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gothighunicorntolerance · 2 years

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In League With Dragons- chapter seventeen

a family reunion

Read on AO3!

It was a bright, cloudless day when the dragons came back. It was unannounced, and unheard until the moment their beating wing flaps stirred the wind outside the little cave in the hill that Nico had begun to call home.

As soon as they heard it, Thomas shot up from where he had sat and sprinted outside, his happiness written plainly on his face.

Nico followed, as he always did, slower behind him, until he parted the curtain door and smiled as he saw everyone.

Everyone!

They had landed on the banks of the river, swollen from the slowly melting snow. Small puddles of slush still dotted the area, but the sun felt warm on Nico’s face after so long with a gray clouded sky.

The water barely reached Logan’s knee even in the deepest part of the river where he stood, sending cascading ripples down the current. Virgil stood silently, his head turned up to watch the sky, Roman, Remus, and Patton chased each other, splashing in the water, until they caught sight of Thomas and barrels into him, all of them laughing as Thomas slipped, drenching himself and shaking his head with a grin. Even Virgil bounded over to Thomas and grinned.

On the pebbled shoreline, Janus’s keen eyes immediately spotted Nico, who froze.

He and Janus had parted on what seemed to Nico amicable terms, but what if three months had changed Janus’s opinion of him for the worse?

“I sssee you’ve been taking good care of him.”

Nico’s mouth dried as he stumbled over what to say. Why did it feel that no matter what Janus said, it felt like he was being scolded?

“We… uh….”

Janus gave one of his low, rumbling chuckles. Somehow, Nico had said something funny.

Why was it that the most intimidating thing about Janus wasn’t his talons or teeth or even the long scar on his face, but that Nico never knew what Janus would say?

Janus rolled his eyes. “I’m messssing with you. Relax. Now come on, we’re leaving sssoon.”

Nico retreated back beneath the willow to pack whatever he would need for the next year, his hand wandering to his neck and rubbing at the pearl Thomas had given him as he did so, folding clothes and stuffing blankets into his own backpack.

He had almost finished when Thomas came in, his eyes downcast.

“What’s-“ Nico asked, eyebrows furrowing.

“I… I don’t want them to know about… us. Whatever we are now. It’s not because you, not at all! I just… feel weird talking about it. Like it’s a secret I don’t want to tell anyone. I don’t… I don’t want it to end, either.” Thomas trailed off, his face red.

“Okay,” Nico nodded. “We can figure all of that out later. We have plenty of time.”

“Oh- it’s okay with you?”

“Of course. Though I feel like Janus already suspects.”

“Yeah. You can’t hide anything from him.”

“So…”

“So… I don’t want to stop being with you. I love you, I really do. I’m just… not ready to tell everyone.”

“Absolutely, yes. They’re great and all, they just seem… a little intense.”

Thomas laughed. “That’s one way to put it. But… I’m glad you understand. Can I-?”

Thomas moved closer, and in answer, Nico closed the gap with a small kiss, grinning the whole time.

They stayed beneath their willow tree just a moment longer than necessary, reveling in the fact that it was only them for one last time before they left with the dragons. After one last kiss and one last declaration, they left their carved out space for the last time until the winter came again.

Logan knelt, allowing Thomas and Nico to climb on, and they settled in like usual. Thomas sat in front, holding on to Logan’s spines, while Nico sat behind him, arms wrapped tightly around Thomas’s waist.

He hadn’t realized just how much he missed the feeling of flight until they were in the air again.

Cold wind whipping through him, clouds trailing next to them, gliding higher than even the birds, watching the trees pass like an ocean below him, transforming into a rocky expanse of mountains and hills or the flat, endless grasslands.

Now, the woods slowly transformed into a lake that stretched on for what seemed like forever, the shadows of the dragons darkening the crystal clear water, wingbeats sending ripples that turned into waves across the smooth surface.

Once, he caught a glimpse of a small fishing boat, bobbing on the surface. He couldn’t make out the people on the boat, but he was sure they stared up at the sky in either awe or fear as the six dragons flew one by one in a line above them, not a single one sparing a glance at the little boat.

Below them, a dark shape slithered under the surface, coiling and twisting in the icy water. It was possible it was just the shadows of one of the dragons, but Nico thought that was unlikely. Stories of lake monsters swam through his mind, but the shape was gone before he could see any more of it. No one else seemed to notice, and strong wingbeats pushed on towards whatever destination Logan had decided on.

He could spend the entire day watching the landscape and all its secrets pass below him, and indeed he did. They must have flown hundreds of miles that day, gliding effortlessly over every obstacle that one traveling on land would have to overcome- over dense clusters of plant life, over a river flowing so rapidly that the water appeared white, over an expanse of gray and brown boulders until they began to descended, going down in large, lazy circles, lower and lower until they landed in a stretch of gigantic trees, taller and wider than even Logan, as the sun began to touch the horizon, enveloping the impossibly huge trees in shadow.

As Nico looked up, the budding leaves seemed to brush against the red-streaked clouds.

Thomas hummed an idle tune, the pollen blowing away from him to form

almost a dome around him and Nico. As he sang, the forest seemed to change. The blinking fireflies’ glow seemed just a little brighter, the green of the leaves seemed just a little more vibrant. Thomas didn’t seem to notice the change at all, but Nico certainly did.

Janus and the others had already piled against Logan and Thomas began to pull out the blankets, but Nico continued to stare up at the sky as it darkened, a giant moon rising from the ground, the pinprick lights of stars casting a faint glow through the dense, arcing branches.

How different the spring nights were from the winter ones! Instead of his breath clouding in front of him, a dusting of pollen sat on every surface of the bark. Not a flake of snow came down, but rather fireflies lit up from their hiding spots in the brush.

There wasn’t he preferred more, spring over winter or the other way around. No, they were both beautiful in their own rights.

Nico sat and leaned on Thomas, who put an arm around him. They lay down next to each other just as they had below the willow tree, smiling at each other and hugging each other close.

“Goodnight,” Nico smiled, curling close to Thomas.

“Goodnight.”

The nights grew warmer, and despite the occasionally uncomfortable lay hot days, Nico never missed a chance to be as close to Thomas as he could. Even as the sun beat down in their backs, sweat trickling down their foreheads, they held hands as they waded in streams or rivers or leaned against each other in the shade of a tree, making the most of their moments of time alone with each other. Logan and the others left them mostly to their own devices, which meant they could generally do as they pleased, which usually meant just enjoying each other's presence.

They went on just as they had in the summer and fall before.

#Sanders sides #thomas sanders #nico flores #ts nico #pintroverts #karrot kings #logan sanders #janus sanders #c!Thomas sanders

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ashintheairlikesnow · 3 years

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Quite at Home in Hell

For @whumptober2021 day six & day 21: blood-matted hair & hunger

CW: Vampirism, blood drinking, noncon touch, creepy whumper, sadistic whumper, biting, captivity, dehumanizing language

Vampire Chris AU Masterlist | Follows directly from this piece

Thanks to @boxboysandotherwhump for helping me with the German & @alittlewhump for helping with the French!

1918, the Western Front of WWI

The prisoners are held in a small, hastily constructed sort of barracks far too close to the front lines.

Gefrieter Erich Eeten knows why, of course. The hope is that his own people will hesitate before they blast this bit of dirt apart, that they will be concerned enough about killing their fellow soldiers that they’ll give up a few key moments of pause to the French, the Americans, and the British. Give them the advantage in a firefight.

They want to shield themselves with the bodies of the men in this tent, unwashed and dirty, who are exhausted from a day spent digging trenches for their enemies to hide in.

He can’t exactly blame the Allied powers for it.

It’s a brilliant bit of strategy, if less and less effective as men on both sides become so battle-hardened that they cease to care about their own lives, let alone each other. Still. He’d almost rather be at one of the true POW camps further away from the front lines, where the Red Cross at least comes to check on their treatment.

Here, so close to the front, there is no one keeping watch on what happens to them at all… and the longer the war draws on, the more viciously they kill each other, the more the prisoners kept here too far for oversight feel like they are teetering at the edge of some terrible invisible cliff.

There’s a stiff breeze outside the tent, whipping the heavy, waterproofed canvas edges. They’re flapping a little, making a sound that Erich will one day hear in his nightmares. The cold sneaks in through the slight space between tent and ground, and the men in here are huddled together for warmth, sharing the meager blankets they are given.

At least, though, their captors are officially the French.

Say what you will about the blasted frogs, they never deny their prisoners a nip of strong cognac to help hold off the cold. The Americans, on the other hand, seem to be laboring under an enforced lack of good liquor, not just for prisoners but for their own soldiers, too. That seems a worse crime than nearly any other, in circumstances like this. To force a man to be a cruel killer without even a nip or three to soothe his conscience… to Erich, it sounds like brutality.

There’s a bit of a scuffle outside the tent, and the prisoners look up. Erich is at the back, leaning back against the rough frame of a cot he sleeps on at night, cards in his hands wrapped in strips of bandage cloth just for warmth. What happened to his gloves, he’s no idea. Probably one of the Allies took them for a souvenir.

The canvas wraps work well enough.

“Au garde-à-vous, prisonniers! Sur vos pieds!” Erich knows the voice - it’s the main guard of the tent they sleep in, a man named Alain who looks entirely too old for war. Here he is, anyway, all moustache and silvering hair, pulling open the entrance of the tent, moving the flap aside.

Erich glances left and then right, meeting the eyes of his fellow prisoners, and the half-dozen of them that share this single small tent push heavily to their feet, shifting apart as much as the tent will allow, hands behind their back.

His stomach dips, a low drumbeat of dread alongside his heart. Something tells him this isn’t a social call he wants to be part of.

He’s even more certain when a tall, thin American steps into the entrance, nearly silhouetted by the dim, barely-there light behind them. Their hair is long, in a loose plait with parts undone, and their eyes gleam, briefly seeming to glow in the dark. Erich is reminded of his mother’s cat, who would stalk mice at night and whose eyes did just the same when light hit them.

He feels very… mouselike.

They wear a medic’s uniform, but it’s a little tattered. There are unrepaired bullet holes through the heavy woolen tunic, and they move with grace and disdain for how heavy wet wool must be, how itchy and uncomfortable. As if it simply doesn’t matter to them.

Because, of course, it doesn’t. The damn thing is a walking corpse, baring fangs in a grisly smile.

“Hello, soldiers,” They say, in a voice that isn’t quite a purr. “You all look a fright.”

“Verdammte Blutsauger,” Lukas Müller mutters to his right.

Erich hates the bloodsuckers. Everyone does. They come with the Americans, monsters brought from the shadows as a kind of secret weapon. Erich has never seen vampires out in the open before - back home, they are creatures of hiding. They live in cellars and basements and houses with the windows painted in thick matte black. They sweep along the streets at night, a risk for anyone who stays out too late.

But they’re not part of anything.

Here, they’re death itself, demons quite at home in hell.

Oh, sure, the Americans claim they use them only for bringing the injured back to safety - and some of them, he’s sure, are kept to that purpose. Some kind of ability to deny the truth of them, if there are enough seen doing only what the official story claims.

Erich, though, has seen one dispatching wounded German soldiers one by one left behind in a field, killing them before they can be recovered by their own people. He’s seen one with fangs buried in the throat of a man who would otherwise have lived. They’re listed as medics, but those things are what keeps the Germans on their own side of the battle lines after dark, and everyone knows it.

His own side brings canisters of poison gas. The Americans respond with an army laced around its edges in abominations the gas can’t touch.

The vampire sighs, faintly disappointed. “No good morning for me from my audience?”

Erich speaks the best English out of them all - his grandmother was English, taught it to his father in the cradle, who taught it to him. It’s made him more or less the spokesman for his small group of prisoners, and for the larger group when they are moved and briefly allowed to interact with the others. He clears his throat, stepping forward slightly. Lukas and Vilhelm, on his other side, nudge him just a little with their shoulders. It’s meant to be support, he supposes.

He feels like he’s being pushed onto a target painted on the floor, one invisible only to him.

“Good morning,” Erich says, voice flat, letting his accent roll far more heavily off his tongue than it needs to, turning good into gut. It’s always good to let the enemy believe you know less than you really do, so he pretends that English comes with difficulty and not ease. “Should you not turn to ash?”

Their eyebrows raise just slightly, not quite in amusement, and they give a brittle little laugh. “First off, Fritz, that’s a myth. Secondly, it’s not even morning. Probably close to evening now, honestly.”

Erich rolls his eyes. Lukas mutters something under his breath next to him, but the slight creaking of their boots seems to cover it too much to be understandable. Erich sighs, heavily. “Then why did you have us say to you good morning, Blutsauger?”

“Because it’s funny that you don’t know what time it is, of course. All right, who here is Fritz, who is Hans, and who am I just going to call Kraut?”

“No one here is named Hans and no one is Fritz, fangs.” Erich tips his chin down slightly, a lock of greasy brown hair falling into his eyes. “May you drown in holy water.”

He spits at the vampire’s feet.

He feels a pang of regret when the vampire turns to look at Alain, the French guard and points back at Erich, cheerful. “I want that one. He’s rude.”

“Das ist pech,” Lukas whispers.

When Alain simply stares at them blankly - and Erich knows Alain speaks English, they’ve spoken before in a tongue they had in common when neither spoke the other’s mother-tongue - the vampire groans. They don’t seem to know Alain is pretending not to understand them. “Fine. Let’s try this again. Je veux cet homme, s'il vous plaît.”

Alain’s expression tightens a little. He nods, and he won’t look Erich in the eyes as he draws the entrance open a little wider. “Emmenez-le alors.”

“Merci beaucoup,” The vampire says, giving a little bow. Erich backs up, but there isn’t anywhere to go, and none of them is armed. Besides, any resistance is met with removal of meals, with being denied the smallest comforts that make this bearable. With the possibility of all of them being handed over to a vampire, not just one.

This war had been civilized, in some ways, before the Americans brought their monsters.

It’s not actually true, but in this moment it comforts him to pretend it, to have a place to put his furious disgust as the vampire’s thin, long fingers close around his arm and yank him forwards with inhuman strength. They’re clicking their tongue against the top of their mouth in a strange animal way. Erich thinks again of his mother’s cat, making just that sound watching birds outside the windows.

“May your hands be pressed into the holy cross,” Erich snaps as he’s forced out into the freezing humid air outside the tent. There are others walking around - a war camp is never less than controlled chaos, no matter the time of day - but none of them will look at him. No one acknowledges him, although they’ve all seen this before. They know what’s going to happen here.

“Je déteste ça,” Alain mutters.

A bell is rung, clanging in a discordant note, and soldiers move into the POW tents. Erich is led towards a pole in the center of the ring of prisoner tents, something that a half-century ago might still have been a flogging post, a punishment for mutinous men.

“Crosses don’t really harm us,” The vampire says, careless and casual. “Very little does, actually. I’m a big fan of garlic, for instance. Silver, though…” They hum, dragging a fingernail over Erich’s wrist. “That hurts.”

He jerks his hand back and free, only to have the vampire laugh, bright and brilliant, and grab him again, spinning him around until they’re behind him, chest pressed to his back, using that demon strength to twist his arms up his back until his bones creak and ache, forcing him forwards towards the pole.

“I hope you have silver shoved down your throat,” Erich manages, but his heart is pounding in fear as the vampire grabs his hair and jerks his head to the side, forcing his cheek against the rough-hewn wood. Splinters bite into his skin and he grunts as his arms are moved, forced to encircle the pole. His wrists are tied with rope, leaving him looking a little ridiculous, as if he decided today to go for a hug.

Another rope goes around his shoulders, keeping him in this awkwardly pressed position. He tries to kick back, pulling viciously, but then his ankles come next. The rope goes from them to small metal hooks driven hard into the ground, keeping his legs more than shoulder-width apart. He can’t kick, or even balance himself. He must rely entirely on the pole he’s tied to in order to stay upright.

“I’m going to enjoy you,” The vampire murmurs.

Behind Erich, the sounds of a crowd gathering begin. Soft mumbles, exhalations of surprise and disgust. He closes his eyes against the rush of heat he feels - more rage than tears - knowing the prisoners are being brought out to witness this, to be shown what could happen to them next.

It does an excellent job of making them grateful for every day it’s not.

The French commander of the POW camp is barking a running list of commands to his men, but Erich doesn’t speak enough French to clearly understand them. Someone comes close by behind him, and he jolts as there’s a clap to his back. There’s a laugh behind him, not the vampire but someone else.

He manages to see from the corner of his eyes. A different American, of course. Comfortable enough with the vampire to get this close to them.

“Isn’t this a sorry sight,” The American says, and laughs. “What’s the prize for, fangs?”

The vampire lifts their hand, gently brushing Erich’s hair from his eyes. He spits in their face, this time, and is gratified by a flash of very real anger that briefly overtakes their constant amusement. They slowly wipe the spit away, then clean their hand - sort of - on Erich’s uniform.

It’s so dirty they’re probably even less clean after that than they were before.

“Reported a desertion. Now I get fresh food.” They lean down, meeting Erich’s furious hazel eyes. “I’m so hungry, Fritz. All the time. Imagine being surrounded by schnitzel and cabbage as far as the eye can see, and you’re not supposed to eat your fill. Imagine how empty you would feel.”

“Fick dich.”

“What, you won’t even curse at me in English anymore?” The vampire pouts, lower lip sticking out. He hates them more than he’s hated anyone during this godforsaken war. “Come on, you have to understand how hard this is for me, right?”

Erich ignores them, jerks his wrists again, trying to yank himself free of the ropes through sheer force. His back already is aching from being slightly bent forward, his thigh muscles stretched. He does the only thing he can think of - he slowly, with effort, drags his face along the wood and manages to turn away, and look the other direction.

“Well, fine. I suppose you’ll be mad at me for acting like you all eat schnitzel and cabbage, too,” The vampire says behind him. He doesn’t dignify them with an answer. He fixes his eyes, instead, on a point in the dark roiling clouds in the sky, above the remaining trees.

“The prisoners are well-positioned to witness,” A French officer states, speaking with a light, dancing accent but without the difficulty and hesitancy some of the regular infantry have. “You may feed when ready, Private Saathoff.”

That gets Erich’s attention. “Saathoff?”

“That’s right.” The vampire laughs, stepping up behind him. Their fingers move through the hair that curls, grown a little too long, over the back of his neck. He shudders with disgust at the intimacy of it. Their mouth moves close to his ear, but there is no heat of breath. Only the brush of lips. “Ich bin Deustcher, genau wie du.”

“Nothing like me,” Erich grinds out with his teeth gritted together so hard his jaw is already aching. He presses his forehead into the rough wooden pole and closes his eyes. He takes a deep breath.

If he’s going to die…

“Vater unser im Himmel,” he begins, halting. He hasn’t seen the inside of a church since he was fourteen, and that was twelve years ago now. Still, the words to the Lord’s Prayer come easily, more muscle memory than thought. “Geheiligt werde dein Name. Dein Reich komme, Dein Wille geschehe, wie im Himmel so auf Erden-”

“Zu jeder anderen Zeit hätte ich dich als Haustier behalten.” They use his hair to jerk his head back, and their fangs jam into his neck with a flash of sudden agony.

It’s a white-hot pain that races down his spine to the very tips of his toes, and Erich screams, the sound strangled and thin but still echoing, bouncing off of trees and tents and back into his mind, crashing like the shells that slam into the earth.

Lukas jerks forwards as if to run to help him and is pushed back by one of the French soldiers, their expression set in a grim line. They have to twist Lukas’s arms behind his back to hold him as he shouts, angrily, that this isn’t fair, it’s against the laws of conduct.

There’s laughter, at that, from their captors.

The other prisoners grumble and shift uncomfortably, look at anything but Erich whenever they can, but they can’t escape the sound of his horror, of his pain.

There’s no pulse of the much-spoken-of venom. There’s no numbness to drift in, there’s no fog to cloud out his awareness of what is happening to him. Every muscle of Erich’s body is tensed tight enough to snap the bones they wrap around, the veins standing out in his throat as if giving them a roadmap of where the food can be found.

He didn’t know vampires could choose not to use the venom.

He didn’t know they could make it feel like this.

When his scream dies, he can’t get enough breath to make another. All he can do is let out high-pitched, thin whimpers and cries. Spots dance before his eyes. Beneath the sound of his heart pounding in a sudden panic to push more blood faster to replace what is being lost, he can feel - can hear - a low rumbling sound against his back.

Erich has heard the rumors that vampires purr, and now he knows they aren’t rumors at all.

He can feel it right through his back, just barely. It’s a vibration that would be pleasant if it didn’t seem to be somehow making everything hurt even worse, waking up his nerves the way the venom is supposed to deaden them. Their hands are closed around his ribs, pressing the tips of their fingers rhythmically against them, as if playing a piano, as if he is dough to be kneaded, as if he isn’t human at all.

As if he’s nothing but a field mouse that found his way into the wrong house, and the vampire is the housecat who has waited too long for a living toy to torment.

There is no prayer, in pain like this. There is no thought beyond the body’s fight for survival and the mind wanting to flee from it, if surviving means this feeling will not end. There is nothing but the feeling of his blood being pulled forcefully out of his body, nothing but his nerves screaming to escape it, nothing but the bite of the ropes that ensure he can do no more than jerk in his bonds and choke on his agony.

It feels like forever - and like a moment - when their fangs pull free, their cool rough tongue lapping at the wounds to close them, purring against his ear with contentment. Their fingers knead into his skin a little bit longer, drawing the moment out as he slumps against the wooden pole he’s tied to. He’s only standing because of the ropes.

Pain rolls through him, breaking against the edges of his body from the inside, like the smaller waves after a storm falling onto a beach already strewn with debris. He slumps. His own breath is a rasping wheeze, taking far more effort than it should.

Nein, Erich, Erich stirb nicht…” Lukas’s voice comes from somewhere so far away, filtering through the noise in Erich’s mind slowly. He can’t even begin to form a response. His mouth won’t answer his commands. It only hangs open, panting, pulling in the chilly air over his tongue. He starts to shiver as the breeze hits the cold sweat in his hair and on his neck, cuts through his uniform somehow.

He doesn’t have enough blood left to warm himself.

Their tongue licks up his neck behind his ear, matting his own blood into his hair there, sticky and hot. It starts to cool and dry immediately in the cold air. Erich’s stomach twists.

“Oh, he won’t die,” The vampire coos, petting through his hair slowly. Their nails scratch at his scalp. “Not today.” Their mouth presses back against his ear. “Thanks for the meal, Erich. And for being so entertaining. Maybe I’ll find you after the war. I’ll buy you a beer… and some schnitzel.”

They push themself away from him, turning away to wipe a bit of blood from the corners of their mouth, and walk with a jaunty step through an opening that appears in the ring of watching prisoners, whose eyes follow them with apprehension and no small amount of fear.

When Alain comes up to untie him, Erich simply collapses into the Frenchman’s arms as soon as he’s free of the ropes. Lukas is allowed to move up to stand at his other side, putting Erich’s limp left arm around his shoulders, while Alain supports his right. Erich lets his head fall into Lukas’s shoulder, hitching his breath as he forces down a sob.

“Wh… why do you let them do this?” He asks, his English slurred with the exhaustion that means he is dragged with his boots carving paths through the mud back towards the tent.

Alain is silent until Erich is dropped onto his cot, the hard frame digging into Erich’s back right through the thin mattress. He glances over his shoulder, the three of them alone in here for the moment, and then looks back.

“It is believed that this is how we will win,” He says, and pats Erich’s hand. “My apologies. I do not believe in the monsters, but I am not the one to run this war.”

“None of us are,” Erich says, weakly. He closes his eyes. “We are only the ones who must fight in it.”

There’s a pause, and Alain’s exhale is audible in the quiet tent. “I will ensure you are given extra meat rations tonight, and I will find you some schnapps. Essaye de dormir, maintenant, si tu peux,” he says with soft regret lacing his voice. Then there is a shuffle of footsteps, and he’s gone.

Lukas shifts and sits with his back to the cot, in the same position Erich was in before. He swallows, picking up the abandoned cards from the game they’d been playing, looking over Erich’s hand. “You’d have won, you know, on the next hand,” He says in German, before he reaches out to grab the others’ cards and reshuffle the deck.

“Do I still get my… my winnings?” Erich can barely move his lips to speak. He’s so tired. So, so tired. He can feel his hands starting to shake, now that it’s over, the trembling moving slowly up his limbs, stuttering his breathing.

“My share of the liquor? Not on your life.” Lukas pauses, and then his tone gentles as he looks Erich over again. “You know what... of course you can. You’ll need warmth. What did the bloodsucker say to you, anyway? I couldn’t hear.”

Erich thinks about the promise to find him after the war, about the way they spoke into his ear as if he were little more than a toy top to be spun at their command. In another time, I’d keep you for a pet, they had whispered, before they bit down.

He shakes his head, slowly. “Lies,” He answers, and feels the softer-edged darkness of sleep begin to take him.

“Lies?”

“I hope… I hope they were lies.”

For the moment, at least, he is too exhausted by the present to feel terror for the future.

@mylifeisonthebookshelf @insaneinthepaingame @keeper-of-all-the-random-things @burtlederp @finder-of-rings @newandfiguringitout @astrobly @endless-whump @pretty-face-breaker @gonna-feel-that-tomorrow @doveotions @boxboysandotherwhump @oops-its-whump @cubeswhump @whump-tr0pes @downriver914 @whumptywhumpdump @whumpiary @orchidscript @nonsensical-whump @outofangband @what-a-whump @thefancydoughnut

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jadedpen · 3 years

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Welcomed with open arms part 3

Sibling!Half phantom!GN!Reader x Sbi family (+ Tubbo)

Summary: Y/N is now learning to fly, but gets hurt while doing so, so the bois help you :3

For context: Wilbur and Techno are twins, the reader is the youngest of the family with Tubbo being a little older than Tommy, and Tommy is 2-3 years older than the reader. This chapter takes place 2 years after the first chapter.

TW: slightly graphic description of bones breaking, so look out for that

Ao3 link:

“Alright, mate. It’s time for you to learn how to fly.”

As your father said those words, you jumped up with excitement. You’d always wanted to fly on your own, and now the day has come.

“Though, before we start the actual flying, you need to learn the basic techniques and cautions; the first being never fly too close to the ground, less you could accidentally hit it and go tumbling. It would lead to several bruises and possibly a broken bone or more. Trust me. It isn’t fun.” He reminisced on his first time flying, expressing a face of cringe and pain.

“Anyway,” He started by showing you proper take off stances, with you following in his steps. “a good way to take off is to jump off a high place, but the height depends on experience. Since you are inexperienced, we will start with a small hill.”

The hill your father took you to was relatively small; right next to your house. He held you as you flapped your wings, “now, you don’t just want to flap them. Think of a bird. You need to sometimes glide, less you go too high or tire your wings out which is never fun.”

He then sets you down in front of him, with him flapping his big wings in a similar, yet more graceful manner than you. Of course, this action took him a few feet off the ground but as he stopped, he landed on the ground with a thump.

“Now, the actual take off. When you take off something like a hill like this, you first want to do like a running start, but sometimes you can just jump off the edge if it was a cliff. But in our case, it’s a hill.”

He demonstrated a position where his left leg was in front, his back leg behind him, and his arms in front of him touching the ground, like he was about to start running. You quickly copied his movements. “Once you are here, you pull yourself forward like you're running close to the ground, and quickly spread your wings to their fullest extent and glide,” he did as he said, gliding across and landed at the bottom of the small hill, “you think you can do that? I’ll catch you, don’t worry.”

You decided to trust your father, and replicated him. You did the stance, and took off, spreading your wings to their full length, and glided towards him, with him catching you in his arms. “That was great, Y/N!” He yelled with a smile. You smiled back at him, your wings fluttering happily behind you. “You did amazing! I bet that when you grow up, you’ll be able to fly like me!”

You giggled and flapped your wings, your father also flapping in a similar fashion. “Now, let’s do a few more times and then we’ll have some lunch. That sound good to you?” You giggled and nodded your head, agreeing with him.

As the day went on, you and your father flew together. Him teaching you various landing and flying positions, maybe a few tricks, and you following along with him. And eventually, but begrudgingly and a lot of pleading, he allowed you to fly without his supervision. Great idea that was.

So, you flew. Of course, your flying wasn’t perfect. It was your first day, so of course it wasn’t gonna go exactly as planned. And, despite your father’s wishes, you decided it was an ‘amazing idea’ to jump off the highest fucking cliff you could find. But, before your father’s various crows could go and alert him, you had already jumped off and started to glide.

But, because of your speed, you weren’t able to control your direction and you lost control, and slammed right into a tree. It was a tall tree too, unluckily, you also dropped about 30 feet onto the cold hard ground. You're just happy you survived any of that.

Of course, your father came flying at the fastest you’ve ever seen him fly, with the crows cawing beside him. “HOLY SHIT Y/N! I TOLD YOU YOU TO NOT GO OFF ANY CLIFFS. ESPECIALLY THAT ONE!” Your father carried you back to the house very worried and, frankly, very scared.

He scolded you as he and Techno bandaged and healed you up with healing potions. “I am at a loss for words Y/N. Why did you think that idea was going to work?”

Despite your father being at a ‘loss for words’, he continued to lecture you the entire night. At some point, Wilbur and Tubbo had gone behind him and started to copy all of his moves and lip-sync his words, which prompted you to start giggling a little.

Your father looked behind himself, and started to laugh a little too as Wilbur and Tubbo started to mock him now, reciting his words and his movements. “Boys, boys, I’m trying to be stern. It’s not gonna work if you keep making everyone laugh.” Your father says, while giggling.

“Be careful Wil, you might make the old man fall over. You know the years haven’t been kind to him.” Tommy then began to mock father, pretending to be an old man. “Oh I’m Phil. My brittle bones can’t handle all of the funny talk you kids spit out.” Your father laughed more at all the mocking of him.

“Is that really how you see me?” Father asks, looking at Tommy specifically. “Yeah. Pretty much. It’s like looking in a mirror, right?” Responding to your father, Tommy shrugged while smiling. lol.

“Techno, what do you think?” Next to you, Techno promptly looked up from his book, looked your father up and down, “Dad looks like he could be put in an ancient artifacts store.” “Techno why do you betray me like this” “it’s fun, what can I say?”

Through all of the laughing, you still got a lecture from dad. Your punishment was no flying out of his, Techno’s, or Wilbur’s vision. Of course, you literally couldn’t for the time being since they were broken, but that was the rule now.

As the night went on, you, your father, and your siblings played cards. The twins always were head to head throughout the duration of the games, trying their best to outwit the other. Sadly, the night had to be cut short by Father, for if they went longer one of them would end up with a broken limb. Though, it was very entertaining, to watch them bicker and stare at each other with pure rage and perseverance.

Then afterwards, you all went to sleep in the living room, sweet dreams following in tow.

TAGLIST:

@bestioe

#sbi x reader #sbi x y/n #technoblade #tubbo #tommyinnit #philza #philzaminecraft #dadza x reader #gender neutral y/n #y/n #techno and wilbur twins

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xxdragonwriterxx · 3 years

Text

🔥Cuddlebug🔥

🐉 Song Recommendation: “Rain Clouds” By: The Arcadian Wild 🐉

~~~

Well, one thing was for sure, (Y/N) was fucked. Absolutely fucked. She tried not to let the horror show on her face as she listened to her Captain Levi’s orders, her blood roaring in her ears as only one sentence rang through her brain on a constant loop.

“We’re going to have to pair up and share tents tonight.”

(Y/N) had figured something like this would happen when a cart full of supplies had been crushed by a titan on their way to their breakpoint, but she hadn’t expected it to happen this way. She had expected to be sharing with Petra, keeping everyone separated by gender. At least, until she had seen the sweet ginger-haired girl glance at her boyfriend, Oulo, a look (Y/N) knew Levi hadn’t missed either.

It was at that point she knew she was screwed. She had no idea what she was going to do. She knew she would be mortified no matter who she was paired with, but when it was announced that she was going to be sharing a tent with her long time crush and Captain, she was pretty sure she felt her soul leave her body. What the hell was she going to do!?

She didn’t have any more time to think about it as Levi pushed off of the tree he’d been leaning on and approached her, jerking his head for her to follow him. He looked confident as he strode to the place where his tent had already been set up, but on the inside, he was a bit nervous. He hadn’t missed the look of horror that had flickered across (Y/N)’s face when he had ordered her to share a tent with him, something that made his insides clench painfully.

Levi had wanted (Y/N) for ages. She always made him feel so comfortable with her naturally quiet yet sociable personality, her sharp intelligence and quick observations never failing to impress him. He only ever felt anxious around her because he knew he felt something more than just comradeship with his squad member, his heart pounding every time she entered a room or flashed a smile at him. Even though he had been pissed off at the loss of one of the carts, he had been secretly pleased at the opportunity to share a tent with (Y/N), especially when he caught Petra eyeing Oulo excitedly, making it easy to pair himself with (Y/N) without seeming suspicious.

But that look on her face as he stated the order had made him nervous about this whole thing. What if she was uncomfortable? Wait, what was he thinking? Of course she was uncomfortable! She was being ordered to sleep beside her superior for fucks sake. Levi growled to himself in frustration. He hated how inept he was at wooing gestures and charming words, his personality better suited for threatening and killing without hesitation than comforting and flirting.

Holding the flap open for her, Levi allowed her to pass into the tent in front of him before following her in. It was still early, but all of the traps had been set, the food dispersed, and the horses taken care of. Levi’s squad had done their chores earlier than usual just in case they ran into more titans, Levi wanting his squad to be fed and energized in the event of a surprise attack. He sighed as he watched her look around the space, her eyes darting to look everywhere but at him.

“Oi,” Levi said, the young scout turning to face him as he came up to her, gently placing a hand on her shoulder. “Breathe, (Y/N). I know it’s shitty, but it’s only for one night. If you really are that uncomfortable though, I can always sleep outside the tent. Your choice.”

(Y/N)’s eyes immediately widened and she shook her head, her hands waving in front of her, causing his lips to twitch slightly at the cute sight of her embarrassment. “No, of course not, sir! I’m sorry, I’m just a little nervous. Sharing a tent with my Captain? It just seems a little…, strange?”

“I know what you mean,” Levi said with a nod. Despite his interest in her, he could feel what she was feeling. She was his subordinate after all, a member of his squad. And now, he was sharing a bed with her, albeit innocently of course, but it still left a strange feeling in his chest, as if someone had placed a weight there that was both heavy as an anvil and light as a feather.

“A-Are you okay with this, sir? I can always sleep outside if you want your own space.”

“I ordered this didn’t I?” Levi asked with an eyebrow raised.

“Yeah, but you only did that because the cart was destroyed. The last thing I want is to make you feel uncomfortable in your own room.”

Levi’s heart rate sped up a little, humbled by her thoughtfulness. “You're not making me uncomfortable.”

“O-Oh, okay. That’s good, I guess I can stay here.”

Levi nodded once before turning around to perform his bedtime ritual, (Y/N) turning in the other direction to give him privacy and do her own routine before bed. The tent was completely silent aside from the rustling of their clothes and the sound of the trees blowing in the wind outside. The silence made (Y/N) feel funny, like she felt both comfortable and awkward at the same time, his soothing aura making her feel calm while her embarrassment kept rearing its head to make her feel uncomfortable. Her roiling emotions made her want to let out a groan of frustration but she reeled it in, not wanting to have the Captain question her.

Levi wasn’t much better off, sighing quietly when he found her presence to be soothing but also wanting to bang his head against the wall when his feelings wouldn’t stop interfering, making his heart beat twice as fast and his brain overthink every little thing he did. He managed to relax a little when (Y/N) left to brush her teeth, giving him the chance to take a deep breath and shove down his doubts about this whole thing. She had said she was fine with him sleeping beside her, so he just had to take her word for it, no matter how many times his brain tried to convince him she was just being polite.

(Y/N) slapped her cheeks with water when she finished cleaning her teeth, cooling down her wired emotions and allowing her to calm down. She could do this, no matter her own doubts. She had to do this, because she knew that if she tried to change anything he would leave, forgoing his own comfort for hers, and she refused to let him do that. She was an adult, a soldier on the best squad in the military, skilled in killing huge man-eating monsters. She could sleep for one night in her crush’s bed without doing anything embarrassing.

When she reentered the tent, Levi was shirtless, making her cheeks burn like fire as she caught sight of his sculpted chest and powerful abs. When he turned around, she could’ve drooled as the muscles in his back rippled. She looked up to find him watching her with a slight smirk on his face, making her squeak in embarrassment at having been caught ogling him.

Thankfully, he decided not to tease her other than the shit-eating grin on his face as she strode up beside him, folding her clothes neatly before making her way to the cot in the middle of the space. Levi joined her soon after, sliding under the covers and dousing the lantern, throwing the room in darkness.

“Goodnight, Captain.”

“Night, (Y/N).”

Levi knew she was still awake, her back facing him, but he eventually felt her relax, her breathing slowing down and her body unwinding as the influence of sleep took over. The tension in his own body was released when he noticed her relax, a sigh of relief falling from his lips before he could stop it. As he lay quietly in the cot, he could hear the sound of (Y/N)’s soft snores and sleepy whimpers start to filter in with the noises of the wind and the animals outside, the sound soothing him further.

He was just about to drift off himself, ready to roll over to the side from where he was laying on his back when he felt (Y/N) shift. Levi choked on his sharp inhale, his eyes flying open to look down and see (Y/N) pressed up against him. His heart was in his throat at the sight of the pretty girl snuggled into his side, her arms coming up to wrap around his waist and pull him to her with a tiny grunt. Levi was too speechless to do more than let her move him, his breath coming out in short, quick gasps as she held him close, sighing happily and nuzzling her face into his chest. She finally stopped moving, her light snores picking back up again as soon as she was happily cuddled up with him.

Levi’s eyes were wide, his lips slightly parted as an innocent sense of wonder filled him. Never in his life had a woman ever fallen asleep beside him, let alone cuddled up to him affectionately, nuzzling his skin. He felt warm and tingly all throughout his body, a small smile curling on his lips before he even knew what happened. He was surprised by his reaction, his urge to pull her closer and snuggle deeper into her embrace. He had never craved intimacy before, usually opting to break someone’s wrist if they tried to touch him. But with (Y/N), he found himself wanting her to be closer, already surprisingly greedy for her warm touch.

Indulging himself a little, Levi leaned down and pressed a light kiss on her head before settling back into the cot, moving his arms from behind his head to wrap around her body and pull her closer against him.

“Sweet dreams, (Y/N),” Levi murmured with a quiet chuckle before falling asleep himself, wrapped up with the girl he secretly adored.

___________________________

(Y/N) groaned as she woke, the cheery sound of birds chirping filling her ears as she came back to reality, blinking the sleep from her eyes. Immediately closing them again at the bright sunlight that assaulted them, (Y/N) yawned and stretched an arm up over her head, moaning quietly at the delicious feeling of her back popping.

“Sleep well, brat?” A voice said from below her, her whole body vibrating with the feeling of his chuckle.

“HUH!?” (Y/N)'s eyes snapped open, immediately awake, her head turning to see exactly what she had feared. Smirking at her, his eyes twinkling, was her Captain, his arms wrapped lazily around her shoulders. Her face immediately flushed a furious bright red as she realized she was sprawled on top of him, her leg thrown over his groin and her chest pressed against his. Her arms were wrapped around his waist possessively, holding him close to her. She let out an embarrassed squeak and shot away from him, her eyes wide and her hands flailing as she tried to fumble her way through an apology.

“O-Oh gods L-Levi, I mean, Captain, I am s-so sorry! I know I should’ve told you, but I didn’t because I was embarrassed and I overthink everything so I kept it to myself and I shouldn’t have. Now I’ve just ruined everything, with my stupid habit! I am so sorry Captain, if I had told you last night that I always end up cuddling whatever is next to me, I wouldn’t have invaded your space,” (Y/N) rambled, the words tumbling from her mouth before she could stop them, her mind frazzled and completely out of sorts in her embarrassment.

She eventually managed to finally shut her mouth, hanging her head in eternal mortification. At that moment, she just wanted the ground to swallow her up. She couldn’t believe she had been so stupid and selfish. This whole situation could’ve been avoided if she had just been honest with him, but she had decided against telling him, worried he would be anxious about sharing a tent with her if he knew she became very cuddly in her sleep.

But now that was completely out the window, her traitorous body having drifted over to her Captain without her permission, ruining not only her chance at possibly ever having a relationship with him, but also her current subordinate/superior relationship with the stoic man. Fear flooded her system at the thought of possibly being reassigned, sent to another team for creating unnecessary tension within the squad. She wouldn’t put it past Levi to do something like that, wouldn’t blame him if he did. She had seen him do way worse to other people for doing a tenth of what she had just done. He had every right to be furious with her after touching him intimately without his strict permission.

A sudden sound in front of her had her head shooting back up, her eyes widening at what she saw, her hands even coming up to rub at her eyes, convinced her vision was playing tricks on her. She figured she ought to get her ears checked too, as the sound continued to fill the tent and her heart with warmth.

Levi was laughing. And not just his signature chuckle, he was genuinely laughing. The sound was quiet, but it was one of the most beautiful noises (Y/N) had ever heard. It made her smile brightly despite the fear and embarrassment in her gut, her whole body humming as she watched her seemingly emotionless Captain close his eyes and bring his hand to his mouth, stifling the chuckles.

When Levi opened his eyes again, he saw (Y/N) staring at him with comically wide eyes, a bright, shocked smile on her gorgeous face. He hadn’t meant to laugh, but he hadn’t been able to help it. She had been so adorable, curled up on his chest like that with her face buried in his neck and their legs tangled together. He hadn’t wanted to wake her, content to just analyze her pretty features as she snoozed, but also didn’t miss the chance to tease the hell out of her when the light from the rising sun eventually roused her.

He just hadn’t been able to contain himself when she had started rambling on and on. Normally, he was the one fighting to retain his composure around her, not that she knew that, but the sight of her struggling to meet his eyes, her face aflame with a violent blush as she stuttered through an apology had made him feel full and warm. It told him that maybe he affected her in the same way she affected him, something he had always craved but never expected, the discovery of this knowledge like an unexpected gift. She tilted her head a little when he looked into her eyes, trying to read him.

Gods, she was breathtaking. Her hair was kind of a mess, not having yet been brushed in the early morning. Her eyes were a little red from sleep and her rubbing them, but they sparkled in the light that shone through the canvas of their tent, making her seem so alive. Her skin was even glowing, making her shine in a way that made his breath hitch. He was silent now despite his laughing a few minutes ago, his silver hues trailing over her before meeting her gaze. He noticed her swallow hard.

“So…, you’re not mad?” (Y/N) asked hesitantly.

“No, I found it amusing.”

“So I didn’t bother you too much? I didn’t keep you awake all night?”

“Quite the opposite really.”

His simple answer made her visibly relax, but she was still watching him warily, as if waiting for him to suddenly change his mind and give her a punishment, not that she’d complain, Levi knew. The tension in the air dissipated despite (Y/N)’s obvious lingering embarrassment, enough so that (Y/N) felt comfortable preparing for the day.

Levi followed suit, standing and moving over to where he’d folded his clothes neatly, efficiently transforming himself back into a proper soldier. As soon as everything was in place, Levi turned to find (Y/N) still getting ready, her back facing him as she pulled her boots on and adjusted the leather skirt of her uniform. Smirking to himself, Levi crept up behind her, relishing in her surprised squeak when he leaned down to her ear.

“I thought you were pretty fucking cute last night, (Y/N).”

(Y/N) gasped loudly and whirled around to confront him only to find him already leaving the tent. She saw him pause, his hand on the flap as he turned and sent her a wink before slipping outside, his loud, commanding voice ringing out over the field to order her fellow squad members to start the day.

(Y/N) raised a hand and brought it up to her ear and the back of her neck, smiling as she felt the spot where Levi’s warm breath had fanned out over her skin just seconds earlier. If she didn’t know any better, she would’ve thought it was a dream, her stoic, cold-hearted Captain calling her cute. Her heart was pounding, her cheeks flushed with a little more than just embarrassment. Maybe she hadn’t ruined her chances with him after all.

~~~

A/N: Does anyone else fucking do this? I mean, I’m sure at least some of you do, but for some reason, when I sleep, I always cuddle whatever is next to me. Whether that be my dog, a pillow, a stuffed animal, a blanket, whatever it is, I will latch onto it at night. I actually wrote this story based on something that happened to me a few months ago when I was staying with a friend and I ended up cuddling her in the middle of the night, surprising her. It was a little less awkward for me than what was portrayed in the story because she’s my friend, but still, I felt a little bad wrapping myself around her all night 😅😂.

#aot levi #attack on titan #attack on titan x reader #captain levi #captain levi x reader #levi ackerman #levi ackerman fanfiction #levi ackerman x reader #levi attack on titan #levi fanfiction #captain levi fanfiction #reader x levi #levi x reader #snk imagines #snk levi #snk #snk x reader #snk fanfiction #shigeki no kyojin

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isa-ghost · 5 months

Note

I need the headcanons, Isa. I need them like I need air. (I also have had very little time to watch QSMP overall, so all of my q!Phil info comes from you) -River

OH FUCK I WASN'T EXPECTING TO GET MULTIPLE ASKS ABOUT THEM. /POS

Here's Headcanon Set 1

NOW MORE

He's an expert at playing stupid. I don't have any actual situations from canon off the top of my head to apply this to, but his wits are sharp enough for him to pull it off when shit isn't explosively hitting the fan

He hates not being able to fly, flying is/was the main way he would de-stress. Nothing makes him feel lighter than the breeze in his feathers and a breathtaking view

This man's commitment to The Bit is so underestimated. If The Bit was a person, it'd be part of his polycule. People just overlook his ability to commit to a bit because he has to personally find the bit worth committing to

Obligatory Shiny Good Crow Brain mention. Why do you think his backpacks need sorting like once every few weeks (though he neglects them for longer than that)? And shiny is not always literal. Sometimes it means flowers or pretty types of wood or a neat mob.

Every once in a while someone can get him to laugh in a way that Almost sounds like a squawk. He doesn't know how it happens, it's like an involuntary snort laugh, but with cawing.

Unfortunately for him, playfully raising his blood pressure (stares at the kids, Tubbo, the polycule, some others) is kinda funny. It's the way he gets louder the more exasperated he gets.

He has 100% slept so hard that he snored loud enough to earn a kick in the side from Chayanne

Speaking of sleep, this idiot will pass out in that wooden chair and then wake up in the morning and bitch about his neck aching as if he isn't the reason it's aching. Tallulah especially has roasted him for this

His dedication to Chayanne and Tallulah can go unmentioned bc it's just so obvious but I need everyone to understand it's not just how he'd burn the island to ashes for them. It's also how he'd stop mid-tea party with Tallulah, Pomme & Co, dressed the whole nine yards in a tutu, tiara & obnoxious amounts of pretend jewelry to beat the ever-loving SHIT out of a threat

At first Irish Goodbyes were unintentional (which is what made them so funny) but now it's become one of the biggest bits he's committed to. This man loves embodying that gif of the dude going ✌🏻 and vanishing.

Tallulah totally told him about the Duolingo "It's Spanish or Vanish" meme. It won't leave his head now

Anytime he does the reverb voice or something he is pulling a megaphone out of his backpack and yelling into it

Because I forgot it in the first hc set and it's too funny for me not to include, I must once again tap the sign that says "Phil and Fit fuck nasty behind Fit's gym." Why do you think the shit Fit says like "big boy" gets such a reaction out of Phil? He's heard it elsewhere

He thinks he has too much self-respect to do it but if he didn't, he'd 100% be the dad to dab or whip-nae nae just to make Chayanne and Tallulah faceplant on the ground out of embarrassment

Speaking of faceplanting, Tallulah is so good at timing when she does it, it absolutely kills Phil every time. It's like one of the Top 5 ways to get him to crack up

Calling back to the Bit Commitment hc: "The 4th Wall" is a bit he made up and won't stop referencing. It's not that he's fail rping in meta, he's getting conspiracy-style existential as a joke and that's why Tallulah hates it so much

Stealing this one from my hcs about my angel OC inspired by Phil: If you put him in water, his wings will involuntarily flap like a bird in a bath. It isn't nonstop, it's like a stim he can't help doing every so often.

He loves Rose so much. She instantly makes him feel safe. He regularly has to resist the urge to passionately gush about her to people because he knows they'd be like What The Fuck Are You On About. Rose is blorbo from his brain (little does he know, she isn't entirely)

He likes to pretend he isn't, but he's sentimental as hell. Why do you think he hasn't changed the ugly dirt shack? Why do you think he has so many backpacks of stuff? He's got that crow hoarder brain but he also just attaches to things to easily. Nostalgia and love for history has him in a death grip. Little does he know, it's a trait he's kept from his past

Speaking of his past, until I get canon story explaining otherwise, in my mind he IS hardcore!Phil but the Federation wiped his memory after somehow managing to invite him to the island. The Ender King & Rose's arrivals into qsmp canon are two very different ways of attempting to trigger his memories. What he thinks are dreams are actually those forgotten memories of what he was doing before coming to the island

Okay that's long enough, look out for a third set because I got another ask waiting for more >:)

EDIT: Here's Set 3 :D

#qsmp #qsmp philza #philza #q!philza #philza headcanons #qphil headcanons

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starr-fall-knight-rise · 3 years

Text

HASO, “Family Dynamics.”

Thought you guys might enjoy this today.

A lot of you have been asking for more Conn in the stories, so I hope you enjoy :)

“Wow, would you look at that.”

“No.”

“Wow.” “No. Hopping on the nope train and taking a ride to nopeville….. Nope absolutely not.”

“Come on, Krill, isn’t it just….. Just awesome!.”

“That, that right there is an absolute raging death trap.” “Oh come on>” Adam said, hands on his hips as he stared up at the rocket.. THe Saturn V replica down to the last bolt. He grinned and danced around on his toes in a circle, “This is gonna be so cool!”

Krill turned to look at Adam, “No, no this is not cool, Adam. I am serious this time, not joking. I really don’t want you going in that thing. And with the assassination attempts and…. All that is going on with the GA leaders….” He looked at Adam Very pointedly here, “I don’t think you should do this.”

“Are you serious, a once in a lifetime opportunity and you want me to just say no because there is a possibility someone Might try to kill me?”

“Um…. YES.”

Adam crossed his arms, “Krill, I refuse to let myself live in fear when there is life to be lived.”

Krill turned to look hopefully over at Eris who was standing quietly by his side. She shook her head at him.

“He isn’t going to change his mind.”

“Can you at least try?”

She sighed, “Ok.”

Gently Eris took one of his hands forcing him to look at her, “Da…..Adam think about it please, there are a lot of powerful people after you, powerful and with resources. If they want to kill you, then this will be the perfect time to do it. They could put it off as some horrible accident, and no one would be the wiser.” She paused as he looked back at her, “I can see that this isn’t going to change your mind either.”

He smiled, “This is what I have my people for.” HE took the two of them by the shoulders and led them to where they could overlook the command station in the distance, “In there, right now, there are elements of the criminal underworld that owe me a favor, looking for any clues to indicate an attempt on my life.” He grinned, “Also, I have two secret weapons.”

He put his arm around Eris and then turned his head to look up at the sky.

Eris and Krill followed his lead.

Krill groaned, and Eris went wide eyed.

As a starborn descended from the sky ribbons flapping hands outstretched dropping from heaven like an ethereal angel. Sunlight bounced off his skin as he moved slowly downward hands held out to the side fingers outstretched. She stepped forward and- was immediately hit with a wall of his thoughts.

She no longer saw him as ethereal.

He was an asshole.

Conn drifted towards the ground but didn’t touch ribbons swirling around him seaweed undulating in a dark sea: Yes her thoughts about him had changed that much, he had gone from angel to seaweed rather quickly in her head.

He turned his eyes to her.

‘Who invited you’

Eris frowned, “I-

Adam glowered at Conn, “Be nice to her.”

Conn turned his head to look at Eris and drifted closer looking her over, ‘Oh daddy issues I see, well who doesn't.” He turned to look up at Adam, ‘Gotta love people borrowing your DNA for craft projects especially when they give you kids a little too early.”

Adam was not able to hide the thought that came marching to the forefront of his mind.

You know that’s interesting considering your starborn DNA was the most easily accessible before Eris was born.

He didn’t say it out loud, but he didn’t need to.

Eris made a face, and Conn drew back.

“HIM!”

Shit, Adam thought

“I never said that.”

“But you were thinking it.” She retorted turning on him with her eyes narrowed before turning to look back at Conn, who floated in shock behind her.

Adam held up his hands, “Woah now, I can’t be for sure, it just makes sense.”

Eris turned back to where Conn was floating and made another face, “But, but HIM. I don’t want…. I, I can’t be related to HIM.”

Adam sighed, “Being able to read his thoughts must be a bitch eh?”

Of course at the moment Conn wasn’t really having any thoughts. It was mostly just TV static with an undercurrent of the thoughts of people around him amplifying them even more in Eris’s head. Which is why she could hear Dr Krill quietly inching away as he wondered if he should tell them or nah?

He hd suspected as much the moment they had seen Eris, and learned that the DNA being used was Adam’s.

It had been easy enough to get Adam’s DNA strands from the original hybrids….. The adaptids….. But they would have needed other aliens to pair him with. And there was only one known starborn available to steal DNA from.

Conn’s static continued.

Eris groaned and put her hands to her head.

Adam rubbed his forehead, “Well, on the bright side, you turned out more like your human side of the family.” That’s when the static in Conn’s head fizzled out and he turned to look at Adam. With a sudden Evil grin, which he must have been practicing, for it seemed far to human for him, He floated over and grabbed both of them around the shoulders, “Isn’t this sweet, now we can all be one big happy family.’

“Get off me Conn.” Adam grumbled

He just squeezed tighter, though as a starborn the strength was somewhat lacking. ‘Don’t talk like that, you and I have a beautiful daughter together. Just look at her. She’s got your internal organs and my skin. Isn’t that lovely.”

“Conn I swear if you keep touching me I will punch you and probably break something.”

Conn made like he was sighing as he pulled away, “You know, as her parents we should really be trying to set an example for a healthy loving relationship. A family that plays together-”

He floated away quickly before Adam could swipe at him missing the strike by mere inches.

“Domestic assault in this household!”

Eris hid her face in her hands, “Oh no.”

She was definitely not sure how she was supposed to feel about this. One the one hand, she was at least glad that he wasn’t repulsed by the idea of her existing. However, on the other hand, it was likely that her paternal starborn side was Conn! The thought made her nauseous . Reading his thoughts made her feel the same way. Clearly this creature, whatever he was had never grown out of petty pranks, and intense sarcasm.

More annoyingly, he seemed to have the ability to hide things from her just by NOT thinking about them. She learned nothing about his past, or really his more internal thoughts. He only let her see what she wanted to see, and what he wanted her to see made her more annoyed the more she thought about it.

“I’m so excited, aren't you. Finally reunited at last!”

Adam sighed, “This is now how I planned this. Conn you stupid bastard, I called you down here to do a job for me.”

“You wouldn’t call your hubby stupid would you?”

Adam looked like he was about to turn green, “Never in a million years would I ever even consider that. In fact, I think I would rather shoot myself out the airlock an have all the nitrogen bubble out of my blood thank you very much.:”

“One night stands happen.”

“Conn I swear if you keep going down this metaphor. I am going to commit murder. Never in a million years would I touch you with a nine and a half foot pole, end of story.”

“Excuse me for being skeptical as you have been known to date aliens in the past.”

“That was Sunny, who is arguably, not even arguably, but she IS smart, talented, funny, a total badass, and a fucking gem, while you are a creepy little space gremlin.”

“Yet I have a kid with you and she doesn’t sooooooo, forgive me if I say I win.”

“We can’t be for sure that she’s yours.”

“I demand a paternity test.”

“Conn, if you don’t let this go right now I am going to rip your spine out through your back and let Waffles chew on it.”

“Bold of you to assume I have a spine.”

Adam took a eep long-suffering breath, “I am done with this conversation, now I called you down here for a reason, and that reason is that I need you two watching out for something going wrong. Eris, as a member of my family you will be allowed inside mission control to watch what is going on. Your job is to make sure that no one is planning my death from the inside.” he turned his head in Conn’s direction and flipped him the bird as he continued to speak, “You on the other hand are in charge of the engineers. I know you don’t give a shit about boundaries, so your job is to hang around the engineers and the rocket hangers to see if any of them had a hand in sabotaging the mission. If you can get near the chairwoman, or the UN President, than do what you can. I need to know how deep all of this goes.” He turned his head to Eris, “You are probably going to be able to get closer to everyone than Conn can. People know he is a starborn and they know what he can do. No one will assume anything about you if you keep your head low.”

She smiled, “Already done.” A little part of her leaped inside, and she felt giddy. Adam needed her to help protect him! She was being useful for once! Not to mention that this meant he trusted her and….. She turned a side eye on conn, Then again, that probably meant that Adam trusted him too.

The starborn grinned at her again, showing rows and rows of of sharp circular teeth.

She winced and looked away.

Gross

“I have to get going, but you two should get to work. This is going to be a long week.”

He whistles once, and Waffles jumped up from where she had been resting at his side, and gently trotted after him as he walked away back towards the command station. Eris started after him and Conn floated up next to her.

“What an unexpectedly delightful day, don’t you think.”

“Can you be less creepy please.”

“It runs in the family Eris, you have the creepy inside you too. Embrace it!”

She shoved him away with one hand and ran to catch up with Adam.

She could hear conn laughing behind her as he floated away towards the hangers.

She glanced over his shoulder as she grabbed onto Adam’s arm, “Why is he so weird!”

Adam shrugged, “I think something happened to him when he was first born. I would say that he was dropped on his head, but that’s probably not accurate. Think i heard something about him having been isolated from his clan for the first few thousand years with his dead mother, but I don’t know if that’s true or if it’s just something he made up. Either way I think whatever happened to him kind of made him psycho.”

She glanced over her shoulder to the figure floating off into the distance, “Than why do you keep him around?”

He sighed, “Unfortunately, his abilities are invaluable. The ability to bring him alone when it comes to negotiations, or to talk with new alien species speeds up both diplomatic missions and learning new languages.” He sighed, “Also, as far as I can tell he is pretty loyal. He always does everything I ask him to do as long as it is important enough. Sure if I asked him to pick up after himself he’d probably flip me the bird and go floating in the other direction. But every time something big and important has happened, he has always been relatively reliable. A part of me wonders if he just doesn’t know how to interact with people, and somewhere deep down there is a desire to be wanted, but that’s not something I can prove.” He glanced pointedly at her.

She shook her head, “Sorry, he’s pretty good at hiding what’ he’s thinking.”

Adam grunted, “A real pity. Now-” He turned to look at her, placing his hands on her shoulders and looking her in the eye, “Stay low. If you hear anything, don’t try to do anything about it yourself. Call my ship, either Sunny or Ramirez and they will deal with everything. If you see someone wearing a red pin with a white rocket on it, then those are our undercover guys, and they should be able to help you too. But it’s likely you will know who they are anyway.”

He looked her in the eyes, “Whatever happens, your safety comes first, not mine. You got that/”

She nodded eagerly even though she knew that last instruction was a lie.

He was more important than her.

And she was going to make sure that he stayed safe.

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archonanqi · 3 years

Text

fragile as dust / 10 - above the clouds

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---

You were pleased to see a hint of surprise on Zhongli’s face when you flung open the front door three hours before you were meant to come home from work. Even Zhongli got caught off guard sometimes, it seemed.

“Back so soon?” Zhongli put down his book and watched with raised brows as you sprinted across the living room to your own, then back. “Oh dear, has there been another fire?”

“Very funny,” you found yourself smiling. “Xiangling wants to bring me to Cuijie Slope to gather some Qingxin. We might be camping there overnight! She told me to go home and grab some warmer clothing.” You flapped your billowing white sleeves at him to make your point. This was one of the first pieces of clothing he had bought you, and you found excuses to wear it the moment so much as a breeze picked up. It was warm, comfortable, and it had pockets!

Though certainly, the way that Zhongli usually smiled when he saw you in it wasn’t half bad either.

Today, he did not smile. “Cuijie Slope?” The slight edge to Zhongli’s voice had you taking pause as you slung your backpack over your shoulder. You studied his face, but found, as always, nothing to betray his emotions. “Xiangling told you that?”

“Yes, Mr. Zhongli,” you said, more carefully now. “Is it a problem? Sorry, I should have asked you beforehand, I know—“

“Hmm. It’s nothing at all.” Zhongli said, picking his book back up. “Though Cuijie is known to have its fair share of Hilichurl camps, Xiangling is a good fighter. You two will be fine.”

Ouch. Though there was no way Zhongli could know of your Vision, it still stung that Xiangling had so much mastery over hers and you— well.

“Thank you, Mr. Zhongli.” You quietly returned to your room, the oddity of the interaction quickly forgotten in your excitement. This would be the furthest you had ever ventured out of Liyue Harbor, and with the lovely Xiangling, no less. You stuffed an extra set of clothes into your bag, and another book for good measure — sometimes waiting for the hunting traps to spring took hours that even Xiangling’s bright voice couldn’t fill.

You paused in front of the drawer by your bed. It certainly didn’t seem like fate was fond of the idea of you seeking Zhongli’s help with the Vision, and frankly, neither were you. At best, you would receive lessons from the most talented (and only) Geo Vision user you knew. At worst? Well, you had never seen Zhongli’s fury, and you didn’t plan on forcing him into one. The longer you waited, the angrier he would be at your deception. Perhaps your chance at telling him had already passed.

And what good would the Vision be if you brought it with you? If Xiangling saw it, would she tell Zhongli? Though you didn’t think so, it was not a risk you were willing to take.

Before you left, your gaze fell upon the dragon’s fang on the windowsill. Whether it was truly Rex Lapis’, you did not know; but you could not imagine Zhongli lying. You stuffed it into your bag along with everything else. Certainly, something associated with the God of Wealth would be good luck all the same.

Zhongli had already opened the front door for you when you emerged from your room, waiting with his hands behind his back. “Have a lovely trip,” he said, with so much warmth in his voice that you briefly considered cancelling on Xiangling and staying home with him instead. “And Hansi?”

“Yes, Mr. Zhongli?”

His golden eyes glittered in the sunlight as he looked, it seemed, straight through you.

“Please do stay safe.”

—-

“Wow, for a ‘slope’, this— this is really tall,” you joked feebly between rattling breaths. Was it just you, or was it getting a little harder to breathe? It seemed like you’d been climbing at an incline for hours.

Xiangling pulled to a sudden stop in front of you, almost tripping you over. You peered at her in silence inquisition, and after a moment of eyeing you carefully, she finally spoke. “Okay. Okay, you have to promise not to tell Mr. Zhongli about this.”

“About...?” You asked.

The little chef chewed her lip for another few seconds before blurting, “there’s no Qingxin in Cuijie Slope. That’s not where we’re going.”

“Wait, what?”

“We’re not at Cuijie Slope,” she said, words flowing faster than the waterfall you’d just passed. “My dad would’ve lost his mind if he found out, so I had to say that we were going to Cuijie.” She paused, eyeing your expression and grabbing your hand. “Please don’t be mad at me! It’s all mountains here so there’s gonna be SO much more Qingxin than the one or two we usually find and- and I’ve never even been here so just think of all the rare ingredients waiting to be found and—“

“Xiangling, where are we?” You asked, even though you already had a feeling you knew.

Xiangling sighed, before finally admitting: “Jueyun Karst.”

Immediately, you knew that you had to turn around and go home. Of the stories that Zhongli had told you, plenty were about Jueyun, the land of the mystical and illuminated Adepti. The concentrated mystical energy here attracted plenty of unfriendly creatures — and the Adepti themselves certainly didn’t sound to be the welcoming sort.

But before you could squash it, another memory came to mind. The pure Cor Lapis that Zhongli treasured so much, the one from his dear friend— did he not say that it could only be found in Jueyun Karst?

Xiangling was still going on with no sign of slowing down. “—I know that some people say that it’s dangerous but I’ve heard the little girl from Bubu Pharmacy come here, so how dangerous can it really be? And besides, what’s an adventure without a little bit of excitement—?”

Yes, how dangerous could it be for two Vision-holders, if a child could come and go as she pleased? Surely you could dip in, find a few ingredients for Xiangling… perhaps a Cor Lapis or two for Zhongli and get home before night fell and the monsters came out? You could already imagine the smile on Zhongli’s face, the gentle thanks he would offer—

Xiangling finally paused to take a breath, still carefully eyeing your expression. “But of course, if you want to go home, I won’t stop you.“

“No, this is exciting,” you beamed, “let’s go.”

—-

As you walked along the paths of Mt. Hulao, the dread in your heart at disobeying Zhongli slowly waned. Never had Zhongli explicitly forbidden you from coming here — he’d only warned you against it. There was no contract to be broken. He would surely forgive you when no harm came to pass.

While Xiangling carefully bottled each Qingxin, sweet flower and mint petal she came across, you busied yourself with peering at every Cor Lapis vein along the rock path up. It seemed that the higher you went, the purer the Lapis got, and eventually, you managed to — with a lot of help from Xiangling and her polearm — crack open a chunk that shone so brilliantly translucent under the sun, you had to squint to look at it.

You could barely wait to see the look on Zhongli’s face. You carefully wrapped the prized Lapis in a handkerchief, then placed it in your pocket — you didn’t want to even risk it getting scratched by all the stuff in your bag.

The sun had stained the horizon with the color of Zhongli’s eyes by the time you neared the peak of the mountain, yet Xiangling showed no signs of wanting to go home. A few times, you wondered if you should say something— yet when you swung around the steep path and emerged from the trees to an open sky full of monumental stone forests draped in wispy clouds, any lingering apprehension you might have had disappeared instantly.

It especially helped that Xiangling, wielding her flames as proficiently as she did in the kitchen, made short work of chasing away any Hilichurlian creatures that came by.

“That one looked a little different,” you pointed out as Xiangling sent another little gathering of hilichurls packing.

“Yup, I think that Xingqiu — he’s my friend, he knows everything — called it… a samachurl?” Xiangling offered. “They can use the elements, but they’re still Hilichurls. Nothing to worry about! Really, I don’t know why everyone made such a big fuss about this m—”

In the next few seconds, time seemed to slow to a crawl.

All you knew was heat, blinding and searing against your cheeks. The sky-shattering explosion that followed was the loudest thing you had heard in your life, and you could only watch as the plume of ravenous flame hit Xiangling squarely on her side. She crumpled to the ground with a small, broken sound, clutching at her shoulder. Through her fingers, you could see the raw red scarlet of blood.

A creature you had never seen before appeared before the two of you, hovering two feet above the ground. It was dressed in a fur-lined, crimson shawl. A black, bird-like mask hid all of its face but glowing, hollow orange eyes that flicked between you and Xiangling. After a few seconds, it laughed, an ugly noise that seemed to echo all around you.

“And here I was, wo̝̕r̠r̻̠̲͔̮̟̥i̷̲̼e̺͠d̗̖̗̼̮,” it chittered,, waving its flaming staff around with glee. Occasionally, it lapsed into a language you did not know, but which sounded so ancient that it chilled your bones, “that the trespasser would b̶̮̼̹e̹̘͚̗ ̹̣t̯͔̪͇h҉̩̮̩̺̣̫e̞̦̞̣̫̪ ͖͈͔̦̰̱s͖̲̮̺̳is̥̺̬͙t̫͕e͎̘̜͚͕͞r͏̬̞̟͚͉͓ͅ of the Prince! But just two humans! One blessed by the Archon of Flame! And the other— the other reeks of the A̱͙̣̙̤̲̳r͎c̥̳͚̩͠h͏̙̮̙̗̭̣̬o̹̫̮̕n̰͔ ̼͜o͉͔̼̟f͇̞̦ ̮̩͕̻͟S̲͎̥t͔̼̼on̳ę̝̰̤̖̭̥!̣͚͕̜!”

Was the creature an adeptus? It could speak, and though much was gibberish that you didn’t understand, perhaps it could be reasoned with. “We’re terribly sorry for trespassing,” you tried to steel your shaking voice, “oh Mighty and Illuminated Adeptus. We’ll leave immediately. Please grant us a safe passage through the forest.”

“ A̭̱͍̮͘D̰͖͓̲̲Ȩ̙͚̺̻̞̻P͢TU̮̣̞͈̠S? ” It shrieked, a ring of fire forming around it in a sphere. “How dare you liken me to the servants of an Archon? I am an Abyss Mage! W̱̻̥̙̗͔͝e̳̘̺͎͔͎͓ are the Abyss Order! We will de̤̹͉͕͖̩s̙͎̦͖̩̯̰͘t͈͈͍͈r̵̪͍͚̫o҉y̜͙̭̙͞ ͍̥͙͢th̕e̙̮̘͕̬̤͎͘ ̡͇r̦͞ul̗̮͉̪̠͘e of the Archons, and bring about a new world!”

“What are you doing in the Adepti’s Abode, if you want to destroy the Archons?” It seemed to like hearing itself talk, and as long as it was talking, it was not hurting you. For the first time, you were mildly glad that your life prior to Zhongli taught you this.

“I suppose there is no h̠͉͝a̝̱̖r͖m̥̞ ̷͇̖̩i̼͉̝͠n̪͚̬͢ͅ ͍̪̹͎̝͍͉te̦͍̤̤̳̼̕l͓̝̣̹̗͢ḻ͝i͓͉̹̹͜n̘͎͔͚̟̩g͓̩̰ ͕͙y̴̭ͅo̤̞̞̬̞ͅu̯̫̪̺̦͓̖, you’ll be d̻̪e̖̦a͓͘d̹͕ soon enough,” it laughed again. “There is an object of power here, enough to be a God’s! If we can get our hands on it—“

Beside you, Xiangling had shakily gotten back on her feet, the usual fire in her eyes dulled. She looked so suddenly small that your heart broke. You would get her out of here if it killed you. “Do you think you can walk?” You whispered to her, and you were infinitely relieved to see her nod slightly. “I’m going to distract it. Go run and get help.”

To your surprise, it was the easiest decision you’d made in your life. Xiangling was hurt, and she could not fight. To leave her here would be to leave her to die. And so, it had to be you. Your mind suddenly clear, you reached into your bag and brandished the dragon’s tooth at the Abyss Mage.

“This is a tooth of Rex Lapis himself,” you shouted, your voice only breaking twice. “How’s that for a powerful object, huh!?”

“R̂̋͜e̒̿̏̅͛̊̓xͭ̿͊͊͜ ̓̄ͭ̐ͥ̕L̂͂aͮ͊̐p̷iͬͣs͆̍̿͐͊ͯ̉͏—? No, you can’t fool me! The object we came for was not of a God a̖͜s̤ ̧̖̜̜p̯o͡w̪̫̮͈͈̣̖e̫̩rf̣̖̼̗̻̮u͕͇̻̘̹͢l҉̖̝̫̥ ͚̲̞̮̱͍͢ą͓͈s̪͔̩̜̼̥̥̕ ͚ͅthe Geo Archon.”

“So, wouldn’t something from the Geo Archon himself be even better, dumbass?” You were slowly finding a strange calm, taking slow steps away from Xiangling, putting the Abyss Mage in between her and yourself. “Won’t your Prince be mad if he knows you passed up something that used to be part of an Archon, to find a minor God’s artifact?” You were taking liberties here, and you hoped with every fiber of your being that the creature was stupid enough to take the bait.

“T͠h̕͜e͡ ̨P͝r͝i͘̕n͘c͘e̕…” it seemed to shudder, the flame in its eyes glowing anew. “Give the tooth to me!”

“Come and get it!” You shrieked at an octave reminiscent of the Mage itself, and with all your might, began sprinting away from Xiangling — further up the mountain. You did not turn around to make sure that Xiangling was able to escape, or even to make sure that the Abyss Mage was following you. You simply ran, and ran, and prayed.

—-

The first time you paused for breath, the muscles in your legs aching, the Mage materialized in front of you once more. How foolish of you to think that you could outrun something that wielded the arcane.

“Give me the dr̷̕͢a̢go̸n̨'͏̧s ͝҉t͜o̶͘o͝ţ̕͝h͟,” it demanded. “You dare defy me, human ?” There was nothing but disgust in its voice, and you knew at once: Mage or not, it was the same as every man, every bully, every noble who had ever tormented you. It expected you to run. It expected you to beg, and grovel, and cry.

It did not expect you to run towards it, screaming words you had only heard uttered between sailors at the harbor.

And certainly, it did not expect you to drive the tooth, with all your might, straight into the ring of fiery energy around it. Where the tooth met flame, red crystals erupted amidst a kaleidoscope of sparks, covering you in a warm crimson glow. The Abyss Mage screeched, a terrible sound, as the shield around it cracked — then shattered with a hot, explosive force that threw you to the ground.

When you picked yourself up again, your veins so full of adrenaline that you could hardly stand, the Abyss Mage was sitting in a dazed, crumpled heap on the ground.

With the last of your strength, you whipped your bag — all four books and two day’s worth of clothes packed tight — against the Mage’s head with so much force that the bag’s contents burst out of its seams and spilled onto the ground. Without another word, the creature fell to the ground.

You weren’t sure if it was dead. You didn’t want to find out. Leaving everything on the ground, you turned around, and for the second time that night, you ran — and you prayed.

—-

At night, Mt. Hulao was a completely different beast. The mountain was pitch dark, the only sources of light the pale moon — and the faintly glowing, large chunks of… amber? that lined the mountainside. Sometimes, when the moonlight lined up just right, you swore that you could make out vague shapes within them. More than a dozen times, you lost track of the trail, and had to carefully backtrack until you could make out the dirt path amidst the grass.

Then, it began to rain.

Your clothes were warm, but they were not waterproof. Even as you tried to walk under the shelter of trees, you could feel the water soaking right through the silk and cloth, the mountain wind chilling you to your core. If you didn’t get warm soon, you doubted that you would survive even a few more hours.

A hint of panic was slowly crawling its way up your throat, but you were determined not to let it past your lips. All that mattered in the world was: finding Xiangling, then finding your way back to the harbor. You’d take any punishment from Zhongli, any amount of lectures or— physical retribution, if it meant that you could see his face, feel the warmth of home, once again.

In your pocket, the chunk of Cor Lapis sat snug and safe. It was a small blessing.

You were so preoccupied with your thoughts that you did not notice the vines under you begin to shift.

That is, until suddenly, your feet stopped moving. You went down with a yelp that dissolved into a scream as you landed badly on your wrist. Immediately, you tried to scramble back to your feet, but they were firmly stuck to the ground and coated in a viscous orange liquid that looked a lot like the massive amber chunks around the mountain.

The shapes inside them—

To your horror, you found that you couldn’t move the wrist you fell on. With your good hand, you desperately clawed at the liquid and only succeeded in spreading it everywhere, and as it clung to your clothes and hair, beginning to harden.

Against your throat, your necklace seemed to tighten.

“You dared to trespass on the Land of the Adepti,” a tremendous voice thundered around you. “ And now, you will pay the price”.

For a brief moment, it was hilarious. Of all the damned times you had begged them for help, for escape from your hunger and fear and life — of all times, now the Adepti chose to take notice of you? The panic trickled through, leaving your lungs in a hysterical little laugh. The liquid had crawled its way up your thighs, and you knew that there was no use begging for your life. The Adepti did not care.

And so, you begged for Xiangling instead. “My friend is still on the mountain. Please grant her safe passage through Jueyun Karst.” The amber had reached your chest, hardening rapidly against the cold night air. There was no answer.

“Please grant her safe passage through Jueyun Karst,” you repeated. The amber had reached your shoulders.

“Please grant her safe passage through Jueyun Karst.” Your neck.

“Please—“

—-

A memory:

It had been about six days since you had that bout of nightmares, since Zhongli sat by your side as you slept.

The morning after, you’d woken up feeling strangely full and content. You could vividly remember your last dream: Zhongli, sitting amidst dust and sunlight.

The only indication of the previous night’s occurrences had been the wooden chair sitting by your bed.

You’d joined Zhongli for breakfast that day, expecting him to comment on your nightmares, and braced yourself for the uncomfortable conversation.

“If you ever need someone to speak to,” was all he’d said instead, his gorgeous eyes unreadable as always, “remember that I am here.”

—-

What a silly thing to suddenly remember.

Zhongli— what would he think of your disappearance? Would he go looking for you in Cuijie Slope? How long until he marked you down as a simple waste of his Mora and moved on with his life?

Even if Xiangling made it back safely and told him about where you were… You were certain that this was the one time Zhongli would not be coming to your aid. He knew the dangers of Jueyun Karst, and he was nothing if not careful.

How odd, to be so achingly sad in your last moments, when you were so lucky — lucky enough to know Zhongli’s gentle warmth during your short life.

As the amber closed over your eyes, your last thoughts were of Zhongli’s hands in yours.

#zhongli #zhongli fanfic #zhongli x reader #genshin fanfic #genshin impact #genshin #fragile as dust #anqi writes #my writing

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tainted-wine · 3 years

Note

Just gonna leave this here: a quirk that turns Hawks into an actual hawk version of himself that can talk, and his poor s/o must be his falconer until the quirk wears off. Alternatively, Dabi getting chibi’d. MANY LOLS TO BE HAD. And also burnt pants pockets, if I’m not mistaken.

If Hawks was a bird, I’d imagine his appearance would resemble a Brahminy Kite aka red-backed sea eagle. Yeah, I know they’re not exactly hawks but it’s such a perfect look for him. Though I’d imagine his front plumage to look more blonde than white.

The news reporters were already swarming him. At least give him a chance to breathe; this was probably more shocking to himself than it was to them. It’s also just a little intimidating to have so many people several times his height squatting down and shoving mics into his little beak.

“Did you see the villain that did this to you, Hawks?”

“How long will this quirk last?”

“Will you be able to carry on with hero work in this condition?”

“What do you have to say to your fangirls right now?”

“Would you be willing to have a photoshoot with us and promote our bird shop?”

He raises his wings (man, it’s weird when they’re your only upper limbs) and attempts to calm everyone down.

“Relax, everyone. I’ll have this all fixed up soon, I promise! And don’t think I’ll be taking a break from hero work just because I’m small enough to perch on your arm. You villains out there better stay put!”

The flashing cameras hurt. His eyes felt more sensitive than ever.

Of course, that was a bit of a lie. Hell no, he isn’t fighting any competent villain while he’s a literal bird, but he already knows that the Hero Commission isn’t going to let him sit back even while he looks like this.

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

What the fuck were you watching.

A group of reporters were crowding a bird that had just hopped out of your lover’s hero outfit which was piled on the floor. And they were calling the bird Hawks.

And then the bird spoke. With Hawks’s voice.

No way.

A bit less than an hour after those surreal interviews, a rapping sound was heard at your window. Lo and behold, the same bird you’ve been looking at all over the Tweeter feed was waving at you as he waited patiently to be let in.

You didn’t know where to even start as he waddled in, unsteady on legs that bended in ways he wasn’t used to, and large talons that scratched every surface.

“Did ya miss me, baby bird?” Wow, he really just used his seductive voice.

Your discussion with him about what he plans to do while in his current form is as awkward as you expected, with one extra curve-ball thrown in.

Your face looms over his smaller head. “What do you mean you need me on your patrols? Patrols that you shouldn’t even be doing right now?”

He shakes and puffs up his feathers. “You’ll be my partner in crime! Well, more like you’ll be the one carrying my goods around and answering calls while I take down bad guys. And I have to make sure I always have a good takeoff spot, since I’m not as quick and limber of a flyer as I usually am. It’ll be safe, I promise.”

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

It wasn’t very safe.

Sneaking up on a villain in a sketchy ally was not safe at all. Hawks was unknowingly digging his talons into your skin as he kept his body low, his wings only half-folded in case he needed to fly at any moment.

With a signaling squeeze (ouch), you swung your arm as he leapt off and flew toward the unassuming criminal.

It was...ridiculous, watching what was an intimidating man make high-pitched yelps of surprise and swat at the hawk flapping around his head. All respect as a villain is probably lost if you’re subdued by a bird that isn’t even half your size.

“Now!” Hawks shouted while he had the man’s arms pinned behind his back.

You rushed in to click the handcuffs around his wrists.

“That’s your third arrest, baby bird! You oughta try for a hero license!” He praised you with a wink.

“Thanks, but I’d rather have this entire fever dream end as soon as possible.”

His phone vibrated in your pocket and you withdrew it to see which sidekick or Commission member was calling him this time. Instead, a strange name popped up.

“Who is...‘Burnt Bitch’?”

Hawks swooped in and snatched the phone out of your hands before you could even blink.

“Aheheheh, sorry love! This is a personal call that I gotta take myself!” He flew out of your sight, leaving you to handle the humiliated and angry villain by yourself.

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

Hawks swore when he scratched his screen as he attempted to answer the call. Dammit, Dabi sure was a master of contacting him at inconvenient times.

Having finally pressed the button, he gave his usual greeting to the fiery villain. “What’s up, Dabs?”

“So you’re a literal birdbrain right now, are you? Pretty hilarious.”

That...was not Dabi’s voice.

“Um, why do you sound like a chipmunk?”

“...I’m just using a voice changer,” the squeaky villain said. “I shouldn’t make myself too obvious when talking to you.”

Hawks scratched his head, flinching when he nearly poked his eye. “You’re just now deciding to do that, and you couldn’t pick a voice that I’d actually take seriously?”

“Like you’re one to talk. I’m impressed you managed to answer the phone without any hands. You’re meeting up with me at the usual spot tonight.”

“...Tonight?”

Dabi groaned, which sounded more like those low meows that angry cats do. “Did I stutter? Those holes in your bird head work, right? And you better not laugh when you get here.”

Click.

Hawks’s inner eyelids blinked rapidly at the phone. What would he laugh about?

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

Oh.

That’s what.

Hawks rested on a trash can as he watched Dabi emerge from the shadows behind the abandoned building. He was pretty far away, his form slowly getting bigger as he got closer. Although...Hawks is pretty sure that he should look a lot bigger from that distance. Maybe the angle of his giant eyes was screwing up his depth perception.

It was only when Dabi was right in front of him did Hawks realize that the villain was the size of a toddler.

He tried not to let any laughter slip past his beak, and failed miserably.

“What did I fucking tell you?” Dabi growled in his helium voice. Oh god he wasn’t using a voice changer on the phone.

That made the bird hero laugh even harder, wings outstretched as he tried to keep his balance. “Wh-wha...” He struggled to speak between wheezes. “What the hell happened?”

Dabi shuffled in his kiddie hoodie. “Some dumbass thug thought it would be funny to chibify me. I thought it would be funny to turn him into ash, so I did.”

“Really? Do you know if it wears off overtime or did you just kill the poor guy without asking questions?”

“......”

“Holy shit!” Another fit of squawking laughter. “You might be adorable forever!”

A blue flame appeared in his tiny baby hands oh my god he’s so cute!

“Unlike you, I can still use my quirk, so keep talking if you want to become the fried chicken you love so much.”

"You-” Cough. “You don’t even need your fire.” Hawks's feathers were fully fluffed out as he tried to breathe. “If you keep talking with that high voice, I’m gonna keel over!”

A tiny scarred hand around his neck finally silenced him with a startled screech.

“You tweety little bastard.”

Hawks cracked up again as he choked.

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

Shouta Aizawa has come across many strange sights during his late night patrols. Some of them gruesome, some of them obscene, and some that are just too weird to even be questioned.

Finding a child concealed in an oversized hoodie in a bout of fisticuffs with a bird of prey was in the third category.

He couldn’t even tell who was winning. The kid would sometimes get a hold of the bird for no more than a few seconds before a sharp beak digs into his hand and forces him to let go. It was the strangest wrestle that the underground hero had ever witnessed.

“Aww, try again, little baby! You almost had me that time!”

Wait a minute. That voice...

Right, Hawks was still doing work even though he was a damn actual hawk. Well, he probably doesn’t need his help with an unruly brat.

Aizawa walked away from the scuffle and continued his scouting. There are real dangers out here that need to be taken care of.

#asks #hawks #dabi #don't ask any logical questions #accept the crack

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p-artsypants · 3 years

Text

I’ll Handle This (10)

In Which Marinette Says the Thing

I was the most excited about this chapter and had most of it written already. :)

Also, I bumped up the rating a bit because there’s extremely mild nudity in this chapter.

(Ao3 | FF.net)

—

She looked fierce. Nails done, a cute, white skirt (that she hadn’t spilled her breakfast on!) and a red and white polka dot blouse. She was cute, she was hot, and she was ready to nab her man!

Said man walked into class wearing...

Oh boy.

A leather jacket, with no shirt underneath, a kilt, and knee high combat boots. There was not a single person that didn’t stare at him.

“Sup nerds?”

Nino entered with him, slightly chuckling, like he had heard a very funny inside joke.

Marinette gawked at him. “Adrien...”

“Aww! Pooh Bear! Look at how cute you are!”

Marinette’s initial horror in his appearance turned into excitement. He called her cute!

“Adrien, do we have to have this dress code talk again?” Miss Bustier sighed.

It turned out he did have a shirt on under the jacket. A black button-up. He untucked the flaps, and buttoned them, unevenly, to cover his sweet sweet bod. “Better?”

Miss Bustier shook her head, but urged him to sit down.

“Soooo,” Alya asked, with a wiggling eyebrow. “Are you wearing that kilt...properly?”

He grabbed the hem, squeezing his knees together to shuffle shyly. “You wanna see?”

Marinette burst into color. “Adrien!”

He laughed, “oh, I’m just kidding. I’m wearing boxers under this.”

“Alright everyone, get in your seats, it’s time to start!”

—

Marinette tried to do her very best to stay calm. But the very idea that a confession to Adrien would be happening today kept her distracted.

She stared at him, watching as he scrawled notes...in Chinese? He really was an overachiever!

The day passed in a crawl, Marinette fretting every minute.

Then the lunch bell rang, and students began to pack up for break.

“Adrien?” She blurted, her hands shaking.

He turned and looked at her, grinning, and lowering his sunglasses to flash her half-lidded eyes. “You rang?”

“Um...can we talk together? Er, go somewhere together to talk? I have something I want to tell you.”

His grin turned into a full tooth smile. “Of course! Where to?”

“Um...mom’s got stuff for sandwiches, if you want to come over.”

“Sounds wonderful!” He packed up his bag, and then held out his hand for her.

He wanted to hold her hand! Ah!

Nervously smiling, she put her hand in his, and let him lead her from the room.

At the risk of having a horribly awkward lunch, she took the lead, and led him upstairs to the slowly emptying third floor.

“What’s up here?”

“I...can’t wait anymore. If this makes things weird, you could probably catch up with Nino or the guys...”

He very gently touched her cheek. “I told you I wanted to have lunch with you, and I will. So say whatever you have to say.” He took his sunglasses off and put them on his head.

Marinette took a huge breath. “Now, I just need to know...who is the real you? Are you...is this who you are, and you were suppressing the rebellious, chaotic side? Or are you putting on a show?”

He blinked at her, eyes wide. “Whatever do you mean?”

“I mean...I support whoever you are. I want you to feel free to be you, and celebrate what makes you special, but...” she tucked some hair behind her ear, a nervous motion. “I just miss the boy I fell in love with.”

“Marinette...”

“I love you no matter what, though! I promise! I just...your kindness, your shy sweetness and honesty really captivated me. That day when you gave me your umbrella, and you went out of your way to apologize for the misunderstanding. You didn’t have to. I was the one that jumped to conclusions, but you wanted to make friends and get on the right foot with me. Your laughter, your smile...I was a goner.” She hugged the strap of her purse. “So this new version of you has been jarring, but...if I’ve been reading your signs right...?”

He pulled her into a hug. “Oh Marinette. Sweet, kind, thoughtful Marinette. You’ve figured me out. This is all an act. Except my attitude towards you. I feel the same.”

“You...love me?”

“Yes. More than I can express.”

She raised her head, tilting her chin and slowly closing her eyes.

The gag kiss during truth or dare was one thing, but Adrien would kill Plagg if he kissed Marinette in earnest like this.

Instead, he pressed a finger to her lips and smiled at her confused look. “Not yet. The timing isn’t right. If I could give you the world, I would. In fact, anything else, I’ll give it to you. You have my heart, and that will be yours as long as you want it. But I don’t think you want a relationship right now.”

“I’m confused...” Marinette said, her lips trembling.

“I want to protect you from my father and Lila. If I make you my girlfriend, they will try to hurt you to get to me. I’d hate to ask you to wait for me, since you’ve finally gotten the courage up to confess...but would you wait?”

Marinette reached up to hold his face, letting her thumb pass reverently over his cheek. How had she gotten so lucky to fall for a man so thoughtful? So loving?

“Adrien, I’d wait a hundred years to be with you. It’ll be our secret for now.”

He kissed her forehead. “I’m sorry. I know you wanted more from the conversation-“

“Just knowing my feelings are returned are enough. Thank you.”

He took her hand again. “You still want to feed me sandwiches? Do I still deserve it?”

“Of course you do...My Prince.”

Plagg almost retched, but he schooled his face into an adoring grin before he faced her again. “That’s adorable!”

“You like it?”

“I love it!” It was just cheesy enough for Adrien.

“Then that’ll be your nickname...in secret. No one else will know.”

“I think you’ll come to find that our little secret will be so much more fun between us.”

—

After lunch, Plagg and Marinette returned to school. They stopped holding hands as they approached the building, but they stood close and bumped each other coyly.

The behavior didn’t go unnoticed by Alya or Lila. But Alya was the only one to confront them.

“You two seem close,” she asked, twinkle in her eye.

“Oh, we just had a very funny lunch together.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yep. Some great inside jokes. You had to be there.” Plagg sent a wink at Marinette and she seemed to swoon on the spot.

Plagg let her go back to her seat, ignoring the whispering from the girls behind him.

They thought he couldn’t hear them. He could.

Nino bumped his elbow. “Everything cool dude?”

“Absolutely. I’ll tell you later.”

—

Later came after school, of course. The second Plagg and Nino were away from school property, Plagg blurted out, “I’m a genius. I got Marinette to confess her undying love for Adrien. Boo-yah!”

“What?!” Nino shrieked. “Dude! She’s been trying to get that out for months! How on earth—no, wait. I know the answer.”

“Confidence.”

“And obvious flirting.” Nino scoffed. “Adrien always threw out the line, ‘you’re such a good friend’ in front of her. It was like wearing a big sign that said, ‘I will reject you!’”

“I’m right here, you know,” Adrien said, poking his head out of Plagg’s jacket. “And to my defense, I was trying to be faithful to—“

Plagg covered his mouth before he could accidentally reveal Marinette as Ladybug. “No excuses, lover boy!”

Thankfully, Adrien seemed to realize the mistake he almost made and nodded. “Fine, fine. I appreciate that you didn’t kiss her...again. So now what? Have we fulfilled that part of the contract yet?”

“Not quite.” He held up the ring. A paw print with three pads faintly shone on the surface. “Once a condition is met, you’ll hear the ring give its telltale beep and a pad will disappear. Once the paw print completely vanishes...well, you’ll be back in your own body anyway.”

“So...what do I need to do? She already confessed to me.”

This was a conversation better had without Nino involved. Of course he was a bro, and would be helpful for things. But Ladybug’s identity should still remain a secret.

“Nino...” Plagg began, with a drawl. “How much do you know about the birds and the bees?”

Nino sputtered. “HA! BYE!” And he made an about face and hurried towards home.

“Wait Nino!” Called Adrien.

“We’ll meet up with you later!” Plagg sang after.

Adrien looked to his body. “Please tell me you don’t have to...get up to some nasty stuff with my lady. Sure, it’s my body, but you’re like a bazillion years old and I was rather hoping to wait until marriage—“

“Calm down, Romeo. No, there’s not any hanky panky involved. I just needed to get Nino to leave without saying, ‘hey leave’. If he’s going to be suspicious, I need him on a whole other wavelength.”

“Okay, so if there’s no horizontal tango happening, then what are we doing?”

Plagg slipped the ring off his finger. “You need to spend time with her. Tell her or don’t. Just spend time with her outside of school and akumas and get to know her better. For an alibi, tell her that you haven’t been feeling well and you need to be in proximity of the Miracle Box. Then have her send her earrings to me so things stay even.”

“Will she go for that?”

“Probably. You know her better than I do.”

“What about the ring? Don’t you need to wear it because we’re switched?”

“Nah. It should be alright for a little while. It should stay with my body though.”

“Okay...I guess...I’ll go see Marinette.”

“Have fun!” Plagg wiggled his fingers in a farewell and started walking to where Nino had disappeared.

Nervous as all get out, Adrien fled to the bakery, trying to figure out what he was going to tell Marinette.

When was it appropriate to come clean? How long should he wait? Should he blab at all?

Soon, he was hovering above her trap door, and peering inside. Marinette sat at her desk, music playing as she worked on homework. Her head bobbed to some tunes.

“Okay, she thinks you’re Plagg. So she’ll welcome you in and listen to what you tell her. And if she finds out you’re Adrien, then she loves Adrien and everything will be fine. Right? Right!” He psyched himself up.

Using his poorly practiced phasing powers, he entered her room and came to float by her desk. “Hiya pigtails!” He chirped, in the typical Plagg style.

She jerked, before turning to him. Her eyes landed on the ring and widened with surprise. “Why do you have that?! Is Chat okay?! What’s wrong?!” She stood, and nearly knocked over her chair.

Even Tikki looked surprised.

“Everything is fine!” He rushed to rectify. Then he remembered Plagg’s crafted lie. “Mostly. I haven’t been feeling very good, so I think I need to be closer to the Miracle Box for a little bit. I brought the ring for you, if you would send Tikki to Chat for a little while. That way he’s covered in case there’s an Akuma attack.”

Luckily, she bought his dirty fib and started to remove her earrings. “Oh, well if you aren’t feeling well, that means Chat won’t be in top form. We can’t have that! Of course we can trade!” She took the earrings off and handed them to Tikki, before putting on the ring.

Adrien felt a tingle down his spine as the black metal turned rose gold on her dainty finger.

“Is he at home?” Asked Tikki.

“No, come with me, I’ll tell you.” And he escorted her up to the balcony.

“Did Plagg put you up to this?” She asked, once outside. “This seems like one of his hair brained schemes.”

“I mean...he came up with the excuse...but I thought Marinette’s confession today would fulfill one of the conditions of the contract, but it didn’t. Plagg said I should just spend time with her.”

Thankfully, Tikki was the nice one. She patted his paws. “I’m sure you miss her too. I won’t say anything. But I will be having a word with Plagg about this whole thing. He should know that body swaps don’t always work!”

“Don’t tell me that! I’m struggling as it is!”

“Sorry!” She giggled. “Why don’t you go on in. Be prepared though. She’s been all sighs since ‘Adrien’ returned her feelings today.”

If he could blush, he would have. “Oh boy...”

“Where am I going?”

“Oh, Plagg is staying with Nino now. He left home. And uhhh...Nino knows. About me, not Marinette.”

She scoffed. “That rascal.”

“Thanks for understanding, Tikki.”

“I’m understanding with you, because you’re the victim of a manipulative, chaotic creature of destruction and havoc.”

“He can be a bit of a turd.”

“What am I doing? You could be spending time with the love of your life! Now, go on!” Tikki pushed him towards the door before flitting off to Nino’s.

Suddenly faced with seeing Marinette again, and continuing to lie to her face, he sheepishly returned to her room.

She had ducked out for the moment, and he found himself alone.

Alone, but surrounded by dozens of pictures of himself.

Knowing about her crush put these photos in a different context, for sure.

“Just a fan” she said. She was a big fat liar too!

“Adorable, isn’t he?” Her voice grabbed him while he was off guard.

“Uhhh...I guess? For a human?”

She giggled, and set down the plate of cheese danishes onto her desk. “That’s Adrien. He’s kind of my boyfriend. It’s not official yet, but he loves me.” She smiled widely. “He told me just today.”

“‘Kind of’ your boyfriend? You’re okay with that?”

“He can’t date right now because of his father. But he asked me to wait for him. I’d wait a thousand years for him.”

His heart hammered in his chest. “What about three years? What if he can’t date until he’s 18?”

“That’s fine.” She said nonchalantly. “We can still hang out. We can focus on school and drama doesn’t have to come between us...”

“And if someone else available comes along?”

Marinette couldn’t know the real reason he was asking that question. She just fondly patted his head. “Sorry Plagg. I know you care a lot about Chat, but Adrien...Adrien means the world to me. I love Chat too, but in a different way. And he’s not available, not to me.”

“What do you mean?”

“Chat will always just be my partner. Can only be my partner. We couldn’t date if I wanted too. It would be too difficult.” She sat back at her desk and sighed. “It would hurt too much.”

Adrien was struck speechless. How was he even supposed to respond to that? Was that an admission that she actually did have some feelings for Chat Noir?

It didn’t matter. Not now. “I didn’t mean to put you on the offensive. I was just...curious, is all. I’m happy you’ve found someone who loves you.”

She smiled at him then, scooping him out of the air and scratching his cheek with her finger. “Thanks Plagg. I hope I didn’t come off as snooty. I know you care about Chat. But he can fight his own battles.”

Her words made him feel like garbage. She had no idea, of course. Because up until the body swap, Adrien’s battles were not being fought. They were purposefully not being fought, because he was too chicken shit to upset anyone.

“Yeah...he’s brave alright...” he muttered.

Marinette settled down at her desk and continued on her homework.

What was a boy to do? He sat on the desk, and helped himself to the cheese danishes.

They were almost worth the trip over here by themselves.

“Enjoying yourself?” Marinette asked, eyebrow quirked.

At that, Adrien realized with thinly veiled horror that he had been moaning.

Eek.

“These are the most delicious things I’ve ever had!” Or maybe it was because Plagg had only fed him Camembert until now. Sure, Plagg’s taste buds were attuned to the foul stuff, but after a while, the same foods over and over get old.

Marinette just smiled at him fondly and continued with her work.

Would it be odd to look at her? Would she notice? He certainly found it hard to look away. He couldn’t stare at her during school. Not as Plagg, and not as Adrien from now on.

She tapped her pencil against her perfectly kissable lips, scrunching her nose and narrowing her eyes as she studied the page. It was adorable, but more so, it was the same face she made as Ladybug, when she was trying to solve her Lucky Charm.

Was it hindsight? Or if he saw Marinette making that face, would he have realized it?

Would he have cared enough to look at her?

Of course he would! He argued with himself. Marinette was always special, and her being Ladybug only elevated her in his mind. It was a match that made sense. Of course she was Ladybug. No one else could be so…wonderful.

But faced with her, and not knowing what to say or how to begin to explain the truth, he had to ask himself the tell tale question:

Did he like Marinette now because she was Ladybug? Or did he always like her, and was only in denial?

He begged it was the second. It had to be.

Her qualities were the same. There was nothing about Marinette that made him recoil or actively deny her identity.

Scratch that, Marinette was ridiculously clumsy.

But besides that, they were the same.

“Thinking about something tough over there?” Marinette asked.

“Huh? Oh. Uh...yeah. You know how it is.” Like that made any sense.

“Right. Like I could understand the problems of a Kwami.” She teased. “If you need to talk, I’m all ears.”

Soon. Soon he’d explain everything. But right now, he was just too nervous and scared of her wrath. “Thanks Marinette. I appreciate it. But I don’t want to distract you from your homework.”

She shrugged a little, not wanting to pry, before going back to work.

Adrien and Marinette shared the cheese danishes, and occasionally talked as she worked. When she got severely stuck, he would throw her a few hints.

Then she stretched, finished. “Oh thank goodness! I’m so tired, and I could use a lazy evening.”

“Marinette! Dinner time!”

“Well, after dinner, I’d like a lazy evening.” She scratched Adrien’s head. “Let’s just hope there’s no Akuma attack.”

“Fingers crossed!”

“You’ll be fine up here alone?”

“Of course. Have fun with your parents.”

“Oh,” she wilted. “Should I tell them about Adrien?”

“Why not?”

“I’m just scared that my nosy parents will ask a hundred questions. And we’re not even official.”

“Maybe by mentioning it now, when it becomes official, it won’t be much of a shock.”

“And maybe we can avoid another disaster like when my dad got akumatized. You’re right.” She couldn’t help but sigh. “Well, I’ll tell you how it goes!” And she went downstairs.

Adrien sat on her desk, scanning the walls and taking in all of his pictures. She really loved him, didn’t she?

And how long had that gone on, and he never noticed?

Was it okay to snoop? Of course morally and ethically, no, it wasn’t. But he was technically her sort of boyfriend. It couldn’t hurt.

Right?

So he snooped. Just a precursory glance through her belongings. It was all very innocent.

Until he found the pink half-circle book. Her diary.

Maybe it was the influence of Plagg’s magic in him. Or this whole experience was turning him into a rascal.

But he opened the book and started to read.

The entries were pretty innocent too. Day to day things, balancing life as a superhero and a student. She mentioned him a few times. Using phrases like, ‘golden hair’, ‘handsome face’, ‘emerald eyes’, and ‘abundant kindness’. She wrote about the times they interacted. From him catching her when she tripped, to the glances they shared. Just the smallest interactions between them, she cherished.

It almost made his heart hurt with how moved he was.

And then there was an entry whose content made him feel a different sort of pain. She recounted a day he had not experienced. Her encounter with his akuma, Chat Blanc.

He read the pages, soaking up every heart breaking moment. All the cruel things he had said to her that he would have never known. Why hadn’t she said anything? Was it too painful? Or did…

Did she think he didn’t need to know?

The diary slammed shut as he was finishing the entry, and a very angry and embarrassed Marinette stood over him, glaring. “Little snoop.”

“Yeah yeah, cats and curiosity and all that. So sue me.”

She took the book away and put it in a box with a lid. “Remind me never to leave you alone in my room ever again.”

“Aw, you’re no fun.”

She walked away, heading to her dresser. “Are you like this with Chat, too?”

“Oh, I’m much worse. You have no idea.”

She laughed at him, and took her pajamas out of her drawers.

Then without warning, she took off her pants.

And Adrien’s mouth went dry. He watched as she slipped on her pajama pants, and then took off her shirt, and even her bra, before putting on a loose t-shirt.

He was not going to get that image out of his head for a long, long time.

She turned to him and started talking like nothing had happened. “So what do you want to do? I’m all done with homework, and so as long as there’s no Akuma attack, I can do whatever I want. What do you and Chat usually do?”

Adrien didn’t know how to tell her he didn’t really have free time. Plagg just looked up cheese blogs on his phone, or watched a movie while Adrien worked on homework.

“You pick. I’ll just watch if you want to play video games or design.”

“I’m actually kind of tired. I might just watch videos in bed.”

“Sounds fun! Can I join?”

“Sure! Whatever you want, Plagg.” Marinette climbed her ladder up to her loft and settled against her pillows. She pulled a fuzzy blanket around her legs and sighed in content. “Just what the doctor ordered!”

Adrien hesitated a moment, trying to decide where to sit. Her shoulder? Her stomach?

But Marinette took the choice away and patted her chest, just above her heart.

Eagerly, he settled, curling his tail around his body, and absorbing her body heat. She scratched between his ears and made him purr almost instantly.

This was heaven. When he got his body back, he’d lay his head here. Hopefully, she’d scratch his scalp just the same.

The videos played on her phone, just memes. Every time she chuckled, her chest would rumble with the noise, and fill him with joy.

He could hear her heart beating. The heart she had opened for him just today. A heart that he lived in.

And then her phone started flashing with a red light. And akuma alert!

“Uh oh!” Marinette clicked on the alert, checking out the details. “It’s a sentimonster! Come on Plagg, we can’t leave Misterbug out to dry!”

As she scaled the ladder to her balcony, he panicked. How was this going to work? Was she going to notice once they transformed? Would he be able to hear her thoughts like he could when Plagg transformed?

Would he look through her eyes?

She raised the hand with the ring on it. “Alright! Plagg, Claws out!”

Nothing happened.

“Um...Plagg, Claws out?”

“Oh.” Adrien gasped, “oh no.”

“Oh no what? Are you broken? Do I need to fix you?”

“No! I mean—sort of, but you already did your part! I’m just...”

“Plagg, what’s going on?”

He sighed, screwing up his lips and unintentionally showing his fangs. “Um...I’m not...I’m not actually Plagg.”

She stared at him, brows furrowing and eyes narrowing. “Then...who are you?”

“Promise you won’t be mad?”

“No guarantees!”

“Well, okay.” He gulped. “I’m...Adrien?”

She blinked. “Adrien? Like...no. No no no not like Adrien Agreste, my new supposed boyfriend?!”

“That’s me! Hi P-Pooh Bear?”

“What?!” She shrieked. “How?! When?! What—“ she snatched him out of the air with firm hands. “HAVE YOU BEEN ADRIEN THIS WHOLE TIME?”

“I mean, I’ve been Adrien my whole life,” he awkwardly chuckled.

“No, no don’t joke with me right now.” She sniffed. “How long have you been like this?”

“Um...about two weeks now. Since that day he came to school in a crop top.”

Marinette shut her eyes tight, a few tears slipping past her cheeks. “That long...”

“Marinette?”

“So it was all a lie? Plagg’s just—messing with us? With me? You don’t really—“ she squeezed her eyes shut and started crying in earnest.

“No! No Marinette! Of course I love you! I’ve always loved you, you know that! The second I learned you were Ladybug, everything made sense! I was so happy and I told Plagg he had to win you over. Please Marinette, this was never supposed to be malicious.” He nuzzled against her fingers, offering up a purr. “I promise.”

With her free hand, she wiped her face. “Alright, well suppose I believe you. What happened? Why are you like this?”

“I made a deal with the devil. Plagg, specifically. He said he was tired of me complaining all the time. So he said he could solve all my problems if I just agreed to it. Then I woke up in his body.”

“What problems?”

“Well...my unrequited love for you, for one.”

She blushed.

“My relationship with my father for two, and the third is Lila’s harassment.”

“Oh, I get it now.” Marinette sighed. “That’s why he was doing all those things...”

“You mean dressing like a moron and messing with Lila?”

“Yes. And flirting with me.”

“To be honest,” he scratched the back of his head. “I would have flirted with you earlier if I had known you were Ladybug. I liked you before, I was just trying to pretend I didn’t, because I wanted to be loyal to...well, you.”

She held him softly in her hands. “We’ve made a mess of things, haven’t we?”

“It was for our own good. Secret identities and all that.”

“You almost sound like you just repeat that to yourself, but you don’t believe it.”

“I had to repeat it to myself,” he urged. “Every day. Because I so desperately wanted to be with you, to spend time with you out of the suit. I was so lonely and I thought, if there was one person I could trust with my identity, it had to be you. But I wanted to honor your wishes. I just hoped to wear you down, eventually.”

She passed her thumb over his cheek and whiskers. “I had been thinking about it, ever since I became the guardian. I wanted to keep you safe, but if something happened to Plagg and you couldn’t transform, no one would know. I’m not upset with you, Kitty. Though I wish this reveal had happened a little more...mutually.” Suddenly, her eyes widened. “What are we doing?! We have a sentimonster!”

“Aw let him fight on his own! He deserves some sort of punishment for this and I have yet to come up with a good one.”

She chuckled. “Alright, fine. We’ll give him a few minutes and see how things are going.”

“You’re taking this better than I expected.”

“I’m in shock.” She chuckled, a little hysterical. “It took me so much courage to confess…and it wasn’t even to your face. That would happen to me.”

He floated out of her hand and nuzzled her face. “All that matters is that I know. We can’t be together quite yet, but the second I get my body back, I plan to make you mine.”

“Really?”

“Absolutely, Bugbear.”

She kissed between his ears. “Okay, My Prince. I look forward to it.”

The ring on her finger beeped, and a paw pad faded out.

“What was that?”

Adrien sighed with relief. “The condition has been met.”

“Condition?”

Just then, a swath of Ladybugs rushed over the city, righting whatever the Sentimonster had ruined.

“Well, looks like he didn’t need our help after all.”

Marinette laughed slightly. “They have been doing this a long time. It probably only took them this long to get it because of travel time.”

Adrien nodded. “So, just to clarify, you aren’t mad at me?”

“Of course not! It sounds like Plagg tricked you. Though I am mad at you for reading my diary…and watching me change!”

“In my defense, I was not warned you were going to change.”

“Still you could have turned around!” She blushed.

“Sorry, Bugaboo, I guess I was just a little star struck.”

She bopped him on the nose. “Now don’t try to flatter me to get out of being caught.”

A yoyo wrapped around the chimney above their heads, and Misterbug made his appearance. His very jarring, ancient appearance. He wore black leggings with a red loincloth around his waist. His shirt was cropped and had billowing sleeves. The mask was just a cloth that tied around his lower face.

“Well well well, I figured if you weren’t on the battle field, you were busy having a lover’s quarrel.” He smirked, the smile only creasing his eyes.

Marinette looked to Plagg. “Dearest Sunshine, do you mind terribly if I abuse your body?”

“Be my guest.”

Marinette wound up a punch and socked Plagg right in the shoulder.

“Ow! Hey, that actually hurt.”

“I hope you, you monster! How could you hurt my poor, sweet, innocent Adrien!?” She cuddled him close to her cheek.

Plagg scoffed. “Puh-lease. There is nothing innocent about that boy. Spots off.”

The pink light faded, and Adrien’s body remained. It was almost hard to look at him, even though she knew it wasn’t really Adrien.

“Oh, now she gets all shy~!” Plagg taunted. “I should have retransformed when I landed. Maybe she wouldn’t have punched me!”

“You deserved it.” Tikki said, flatly.

“Yeah, whatever. So? How’d it go?”

Marinette held out the ring. “It beeped?”

“Excellent!” He took it off her finger. “Two to go!” He slipped the ring on and took off the earrings. “Now I just have to focus on Gabriel and Lila. I think Gabe’s getting ready to crack. Lila though, I might have to push a little harder.”

“Thank you for the warning,” Marinette added. “It makes me feel better that I might not have to put up with her for much longer. So I can take a little damage.”

Adrien frowned. “Can’t I stay with Marinette a while longer?”

Plagg huffed. “I mean you could…but then you couldn’t see the absolute chaos that I planned.”

Adrien winced. “Ugh, fine. I’ll go with you.” He turned to Marinette, pressing a kiss on her cheek. “Bye Bugaboo. I’ll see you soon, okay?”

“Okay Kitty. I love you!”

Adrien’s heart nearly burst with love. “I love you too!”

“Gross.” Plagg gagged. “Alright, time to go! Adrien, Claws Out!”

—

Chat Plagg Noir returned to the Lahiffe residence, and swung in through Nino’s window.

Nino for his part, was nearly dancing in panic.

“You good, my man?”

Nino shook his head frantically. “There’s a policeman here for you! I tried to stall as long as I could, and said you were asleep and a heavy sleeper! But I think he’s about to burst down my door!”

“A policeman? What for?”

“I don’t know! He just said he had to talk to you!”

“Claws in.” Plagg walked over to the door, and exited, pensively watching the uniformed man in the living room.

“Did you have a nice nap?” The man asked, arms crossed.

“I did, until I was shaken awake. Is there a problem officer?”

“Adrien Agreste, you are under arrest.”

#miraculous ladybug #ml #fanfiction #I'll handle this #marinette dupain cheng #adrinette #adrienette #adrien agreste #adrien and plagg #body swap #identity reveal

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chamomileteainabuttercup · 3 years

Text

Dincobb Week Day 3 - New Experiences (SFW)

Welcome to my Dincobb Week fanfic posts! I've written stories and scenes of varying lengths and tones. For clarity I should say that most of these exist as miniature AUs of their own and have no continuity with each other or with anything else I've written about these characters, so in different pieces they may be described having different physical features, personal possessions, preferences, et cetera. (There are three exceptions which I'll note as such when they come out.) Thanks to @djarining, who helped me a lot with brainstorming and discussing my ideas!

For today I have two pieces, an SFW and an NSFW - the NSFW is scheduled to post an hour after this one.

New Experiences

Cobb keeps on saying he’s been cold before, it gets bitter cold out in the desert at night, and Din has kept on telling him that yes, that’s cold, but it’s not ice and snow cold, and if he’s going to take him on a trip he needs Cobb to trust him about the appropriate clothing.

He does need thermals, he does need thick wool socks, he does need a heavy parka, wool cap and mittens.

“What about you?” Cobb asks. “You may be wearing thermals under your suit, but I don’t see a parka.”

“I’m used to making do without one,” says Din, “but I have higher standards for you.”

“Have ‘em for yourself too, then.”

“All right then. I will.”

“Just see that you do.”

“You’re not the boss of me,” Din says, smiling inside his helmet.

“I’m the boss of everyone, they just don’t know it yet,” says Cobb with a cocky grin.

Boss or not, he’s got Din to wear a parka over his beskar, which he doesn’t altogether like to do. The shiny breastplate is for show as well as for function. A symbolic declaration of identity and values. Well, everyone can still see the helmet, and he compromised on cutting off the parka sleeves just above the elbow so his vambraces are free and functional. This is meant to be a pleasure trip, just to show Cobb a different world as a treat, but he’s still not about to go anywhere without ready access to his grappling hook, flamethrower and whistling birds. Safety first.

He lands the small ship he’s borrowed from Boba on a small, flat-topped hill overlooking a frozen lake, its edges frosted white and its heart a turquoise blue. In fact, if you’re generous with your aesthetics, the lake is sort of heart-shaped. He wonders if Cobb will notice and appreciate that. They lower the landing ramp and step outside into a brilliantly sunny day. The air out here is so cold and crisp it stings your face. Cobb actually gasps. Din gives him a few moments to walk to the bottom of the ramp, then slowly, carefully, extend one foot and put it down and feel the crunch and squish of the snow under his boot.

“What do you think?” he asks.

“It’s weird!” says Cobb enthusiastically. He sees his own breath condensing on the air and huffs out another cloud of warm mist. Then, “Ow.” He puts his mittened hand to his ear.

“You forgot to take out your earring?” Din asks.

“I was excited to see the snow,” Cobb says sheepishly. “And I love it. You gave it to me.” It’s the beskar dart tip from a whistling bird and Cobb is almost comically proud of how it looks glinting in his earlobe.

“Well, it’s gonna get real cold and I don’t want you to get frostbite. Hold still,” Din says. He pulls off his gloves, gives them to Cobb to hold and carefully removes the already chilly earring. He pulls up one of the hook-and-loop flaps of Cobb’s parka pockets, tucks the earring firmly down inside, presses it closed, then pulls Cobb’s wool cap down to cover his ears properly. “There.”

“This hat is crushing my hair,” Cobb grumps.

“A Mandalorian helmet couldn’t unpretty your hair, but you think a toque will?” Din asks, pulling his gloves back on.

“Aw, Mando, you think I’m pretty?” Cobb beams at him, more radiant than the sunshine on the snow crust.

“C’mon,” Din says, embarrassed. He does think Cobb is pretty but he has too little experience of romance to be able to say it smoothly. He grabs Cobb’s hand and pulls him along, heading down the slope towards the lake. Cobb slips and flounders and laughs. He starts to lurch forward, catches himself and throws himself backward, landing on his butt and then flopping on his back with his arms outstretched. “Come on,” says Din, with a chuckle. He reaches down and pulls Cobb up to his feet, leaving his outline in the snow.

“Hey, look at that!” says Cobb, twisting to look back. “It really takes a print, doesn’t it? Not like dry sand at all. It’s so crazy that this is water.” He scoops up a mittenful and crumbles it around.

“Try squeezing it,” says Din. Cobb squashes the snow between his palms. “See how it compacts? It’ll hold together.” He’s remembering the short period his first covert spent living someplace very like this, a little compound in the snowy woods. Unlike most covert locations, it offered both secrecy and open space for children to run and play. The snow forts they built and the snowball battles they fought were both educational for warriors in the making and tremendous fun for a motley assortment of kids in hand-me-down winter clothes and soft training helmets. The snow was the first thing that brought him out of his shell to play with the others. Up to then he had been his foster father’s shadow, dumb with sorrow, until finally the sight of them running, shouting, flinging snow had sparked his attention.

Buir had seen where he was looking as Din stood beside him holding tightly a fistful of his cape. He’d looked down at Din, his helmet impassive, nothing like his lost parents’ dark, expressive eyes and smiling, talking mouths. But there was something kind in the tilt of his head, and he gently jerked it in the direction of the romping foundlings. Buir barely spoke because his larynx had been crushed in a fight years before. Rather than speaking through the mic in his helmet, he would hold a little electrolarynx device to his throat when he really needed to speak aloud, but more often than not he used a modified sign language, finding it more convenient. That was what he told Din back then, but thinking on it now, he’s fairly sure Buir switched to relying on signing because the electrolarynx made him sound a lot like a droid, and he saw how uncomfortable that made the child he’d picked up. He didn’t need to say “Go on”; Din understood, and after hesitating a moment longer, he released his grip on the crumpled fabric and ventured out to play.

That was the day he learned to make snowballs, and it’s something he can teach Cobb now, how to press and mould the snow between cupped palms, how to roll it down the slope, picking up more and more snow as it went, turning it between the two of them to keep its shape even and rounded. It makes them both laugh just out of happiness and satisfaction. Cobb’s cheeks and nose are flushed a sweet rosy pink. His eyes are bright, their hazel colour almost gold where the sharp sunlight catches it, and he’s altogether so lovely a sight that Din is glad his face is hidden and he can stare as openly and foolishly as he wants.

Together they build a snowman where the ground flattens out; he gets an idea and labours back up the hill in the sliding snow into the ship’s hold and brings back a bucket to mould its head into a snow Mandalorian. After that success they make their way down to the lake, and after Din checks how solid the ice is, they venture out on its surface, skidding around a little. Cobb keeps grabbing hold of his hand, and although it actually makes both of them a bit less stable, Din’s happy to let him. When Din asks, “You want to try sliding?” he’s immediately game. They run and slide on foot, on knees, and on a few accidental occasions on their asses until they’re out of breath and glowing with warmth. It occurs to Din that apart from a little light Grogu-entertaining, he hasn’t really played in years. He still knows how, though. Panting and laughing, they stagger off the ice and begin making their way back up the hill, wallowing in the knee-deep snow, helping each other up by reaching down from above or by pushing from below (hands on butts). At the top they look back at their chaotic trail across the formerly perfect snowscape.

“What do you think of it now?” Din asks.

“It’s fantastic,” says Cobb. “I couldn’t have imagined what it’s really like. And there’s no one I’d rather be here with than you.” He throws his arms around Din and, to his surprise, kisses him smack-dab on the cheek of his helmet. He can’t feel it, of course, but he enjoys it symbolically, at least for a few moments until it becomes clear that Cobb’s lips are stuck to the frosty metal. He tries to pull away, gives a little muffled cry of panic and pain, and stares helplessly through the eyeslot of Din’s visor. “Hnnh!”

“Dank farrik — it’s okay, hold still. Just — okay, put your hands on the helmet, hold it, take the weight. Got it? Don’t let go or it’ll peel your lips.” He steadies it with his hands too and brings his head and shoulders down, pulling his head out of the helmet. He’s dazzled by the unfiltered bright light for a moment, then gets a proper look at Cobb, scarlet-faced and glaring with anger, confusion and embarrassment, still smooching the helmet. He has to bite his own lip hard not to laugh, but it’s not really funny, he doesn’t want Cobb to get frostbite or tear the skin off his lips. “Stay there,” he says, turns and runs up the ramp into the ship. In the tiny, cramped galley he draws a cup of lukewarm water from the tap, then rushes back, trying not to spill it. “Okay. It’s okay, just hold very still for me, got it?” Carefully, he pours water over the join between lip and metal, while Cobb breathes loud and fast through his nose. After a few moments the icy seal breaks and Cobb is able to gently, carefully peel his lips away from the helmet. They’re very red and they look like they’re sore and stinging. “You don’t look like you’re bleeding anywhere,” Din says hopefully.

Cobb cautiously runs his tongue-tip over his lips and winces. “No, but they feel raw,” he says. “Goddamn that was cold!”

“I think you’ll survive,” Din says.

“Well, sure, I’ll survive,” says Cobb. “But could you kiss ‘em better?”

It seems only fair.

#dincobweek2021 #dincobweek #dincobb week #fanfic

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