coach and she gave her all to the team and she gave her all to this dance so michelle is gonna go

and then peter parker is going with her. and she tries not to let it affect her because why should it? and then she sees him walk into the dance after liz and you know what fuck him she can be a little bit hurt. so she flicks him off. and then he walks in, talks to liz, and then runs AWAY

from LIZ

and now michelle is actually very upset (okay, she’s maybe a tad bit but she’s trying to be a good person and not feel that as much) because he just left liz and michelle actually likes liz

and then liz’s dad is getting arrested and she’s moving to oregon

and michelle says goodbye to her team captain and very occasional friend

and then she gets made TEAM CAPTAIN for academic decathlon

and she is ~ s h o o k ~

she didn’t think these people liked her that much or even really knew she existed other than the one answer she gave in sudden death

but you know what she’s team captain so peter parker can SUCK IT

but then peter parker is leaving and why is he leaving. she literally just got made team captain and he is part of this team. he has to be present and can’t just leave because even if she has a crush on hates him he is still smart and knowledgeable and a valuable member of the team who they need and she needs him and SHIT STOP IT MJ

anyway

as it turns out, being a team captain in your junior year of high school while you start looking at colleges and applications and taking all your ap classes isn’t really all that easy

she doesn’t know how liz managed to do anything else with academic decathlon let alone plan the homecoming dance

so michelle struggles. things are pretty tough. she doesn’t want to let anyone down, especially not her parents. especially not these people who have now become kind of friends.

and then there’s peter fucking parker

peter parker who works all his shit out for whatever reason and decides to be perfect by the time junior year rolls around

not only is he excelling in all his classes, he is absolutely killing it in academic decathlon

and

look michelle isn’t failing. she’s doing very well. but it’s really hard. and peter always has a smile on his face and she just wants to make him stop smiling. she just wants to push his face and just wipe his smile off it and maybe use her lips to do that but THAT’S BESIDE THE POINT

the point is that peter parker is literally everywhere in her life and is doing really well and smiling and being nice to her and she literally cannot stand him

which is why she draws him. because she hates him. and she hates his stupidly thin and appealing lips and that stupid little thing his left eyebrow does and his stupid wavy hair

so she sees peter everywhere and she hates him and he acts the same way and she just

one day she can’t take it anymore, so she maybe cries. at the school. alone in a hallway. but you know, it’s class time and no one else is around and she got a hall pass to go to the bathroom but she couldn’t make it there so maybe she starts crying because there is just so much she needs to do and so many people she can’t let down, most especially herself, and then she doesn’t have many friends and maybe if she had more friends people would like her and maybe peter would like her and she just…she cries

and then. lo and behold. completely unsurprisingly because he is LITERALLY everwhere. peter parker shows up.

he’s sprinting, which is odd because this is a high school hallway and literally class started thirty minutes ago so there is no way he is just “running late”

but then he just…he freezes. and she sees him and oh god he is the last person she wanted to see her like this. so she wipes her tears away from her face as much as she can and steels herself off and harshly bites out, “what do you want?”

and he just…hesitates. then suddenly he’s approaching her and putting his hand on the locker so that he can ease himself down to sit next to her on the ground. “what’s going on?” he asks so quietly and so tenderly and with so much care that she can’t deal with it and she starts crying again.

and she feels a hand sliding along her back so that he’s got his arm anchored around her shoulders and kind of just…gently pulls her into his side and then she’s just crying and leaning against him and is this any better? is this worse? she doesn’t know but she does know that he smells nice and his chest is like…rock solid. which, honestly, she wasn’t expecting so kudos to this guy. but then it just means he has one more perfect thing and she cries a little harder because why is he so perfect at everything.

“it’s going to be okay,” he whispers and that she can’t take. he doesn’t get to say what’s going to happen. he doesn’t understand.

“for you, maybe. you don’t know what’s going to happen to me. you don’t know anything about me.” she bites out and maybe cries a little harder because this is what she had wanted but she still can’t have it.

“hey, hey,” he whispers, shaking her slightly so that she’ll look up at him. “I know that you’re incredibly intelligent. and that you care a lot more than you let on about academic decathlon and all the people in it. I know that you’re giving your all to being our team captain and everyone appreciates it.”

“you don’t know anything.” She chokes out. “you don’t know how hard it is. everything is easy for you. everything just comes so easily to you. I have to work so hard just to maintain anything and you just do things and are perfect at them.”

he has the audacity to laugh. to laugh while she’s crying. she looks at him in disbelief and he spooks and composes himself. “i’m sorry, I just…” he smiles at her and she hates his stupidly white and straight teeth. “you think i’m perfect at everything?” she pushes him and punches his arm and he laughs. “i’m sorry, i’m sorry! no, no, really! look, I just…” he sighs and looks at her with a bright smile and she might get lost in those brown eyes. “things are not easy for me. like, at all. i’m barely scraping by. i’m tired all the time. I feel like there is so much to do but there isn’t any time at all. i’m always rushing away because I don’t have time for everything I love. things aren’t easy for me either. I was always jealous because I thought you had everything under control.”

so, she MAY have POSSIBLY smiled at him. her lips might have slowly started to spread of their own accord. just to give him a small, soft, gentle smile. which. is not michelle jones. so she pulls her lips back and stops the smile. she sighs deeply. “thank you.”

he smiles and squeezes to pull her a little closer. “guess we’re all a little bit overwhelmed.”

she wipes her tears away and takes a deep breath before glancing at him quizzically. “what are you doing here anyway?” at this, peter starts to panic. he slowly extricates himself from her and stands up suddenly.

“I, uh, well…I was just,” he slowly starts to back away. “just trying to uh, the bathroom! I was going to the bathroom!”

she raises one highly skeptical eyebrow but she can’t let him know that she cares all that much. “uh, bathroom is that way.” she points her thumb in the opposite direction of the one in which he’s headed.

he looks behind himself and then back to her. he shakes his head and laughs uncomfortably. “ha, you’re right! I’m so clueless.” he laughs again, still uncomfortably. then he’s off in the direction toward the bathroom. before he turns the corner, he throws a look back at her and smiles softly. and maybe just maybe her heart may have fluttered a bit.

so after that she might start sitting across from ned and peter at lunch as opposed to at the end of the table

and maybe she doesn’t flick peter off again and maybe she puts her book down to talk to them

but that’s beside the point

[myloversgone]

Moments Like These

Pairing: Dean x female!Reader; Dean x Y/N

Warnings: Fluff with a bit of angst. Mentions of depression (be careful if this can be a trigger to you!). Sexy times, but nothing too graphic. 

Word count: 2300-ish

Summary: Dean and Y/N are new parents, and they have been facing all the challenges that come with it together, but she hasn’t been feeling very well. Can he help?

A/N: This is my entry for @avanatural 300 followers challenge. Congrats again, my dear friend, for this milestone! ❤🥰

My prompt was #12: “Making a child is the easy part. The hard part is everything that comes after.” (it’s highlighted in my story). I’ve been wanting to write a domestic!Dean fic for a while, and this quote was just the inspiration I needed. 😊

Please, note this fic is not beta’d, which means all mistakes are mine. 

I hope you like it! Feedback gives me life ❤

Thanks for reading!

“Sammy, please, tell me you’ve made coffee?” Dean pleaded as he walked into the bunker’s kitchen. He was wearing black sweats and a white t-shirt. His hair was ruffled and he had black circles under his eyes.

Sam chuckled at the sight of his older brother. “Yeah, man. I knew you would need coffee, I heard Sophie crying. ‘She alright?”

“Yeah, she’s fine, it’s just her teeth. She’s awake now, Y/N ‘s changing her diaper, they’ll be here any minute”. Dean answered, grabbing his mug and filling it almost to the brim with fresh coffee. “Are you making breakfast for all of us?”. He looked at the pan on the stove, where Sam was mixing some eggs, while taking a big gulp of the hot liquid.

“Yeah! Am I the best brother/uncle/brother-in-law or what?”. The younger Winchester questioned, opening his arms and smiling. At that exact second, Y/N walked into the kitchen holding baby Sophie with one arm and pushing the baby’s stroller with the other. She was wearing Dean’s grey robe over her light pink nightgown.

“Soph thinks you’re the best uncle ever, Sam”, she said with a smile, having heard what Sam said. Like Dean, she had dark circles under her eyes and looked very tired. Oh, the perks of being new parents.

Dean came to meet them, pecking Y/N on the lips and kissing the baby’s head. Sophie cooed at her dad, small hand reaching for his face. “Morning, sweetie”, Dean said, holding his daughter’s hand and kissing it too. He pushed the stroller to the side of the kitchen’s table before proceeding to help Sam with the food.

"Geez, Y/N, you look like you didn't sleep at all", Sam noticed, looking at her.

"Yeah, I barely did. Dean got up when Sophie started crying, but I couldn't sleep without him", Y/N explained, yawning.

"That kid has some powerful lungs, let me tell ya". Dean said, almost proudly, while filling their plates with bacon and eggs and pouring some orange juice in a cup for Y/N. 

"Guys, if you need any help, even during the night, just say it. I'm serious", Sam kindly offered, being the sweet man he always was.

"Thanks, brother". Dean squeezed his brother's shoulder as he finished setting the plates for the three of them while Sam joined the couple at the kitchen table.

“But this is normal, right? I mean, I read somewhere it’s expected for babies her age to have trouble sleeping”, the younger Winchester questioned, smiling at his niece, who was trying to steal the orange juice from her mom’s hand.

“Yeah, Soph was always a good sleeper. It’s just the teeth, I think. I hope it doesn’t last long, ‘cause I’m super fucking tired”, Y/N stated, placing the baby on the stroller and handing her a chewing toy in the shape of a crescent moon. “I can’t imagine how tired you must be, baby”, she told Dean, reaching to the opposite side of the table where he sat to hold his hand.

“Don’t worry, Y/N/N. It’s the least I can do since you’re the one who has to get out of bed to feed her”, he smiled, leaning forward to kiss Y/N over the table.

“You two are disgustingly cute”, Sam joked, making a face at them.

Y/N laughed and stuck out her tongue at him. “What about you and Eileen, Sam? Any plans of having kids?”, she asked while eating.

“Man, let me tell you”, Dean interrupted, speaking before his brother could answer, “making a child is the easy part. The hard part is everything that comes after. But it’s so fucking worthed”, Dean winked at Y/N, making her and Sam chuckle at his brother’s honest advice.

“Yep. Even though I love Sophie with all my heart, babies are a handful. You must be really sure you want to be parents”, Y/N wisely advised, despite knowing Sam and Eileen’s child would probably be as sweet and chill as their parents.

“Well, we haven’t really talked about it yet. I know she wants to be a mom someday, and I wanna be a dad too, but I’m not sure we’re ready”, Sam explained, getting up and placing the dishes in the sink after quickly finishing his breakfast.

“You can always practice your parenting skills with Sophie, uncle Sam. You know she loves hanging out with you”, Y/N looked at her daughter with nothing but love in her eyes, tickling the baby’s legs to make her laugh.

“I love hanging out with her too”, the younger Winchester said, walking to Sophie’s stroller and kissing her forehead. “Guys, I’m gonna get going. Garth’s waiting for me to help him with that ghoul. See ya”.

“See ya, Sam. You take care”, Y/N told him, always worrying, even though she was a hunter herself.

“Yeah, Sammy, take care and tell Garth we said hi”, Dean got up and went to the doorway where Sam was, hugging his little brother and patting him on the back.

After Sam left, Dean went to clean the kitchen and wash the dishes, while Y/N took her time to breastfeed a hungry Sophie.

With the baby in her arms, Y/N got lost in her thoughts, looking at Sophie’s green eyes that looked so much like her father’s. She and Dean wanted to be parents for a long time. But with their lives as hunters, the couple was always careful, because they didn’t really know how to fit a kid in such a crazy, dangerous world. One night of carelessness was enough to show them they weren’t really in control. While Sam was at Eileen’s and they were alone in the bunker after drinking too much, Sophie was conceived. 

In spite of being drunk, both Dean and Y/N could remember exactly what a great night they had. Many of the bunker’s rooms were christened that day. A few months later, a pregnancy test confirmed Y/N’s suspicions. After the initial shock and a promise from Jack to look after the baby, they got really excited about the idea of having a kid.   

The bunker was mostly silent as Y/N fed Sophie and Dean cleaned up the place, the only noises coming from the clink of the dishware and the baby’s little noises while she ate. When she was finished, Y/N cradled her daughter and patted her lightly on the back to make her burp. The baby started rubbing her eyes with little fists and yawning, signs she was satisfied and ready to sleep. 

While cleaning, Dean kept stealing glances at his daughter and his wife. He had never imagined being so happy, so fulfilled with a family of his own. After they defeated Chuck, life got easier, their peace only being briefly interrupted by the occasional hunt. Even though monsters were still very real, moments of normalcy like these were finally possible. 

Seated on her chair at the kitchen table, Y/N caressed Sophie’s hand, lulling her until she fell asleep. Distracted, the woman only noticed Dean had sat beside her when she felt his arms circling her waist. She looked at him and smiled, seeing her expression of content mirrored on his beautiful face.

“She’s perfect, isn’t she?”, he asked, not really expecting an answer, knowing Y/N was as amazed by the human being they created together as he was.

“She is. She looks so much like you, Dean. Look at her eyes and those freckles. The Winchesters have strong genes”, Y/N admired.

“What are you talking about? She has your hair and your mouth, which worries the hell outta me, ‘cause it means she’ll grow up to be as beautiful as you, and I don’t want her dating before she turns 35”, Dean stated, looking dead serious. 

Y/N covered her mouth so her laugh wouldn’t wake Sophie up. “Gosh, Dean, poor Sophie! You're probably gonna scare all the boys and/or girls that come knocking at our door”. She turned her body to hug him, still laughing, her arms now circling his neck. “I love how protective you are of her, honey”, she kissed him softly, tasting coffee on his lips.

“I love you and our Sophie so, so much, baby”. Dean kissed Y/N again, pulling her body closer, arms around her waist and his big hands running up and down her back. 

Y/N felt tears burning her eyes. She had been feeling more emotional than usual since she gave birth to Sophie. Every small thing became a big deal to her, like the fact that she hadn’t lost all the pregnancy weight yet. It made her feel insecure about her body, so every time Dean told her he loved her, or complimented her appearance, she felt like crying. She hated being like this, but she knew it was her messy hormones fault and it would probably pass at some point. 

“Do you still love me even with how much my body has changed since Sophie?”, she asked, her voice thick with the tears she couldn’t hide anymore. Y/N felt an odd need for validation, something she didn’t before. She needed Dean to tell her everything would be fine, that she would be fine.

Holding his wife by her shoulders, Dean moved away from her so he could look her in the eyes. It wasn’t the first time he noticed she was overly emotional. “Sweetheart, what’s going on? Of course I love you. I will always love you. You’re gorgeous and perfect. You gave birth to our daughter just six months ago, of course your body has changed. And you still look amazing. Please, believe me”. He used his thumb to gently swipe the tears staining her cheeks.

“I love you too, Dean. I just- I just have been too emotional lately, it’s stupid. But I’m gonna be fine”. Y/N smiled through her tears, but Dean wasn’t 100% convinced.

“You sure, Y/N/N? If you need to talk, or I don’t know, get any help, I’m here for you, baby. I’ve read about postpartum depression if- if you think this might be the problem, we can get help-”.

“No, I don’t think that’s the problem, I think it’s just my body still adjusting to the change. But I promise I’ll tell you if it doesn’t get better. You’re the best”. Y/N hugged him again, Dean burying his face on the curve of her neck, kissing and rubbing his scruffed jaw against her sensitive skin, in a way trying to prove to her he wanted her as much as always. 

She held him there, running her fingers through his hair and enjoying the physical contact. Dean pulled her onto his lap, making her straddle him, her legs on the sides of his waist.  They just sat there, bodies intertwined, kissing and making out while Sophie slept soundly. 

After a while, Dean chuckled and shook his head. “You’re not gonna believe what I’m gonna tell you, you’re gonna think I’m just saying this ‘cause you’re feeling insecure, but I swear to you I’m not making this up”, he placed one hand on her naked thigh and tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear with the other, admiring her kiss swollen lips and the blush on her cheeks. “While you were feeding Sophie, I couldn’t take my eyes off of you. God, Y/N, I swear on my life that I’ve never seen you look more beautiful. You’re just perfect. Remember how I couldn’t keep my hands to myself while you were pregnant?”, she nodded and he kept talking “I feel the same and that’s not gonna change. And the way you were looking at our baby girl… I - You know I’m not one to do romantic speeches, but I’m so madly in love with you. You two mean the world to me. I can’t believe I got so lucky to have you”. 

Now the tears were glistening on Dean’s eyes too, and despite her current insecurities, Y/N never doubted him for a second. She knew him very well, she knew he was a man of action. To express his love, he would cook for her, or buy her favorite icecream, or do their laundry, or record her favorite TV show when she wasn’t home to watch it. But for him to say those things, it was because his heart was full of love and it was pouring out of him, which only made the moment more special.

Y/N didn’t want to keep crying, so she held her tears and just grabbed Dean’s face and kissed him fiercely, with all the passion she had in her, tasting him with her tongue and biting his plump lower lip. She pressed her center against his crotch, making him groan and hold her ass to keep her from moving from that perfect spot.

“Jesus, darling. I got ya all fired up, didn’t I?”, Dean teased, making her chuckle.

“Yeah, you tell me those things and expect me to not get turned on?”. Y/N looked at him, his green eyes full of lust, his beauty amazing her as much as the first time she saw him.

“And why do you have to look so sexy wearing my robe, huh? I wanna take you to our bed and make another baby with you”. Dean ran his thumb over her lower lip, his eyes taking the beautiful woman in front of him, the love of his life.

“Oh, yeah? So that was your plan all along? To turn me on so you could get me pregnant again?”, she teased, already wet with expectation.

“Well, I think we should start practicing if we wanna give Sophie a little sister or brother. Also, you, naked? Amazing”, Dean pulled the sash to open the gray robe so he could reach inside and kiss Y/N’s chest and breasts.

“Ok, but only if you promise you’ll do that thing I like”, she naughtly pulled his face up to kiss him again, glad Sophie was still asleep and she and Dean could enjoy each other’s company for a while.

“Anything for you, baby girl. Anything”.

THE END

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

If you came this far, thank you for sticking up with me! I don’t have a tag list yet, but I’m gonna tag some lovely people who always support me with their likes, reblogs and comments. Please, if you don’t want to be tagged on future posts, just let me know! Or, if you weren’t tagged but want to be, you can message me too 😉

@dean-winchester-is-a-warrior , @all-alone-he-turns-to-stone @charred-angelwings, @itsthemegacoven , @eevvvaa , @ejlovespie

[k1ng0fn0b0dy]

❤ Connections

Request by [@] Poppet3126 : "I love this!! Maybe a part 2?" (Part 1)

[He/him pronouns]

[2300+ words]

Description: Knowing the king can come with a few benefits, and also a few stresses. (Eret x m!Reader)

[Read the rest under the cut]

{《☆》}

Dean knits the yarn between his fingers as you talk, more than happy to rest his legs over your chest. You hang off of his hospital bed, "So Spencer decided to actually talk to Derek, right? But apparently, Derek had gotten with Savannah, the medic lady."

"Derek is stupid, Spencer is amazing," Dean frowns, still the same kid who'd follow Spencer around like a duckling when he was younger. "Isn't Savannah the one who makes the bad eggnog?"

Right, that incident left a permanent mark on your brother. Dean loves eggnog and for Savannah to make it so horribly permanently tarnished her name in his eyes.

"How have the doctors been recently," You fiddled with the end of the scarf Dean had been knitting. "I heard they're close to a cure."

Dean shrug, awkwardly ducking his head. "They haven't told me much, just that they're starting testing and it's going well."

"That's good," You reach up to brush a finger against his cheek. "You know Mom would be so proud of you. I'm so proud of you."

"I know," Dean says, leaning into your palm. He didn't remember your parents but his eyes got all shiny whenever you brought them up. "Can you call off today?"

"I wish I could," You sigh, slumping back against the bed. "But just because I got the promotion doesn't mean they can't take it away. Calling off during the first week wouldn't help."

Dean frowns, pouting as he continues his scarf. "Will you visit tomorrow?"

"Of course, bud," Standing tall, you leaned over to press a kiss to your brother's forehead.

{《☆》}

You fix the straps on your arms, pulling the iron armour tighter around you. Something about being a permanent guard for the king- for Eret- was nerve-wracking. Kori and Raven were fixing their own armour behind you, joining you on your shift. It was nice to hang out with them, as teasing as they were.

Oh, the teasing. Even since your little breakfast date with Eret, none of Eret's Eight have stopped poking fun at it. Light-hearted, of course, but still embarrassing.

You press your lips together, trying not to let the thought of Eret break your carefully crafted aloofness. You pull a strap too tight, the metal digs into your arms but it's bound to loosen more so you don't bother fixing it.

Kori and Raven are already out the door, with months of practice in the complex straps and with the efficiency to prove it. They wait for you at the door, Kori blowing their bubblegum up loudly.

"Is Sara still waiting for us?" You walk over quickly, careful not to trip over yourself. You've done it before and let me tell you, standing in full iron armour is hard. Your sword is sheathed at your side for quick access but Kori and Raven don't seem bothered to do the same.

"Nah, she always heads out a bit early on Saturdays," Raven nudges Kori with a matching grin. "She has to meet with her secret loverboy."

"Or lover girl," Raven laughs, running a hand through their spiked up black hair. "I know Sara isn't one to discriminate."

"Oh don't try teasing when she isn't here," Kori shakes their head with a grin. "Not when (Y/N) right here is free ammo."

"I hate both of you." You hide your smile by walking away, still a bit put off by the idea of Eret being unprotected.

The pretty walls of the castle greet you pleasantly, warm and just as cosy as before. You love the feeling of being in these walls, it reminds you of the childhood home you and Dean used to live in before you sold it.

Quickly, Kori and Raven catch up with you. Together you speed up and are standing at the door to Eret's council room. Last you had been told, he had been in a meeting with a few of the other kingdoms. It sounded far more important than you felt comfortable protecting, but it's not like you had a choice.

Fixing your armour, the metal still digs into your arm. it's slightly more grounding than it is painful. You're glad something can keep your heart from racing as fast as it could. You already feel it almost ripping out of your chest with anxiety. It's only been a few days since you last saw Eret and still, you're smitten lovesick.

Kori walks into the room without any precaution. He is confident and you anxiously follow after him. Raven closes the door behind you all.

"Goodmorning, your majesty," Kori says with an actually acceptable amount of respect. You've never heard him call Eret his real title. It's an odd thing to actually consider after so long. You follow in his footsteps though, not sure if there are actual rules. "My King,"

Eret looks absolutely heavenly. His hair is curled around his face, a golden circlet in place of his crown today. The cape he is warning fluffs up around his neck, dragging your eyes across his jawline.  He smiles, just as sweet and lovely as you've grown accustomed to. "Goodmorning, Kori, Raven, (Y/N)."

Quickly, you step into place at his side. Kori standing at his back while Raven takes his left side. There are royalty and emissaries scattered around the room. They give you an odd glance before they seem to suddenly forget you're even there. Honestly, it's a relief to not have to hold yourself up straight in their eyes.

"I'm glad we could agree on this," Eret says, continuing from when he paused. "I don't think it'd be in our best interest to attack L'Manburg while it's still so young and flighty."

"Then that's where we disagree," A noble lady, the one who runs the capital of Aeothet, says. "The only reason we have suggested a temporary peace is only that our kingdom has been struggling with the loss during the war, we care not for that false nation."

Eret's eyes flash with something dangerous, something that has you readying your sword in case he needs your help. "If I remember correctly, Lady Anastasia, your city started very much the same as President Soot's, did it not?"

Her face flashes with something mildly bitter, "We did not dishonour ourselves enough to break away like that foolish president did. This land is blessed good fortune by Prime."

"And theirs by Lady Death," Eret leans forward with a cold smile. "Or were you not aware the lineage of President Soot, son of Lady Death and her Angel. So long as she breathes life into her son, she breathes luck into their lands."

"Very well," Lady Anastasia exhales heavily, sepia hand pressed to her cheek and covering her mouth. "We leave their land alone, they shall rot from the inside either way."

Eret doesn't even bother smiling now, looking right into her eyes as the silence lingers. You tuck your sword back in your sheath, looking at his thin-pressed lips and glancing back up. Your king turns his head to look at you and the tension drains from their shoulders, his lips perked into a small smile. "Continue with your border update."

"Of course, your majesty," Lady Anastasia said slowly. "The Badlands have been building closer to the East border than comfortable and with L'Manburg's recent independence they're closer than ever."

"Badboyhalo knows an attempt on our land, especially so close to the end of the war is risky," Eret hums, surprisingly lax with the thought. "We don't have to worry. He's smarter than that."

"Of course," Lady Anastasia bows before taking her seat. You glance over at Eret and find him deep in thought, frowning down at his clasped hands.

{《☆》}

"That was so stressful," You complained to Raven after the meeting ended. Eret stood in front of you but you could see the smile at your misery. he tried hiding it but at this point the betrayal was public. "I can't believe you're all making fun of me. Those people are scary."

"They couldn't hurt a fly here," Kori waved his hand around, coming to a stop in front of Eret. "We've got this place protected better than Lord Dream protects George."

You shake your head, trying not to smile. "I suppose that's true, but it's still nerve-wracking when they look at you."

"Just don't look back, pretend that you're a statue with sentience trying to not let anyone know you can move," Raven wiggles their fingers at you, undeterred by the lack of reaction you give. "Or you can just ignore them regularly but that's boring."

"Or," Eret starts, blinking rapidly at Raven, "You can find something else to look at. You can stare at some of the paintings in the rooms or look out a window, when I was a kid I used to stare at the garden for so long I memorized where the leaves fell during the fall and how long it took for the water to freeze over."

"Oh don't worry, Eret," Kori throws their arm over your shoulder. "He's already got someone to stare at."

You roll your eyes. "C'mon, Eret, you should eat dinner before your next meeting."

Eret steps over to you, taking your hand in theirs easily. "Alright." His hand is cold but you've never felt more comfortable.

Kori and Raven follow behind you guys with matching grins.

Food is made quicker than you could recite the entirety of the bee movie, Eret already pouring a second drink for you. It's become a bit of a dance between the two of you to see how much he can get you to eat before you stop him.

So far, the highest record is still the first breakfast you two ate together.

Kori and Raven pour themselves their own glasses of lemonade, standing closer to the table than the doors. You can't hear them well but you're sure Kori's saying something stupid.

"I was wondering what you do in your free time," Eret asks to break up an idle moment. They place their glass down so gently it doesn't clink. "I know that Sara likes to go to those monster-fighting cages and Stephen enjoys the parkour parks but I've never asked you."

"I hang out with my little brother," You babble fondly about Dean. He's the only family you have left and you'd do anything for him, though not without making sure he experiences classic sibling embarrassment. "He's incredible. Dean reads a lot and he makes these adorable scarves and he's so incredibly smart."

"I didn't know you had a little brother," Eret smiles, eyes all crinkly at the edges. He tilts his head, leaning forward. "What's his favourite animal?"

"Polar bears, he says they're the strongest type of bear and that no other animal could defeat them." You laugh, remembering the debate he held against the nurses about the best type of animal. You personally went with Emus, an endangered animal in the Savannah biomes near desserts. "He once told me my opinion on animals was valid but wrong."

Eret chuckles with you, leaning ever so close with his chin resting on his hand. "I'm curious what he'd think about Flamingo's."

You shrug, not remembering the topic ever coming up. "I'm sure he'd find something wrong with them that Polar Bears are better at."

Eret offers a cut piece of steak to you, which you accept easily. Being so close still makes your heart stutter but he looks so good up close that you can't help yourself lingering a second.

"I can't see him tomorrow since my shift runs so long so I'm hoping that when I see him on Saturday it's before he needs his vest, he always naps after," You fuss with the fork, remembering the days before the hospital, he had once slept so long he missed dinner. You had made an extra big breakfast to make up for it but he still complained about it so much.

"Vest?"

"It's for his illness, the doctors haven't named it but he's had it since he was a baby." You poke at a piece of steak before you pick it up. "It causes all kinds of trouble with his body. Lung issues, memory issues, hearing impairment. The doctors think they're close to a cure but it's still a rather small problem for most people, funding is hard."

Eret frowns, laying his fork down on the plate. He fiddled with his fingers, thinking deeply about something. "I'm sorry to hear about that."

"It's okay, it's better than nothing," You shrug. When your parents died, you would have been weeping for a chance to "fix" your brother. Older, not as stupid in grief, you realize there was never anything broken. Your brother's life is hard and he deserves the best in life, that is why it's important. If you had to pay for his treatment forever, you still would. And if they're close, you can still wait a few more years. "Dean is strong. No matter what happens, he'll make it."

"If there's anything I can do to help," Eret starts, fiddling with his fingers. It's odd to see him so anxious and embarrassed. "I want to help you and your brother, (Y/N)."

You smile, brushing your hand over his. "That's kind but we're not the only ones going through this. I'd rather help the funding for everyone than just my family."

"Okay," Eret says like it's just that easy. And for him it is. His kingdom is overflowing with riches, a treasury full of diamonds and emeralds and gold. As king, he can do what he wants. Good for you, romancing (marrying 😳?) rich. "I can donate as much as needed for the cure."

His eyes look into yours, staring for something validating and sweet. As if you'd be anything less than in love with those beautiful blue eyes. "Thank you, my Eret,"

"Your Eret," he mutters back, leaning so close that your noses brush.

{《☆》}

[Okay in my defence for so many Eret posts recently. . . I like Eret?]

[So I'm going to be doing something that you'll find out about real soon but before that, tomorrow, I'll post another chapter of Distance and then post Secret TM and then get back to my request list before anything else (might be a lie who knows)]

[I have finals in December and am Panic but will still be posting because nothing can stop my Super Simp December (does anyone remember Super Simp September last year?) So I promise I won't drop off the face of the earth yet (: ]

[L0v3, k1ng]

Masterlist

Taglist: @creatorofstars

[miss-kittys-magical-library]

In The Air Tonight

From The MoonBrella Academy

Word Count: 2300

Warnings: sex (penatrative, m/f), erotic asphyxiation, death, angst, PTSD, mentions of war, magic, general Klaus-induced chaos. GIF by @sheehanspam

A/N: During the summer of 1974, The Kostas family feels more than the oppressive weight heat. A true prophecy warns them something is on the horizon. Something that will set the course for the rest of their lives all thanks to the man out of time and a baby they promised to raise.

Honey found her balance after straddling Leon. Her hips rolled in a steady rhythm of back and forth. Her husband reached up to caress her breasts. She seized his wrists so tight, her manicured nails dug into her own palms.

Leon, switching gears, grabbed at them roughly instead. He pinched one of Honey’s nipples swollen then the other. They were lost perfectly in his grip as he massaged them, played with them as Honey rode him. He growled and she cried out before moving his hand towards her mouth to suck and bite at Leon's finger and thumb.

They were like a couple possessed. There was something in the air like static. Manhattan was the hottest Honey had known it to be. Everyone drifted slowly and drenched in sweat on the streets and in her apartment. It had been quiet during the worst of the heat. Only Diego and Klaus dained to still visit.

Earlier in the evening, up on the roof with their feet solidly in a wading pool, Leon and Honey sensed Klaus was uneasy about everything. He complained that the temperatures and the electricity in the air was suffocating him. Making his skin crawl as he stripped to his underwear. Everyone was in stages of undress, even the littles were naked and Honey topless.

“It's like Vietnam. The humidity is cellular. I feel strange and twisted.”

“Murderous, but fancy a good shag?” Leon’s query settled across the roof. “Like you could kill who you..” he mouthed fuck.

Two sets of verdant eyes gawked at Honey who suddenly sat up and covered her breasts. “Knock it off, the both of you. You're creeping me out.”

Somehow they made it through dinner and bedtime and MASH and Carol Burnett before Leon threw Honey over his shoulder. She squealed and mimicked trying to escape, but it only spurned Leon into grabbing a fistful of her ass. He maneuvered her around so she could wrap her arms and legs around him while they lumbered and kissed and undressed towards the bedrooms.

“Shhh,” Honey admonished with a strangled laugh. She pointed at the doorway to Sugar and Sunny’s room.

Klaus had passed out on the floor between the tiny beds, his head in his arms on his stomach. Sunny half poured out of the bed with a hand on his.. uncle? Brother? Klaus’s head, little fingers tangled up as he sucked on his free thumb.

Now here they were maybe hours later, insatiable. The air was stifling and had a magnetic crackle that raised the hair on their bodies as they kept having sex. Honey pushed it out of her mind that metal objects were slowly shifting in one direction as she placed Leon's hand around her throat. Her body rocked up and down faster.

There was a blue tinge to the sky and lightning. Heat lightning Leon insisted. It set Klaus on edge with the kids playing around him. He and Sunny tested out telekinesis while Selina danced to David Bowie. Her dark eyes were covered by Klaus’s literal rose colored glasses. He kept zoning out. Like he was waiting, waiting for the consequences of all of his actions.

“Tio Topolino, watch me!” Selina spun with her arms up in the air. Uncle Mouse. Klaus had been too hard to say before she learned her parents’ native tongues.

“Something is coming, Gracie.”

“Why would you say that, Leonidas?”

They were whispering in Greek. The littles weren't quite ready for Greek yet, but Klaus was born fluent. So they spoke in hushed tones on the fire escape.

“Doesn't it feel that way? The last few Weeks. Klaus usually leaves after a day. He's been here for nearly two months. There's bound to be repercussions, right?”

“Not much happened that he's said, or we read, as the result of Vietnam or 1960-1963.”

Leon rolled his eyes at his wife and made a tsk sound, “Just a bloody apocalypse or two. That Dickensian fuck who raised him got a whole new legion off it. Klaus talked you into having our baby. Then into taking another baby he stole. Skip a stone on a pond, and it makes ripples, don’t it?”

Honey hated when her husband was right. And her vagina loved how smart he was. She had looked in the window in time to see Sunny stand and toddle towards Klaus. His eyes glossed over and lost their irises. It was as if he had gone blind.

The parents scrambled through the window towards their son, but Klaus had him by the tiny hands. Sunny's pudgy fingers curled around his.. The larger ones for stability.

“Sunny?!” Selina shook her baby brother lightly.

“Klaus what the fuck? HELP HI-!” Honey yelled but Leon clamped a hand over her mouth.

“He’ll be ok,” Klaus sort of cooed. His voice was low and gentle. “I remember these. It happened so much when I was a kid. It's the innocence I think. I lost this ability because of Reginald.”

“He's in a trance, love. Like in all those movies with seances where the medium goes wonky, and they've got a message from the other side.” .

Everyone held their breath. Then a delighted shout came from the boy. “BIRB!! BEN!!” Then his eyes came back into focus; he threw his arms around Klaus’s neck. As if that was what he planned the entire time.

“Ben?!” Two men with the same face asked simultaneously. “That's my brother.”

“That was your brother’s name?” Klaus spoke first. “Maybe that's where I got it. When Mom asked us to choose our names based on our birth countries, I thought Germany was mine. My brother was Korean, but he couldn't settle on a name. Ben came to my mind. It felt.. familiar.”

Leon walked over to his kids and his twin, or clone, or whatever Klaus was, and picked Sunny up. The toddler stuck his thumb in his mouth and flexed and unflexed his little chubby fingers in his daddy’s long curls.

The matching mess of hair covered Leon's neck and chin as Sunny laid his tiny head down on the elder’s shoulder. The little yawned as his hand now absently stroked Leon's goatee.

“He died in Cyprus. He fought for Britain against our own people. He defected and was killed,” Leon said so casually. “He was 20. I was 16. It was really bloody difficult being an immigrant. A refugee. We left Greece during the Independence War when I was a year old. There's so much death, mate. All around us. I'm just really so sorry you and Nicklaus have to see it up close. I hope here, with Honey and I, they're a bit friendlier.”

Klaus had offered to conjure Leon's brother. His Benjamin. Leon declined. One day, maybe, but 15 years still wasn't enough time. That The Séance had likewise lost his brother in battle at the same age was empathetic enough.

Everyone was a bit melancholy, the air more humid with a spark, Klaus offered to get the littles to bed. Asked if he could crash in their room tonight instead of on the couch. The couple didn't mind.

Really, if Klaus could somehow, they both preferred he just stay here permanently. Honey could keep an eye on him that way. She and Leon knew Klaus had to go back and forth, maintaining his own timeline.

Except the last time he came was two years after he smuggled Sunny to his parents. He promised five minutes. This time it had been over a year. The Kostases were worried the next time he showed up, it would be the 80s. Or they would be old, their kids in their forties.

It was a silent agreement between Leon and Honey that they liked Klaus being around. “But what’s the price WE end up paying?”

Now there they were in the throes of it all. Honey encouraged Leon to tighten his grip around her neck as she scratched at his forearm. Their bodies gyrating in ways they hadn't in years. Not since before Selina. As if they couldn't fuck each other harder or faster.

Honey started to see black spots on the corners of her eyes. She relished in the struggle to breathe. Looking down, the blue tinted midnight sky with its wild lightning reflected back at her through Leon's eyes. He looked deliberate, livid. She knew she looked barking mad to him.

Honey tore at her tits and hair as she felt an orgasm coil around her sex and stomach. She was lightheaded and unable to scream out like always. She began to laugh as best she could like a woman possessed. Rode Leon through his explosion inside of her. She mentally willed it to get her pregnant.

Such a strange thing to wish for while Leon was killing her. Except he wasn't really, was he? Honey could feel herself pass out when there was a massive explosion in the sky over Manhattan.

Leon immediately let go of his wife. A blazing white light that blinded both of them filled the bedroom, and a squawking noise sounded from down the hall. Then yelling from Klaus lost somewhere in the present and possibly Vietnam. There was giggling and the patter of feet with more incoherent shouting and swearing from the littles’ room.

The bird noise only grew over the shouting, so Honey covered her ears to drown it all out. Leon looked stunned. Like he had woken from a terrible dream. That little girl laughter. The patter of feet running down the hall. The yelling and squawking all stopped. Cut off, as if the couple had fallen deaf.

“Mummy!” Selina exclaimed delightedly. It would be strange to Honey that her daughter had developed an accent like Leon's. Except that's who she spent most of her days with. Eventually Selina grew out of it, and Little Italy would take over.

“Can we keep him?! Are you and Papa playing?”

Honey knew Selina’s little head would be tilted. Little forehead wrinkled as it gathered between her eyebrows, tiny pink mouth slightly agape. How Honey loved finding more of Leon in her daughter every day.

“Keep what, Poppet?” Leon asked while helping Honey slide off of his lap. They weren't being modest, she just clearly was coming down from an adrenaline rush.

“This!” Selina held something large and black aloft. That squawking sound again.

Her parents froze. Selina held a raven nearly the size of Sunny in front of herself. It blinked its bright ebony eyes a few times, but was rather calm for being squeezed by a 5 year old. It, he. They knew it was a he. There was even affection on his face.

“Blimey love, whatcha got there?” Leon dared to ask. He was more fascinated than scared. The corvid set Honey’s hair on end.

“It’s Ben, Daddy!” Selina made a tsk noise and rolled her eyes. Little female Leon. “Sunny told us he was coming! The sky was filled with blue people, and Topo was scared. And Sunny’s little hands were blue and Topo’s were too and then Sunny started to fly. He's on the inside roof! Is he Mary Poppins?!” Selina could barely breathe, she was so excited.

“Those blue people are sad and Topo saw one and started to cry. That blue people is Dave. Then the bird came,” she held him out again towards her parents, “and he started making noises at all the blue people and they went away except three and Topo won't stop crying and Sunny is giggling. I'm tired. Can I sleep with you?”

As calm as they could muster, Honey and Leon got out of bed and put on clothes. Leon scooped up Selina who held the raven like a baby. Her dad ignored it. They made their way to the second bedroom where a blue light emanated into the hallway.

Like Sugar said, Klaus was on his knees crying into his hands. Sunny bobbed along the ceiling. He pushed off of it and bounced back up. The little boy’s laughter was a creepy juxtaposition to his older self gently weeping on the floor.

Honey knew. Leon knew. The “blue people” were ghosts. All of that static, that violence and heat in the air the last few weeks were the dead. Crackling and surfacing, begging to break through now that TWO mediums were together. It was, they immediately understood, Klaus’s sheer willpower that had held them at bay. But he was vulnerable, lost vigilance. They all broke through at once.

“Fuck me,” Leon managed at one of two soldiers. He was taller than Leon, but no mistaking his best of curls and angular jaw. Honey knew in life he had dark eyes. “Βενιᾱμῑ́ν?” Benjamin?

Dave, the woman knew, had been Klaus’s lover in Vietnam. He died saving Klaus and their regiment on the front line.

Except Honey could tell that wasn't true. The Commission had him killed to fix the timeline. They were different, not governed by violence more like stern warnings. As if parents instead of a dictator ran them now. When would they come to scold her family?

Lost in her worry, Honey didn't see the third man. The melancholic one with a cigarette perched in his fingers. He wore a giant suit jacket and equally large pants. There was a transparent tumbler of whiskey in his other hand.

This one, this ghost opened his mouth. At the same time Klaus sat up, his head cocked. Then he spoke, and a voice Honey hadn't heard in ten years came out.

“Hiya, Gracie.”

Honey began to weep. “Uncle Lenny.” She hid herself away so he wouldn't see the tears.

“Aw c’mon dollface. It's ok. I'm ok. I'm not ruining my life anymore. I do miss the stage. And Kitty. Tell Kitty I love her, will ya? And Honey, my Honey. That Kindergarten hooker. Spiteful bitch. I miss them. Proud of you, Gracie. We gotta go, ok. The three of us got wrapped up in all that jazz. By the way, cute little fuckers ya got there.”

Lenny tipped his head at Honey and Leon. Then he was gone. They were all gone. Everyone left behind in their wake to cry harder. To mourn in disbelief. Then giggling brought them all to.

Sunny floated down enough for Klaus to catch him by the ankle. He held the little boy to his chest, and Sunny patted him on the cheek. His hands weren't glowing anymore as he shoved a thumb in his mouth. Then, delighted, he gave a shout in the direction of the raven:

“BIRB!!”

@neuroticpuppy @nightmonsters @magic-multicolored-miracle @forenschik @super-unpredictable98 @ghouls-buddy @vonkimmeren @messengeronthemoon @frogs--are--bitches @bisexualnathanyoung @elliethesuperfruitlover @070188 @firstpersonnarrator @rob-private @duck-noises @sylvertyger

[masterwords]

Like Falling Sand

Chapter Five: The Sky Goes Red

Notes: I'm sorry this took so long to get up, I had to do a lot of thinking about where this was going and the purpose of this chapter. Also had a houseguest for a few days right in the mix, and kids and blah blah...excuses...anyway. It's here now. Chapter Six will happen a lot faster and promises some excitement.

Warnings: Just some depressing divorce/custody issues.

Words: ~2300

Previously On: Chapter List

Tag List: @disgruntledchowchow @84hotpockets @olivinesea (Let me know if you’d like to be added!)

“Bold of you to call in sick, and expect to be left alone,” Derek said, clearing a place on the couch to sit. It was a heaping mess of books and blankets, a hidden box of tissues crushed beneath his weight. He'd not been invited to stay, but he wasn't looking for permission. Tossing the crumpled box at Aaron he grinned playfully and settled in. Aaron had, somehow, managed to pull himself out of bed and to the couch along with at least four blankets, adding to the pile that had clearly been amassing there over the weekend. It resembled more of a nest than a couch. He sat huddled inside of an over-sized cable knit sweater and baggy sweat pants, cross-legged, his heated blanket still warming up and pooled around his waist. Small red blotches, fresh and still damp, stained his gray pillowcase. After the conversation with Haley, everything felt a little too sharp, a little too real for Derek and he had no idea how to proceed with what she'd said, left it untouched for the time being. If this was how Aaron lived all the time, in this jagged world of sharp edges and poisonous flowers, it was no wonder he rarely found reasons to smile. “Must be pretty bad.”

Aaron shrugged and nodded, just a subtle incline of his head and he swallowed the pain in his throat like daggers. There were words he would have said, if he could – that he'd been so used to feeling like garbage, dealing with the pain in his ears and his head since the bomb, and it was easy enough to chalk the new onslaught of misery up to nearly drowning. Hiding away in his apartment just waiting it out. He'd felt his ears pop as he sank into the kelp, he knew it was only a matter of time. He rubbed at the raised mark on his wrist, healed but still visible, a reminder of his brush with the scary side of nature. It would eventually fade to nothing, join the rest of the scars tracing their silvery paths over his body. He wondered briefly whether Derek's was still visible, if it had been painful, whether it looked as oddly snakelike as his did.

“And Strauss is fine with you working from home like this?”

“Doesn't know,” he rasped, willing his voice to work, even just a little. His hearing was improved while he sat up, the world was hushed, muffled but there was sound. It helped that his ear drum burst in the short time Derek had been gone, an explosion of pain and liquid but with it came sound. Small bursts of full volume interrupted the serenity of his world, bounced around his skull. The way Derek was looking at him like he was so fragile made him uncomfortable. Without thinking too much about it, he shut his laptop and curled up inside of his heated blanket, tucking his feet up underneath him. “How are you?”

“Cleared the concussion protocol, I'm good. Laid nice and low all week, had a lot of ass time, took Cloon-dog to the park and got some phone numbers.”

“Only you...”

“Hell yeah only me. It's been a long dry spell, man. I don't know if I'll call any of 'em but it felt good to get out there and flex the ol' charm again.”

It wasn't like Derek needed to stay, Aaron didn't need supervision. He was upright, he wasn't dying no matter how bad he'd looked when Derek first laid eyes on him. It had taken him all of a half hour to pull himself out of bed and make sure that he appeared to be fine, better anyway. There was this way he had about him that was so convincing, so incredibly enchanting that you wouldn't even question if what he said was true until later. He could have you doubting your own eyes. “I'm fine,” he would say as he was bleeding out, gasping his last breath, and for fuck's sake you would still find a way to believe him he was that good.

“You're okay though?” Aaron asked in his raspy whisper for the seventh time in almost as many minutes. Out of it on a pharmacy's worth of medication, he was curled up and staring at Derek with those languid amber eyes, blinking slowly. His hand held a mound of tissue to his ear, sopping up any remaining drainage and applying pressure where it simply felt good. Stopped the pounding. Derek smiled the first few times, then laughed.

“Hotch, c'mon,” he said, leaning back and getting more comfortable himself. “So hey, um...” He paused there, suddenly very conscious of what he was about to do. “Haley said something earlier about contacting her lawyer about custody...”

“What?” Aaron asked, sitting upright. He pulled the tissue from his ear and squinted, as if the problem were his eyes and not his ears. The words had come through the haze, broken through crystal clear and sharp as knives. Derek's veins turned to ice and he considered back-tracking, finding a way out. Instead, he trudged ahead. It was always going to be ugly, he just hoped he came out on the right side of it when the dust settled.

“Yeah, uh,” he mumbled, swallowing any previous regret at having started the conversation. “She just said that uh, she and Jack deserve better. Guess she's a little upset you've been getting roughed up so much lately?”

Like smog the words hung thick in the air, stifling any of the easy smiles they'd shared just moments before. Aaron had no intention of sharing any of his marital issues let alone the issues that stemmed from the divorce. He was intensely private and even when he shared it was carefully chosen bits that would never offer much in the way of details, it was only ever enough to placate the interrogator. They sat silently, Aaron trying to figure out how to save face, return to the safe space in the shadows. Derek's kindness and willingness to help was infuriating, and he was out of it on cold medicine. It was syrupy thick the way he blinked, searching for the right combination of words to put a stop to this entire line of interrogation. Aaron didn't want a hero, or even a friend, he wanted to be left alone with the tyranny of his own thoughts. He was suddenly more than willing to burn the place to the ground.

“I'll handle it,” Aaron grunted, his voice breaking, cutting in and out. That was as much a dismissal of Derek's presence in the apartment as it was the conversation itself. That was where it ended, where Derek stood and said he'd pick Jack up and drop him off in a few hours because he promised Haley he would. Aaron said nothing, had nothing to add. No clever retort, no plea, no apology. He just sat in angry silence.

Haley wouldn't cross the threshold, wouldn't enter his apartment. Making Jack come to her was easy enough, there was no need to . She stood in the doorway, arms folded across her chest and handed him an envelope of papers. The entire day had been spent on the couch milling over the idea of losing custody of Jack, of Haley keeping his son from him. If she thought he was reckless now, just wait until he had nothing to live for, no sweet smile and sparkling brown eyes loving him for no reason other than simple goodness. He couldn't live without Jack. Thought he'd have more time, enough to get his voice back and convince her that he wasn't a danger just because his job could be dangerous.

“Now?” he croaked and she just nodded., shoving them into his hands. Her features were solemn, there was no joy in what she was doing. It was going to kill Jack and destroy Aaron.

“Is there a better time to do this?” she asked and he shrugged. He knew there was no good time. It would never be okay.

He opened his mouth to speak, interrupted by the thundering of Jack's little feet in the hallway. “MOMMY!” he squealed, bypassing his father entirely and leaping into her arms. She grinned and hugged him close, buried her nose in his neck and turned her eyes up at Aaron standing in the doorway alone.

“Read the papers, Aaron,” she said softly before turning and heading away from the apartment. He called out to her, called goodbye to Jack, jogged after them down the hall. Not eager to cause a scene right there in the middle of his building, but he'd be damned if she took Jack without him getting a proper goodbye.

“Haley,” he rasped, getting in front of her. “If...” he began, but his voice wouldn't hold out for everything he wanted to say, wouldn't allow him to plead his case, he knew it. Had to be selective. “At least let me say goodbye.” His voice broke but this time it wasn't because he was sick. “Please.”

She huffed and offered Jack to him, letting him lean forward until he slipped from her arms to Aaron's and turned her eyes away while he muttered a goodbye to his son. She couldn't watch. Jack offered kind words, he didn't understand what was happening, that while he was saying see you next time daddy, Aaron knew that he didn't have much hope of there being a next time. He squeezed Jack too tight, breathed in the intoxicating scent of daycare hand soap and strawberries and sweat, felt the hot sting of tears behind his eyes.

“We'll talk later, Aaron,” Haley said softly, prying Jack out of his arms. “When you're feeling better. Read the papers.” She walked out of the building without another word.

He'd never done it before, but he stayed home from work for two more days. Sure, he was sick, but it wasn't that. He could barely pull himself out of bed. He'd read the papers, had them spread out on the floor covered in post-it notes, the rantings of a medicated lunatic. Mental notes about how absurd the clauses in the new custody agreement were, how unfair it was, the lies. He called Haley and they argued for an hour, had just gotten his voice back to somewhere that resembled normal albeit a little deeper than usual and a lot more nasal. Somehow, in a fit of anger over the injustice of losing his son, he managed to shout his way into losing it all over again. She fought harder, shouted louder, she was always better at that than he was. Unencumbered by the demons that sat on his shoulders, she would let her tidal waves crash against his shore, bashing through anything that dared stand in their way. He had his sand bags, his blockades, but eventually the levees would break and he would drown just like every other time. He could win. He could fight louder, harder, he could scare her, hurt her even. He'd grown up watching his father become unhinged, not restrained by the shackles of what society considered the right and wrong way to treat another person. By day he used his tongue, by night his fists, both wielded the same insurmountable power in Aaron's young eyes and he knew he was capable of such things himself. Somewhere inside he kept it under lock and key, but it was there, always threatening.

So he threw up his blockades and he did his best to take shelter from her storm when he'd given all he could safely give. He was better at taking it anyway. It wasn't better, he wasn't right, he just didn't trust that he could stop himself if he unleashed a tidal wave of his own. It would be cataclysmic.

“You're being unreasonable,” Aaron said, his voice at its end. It was barely more than a strangled hiss, like air squeaking its way back out of a child's birthday balloon. She laughed.

“No, Aaron, I'm not.” One thing Haley knew how to do was end an argument. Aaron could talk in circles, go round and round, he was a lawyer, beating a dead horse was his specialty. She knew when to call it, when the argument had become more about winning than being correct. “Goodnight.”

He slept. Drained of everything that made him want to live, he just slept. All day, all night. His phone was shut off, he was out sick and it didn't matter whether they needed him or not. There was a strange freedom in not caring, in sucking down NyQuil day and night, dulling the pain of his loss and clearing his blocked nasal passages at the same time. It wasn't until the night before he decided to return to work that he turned his phone back on to shoot Strauss a quick text letting her know he'd be there in the morning. He couldn't keep hiding, he had to face everything and everyone again, now a shell of the man he was when he'd left. The moment he set his phone down on his nightstand, it began ringing – he almost walked away, he didn't want to talk to Strauss, not now. It was late and he was tired enough after being awake only a few hours to go back to bed. Except it wasn't Strauss.

“Tom Shaunessy?” he asked, stifling a sniffle into his tissue. “Tonight?”

“It isn't likely he'll make it to morning,” the woman said. Her voice was kind but there was an urgency to it that set his nerves on fire. Aaron sighed.

“I'll be there as soon as I can.” He would need to talk to Strauss tonight after all. As he threw on the first real clothes he'd bothered with in days, he hoped his ears were up for another ill-advised ride on the jet. At least this time he'd be on his own.

Next Chapter ->

[strongsassysexysloane]

Eleventh Day of Twelve - A Tired but Treasured Day

A/N - Look at that! We are second from the end! Thank you to all the comments and love! Really appreciate it, it's been a long week!

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Read previous drabbles below.

. . . .

You walked into the office clinging to your cup of coffee. It felt like you were just here and you were, only five hours ago. This time however it was your own doing. You'd found a tiny shred of evidence to go on and had to follow it before the trail went cold. Then it lead to Gibbs and Nick finding the killer in a warehouse in town and bringing him in at just after 0100. You didn't finish interrogating until 0200 and it was now 0730. Coffee, coffee needed to be pumped into you to wake up this morning and a constant flow throughout the day would be required.

To your delight there was a hot cup sitting on your desk as you walked into the bullpen. No note so you assumed this time it wasn't from your gift giver. Day 11 and no one had spilled the beans or gone looking at the cameras like they wanted to on day one.

"Gibbs dropped it off about five minutes ago before he went down to get a report from Kasie who wasn't pleased to be called in so early." Ellie explained while leaning back in her chair and sipping her coffee. "He brought one for all of us."

"Christmas miracles do happen." Nick grinned, dropping his small cup in the trash. "Done."

"It's not a race. You just slugged all your energy for the next three hours."

"Oh please, I've stayed up later and come to work more tired before. Remember the November incident." He waved off.

"I still feel hungover from it." Ellie grumbled, scrunching her nose at the memory of Tequila.

"Please don't remind me." Tim groaned. "Plus I'm not allowed anymore Tequila, Delilah's orders."

"She may be on to something." You ran your hand through your hair, smirking at the banter. Turning on your computer for the day, you saw the next gift hanging from your desk lamp. It was beautiful, a little teddy bear carved out of marble with a shimmering purple and green crown sitting on its head.

"Day 11, the gift giver strikes again." You rolled your eyes at Nick's words while holding the Christmas decoration in your hand, running your thumb over the intricate detail.

It was sweet, a cute addition to your small Christmas tree at home. You'd put it up on December one. That was your tradition and some years it didn't seem worth it but you made the effort. Being alone on Christmas sucked, there was no way around it but this year you were making an effort to not sulk about it. The secret gift giver certainly lifted the spirit as well.

Your tree wasn't over the top but a nice addition to your home. This would fit perfectly front and centre and you made sure of it.

The day was relatively easy. The office banter keeping the spirits going with a good supply of caffeine. It was really just a lot of paper work and then you were set free around mid afternoon to try and have that weekend off. This time Vance made sure the team wouldn't be called in. There were other agents to take the call after all.

You'd missed Jack most of the day and didn't want to interrupt her as she was head deep in evals for the end of year. Instead you decided to shoot her a text when you got home.

- Just wanted to say have a good weekend. Didn't want to interrupt your head mojo.

You knew she'd get a kick out of it and you weren't mistaken.

- Head mojo hey? Smarty in the evening just like you said. Missed you today, didn't realise how many evals I still had to do before I went on my trip. Now I'm back logged and still at work.

It was just hitting 1830 which was a late one for Jack on a Friday. She was always hurrying along at the end of the week to make sure by the time 1700 hit she was out the door.

- I hope you are either finishing for the evening or planning on having dinner while you work. It's getting late, Jack.

- No need to worry about little old me. I need to get these done, I'll grab a bite later. Enjoy your night.

An idea popped to mind, you grabbed your coat and car keys and headed back out into the snowfall with your blue scarf still wrapped around your neck.

Thankfully, you weren't too far from the Navy yard and the Diner was just a five minute detour on the route. You called ahead so the food was ready when you got there and still warm when you knocked on her door.

"Come in, y/n."

You huffed, opening the door. "Now how could you possibly know it was me?"

Jack was sitting on her couch, shoes off, legs crossed and glasses tugging her hair back and sitting on her head. "You didn't reply, you always reply. And you care too much." She got up, placing her laptop on the coffee table and walking up to you.

Those were a lot of compliments you weren't entirely prepared for. You thought Jack was the one that cared a lot, but never too much. "I think I care just the right amount but I can eat this all by myself if you'd prefer?" You smirked, pretending to walk back out but Jack caught your arm.

"I didn't mean it like that. I lo-ike that you care so much." She ran her hand up and down your arm a few times before dropping it away. Her warm comforting smile turned into a cute frown. "And don't you dare walk out on me now that youve made all this effort to come here." She took a deep breath in. "Is that two cheeseburgers and fries?"

The frown and the way her nose twitched at the smell was completely adorable. "With a side of gravy. Wasn't sure if you liked it on your fries or not." You shrugged, missing the soft and loving look Jack gave, you walked past her and sat at one end of the couch, unpacking the bag of food. "Come, sit." You urged, patting the spot beside you as she just stood there and watched.

With a soft smile curving her lips, she came around after a beat and sat exactly where you said to. She took the small pot of gravy and poured it over her fries before pouring the rest over yours. "Thank you."

You bumped her shoulder lightly. "Anytime. Can't have Jack Sloane Hangry and loose in DC." That got you a slap on the knee but it was worth it as her hand soothed the spot she hit and stayed there for a while until it was time to eat.

"Didn't mean to ruin your Friday night plans either." She took a huge bite of the burger.

Between bites you managed an answer, "You mean my big watching The Holiday movie while eating a cup of noodles or the one where I go to sleep at 7pm because im living on about four hours sleep right now."

Skipping over how tired you were she jumped at the mention of the movie. "That's my favourite Christmas movie! It's got the best of both worlds! The sun of LA and the cold winter wonderland of the UK. God, I haven't watched that in years! My mum and I went to the movies to watch it and then every Christmas after we'd watch it together, some people had Love Actually, we had The Holiday. Guess I stopped watching when mum passed." She ate a few more fries. "Wow, Jack, way to ruin the good mood. Sorry. Got lost for a moment there."

You liked it when she rambled. She always would say so many interesting things and you just loved to hear her voice. You prayed the day never came when you wouldn't hear it anymore. "Don't apologize-" You held up your hand to stop her from butting in. "- And, no it's not because of Gibbs silly rule. I enjoy hearing about your past about things you love or did. The Holiday is a sweet movie, my must watch in December along with The Grinch, Home Alone and many more. I try my best to keep the holiday spirits up when I'm by myself for them which has been the last many."

"I enjoy hearing you talk too." She smiled, taking a massive bite of her burger and filling up her cheeks.

There was no silence after that. The evals were put to the side and you talked for what seemed like hours. Talking about childhood Christmas' and silly stories to cringe worthy dating moments over this time of year. It wasn't until you couldn't keep your mouth shut from yawning that you said good night around 2300.

"Sorry you didn't get your evals done." You sing over the roof of your car as Jack unlocked her Mini.

"Don't be. I'm happy to come in tomorrow because tonight was fun!" Her genuine smile told you that she wasn't lying. You could read people pretty well and most times Jack Sloane was an enigma to you but right now you knew she was telling the truth.

"Good night, Jack."

She opened her car door before adding. "Enjoy your movie!"

You yawned with a laugh. "You're kidding right? I'm going to sleep, I'll watch it tomorrow now."

"Fair, good night y/n. Sweet Dreams!"

. . . .

Who doesn't want this to end? Me. But I also maybe, slightly want a break from writing every day. It's been fun but tiring. I've enjoyed it a lot though! I love this time of year, if only I wasn't working in retail.