#and i was already pretty resistant to the idea of white claw and friends

[dvar-trek]

okay i have now tried alcoholic seltzer in two of my favorite seltzer flavors (grapefruit and black cherry) and they were both TERRIBLE you people have been LYING to me. they taste NOTHING like seltzer. they taste fake and metallic, like DIET SODA, in spite of supposedly being made with real cane sugar.

[storytellerofuntoldlegends]

i’ll let you in on my dark side

A/N: welcome to the godzilla intinct of wanting to see two girlbosses duke it out: redza vs ewalk!ranboo edition. huge thanks for my discord pals for helping me with this (i had no idea how to write redza or ewalk!ranboo, brain just wanted them to fight), and an extra huge thank you to my friend @technpog for beta-ing the final product!! title is from HUSHH by AViVA

Warnings: misunderstandings, violence, strangling, death threats, heavy mocking (redza is generally a jerk to ranboo), memory problems, guilt, awkward conversations, hugs, hurt/comfort with a hopeful ending

Summary: After accidentally startling Ranboo, Philza realizes that the two of them have more in common than he realized. But can he rein in the volatile side of himself before it's too late?

-

Phil had been chopping down some trees near his, Techno’s and Ranboo’s homes, looking to up his wood supply. A snowstorm was going to be coming in within the next few days, and Phil wanted to be sure there would be plenty of wood for fires to keep them warm. He would be sure to get enough wood for Ranboo too, although he was sure the kid would insist he was fine and could get his own firewood. He didn't want to baby Ranboo by any means, he was pretty capable after all- but parental instincts die hard.

The sound of a twig snapping startled Phil out of his thoughts, and he glanced over to see a familiar, tall and lanky figure in black and white. He raised a hand in greeting- the hand wielding his axe, he belatedly realized- and then caught a glimpse of Ranboo’s eyes. Purple, not the heterochromic red and green. Ranboo let out an eerie, enderman-like screech, mistaking what was meant to be a friendly wave with a move to attack. Phil instantly dropped the axe, but it was too late. Ranboo lunged forward, slamming him against the tree he had been about to chop down, the force of it sending the edges of Phil’s vision dark. He blinked away the fuzziness, hands scrabbling at dark clawed ones around his neck. He was well and truly pinned to the tree, his damaged wings trapped and spasming, trying in vain to fly free. The half white, half black face of a friend with fresh water scars and unfamiliar, cold purple eyes observed him with an angered expression. A vengeful vwoop escaped Ranboo’s lips, and Phil struggled to speak, to remind Ranboo who he was- but all that came out was a strangled wheeze as Ranboo’s hands squeezed tighter. Phil knew that his enderwalk state was a little more easily startled, and he thought he could calmly talk Ranboo down before he did anything he regretted… but he should have known better. He knew what it was like to have a deep, dark, and chaotic part of yourself locked away only to come out under duress- wait. Maybe that was the solution here. Fight fire with fire, right? Or in this case- fight a volatile version of your friend with a volatile version of yourself.

“Redza? Still lurking in there mate?” Phil thought, reaching until he found that violent, angry, and chaotic spark within himself and let it loose. It felt like liquid fire was flooding his veins, and he grinned as Ranboo’s expression went from confused to shocked as Phil’s calm blue eyes turned a gleaming red. With a sudden burst of strength, Phil- well, Redza, now- launched himself forward. Ranboo went down easily, clearly not expecting the sudden burst of resistance. The two tumbled to the ground, Ranboo’s hands leaving Redza’s throat to instead try and catch himself. Redza cackled at the foolishness of his opponent, pinning Ranboo to the ground with a knee to his chest and a knife drawn from Redza’s robes against his throat. Redza’s free hand gripped Ranboo’s shirt collar, and he laughed again at the absolutely bewildered expression on Ranboo’s face.

“He’s still Ranboo in this state, don’t hurt him!” Redza’s inner voice reprimanded, which he more or less ignored. The old man could stuff it, he was finally out and he was having fun.

“I could kill you, it’d be laughably easy. But I’ve been far too curious to meet this version of you,” Redza crooned, idly dragging the flat of his knife against Ranboo’s neck. Ranboo let out a confused warble, then huffed out an annoyed breath before screwing his face up in concentration.

“Who- are- you?” he growled, words coming out slowly, like he was struggling to remember how to form them.

“Aw, are words a little hard for you when you’re like this? Poor little enderman, can only do little vwoops and growls,” Redza taunted, pressing the knife a little closer to Ranboo’s throat when he instinctively leaned up to growl at him again, reminding the half-enderman who was in control here.

“Answer,” Ranboo snarled, head dropping back to the ground.

“I’m Philza, sort of. Just angrier, more violent, more chaotic, less of that silly restraint and care Phil prides himself on- he likes to call me Redza. He let me out because of that care, come to think of it. You were dangerously close to killing him, and he didn’t want you to live with that guilt- but Philza didn’t have the guts to pull out the knife in our cloak. I, however, have no such issue,” he explained with a grin.

“Why?” Ranboo asked, voice still a growl, but a bit clearer than before. The harsh purple glow of his eyes was flickering, revealing the true dual shades below.

“He’s coming back to himself now, you can let up on him,” the inner voice said, more insistent than before. Redza pouted inwardly. He was just getting to know his new friend! Philza could wait a little longer, he wasn’t done with Ranboo quite yet.

“I’m not fond of dying, kid. Half the reason Philza’s still kicking is because I’m here to protect him when he needs me. I’m sure you can relate to that,” Redza said, ignoring the continued grumbling in the back of his head from Philza.

“I-” Ranboo faltered, eyes shifting back to the red and green for a brief moment before the purple glow came back again.

“You?” Redza asked mockingly.

“I do what’s necessary,” Ranboo said in a low tone, the clearest he had sounded during the entire encounter. Redza threw his head back and laughed, shifting the knife away from Ranboo’s throat but not getting off of him quite yet.

“Oh, I think we’re going to get along swimmingly! I like this version of you,” he said between laughs. Ranboo gave a disapproving vwoop, glaring up at Redza. He fidgeted underneath Redza’s hold, causing him to dig in his knee more, twirling the knife between his fingers with a disapproving frown.

“Let. Me. Up,” Ranboo growled. The purple glow in his eyes was vibrant and fierce, and Redza loved knowing he could get under the kid’s skin so easily. Well… why not dig a little more then?

“Why should I? You tried to kill Philza, the man who took you in when you had nothing. This could just be a ruse so you can engage in the violent bloodlust you crave, deep down. I should know, you’re like me,” Redza taunted, unable to keep the sinister grin off of his face.

“Stop! I startled him, that’s all- Ranboo’s not like that!” the inner voice cried, guilt bubbling its way to the surface. But it was too late- the words had already done their damage.

“I- I’m not-” Ranboo stuttered, his eyes rapidly flashing between purple to red and green as he trembled beneath Redza.

“Oh really? The bruises blooming on my neck say otherwise,” Redza snarled, before Philza could stop him.

“THAT’S ENOUGH!” the inner voice boomed. Redza felt himself reined back into that dark corner of Philza’s mind, fiery anger rescinding and leaving Philza cold and blissfully empty. Phil let out a shaky breath, stowing away the knife in his robes before quickly scrambling off of Ranboo. Things were a little fuzzy- the memories of what exactly Redza had said to Ranboo were slipping through his fingers like grains of sand, but he knew it was nothing good. At least Ranboo didn’t look like he was physically hurt. Ranboo sat up, one hand absentmindedly rubbing at his throat with a perplexed expression, eyes back to their red and green hue.

“What? Where am I- Phil?” Ranboo asked, looking over to see Phil sitting in the snow beside him.

“You alright, mate?” Phil asked, guilt replacing the cold, empty feeling he had felt before.

“Y-Yeah. I think so- was I… enderwalking, again?” Ranboo asked, dropping his hand from his throat with a concerned frown.

“Yep. Took a minute to uh… wake you up,” Phil said, not wanting to explain Redza quite yet. Ranboo didn’t seem to remember him, and a part of Phil felt horrible for wanting it to stay that way. He wanted to tell his friends about Redza on his own terms, not because he needed to let that part of himself loose in self-defense.

“Oh. Uh… thanks for-” Ranboo halted mid-sentence. His gaze had landed on Phil’s axe lying on the ground near them, then flicked over to the bruises on Phil’s neck. A choked noise that sounded close to a sob escaped his lips, and he brought up a trembling hand towards Phil. Against his will, Phil flinched, and Ranboo let out another wounded sound.

“Mate-”

“Did I- was that me?” Ranboo asked in a shaking, hollow tone.

“To be fair, I startled you pretty bad. Might’ve tried to wave hello to you, and forgot I was holding an axe. You understandably panicked,” Phil explained sheepishly. Ranboo looked down at his hands in horror. Then that horror morphed into a somehow more terrified expression, and he glanced at Phil’s eyes. Shit. He was definitely remembering Redza, at least a little bit.

“And you… your eyes were…” Ranboo trailed off, subconsciously backing away from Phil.

“Red. Guess I panicked too, huh?” Phil said, trying to go for a friendly smile, but the nerves skittering beneath his veins caused it to fall a little short. Fortunately, Ranboo gave a weak smile in return.

“Yup. Just… two dudes, panicking in the woods,” Ranboo said with a half laugh, half sigh. Phil smiled, more of a real one this time, and stood up. He picked up his axe, then offered a hand to Ranboo. He gingerly took it, and let Phil help him up.

“Let’s get home, I think I’ve got enough firewood for all of us,” Phil said, not-so-delicately changing the subject. He could tell Ranboo had questions, and was probably trying to puzzle out fragments of his memory, but thankfully he didn’t voice any of his thoughts.

“Yeah, yeah- there’s uh- a storm coming, right?” Ranboo asked, still sounding nervous as hell. Phil started to nod, then frowned and let out a sigh.

“Sorry. I just- I can’t just… pretend nothing happened. You don’t deserve that,” Phil said, pausing as he tried to figure out how to explain Redza. He wasn’t even sure if he was ready to explain that part of him yet- but he couldn’t just leave Ranboo in the dark like that. He trusted Phil with the dark parts of himself, why couldn’t Phil do the same?

“Phil- it’s okay. You did what you had to, you don’t have to talk about the red eye thing if you don’t want to,” Ranboo said, hurriedly trying to reassure Phil.

“No, it’s not a matter of wanting to. It’s a matter of needing to. Redza is a part of me, whether I like it or not,” Phil said firmly.

“Redza?” Ranboo asked.

“It’s what I call him. The part of me that is completely unhinged, angry, and violent. He’s kind of like your enderwalk state, in a way- it’s just more voluntary on my part. He’s everything about myself that I try to keep buried down. And while he is part of me, I’m not always in control of his actions. Sometimes I’m just helpless to watch as he does what he wants, sometimes I don’t even remember everything he does. It was hard to rein him in this time around,” Phil admitted quietly. Ranboo was silent for a moment, letting everything Phil had said sink in.

“So… you said sometimes you don’t remember what he’s done. Do you remember everything that happened earlier?” Ranboo asked timidly. Phil’s heart sank. Ranboo was clearly remembering more than he let on, and Phil definitely knew Redza had said something to upset Ranboo- but the more time passed, the fuzzier his memories were.

“I know Redza said something to upset you. Whatever it was- trust me when I say that I don’t agree with it. Redza likes to get under people’s skins, to poke and prod at your worst insecurities. Don’t listen to a thing he said. You’re a good kid, Ranboo, and I mean that wholeheartedly,” Phil said firmly.

“Really?” Ranboo asked, voice small and disbelieving. Phil looked over at Ranboo, surprised at how small a six-foot-fuck-off tall kid managed to look.

“Really. I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life,” Phil said with unrelenting confidence. Ranboo still looked a little unsure, but a smidge of relief and comfort crept into his expression. He started to reach out to Phil, but quickly drew his hands back to wrap around himself.

“Thank you. It- That means a lot,” Ranboo said softly. Phil smiled gently, the expression more genuine than it had been earlier.

“Aww, c’mere mate,” Phil said, opening his arms. Ranboo didn’t need to be told twice, all but launching himself into Phil’s arms. He leaned his cheek on the top of Phil’s head, arms gently coming around him and being mindful of his wings, despite the way he had eagerly launched forward. Phil rubbed soothing circles into his back with one hand, the other holding Ranboo tightly and pouring out every assurance and apology that he couldn’t verbalize. Ranboo seemed to be apologizing too, a deep rumbling emitting from his throat like the enderman version of a purr. Phil didn’t know how, but he knew that despite the volatile sides to themselves, he and Ranboo would be alright.

-

MCYT Fic Taglist (send an ask to be added!): @franticfandomfanatic

[doyelikehaggis]

Twelve Days of Rarepairs: Scydia/McMartin | Scott McCall x Lydia Martin (Teen Wolf)

Requested by @wonderdoves & anonymous

"This place is…"

Scott can't even think of a word. He just gazes ahead of them in wonder and awe. For miles, all he can see is snow. A thick white blanket of it covering the entire path ahead, the roads, the cobblestoned buildings, the trees—god, even the trees feel like something out of a fairytale, with long, twisting branches that have a dusting of snow themselves. And it's still going, trying to make them part of the scenery, too.

"You'd think you'd never seen snow before," Lydia teases. 

"I haven't—not like this! California's snow is nothing compared to this." 

Lydia just smiles, a certain fondness in her eyes. She squints up at the sky, her nose wrinkling slightly, their suitcases dragging along through the snow behind them as they continue their way from the ferry port. Something else that Scott is admittedly still in amazement over; he'd never actually been on a ferry before. 

It's just a good thing that the snow stopped long enough for them to actually reach Ireland, or else they'd have still been holed up in their cabin, stuck somewhere in the middle of the sea. Not the worst scenario he can think of, to be fair. But he's glad, nonetheless, because this is so much better. 

"I don't know," Lydia says. "I think I prefer the warm winters. I'm just hoping that Gran and Nana make their hot chocolate like they used to when I was younger, I'm telling you, it's the best thing ever."

Scott smiles, finally looking at Lydia as they come to a stop outside a two-storey, cobbled house with a gate around the garden. Her cheeks are flushed from the cold, her nose a pale pink. Snowflakes have clung to her green hat, along the shoulders of her matching green coat, and to her eyelashes. There's a gleam of pure excitement and joy beneath them as she stares at the house. 

When she takes a deep breath, it returns like a puff of smoke. Scott gently squeezes her hand and holds it up in his own, bringing her gloved knuckles to his lips.

"You look nervous," he tells her softly. 

"A little," Lydia says, nodding. "Only because I haven't been here since I was… nine? And there's so much to tell them. I mean, I know my mom filled them in on pretty much everything, but still."

Scott nods as well, saying, "I know. It's a lot. But it'll be okay."

"Yeah, of course," Lydia agrees. Her smile seems a little more confident as she gives another nod.

They walk through the gate, into the garden that Scott's now seeing is teeming with things; empty plant pots, kids toys, an overturned bicycle. Even the stones of the house are more interesting than he had initially realized, with bright murals painted across the whole front of the house. 

As soon as they enter the house, the door closing behind them, they're hit with unexplainable warmth. And the shouting and giggling of kids that whiz past them, nearly knocking them off their feet. 

"I forgot how loud it gets here," Lydia says, but she's laughing. Scott can see it in her eyes as she looks around the entrance hall, beautifully decorated with lengths of tinsel, and handcrafted baubles hanging from the ceiling. 

Framed pictures line the walls up the stairs as far as he can. The closest one, hanging by the bottom of the stairs, has a familiar little girl, giving her biggest smile to the camera beside a young woman with a striking resemblance. 

"Is this you?" Scott asks, his smile wide. 

Lydia looks at the photo. "Oh god, yeah. I think that was when I was, like… six? I came up here every Christmas and New Year before my parents divorced. That's my gran."

"You look like her," Scott tells her, and he can hear the joyful skip of heart, hear it in her proud little hum of agreement. 

"Well, maybe without some of the grey hair," a voice says from behind them. 

They both turn around, and Lydia's face lights up. She's already squealing and dropping her suitcase and Scott's hand. 

"Gran!" Lydia practically flies at her, hugging her tightly. 

Her gran laughs, caught by surprise but only for a second, wrapping her up in her arms. "I've missed you too, Ariel!" 

"Haven't heard that name in a while," someone else says, with a distinctively more Irish accent, but still holding the same fond, overjoyed tone.

Scott looks at the woman who appears at their side from the room behind Lydia and her gran. He recognizes her instantly from all the photos. 

Maddy places a hand on Lorraine's shoulder as she and Lydia pull apart. Lydia looks on the verge of tears as she buries herself into Maddy's open embrace as well for a second, both laughing now. 

"And you…" Lorraine looks over Scott with a smile and a gleam in her eyes. A certain kind of knowing. "... You're Scott McCall."

Scott returns her smile and nods. "I am. I've heard a lot about you, Mrs. Martin."

"Yeah, I know a thing or two about you as well," Lorraine tells him, and he knows. 

He knows she isn't just talking about him and Lydia being together, but about everything. The deadpool. She knew who he was and what he was going to be before he even hit ten. 

For a moment, his worries from the ferry come back. Not all supernatural creatures are a fan of each other, and with the destruction that werewolves have a history of causing, banshees can't be that fond of them. And especially with everything that's happened to Lydia. 

But then her smile grows and she says, "I'm glad to finally meet you! And, please, call me Lorraine. This is my wife, Maddy."

"So, this is the little wolf that got your heart, huh?" Maddy jokes to Lydia, an arm around her shoulders. 

Lydia looks at Scott. She bites her bottom lip through her smile, and her eyes are saying everything. 

She nods and softly says, "Yeah. He is."

"Then you're more than welcome here," Lorraine says.

Relief starts to lift the weight off of Scott's shoulders and chest. The warm, welcoming atmosphere is hard to resist, and he's already feeling at home. 

-

Lydia was right. The hot chocolate is one of the best things he's ever had. Creamy and overflowing with marshmallows with a candy cane to stir it around. Not to mention the plate of cookies. He has never had a gingerbread man that tastes this good.

It's already dark outside, the sun having set an hour or two after they arrived. They already changed into warmer, more comfortable clothes, and settled in front of the fireplace in the living room to get rid of the chill from the snow. Lorraine and Maddy insisted. Didn't want them getting sick, and ignoring their protests about not being able to actually get sick.

"Your cousins don't look like they're having a good time," Scott comments quietly, watching the half-asleep couple sitting in the corner. 

"They have five kids, all under the age of ten," Lydia replies. "I think the only thing they can feel right now is exhausted."

Scott snorts. He looks around the room. He's met nearly everyone on this side of the family by now. Every cousin, second cousin, aunts, uncles. The kids that Lorraine and Maddy took in have been especially eager to meet him. 

His attention is drawn back to the little boy sitting cross-legged in front of him. He's only nine.

Scott wasn't expecting it when Lorraine and Maddy told him that around ten years ago, another banshee had found them. She was only nineteen and had no one and no idea what was going on with her. They took her in, Lorraine helped her. And from then, it's like their home was its own supernatural beacon, but for kids who had nowhere else to go. 

Sean, the little boy currently sneaking another gingerbread man from the plate, is a werewolf. His family, his pack, were hunted down when he was four. Lorraine felt it coming. She and Maddy found Sean. 

There's a little yelp and Sean clutches his hand. Scott catches a glimpse of tiny claws where nails should be. 

"Can I…?" he asks, holding out a hand. 

Sean hesitates, but he glances at Lydia, who smiles and nods encouragingly, then back at Scott. He slowly gives him his hand, palm up. 

"I don't know how to control it…" Sean mutters, looking down sheepishly. 

Scott inspects where the small trickle of blood is coming from. Three little lines where his claws accidentally caught his skin in passing. 

Shaking his head, Scott speaks gently, and draws on the pain in Sean's hand. "It's okay. You're still learning."

"Yeah, it's actually harder for born wolves," Lydia chimes in, nodding convincingly when Sean lifts his eyes to her with curiosity. "You'd think it was the other way around, but one of our friends—he was born a werewolf."

"And he didn't learn until he was sixteen," Scott tells him. "It just takes time."

"And knowing what keeps you grounded," Lydia adds. "Your anchor."

Sean looks at Scott. "Do you have an anchor?"

Scott nods. "I do. I had to learn to let me be my own anchor, but when that doesn't work for me, I focus on all the people I love. My mom, my best friend, my pack." 

He glances at Lydia only to find her already gazing at him with the softest smile, her cheek leaning against her shoulder. She places a kiss to his shoulder, her hand resting on her arm for a second.

"You just need to find something that makes you feel more in control," Scott finishes, turning back to Sean. "Even if it's an emotion."

Sean nods slowly. His expression is one of deep thought, trying to work to figure out what his own anchor could be. 

"Now, you should go clean this up," Scott says. "Just run it under warm water with some soap, okay? It might sting a little, but just ask Lorraine or Maddy if they have any antibiotic cream, and then put a bandage on it."

"Are you a doctor?" Sean asks.

"No," Scott can't help but grin as he says, "I'm just a vet."

That answer only seems to confuse Sean. But he gets up and hurries off to go do what Scott instructed. 

When Scott turns back, Lydia's still watching him. She has this look on her face, a thoughtful glaze in her eyes and a certain kind of smile that he can't read. 

Chuckling, Scott asks, "What is it?"

She lets a beat pass. She shakes her head, takes a slow breath in, then looks over at the window instead.

"It's still snowing. Do you wanna sit in the garden? There's a nice bench out back."

Scott's eyebrows furrow a little, but he stands with her, following her to the back door from the kitchen. Stepping outside is like what he'd imagine stepping into a walk-in freezer would feel like. 

But the cold biting at his skin is unimportant. The awe hits him all over again as he takes in the sight of the garden, feeling like he just stepped into a fairytale instead. Everywhere he looks, everything is white and sparkling. From the entire ground, to the gazebo at the end of the garden. 

Somehow, in amidst it all, there are flowers. Whole roses and everything, snow dusting across their dark red petals. 

"This is…" Scott breathes out, his eyes wide, "... I don't even know what this is. This place doesn't feel real."

Lydia laughs gently. She wraps her arms around her and nods, looking around as the snow falls around them. 

"Yeah, it does feel kind of… magical."

"We could actually make a snowman," Scott continues. "Or have a real snowball fight. Are snow angels things that people actually do?"

Lydia's eyebrows are raised when he looks back at her, and she's shaking her head. But she's got a smile that stretches to the corners of her eyes and he can feel emotions radiating off of her.

"You are so dorky." She moves closer, wrapping her arms around the back of his neck. "And I love you."

Scott smiles. His voice is soft and giving away all of the fondness he feels for her when he says, "And I love you."

She leans in, her head tilting. Her lips are soft against his. He pulls her a little closer, his arms wrapping around her waist. The cold and even the snow is easier to ignore.

Lydia pulls back, her hands lingering on his shoulders. Scott doesn't let go at all. 

"I'm really glad you're here with me," Lydia tells him. "And my whole family now loves you, so that's a nice bonus. I think you even made a friend."

Scott grins, shrugging. "Your family is great, and I am… beyond relieved that they like me. And, I think with Sean, it's a werewolf thing."

"Oh, no." Lydia shakes her head firmly. "Maybe that's a small part of it, the whole Alpha thing and all, but all of the kids in there love you."

They pull apart. Lydia sits down on the bench. Scott follows, and can't help but start piling the snow from the arm of the bench into a ball in his hand. 

"You were amazing with Sean," Lydia comments, glancing at him. She's doing the same thing with the snow on her side. 

Scott shrugs again. "I just told him the same as I told Liam. And Alec. It's how I wish I could have been introduced to all of this. With someone reassuring me that it would be okay."

Lydia nods in a shared understanding. Neither of their starts in the supernatural word were exactly pleasant or comforting. Scott's only sorry that Lydia was brought into it the way she was. 

She rests a hand on top of his, curling her fingers beneath his palm. She squeezes gently. 

He knows that she can tell what he's thinking. Sometimes he worries that banshees have the ability to read minds as well. But the look she gives him and her hand there with his draws his thoughts away from the past. Everything is okay. It's better than okay. 

"It's amazing what your gran and nana have done, though," Scott says. "Taking in supernatural kids who have nowhere else to go."

"Yeah, it's like a little foster home, but… for werewolves, banshees, and everything else," Lydia jokes, but her smile is sincere. "It's a really good thing they're doing. The kids are so happy here."

"I can see why," Scott says, gazing back out across the garden. The snow has the sky practically glowing, in no way looking like it's dark enough to be night. 

There's a slight pressure against his hand from Lydia's fingers, moving slowly. 

"Do you… do you think that's something you'd ever want to do?" Lydia asks, careful with her words.

Scott looks back at her. She's watching him again, with curious eyes. His heart drops many beats.

"Wait, are you—?" he starts to ask, but Lydia's eyes widen and she quickly shakes her head.

"No!" she hastens to answer. "No, I'm not! I just meant… you know, in general, is it—is it something that you can see for the future? Not necessarily the foster home part, but… you know."

She chews her bottom lip. Scott takes it in, letting the question process. After a moment, a smile curves the corners of his mouth up.

"Imagine, the first werewolf-banshee hybrid," he says.

"That can't have been done before," Lydia agrees, a laugh to her voice. "I wonder if one side would skip them, or if we'd be creating a whole new species."

Scott actually does laugh now, and Lydia joins him. His stomach is buzzing with butterflies or bees, he can't tell. 

When they both go quiet, Scott slowly nods. He lifts his eyes to meet Lydia's.

"I like the sound of that," he says softly. "Whether it be a werewolf-banshee hybrid, or even an orphaned werewolf with nobody else… yeah. It's something I see for the future."

Lydia takes in a deep breath. She presses her lips together as her smile threatens to take over her entire face. She just nods, and breathes out slowly.

"Good to know," she says. "I do too, for the record."

"Okay, that's great," Scott says, grinning from ear to ear. 

Lydia hums in agreement. Then the ball of snow that she'd been forming hits him square in the chest. 

It's safe to say that it is freezing. The snow instantly seeps through his Christmas jumper, melting into his skin. He gasps while Lydia laughs behind her hands, hee eyes wide.

"You said you wanted a snowball fight…" she reminds him. 

Scott nods. "You're absolutely right. I did."

The ball of snow in his own hand hits Lydia. She gasps, snow sticking to her jumper as well now. 

"Oh my god, so cold!" she exclaims. "Why is that so cold?!" 

"Because it's real snow," Scott says, his excitement quickly returning. 

Lydia looks at him, her eyes narrowing. A familiar, competitive smirk forms on both their faces. 

"Game on," she says. 

Next second, they're trying to dodge out of the other's way, snowballs flying across the garden. There are gasps and shouts and laughter when they successfully land a shot. 

Maybe it's a little unfair that Scott taps into his heightened abilities to move faster. But the advantage doesn't stop Lydia from managing to sneak up on him and tackle him into the snow. It's so deep that they sink a few inches into it, laughing until their sides and faces ache, and neither of them actually win, both claiming they did. But they end up just lying there in the freezing snow, curled into each other, staring up at the night sky. 

[andypantsx3]

ab intra | 6 | compos mentis

pairing: Shinsou Hitoshi / Reader

length: 18,811 words / 6 chapters

summary: When a wave of disturbing crimes sweep the city, underground hero Hitoshi Shinsou is assigned to work the case with you. What’s even more frustrating than his obnoxious personality is the fact no one will tell you why he’s involved. Things only get more suspicious from there.

tags: romance, thriller, misunderstandings, pro hero AU, reader-insert

warnings: aged up characters, eventual smut, suicide mentions, brainwashing, consensual mind control, some violence

It felt like your entire body was on fire.

You could hardly spare any capacity for thought, overwhelmed by the screaming burn of flames eating away at every inch of your skin. You felt like you might pass out from the pain, could already detect something like black spots on the edges of your vision, creeping in to crowd out everything else. Your sightline flickered, and then a towering wall of flames was rushing at you, lighting up your irises with burning oranges and reds.

You held desperately on to one thought, though, even as you dropped to the floor, writhing in pain. The villain--it hadn’t been Shinsou. You were overcome with a shame and regret that burned almost hotter than the flames licking at your body. You’d mistrusted him, suspected him, planned his downfall, but none of it had been him.

Shinsou...you needed to tell him you were sorry...This wasn’t real, this was a mind manipulation quirk. You needed to find some way out.

Abruptly, the pain guttered out, and your vision flickered again, revealing the chipped tiled flooring of the back room where you lay curled. There was the sound of heavy boots, and then a tall, lean figure in dark black was kicking open the door. You glanced up into that pair of brown eyes.

He was young, younger than you would have expected, plain-faced with a sweet, open cast to his features that might have set you at ease under other circumstances. But you knew who he was now. You knew what he could do.

He stared down at you, and an annoyed look crossed his features. “Another stubborn one, then?” he muttered, like you had inconvenienced him.

“You know it only hurts worse when I have to do it a second time,” he said, “so bad that you’ll kill yourself just to escape. You could have lived if you’d just been a little different. If you could have just let the pain take you, blacked out like all the rest.”

You slammed your eyes shut and he chuckled. “Have my number, do you, darling? You’re not the first, though. I know how to deal with you.”

You heard the scuff of his boots as he stepped closer, and your mind raced wildly. Your whole body felt shaky, sick, and weak, but you needed to do something. You had to make a move for your knife, but how fast was he? If he saw that coming, could he be quick enough to stop you? You didn’t have much choice, though, it was this or let him pry your eyelids open and kill you.

Before he reached you, however, there was a loud crash in the store beyond, and a sick thump like a body hitting the floor. Another shattering sound followed, chased by a low grunt. Another body hit the floor.

You felt the mind villain pause over you, then he was gathering you up in his arms, settling in behind you, one arm banded across yours to keep them at your sides. You groaned. You would have never been fast enough to grab your knife. Your whole body felt like jello and just the simple movement of tugging you upright made you feel like you had to vomit.

A booted foot kicked open the employee door and you cracked open your eyes to see a familiar head of indigo hair. A mixture of relief and concern went through you when you saw Shinsou’s face, eyes hungrily tracing his pretty features. He had his eyes closed, and that mask covered the lower half of his face again.

“Don’t say anything,” the villain behind you commanded, and a blade flashed up to your throat. You tensed, not having felt him go for your trimming blade. But, you noted as the knife pressed firmly to the delicate skin of your neck, it felt much smaller, much less clumsy than a gardening tool. This was a different knife.

“We finally meet, Shinsou,” the villain behind you sneered. “I’d heard you’d been working my case. I have to say, it’s a brilliant idea, having the Commission wipe all your records and keep you an unknown. Just perfect for a quirk like yours. But as you well know, nothing can be hidden from quirks like ours. You can pry anything out of anyone’s brain with just a question and I...well, I can torture it out of them.”

Your brain churned with this new information. So Shinsou did have a mind control quirk, as suspected. But it wasn’t triggered visually, as this villain’s quirk was. And this villain had a quirk far, far different from what you had suspected all this time. He was able to torture people, to impose pain and visions on them that drove them to the edge of sanity and sometimes beyond. It explained why people had either blacked out or killed themselves. You might have done so if you hadn’t been able to throw it off...

You thought back to the two girls who had taken their own lives at the casino. Their friend had described them as strong, and you wondered they had thrown it off at first too, if it had anything to do with the way the villain had called you stubborn, had told you that this time, what he did to you would hurt so badly that you would kill yourself to escape it.

You didn’t have time to speculate on anything else, however, as he spoke over your shoulder again. “Now open your eyes, please, or I’ll kill the girl.”

Shinsou went still in front of you. Your stomach dropped.

“Don’t do it,” you said, and the knife bit into your throat harder. The villain huffed an annoyed breath into the back of your neck.

“You have three seconds before I cut her throat,” he said impatiently.

Shinsou’s eyes shot open and your heart sank. You just managed to catch a flash of familiar violet before he was curling in on himself, gasping, and collapsing to the floor as you had. You felt the villain’s mouth curl into a smirk, and then he was turning you in his arms to look up at his face too.

You shut your eyes again, and the knife slid gently over your skin.

“Open your eyes, darling, or I’ll do it myself,” he said. You could hear how annoyed he was at your resistance. “I do so hate to get my hands dirty, but I will.”

Your hands trembled. If you could just get to your knife…

He didn’t leave you a choice, one hand prying an eyelid open. As soon as he did, your world ignited in flames again, and you dropped from his arms onto the floor, landing painfully on your shoulder.

It hurt worse this time, everything a thousand times worse, and you didn’t know how it was possible to be in this much pain. The entire outside of your body felt like it was on fire and flame danced in your vision, it was only a matter of time until the flame ate away at your skin and entered your body, burned you from the inside out, and you had to stop it, had to find some way to end it so you didn’t have to suffer--

A gentle brush tugged at the back of your mind.

You writhed. Your skin felt like it was on fire but the flames hadn’t yet eaten through your flesh, so what was moving in the recesses of your brain? Had he started a fire in your skull too?

There was a tug again, deep in your mind, a strange movement like you were on the verge of remembering something. No, this wasn’t fire--

You had just enough capacity left in your brain to realize this was familiar. This was something you had felt before. It was associated with someone...a hot mouth...the color purple...long fingered hands extending a white cup…

Shinsou.

This was Shinsou. He was using his quirk.

You could barely scrape together enough thought to focus on this. Shinsou...what had the villain said about Shinsou? “You can pry anything out of anyone’s brain with just a question,” he’d said. If Shinsou was asking a question, why wasn’t it working then? Why could you feel him but why was nothing else happening? Was he just trying to let you know he was here with you at the end?

A memory flitted through the haze of pain. “Energy can still be emitted and directed. You need only meet the proper conditions for it to be fully utilized,” Shinsou had said of mental quirks, when you had been going through case files all those weeks ago. Mental quirk users were like vampires, you’d thought then. They needed to be invited in.

Shinsou was asking to be invited in.

“Please,” you gasped out through a raw throat, “I trust you.”

There was a small tension at the back of your mind like a dendron snapping into place, before the fire in front of you flickered out and the flames licking at your skin cooled and guttered. You exhaled against the cool tile of the floor, fighting down a feeling of nausea. You could see your fingers shaking where they had gritted into claws against the tile.

You looked up for Shinsou but found him in the same state as before, writhing wildly on the floor. It was clear he was still in the thrall of the villain’s quirk, but he was rasping something like he was trying to ask you a question.

“--think you can move?” he gasped.

Could he hear you?

“No,” you said, pushing the thought as hard as you could against that small part of your mind where you could still feel him. “I need you to help.”

He didn’t respond and you wondered for a long time if he hadn’t heard you, if nothing you said or did could cut through that haze of pain.

Then, “Catch him,” he commanded.

You rose like a puppet on a string. Every neuron in your body screamed against it but still you rose, clambering to your feet and pulling the trimming knife out of your belt. You moved quietly to the employee door, peering out beyond. The mind villain’s back was to you, but you could see his shoulder moving, struggling to slice through knots in Shinsou’s binding cloth where it was looped around the two other villains. Both were unconscious.

Slowly, you eased the door open and crept out. You moved cautiously through the store, hardly making a single sound. And then you were in range.

Your knife plunged down into his arm and he screamed, whirling on you. You weren’t fast enough to close your eyes but nothing happened, and he blinked in confusion. Bewilderment swelled within you as well--could he not influence your mind if Shinsou was already controlling it? You didn't pause to wonder, instead using the moment to your opportunity, kicking his legs out from under him and leaping on top of him, pulling your knife out and plunging it back into the meat of his arm again.

He screamed and you grabbed the end of Shinsou’s binding cloth, looping it over his good hand and pulling firm. At once, it seemed like the fabric activated, hardening into something like a carbon fiber that the villain couldn’t break free from. As he struggled you looped more of the cloth around the arm you’d stabbed and pulled that tight too.

Then you pulled off your jacket and dumped it over his head, tying off the ends of your sleeves to create a makeshift blindfold. Not your best work but it would have to do.

Then you ran to the door of the shop and kicked it open, yelling out into the street. “I’ve got him! We’ve got all three of them!”

At once there was a crush of officers filtering through the door, taking in the mess of glass and bodies. Only then did you feel Shinsou’s quirk release and you slumped to the floor, boneless. Aya stopped when she saw you, rushing over to stoop at your side.

“Are you okay?” she asked, and you nodded.

“I’m not hurt. Just--that villain, he got me with his quirk. I just need a second.”

She nodded but continued to hover over you.

“Can you get quirk restraints on him, please? Everyone is still under the influence of his quirk.”

This got her attention and she moved away from you, striding over to the group of officers surrounding the villain. She pulled restraints from her belt and quickly buckled them over his wrists. In the corner of your eye, you could see several victims still, slumping out of their rigid poses and their tremors tapering off.

A minute later, the door to the back room poked open and you saw a riot of purple hair emerge. You were back on your feet before you knew what you were doing.

The next thing you realized, you had crossed the room, seized a fistful of his jumpsuit, and pulled Shinsou down into a kiss. He stiffened for a moment, surprised, but then he was enthusiastically returning the favor, warm hands settling on your waist. A swirling wave of so many emotions washed through you--embarrassment, guilt, relief--and you pressed yourself against him harder.

“I’m so fucking sorry,” you said when you finally managed to pull yourself away from him, staring up into those violet eyes. “I’m sorry I didn’t trust you.”

He looked down at you carefully. “You thought I was the villain.”

It wasn’t a question.

You nodded, stomach twisting. “You wouldn’t tell me why you were here, and then I thought--when you caught the magnet villain--I thought you caught him because he looked at you. I didn’t realize, you threw your voice, didn’t you? That’s why I thought I heard the captain. Is that what the mask is for?”

Shinsou nodded slowly. “So you thought the quirks lined up.”

“Yes,” you cringed, all your anxiety and confusion feeling like it was bubbling up to the surface. “But you were just--you were being so shady. You wouldn’t tell me anything and you seemed to know too much about his quirk, and then you were flirting with me, and it just didn’t make sense, and--”

A long fingered hand pressed to your mouth, and an indigo eyebrow went up. “You thought I was the villain because I was flirting with you?”

A flush spread across your cheeks. “Well, I mean. I thought--it was part of it.”

He had the gall to look amused. “But not because of my quirk?”

You stared at him. “No? I mean, yes, when I thought it lined up with the villain’s quirk, which, turns out we got that one super wrong. But you didn’t tell me anything! Why the hell wouldn’t you just tell me about your fucking quirk in the first place? Why the hell did you have to hide everything?”

Your voice raised into a shrill point at the end, and you saw several policemen around you wince. You flushed again.

Shinsou smirked down at you. “It’s against Commission policy for me to share details of my quirk. I am an underground hero and my success depends on people not knowing the details of my power.”

Okay, that made some sense, but still. “I’m your partner. Why the hell would you have to hide that from me?”

He shifted and you realized that one of his hands was still gripping your waist, hot through the fabric of your shirt. “We were tracking down someone whose powers were suspected to closely parallel mine. What would I do if he was able to brainwash any of you and ask you the details of my quirk?”

Oh.

Oh, that made sense.

For some reason that only frustrated you more. “Okay, well yes--but he found out anyway! They knew not to answer you!”

“Which you and I will be looking into next, now that they’re caught,” Shinsou said lightly.

The promise of a new case tickled your interest. "You and I," he’d said, though. He really wanted you helping, after what you’d just told him?

“You and I?” you asked, and he smiled. It looked obscenely pretty on him, now that you had occasion to notice, and without the threat of his villainy hanging over your head, it hit you like a ton of bricks.

“Well, after you’ve had a chance to relax, kitten,” he said, his tone dipping low. “You did promise me that you would when you solved this case. And I promised you that I would hold you to that.”

Sudden heat pooled in your abdomen, chasing out the guilt and leaving no room for anything else.

“Uh,” you said dumbly, staring up at those violet eyes. They were bright again, and this time you realized you were finally about to be let in on the secret that always seemed to hide behind them. “Yeah you’d better do that. Like, right now.”

His smile widened. “Better wrap things up quick here, then.”

He hadn’t used his power on you, but he might as well have. In a fraction of a second, you’d turned on your heel and scrambled over to Aya where she was conversing in quiet tones with a few other detectives.

“Uh, I need you to take over the wrap up,” you said, trying to sound normal. “I think I need some rest and recovery after everything that just happened.”

Her dark eyes flicked knowingly over you. “Sure. Rest and recovery, huh?”

You would have told her to shut up if the other officers hadn’t been watching. “Yes,” you hissed instead, hating the way her smirk deepened her dimples. “Recovery.”

“Well I wish you a very thorough recovery,” she said, visibly fighting down a laugh as she waved you off.

It was only the pull of Shinsou’s presence behind you that kept you from starting something with her.

“I’ll take her home, make sure she’s okay,” Shinsou said, grasping your arm and pulling you away from your coworkers before you could get another word out.

He pulled you through the rubble and glass into the afternoon sun. He seemed to have a particular destination in mind, leading you down a series of winding city blocks. You followed him sedately, content with his hand on your wrist, his warmth at your side. It was frankly concerning how compelling his mere presence was, and without any other concerns looming over you, you felt like you might lose yourself in it.

You thought back to that first day, the way his presence had washed over you, layered with subtle command. You honestly should have known from the second you stepped through the door.

“Does it bother you?” you asked after he led you into what looked like an apartment building, pulling you up the stairs to the third floor. He paused where he had started to unlock a door to look at you in question. “That I thought you were the villain? I know that mind quirk users, you--uh--you don’t have it easy.”

He considered this. “It is considered a very villainous quirk.”

This bothered you. “I want you to try something.”

An eyebrow went up. “We are trying something.”

You flushed. “Not--that. Well, that, but first I want you to use your power on me and ask me something.”

He pushed the door open and pulled you inside. You caught a vague glimpse of a fairly comfortable looking apartment, but you couldn’t pull your attention far enough away from him to inspect it in any depth.

“Why would I do that?” he asked.

“Because I want you to know I’m telling the truth,” you said firmly.

He gestured you over to his couch, something dark and plush and soft, and you sank into it easily.

“I want you to ask me if I trust you,” you said, still watching him carefully.

A small smile tugged at his mouth, and he came to crouch down in front of you, taking your hands in his. “I think I get the idea, kitten.”

“No,” you said, frustrated. You wanted him to hear this. This little shit was going to do what you told him to, at least once. “And that wasn’t a request, either. That was an order, contractor.”

A spark lit up in his gaze and he leaned forward, smile going dark. “You know what you’re asking for, kitten?”

“I do,” you replied, and that was the last thing you managed before you felt him take control. There was that gentle feeling of something sliding into place, and you felt the tension leave your body. Shinsou’s hands tightened around yours.

“Then tell me honestly, kitten,” Shinsou said, watching you very intently. “Do you trust me?”

“Yes,” you said instantly. You’d known this was the case, after everything, but a wave of relief washed through you to hear it said so plainly, without room for any more doubt. Shinsou looked similarly pleased to hear it, and you knew you’d done the right thing to ask him for this.

Then his look shifted into something mischievous and you panicked.

“And tell me something else, kitten. What do you think of me?”

The words were out of your mouth before you could stop them. “You’re the prettiest person I have ever seen and you drive me crazy and your hair is so fucking messy and your fingers are so long and I wanted you to fuck me the second you sassed me at my desk and I’m so happy you’re not the villain because it was honestly driving me insane being so attracted to you.”

You burned with embarrassment, and would have blushed if you could have done anything without his leave.

He laughed, looking very interested, and one of those long fingers traced over your open palm. “Cute, kitten. And be honest with me just one more time. Would you be opposed if I fucked you like this? Under my control, made you forget everything else but me?”

“Please,” you heard yourself say, and then his mouth was on yours for the third time today.

“Kiss me,” he ordered as his lips touched yours, and you complied enthusiastically, his quirk not the only thing making you obey. The heat of the kiss scorched all the thoughts straight out of your brain.

“You’ll tell me if I’m doing anything you don’t want,” he said when he let you go to kiss down your neck, and you felt the order sink under your skin like a stone in a pond. You wondered for a brief, mortifying second if there was anything he could do to you that you didn’t want. “Now stay still, kitten, unless you want to stop me.”

His hands made quick work of your shirt and pants before he spread you out gently on his couch, and he quickly covered you with his own body, narrow hips settling in between yours. He kissed you again, taking his time, until you thought you might go crazy if he didn’t do something, if he didn’t deliver on the promise that the heat of his body was making in between your thighs. You could feel him smirk through the kiss as if he knew what you were thinking. You tried moving, so wildly furious with him, but couldn’t, pinned in place by your own desire. "Stay still unless you want to stop me," he’d said. You wanted anything but that.

Right when you thought you might literally die if he didn’t touch you, he shifted, kissing a path lower and lower down your chest until he reached your panties, and he played with the edge of them with one long finger.

“Do you want me to kiss you here too, kitten?” he asked.

“Yes,” you gasped before he could even finish the question, feeling like you could combust from the vicious mixture of embarrassment and arousal bursting within you.

A gleam in his violet eyes was all the warning you had before he peeled your underwear down and sealed his mouth over you. You would have bucked violently if you could have--instead, you were helpless to do anything but let out a shivery moan. Calloused fingers came up to dip inside you as he worked your clit mercilessly, and you nearly sobbed with the feeling.

“Look at me,” he commanded, unlatching his mouth from you. A finger swirled over your clit as the others plunged inside you. “Mmm, gorgeous, kitten. You feel so incredible, you’re going to take me so well, aren’t you?”

“Yes,” you huffed again.

He smiled. “Knew that you would. Now I want to try one more thing before I give you what you want, kitten. Do you want to see what else my quirk can do?”

“Yes, Hitoshi, please,” you practically begged.

You were helpless to do anything, then, but watch as he pulled his fingers from you, and his smile turned predatory. “Cum for me.”

Instantly, everything inside you seized up, and you were climaxing with no build up, thrown over the edge with no warning. Shinsou watched with unabashed interest, those purple eyes pinning you in place with just as much force as his quirk.

“The hardest you ever have,” he added and you sobbed, screaming out something that might have been his name or might have been nothing like a word at all. Heat and pleasure swept through you in a white wave, and you thought you might faint from the overwhelming force of it. Hitoshi made it worse by sealing his mouth back over you and sucking delicately. You orgasmed for what felt like hours but must have been much shorter before you felt him finally release you. You slumped into the softness of his couch, Hitoshi still working you carefully with his mouth and tongue.

“Was that okay, kitten?” he finally asked when you’d gone completely boneless beneath him.

“Oh my god, yes,” you slurred. “I can’t believe you exist. That was incredible.”

Smug satisfaction painted his pretty features, and you couldn’t even bring yourself to feel annoyed with him.

“I did promise,” he said, crawling back over you to slip back in between your thighs. You could feel him hard against your core beneath his pants, and, incredibly, heat settled behind your abdomen again.

“Now let’s see just how relaxed we can get you, kitten,” he said, pressing his mouth back to yours. Your arms wrapped around him, pulling him harder into you.

And that was the last time either of you managed a coherent word until morning.

[hardygalwrites]

FanFiction.Net Link

(image source)

Cartoon: Transformers Animated

Characters: Bumblebee and Starscream, with an brief appearance from Jazz

Synopsis: The Decepticons have successfully conquered Cybertron. Megatron, being the merciful mech he is, has allowed the surviving Autobots to continue living their lives and coexist with the newly arrived Decepticons. A few Autobots, however, are not so lucky...

Note: Originally published on FFN late in 2017. Inspired by Take It Easy by Alixier on FFN. TW for physical ab*se

—

To make one's way through the streets of Kaon was a slow task. And with a slagging Decepticon jet fighter on his tailpipe, 'slow' was the very last thing Bumblebee needed.

The little Autobot frantically pushed his way through the crushing crowd, spark fluttering and hydraulics pumping. He needed to get to the Kaon city square - it was considerably less crowded there. He would have enough room to transform and maybe, just maybe he would be able to get enough distance between himself and Starscream in order to escape. This, combined with the familiar sound of wings cutting through the air above him, was enough incentive for Bumblebee to push himself harder than he had ever thought possible.

What Bumblebee didn't realize, however, was that the crushing crowds were the very reason that Starscream hadn't already gotten his servos on him. The streets were too jam packed for the Decepticon to even consider landing. Bringing the chase to Kaon City square was much more a break for Starscream than it was for Bumblebee, and Starscream knew it. He transformed and landed moments before Bumblebee emerged from the crowd, just in time to see the panic in the Autobot's optics as he realized what a grave mistake he had made.

Though the little bot did attempt a frantic retreat, it took Starscream little effort to seize him by the back struts and lift him into the air.

Cackling in his captive's face, Starscream gloated, "You can't run, Auto–!"

"No!" A single word, but punctuated by a well-aimed kick to Starscream's faceplates.

The Decepticon seeker dropped Bumblebee with a shout, reacting more out of surprise than pain. Surprise was replaced quickly by fury, and Starscream seized Bumblebee by the stabilizing servo, once again thwarting the little bot's attempt at escape.

"Enough, you insolent little–!"

"No! Get off me! Slaggit, get off'a me!"

The surrounding bots were starting to take notice of the commotion (thanks in no small part to Bumblebee's nonstop shouting). Most of them passed by the spectacle with nothing more than a glance and a smirk. Many more stopped by to spectate. These bots nudged and whispered to each other, some regarding the struggle with sad optics, most laughing and making snide comments between themselves. Not one of them attempted to intervene.

Starscream grit his denta, holding the wriggling little Autobot at arm's length. "This is getting tiresome, Autobot!" he snapped.

"Let go of me, you slagging Decepticon!" the Autobot screamed in response. "Let me go, let me go, let me go!"

Starscream shook him in an effort to shut him up. "We've been through this an innumerable amount of times, you infuriating bug! You cannot escape me!"

"I can too! Let me go!"

"Yield!" Starscream shook him again. "Yield!"

"No!"

A scream of frustration escaped Starscream's vocal processor, and he threw the Autobot to the ground, effectively cutting off the constant screaming and swearing. As Starscream glared at the stunned Autobot, vents whirring harshly, he started to notice the crowd. The spectating bots were continuing to mutter amongst themselves, and while some were shooting glances at Bumblebee, most were pointing both digits and optics at Starscream. Feeling his faceplates heat up slightly, the Decepticon seeker grit his denta, composed himself in the most dignified manner possible, and stalked towards his Autobot victim.

Bumblebee was just starting to regain his wits. Groaning, he pushed himself up, and that's when he saw Starscream coming down on him again. Bumblebee's vents hitched and gasped. Frantically, the little Autobot pushed himself back, but Starscream's long stride looked to catch up to him within seconds.

Then, a white-chassised mech stepped out from the crowd, right between Starscream and his target, halting the seeker in his tracks.

"Why don't you pick on someone your own size?" the mech said cooly, looking up at Starscream through a blank blue visor.

Starscream stared back down at the mech uncomprehendingly, until his optics caught the insignia on the mech's red-and-blue-striped chestplates. Faceplates morphing, the seeker spat, "Step aside, Autobot. This doesn't concern you."

"What, you beatin' on a youngling less than half your size?" The mech crossed his servos with a scoff. "I know this town's been slated for crashville, but somebot's gonna get bent outta shape over that."

"That bot belongs to me, and I will not let you get in my way!" Starscream thrust a servo at the mech's face, intending to shove him aside, only for the mech to catch it in his own servo. "What on Cybertron–?"

The mech shoved Starscream's servo away. "Well, if he 'belongs' t' you, I'd say that's all the more reason t' get bent outta shape, you dig?"

Starscream swung his claws at the mech with a snarl, an attack the mech easily dodged. Growling, Starscream turned his null ray on the mech. "Do you have any idea who I am, Autobot?!" he screamed, powering up his weapon.

"Hey, what's going on here!?" A few Kaon Police officers shoved their way through the crowd and into the scene.

Powering down the null ray, Starscream was quick to point an accusing digit at the white mech. "This Autobot assaulted me unprovoked!"

The mech, of course, pleaded his innocence, but no bot in the crowd dared to back him up and the officers were naturally skeptical. As it became clear that he was not going to win, the mech's cool finally started to crack slightly, allowing Starscream a smirk as the mech was lead away, throwing out every insult imaginable.

Then, Starscream he caught a flash of yellow out of the corner of his optic. His smirk disappeared. In the blink of an optic, Starscream had yanked Bumblebee out from the crowd, servo easily circling the little bot's neck.

"Thought you could escape that time, did you?" Starscream snapped, a hint of smugness added to his biting tone.

Once again though, the seeker found himself at the centre of attention. He turned on the crowd, scowling. "Don't you bots have anything else to do?"

The crowd continued to glance and mutter amongst themselves. Slowly though, they began to disperse and go about their daily lives.

Bumblebee's spark shrank. Venting harshly, he struggled against Starscream's freakishly large servo. "Get off'a me...!"

"Oh, no, you don't!" Starscream tightened his servo and once again slammed Bumblebee into the ground. Getting onto one knee joint, the brutal Decepticon then pulled the small, battered Autobot upright onto his own knee joints, and hissed into his audial receptor.

"Look around you. Everyone is gone. Decepticons. Autobots." Starscream swept open his free arm, indicating to the surrounding city. "Cybertron is a Decepticon home world now. Whatever camaraderie you might think exist between you Autobots is gone.

"Look at them all." The seeker sneered at the crowd, a mixture of Decepticons and Autobots going about their day. "Just attempting to live those lives the ever great Megatron so generously granted them. They aren't willing to risk giving that up. No one will help you - you belong to me!"

Bumblebee flinched as the last word was screamed into his audial receptor. He tried to break free, but the attempt was half-sparked. He tried to block out Starsceams words, but he couldn't. So many 'if onlys' were spinning through his processor - if only Starscream had never spotted him; if only he hadn't run into Kaon city square; if only he had pulled himself together sooner, while Jazz had been distracting Starscream; if only someone else had helped him... Starscream was only putting into words something that Bumblebee had been suspecting for a long time.

If he had been human, Bumblebee was pretty sure he would have been doing that crying thing right about now.

"No," he mumbled. "I don't belong to you. I don't belong to anyone."

Starscream smirked. "You keep telling yourself that, Autobot."

Standing up, Starscream pulled Bumblebee to his stabilizing servos. Bumblebee writhed uncomfortably. The seeker's hold had been transferred to the little bot's back struts, and though it was still firm and unyielding, it was significantly gentler compared to anything else Bumblebee had felt under Starscream's servos.

"But whatever you tell yourself," Starscream continued amiably. "You do realize how much easier it would be to just stop resisting, don't you? I doubt your friends have caused this much trouble."

Every part of Bumblebee's chassis tensed. He tried not to think too much about his friends, especially since he wasn't too sure where most of them were. The most he could guess was that Prime was stuck under Megatron, but everyone else... Again, Bumblebee tried not to think about it. His imagination did tend to come up with some of the worst scenarios that could be conceived.

"I'm a resister," Bumblebee replied simply, pushing those troubling thoughts aside. "I have a reputation to keep."

Once again, his chassis tensed as he waited for Starscream's inevitable freak-out. Instead, Starscream's hold simply tightened slightly and the seeker himself let out a low chuckle.

"Don't we all? I have a reputation to keep myself, Autobot. That's why I can't have you running around, causing a scene." Starscream flicked at one of his captive's little horns, earning himself a wince and a grumble of displeasure. "Besides, didn't I warn you that another little escapade like this would result in you being locked up in solitary... indefinitely?"

"No!" Bumblebee yanked himself free of Starscream's grasp, but instead of bolting, he turned on the significantly larger bot, looking up at him with optics full of panic. "Please, don't! I won't- I-I promise I won't do it again! I promise I'll be good! I'll- I'll do anything! I promise! Just... please... don't... Please..."

Faltering, Bumblebee dropped to his knee joints, faceplates in servo.

Starscream stared down at the little bot, optics wide. He knew how much the Autobot hated isolation, but he hadn't quite expected this reaction. Perhaps one too many solitary sessions had finally broken the irritating little bug.

That was fine by Starscream.

"Get up," he ordered.

Bumblebee obeyed, helm hanging low. Starscream placed a guiding servo at the little bot's back, and the two bots proceeded to walk back towards Starscream's apartment.

Starscream's apartment was at the very top of one of the highest complexes of the city, and it was more of a suite than anything. It took up the entire top floor. One could see the entire city from up their. Starscream liked it. Sometimes, he would jump off and enjoy the feeling of a free-fall, before transforming and activating his engines at the last possible moment. It made him feel more powerful than he actually was.

"Go clean yourself up, and meet me in the berth room," Starscream said as soon as the two of them entered the suite. He smirked as the little bot obeyed without so much as a remark.

As he himself walked towards the berth room, the glint of one of the many cameras caught Starscream's optic. He glanced at it, glaring, and quickly entered his berth room. Of course, another camera was waiting for him there, but he tried to ignore it. As much as Starscream liked the suite and its powerful viewpoint, those cameras always succeeded in spoiling the enjoyment for him.

Bumblebee, meanwhile, got himself clean. The scratches and dents couldn't really be helped - Starscream would never care to let him fix anything cosmetic, and the dents usually required some kind of paltry medical attention. As he left the washroom, Bumblebee avoided optic-contact with the mirror.

His recharge berth was in the same room as Starscream's recharge berth. The room certainly beat that old cell Bumblebee had been forced into during his first several cycles under Starscream's stabilizing servo, but something about it almost made Bumblebee prefer the cell. After all, there were plenty of other rooms in the suite, and yet Starscream made him recharge there.

Speaking of Starscream, the larger bot was looking out over the city, nursing an exotic oil blend, when Bumblebee entered the berth room. Bumblebee hung back, but Starscream, without turning, crooked a digit in his direction.

"Come closer."

Bumblebee obliged. He stopped alongside the towering Decepticon, helm low and optics on the grooves in the floor.

"You don't want to undergo a solitary session."

It wasn't a question.

Bumblebee's servos clenched. "N-no... No, I don't."

Starscream took a sip from his oil blend. "But you did run away again."

Bumblebee yelped as Starscream's servo caught the top of his helm.

"So, tell me, Autobot," the seeker continued, optics still aimed out the window and vocal processor dangerously low. "What exactly is keeping me from throwing you into solitary right now?"

Bumblebee's own vocal processor seemed to be uncharacteristically non-functional as he grasped at the servo attached to his helm. The most the formerly chatty bot could get out was a tight, "Please... Don't..."

"Or what, Autobot?" Starscream hissed. "You haven't given me much incentive to the contrary."

"Please," Bumblebee gasped, finally finding his vocal processor. "I promise I won't be bad again."

Starscream cackled. "Your reputation doesn't make your promises very valid, Autobot."

"I really promise!" Bumblebee exclaimed, vocals hiking up a pitch, if that were possible. "I'll never try to escape again, I swear! I'll- I'll do whatever you want!"

This gave Starscream a pause. "Including acknowledge me as your sole lord and master?"

"Yes! Yes! Anything! Just–"

"Do it."

"What?"

"Do it!" Starscream snapped, looking down at the little bot for the first time since he had entered the room. "Acknowledge me as your sole lord and master! Prove that your promises are valid!"

Bumblebee looked up at Starscream as best he could with the heavy servo still attached to his helm, optics betraying hesitancy.

"Do it!"

The next few moments seemed to be an eternity as Starscream glared downward and Bumblebee stared upward. Then, Bumblebee's servos dropped to his sides. His helm drooped. His vocals were quiet and tired as he spoke.

"I acknowledge you as my sole lord and master..."

A triumphant smirk appeared on Starscream's face. He tossed the Autobot aside. "Go recharge."

Bumblebee stumbled as he landed, but managed to keep himself stabilized. Without a word, he walked over to his berth in the far corner and lay down. Ordinarily, he would have been back in the cell or stuck in solitary after an escapade like this. But not this time. And yet, it felt as though he had lost some long-standing battle, and that feeling ate at Bumblebee's spark. It continued to eat at his spark as he drifted into a fitful recharge.

As Bumblebee drifted off, Starscream couldn't help but shoot a smug look at the berth room camera. He finished his oil blend and cast a look towards his little prize. The recharging bot shuddered slightly. Starscream smirked, and left the room. Finally, after so much time spent locked in figurative battle, he had beaten the stubborn little Autobot and erased that irritating rebellious streak. Starscream would gladly accept the victory.

Meanwhile, somehow deep in his restless recharge, Bumblebee saw himself finally winning against Starscream. Never again was he going to lose to that slagging Decepticon. In real life, Bumblebee smiled as, in his dreams, he placed triumphant stabilizing servo atop the screechy bot.

That streak was still there. Neither Starscream, nor even Bumblebee knew this, but the streak was still there. A rebellious streak never to be broken.

[rhinkthreeways]

Spirit (Smutty Version)

Thank you, thank you, thank you to @secondhand-watermelon for providing grade-A smut for our follower takeover!

The party was in full swing by the time Rhett caught up with his best friend, standing alone near the pool, nursing a drink. He moved closer, calling on the power of his costume to give him the grace of a true hunter stalking his prey.

"You ain't a real 'werewoof', Rhett," Link announced without turning around. "I can feel you comin' a mile away."

"Wanna really feel me coming?" Rhett offered, sliding his arms around Link's body. Link replied with a snort.

"Gonna leave your own party to hump me in the backyard? Thought you were a better host than that."

"You like it when I hump you in the backyard," Rhett replied, pressing himself tightly to Link's ass. Link squirmed and broke away with a huff.

"Stop. Somebody's gonna see."

Rhett scowled, distorting his wolfy makeup. He'd also revived the werewolf fangs and clawed gloves from the Mythical merch photoshoot, and he'd expected Link to find it - and the roleplay they'd discussed - more…appealing.

"Come on, Neal. Where's your Halloween spirit?"

Link gestured to his own costume, a white sheet with holes cut out for his eyes, mouth, and arms. "I got you some spirit right here." He held up his drink. "And here."

Rhett snatched his cup and took a drink before sputtering. "That's straight whiskey!"

"Tis the season," Link replied cheekily, before taking back his drink. He drained it and stared up at Rhett, his eyes shadowed by his costume, unreadable.

"Come on," Rhett drawled, lowering his voice enticingly. "Let a werewolf show you a good time, Neal."

"Shouldn't I be wearing a red cape for a line like that?" Link retorted. Nevertheless, he allowed Rhett to guide him into the shadows cast by the landscaping on the side of the house. "We got time for this?" 

"Absolutely," Rhett assured him, before dropping his friendly demeanor and pressing the smaller man hard against the wall. "I want to take this off you."

"Take it off me, then." All traces of hesitance had vanished, leaving Link sounding just as eager as Rhett felt. 

"If I had time, I'd take a pretty thing like you to my bed," Rhett growled, tugging the sheet from Link's body. "Strip you down, spread you out." He grinned wolfishly, baring his fangs, as his fingers deftly undid the button and zipper of Link's pants.

"What big teeth you have," Link teased breathlessly.

"The better to devour you with, my dear," Rhett promised darkly, before turning Link and shoving him against the wall once more.

His fingers fumbled between Link's cheeks before he drew back with another low growl. "Did you come prepared for your big bad wolf?" His fingers closed around the base of the thick plug he'd discovered and gave it a twist, wrenching a groan from Link's panting mouth.

"I know you," Link gasped. "Knew you wouldn't be able to resist."

"I think you're just desperate to be fucked," Rhett purred into his ear. He drew the plug out to a long, low whine from the other man. "Think you're a bit of a slut for me, Neal."

"Just do it," Link whimpered. "Do it, Rhett."

"Do what?" Rhett queried, nudging the head of his already-leaking cock to Link's slick, open hole. "Say it, baby. You know what I want."

They'd talked about this, just once, when Rhett had informed Link of his chosen costume. Link had scoffed at the idea then, but Rhett hadn't missed the slight bulge in his jeans betraying interest.

Link shook his head. "I can't," he whispered. "Rhett, come on. Just put it in."

"You can," Rhett assured him, soft and sweet. "You came here ready for it. All you have to do is ask."

Link groaned and squirmed back against him, trying to work the head of Rhett's cock into his ass. Rhett held back, waiting, until Link visibly surrendered.

"Do it, Rhett," he breathed. "Please."

"Do what, honey?" Rhett repeated, holding his breath in anticipation.

Link whimpered again, struggling. Then, 

"Do it, Rhett. Mount me." 

The moment the words escaped Link's mouth, Rhett was on him, in him, pushing his cock in deep and fast. He covered Link with the full height and weight of his larger frame and humped into him, clutching Link first around the shoulders, and then around his ribs. Link slowly sunk to the ground under Rhett's weight, letting Rhett settle him onto his hands and knees without ever withdrawing entirely.

Rhett felt wild with lust, working to drive his cock deeper and deeper into Link. Once they'd settled onto all fours, Rhett angled Link's hips and ass up so he could truly mount him, grunting and groaning as he fucked Link with hard, sharp thrusts and deep, hungry grinds of his hips against Link's ass.

"So good for me," he snarled into Link's ear. "Good boy, letting me take you. Just what you needed, right? Needed me to mount you. Make you mine."

Link couldn't reply in words, lost to the helpless whimpers and moans that every snap of Rhett's hips drove from him. It only took another dozen or so thrusts before Link was crying out, turning his head to muffle his pleasure into his bicep as his untouched cock spurted cum onto the grass and stone beneath them.

"Good boy," Rhett groaned once more. He fucked into Link a few more times before surrendering to his own climax, filling Link with hot cum he intended to plug inside his friend for the rest of the night.

They collapsed onto the ground in the shadows, Rhett pulling Link close for a few moments of shared breathless kisses before they rose to set themselves to rights. Rhett draped Link's sheet over him once more, hiding all evidence of disarray. 

"I knew I could help you get into the spirit of things," Rhett teased, fondling Link's plugged ass beneath the sheet. Link groaned and shifted, no doubt shooting him a loving glare beneath his costume. 

"Yeah, yeah, Rhett. Happy Halloween."

[jaehyunspeachparty]

daddy jaehyun

iii.xix. (a,m)

"Oh god, oh god, yes, yes, yes." Your back arched and Jaehyun ate you out like he had starved for days. Your orgasm came like a wave and your body vibrated. Your hands clawed at the sheets, while Jaehyun made you cum for as long as possible. He nibbled on your clit and penetrated you with his fingers. You almost fainted because the feeling was so violent. And when you came back to reality, he raised his head between your legs and smiled. His face shone with all your juice and he immediately reached for a tissue to clean his face. "Oh my god, that was ..." You were completely out of breath and your pulse was racing. "You earned that after the exam. You finally finished your semester." He smiled and hugged you. You had finally written the last and hardest exam in the morning and since Sunoh was making his nap and Miga was still in training, Jaehyun wanted to reward you for your hard work. "I’m happy to be finally back home again. The last weeks were pretty hard." You touch your belly and gently stroke it. Jaehyun looked briefly at his phone and checked his messages when he leaned over to you. "Look, Johnny sent me photos of the baby." You take his phone and swipe through the pictures. "Oh my god, he looks like Johnny. Does he already have a name?" You smile and keep looking at the screen. "No, they still call him Johnny junior. They can't agree on a name, meanwhile." Jaehyun picked up his phone and set it aside. "I bet they'll end up with the name." You laugh and turn to the side because your belly felt so heavy at this moment. "We should start looking for names too." He also put his hands on your stomach and stroked it. "Yes, I can't make up my mind right now. But sometimes I'm so looking forward to the two that I really want to have names." It wasn't a lie, because you'd love to fast-forward the pregnancy and hold your two in your hands right away. "I can hardly wait for the twins either and to become a big family soon. I thought I would miss the idol life, but I've been so incredibly happy since I spent the time with Miga, Sunoh and you." He looked deep into your eyes and you could see how serious he was. "I love our family so much too. It has always been my dream to have a big family, but I didn't think it would make me so happy." You look down on yourself and feel the twins move again. "I would give anything for them, even my life." You look up again and kiss Jaehyun. Your previous pregnancies were special, but carrying two babies inside you, was unique. "I would give everything for the children, but certainly everything for you." His forehead was on yours and you close your eyes briefly. Your fingers bandaged and you feel so much love at that moment. You were so grateful to Jaehyun for giving you everything you asked for. "I love you so much Y/N." His nose was now on yours and you could feel his breath so deep. "I love you so much Jaehyun." And at that moment you fall into an infinite kiss until you hear a babble. Slowly you separate from each other and you see how your son came into the bedroom. He had his favorite toy with him, but he still looked very sleepy and his hair stood in all directions. Jaehyun picked him up and kissed his cheek. "Hey boy, did you slept well?" He asked and his son giggled. "Yes," he said briefly, sitting on his father's lap. He starts playing with his toy and you had to laugh. "He looks so like you. The black hair, the dimples, the eyes, the mouth. Miga is a mix of us, but Sunoh is just a copy of you." You stroke your son's hair and you were so proud of your children how they grow. "Who knows, maybe it will develop as he grows." Jaehyun shrugged and kissed his son on his hair. "I'm excited to see who the twins will look like. I would also be happy if they got my eyes these times." You laugh and watch your son play. It was luck, it was love, it was perfect.

"And what is that?" Miga was sitting on your lap as you are getting ready for the evening on your dressing table. "This is lipstick." You take it in your hand and open it. The red color went well with your understated make-up. Only an eyeliner and a little mascara made up your look. "Can I wear it on my lips too?" Miga looks up at you and smiles. "Sweetie, your father won't be very happy if you have red lips." You stroke her long hair behind her shoulder and smile. "Mummy pleaseeeeeeee." She grinned and she just looked so cute that you can't resist her. "Pink suits you much better." You open another lipstick that was much subtle and put it on her lips. Miga looked in the mirror and was satisfied. In the end, you give yourself a little more blush and you also give Miga something on her cheeks so that she starts giggling. "Mummy, will I be so beautiful as you later?" She looked at you with big eyes when she saw you and you hold her tightly in your arms. "You are already the most beautiful girl in the world." You stroke her cheeks and look her in the eyes. She was the daughter of Jaehyun Jung, she could only be stunning. "Well my girls, are you done?" Jaehyun was standing at the door with Sunoh in his arms. "I think we can drive." You smile and take your daughter's hand to go to the car together. "You look beautiful." Jaehyun kissed you as you walk past him and you feel flattered. You were wearing a loose white blouse and a Chanel blazer that Jaehyun had given you as a present once. Otherwise, you just wear jeans and sneakers. Nobody could see your pregnancy, even though you already had a bigger stomach now, but the blouse was so good that it still looked like you had just gained a little weight. You still didn't want to publish the pregnancy because you both still enjoy the peace. That's why as few people as possible should know about it ... or as long as you can still hide it. "As I said, we are only 5 minutes by car away from campus. If something is wrong, call me. I will pick you up immediately." You hadn't told Jaehyun about Matthew. You were afraid that he would do something he regretted. Jaehyun only saw red in such situations and you think that so you will protect him better from himself. But you still asked him to stay close. Winwin just moved into a new apartment nearby, and Jaehyun decided to visit him with the kids until he picked you up. Jaehyun stopped in front of Eunbi's house and switched off the engine. "Do you think it's a good idea? I would love to stay with you." You look at Jaehyun and took your hand. "I'll do anything you want. If you want to come with us, then come with us, if not then not. I just don’t want you to miss something. I know our life will get a little bit harder with the twins and we will live even more for the children than for us. I just want to support you and be there for you." You smile and hesitate for a few seconds, but then you see Eunbi, who stood shyly in front of the entrance and looked uncertainly through the area. "Hmm I promised Eunbi. The cute angel is so shy." You sigh and look back. Sunoh was asleep and Miga looked out of the window. "Sometimes I think that's your mother-feelings." Jaehyun smiled and pulled your face towards him. "I love you and have fun." "I love you too." You enjoy his warm breath and kiss him again before you get out of the car.

The party was actually quite nice. You talk to a few people which whom you liked during your studies and Eunbi was able to find a connection with your help. But still, it was awkward for you. That was not your life and you miss your home and family. You were talking to a couple of students, so you looked at the clock and thought about how quickly you could get out of the party without being too early. You decide to call Jaehyun in about 20 minutes to pick you up. So you went meanwhile quickly into the kitchen and fill up a glass of water. You take a sip when you hear a familiar voice "Water? We passed the exam! Have a drink with us." Matthew came to you with a friend, who you didn’t know and you immediately became uncomfortable. "I don’t drink alcohol." Which was a lie, in general, you drink alcohol but not now because you were pregnant, which nobody here knew, except Eunbi. "Not even a shot?" Matthew grinned and it was that fake smile again that you didn't like. "No." You may sound stricter than you wanted, but you just wanted to get out of here. The two friends looked at each other and nodded, which you found somewhat strange. And when you wanted to go, Matthew came after you. "Hey Y/N, I wanted to apologize for the recent incident. It was not okay, I should never have said something like that. I'm sorry, I was stressed and I just thought you were so great...so beautiful." He looked briefly, quite obviously, at your breasts and then quickly back in your eyes. The whole thing was more scary than expected. How can you feel so threatened even when there were so many people around you? You thought you'd better be nice and friendly before he got crazy. "Is okay." You smile wrongly, but he looked satisfied. "Thank you, I'm so glad." He came up to you and hugged you. You try to stretch your stomach away from him, not only because you didn't want him to notice that you were pregnant, you didn't want him to get close to your babies. After this weird meeting, you go back to the other students and Eunbi. You drink your glass quickly and listen to how they talk about the exam. But after a while, you feel more and more sick, like you were drunk. Your phone vibrates and you get up to speak to Jaehyun. But you realize that you got worse and worse, everything started to spin and something was wrong. "Y/N, is everything okay?" You hear his voice, but your field of vision grew darker. "Jaehyun, I don't know. Something is not right." You lean against the wall because you could hardly keep yourself upright. "What happened?" He was getting more and more panicky now and you're slowly dragging yourself out. "I ... Jaehyun ... I'm so dizzy." It became more and more difficult for you to speak and you could hardly hold your phone anymore. And suddenly you feel how someone supports you. You can hardly react anymore and you just didn't know what happened to you. Anyone could do anything with you and the only thing that was in your head was your twins. "Y/N what happened?" It was Eunbi's voice and then your body collapsed on the meadow in front of the building. You could hardly see anything anymore and it felt like you were blind. "Y/N. Did someone put something in your drink?" You hear the girl say something, but you were out of your senses. "Just water...my babies...I have to protect them." You collapse and you just want to go to sleep. "Oh no! The twins! Y/N, you are not allowed to sleep, stay awake for your babies." Eunbi was panicked, but she was doing something that she considered best at that moment. She stuck your finger in your neck and made you vomit. You could hardly do anything anyway. You don't even fight back. Eunbin did her best and tried to empty your entire stomach. At that moment she sees how suddenly car headlights came closer and a car stopped. The door opened and Jaehyun immediately ran to you. "Shit! What happened?" He immediately lifted you up with Eunbi. "I think someone gave her something in her drink. It looks a lot like a date rape drug." Eunbi helped Jaehyun put your body in the car and she try to keep you awake while Jaehyun was driving. "We're driving to the hospital. There should be one right away." Jaehyun drove faster and faster. It was almost dangerous as he knew no borders. But he didn't care, he had to get you to the hospital as soon as possible. During the drive, Eunbi tries to talk to you. "The babies .... Jaehyun ..." you whisper and fall asleep more and more. "I can't keep her awake anymore. She's passed out." Eunbi was desperate, she really wanted to help you. "We're almost there." Jaehyun drove to the hospital, stopped right there and opened the back door to pull you out. He ran to the emergency room, where a team approached him.

daddy jaehyun masterlist

[xanican-exile]

Interview the Muse

Do all of them

Long post under the cut

- What is your Full name? Include any maiden names, aliases, or nicknames.

”Venix Savreux. My last name is Mornese, I guess that must be where my mother was from. Its a country a bit to the east of Xanica.” - When is your birthday? Do you know where you were born and at what time?

”I’m actually not sure. I know that my birthday is a few weeks before the first snowfalls, but rangers didn’t really have calendars out in the Wyrmswood.”

- What is your star sign? Do you know your Chinese Zodiac too?

“I don’t know what that means.”

- What is your earliest memory that you can remember?

“My... Mother wiping a bloody scrape on my cheek. I’m really young, can’t be more than 4 or 5? It hurts a lot but I won’t let myself cry. Babies cry, but I won’t. She’s chiding me for getting in a fight, especially with two boys that are bigger than me. But I think a little part of her is proud. They were making fun of me for being a whore’s son.”

- Where was your childhood home? Was it more urban or rural?

“I was born in docks quarter of Esklay, one of the big port cities in Xanica.”

- How was your childhood in general? Did your parents treat you well? Did you have a lot of friends?

“My mother and I didn’t have much. She was a whore, no idea who my dad was, and I wasn’t exactly around there long enough to make friends.”

“Things got a lot better when I joined the rangers though.”

- How was/is school? What is your favorite and least favorite subjects? What were your grades on average?

“I didn’t go to school, but I was trained to be a ranger from the time I was... 8, 9? Something like that. I know I was ranked pretty high among the cadets, I was the top in sword skills, but everyone else that would join my pack was better than me in at least one thing.”

- Did you have a best friend growing up? What was their name? Are you still in touch?

“No, no I’m not in contact with any of them. Vex, Rand, Mako, Velite, Ilia. They.. They aren’t around anymore.”

- Were you in any cliques?

“We were encouraged to become close to small groups, they would become our pack once our training was finished.”

- Best childhood memory you can recall?

“The day my pack became full rangers.”

- Worst childhood memory you can recall?

“... My mom dying.”

- Name an event in your childhood that has shaped you into the person you are today

“Probably the day I was found by the rangers. After my mom died I ran from home, didn’t know where I was going, too young to think beyond getting away. I think it was a few weeks of being on my own, barely surviving on scraps. I guess I was going north, because I eventually ended up in the Wyrmswood. I don’t know how, it’s hundreds of miles from where Esklay is on the coast, must have ended up in one of its southernmost reaches. I.. I ended up passing out around a ranger campfire, barely noticing the people watching me. A lot of lost kids, orphans, bastards, and street rats end up as rangers, but I’ve never heard of any others stumbling on them like I did. Its probably happened, Xanica is pretty big, but I’ve never heard of it. Anyway, when I woke up they fed me, tended to my wounds, and teased my story out of me. I remember one of them asking me if I would like to be strong enough to never let something like this happen again. I took his offer without a second thought.”

- What is the dumbest thing you have ever done to impress someone? Were they impressed or was it all for naught?

“I guess there was a couple times when I was still training that I tried to go off on my own, hunt things I wasn’t ready to to impress our masters. Only took a couple beatings before I stopped doing that though.”

- Did you ever have any sweethearts or lovers? Do you have a boy/girlfriend?

“Not really. I’m on the road a lot, going from place to place. I don’t get time to get close to a girl like that. There is this one bard I seem to keep running into though..”

- Are you a virgin?

“No.”

- Do you ever plan on getting married in your life? Do you want kids?

“I’ve.. never really thought about that. I guess no. Having a family or getting married doesn’t sound like something I can do.”

- Would you rather have your own kids or adopt? How many kids would you want?

“I don’t really have a preference, its hard for my to imagine doing either.”

- Do you think you'd be a protective parent or a relaxed parent?

“I don’t think I’d be a very good one.”

- How would you prefer to pass away? Surrounded by loved ones and at peace, or while doing something heroic?

“Definitely fighting. I want whatever takes me down to remember how much of a struggle it was to kill me.”“

- Generally, how healthy are you? Do you get sick or injured easily or are you fit?

“I do everything I can to stay in peak physical condition. Doing otherwise would mean I end up dead in my line of work.”

- Have you ever been badly injured before?

“Several times. You don’t fight monsters for over a decade without collecting a fair share of scars.”

- What is the worst injury you have ever gotten? What was it and how did it happen? Were you ever close to death?

“This one right here. Those three slashes across my chest? Those are from a Wyrmling. Its like a wyvern but flightless and with four legs. I had to hunt one on my own once. Those claws destroyed my armor, but I would have been turned to paste if I hadn’t been wearing it.”

- How many times have you been to the hospital/doctor's?

“I haven’t been to many hospitals. Those are for sick people, but I’ve had to visit a lot of surgeons and healers over the years to get stitched up or have other wounds treated. I’ve never tried counting how many times I’ve been to those.”

- Have you ever had a concussion or brain injury? Have you ever had amnesia?

“I’ve had more than a few concussions, but I don’t think I’ve ever had amnesia or a serious brain injury, thankfully.”

“...I should really get a helmet.”

- What was the worst illness you ever contacted? Do you know what it was? How long were you sick?

“I don’t know what it was, but there was one time that I was stuck in bed for over a week as a child. It happens sometimes to cadets, they weren’t sure I’d survive, but I proved stronger than they expected.”

- Ever had any extended hospital stays? What for?

“Didn’t I already answer this?”

- Have you ever had to give yourself or someone else emergency first aid? What happened?

“Multiple times. Sometimes they lived, sometimes they didn’t.”

- Are you employed? Where do you work and who do you work for? What do you do?

“I guess you could call me a mercenary. Since leaving Xanica I’ve made my living going from place to place dealing with bandits, poachers, and monsters. Once or twice I’ve been hired to stay on a noble’s estates for a season to keep it guarded. Those jobs are boring, but pay best.”

- Are you happy with your current job?

“...No. Most of it is just busywork. I do it because its what I know, because its closest to what I used to do. But I wish I had something more meaningful to use my skills for.”

- Did you have any previous jobs? What were they and what did you do?

“I was raised to be a ranger. Its what I did until leaving Xanica about 2 years ago.”

- Most dangerous thing you have ever done?

“That’s hard to say. I’ve been involved in a lot of dangerous things. The expedition into the Divide might be at the top though.”

- Do you consider yourself a more active person or a more relaxed person?

“Definitely more active. I’m not good at sitting around doing nothing for than a day or so.”

- What is your dream come true? How about your worst nightmare?

“My... My nightmare already happened. My dream would be for my pack to be alive.”

- What is the biggest and most important goal you have set for yourself?

“To never let what happened to the rangers happen to someone else.”

- How persistent would you say you are? How much does it take to get you to give up on a task?

“I’d like to say I don’t give up easy, but I guess I’ve already given in on the stuff that matters.”

- Would you surrender yourself to your enemies or fight to the very end?

“Fight. I won’t run again, not while there is something I can still do.”

- When do you usually do your shopping? What is currently on your shopping list?

“Usually between jobs, or right after I finish one. Right now I need to get myself some new rope, hardtack, my cloak stitched, and a pan for cooking.”

- Top three things on your wishlist?

“Wyvernhide leather cuirass, a pair of those new glyph inscribed boots that resist water, and a warm chocolate mint drink.”

- Currently, what is something you want but do not need?

“A warm chocolate mint drink “

- Do you like shopping? What is your favorite thing to shop for?

“I don’t know if I like shopping, but I don’t dislike it either, its just something I have to do.”

- What is the most expensive thing you have purchased? Was it worth it?

“My mail shirt. Absolutely worth it, saved my life more than once.”

- What would you do if you were suddenly given one billion dollars out of the blue?

“I’m not sure. I don’t really buy a lot of luxuries. Maybe I would purchase a keep or something? A place to winter at when the roads get snowed over.”

- What would you describe your style of clothing as?

“Practical.”

- Do you have any hobbies? Name all of them if you can.

“I can make simple woodcarvings, I play the flute, and I guess I’ve dabbled in falconry.”

- Do you like and appreciate art? What is your favorite piece of artwork?

- Do you like music? What is your favorite style of music?

- Have you ever seen any musicals? What is your favorite?

- What are your top three favorite animals? What would you say your "Patronus" or "Spirit Animal" is?

“Eagles, Hawks, and Bears. Most rangers would probably say our spirits are most like wolves.”

- What are your top three favorite colors?

“Red, white, and I guess yellow or amber, though that last one is really just with eye colors.”

- What is your favorite season? Do you prefer hotter or colder weather? Do you like snow at all?

“Spring. I can’t stand the snow, it makes it easier to be tracked, and the work always slows down during the winter.”

- What kind of flavors do you prefer: Sweet, Sour, Bitter, Spicy, Dry, or Umami (savory meat taste)?

“Savory is my favorite. I’m not really a fan of sweets aside from fruits. I like mint a lot as well, but I don’t know what that falls under.”

- Can you cook at all?

“Yes. Everyone in the pack took turns cooking. So we all got pretty good at it.”

- What is your favorite dish? Can you prepare it? Do you have the recipe handy?

“I don’t know if I have a favorite, but I do like going to new places and trying their foods.”

- What is your favorite fruit and vegetable?

“Strawberries and onions.”

- What is your favorite dessert? What is your favorite type of candy/treat?

“Choclate is just about the only sweet I enjoy.”

- What is the best thing you have ever had the opportunity to eat? What is the worst?

“Xanican haggis is always a treat.”

- Do you like to drink tea or coffee? Any favorite flavors?

“Both are good, as I said earlier I like mind a lot.”

- Describe your sense of humor.

“Sarcasm.”

- What is one thing you are justly proud of?

“My skill with a sword. I’ve always been good with a blade. The best of all the rangers in my age group.”

- Do you have any religious beliefs? If not, have you ever been to a church service?

“Everyone pays respect to the gods, but I wouldn’t say I’m really religious. I’ve had to go to a few services when going to priest or nun healers. They usually make that their payment.”

- What would you say is the worst thing someone has done to you? What is the meanest thing someone has ever said to you?

"Tricking my pack into helping stoke the fires of a civil war and then getting them all killed. Anything that’s been said to me doesn’t even come close to that.”

- What is the worst thing you have done to someone? What is the meanest thing you have said to anyone?

“I’m not really sure. I tend not to talk much unless I have something really worth saying, insults are usually not worth the effort.” “Worst thing I’ve ever done to someone is definitely kill them. I’ve had to kill quite a few people.”

- Share the latest entry in your diary/journal.

“I can’t write.”

- What is the most precious thing you own? Is it valuable at all?

“Garmr. My sword. Over a thousand years old. I’ve heard some people say that its worth a kingdom, I wouldn’t know, and I don’t plan to sell it.”

- Talk about someone you know. It can be someone you either like or dislike.

“Rubio. He’s just a kid, got a lot of heart but a chip on his shoulder too. He’s had a rough start to his life, and I’m hoping to teach him a few things so he can make the rest of it better.”

[minijenn]

Yesss thanks! 😆 Alright so no. 91 and 73 Sora and Riku (either Keys or not, doesn't matter haha). And no.33 Keys Sora and Xehanort/young xehanort/( any nort really xD) to Sora

91. “I won’t let anything bad happen to you.” & 73. “I will take all the pain if it means you’ll smile.”

He falls apart in Riku’s arms, strong and sturdy and steadying as they are, for what feels like the hundredth time that day alone. It’s the first time they’ve been alone since their fateful fight on the beach and Sora can only manage to shake the horrific thought of what happened there, what he did out of his mind as long as he reminds himself that Riku invited him into his arms willingly. That Riku forgave him. 

If only he could forgive himself. 

“You’re shaking again,” Riku notes, his voice soft and sad as he presses his hand tighter against the small of his back. “Are you cold?”

Sora shakes his head, his face still tucked against Riku’s chest all the while. If anything, he’s as warm as can be, or at least his body is. His heart feels like it has for the past several weeks, like it’s been turned to ice that’s on the constant verge of shattering to pieces at any given moment. “No,” he mutters, deciding that he should be honest. It’s not like he really has that much to lie about anymore anyway. “I… I’m scared…”

“Scared,” Riku repeats thoughtfully but the sympathy in his voice is clear. “Of what?”

“O-of what might happen… t-tomorrow…” Of the momentous battle that’s to take place tomorrow, one that could cost him much more than his freedom if the guardians of light lost. “I-I don’t want them to… I-I don’t want to be one of them!” he sobs, clutching the back of Riku’s jacket tighter in his hands. He’s barely even thinking about how his claws might be tearing through it as his mind races with untold fear for his future. “I don’t want to lose myself! I-I don’t want them to take me away from you! Please, Riku…” he begs brokenly. “Please, I-I can’t-”

“I know,” Riku quietly comforts his hysterical weeping, running a gentle hand through his now-white hair. “I know… I promise, Sora, I won’t let anything bad happen to you. Not tomorrow, or ever. I’ll find a way to free you from this, from them. I won’t rest until I do.”

Sora doesn’t know what to say in response to such a solemn, earnest vow, so instead, he simply glances up, tears streaking his face as his mournful golden eyes meet Riku’s calming teal ones. “Y-you mean it?” he whispers, the thought of freedom alone largely being too good to be true, too far out of his reach to ever obtain again. 

“I do,” Riku smiles, a careful hand perched under his chin to keep him looking upward. Sora can’t help but guiltily note that even with the dark, damming scar now marring his features, he’s still just as handsome as he’s ever been. “Sora, I… I want you to know that if I could, I would take away every bit of pain you’re feeling right now and put it on myself… even if all it would do is make you smile.”

Surprisingly, Sora smirks at this, his former fear forgotten as he lets out a short, genuine snort of a laugh. “No offense,” he chuckles and the very sound of it alone warms Riku’s heart beyond measure. “But that was kinda corny, Riku.”

“Well,” Riku returns his laugh, pulling him even closer than he already is and refusing to let go. Regardless of whatever twisted plans the Organization might have in mind for him otherwise. “At least it worked.” 

***

33. “You can run away but I will always find you.”

The dark corridor disintegrates into nothingness behind him as he collapses to his knees, weak from summoning it and even weaker from going through it unprotected as he did. Trips through the shadowy portals usually make him nauseous at best and outright sick at most and this time it seems he’s being particularly punished for his panicked haste in using one. His claws dig into the soil, his vision bleary to the point that he can’t even tell what kind of world he’s ended up in as he heaves violently. He can’t tell if it’s a blessing or a curse when nothing comes out. 

His head is pounding, his heart aching, but at least he’s alone. As far as Sora is concerned, any spare moment of solitude is a fortunate one, one where he doesn’t have to contend with his foes or run from his friends. It’s a moment of rest, reprieve from the chase that has him as the sole target on both sides. A chase that he longs for an end to, but doesn’t expect one anytime soon. After all, it hardly seems like luck is on his side anymore, so why should he expect any differently now?

Still, he sits in that solitude for a moment, closing his eyes as his darkness-damaged body finally starts to calm itself down. The sounds of a peaceful forest fill his ears and he nearly lets himself relax along with it. At least until he hears a single set of footsteps falling behind him, his chest wrenching in unspeakable agony the moment they do. 

“I must say, I’m impressed with you, Sora,” Xehanort says and under the master’s oppressive grip on his heart, Sora isn’t even capable of turning back to face him. As a result, he begins to walk slowly around him, circling the boy as if he’s his prey. Which, by all accounts, he is. “I didn’t think you would be able to keep this little ‘game’ of cat-and-mouse going for as long as you have, between either us or the guardians of light. And yet-” Sora is trembling, his mind begging him to move, to run, to escape from this wicked man at all costs, and his body refusing all the while. “Here we are.”

Xehanort slips a single finger under his chin, forcing his gaze upward so he can meet the master’s cold, cunning smirk. He looks amused, almost, by the suffering his unexpected visit is causing his hapless young vessel, and Sora finds himself hating the old man even more for it. On top of an already very long list of reasons he has to hate him, that is. “Well?” Xehanort asks, arcing an expectant eyebrow down at him, as if he was an unruly student that needed lecturing about good behavior. “Have you anything to say for yourself?”

Sora takes in a deep, shaky breath as a bit of the weight lifts off his chest. Xehanort just granted him his ability to speak back, and he’s not about to waste the opportunity. “Y-yeah,” he begins, his voice tight, yet rigid as he fixes his master with an icy glare. “Leave… me… alone…” His words are pointed, perforated, and he makes sure there’s an edge behind them to show just how tired he is of this treatment, just how much he would fight against Xehanort’s suffocating hold over him… if only he actually could.

The smile fades from the elderly master’s face as he reaches down and tightly grips the collar of Sora’s shirt, abruptly yanking him upward. His body is still limp and immobile, and a newfound wave of stark fear washes over him as Xehanort pulls him close, a fierce, warning scowl on his face all the while. “Never,” he hisses and a spiking chill runs down Sora’s spine when he does. “Clearly, you still fail to understand exactly what is happening to you, boy. You are my thirteenth vessel, whether you wish to be or not. Your heart is mine. You can resist and run away as much as you’d like, but mark my words, I will always find you.” 

With that horrific threat issued, Xehanort drops him, allowing him to collapse weakly to the ground at his feet. Sora barely resists the urge to sob in relief as he notices the master summon a dark corridor to take his leave, one that he apparently has no intentions of dragging him through. At least, not as long as there are still lost Keys to be found. 

“Your body, your mind, your heart, everything you are, belongs solely to me,” Xehanort reminds him coldly before he goes. He clenches his fist, and Sora has no idea how, but the action forces him to fall into a submissive bow, a testament to just how little control he has over anything in his life anymore. “Don’t forget that, my thirteenth.”

“Y-yes, Master…” The words are drawn out of his mouth completely against his will, his head still frozen in low reverence for a master he has no desire to serve. A master he has no choice but to serve all the same. 

He only barely has enough autonomy to glance up to catch the satisfied smile Xehanort sends him before he disappears into the darkness. A smile that haunts Sora every bit as much as what his master had said: the stern assurance that there was no escape for him from the dark, demented fate Xehanort had in store for him. Not anymore. 

(ohohoho a two for one deal huh? I couldn’t resist either of these so ya know i had to go with both. The first one for angsty but soft Soriku hours and the second one BC I just like writing them angsty confrontations between the corrupting hero and the protagonist. Its pretty funny that in Keys so far, Sora has never encountered Master Xehanort himself except for in dreams and nightmares and such. That’s boutta change in the not too far off future though hmhmhmhmh ;) 

Prompts are open, send away! 

[axymmetryx]

10:04

Choi Saeyoung/707 | Mystic Messenger

another sloppy mess asddhsksla- didn't do any scan so meh for mistakes.

Day Three: Murder

The sound of the rain should have been calming in the night, with a few blankets to bundle yourself up from the constant chill of the weather and with plans to beat Yoosung up again in the LOLOL ranking. It was suppose to be a calming night, but it was only suppose to be.

Covering the sounds of the rain were the splashing of his footsteps on the puddles of water decorated on the ground, Saeyoung was a dripping mess.

His head was all mushed up in too many trains of thoughts to muster up any common sense of direction. At this point, his feet was the one thinking. He ran as fast as he could muster, clutching a small piece of metal on his chest.

A rising panic crossed his features when he heard the sounds of siren and the dreadful flashing blue and red lights were visible through his eyes as if it was mocking his very existance at this moment. The sounds of one, two... countless footsteps were growing louder and louder. And as if the world ain't cruel enough for him, he slowed down to a stop at the sight in front of him. His body trembling in dejection and exhaustion.

He reached a hand and pressed it softly against the wall in front of him, "Dead End." a whispered resolve escape his lips, he then lift his head up to look at the sky, clouded with darkness.

He let the rain drop on his flawless face, ignoring the warm liquid mixing with the coolness of raindrops as it flowed endlessly across his cheeks.

"Freeze! We have the area surrounded, put your hands in the air!" a threaten could be heard behind him, sounds of loading guns that he knew only offered five bullets each. He mentally calculated the amount of times a hundred police could shoot when he made any wrong move.

But he clutched dearly for life on that one single metal in his hand. The only thing that matter now, as he closed his eyes. "I'm sorry." was the last words he uttered before everything went black.

__

"... Leave him to me." he heard a few faint voices in the distance, as he forced his eyes open, he immediatly closed them as soon as a bright white light stared right back at him. He groaned wiggled from his spot as he attempted to open his eyes the second time around, slowly this time.

"Luciel, don't force yourself up." A voice with a matching hand pushed him down on the bed gently to try and calm him down but he tensed at the touch and his eyes flickered open to look at the voice's owner.

"... V?" he questioned slowly as if mentioning his name would make him disappear all of a sudden. He watched as the mint haired man nodded and his body finally relaxed.

"What happened? Why am I in the hospital?" he asked, clutching on the white sheet of cloth in both his hands. Something didn't feel right– "You got into an accident, you were driving on the way to the party when another car sped up to you. You might feel a slight pain on your head because the doctor said you bumped it too hard." V ended his explanation with no more room to question as he took a seat at the far end of the room in a sofa.

Now that V mentioned it, his head felt like it was about to explode from the pain and he consciously lift a hand to press to his beating forehead. He felt a bandage wrapped tightly around the entirety of his head and groaned before laying his hand back at rest. He sighed once the pain subsided and glanced back at V who was looking directly at him.

"Am I suffering from amnesia? I can't seem to remember driving or hitting anything." he spoke, feeling uneasy, especially the clawing feeling in the pit of his guts telling him that something wasn't right.

"... You did hit your head pretty hard." was the only reply he got, before V stood up and headed for the door, "You'll be discharged tomorrow, the others already know, so right now, please rest, Luciel, I'll be back later." he watched as V walked out the door, waiting to hear a small click before sitting up on the bed, despite the harsh pounding in his brain.

He looked at both the bedside tables to see if he can grab ahold of anything. He saw nothing but a flower vase and a basket of fruits, a little too fancy for a hospital decoration so he figured it probably came from Jumin and the others. He sighed in frustration because he couldn't remember anything.

He knows that V is lying, because the tone of his voice was too plain, too calm from how V usually talks. But he didn't know what he was hiding.

What happened?

He unconciously formed a fist and lift a hand up to clutch his chest, he felt as he was suppose to be holding something, but nothing came.

He then starting feeling his body to see any signs of injections, and as he tilt his head a little, he felt a faint stinging pain on the back of neck, too easy to disregard if he hadn't paid attention to it.

He turned to look at the needle attached to the back of his left hand and looked up at the liquid in the hanging bag. He immediatly ripped the needle out of his hand and attempted to stand up from bed, the world was spinning and he collapsed just beside the bed. But he had to get out of there.

__

He didn't know how he did it but he actually got out of the hospital with ease. Weird. He thought, but he continued running away in nothing but a patient gown., he ran barefooted. No idea where his feet was taking him.

This was oddly a familiar scenario, it was like he did this just recently in a different circumstance. As he wondered what might have happen to be too much of a deja vu, he bumped into someone and he fell down on the ground from the impact, accidentally hitting his head on a pole in the process and his mind went into another frenzy of pain. He crawled up into a ball, gripping his head in uncontrollable pain, a set of flashback flashed across his eyes.

Blood. Lots of it. A hand that he gripped so tightly, and a blinding shing metal. He gasped and flinched as he felt a tight hand suddenly grabbed his shoulders. He started panting in an unpatterned manner as he gazed at a familiar mint haired man. No.

He pushed the hand away as strong as he could, tried punching him if he can but he knew he was too weak. Yet he resisted the urge to give up, fighting the pain in his head, as another set of images flashed before his eyes. One pair of mint green eyes, and a bleached haired boy, was wrapped tightly in his embrace. And he suddenly heard a loud ringing in his ears, it was like an alarm had went off beside both his ears and he screamed at the top of his lungs, trying to drown out the sound, and it did.

He was met with silence for a few moments and the last image played in his mind. He saw the same mint eyed boy staring at him with no hints of regret, a small satisfied smile played across his lips as he held onto something in his bloody hands.

Saeyoung saw a glint of metal being placed onto his own hands, it was a small wristwatch, he noticed. He held onto the small watch as his gaze went back to the boy.

"Saeyoung.. hyung.. that's the gift.. you gave me on our 10th birthday.. remember? You said.. as long as it's ticking... I still have time to spend.. with you.." he listened as the boy, his twin brother, Saeran, spoke with a calm broken voice, as he clutched onto his hand that was holding the wristwatch.

"Thank you, for always giving me hope and for being with me... until the very last moment of my life." he watched as the boy said his final words before closing his eyes, with no intention of opening again.

Saeyoung opened his own eyes and an endless flow of tears ran through his cheeks again, like the same night all of those happened. He didn't notice the sirens echoing in the background, never noticed how V turned his back to him to try and shield him from the eyes of the police.

He didn't hear the shouts of his friends in the crowd of this mess. No.

He only heard the sound of his brother's voice in his head and the image of the wristwatch that Saeran had given him.

10:04. The time an angel was sent to heaven, but also the same time a demon was born.

"I murdered my brother."

__

End.

[keelywolfe]

FIC: Some Sense of Normalcy ch.3 (baon)

Summary: It’s Edge’s first day back to work at the Embassy, but his job isn’t the only thing on his mind.

Tags:  Spicyhoney, Kustard, Established Relationships, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Mentions of Past Injury

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 |

~~*~~

Part of the ‘by any other name’ series.

Read Chapter 3 on AO3

or

Read it here!

~~*~~

Stretch was only two steps out of the elevator and already he could taste his own sweat heavy on the back of his tongue. It was fine, no big deal, it was only a bunch of equipment, right? The harsh gleam of the overhead fluorescent lights on stainless steel shouldn’t be that damn upsetting, it shouldn’t.

Shoulda woulda coulda, and fuck it all, because it damn well was, and the bitch of it was that Stretch wasn’t even sure why.

He started to turn around. Not to get back into the elevator, no, he wasn’t peacing out. Only to breathe for a minute, use those hard-learned tactics for controlling an incipient panic attack that Doc Lee spent the past year trying to pound into his hard skull. She hadn’t said it in so many words, but Stretch got the idea that they’d all been thoroughly tested already on Sans.

Close his sockets, focus on breathing deeply through his mouth. In for four, hold it, out for four. He was supposed to be so damned good at math, he could manage that much.

What felt like a hard, rubbery fist clenched in his chest was starting to ease when he heard someone calling his name.

“Stretch!” He turned to see Alphys almost scurrying up and her smile was warm enough despite the trifle of worry in her eyes.

Yeah, okay, better to keep her worries on the right path. Stretch hung on a 100-watt smile and beamed it right her way, “hey, lizard lady, how’s it going? i didn’t even have a chance to ring the bell.”

She held up her phone. “I g-get an alert when certain k-keycards are used in the elevator. C-come on, come to my office.”

Going to her office sounded like a super plan.

Stretch followed after her as she led a path through the maze of metal tables and equipment, the other scientists in their long white coats. He knew the way to her office, but it was easier to focus on the long yellow tail poking out of the back of her lab coat, concentrate on keeping that breathing nice and even.

Alphys wasn’t always the most observant person out there when it came to social cues, but she sure as hell understood anxiety. She knew he wasn’t keen on the labs. Not from anything Stretch said, not fucking likely, but he was pretty sure Ass-gore had a top-secret file on him somewhere with a nice long list of his skills sets and another one of his phobias. He kinda thought the skill list was longer, not enough to bet on it. He hoped whatever pictures they stuck in it caught his good side, namely his ass.

The second Stretch was through the office door, Alphys closed it, shutting out all the bustling sounds and reflections, and the relief of it being out of sight, out of mind, made Stretch let out an explosive sigh.

Alphys gave him a nervous smile as she gathered a stack of folders out of the guest chair. “So-sorry about the mess.”

On her desk, bookshelves, and even the chairs were cluttered piles of papers and diagrams, surrounded her computer monitors like flimsy skyscrapers, the bright corners of manga books poking out from random levels, and empty coffee mugs standing around like statues.

There were toys, too, statues and plushies both, one that looked distinctly like smiling piece of poo, another of dragon, curled around one of the coffee mugs. On her desk was a figure from ‘Mew Mew Kissy Cutie’ and that gave Stretch a little pang to see.

Back home, (no not home, not for a long time now) it was ‘Bow Wow Smootchie Beauty’, the main character an anime girl with adorably floppy ears. For the first time in longer than Stretch could remember, a longing twinge for Undyne rose up in him. Not this world’s Undyne, his Undyne, and he hated phrasing it that way, but he couldn’t think of something better.

He and Undyne hadn’t been besties, but they’d still been friends. Close enough that he’d gone to her place a few times to hang out, watch anime, and chatter on about the episodes and what was the best kind of cup noodles. So many words tossed back and forth about nothing at all. So long as they stayed in her rooms and out of the lab proper, it didn’t bother him, and Undyne never brought up her work, even when it was kinda obvious she wanted to.

That wistful look started showing up more and more, and Stretch stopped going even before everything went to shit in Underswap. There was something for his regret bucket. That he hadn’t taken the time to keep up his end of the bargain, hadn’t invited her over to his place for some movie viewing and yeah, she hated Snowdin, but he hated Hotland, so it was a fair trade. What wasn’t fair was knowing that if he’d been in Underswap, he would’ve gone to Undyne about this problem, without ever letting her talk about her work. Watched her nervously rub her hands together, half her face obscured by her long hair, hiding behind that curtain.

Stretch blinked hard, tearing his gaze away from the little figure and focused back to Alphys’s concerned face. Underswap was a long time ago and he needed to keep the count his of personal issues to one hand, thanks.

“hey, so thanks for meeting with me,” Stretch said. He plunked down into the chair while Alphys sat at the one at her desk, specially designed to allow for her tail. He didn’t bother resisting the urge to reach for his lighter, letting the rhythm of weaving it through his fingers soothe him.

“No problem,” Alphys said, “we got off c-course with t-tracking your HP. Is it t-troubling you again?”

“let me get straight to the meat of it,” Stretch said, “i want you to run another scan on my hp, then you can tell me.”

She nodded. “Have you been h-having any symptoms?”

“i’ve been really tired lately, run down,” Stretch admitted, “i take a nap and i wake up still tired. i can fall asleep anywhere.”

Alphys hummed thoughtfully, “S-sounds like Undyne r-right now.” She gave him an unexpectedly teasing look, "Are you s-sure you aren't p-p-pregnant, too?"

"har, har, al." Stretch about sprained an eye light rolling them as hard as he could. “unless i grew some unexpected equipment, there won’t be any knocked up at my door.”

"Well, in theory, s-soul mating c-could result in the c-creation of a souling, there were experiments—"

"in theory, sure,” Stretch interrupted, unreasonably annoyed; he didn’t want to talk about experiments, thanks. “but that requires rubbing two souls together long enough to make a fire. since edge and i stick with rubbing pelvises, i'm going with not." Stretch shuddered; just the thought of it was nightmare fuel. "sorry, preggies is okay for people who want it, but i'd rather donate a femur to the cause.”

"I th-think I wouldn't have m-minded," Alphys said, shyly. "But Undyne has better HP than me, so we d-decided she should be the one to c-carry the baby.”

Even talking about this was making him a little uncomfortable, but Al had the look of someone who wanted to talk, maybe needed to. She was doing him the favor, here, the least he could do was listen. Probably Al didn’t get to talk about it much, since she wasn’t the one with the bump.

The memory of his Undyne made him push aside his discomfort. Stretch forced a chuckle and said, "heh, if that's the deciding vote, then if we were gonna baby it up, Edge would be the pregnant one."

"He would have very f-fashionable maternity clothes. He and Undyne c-could bond over prenatal yoga." Alphys looked at him curiously, rocking back in her office chair, “P-pardon me for asking, but are you t-two looking for a surrogate, then?”

“fuck, no!” Stretch blurted. Yeah, that might have been a little excessive, Alphys winced, cringing into herself. Stretch tied on his smile again, “sorry, sorry, that was rude.”

Alphys shook her head, and her words were gentle and nonjudgmental, “N-not at all, it’s a p-p-private decision, I shouldn’t have p-pressed.”

Probably not. He and Al weren't specifically close, as friends or anything else, so Stretch wasn't sure why his stupid mouth chose to add, "i really don’t want kids and edge…i mean. he says he’s fine with it.”

If Alphys was surprised to hear him toss out that conversational gambit, it didn’t show. She only leaned in, her eyes kind behind her glasses, “You d-don’t believe him?”

Wasn’t that the ten-dollar question? Stretch really wished he was sure about the answer. He wanted to believe Edge, maybe Edge even believed himself, tried to, anyway. Stretch looked down, away from Alphys’s gaze, and said in a small voice. “i don’t know.”

“Hm.” Alphys stood and waddled over to stand next to him. Even sitting, he had to look down at her as she settled a clawed hand on his shoulder, “I really want this baby,” she said, clearly, “But I th-think if Undyne d-didn’t want to have kids, I’d be okay w-with that.”

There was enough quiet sincerity in that to make him swallow hard against a knot settling in the back of his throat. “yeah?”

“Yeah,” Alphys smiled, a loving, brilliant smile meant for someone else, someone tall and brash, with a lot of red hair. Not his Undyne, but hers. “I f-fell in love with her, n-not her DNA,” Alphys said, firmly. “Although she does have very n-nice DNA. So maybe you should b-believe him.”

Stretch offered her a smile of his own, one that felt a little wobbly, but hey, it was there. Look at him, communicating back and forth like a grown up and all. Doc Lee would be so proud. “thanks al. congrats by the way. how are undyne and the bump?"

"Impatient," Alphys sighed deeply, and wasn't there chapters of meaning in that one word.

“know much about the sprog yet?” Stretch teased and it felt okay. “gonna be twins? tadpoles?”

She giggled and shook her head. “N-no, the ultrasound is showing one baby. She’s d-due anytime now, it can be d-difficult to gauge with mixed Monster species.”

The scientist in him was a little curious about that; he’d gone for physics over biology. He wondered who they’d gone with for the dad juice, but he wasn’t the kind of asshole who would ask.

“i do like kids,” Stretch admitted, “i just don’t want part ownership with one. bet edge would like to babysit.”

She hummed thoughtfully, “B-be careful with that offer, I’m s-sure we’ll take you up on it. Now, we’ve g-gotten off-topic.”

Stretch winced. “yeah, sorry, sorry, i know you’re busy.”

“Not so busy that I can’t h-help,” Alphys countered. She turned around to scrabble through the clutter on her desk, came back with a notepad and a pencil. The tip of the pencil hovered over the paper, ready to write, “Now, you’ve been t-tired. What are you getting when you run a Ch-check?”

Of course she’d ask that, it made sense, it was the very first thing to be done to see a Monster’s stats. Quick, painless, and loaded with info, and Stretch didn’t really have a good reason for not doing one already, past ‘don’t wanna’.

Time to face the tunes. “i haven’t run one,” Stretch admitted quietly, “i know, i know, i’m wasting your time--”

“Hm? No, I don’t think so,” Alphys scribbled something down on the notepad. “Anything else out of the o-ordinary?”

“i thought about it and the only thing i can think of is i’ve been doing a lot healing lately, more than usual.” He didn’t say why and Alphys didn’t ask. “a lot of shit’s been going down. honestly, i don’t even know if something is wrong, but if there is, i wanted to get a leg over on it, get checked over before anything worse crops up.”

“You’re t-tall enough to get a leg right up over my h-head,” Alphys said, and the gentle tease soothed. Right up until Alphys set aside the notepad and picked up a tablet with a pair of electrodes dangling from it. “Right then, l-let’s run some t-tests. Can you summon your soul?”

Fuck, he hated this part. Or maybe hated was too strong a word. It wasn’t that bad, really, Stretch was used to a certain clinical touch on his soul from time to time, he got sick too often not to be. Used to the feel of gloved hands holding it steady to slip in an IV needle, or to attach leads, or to take a minuscule sample to study under a microscope, checking for what kind of germ hooked its wagon to his personal shining star this time. He was pretty numb to the whole ordeal at this point.

If he were honest with himself, and hey, sometimes he was, it hadn’t felt quite so invasive until he’d let Edge go hands-on with it. No one else had ever cradled his soul in a gentle hand, gazed at the silvery light that poured out of it with adoration. Sure as hell no one else had ever seen it during sex, rubbed a careful, bare thumb across its smooth surface and dragged such toe-curling pleasure out of him he’d damn near fainted from it.

Yeah, it was hard to sit back down in the waiting room once you got a glimpse of paradise.

He summoned up his soul, and didn’t watch as Alphys went to work. She was professional and gentle, hooking up the leads with barely even a pinch. She tapped the tablet and almost instantly, her expression changed into something... complicated. Um. That didn’t seem good. “what?”

“Oh, it’s n-nothing, let me--”

“it’s not nothing, you look like someone gave you a pinch on the ass. what is it?”

“It’s n-nothing bad,” Alphys corrected. “L-let me finish first, hasty c-conclusions lead to bad r-results.”

True enough but that was easier to deal with when it came to his experiments on growing better yielding plants through hydroponics, not so much when it was his soul on the line.

He waited impatiently while she poked at the tablet and managed to give her all of three minutes before bursting out, “okay, so what’s going on?”

“See for y-yourself.”

She held out the table and on it was a screen was a visual display of all his stats, from his soul pulse (running too fast) to his defense (sitting at its normal too-low), to his HP, displayed down to the tiniest decimal.

His HP, which had been slowly ticking upward for the past few weeks, was still doing it. Only now it was above five, closer to 5.3453367883. The last three crawled upward as he stared, turning to a unaccusing four.

“it’s going up,” Stretch said blankly. Way to state the obvious, there. His mind wasn’t calculating anything past that, nothing beyond his initial shock. He’d been expecting bad news, braced to hear the worst, and this was the exact opposite. It was like a trash bag breaking open to reveal piñata candy inside.

“Y-yes!” Alphys said happily. She tapped a clawed finger on the tablet screen. “It’s s-still going at the same r-rate as before, only it’s traveled p-past your base HP!”

“but…why?” Pointless question, what did it matter so long as it was going up, but Stretch didn’t like mysteries, not on television and not in life. He liked answers.

“That’s harder to d-determine,” Alphys admitted. “You d-did say you’ve been getting more rest lately, but th-that usually causes a one-time boost, n-not a cumulative effect. You said you’ve been using your m-magic a lot m-more, yes?”

“yeah, more than i usually do around the house.”

“M-maybe you should keep that up.” She snatched up the notepad and started scribbling furiously, leaving Stretch to gingerly remove the leads himself and allow his soul fade back into his chest. “T-take more shortcuts, practice a few a-attacks. We aren’t meant to hoard our m-magic in our souls, we need to l-let it out, k-keep it from going stagnant.”

“i guess i could.” Shortcuts, anyway, Stretch wasn’t really keen on making any sort of attack, not even for the magic drain, thanks.

“I think you should t-t-try it,” Alphys said decisively, “For th-this week, work on using your m-magic more than usual, then come back and we’ll r-run another test. It’s worth investigating.” She paused. “Of course, there is a-another possibility.”

“what?”

Her smile was a little tremulous, “M-monster souls response well to h-happiness.”

Before Stretch could say anything to that, his phone rang, showing an incoming call from the main source of his current happiness.

Fuck, he’d told Edge to call on his lunch.

He held up a shushing finger to his mouth and Alphys nodded, even as he swiped to answer it, “babe! i was just thinking about you—”

“I hope they were kind thoughts and not nefarious plans.” Just the sound of his voice was soothing, the soft underlying humor wrapped around his concern, “How are you feeling?”

Too much enthusiasm was going to set off alarm bells, so Stretch settled for, “better, i think. more myself, anyway.”

“That’s wonderful to hear, love,” Edge said warmly. “Then if you’re feeling better, perhaps you’d like to come upstairs to my office and have lunch with me?

Welp, so much for secrets. He should have known better to even try at the Embassy. If the spy gear didn’t get you, the gossips sure did. “who tattled.”

“I’m afraid I can’t reveal my source.”

Yeah, about the only person that took out of the running was Andy, and only because he’d promised not to tell. “yeah, i’ll be up in a mo’.”

“Wait,” Came unexpectedly from Alphys. “C-could you ask Edge to c-come down here? For a few m-moments?”

“um, sure, al,” Stretch said slowly and all his relief about his HP started to curdle until she hastily spoke up again.

“It’s n-not about you. O-or it is, but n-not in that way, it’s n-nothing bad, only an experiment I’m doing. I c-could use both your help.”

That didn’t sound at all ominous or anything, did it. But he owed a favor and Stretch did like to pay off his tabs. Eventually.

“babe, can you come down to the labs, to alphys’s office?” Stretch said into the phone. “she says it’s nothing bad.”

“Of course,” Edge replied, surprised, “I’ll be down in ten minutes.” The call disconnected and left him alone again with Alphys for ten long minutes, ten minutes that he didn’t really want to discuss experiments in until Edge was here. He could give Alphys that much, more than he’d ever given his Undyne.

But only when Edge was here, that was the thing and it was okay; Edge might be the one with all the strategy, but Stretch had a trick or two up his sleeve, too.

“did you see the last mew mew kissy cutie holiday special?”

Alphys brightened visibly and took the bait, babbling her way excitedly into his trap. Stretch settled back into his chair to listen, for at least ten minutes, but his wandering thoughts were more on his HP and that slow upward tick.

~~*~~

tbc

[gliese710]

Love - The Punishment: Part 1

Pairing: Kyungsoo x Y/N

Genre: Fluff/Angst

Summary: Y/N is a low ranked devil who finds her joy in the smallest of mischiefs. If only a certain angel could mind his own business.

Warnings: Swearings I guess?

Masterpost

Note: This is my first story. I'm still not sure if it's readable at all or if posting was a good idea. Still if you're reading this feel free to make suggestions ^^

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

"Smash the TV, it's tit for tat," you whisper in the enraged boy's ear. His mother just broke his gaming console. As, of course, you were successful in provoking him to play all day long despite his finals knocking on the door. And when his mother hid the console maybe you also convinced him to steal it. Teenagers should have fun, you thought.

You watch as the boy picks up his baseball bat and storms through the door. A small smirk plays on your lips as you spread your wings to follow him, not wanting to miss the show.

Goal. You step in the living room excitedly. But-

What the fuck is he doing? A frown takes place on your brows upon seeing the boy hesitant to execute the action.

Once again you reach out to him, "Come on, do it. You'll feel much better if you take your anger out. She deserves it anyway, never letting you do anything you want. This is your life, you are the one to decide how you want to spend it. She has no right to dictate you."

Still, the boy doesn't budge from his position. You watch as guilt flashes in his eyes and he slowly starts retreating to his room, leaving the TV intact.

Realization hits you like a truck after a moment. Angel. 

You move your head left and right to confirm your suspicion. And there he is, sitting on top of the dining table, legs hanging below, white wings tucked behind his back with all his grace, glaring at you with big bright eyes.

You huff out in annoyance. There's no point being here anymore. Shooting back a death glare at him, you fly out of the house.

Fucking snob. He just had to ruin your day. Now you need to find another prey. Not that it's hard, the world is full of shits anyway.

You find your target pretty soon, a small kid with his mother in a convenience store. And it's winter so-

"You want ice cream," you command, lips twitching upwards as the boy obeys you. And surely his mother denies.

So you proceed to the next step, "Chocolate ice cream tastes so good. She'll have to buy you one if you get on the floor and cry."

You were so ready to enjoy a little drama, and yet...yet the kid nods in obedience. Forget throwing a fit, he doesn't even argue.

Impossible. A small kid just resisted your advances.

You stand baffled for a second before narrowing your eyes on the source of your disruption. Of course he won't leave you that easily. 

The saucer-eyed angel from before is staring at you from outside the store, with the blankest expression of all time and you get a sudden urge to claw those eyes out.

That jobless piece of shit, why the fuck is he following you?

You decide to ask him the right way, the violent way. He bought this upon himself.

However, as you were just about to stop throwing daggers at him through your eyes and move outside so that you could maybe punch some sense into him, he flies away.

You hurriedly run outside the store but he's already gone.

Sneaky bastard.

You decide to call it a day. He just sucked up all your energy.

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

Fucking unbelievable. You had been in a great mood lately, having spent a good productive week. And here the ass of an angel had to ruin that by destroying your sweetest treat.

You spent so much time provoking that girl with the princess syndrome to bully the other girl who's wearing a wristwatch probably from the Joseon era. Seriously though, why would she even wear a model this old?

And finally, when the bully was about to break the watch he had to interrupt.

Now you are beyond mad. What is he even doing here, again?

You're not going to let him get away without settling the scores this time. He'll have to pay for your loss.

You were expecting to see him flee like before. So you get a little surprised when he doesn't even move from his position seeing you approaching.

"It's her mother's. She is wearing it because it's her death anniversary and she feels lonely, " the creep says, eyes fixed on the girl, not even sparing you a glance.

You furrow your brows in confusion. Why is he telling you all these? Is he trying to get you more worked up, by rubbing the fact in your face that you missed a good chance at witnessing a catfight when triggered enough?

He turns to look at your confused form glaring murderously at him and sighs heavily, before getting ready to run away again.

Huh. Like he could.

You too take flight after him. "Hey, dickhead! Mind telling me why the hell are you following me?" you ask, tailing behind him.

"It was a coincidence, I'm not following you," he retorts with a cold emotionless voice, looking straight ahead.

"Yeah, right," you scoff.

He keeps flying, still refusing to look at you.

"Where are you going?" you continue chasing him.

Silence.

"Do you stalk other devils too?"

Silence.

"I'm sure you were a stalker while alive, old habits die hard you know. You were accidentally put in the heaven, righ-"

He finally stops.

"I told you I wasn't following you," he speaks with a slight rise in his voice. "Stop with your tactics and please leave me alone."

"Oh! How can I leave my perfect source of entertainment alone when he willingly walked into my den?"

He glowers at you and you raise your brows, giving him a mischievous upturn of your lips.

After that day, the angel had never been left alone. You clung onto him like a leech. He tried hard to get rid of you, giving you fierce glares or sometimes trying to sweet talk you into leaving him. Nothing worked, so he gave up eventually, resorting to acting like you were invisible to him.

You're enjoying the time of your life though. Annoying him is so much fun.

"I bet that tastes nasty. What do you think?" you say, sitting beside him on the couch, watching as the newlywed husband tries hard to swallow the food his wife cooked for him. He smiles afterward, telling her this is the best food he has ever eaten.

You snort at this.

"Such cheesy lines! Aren't angels supposed to be against lying?"

He doesn't pay you any attention, instead keeps his gaze glued on the couple. The girl is now laughing hard at some joke her lovesick puppy of a husband has told.

You're itching to ruin this moment. A few days from now, they're going to be at each other's neck anyway. Why pretending now!

But your power is too limited to do anything in the presence of your companion. So pestering him would have to do for now.

"What's your name?" you ask him for the n-th time, also to get completely ignored for the n-th time.

You sigh dramatically, " It's rude you know. I've given you my name and you still refuse to tell me yours. Angels aren't supposed to be rude like this."

You get his attention this time.

"Will you leave me alone if I give you my name?" he slowly turns to look at you.

"But why would I do that?" you chuckle, "I'm not leaving you alone and that's the reason you should tell me your name," you continue, batting your eyes innocently, "We're going to spend a lifetime together."

He rolls his eyes and looks away again.

"Come on. I'm not that bad as a company and it's not like you have any friends anyway. I'm doing you a favor by keeping you entertained, " you say, now hovering over his face so that he has no choice but to look at you.

"I have friends..." he scowls, "and you just keep my headaches incessant."

You smirk and he stands up, pushing you aside to leave the house. His job here is done.

You follow, humming and swaying like a child behind him, leaving the giggling couple alone.

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

Kyungsoo can't believe his eyes. He has spent the last hour practically begging her not to do this, telling her over and over again that this shall pass, that everything will be fine again, that this is not her fault so she shouldn't be the one to commit to eternal suffering. He barely has any energy left. So, when she jumps off the cliff despite all that, he feels devastated, worthless even.

Grief covers his heart. He stares blankly at the hollow space in front of him, standing completely still.

"See..." you yawn, "Told you it's a lost case. It would be more fun to see her rip that cheater boyfriend's head off, but at least the world is ridden of a coward now. Why did she even have to love him so blindly, it always ends up the same. She had it coming anyway, being so fooli-"

"Shut up!" he snarls.

You visibly flinch. He looks outrageous. You shudder a little under his blazing gaze.

"You did this! If only I could concentrate more...but no! A useless piece of filth had to be even more of a burden," he scoffs, "Why do you even exist? The world would definitely be a better place without you!"

You stand dumbstruck. Partly because you have never imagined him to be anything other than the epitome of patience, but mostly because of how you are feeling right now. You should feel angry or happy even that you triggered him, an angel! But strangely those feelings are nowhere to be found, instead you feel...sad?

"The next time I see you I'll make sure the world gets ridden of atleast one piece of it's burdens," he growls and with that flies off to somewhere, leaving you too stunned to move.

You stand there, unable to move your eyes from the spot he stood a moment ago, utterly shaken.

Your chest feels heavy for some unknown reason. Snapping out of it after a while, you too fly, though this time not after a certain someone.

You feel lost, not knowing where to go or what to do. You curse under your breath when you realize that a few days of entertainment has done more harm to yourself than good. 

You've never been so directionless before.

[grayintogreen]

NO FUCK IT. I mentioned Death Cleric!Sesshomaru and no one asked how, but I’m gonna tell you how, anyway, because I love the idea too much and thought about it ALL FUCKING DAY. So now you have to live with the knowledge that I told you how to build him...... as an NPC because a lot of this requires way too much DM approval for something that will probably make all your nerd friends call you a weeb, and when you’re the DM, no one can call you a weeb because you’re playing a death cleric with a Blight Sword.

Let’s begin.

ABILITY SCORES

Sesshoumaru’s highest stat should be his Wisdom, not just because it determines his caster DC, but also because it helps his Insight and Survival checks, which are probably his two most used skill checks (does he always succeed at survival checks or does he just wander around and somehow accidentally manage to always be where the action is??? Who knows).

Constitution should be his next highest. He takes a lot of hits and as a combat oriented caster, he’s GONNA need to be tanky to hell and back. 

Dexterity should be his next highest- Sesshomaru relies primarily on his speed and agility in fights and given he’s gonna be spellslinging more than anything, so the extra boost to AC is more important than an extra strength modifier to your damage- especially when your main sword deals 2d6 necrotic damage on every hit (more on that later).

Strength is next, since he’s no slouch. Which leaves us with the final two- Intelligence and Charisma. Now ideally, Sesshomaru’s dump stats would still be over 10, just because of who he is as a person, but if you’re rolling it properly, that’s not always going to be feasible unless you roll bonkers well. In canon, Intelligence is his dump stat, and I’d agree it’s probably the best choice, because while he’s not a simpleton, he doesn’t always have more than one braincell to rub together. I wouldn’t knock Charisma as a dump stat, however, just for comedy’s sake. Sesshomaru may be aristocratic and attractive, but he’s bigoted, blunt, prefers to walk away rather than come up with a lie or even a legitimate answer, and generally about as charismatic as a hot pocket on most days. He gets away with it, because he’s pretty, but let’s be real, Jaken is where he keeps his Charisma and that is saying a lot about how little he really has.

(No, really, Jaken does ALL the talking and negotiating for him. That little bitch has all the ranks in Persuasion, and none for Sesshomaru byyeeee.)

SPELLS

The good thing about clerics is they custom pick their own spells so even if you created a Sesshomaru-skinned death cleric and then he had a massive change of heart, you can still have him start to prep the heals, but as a starter pack, no heals here. 

Death Clerics are good at one thing- making things dead. It’s all in the name. Their specialty is necrotic damage which is… mostly decay and rot and undead things, obviously. Now, Sesshomaru’s main aesthetic is poison/corrosive acid (it varies okay), so whatever poison/acid spells you can nab, go for it, but there’s also no reason that any of the special nasty necrotic spells like Inflict Wounds can’t have some of that weird corrosive flavor. Honestly, the poison claw is basically Inflict Wounds, already, just battery acid-flavored.

But wait, there’s more!  A spiritual weapon that looks like an acid whip? Done.

Being so good at making things degenerate and rot that even things that resist that kind of thing start rotting? Hey, we got a channel divinity for that!

I’m not going to go too deeply into this because spells are picked on the daily, but Sesshomaru as a cleric is 100% the asshole who picks the same spells every day and they are always fucking damage dealing. Seriously, if you played Sesshomaru as a cleric in an actual D&D party and he was the only cleric, the party would kill him (if he didn’t kill them first).

Also, hilariously, Death Clerics get Cloudkill as a bonus spell at 9th level, which is really just miasma, but no one ever said this would be note perfect. Just enjoy the irony.

WEAPONS/EQUIPMENT

Also known as “Sesshomaru has exactly enough attunement slots for all of this!”

Tenseiga: Literally just a legendary +1 sword that can cast Resurrection and only damages things of the undead subtype. The stipulation on the Resurrection spell is that it can be used on a single person once, so even if you can bypass needing diamonds to rez a person by using it, you only get one freebie for the same person. Also you’d like… have to get him to use it. Fun hook for your campaign! Party seeks wandering death cleric with healing sword who likes murdering people. 

Bakusaiga: Another legendary sword (honestly I’d put it at a +2, because it’s just that badass) that deals 2d6 necrotic damage on every successful hit and can cast Blight once per long rest. It’s a Blight Sword.. Just… Look at it. It’s a Blight sword.

Armor: The very nice +2 leather armor includes the mokomoko, which has been enchanted to cast Fly. Of course. 

If you want to include Tokijin as a weaker option to the obnoxiousness that Is Bakusaiga, then it’s probably just a fancy sword that deals lightning damage. Sometimes the lightning looks like a dragon! Because no one said it couldn’t.

BACKSTORY

Backstory is a little harder to spin into a cohesive narrative in most D&D settings, but also not hard at all- parent issues and birthright bullshit is the bread and butter of a good character backstory and/or subplot. Just say he’s the descendant of some minor echelon deity (think The Traveler or Vesh in Critical Role) whom he serves simply due to pride even if he’s an angry shithead who is real mad that Deity Daddy gave his younger, idiot brother a better blade and destiny than him, and left him with cleric powers and an ultimately weaker weapon. 

HE DIDN’T ASK TO BE THE WHITE MAGE, DAD. Obviously, this part is very much up to your discretion, but that’s how I feel about getting the most reliable amount of canon-compliant resentment out of a character meant to invoke nostalgia and probably kill your party.

So there you go, one tanky murder hobo cleric of death. That knowledge is out in the world. You’re welcome.

[krispyalpacaduck]

Music Lessons With The Devil Chapter 4

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

Lucifer x OC fic

Rating: R for language

A/N: I’m starting to lose steam so I hope y’all still enjoy this :). Tag list is open! Let me know if you’d like to be added!

“Weren’t you crippled?” Maze said snidely as I walked up to the bar.

“Nice to see you too, Maze.” I laughed.

“We’re closed.” She said pointedly.

“It was just a shot to the leg. Nothing major.”

Maze looked me up and down. “Too bad.”

“Now, now.” Lucifer said walking up to us. “Be nice. How’s the leg?”

“Eh,” I began, shrugging my shoulders. “Hell will have to wait for me.”

“I beg your pardon?” I’d never seen a more shocked, disbelieving look cross anyone’s face before.

“The Devil has a spot reserved for me.”

“I most certainly do not.”

“It’s just a phrase, Lucifer.” I laughed. He’d referred to himself as the Devil again. 

“Yes, I heard what you said. The question is why did you say it?”

“It’s doesn’t matter.”

“Of course it matters! You don’t walk around saying a phrase like that and not explain yourself!”

“Lots of people do it. I don’t see you Halloween catting over them.” His expression literally looked like one of the Halloween cat decorations with its fur up.

“Would you guys just shut up?” Maze snapped.

“This isn’t over.” He turned to me, pointing his finger. “Did you bring it?” He asked.

I set my pack down on the counter.

“What’s this?” Maze asked, curiously.

I unfolded the pack and pulled back the velvet covering.

“Knives? You throw?”

Lucifer coughed, his eyes wide. “Can she ever…”

“And?” Maze said, uninterested.

“Isn’t it obvious? I’ve brought her here to throw with you!”

She scoffed then laughed. When she saw Lucifer’s expression, she stopped.

“You’re serious?”

I craned my neck to look at Lucifer. “Told you it would be a waste of time.”

As I started to pack up, her knife came up to my throat. “Wait.”

“Mazikeen!” Lucifer growled.

When she was distracted, I grabbed the dagger, flipped it around in my fingers and then threw it, watching it embed into the wall next to us. She looked at me with an unreadable expression, then said, “I like you.”

Turning to Lucifer, she said, “How did you find out she could throw?”

I cocked my head as I walked to get her dagger out of the wall. “Yes Lucifer, how did you find out?” I smiled really big, a cocky look on my face.

“It was a bit uncalled for, really.” Lucifer said.

“He crashed my college class. I got pissed and threw a letter opener at his head.”

“Damn near hit me in the head! This close!” He said to Maze, his fingers showing how close it was.

Maze high-fived me. Lucifer looked positively betrayed.

“Hey, you brought her to me.” Maze said.

“She’s right you know.” I said.

“Oh, shut up and pour me a drink.” Lucifer sighed.

“You better be careful with this one. She just may best you.” Maze told him.

He scoffed. “Nobody bests the devil.”

Maze leaned in close to him. “I’ll be sure to tell Amenadiel that the next time I see him.”

“Funny girl, aren’t you?” Lucifer said, a tight expression his face. “I’m beginning to think it was a bad idea to bring you two together.”

Maze and I shared a look and rolled our eyes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We were toe to toe with each other. She even showed me a few tricks. We’d been knocking back drinks and I didn’t realize how much we’d been drinking until I stumbled trying to throw.

“Alright. I think that’s it for me.” I said, laughing.

“Hmmm….let’s do one more. We’ll bet this time.”

“Oh?”

“How about a challenge.”

I made a “continue” motion with my hand.

“I’m going to throw this drink umbrella and attempt to knife it to the wall. If I win, you kiss Lucifer.”

I spit out my drink. “What are we? Middle schoolers?” I chided.

“You guys are always eye-fucking each other so I’d thought you’d at least like to kiss first.”

“Hold on a second! I’m never the eye-fucker.” I protested.

Lucifer instantly perked up and moved right next to my face. “Ooohhh. I quite like this bet.”

Thinking of any possible way to get out of it, I just went for the easiest choice. Sighing, I said, “Alright and if you win, I’ll give you $50.”

“Deal.”

Lucifer was watching the throw most intensely than he had the entire time. Maze went first and naturally didn’t miss. As I lined up my shot, I intentionally missed. Not by much. Maze gave a victory cheer and put her hand out. I slapped the money into her palm with a smile on my face.

“Good game.”

Leaning against the bar, I felt Lucifer behind me, his lips almost touching my ear.

“You threw the throw. Didn’t you? I’m hurt.” He whispered.

I hoped I didn’t visibly shiver. Tilting my head back to look at him, I said, “Ancient Chinese secret.”

“Clever little minx.” I saw him lean in, staring at my lips. Just as he got within range, I put my finger on his lips.

“Nope. I lost the bet.”

When I brought my head back up, my vision swam. Holding my head in my hand, I said, “Ooh bad idea.”

“Lightweight.” Maze teased.

“Gravity is a bitch.” I whined.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Hey! You coming tonight?” Chloe said, bouncing up to me.

“Nah. I think I drank enough for a while today with Maze.”

She looked confused. “Since when were you two on good graces?”

“Since Lucifer set up a knife throwing appointment at Lux.”

“Huh. Anyway, you should come with us tonight. Lucifer is saying it’s his “rebirth” birthday party. Whatever that means.”

“Dude, I didn’t even attempt to understand him and I’m not about to start now. He had a really weird reaction today when he asked about my leg and I told him that Hell would have to wait for me. It was like he took it as a personal offense that I would even suggest such a thing.”

Chloe laughed. “You’re hardly going to Hell, Is but who knows? Lucifer’s a weird dude.”

Shaking the thoughts from my head, I said, “But seriously, how do you deal with that man? He’s so frustrating.”

She sighed heavily. “I know he is. But he really does lend some interesting insight to my cases and dare I say it, he’s become a friend.”

I bopped my head up and down, throwing my lip out.

“Maze tried to get me to kiss him today.” I blurted out.

“What?!”

“We were throwing knives and she bet me that if I lost to her that I’d have to kiss Lucifer.” I went quiet.

“So! What happened? Don’t leave me hanging.”

“I threw the throw.”

She clicked her tongue. “I bet he didn’t like that.”

“Yeah he put on a good show about it. Even tried to kiss me afterwards and I stopped him.”

“You should give him a chance, Is. He likes you.”

“Right. He likes me like he likes all of the other pretty tails that pack his bar every night.”

Chloe rolled her eyes. “You’re hopeless.”

I shrugged my shoulders.

“Come on. At least come with me. Just because.” She was giving me that puppy dog face that I could never resist.

It was my turn to click my tongue. “Alright. You’ve convinced me.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dressed in my best rave clothes, I met her at the door. Lucifer had made us VIP holders so we didn’t need to wait in line.

“Well, damn. First time I’ve been VIP of anything.”

“Right?” Chloe agreed.

We sauntered in to find the club already jumping. I was wearing a choker around my neck, a black  tube top and white cargo pants and my hair in a high ponytail. Maze saw us and motioned for us to come over. As I looked around the club, I saw Barb hanging all over Lucifer. It was kind of funny but I felt bad for him. She was barely wearing anything and left nothing to the imagination. That was the first time I’d seen him not interested in someone.

Maze poured us two shots, looking me up and down.

“Who is this?”

“Shut up.” I said, laughing.

“Rawr.” She said, making a claw with her hand.

“So…are we going to see a shuffle tonight?” Chloe asked.

I craned my head to look at her from under my eyelids. “Funny.” I said, scrunching my face up.

“We’ll see about that.” She said under her breath.

“What was that.”

“This place is jumping I said.”

“Huh uh. Don’t. Just don’t.”

She put her hand on her chest. “Me? I would never.”

I pointed at her. “I mean it, Chloe.”

I watched Lucifer run behind the bar, popping up to look between the bottles. Maze was looking at him, puzzled.

“What are you doing?” She admonished.

“Just making sure everything is running smoothly.”

“From between the bottles? It’s not like you to run from a human. Let alone a woman.”

“Ugh, she’s unbearable!”

He looked to me.

“You have to help me. It’s Barb…” He says, looking around worriedly. “She won’t leave me alone.”

I bit back a laugh. “But she’s so sweet and she loves when you speak French.” I said in an obnoxious voice.

He gave me a dark look. “Shit. She’s coming up here. Pretend we’re together. Just so she’ll go away.” He hissed.

“No way! Go get one of your flooz-”

Suddenly, he hopped the bar counter and had his arm around my shoulder. He pulled me into him, my hand on his chest. We locked eyes for a quick second before I tried to struggle away. 

His grip on my shoulder tightened. I glared daggers up at him in warning.

“Please.” He whispered into my ear.

I growled in response, the pity I’d felt for him earlier taking over.

“Hey! That’s where you went!”

Her face dropped when she saw me looking up at him.

“Thought you said you two weren’t together?” She glared.

He looked down at me, a hurt expression on his face.

“You did?” Complete with puppy dog eyes.

My eye twitched.

“I’m sorry, Barb. It happened quite…suddenly.”

I brought my other hand up and patted him on the back, making sure to put more force into the 3rd pat so it stung, all the while trying to keep a snarl from crossing my face.

“Rude.” He said quietly, his brows furrowed.

I looked up at him with a smile like venom on my face, popping my eyebrow up. I looked around for Chloe. She was gone. Barb folded her arms across her chest, popping her hip out.

“Give us a kiss, then. Go on!”

I paled.

“What?”

“Go on! If you’re together, prove it.” She had a knowing look on her face.

I laughed nervously. I looked up at him, as he looked from me to Barb. I looked back to Barb, digging my nails into his chest. “What is it with people obsessed about us kissing? He’s not really big on personal displays of aff-”

I heard him sigh and then I felt his hands on my cupping my face, turning me to face him. I didn’t have any time to react before his lips were on mine.

I inhaled sharply, my hands popping up. His tongue slid into my mouth like smooth bourbon. He tasted like a slice of Eden. My entire body softened from the top of my head to the tips of my toes. I couldn’t deny the effect he was having on me. Slowly the sounds of the club died away as I gave in. His lips were a work of art and he certainly knew how to use them.

I felt him smile against my lips as he felt the change in me. He deepened the kiss, keeping a hand on my face and using the other to wrap around my waist and pull me closer into him. I’d never been kissed so thoroughly in my life. In that single instant, my universe flipped upside down and I could see why women kept coming back and why some lined up to be with him. He dropped the hand on my cheek, fingertips tracing down my neck as he pulled away, sneaking in a kiss right underneath my jaw. I exhaled, my eyes closed, shivering. When I opened my eyes to look at him, he smirked and booped my nose.

We both turned to look at Barb when she scoffed.

“Whatever. Call me when you’re bored of her.”

Lucifer smiled as she walked away, then turned back to me.

“So…that’s that then.” I said, trying to keep my voice steady. I had goosebumps all over. 

“Was it too much?"

“Just a bit...yeah...”

I was panicking inside. The wall needed to go back up. Fast. I needed a distraction.

Chloe came up next to me, her voice contorted in excitement. I watched Lucifer wink at me, looking mighty pleased with himself as he walked away, mingling in the crowd. I dropped heavily into a bar stool.

“So…. what was that?”

“What was what?” I said, taking small sips of my drink.

She looked at me like, “Seriously?”

“Oh that? That was nothing.”

“Didn’t look like nothing.”

“It was to get rid of Barb. She’s been bugging him since we got here. He needed a way to get rid of her.”

“Annnddd he chose you?”

“Don’t look too much into it, Chlo.”

“Didn’t figure you the type to be a bleeding heart.”

“I’m not a complete ice queen. For 0.2 seconds, my pity overran my judgement. I’ve heard stories about Barb and he looked genuinely disinterested as she hung on him so I decided to help a brother out.”

Talking to Chloe helped me to calm down.

“About that distraction...” I said to myself when I heard the beginning of Spooky Scary Skeletons Extended Mix Remix start up and looked at her.

“As usual, you know exactly what I need.” I slapped her lightly on the arm and ran to the dance floor with a bunch of other people.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

TAG LIST: 

@ayanna-wild​ @using-our-made-up-names​ 

[oxnardsart]

New Boxer Beats Chapters up!

(Multiple chapters, actually!)

I’ll still post one chapter at a time on tumblr and most sites - but the Boxer Beats website has a bunch of em posted so folks can check out a bunch of them whenever!

http://boxerbeats.thecomicseries.com/comics/25

-----

Round 1     Lesbuni and Nishi watched the show together until she was called up on stage to fight. The nervous bunny bounced on down to the ring - all set to battle.     “Ring-a-ding-ding, let’th thtart thith thing~!”     Lesbuni gasped instinctually. Something told her to get out of the ring. She hopped right up on the ropes of the boxing ring as she saw white goop fall from the ceiling. A cheerful alligator was swinging around above her. Disgusted, she yelled out, “Hey, you’re messing up the boxing ring!”     Gaydar chuckled, waving down to her, “Actually, I’m thticky-fying it.” For this event, Lesbuni was going to have to fight her opponent in Gator Glue. Lesbuni winced down at the substance - she wasn’t so sure it was really glue.     “In this match, Lesbuni will be fighting...” the hamster announcer began, “ I don’t know who.” He gave a forced laugh over the sound of himself ruffling through some papers. “Wow, there’s really no name for this opponent? Alright, Lesbuni versus the Nameless Opponent!”     Lesbuni looked around the ring, still balancing on the ropes, “Is the other boxer even here?” As soon as she said that, two birds flew into the ring! One was the hummingbird referee, and the other was a blue bird with boxing gloves on its talons.     “Tweet tweet,” the beautiful blue bird chirped.     Lesbuni glared at it as the match begun. She and the bird both waited for the other to make a move. “Come on, do something!” Lesbuni yelled. The bird taunted her, flying its body back and forth. Tired of waiting, Lesbuni crouched down to jump and lost her balance. She was about to fall into the glue, so she grabbed out to the first thing she could - the referee’s wing.     “Hey hey hey!! Watch it!” Aro panicked. This was his worst nightmare. He specifically became a referee so he didn’t have to fight, but now he was directly involved. “Let me go off! I mean- let go off me! No, ah, let... off!” Aro could barely flap his left wing with Lesbuni clinging to it like a baby, desperate not to fall in the glue. Aro kept fluttering his right wing as his left side started to sink downward. The hummingbird ref was now sideways, trying to stay safely afloat until...     “Caw!” The blue bird dashed forward and started punching her little leg at Lesbuni’s face and arm, trying to make her let go.     “Ahhhhh!!” the bunny cried, trying to kick her legs at the bird until one lucky rabbit foot bashed the birdy into the glue. But she sat up quick, and started trying to fly to escape the glue. Lesbuni had to attack while she had the chance. She looked Aro in the eyes. “I’m sorry.”     “Wait, NO!” Aro cried - Lesbuni swung herself up on top of Aro’s body, causing him to fall in the glue. The rabbit hopped from on top of Aro’s back, and over to the bird. Her feet landed in the glue, stuck, but all she needed were her fists. She pounded the little birdy and sent it flying into the air! It landed on the floor outside the ring, the glue on its back forcing it to stay stuck in place. With a short count, the bird was out!     “Weeeeee have a winner, folks!” Oxnard cheered as Lesbuni looked up with a grin. Everyone cheered for the little rabbit, but with her feet stuck, all she could do was raise her arms and wave to the crowd.     “Haha, wait, wait! I have an idea... Gaydar, pull Aro up!” The giddy hamster giggled. The gator eased down from the ropes on the ceiling, landing in the glue, walking freely in it. Apparently his alligator scales were resistant to its stickiness! He used his tail like a spatula to swipe the bird free, holding him up to the announcer.     “Thank you Gaydar,” Aro sincerely pat the gator’s nose.     “Thure thing, thweetie!” he chimed in response.     “Get some glue on his front side,” Oxnard ordered.     Aro pleaded, “What!? No, don’t-”     “You got it!” Gaydar scooped up some goop in his claw and rubbed is all over Aro’s bare belly. The bird whined, he couldn’t even fly to escape right now.     “Aaaaand, feathers!” Oxnard announced over the speakers, as brightly colored feathers fell from the ceiling. “Hahaha! Now that Aro’s covered in glue and feathers, he’s going to look like a bird!”     “But I am a bird!” the referee whined. Gaydar skipped around the ring to show off Aro’s newly feathered body. Everyone cheered and got a good laugh out of it. Aro was pretty confused, but it could have been worse, “At least I didn’t get injured. Even if this is gross and tough to clean out of my feathers, I was so worried about getting hurt while helping out... maybe I can put my fears to rest!”     Oxnard teased over the mic, “Oh? We can help with that! Gaydar, which of his bones looks the most frail?”     “What!? No no!” Aro yelped while Gaydar poked ticklishly around his body.     When those three were done joking around, Lesbuni asked for Gaydar’s help in getting free and went to wash off her sticky fur. It took her a while to clean it all out! When she got back, her friend Nishi told her about the fights she missed while she was away.     “You might not like this, but while you were gone, you missed a fight with this tall, orange fox lady...” Nishi grinned nervously.     “What? Wh... do you mean... she already came out!?” Lesbuni whimpered.     “Yeah, sorry buddy.” The fox that Lesbuni was waiting to see again had already come and gone. “But the good news is that she won! So she’ll be back in a few days...”     Lesbuni frowned, this fox was very hard to get in touch with. And with the new rules, if either of them lost a match, they’d be out of the competition! It could be their last chance to talk to each other here. The disappointed bunny decided to leave early for the day.     “I’ll see you next time, Lesbuni...” Nishi waved, “But, you know there’s another way to talk to her, right?”     Lesbuni was excited about the possibility - but drooped her ears at the reality. “It’s too late. If I meet her that way, she’ll wonder why I didn’t do it earlier.”     “I kinda wonder why you didn’t do it earlier...” Nishi mumbled as Lesbuni slunched the heck on outta there.

[blackteaandbones]

With Volume 3 of the Supercorp Zine underway, I figured I should finally get around to sharing my story from Volume 2!

“Home is Where the Mini-Marshmallows are”

Kara Danvers / Lena Luthor

Lena comes home from work to find an intruder in her apartment; a small, furry intruder with eight eyes, eight legs and a taste for marshmallows. Luckily, she’s dating the expert in alien pest control.

Lena Luthor was a strong, smart, successful woman, the CEO of a multi-billion dollar company, a scientist, an engineer and a pretty damn good chess player.

She had single-handedly saved the world on multiple occasions.

She took on alien invasions, bio-weapons and super villains  and she won.

She was not the damsel in distress.

Usually.

But when she got up in the middle of the night for a glass of water, and something small and furry (and blue?) streaked across the kitchen floor, over her bare feet and disappeared somewhere among the stacks of unopened boxes in her brand new apartment, she did what any reasonable, sane person would do; retreated to higher ground (aka a chair,) and called her girlfriend.

“Lena?”

“In here!”

Kara had thrown a jacket on over her pajamas, but her hair was still sleep-tousled, her glasses were sitting crookedly on her nose, and she may or may not have broken the lock letting herself in. Lena had never been happier to see her. “Are you okay? You sounded really worried on the-” She paused, blinking up at Lena with that adorable little crinkle of confusion between her eyes. “What are you doing up there?”

Lena gathered what little dignity she could given the situation -stranded on a chair in the middle of her kitchen in nothing but her underthings and a dressing gown designed to show off more than it concealed- wrapping the sheer silk more firmly around herself and lifting her chin. “There's an alien in my apartment.”

“Psht, an alien?” Kara scoffed, straightening her glasses. “There's no alien in your apartment, why would you think there was alien in your apartment?”

Lena raised a single eyebrow.

“Oh, right.” Kara had the grace to look sheepish. “Old habits. What happened?”

Lena gave her a brief description of the encounter, shuddering at the memory of little feet running over her toes. “It's hiding somewhere in there,” she said, waving in the general direction of the rest of the apartment.

Kara frowned. “You're sure it wasn't a mouse?”

“Mice don't usually come in pastel.”

“Good point. So you're...”

“Staying right here.” Lena crossed her arms. “I don't do mice.”

“But you just said it wasn't a mouse...”

“It was small and furry and it had a tail. Don't judge me.”

“Okay.” Kara took off her jacket and and rolled up her sleeves. “I'll take a look.”

(Lena would have been lying if she said the sight of those well muscled forearms and Kara's endearingly serious save the day face, wasn't almost enough to make up for needing to be saved in the first place. Almost.)

Sliding her glasses down her nose Kara scanned the apartment, quickly spotting the tiny intruder hiding under Lena's bed. “There you are...”

Lena's room was dark and quiet. There was another stack of boxes piled up against the wall, but there was some evidence that she had started to unpack since the last time Kara was here; clothes hung up neatly in the closet, a few books on the shelf under the window and a picture of her and Kara on the bedside table. Kara smiled at that before kneeling down beside the bed and twitching the blanket aside to get a better look at their intruder.

Eight glowing eyes blinked back at her from the shadows.

Definitely not a mouse.

“Hey there little guy,” she crooned. “Don't be scared. Lena's super nice, really. You just surprised her that's all. Come on out and we'll try to figure out who you belong to...” While she was talking, she edged as far as she could under the bed and reached out a hand. All eight eyes narrowed, shrinking back against the wall. Kara stretched a little further and there was a flash of light, followed by a pop! and an electric sizzle. Kara yelped and jerked back, smacking her head against the bed frame which cracked and split down the middle, dropping the mattress down on top of her.

“Oomph!”

Kara?” Lena called from the kitchen. “What happened?”

“I owe you a new bed!” Kara yelled back, muffled by the tangle of bedding as she squirmed her way free.

“Well this isn't exactly how I imagined us breaking the first one in,” Lena drawled switching on the light, “but I suppose it's my fault for not going with the metal frame.”

“Ha, ha,” Kara muttered, feeling her face heat up. “You came down off your chair?”

“I was worried.”

“Aw...”

“About my poor furniture. You on the other hand, are indestructible.”

Kara pouted, holding up her burned fingers. “Tell that to Pikachu!”

“It hurt you?” Lena softened instantly, taking Kara's hand and pressing a kiss to the reddened fingertips. Anything else she might have said was lost to the gooey haze that took over Kara's brain every time Lena's lips came anywhere near the vicinity of Kara's very gay self.

“Kara?”

“Hmm...?”

Lena sighed, but she looked pleased. “I asked if you think we should call Alex?”  

“What? No.” Kara shook her head. “It's not dangerous, just scared. Come on, I have an idea. You found it in the kitchen, right?”

“Yes...” Lena followed close behind, hanging onto the hem of Kara's pajama top and keeping a sharp look out for any movement from the rest of the apartment.

“Well maybe it was looking for something to eat.” Kara rummaged through the cupboards and pulled out a bag of mini-marshmallows. After she and Lena had become official, the Super Friends had banded together to move Lena out of the hotel and into her new penthouse apartment. Given who she was dating, that had included stocking up groceries.

With or without her approval.

Lena wrinkled her nose. “I don't remember buying those.”

“You didn't have any good snacks!” Kara opened the bag and took another quick scan of the apartment. “It's under the couch. I'm going to see if we can lure it out.” She laid a trail of marshmallows from the edge of the couch to the middle of the living room floor and emptied out a box of books. Then she tugged Lena over to the couch. Lena shuddered, but she sat down next to Kara, tucking her feet safely up under her.

“And now... we wait,”

“What if it doesn't like marshmallows?” Lena whispered.

“Everyone likes marshmallows,” Kara assured her, poised on her knees with the open box held at the ready.

“Are you sure that's going to hold it?”

“Shhh...”

They waited.

Lena tried to resist, she really did, but the minutes ticked by and Kara was right there...

“Lena...” Kara hissed.

“What?”

“Stop distracting me!”

“Oh, is that distracting?” Lena purred. Stopping was the last thing on her mind. “What about this?”

“Lena...”

They both froze at a rustle from under the couch. Kara held her breath and a small white ball of fluff slowly crept into view. It's fur was a constantly moving halo around it, oscillating through a pastel rainbow of colour and then back to white again. It had eight little legs ending in two toes each, feather-like feelers, and a long tail that curled up and over it's back. It gobbled up the first marshmallow with tiny little squeaks of excitement and quickly moved on to the second.

Kara untangled herself from Lena and lifted the box, sliding noiselessly off the couch and readying herself to strike. She waited until it had finished the second and third marshmallow before she pounced.

Three things happened very quickly.

Kara slammed the box down.

The alien burned a hole through the cardboard and bolted.

Lena screamed.

Kara spun around. Lena was frozen on the couch with the fluffy little arsonist in her lap, trying to hide itself  in her shirt and peeping the smallest and saddest little peeps either of them had ever heard.

“Oh...” Lena unfroze, tears filling her eyes. “She's so scared, can't you feel it?”

“Careful,” Kara cautioned as Lena let go of her death grip on the couch and brought her hands up to cradle the furry menace. “We don't know what... oh.”

“It's okay,” Lena said softly, stroking the strange white fur; pink and purple swirls radiating out from under her fingers. The alien's cries gradually tapered off as it snuggled in; turning around three times with its strangely clawed toes catching on the silk of Lena's shirt and it's yawn wide enough to reveal several rows of pointed teeth before laying down in a tight little knot and closing all eight of it's eyes, tail curled up over Lena's thumb like a cinnamon roll. It was cute, in that weird way all baby animals were cute, and Lena was clearly smitten.

Kara sat down carefully beside them. One eye opened and a menacing little growl rumbled out from under Lena's hands. “Seriously?” Kara huffed and moved back. The growling stopped. “Of course it only likes you.”

“She has good taste,” Lena teased, but she shuffled them around, tucking the alien into the crook of her elbow and drawing Kara's arm over her shoulder.

Kara wisely kept her fingers out of biting range. “How do you know it's a she?”

Len shrugged. “I have no idea. I just knew.” She looked up at Kara. “Could she be telepathic?”

“I wouldn't know,” Kara admitted. “Kryptonians are immune to psychic powers. I can ask J'onn, though. Maybe he could help us figure out where she came from. We can't give her to the DEO after what they did to the Morai, but we can't exactly keep her either. There's no way that thing is passing for a pekingese.”

“I could attach an image inducer to her collar,” Lena mused.  “We'll say we adopted a kitten. Lesbians like cats, right?”

Kara snorted a laugh. “I'll ask Alex, though she's probably going to say we're missing a few steps. I'm pretty sure it's moving in together, and then pets.”

“Well it's a good thing I already had an extra key made, isn't it?”

“You did?” Kara tried for casual but inside she was doing back flips.

“Of course, why do you think I took the penthouse with a skylight? I'm certainly not going to be the one flying in and out of-”

Kara cut her off with a kiss, and by the time she pulled away they were both grinning like idiots.

They stayed there until the first light of sunrise began filtering in through the wide wall of windows. Curtains were another thing Lena hadn't gotten around to yet, but Kara didn't mind. She didn't care if they ever got curtains. She had love and sunshine, what else could she possibly need? Breakfast probably, her grumbling stomach reminded her. Sighing, she eased out from underneath her girlfriend and headed for the kitchen.

Like the rest of the apartment, it was half-unpacked at best, which is probably why they hadn't noticed the small metal cylinder wedged under the corner of the fridge, and the scattered trail of glass leading back to a hole in the corner of the kitchen window. Kara pulled it free, wondering if this was how their guest had arrived. The pod, if that's what it was, was scratched and dented, with three long tapering ridges spaced equally around the outside and a rounded nose. Kara ran her fingers over a line of strange symbols etched into the side, nearly dropping it when they lit up, revealing a message in unfamiliar script. Before she could even attempt to decipher it, the message changed, switching rapidly through dozens of different languages before settling into  an archaic form of Kryptonian, written in an angular, slanting style that was difficult to read.

“Home, destroyed,” Kara murmured, sounding out the words one at a time, “daughter, only hope, please protect, thank you-” She broke off, covering her mouth with her hands. The pod hit the floor wit a dull clang.

“Lena?!” she called, heart pounding.

“Mmm?” Lena murmured from the living room.

“I think we might have to skip a few more relationship steps.”

“Why?”

“Because I'm pretty sure we just adopted a baby...”