#and now he's stuck in a pocket dimension which is not doing any good for his recovery

[cordycepsbian]

big fan of the dynamic between dmk and sectonia that only exists in our head and almost nobody else shares

[simpcityy]

I'm Not Her Pt.5 (Father Miguel O’Hara x Teen! Daughter Reader)

Summary: Miguel O’Hara is your biological father but it’s not great being his daughter when he’s hooked in the past still.

Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel or any of its characters. This short One-Shot has made it into a series! Read part one, two, three and four please to understand the prompt better. (Linked Below) This chapter is full on Miguel's POV.

Word Count: 300 words

Warnings: Use of female pronouns, Use of (Y/N), angst, Father Miguel, overall, it’s just sad for now. Other dimensional Miguel…mention of blood, stabbing, knife, cursing, maybe consider yandere behavior from other dimensional Miguel and Miguel's POV/version of the story??...Uhhh I think that is all for now.

I know it's short, very short but It's better than not being able to read another chapter for a long time.

Pt.1 Pt.2 Pt.3 Pt.4 Pt.5 Pt.6

Miguel's Version?? POV-ish? (I know there is term, but my head is fried from college classes) Also Scenes with Jess and Peter. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pain, that was all he felt when his eyes open. He looked around his surroundings noticing he was on a pile of trash bags. Letting out a grunt, Miguel looks down at his abdomen seeing the bleeding, "Lyla?" He calls out before looking at his arm, his watch missing " Puta Madre" He whispers and looks around before getting out of the dumpster. He leans up against the wall and recollects his thoughts out loud. "Okay, Other me too my life...stabbed me with the intentions of killing me...shut Lyla off...(Y/N) ...(Y/N)!" He finally took note of his daughter's life, you were in danger seeing the crazy look on that other dimensional self. "No no no..." He repeats before swinging up to the roof top to avoid being spotted. Reaching the rooftop, he punches the wall, " What to do Miguel!" He yells at himself feeling lost. He slowly slides down the wall and puts his hand over his wound, his healing function slowly working on the wound, but it still hurts. Many emotions were running through his mind, hurt, anger and mostly, disappointment. He was disappointed in himself for every leaving someone who was his flesh and blood. What went wrong? He thinks back to the time where he left his dimension to be with Gabriella, the day of your birthday. He knew it was wrong but, something pulled him to that dimension before destroying it. He looks at his hands where Gabriella was taken from him. Slowly, the image of her was replaced with you. "No!" He gets up determined, he wasn't going to lose you next.

Miguel walked down the streets of this earth he was stuck in, after knocking a drunken man who was harassing a young lady. Which he was gifted a 50 dollar from the young woman for helping her. He used it to buy clothing to fit in and draw less attention. He was on edge in case this earth had another Miguel which he would happily keep his distance after experiencing the variant who dumped him here. He stops at the Alchemax building and walks past a couple of workers who were busy chatting, taking the opportunity to sneak his hand in their lab coat pocket, taking their ID card. He walks through the thick doors, sliding the card accessing him to the lab. Taking the nearest empty Lab, he got to work on making a prototype watch to take him home. He doesn't care if it was going to take weeks, he will get his life back but most importantly, get you back before he loses you for good.

Back at the Spider Society, Peter walked down the hall into Miguel's office with Jess. " Empty...this is the second day he hasn't shown and not responding our text?" Peter looks around the office, for any clues where his boss might be. Jess walks over " You know what's stranger...no Lyla or (Y/N) either..." The woman stands next to him looking at the monitors trying to find Miguel's location without his approval before smiling " Ah, it shows he's back home with (Y/N), maybe he took your advice Peter." He looks at the location, your dot and "Miguels" together. " Miguel? Taking my advice? I doubt it but hey miracles happen sometimes" Peter shrugs before looking at the dots " Maybe he finally took note and appreciate what he has now and not what he lost in the past?" The tired man smiles softly, " I can't wait to tease him for taking my so-called terrible advice, I'm a great mentor after all!" He grins before seeing warning signs on the computer. " Hey Jess...what's with that?" He backs away from the computer quickly " I swear I did not touch a button!" Jess quickly types away, " Seems trying to hack us? No... trying to reprogram..." She goes to stop whatever is going on before Lyla's voice can be heard. " N-no Stop!" Her voice glitches out. The woman pulls her hands away from the computer. Lyla was finally rebooted and appears in front of them. " We have a big emergency!" Both adults look at each other before nodding looking back at Lyla, " Tell us what to do."

Miguel growls breaking the 5th watch as it failed. " Maldita Sea! " He pulls on his hair in frustration, he grips the table quickly as he glitches, time was wasting for him. For your life and his. He walks over to the bench to grab more materials before looking back seeing a portal open. " For once, I am happy to see you." Miguel mutters seeing Peter stand there smiling " Need help buddy? As a dad myself, let's go save your kid."

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

Authors Note: I'M BACK...for now... but THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! So much love this series are getting. Thank you so much for the support. Make sure to like and reblog so others can be aware of my works! Anyway, thank you so much for the support! Sorry for any grammar errors. Remember to stay hydrated and to keep on simping! (Simp City Population: 364 *WOW!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH*)

Spanish Translation: 1. Puta Madre - Soo...it has a lot of meaning like holy shit, no fucking way or motherfucker...just know it's not a very nice word and I grew up with Mexican uncles who say it a lot. 2. maldita Sea - fucking dammit.

Taglist: @perfectprofessorloverapricot @otaku-degenarate @strbyallycow @zeyzeys-stuff @moonshine147 @dhadiirah @ghibliwatcher @certified-kaeya-kinnie @luvsvnlqt-things @lunamhm565i @sangdium45 @lazyotakuofficial @ihateuguys @pinkeroppi @lady-necromancer @ayanokomu @coralineyouareinterribledanger @idcalol @punnylilac @ace-spades-1 @marxo5 @reiko69 @itadorismedicalstudent @bontensbabygirl @Simpthe3rd @fluffyart5000 @blkmystery @ariparri @i-d-k-f-r @champomiel @oooof-ifellforyou @jannajuju @staple-your-mouth @atanukileaf @namtaeh @estella-satn @darlin-collins @acebalikkanaplease @luvers-checks @arrozyfrijoles23 @sigynxlokiwifelover @millerworld @perilous-pasta @tired-writer04 @marit332 @kiyomi-uchiha777

I know some names don't get tagged, I don't know why. If spelled it incorrectly, let me know, I have terrible eyesight. Please comment below to be added to or removed from the taglist! Thank you!

[lovelycreativecrafts]

One Bed | Hobie x Female Reader

Word Count: 1,615

Synopsis: They get stuck in a different dimension.

Warnings: None

Author Notes: While writing this I didn't write any slang or accents and Hobie Brown maybe a little out of character since it was kind of hard writing him. If you liked the short fanfic, please Like, Reblog, and Comment your thoughts. Also, my Requests are currently OPEN.

Water dripped from my glove as I pressed against my watch. Come on, work. I tried opening a portal back to the Spider HQ but the watch kept malfunctioning. I sighed and pulled off my drenched mask. 

“I don’t think it’s working, Love.” 

I lifted my head and glared at Hobie, “Well, maybe it would work if you didn’t drag both of us into the ocean.” 

Hobie raised his eyebrow, “The vampire should have made them waterproof.” Hobie tucked his mask inside of his pocket. 

“I can’t swim you know. I could have drowned.” 

“Why do you think I held onto you the whole time, Love.” 

I squeezed the water out of my mask, “Stop calling me that.” 

“I’ll do whatever I want, Love,” Hobie smirked down at me. 

I ignored him as a gust of wind flew past me. A shiver went up my spine and I crossed my arms. It’s getting cold. 

Hobie walked past me and began making his way toward a sidewalk. 

“Where are you going?” 

“We can’t stay out here, now can we?” 

I stayed quiet and tightened my arms around myself as I began to shiver. I followed Hobie as he went on the sidewalk. I don’t understand why Miguel had me team up with him. 

I caught up to Hobie and looked down at my watch. I began pressing onto it again. 

“What are you trying to do? The thing is busted.” 

“I’m trying to get in contact with Miguel.” As I tried contacting Miguel the watch soon turned off. 

“Come on,” I complained. 

“You really are a goody two shoes, huh?” 

I looked toward Hobie, “I am not.” 

Hobie turned in front of me and began to walk backward, “Then why are you trying to get back to the Vampire so much? You have a crush on him or something?” 

My eyes widened, “What? No. I just want to get back home. Why would you think that?” 

A smirk grew on Hobie’s face, “Because you always do everything he says.” 

“Maybe it’s because I don’t want to start any unnecessary drama.” 

“So you like playing it safe. That’s only going to get you so far, Love.” 

“And you never play it safe. I almost could have drowned because of you.” 

“But because of me, you didn’t drown.” 

“And I’m wet and cold.” 

“Which is why I brought us here.” Hobie stopped and looked to his right. 

I stopped in front of him and followed the direction of his eyesight. A hotel building stood beside us. I looked back at Hobie. 

“And how do you expect us to pay for that?” I raised an eyebrow. 

“Just watch, Love.” Hobie turned toward the building and walked toward it. 

I followed behind him and wrapped my arms around myself. We walked into the building and goosebumps crawled up my arms. It’s even colder in here. Hobie walked up to the front desk and I waited behind him. 

Hobie began talking to the man at the desk and he pulled some money out of his pocket. The man gave Hobie a key and looked at me. 

“I hope you two have a good night,” the man smiled. 

I frowned as Hobie made his way to me, “Why did he say that to me?” 

“Probably just being nice.” Hobie walked past me and made his way to the room. 

I continued to follow behind him, “Where did you get the money from?” 

“From someone who won’t be needing it.” 

I narrowed my eyes at him, “You stole didn’t you.” 

Hobie glanced behind his shoulder, “You know me so well, huh Love,” He smirked. 

“Stealing is bad. You’re supposed to be a hero.” 

“I don’t do labels remember. And besides, the man is rich he probably won’t notice that it’s gone.” Hobie looked back in front of him. 

He stopped at the room and unlocked the door. We both stepped inside. The room was a typical hotel room decorated with white and cream colors. 

“I’ll be back. You should head in the shower.” 

I looked toward Hobie, “Where are you going?” 

“Nowhere far. I will be back.” 

I opened my mouth but Hobie quickly left the room before I could say anything. I sighed and walked further into the room. There was a small dining room with a table and two chairs. Next to it was the bathroom. I turned the corner and there was a large bed with cream-colored sheets. I reexamined the area again. 

Why is there only one bed? We both can’t sleep in the bed, right?

***

Hobie POV

I walked back into the hotel with two bags in my hand. I locked the door behind me as the running of the shower filled the air. I walked further into the room. I hope I got the right size for her. I placed her bag of clothes on the bathroom door handle. 

Will she think it’s weird that I bought her clothes? Her whole body was drenched and she started shivering. Maybe I shouldn’t have dragged her into the water. 

The shower was turned off and I walked up to the bathroom door. I took the bag off the door and knocked on it. 

“Yes?” 

“I have some clothes for you.” 

She cracked the door open and popped her head through the crack. I shifted my eyes away from her figure as the towel covering her body came slightly into view. 

“Did you steal them?” She asked. 

A smirk made its way onto my face. There she goes being a goody two shoes. 

“Perhaps but would you rather wear the stolen ones or your wet clothes?” 

She didn’t respond but I felt her hand brush against mine as she took the bag from my hand. She quickly shut the door and I chuckled. I thought so. 

I usually don’t care for how anyone is dressed in front of me. Gwen has walked in front of me with just a towel plenty of times but I never really cared. But for her to do it makes me nervous. If I don’t control myself she may find out that I like her. 

She soon left out of the bathroom and my eyes traced down her figure. The tank top hung loosely around her shoulders and her shorts hugged her hips. Heat crawled up my neck as I met her eyes. 

“How do the clothes fit?” I asked as my hands grew sweaty. 

She slid the strap of her shirt further up her shoulder, “They fit fine.” 

She glanced away from me and crossed her arms, “And thank you . . . for the clothes.” 

A smile formed on my lips, “No problem, Love.”

“Where are we going to sleep?” She pointed toward the bed. 

“What do you mean?” 

“There’s only one bed.” She stated. 

“And what about it.” 

“It’s just  . . . ,” 

My heart dropped, “I can sleep on the floor. If you’re not comfortable.” 

“No it’s not that and besides it’s cold on the floor. I’m just used to sleeping by myself is all.” She looked up at me.

“So am I.” 

“What about-,” She cut herself off. 

“What?” I questioned. 

“Gwen usually stays at your place often so I just thought, you know.” 

I raised an eyebrow at her, “Me and Gwen are just friends. She sleeps over sometimes when she needs to but she’s not sleeping with me.”

“Sorry. I just assumed.” 

“We can talk about this once I take a shower.” 

She nodded at me and I walked into the bathroom. 

***

I walked out of the bathroom and hung my Spiderman outfit on the dining chair. I looked toward the bed and saw her underneath the covers. She was worried over nothing. Her figure shifted from underneath the covers and she let out a groan. I walked toward the bed. What could she be dreaming about?

She let out another groan, “No . . . please.” 

I stopped in front of the bed as her arms stretched out from underneath the covers. “No please don’t hurt him,” her voice wavered. 

I frowned and made my way to her side of the bed. I sat on the edge and lightly shook her shoulder, “Hey, it’s just a dream.” 

Her bottom lip began to quiver as tears fell out of her closed eyes. I continued to shake her as I called her name and her eyes opened. 

“Are you okay, Love?” 

She raised her hands from the bed sheet and onto the sides of my face. What is she-

“Peter? Is that you?” 

I froze as I noticed how her eyes didn’t exactly look at me but through me. She’s still dreaming. 

Her eyebrows began to knit together and her lips curved down, “Peter?” 

What do I do? I stared into her eyes as tears fell from them, “I’m . . . here.” 

“I’m so glad that you’re safe. I thought crocodile killed you. I shouldn’t have disobeyed you. I will listen to you from now on. So, please don’t leave me. I don’t know what I would do without you. So, please.” 

I searched my mind to find the words for her, “I’m not going anywhere . . . I’ll always be right here with you.”

“Peter?” 

“Yes?” 

“I love you.” 

My heart skipped at her words, “I-I love you too.” 

A smile grew on her face and heat crawled up my cheeks. “You should go to sleep now.” 

She nodded her head and her eyelids slowly closed. I took her hands from my cheeks and layed them back on the bed. 

She had a Peter. How much did his death affect her? It seems Peter was more than just her family or friend. How could I ever make up for her loss? 

[vampiretendencies]

I can’t stop thinking about a blurb of JJ working on his bike and reader wants to spend more quality time with him so she joins in and tries to help but she’s not very good? So JJ is very patient and slightly teasing but shows her how he does everything and it’s just cute and fluffy? Love everything you write sooooo much!!!

warnings; fluff

pairing; jj maybank x fem!reader

authors note; now that you’ve sent this i can’t stop thinking about it either. i adore this request, hope u enjoy <3

The hammock is thick, knitted, and not close enough to JJ.

He’d insisted that you sit and look pretty in the shade, like the ‘otherworldly goddess’ you are. You were in his vicinity and that at least will have to suffice for the time being whilst he wrestles with whatever mishap has apprehended his dirt bike now.

Just observing him do so, was a pleasing sight— as he’s shirtless, his tanned skin begging to be touched. Abs adjusting to every bend and pull he makes to acquire the right angle whilst his chest flexes in unison. Shark tooth necklace dangling about in any which way. God. He shined with a gleam of sweat from the rays beaming wistfully on him. With a bandana hanging slack out of the many pockets on his cargo shorts. You really desired to drag you finger across each and every crevice that made up JJ’s built frame in front of you. That’s not even to count the way he chugs a beer down every thirty minutes or so— tilting his head back the slightest, making the locks of his hair follow, his Addams apple bobbed up and down with every gulp. If he missed his mouth you were lucky to see dribbles of it seep from the corners, and he’d just wipe it away with his wrist, like second nature, only to chuck the crushed can somewhere in the patchy yard.

With that being the view, one could merely imagine why you are so helplessly antsy in this damn hammock.

He’s tightening the bolt on his bike stand to readjust as he thought it was loose. Your jaw should’ve been on the floor with the way the veins in his arm bulged with every twist, instead you settled with salivating.

You getting up to muster a helping hand was the farthest thing from JJ’s mind.

But you do.

Because, if not physical interaction there’s quality time— and there’s never too much of that.

“J, do you need any help?”

“Yeah baby, you can go get me another beer out of the cooler-“

“No I mean like help, help.”

JJ thought he was in another dimension, that he was seeing double, or that the earth was about to swallow you whole. Help? His forehead is forming wrinkles at such a foreign gesture leaving your mouth, orbs glaring up at you standing over him in obvious perplexity.

“You wanna help me?”

JJ scoffs almost in disbelief, but there’s a partial laugh stuck in his throat. You offer him a tight lipped grin, as if to say you were being all the way serious. Sat on a flat makeshift old cardboard box so his khaki cargo shorts wouldn’t get covered in dirt and debris than they already were, he pats the open space encouraging for you to sit next to him.

There’s a wrench in his hand, the movements of his elongated fingers to the sliver wrench is writhing around the bolt in an effort to make the bike stand compact. With the bike lying on its side, it was of uncomplicated access for JJ to keep it intact. You lie your head mindlessly on his shoulder, perspiring but nevertheless still encapsulating a form of solace. Your hand gently smoothed over the coating of skin about his spine, persisting to delve into whatever it was JJ was saying.

“See this wrench right here?” He spoke, directing you with such ease, he feels the heat of your cheek rub against his shoulder, nodding your head yes. “Turn it, and then keep turning it until it’s tight enough okay?”

He drops the wrench into your palm, locking his fingers with yours for a split second only to slink an arm lazily around your shoulders. Part of him was elated at your sudden interest in one of his hobbies, the other part of him is wallowing in suspicion but, he won’t complain because it’s a little more time with you.

And he could always use a little more time with you.

Even a night apart is far too much to handle.

The cool metal is surrounded by your calloused digits, and JJ is already interjecting.

“Nah baby, that’s the wrong way, turn it towards me,” He chuckles slightly, mainly due to the fact that he just gave you exact directions not even a moment ago. It’s not frustrating though, no, it’s really amusement— plus, there’s a tiny frown plying to your features which he finds captivating.

Something that was miniscule to JJ, when you can’t even spin the wrench a notch to the left, almost like it was stuck. “Fuck! Why is it so hard to turn?!” You are muffled, gritting through your teeth, with a fully clenched jaw and it won’t budge. Though JJ, glides his finger tips up and down your arms, in reassurance that ‘it’ll happen’, even if it’s tomorrow at this rate.

“You’ll get it … just try again, pretty girl.”

He readjusts your grasp on the wrench, and you swat his hand away, trying to accomplish it on your own in this dire summer atmosphere.

“Don’t think you make a very good helper, baby.”

You shoot him a glare, knowing it’s fully said pit of love. He presses a wet kiss to your cheek, to compensate for his loving insult. It stains your the skin, as it’s sloppy and full of affection. Despite it, you elbow him with a nudge to his stomach and he’s winded, punishing him for pestering sweet nothings in your ear.

It took that last push for it to turn, and JJ is biting back his bottom lip in eagerness— the bolt anticipating it’s release. With a slight grunt, it’s turning, it’s turning, and it’s tight.

“Think I did it, J!”

“Tha’s my girl, did so good!”

[askdannysroleswapau]

i rlly have no excuse for forgetting to post these. they're already written. they've been written for months. just sitting in my drive, gathering dust.

things really amp up in this one. this chapter is very much a huge spoiler for the central conflict between Robin and Voidball. a conflict which i'd much rather explore in the current Comic AMA format, so...

if you want to experience this story in the way that i want to tell it, i suggest you stop reading here.

Robin's comic is still a long ways off, but i assure you that once its done, the floodgates will have been opened and the etur atnure fo siht roldw iwli eb veraled

like i said, i'm very open to answering questions and discussing this manuscript in depth, all you need do is ask via the new input button (ask box). with that, if you really must see this through, here is the next chapter.

missed the last one? click here

“Hah... Hahah- Sorry, I think I misheard you,” Gumball said, his voice wavering as he tried  to keep it together. “Your name is what?”

“Oh... You don't even recognize me, do you?” Not-Gumball said mournfully. “I guess that's understandable, I haven't looked like you do in a long time.”

“Wait-” Rob interrupted and Gumball glanced over to him. Rob was looking at Not-Gumball with a mixture of terror and disbelief. “You mean to tell me that in your world...” Rob’s voice trembled. “That you were one of the universe’s mistakes?”

Not-Gumball nodded. “Two sides of the same coin, ey?” They smiled ruefully. “I’ll say, few things are worse than getting stuck in that ‘Void’ place. I think I’d prefer it if the universe had just told me how lame it thinks I am and leave it at that, am I right? Like, send me an email or something, no need to go around chucking boring people into weird pocket dimensions like it's going outta style.” They spoke with a joking cadence, but something in their face made Gumball think it was a farce. 

“But-” Rob stuttered worriedly. “But that doesn't make any sense! If you and I are the same, then someone left you behind, right? But that shouldn't be possible since you’re the main character!”

“Pshh, ME? The main character? Get real, buddy,” Not-Gumball said, waving a hand. “No no no, that would be this guy over here.” Not-Gumball gestured to Robin with his thumb.

Robin sighed and crossed his arms in annoyance. “Not this again. Don't tell me you believe his crazy ideas, too?” 

“It isn't ‘crazy’ it's the truth! And the only reason I talk about it so much is because YOU refuse to listen to me!” Not-Gumball said accusingly.

“Yes!” Robin retorted. “Because you're insane!” 

“No, you just don't get it!” Not-Gumball shouted.“You are the MAIN character. Literally EVERYTHING revolves around you!” The graphics of their face flickered and glitched as their voice broke. “You have it SO good and you don't even realize it!”

As Gumball watched the two argue, a strange, new dread welled up inside him. He wanted to step in and say something, but he didnt know which side to take. 

“Shut up!” Robin shouted. “Don't act like I'm swimming in cash when you know very well that I'm not!”

“That's not what I meant and you know it!” A tear rolled off Not-Gumball's face. “You have a life! You have friends, a family—people who CARE about you! I DON'T HAVE ANY OF THAT!” They screamed.

“You being lonely isn't an excuse for regularly trying to kill me!” Robin yelled back.

“Alright alright, stop!” Rob shouted, stepping between them with his arms outstretched. 

Tension hung in the air as the two alternates glowered at one another. Not-Gumball was panting like all of their rage had stolen the breath from their lungs and Robin was sneering at them with so much venom that Gumball was surprised they didn't keel over right on the spot. Several seconds passed.

“I know we’re all a little stressed out right now,” Rob said, glancing between them. “You two wanna get back home, I get that.” Rob lowered his arms slowly to his sides as he spoke, “But that won't happen until we get my machine fixed, and fighting with each other isn't going to make that happen any faster.” 

Robin’s scowl deepended and he turned his back on Not-Gumball. Not-Gumball’s hands were curled into fists, shaking with anger. The static on their face buzzed a blazing white for a moment and then they sighed, ears drooping. 

“You're right,” they said. 

They turned their back to Robin to stare at the machine woefully—and it was then that Gumball realized they didn't have a tail. Across from them, Robin was staring at a wooden plank on the floor like he could make it burst into flames if he glared at it hard enough. It was clear the two didn't feel like making up. 

Rob turned his head to Gumball and nodded towards the two of them, giving him what he assumed was a “now's your chance to do something nice and main-character-ish” look. Gumball scratched behind his ears nervously. He didn't know how to solve this, but he had to try.

“You uh…” he said hesitantly. The two of them turned to look at him and he gulped. “You guys wanna go to Joyful Burger?”

There was a beat of silence.

“Something to eat couldn't hurt,” Robin murmured, some of the tension leaving his face. 

“I could go for a bite,” Not-Gumball agreed, wiping the tears from their face with their paw. 

“That's the spirit!” Gumball felt his optimism returning. “What about you, Rob? C’mon, I mean, when's the last time you ate?”

“Uh...” Rob thought for a moment. “...Monday?”

“Wait, what the what?!” Gumball looked up at him in astonishment. “How could you go THAT long without food? Aren't you hungry??”

“Well, yeah,” Rob said. “But saving everybody from the end of the world seemed just a teensy bit more important than, say, eating a sandwich.”

“Maybe, but you gotta take care of yourself, dude,” Gumball said. He shuddered. “Eugh, I sound like my mom.”

And so it was decided. The gang of doppelgängers departed from the warehouse and began their grand quest for Joyful Burger. 

[End Chapter 4]

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[amischiefofdeets]

FORD PINES

>--------------------------------------<

CHARACTER SUMMARY

>--------------------------------------<

Researcher of the strange and mysterious, Ford dedicated his life to studying anomalous phenomena and paid the price for it. Stuck between dimensions for years in an accident, he spent years trying to get home, trying to make sure Bill could never destroy his universe. Upon returning he tried to fight Bill, ultimately being saved by his brother - the two of them now adventure together on their boat, exploring mysteries and catching up on all the things he's missed while trapped in different dimensions.

>--------------------------------------<

MUSE DETAILS

>--------------------------------------<

Name: Stanford Pines Nicknames: Ford, Fordsy, Six fingers Race: Human Born: Unknown Age: 63 Height: 5'7 Gender: Male Sexuality: Pan Location: All over the place Occupation: Paranormal researcher Abilities: Very intelligent, agile and strong for his age, capable with many weapons - including those from different dimensions. Reputation: Across various dimensions he's considered a criminal and a force to be reckoned with, he did whatever it took to survive and that left quite a mark. Within his family he's known as a scientific man with more heart than you'd expect, even if he struggles expressing it. Mental state: Fairly stable, occasional nightmares and possible PTSD but he handles it well.

Scars: Many littered across his body from his adventures. Tattoos: Has a hidden tattoo of a star with arms giving a double thumbs up with the text 'hey now, I'm an all star' with smaller plain stars around it. [x] Alignment: Chaotic good Goals: Protect their dimension (people he cares about especially), explore and catalogue the unknown. Hobbies: Journaling, drawing, DD&MoreD, exploring, building various machines Likes: Mysteries (as long as they're not world-ending), spending time with his family, getting time to wind down, building complex machines, math Dislikes: Bill Cipher, people being ignorant of scientific fact, being ignored at all really, sweet food Family: Stan Pines - Twin Brother Shermy Pines - Younger Brother Filbrick Pines - Father [Deceased] Unnamed niece or nephew (Mabel & Dipper's parent) Dipper Pines - Great Nephew Mabel Pines - Great Niece

>--------------------------------------<

VERSES

>--------------------------------------<

#Free At Last - Set post-weirdmageddon.

After Stan's heroic act saved the town, it took some time to get things back to normal - or as normal as things could get in Gravity Falls. However, Ford can't stay still for long, he grows too restless and figures what better way to reconnect with his brother than to do the trip of a lifetime they've always dreamed of? The two of them now travel the world, mostly by boat. Their time is spent looking into mysteries and stopping any threats that might be arising to threaten the world again.

#World's End - Set from his return to Gravity falls to the end of Weirdmageddon.

After years stuck traversing the various dimensions looking for home, he's finally offered a chance to return thanks to Stan turning the portal back on. Unfortunately that means Bill Cipher has a way to get into their dimension. The rift eventually breaks, the end of the world comes and he's stuck encased in gold until Bill needs answers from him. Which is where the torture begins.

#In The Rift - Set during his time stuck in different dimensions.

This verse is perfect for crossovers, just Ford traversing various dimensions on his quest to get home.

#New Arrival - Set just as he arrives in Gravity Falls the first time.

Intent on exploring anomalous things, he goes to Gravity Falls due to it being a natural pocket of countless phenomena. He spends his time exploring, noting down unique things he finds in his journals.

#Combing Beaches - Set during his childhood

Young Ford spends most of his time exploring with his twin brother, as long as he's not busy studying that is! Generally he's a regular curious kid, if a little brighter than most, though he often faces bullying for his six-fingered hands.

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[tmnt-obsessed-ace]

When The World Crumbles: Chapter 11, Calm Before The Storm

'I'm coming home!' Mikey sent the text message, stuffing his phone back into the pocket of his warm thick hoodie. Several bags of groceries were hanging from his arms as he walked, several more being pulled behind in a cart Donnie had made.

The cart had a custom made forcefield around it so the contents inside would not get damaged. Not even by bullets, as the softshell had bragged.

Which was a relief since Mikey had bought a lot of stuff and having to repurchase everything would be insane.

The orange clad turtle whistled a bit through his gap tooth, glancing up at the gray skies overhead. Dark rain clouds crept ever closer, promising heavy rains to drench the city.

Oh well, Mikey was almost home with plenty of groceries.

After all, they had four more mouths to feed.

It had been several hours since their four older counterparts woke up from their nearly five day snooze. And with their ferocious appetites more food was necessary.

"Nine days…" Mikey whispered under his breath, his stomach clenching. Nine whole days without food. Granted that probably counted their week long nap of four and a half days.

So that meant they probably went without food for nearly five days before they got to this dimension.

That was still horrifying. To go so long without eating anything, and then having to fight in that condition.

Barely any sleep, no food in your belly, covered in dirt and injuries. It was truly a miracle that the four older turtles managed to even put up so much of a fight.

Mikey never felt so guilty before in his life.

He helped beat them into unconsciousness when they were already on the end of the line. How horrible do you have to be to attack someone who's starving and exhausted?

"They didn't seem too mad about it though…" The youngest turtle said out loud as he entered the sewers, walking down the familiar path to their new home in the subway.

Of course maybe they didn't seem 'too mad' because they were thinking about the invasion.

The thought made Mikey stop in his tracks, his stomach tightening even more.

How could he forget? The reason their counterparts ended up here was because they were trying to stop an entire alien invasion of their own dimension! There wouldn't be any room for anger at him and his brothers if they were thinking about their own home.

"The invasion has probably started by now. Millions of people are probably being mutated as we speak." Michelangelo's words replayed in the box turtle's mind.

The older turtles definitely have bigger things to worry about than Mikey's contribution in their beat down. With a small gulp he continued home, wanting to return to his kitchen and get to work on dinner.

He was gonna make something so good!

"I'm back and I got groceries!" Mikey called out, gaining April's attention.

"Need some help with all that?" Mikey nodded, his arms were getting tired. April grabbed the bags from his arms and carried them to the kitchen, with the turtle pulling the cart.

"Yeesh Mikey, how much did you buy?" April asked, struggling to lift the heavy plastic bags.

"A lot! We have guests and I want to be sure we'll have enough food." He tried to open the door to the kitchen, it wouldn't budge.

He tried again, maybe the door was stuck. Donnie could oil the hinges later.

Again the door wouldn't open.

"It won't open?" Mikey kept trying, why won't the stupid thing open!

"Lemme try," April set the bags down and tried to jimmy open the door. Like her little brother she had no success. Eventually she took a step back before slamming her foot into the door with as much force as he could muster.

The metal door loudly creaked, the hinges refusing to break. A scowl formed on April's face as she kicked the door again and again.

"I don't think it's gonna break, April." Mikey deadpanned as his older sister stood panting in front of the metal door. Damn you Donnie and reinforcing all the hinges!

"Maybe Leo can portal us in." April said between pants. Just as the words left her mouth, the now heavily dented door creaked open.

"Did you need something?" Donatello asked as he poked his head out from the door.

Mikey raised a brow, April put a hand on her hip.

"Uh yeah we got groceries to put away." The older turtle suddenly looked guilty. The door was opened all the way, with Donatello grabbing as many bags as he could carry into the kitchen.

"Ok why did you lock yourself in the kitchen?" April asked as she and Mikey brought the rest of the bags inside. Apparently Donatello wasn't alone. Leonardo sat at the table, surrounded by balls of crumpled up paper. A small stack of blank sheets was sitting nearby.

"Well I'm currently working on repairing my laptop since it's kinda…busted."

The purple clad turtle gestured to his laptop, or what remained of it anyways. The screen was in pieces and the keyboard had been snapped. Not to mention all the frayed wires and shattered circuit boards.

Both April and Mikey cringed at the sight.

"How did that happen?" Mikey asked as he started putting the groceries away.

"I'm assuming that most of the damage occurred from our battle against you guys at the playground. It was in my backpack after all and I did land on it quite a few times."

"Sorry about that…" Donatello just waved a hand.

"Nothing to worry about, truth be told I wasn't expecting it to stay in one piece anyways. Plus my laptop has been damaged far worse before." A loud groan cut off the genius, making all eyes turn towards Leonardo. He crumpled up the paper he'd been previously writing on, smacking his head onto the table with a dull thud.

"And I'm also here to make sure he doesn't give himself an aneurysm." Leonardo shot his younger brother a glare, mumbling a small 'shut up' into the kitchen table.

"What's he doing exactly?" April interjected, the frustration was near tangible. April only knew that feeling when writing essays for school.

"Planning. Well he's trying to anyways." A paper ball was thrown at Donatello, who deflected it so it bounced off of Mikey's head.

"Hey! Not cool, I'm putting the eggs away!" Mikey squeaked from the fridge. April snickered.

"Sorry little Mikey." Donatello playfully snickered, getting a small pout in response.

"I thought we would start planning tomorrow?" Mikey asked, confusion clear in his voice.

"Yeah, try telling Leo that. He's beyond stubborn. I fear I might have to tie him to the bed to get him to sleep." The purple clad turtle wasn't even trying to hide the playful smirk. The little shove he gave the blue clad turtle only solidified it.

"I can hear you, you know." Donatello held a finger to his brother's lips.

"No more talking, you've strained your voice enough for today."

The only response was an eye roll.

Mikey and April shared a glance, both amused and a little bit concerned.

"So where's tiny and other me?" Mikey asked, both older turtles snickering.

"Do not let Raph hear you call him that." Leonardo warned, despite the warning glare Donatello shot him.

"Leon challenged Mikey to some video games in the little arcade area, winner will play against Raph." Donatello added, the hard look never leaving his face.

The last of the groceries were put away, time to start prepping dinner.

"Well I'm gonna go join them, later!" April left the kitchen, with the box turtle waving goodbye.

Once she was gone, Leonardo went back to scribbling away on a new sheet of paper, with Donatello came over to the smaller turtle.

"You got any medicinal tea for him?" The older turtle whispered, though he had to lean forward a bit given the height difference between the two. "It'll help soothe his throat."

"Maybe, I dunno. But if you tell me the ingredients I might be able to brew it up quickly." Donatello smiled a bit, another groan and crumpled up wad of paper caught their attention.

"Yeah that sounds like a good idea."

"Dude you are so bad at this game!" Leo taunted, kicking Michelangelo with his leg. The orange clad turtle grit his teeth, having resorted to an old classic video game strategy.

Mash all the buttons till something gives.

"Nothing can be the power of button mashing!" Michelangelo yelled, rolling over on the bean bag.

"Says the guy who's losing!" Leo fired right back. They were playing an old fighting game, with Michelangelo losing badly. They were in the final round, winner takes all. However Michelangelo had less than half his health bar left.

Next to Michelangelo, Raphael was draped across another beanbag, watching the fight with half interest.

He would be playing against whoever won this match.

Naturally he was hoping it would be Michelangelo, always root for your brother over a stranger.

However, judging by the fact that one of his younger brother's hands was wrapped in a tight cast and he was losing horrendously, it was more likely he would play against Leo.

That actually made Raphael a tad bit nervous. Not because he was scared of losing to a fourteen year old, hell no.

It was because he had previously threatened to kill this specific fourteen year old.

That thought made him sick to his stomach.

Fourteen.

The kid was only fourteen.

He knew the kid was young but fourteen!

They hadn't even been allowed to go topside at fourteen!

And yet Raphael threatened to run his sai through the kid's skull.

His mind wandered back several hours earlier, when Michelangelo was getting his wounds cleaned and rebandaged while Donatello took his turn in the shower.

That left Leonardo and Raphael alone together in one of the old subway cars they had claimed as their temporary bedroom.

"I don't understand something." Leonardo had written in a notebook while his throat recovered.

"What's that fearless?" The red clad turtle replied, absentmindedly fidgeting with the piles of blankets.

"Why did our counterparts attack you guys? They don't seem entirely malicious."

Raphael's face had fallen, shame washing over him.

"That…that was my fault." Leonardo raised a brow but let his younger brother continue. After a minute he spoke again. "I attacked Leon and earned little Donnie's wrath."

The marker squeaked a bit as it was scribbled over the pages of the notebook.

"You attacked him? How exactly?"

"It wasn't that bad, really! I just tackled him…and threatened him. God I'm such an idiot!" Raphael buried his face into his hands.

"Why did you do that Raph?" Despite not speaking, Raphael could tell that his brother was a bit ticked off, given how rigid he went.

"I wasn't thinking ok! It had been a god awful night of nearly fucking dying multiple times! First to the Kraang and then to a Freddy Fazbear knock off that apparently is immune to fire for some reason, don't ask!" Leonardo held up his hands, sitting down next to the red clad turtle.

"And then this little twerp came along and said that he knew where Mikey was! He didn't even tell me or Donnie until after I threatened him! Not to mention that earlier he said that they lost Mikey and that he had a broken arm! A broken arm!"

Raphael groaned again, trying to ease his racing heart. The more he thought about that night the angrier he got.

A warm hand on his shoulder made the short turtle look up, dark blue eyes meeting with his own bright green ones.

Leonardo's gaze had softened as he traced circular patterns into Raphael's shell. It was soothing, grounding.

After a few minutes of staying like that, Raphael continued yet again.

"This kid said that they would go get Mikey once the animatronic from hell finally died, but he said it so casually! Like he was gonna get a pizza instead of saving Mikey's life. Do you know how we found him?"

The leader in blue shook his head.

"Dangling from a beam at least fifteen maybe twenty feet off the ground. Hanging by the backpack with no grappling hook and a glider that wouldn't open! If we hadn't gotten there in time…he could've…" His eyes screwed shut, he didn't even want to finish that thought.

The nudging of the notebook got Raphael's attention.

"Did our counterparts know that?"

Raphael shook his head.

"Maybe…I honestly don't know. I just…snapped and the next thing I knew Leon was on the ground and threats were spilling out of my mouth." He leaned his head into Leonardo's uninjured shoulder. "God damn it, why am I like this?"

The blue clad turtle turned over to a blank page and began to write, leaving Raphael to stew in his own shame for a bit.

Eventually Leonardo finished writing and capped the marker. He laid the notebook in Raphael's lap and pulled him close.

With slightly nervous eyes he looked down at the page.

"While I don't condone you threatening our counterparts in the slightest, I can at least understand why that happened. It's been a nightmare of a week where nothing went right for us even once. The portal wasn't where it was supposed to be so he had to ditch the Shellraiser, we got chased out of nearly every single Kraang hideout, the invasion getting closer and closer and we got sent here with no food or medical supplies!.Then all of us getting attacked by the strange nightmares of this dumb dimension it only added to the growing pressure. Truthfully if I had been in your position and I was getting vague unhelpful answers about where my missing brother was, I probably would've reacted the same."

"I still feel bad for the kid, he didn't mean to make the volcano go boom. He just said the wrong thing at the worst possible time." Leonardo nodded.

"You didn't ruin anything Raph, just got off on the wrong start. I'm sure once you apologize it'll be water under the bridge." The blue clad turtle whispered, earning a small shove.

"Don't make your voice worse, Fearless. And yeah I know, I'll apologize to the punk later." Leonardo squeezed his brother a little tighter. After a few moments he spoke, voice just above a whisper.

"You better, or I'll make you go on a ride with Turtflytle." Raphael's eyes went wide.

"Don't you fucking dare that is one of the most annoying things on the god damn planet."

Leonardo chuckled as Donatello came back, still slightly dripping from the shower.

"Alright Raphie, you're up." Raphael nodded, leaving the two cool color brothers behind so he could shower.

Michelangelo smacked into the red clad turtle's shoulder as he squirmed around on the beanbag, knocking Raphael back onto reality, somehow managing to turn the fight around in his favor.

"What the fuck dude!" Leo whined, losing his cockiness.

"Button mashing is unbeatable!"

"We'll see about that!"

"What's the matter Leon? Mikey too good for you?" Raphael shouted, playfully shoving his now upside down brother in the side.

"Hell no I got this!" The slider replied, eyes still fixed on the screen.

Michelangelo growled, kicking his legs as he spammed every single button on the controller.

Leo suppressed a yawn, rubbing his eyes as he continued to play.

"What's the matter, didn't get your morning nap in?" The orange clad turtle mocked as the game became neck and neck, both players down to the same amount of health.

"Shut the fuck up!"

"Hey guys!" Leo looked up as April walked in, smiling brightly. "Mind if I join the next game?"

"Sure thing Apes! Just gotta beat Michelan-" Raphael swatted the controller from Leo's hands, smirking at the scream that came from his mouth.

"Get em Mikey! Wipe the floor with him!" Raphael cheered as Michelangelo quickly knocked off more and more hit points while Leo scrambled to pick up his controller.

"No! No! No! Noooo!" Leo whined as the last of his player's health bar was knocked away in a knockout. Michelangelo cheered, jumping on the beanbag.

"You just got played, son! Michelangelo for the win! Go ninja! Go ninja! Go!" Raphael and April laughed while the slider's eye twitched.

"You knocked the controller out of my hands!" Raphael smirked at the accusatory finger being pointed at him.

"Did I? I mean I didn't see that happen! Did you Mikey?" Michelangelo wore a devilish smirk.

"Nope! I saw absolutely nothing! I was too focused on being the best at video games!" The two exchanged a high three, watching with growing amusement as Leo's eye twitched yet again.

"April you saw that! Didn't you?"

Raphael shot April a look, a silent plea to play along.

She pushed up her glasses.

"Nope!" She said, popping the p. "All I saw was you lose." Leo's jaw dropped.

"Betrayed by my own sister! You corrupted her! How dare you!" Michelangelo only laughed harder, poking the younger turtle over and over in the cheeks.

"Alright Mikey, enough games! Let's do this!." Raphael taunted, cracking his knuckles. His brother returned the playful glare as April plopped down beside them.

"I play whoever wins!" She said with excitement. Leo grumbled but sat next to April, ready to be a little shit again.

"You got it sister!" The game was reset, a controller put in Raphael's hands.

"Be careful Mikester, he plays dirty! Destroy him!" Leo said with a clap of his hands.

"Oh I will!"

"Bring it on!"

The second game began.

"Crap…" Leonardo mumbled, wiping sweat off his forehead. "Out of paper."

All the paper from his stack had been turned into crumpled balls, all the attempts at plans scrawled on them and deemed not good enough.

"Time to take a break until tomorrow." Donatello stated, leaving no room for argument. The blue clad turtle begrudgingly nodded, tomorrow once he had a clearer head he would come up with a somewhat decent plan.

"Let's go see what the others are doing." He scribbled onto the notebook after a sharp glare from his younger brother made him keep his mouth shut.

He grabbed one of the empty grocery bags and slid all the crumpled paper inside, even picking up all the ones that fell on the floor.

The bag tied and thrown near the recycling bin at the far wall. "We're gonna see what Raph and our Mikey are up to." Mikey nodded but gave no vocal response while he cooked. He was in the zone.

As Leonardo stood up, his right knee painfully twanged, threatening to buckle under his weight. He grit his teeth, hands planted firmly onto the table to keep his balance.

However his little stumble hadn't gone unnoticed by Donatello while he stuffed the remains of his laptop back into his bag.

Leonardo shook his head, gesturing at Mikey. Not in front of him.

Donatello nodded, not saying a word as he helped his older brother stand. He leaned against him as they left the kitchen together.

Once the door had closed behind them, a quiet whisper broke the silence.

"Are you ok?"

"I'm fine, stupid leg just threw me off balance." Leonardo sat down on a nearby beanbag, carefully undoing the knee pad and brace.

Donatello sat down beside him, carefully examining the offending joint.

"On a scale of one to ten-"

"Six." Leonardo said automatically. It was just a six. With his high pain tolerance that was annoying but tolerable.

"You strained it a lot these past few weeks." Was his brother's reply as he carefully turned the leg. The pain went up a tiny bit but nothing Leonardo couldn't handle.

"It's gonna rain soon."

"Ah that's it." Pressure changes made the joint ache more than usual. "You should use your cane for a while." Leonardo sighed and shook his head.

"Can't do that, I left it in the Shellraiser." Donatello shot him a sympathetic look. They could only take the gear they already had on, forced to leave everything else behind in the Shellraiser. Which was no doubt in Kraang custody by now. He had actually seen it, sitting next to his seat, surrounded by Kraang Droids.

"Well I'll just make you another one." The blue clad turtle sat up.

"Dee you don't have to-"

"It will only take twenty minutes Leo."

"But what about your laptop?" Surely a broken laptop took priority! Right?

"Like I said, twenty minutes."

"Is everything alright?" Another voice chimed in. It was Raph. Concern was written all over his face. Leonardo shifted a bit so that his right leg was out of view.

"Yeah everything's good, hey where's younger Donnie's lab? I need to grab a few things." Donatello said coolly, despite shrinking away a bit from the much larger turtle. Just like he and Michelangelo had been doing since they woke up.

It was clear that the snapper had noticed. Leonardo could see the tiniest flash of hurt in the large turtle's eyes.

"Oh yeah, the lab is that way! Just look for the neon purple door, you can't miss it!"

The purple clad turtle locked eyes with his brother, a silent conversation being had.

"Will you be ok here for a few minutes?"

"Yeah I'll be fine, don't worry."

Donatello nodded, leaving towards his counterpart's lab. However not before shooting the eldest brother one last look. A silent threat.

'Don't get up or else.' Truth be told, as much as Leonardo wanted to protest that he was both the oldest and the leader so he didn't need to be babied, the threat kept him glued to the beanbag he claimed. The 'or else' could mean anything! Donatello was nothing if not creative.

So the blue clad turtle stayed put.

An awkward silence began to form.

"So…" Raph started, sitting on the floor next to beanbag. Leonardo grimaced, why couldn't they have gone back to their subway car room? Because the living room was closer?

"Are you sure everything is all good?" The older turtle nodded, taking out the marker and notebook once again, if only so Donatello won't chew his head off.

"Everything is fine." He wrote, even underlining the word fine for emphasis. Another dull ache shuddered down his leg, making him wince. It probably started raining.

Raph didn't look convinced in the slightest. Leonardo turned away, waiting for his brother to get back.

Once again the two fell into awkward silence.

A high pitched shriek echoed from the arcade area, followed by loud cheering.

"LET'S GO! MICHELANGELO IS UNSTOPPABLE!" Said brother shouted with triumph.

"God damn it! MIKEY!" Raphael hollered, prompting the orange clad turtle to run out of the arcade. Michelangelo's laughter and Raphael's shouts echoed throughout the lair.

Eventually the orange clad turtle raced into the living room, eyes landing on Leonardo. With a burst of speed he slammed into the older turtle, quickly trying to scramble behind him.

All the air was knocked out of Leonardo's lungs as he tried to bat his brother off. It was too late, the menace had slipped behind him, wrapping his arms and legs around his body. His injured ribs throbbed from the sudden motions, with the younger turtle mumbling apologies all the way.

Raphael stumbled into the living room, his twisted ankle throwing him off balance.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" The red clad turtle angrily hissed while Michelangelo played cute.

"Woah what's wrong little buddy?" Raph interjected, trying to deescalate the situation. All three older turtles let out a similar squeak, Raphael's eyes narrowing.

He decided to ignore his much bigger counterpart entirely.

"You're seriously hiding behind Leo!" Michelangelo had the audacity to look offended.

"No of course not! What? Am I not allowed to spend time with my favorite brother!" He nuzzled Leonardo's cheek for emphasis. The leader sighed, writing in the notebook.

"What did he do?"

"He LICKED me! He fucking LICKED me!" Raphael shouted, his younger brother laughing behind Leonardo.

"What's the matter shorty? Can't take what you dish out?" Leo called out as he and April came into the living room.

"No one asked for your opinion!" Raphael fired back.

"Come on now there's no need to fight!" Raph said, once again trying to play mediator.

"Whatcha gonna do Raphie? Leo's got two broken ribs remember you have to play nice!" Michelangelo taunted, acting like he didn't aggravate the wounds himself.

Raphael growled, crossing his arms.

Leonardo held up the notebook, a single sentence written on the page.

"Lick him back." The two eldest brothers shared a smirk, with Michelangelo suddenly realizing that his shield turned against him.

As the short turtle approached, Michelangelo piped up.

"Can I at least get a five second headstart?" He held up his broken arm, showing off the cast.

Raphael rolled his eyes, a playful glint shining in those bright green depths. One that had been missing for the past two months.

"Since I'm such a nice guy, sure! ONE!" With that Michelangelo squirmed out from behind Leonardo, taking off.

"TWO!" Leo pulled out his phone camera.

"THREE!" April gave Leonardo a concerned glance, he only smiled at her. It was just roughhousing, they both knew not to go too far.

"FOUR!" Raph looked worried, Leonardo put a hand on his arm.

"FIVE!" At the final number Raphael broke off into a sprint, chasing after Michelangelo. Well, as much as he could with a twisted ankle.

The two turtle's yelling could be heard throughout the lair, making Leonardo smile fondly as he relaxed into the beanbag.

"Should we stop them?" Raph asked, the blue clad turtle simply waved a hand before writing in the notebook.

"They know what boundaries not to cross, nothing to worry about."

"Right…while they're doing that wanna play against me Leo?" April asked, holding a controller in one hand. Leonardo nodded, putting the knee brace and knee pad back on. He stumbled a bit to get up, Raph holding him steady.

"You sure you're ok?" The snapper asked as a loud crash sounded from the direction of Donnie's lab.

"WATCH IT SHELL FOR BRAINS!" Donatello barked, Michelangelo's laughter filling the air.

Leonardo smiled brightly, this was exactly like how it was back home.

Or at least how it was supposed to be.

Ever since…that day, the lair had gone quiet. Donatello spent days upon days holed up in his lab, Raphael hardly ever left his room anymore and Michelangelo practically lived in the kitchen. And then there Leonardo, hiding away in the dojo.

They barely spoke to each other for weeks. Hell about two weeks ago was the first time they all ate together as a family since that day. And when the shock finally began to fade away so the broken pieces could be mended, the Kraang decided to invade.

Now they are stuck here. Is that really such a bad thing though? Listening to his younger brothers squabble like they used to, it was familiar. It was normal.

First actual shred of normalcy in nearly two months.

And Leonardo couldn't help the big dumb grin that spread across his face, the corners of his mouth starting to hurt from how hard he was smiling.

"Uh, Earth to Leonardo?" April said, snapping her fingers in front of his face. Leonardo shook himself from his thoughts. "You zoned out on me!"

"Sorry April, ready to lose?" She smirked and the two headed to the arcade, with Leonardo holding onto her shoulder to steady himself. Either she didn't notice or she didn't mind.

The grin never left his face.

Little did the four older turtles know that this tiny shred of normalcy was about to be shattered like glass against the rocks.

[ruvviks]

i need to be hit with gaige facts so 🫀👻🥞🐌🏡🪆 for my boy please <3

THANK U SO MUCH RENA AAAA the emojis refuse to show up for me on desktop so i hope i picked the right ones. and if i didn't then we will all simply ignore that <3 SHJFHDJGD

🫀 ANATOMICAL HEART: do they have any "upgrades" to their body, like cybernetic enhancements?

gaige has spent too long in the loop and it's turned him into a necron, which means he's kind of just. changing skin every now and then... like a snake... but then in a sort of decomposing kind of way but without the bad smell LMFAO he's simply just falling apart it's fine <3 it Does however also mean he's got heightened senses AND!! he can unhinge his jaw and he's got sharp fangs >:^) and he has darkvision. there's a lot going on there

👻 GHOST: do they believe in the supernatural or paranormal? have they ever had any "encounters"?

well he is basically considered to be part of the supernatural himself now so Yes SGHJFDHGJDF it's funny though because he used to like. not want to accept the reality he lives in (darkwater creek is stuck in some sort of a pocket dimension, there is no way out etc etc) which might also be why he tried to leave town that one time. and then he got stuck in the loop. and now he's part of the horrors himself <3 oops

🥞 PANCAKES: what's their comfort food?

LORE TIME BABEEEY ok so there's a diner in town called mickey's diner and they've got a sweet & spicy chicken waffle burger on the menu and gaige would kill a man for that burger. it's his all time favorite and he is forever glad that becoming a necron hasn't taken away his ability to taste because if that had happened he would've exploded the whole world with his mind

🐌 SNAIL: what's their happy place? do they have somewhere they can retreat to just chill out for a while?

as for right now, gaige only has his own apartment to vibe at </3 when he's Officially part of the gang he can also chill at their base of operations or at one of their places (i'm still working on the details for all of that teehee) and he would regularly do that because he doesn't like to be alone :(

🏡 HOUSE WITH GARDEN: where do they live? do they have a house to themselves or do they live with somebody, or something else?

gaige currently lives alone in a small apartment downtown :) it's one of the older buildings of the city and there's a lot of paranormal activity in it but he's used to that at this point LMAO if anything the phantoms can be good company to hang out with sometimes <3

🪆 NESTING DOLLS: do they have any collections or cool things around their living space? are they materialistic?

gaige has surprisingly little belongings :( he had to sell a lot of stuff at some point to be able to pay rent so his apartment is Very Empty right now... eventually he would spice it up more when he starts making money with the stuff he and the gang do but i'm still working on that so >:^) more details on the way at some point teehee

oc asks!

[gaykarstaagforever]

God Christian media is fucked.

Whether Hollywood or Evangelicals are making it. Everyone is making the same stupid confused crap that doesn't understand even the most basic things about our supposed traditional religion.

WAR BETWEEN GOD AND SATAN!

The Bible says Satan is an angel and works for God, from Genesis, through Job, through Revelation. That story about him being the rebel Lucifer and fleeing with a quarter of the angels is from Revelation (sort of; kind of not even there), an intentionally confusing book written in metaphor that is specifically about political stuff that was happening 1500 years ago.

Jesus casts out demons, but those are neutral "spirits of the earth" who are selfish jerks who hate God. There's no complex hierarchy there.

And even if we take The Dragon stuff from Revelation as being about The Devil, the entire point is that God has already won, and the Devil is just screwing with us to lead us astray and piss God off, becausehe loves us. So the only fight is between us and the temptation to reject God. The war is already over, from the moment it started, in a timeless God-sense.

HELL IS WHERE THE DEVIL AND DEMONS LIVE AND SINNERS ARE PUNISHED!

Not in the Bible. The Devil and his minions live in some cave or pocket-dimension adjacent to Earth. The Lake of Fire is a part of Heaven where God dumps sinners AND the Devil, to "burn off" their sin, and / or condemn them to prolonged separation from God, which is innately miserable. And it isn't clear about whether that is an eternal thing or just a temporary learning experience. God actively lets the Devil out of it at one point to do some kind of weird mission for him, so obviously it is more complex than you think.

The Cythonic Underworld God / Hades as a realm of punishment thing is 100% Greek paganism. It doesn't fit with the rest of this, especially post Jesus. Especially since the whole point of it in Greek paganism was that you could be perfect and get stuck there merely because you made the petty gods mad, for some stupid reason. Because their worldview was that everything was inherently unfair and a power-struggle between massive horny jerks. Why does the God of Love need something like this?

GOD DEMANDS WE PROVE OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS BY FIGHTING ON HIS SIDE IN THE WAR BETWEEN GOOD AND EVIL!

Ha ha ha. You narcissistic shithead.

Jesus died because you suck and God was making a big point about it. You are loved by Him because He decided to love you - you haven't earned it. You CAN'T earn it.

Jesus hung out with rejected freaks and argued with religious authorities to prove what love actually looks like. Emulating THAT is your one and only directive. Culture-warfare and demon-fighting are directly COUNTER to that directive.

God fights demons with angels, when he decides to do that. He doesn't need your stupid help, loser.

How can you miss the ENTIRE POINT of the religion?

GOD STILL LOVES CERTAIN ETHNICITIES IN AN EXTRA-SPECIAL WAY!

No He doesn't. The New Testament is very clear about how Jesus opened things up to everyone. Christianity has zero place for racism.

...Especially if the race you're thinking of is white people. That makes no sense whatsoever. You're only allowed to participate in any of this in the first place because of His benevolence. He certainly doesn't think you're special. Because no one, and everyone, is.

GOD CARES ABOUT SECURE BORDERS AND HATES MARXISM -- !

No He doesn't. What He DOES care about, though, is you using Him to justify your own petty selfish garbage. And He doesn't like it.

CERTAIN SACRED RELICS CAN BE USED AS WEAPONS!

This is a Medieval thing that came, again, from a Greco-Roman pagan thing about gods giving heroes cool magical weapons. And fine, it's fun, and not inherently bad.

...Unless those relics are body parts of dead people. Now you're getting weird and gross and defiling bodies with it.

Plus in the Bible, empowered relics are always special tools given to specific people to do specific things with them, for a limited time. And when they inevitably misuse them, they get punished, usually with death. The relics in the Arc of the Covenant were sacred because God declared they were, not because they shot lasers. It's all by His leave. And He clearly isn't about anyone using them to become President of Earth. The Devil tempted Jesus with that and Jesus told him to kick rocks.

You can do great stories following these rules. The Bible is filled with them. But all of those always focus on inevitable human failings, and end with a message about how God is the best, do what He says, idiot.

Almost like that's the whole point of the religion, as compared to sexy blonde straights helping Jesus battle demons to earn a condo on Heaven's Waterfront.

It is endlessly frustrating that Fundamentalists and ignorant randos have the exact same incorrect ideas about how this goofy made-up religion is even supposed to work.

Sigh.

[tachvintlogic]

Should Danny age?

Yes. If he's alive.

His regenerative ability likely comes from the same mechanism that lets ghosts dictate their form, taking cues from his human half's shape (since ectoplasm seems pretty malleable while connective tissue is less so). While his human half's cells don't remember that new wound is where an arm used to be and just want to cover it up, his ghost half does and directs healing to restore the arm. Ectoplasm acts as scaffolding for the cells to adhere to as the wound heals. Restored limbs may be made entirely out of ectoplasm initially until his cells repopulate the limb, giving the appearance of being fully healed even when he isn't.

Now, if this gives Danny functional immortality, then it likely prevents his telomeres from degrading, letting his cells create perfect DNA copies without those cells being cancer. Degradation associated with aging doesn't happen, but development related to age shouldn't be affected.

Age related development like puberty, height gain, brain changes, etc. are controlled by hormones. All that stuff theoretically shouldn't be affected as long as his hormone glands are functioning. Danny should age normally and then once he's an adult he just never looks a day over 30.

(I looked for any research papers to see if telomere length affects puberty onset and didn't find anything compelling. Even if it did, he's likely already started puberty so I assume he'll be fine. Even if it is a problem, a doctor could prescribe him puberty hormones. So long as his body functions this is a solvable problem.)

Now what about his ghost half? Could it be stuck at 14? Well... if his human body isn't sent to a pocket dimension or destroyed when he transforms, then no. I see the transformation as his core saturating the body with ectoplasm, so his ghost form can't really deviate that much from his human body. His organs and bones may be more flexible in ghost form, but he still needs to be able to put himself back together when he transforms back. His human half needs to fit inside his ghost form, so they shouldn't age at different rates. In TUE we see that ghosts can change form over time, so the ghost half should be able to age with his human half.

In conclusion, it only makes sense for Danny to stop aging if the glands and organs responsible for development aren't working, which to me implies his human body's not alive. It could be perfectly preserved or slowly rotting around him, depending on what his gut bacteria are doing. But then he isn't really a half-ghost, is he? He'd be a full ghost piloting his own corpse.

But you know who IS a full ghost piloting his own corpse?

Dan.

[Image Description: A gif of Dark Danny/Dan Phantom transforming into a human disguise that looks exactly like Danny's human form. Danny is standing on the left, and his expression goes from angry to shocked when Dan transforms.]

Dan is a full ghost, no human half to speak of, so how can Dan have a "human" form? It's actually quite simple. I propose that his "human half" is the corpse of his timeline's Danny Fenton. He doesn't look like he's aged a day because he hasn't. I don't think full human Danny could survive for long, so Dan might've stuffed the corpse back in himself (or stuffed himself into the corpse) in an attempt to reclaim it and become half human again, but...

It didn't work. Whether partial or full death, you can't go back.

So Dan has a corpse/dead tissue just... hanging out. Inside his body.

From this we can hypothesize ectoplasm is antibacterial, since TUE's Fenton's gut bacteria didn't start chowing down the moment he expired. This could mean Danny's gut is sterile, and ectoplasm takes their role in digestion. Alternatively, ectoplasm never makes it to the large intestine and his gut bacteria are just fine. Ectoplasm's bactericidal nature is only a problem if anything tries to eat his tissues.

Ectoplasm is also very good at preserving organic tissue, since corpses decompose to some extent without bacterial involvement. It's probably related to Danny's regenerative abilities, so they still work even if his body isn't... well... functioning anymore.

[worstloki]

new Loki/The Tesseract shipper here! so i’ve got a question, how exactly would you write Loki/Tesseract? I know many people portray Tess in a human form but like, if you were writing romance between Loki x The actual cube, how would that go down exactly? (Also I’m the same person who sent the tesseroki message yesterday about how weird it is and I love it!!)

there are loads of ways to do so, you're not really limited here ! Personally I like any of these:

- Tess can project out of the cube. Can't touch much stuff and floats around as a cloud a lot. Can be given a humanoid shape but that's not necessary - I'd do it if it was cute though, like if the light turned into Loki and was non-corporeally copying what he was doing

- Tess communicates through emotions, mostly. It's basically just radiating thoughts/emotions. The possibility of Loki being able to sense this/decipher it can be due to magic or something else.

- Telepathy. That's always fun. Mind to mind communication. The Tesseract likes to talk to him, apparently.

- being emotionally attached doesn't need to be @ a body but throwing attraction into it makes it very neat too !! Like ok the cube's energy fluctuates when Loki's in the room. Loki's trying to ignore it but keeps glancing it's way. Loki's daydreaming about a sentient rock and the infinity stone is blushing over some organic being. Their families are going to be so disappointed.

- The Tesseract can teleport around but otherwise Loki carrying it around everywhere. Keeping it in a pocket. Storing it at the surface of his pocket dimension. Tess can always teleport him to them if they want too.

- I also like to mess around with all the infinity stones being part of 1 conscious being - which means that if it's only Tess that's fond of Loki that whatever ethereal or eldritch form the combined infinity stones take there's 1/6th of it that is going <3 at him every time Space takes the wheel

- Loki's magic and the Tesseract's magic solely getting attached to each other, constantly wanting to cling, which of course drags Loki along. "No, I don't need the Tesseract to--put it back. Why isn't it working. Gah! Fine!! I'll use it!"

- Loki and dark!Tess but it's Loki getting addicted to the power high the Tesseract gives. It is an infinity stone, after all. Bonus points for radiation poisoning and withdrawal symptoms >:]

- I'm also partial to the Tesseract taking forms but it never being it's "own" !! This can include possessing other beings - can be Loki or someone around him, which essentially makes Tess the soul of the Tesseract.

- Similar to the one above this can also mean mimicking others so it can make it's own body, but it takes the forms of people it's seen. This means you can have 2 Loki's around, one with probably-blue eyes and magic tbh.

- the Tesseract leeching into Loki;s mind and/or stealing his magic to keep them together? also good. Tess is merely a cube haha just a fun lil funky lil shape hehe . not a threat haha. now use it since you're running low on seidr Loki <3

- the Tesseract's neutral state sounding like it's singing. When Loki was stuck with Thanos he used to look forward to spying on SHIELD because he fell in love with that. His sanity is on a thin thin thread. He's still in love with it when he's gotten away from Sanctuary. Whoops.

and so on !

[fromthedeskof-darkiplier]

(OOC:

People are finally coming back to roleplay! Yaaaaaaaaaay! I’m so happy to be talking with y’all, I’m gonna make the most of it!

As celebration, I’ve updated the headcanons for my Dark, as they feel a little stale, now. They’re under the cut, as well as a reference image.)

Dark is a name they chose not for any other reason than it’s just what resonates with them, now. Moreso than their deadnames, even. “Darkiplier” as a nickname was not thought-up by them, but they allow it because it’s kind of funny to them; they’re always happy to mock The Actor’s name… when they aren’t seething with rage thinking about him.

They possibly additionally have a demon name, being born of such an Occult ritual... but it’s likely something that can't be pronounced with a human tongue.

Doesn’t celebrate their birthday(s) because they believe they can’t be considered having been “born”. Any insistence on celebrating a “creation day” has been turned down.

Pronouns for this blog’s interpretation of Dark are they/them, and they/them only. There was once a time where they were switching between he/him and she/her, but once they discovered the Singular They(that phrase in and of itself is something they relate to)it was all over.

To that end: the souls who make them up are now a single consciousness. They were incomplete as separate souls, irreversibly trapped in Y/N’s body, and the evil of the House basically acted as the “adhesive” that stuck them together. Darkiplier is more than the sum of their parts – and any goading them or trying to bring up their past is met with nearly immediate panic and hostility(seriously, that’s not a joke, don’t do that on this blog please, it hurts the Mun as well).

Appearance-wise, they actually look like a fusion of who they used to be -- they don't have 2+ forms they switch between. And that's all the way down: down to them actually being Intersex.

Dark is profoundly colorblind. The only colors that stand out to them are those caused by the magic of the little pocket dimension the Egos live in -- including Wil's mustache, which makes him easy to find. Pink is their favorite color for a good reason.

All the bodily fluids they produce (blood, tears, saliva, sweat, etc.) are pitch black and look like ink or thinned paint. Once they dry, they can be peeled like paint. It doesn’t hold any real significance, it’s just the non-human ichor in their system.

As an extension of the above, the black markings under their eyes are a stain caused by the black miasma in their body. It’s not eyeliner. They get a little self-conscious about it when you call it eyeliner.

Other more demonic features they possess include fangs and long, black claws. No pointy ears, though.

If their skin takes enough damage to leave a scar, it looks like someone made a crack in a piece of glass(inspired by a now-deleted post by itsjustkyss). The glow of their aura can sometimes be visible through the scars, even moreso if they clench a muscle.

Extremely protective of Wilford(regardless of how much he insists it’s not necessary), both physically and emotionally. The patience and sensitivity they give to Wil, compared to what they give anyone else (especially someone they don’t wanna deal with), is night and day. They are fine-tuned to his needs.

Much like the way their image glitches, the ringing around them changes in volume/pitch based on how stressed/relaxed they are. Both phenomena are part of their aura, after all.

Speaking of which, their aura is extremely well-reinforced, which helps slow down the body’s aging/atrophying and keeps Dark from feeling physical pain or getting traditionally sick(doesn’t catch the common cold, for example). The only way they could feel pain is if there are cracks in the aura, such as when they are having moments of emotional instability.

Even though they can’t feel pain, their body can still react accordingly to damage, even with their aura intact(when we shoot them in “Date”, they become incapacitated).

As a tradeoff of sorts, painkillers and medications designed for humans don’t work on them, so there’s nothing medicinally they can do for their emotional instabilities. They occasionally smoke to rid themself of stress.

Their aura is strongest, by far, around their head and spine. Their neck is still broken(any injuries Y/N sustained in the manor will not heal, including their broken neck and the bullet wound), and if their head were separated from their spinal column their consciousness would be trapped inside the body. They’d need to be exorcised to get out and find a new body .

Powers include, but are not limited to: teleportation, technomancy, summoning objects/telekinesis, and superhuman strength and stamina. When they become unstable and choose to weaponize their anger, their power can reach city-levels of destruction – but an outburst like that would take an immense toll on their energy, and would essentially send them into a pseudo-coma for a period of time.

Can, and will, swallow your soul. They’re aware of their adoring fans, and will usually lure victims in in their manipulative fashion – but nothing’s really stopping them from just stealing a soul even with outside resistance.

Has had a fair number of sexual partners throughout the decades and dimensions they’ve existed through, but only really loves Wilford.

Their heart doesn’t normally beat (why would it need to?), so their circulation is poor and therefore they are often cold. Even on days where they personally don’t feel cold, their skin is cold to the touch. There’s one person who’s ever gotten their heart to beat, even if for only a few seconds at a time – and that’s Wilford.

Despite the boundless anger and hatred they feel towards The Actor, they did take him up on his offer to “play” his villain. As a result, they’ve had a hand in more of Mark’s misfortunes than you may notice at first…

As a character, they were initially designed to be as Mark’s opposite – to that end, they’re much moreso a cat person (no surprise there) and actually like the Ocean.

They like their coffee black, their chocolate dark and their wine STRONG. Also, icecream is in fact their comfort food(because Chocolate ending, go figure).

As proven in the “Sims” episode, “Attack of the Ipliers”, and the “Dark vs. Anti” bloopers, they can’t dance for shit. They can, however, play the piano pretty well(by ear, too!).

In MY personal headcanon they’re taller than Mark(6'2", if I had to put a number to it).

They did, actually, take up the mantle as District Attorney, and turned out to be a damn good lawyer. This is their primary occupation, but tearing people to shreds in court gets them the money to help pay for property damage the other Ipliers cause.

Their role on the MarkiplierTV team wasn’t 100% official at first (they were the last one to join the team before Wilford made his pitch), but they turned out to be a BIG help. Knowing Wil better than any of these new faces Wil found from God knows where/when, Dark proved themself to be a great advisor to him, helping him keep focus and remember what’s important. That was enough to get them an office at the building, and now they’re additionally a supervisor over the team.

And, lastly…

Dark has every opportunity in the world to snap Mark’s neck and be done with it, but actively lets him revive and suffer instead (they relish in it, actually). If they were to finish the job, the souls that make them up would be free of their bonds to the Earth, and they would have to leave Wilford behind…and that’s not something they’re ready for.

[bamfdaddio]

Uncanny X-Men Abridged: 1982: Fairytales & Nightmares Edition

The X-Men, those fantastical mutants that have sworn to protect a world that hates and fears them, are a cultural juggernaut with a long, tangled history. We’ve been untangling that history for a while, but sometimes, you really want a more in-depth look. Interested? Then read the (un)Abridged X-Men!

(X-Men 153 & 160) - by Chris Claremont and Dave Cockrum, Josef Rubinstein, Bob Wiacek, Brent Anderson

I love how every character gets hit with a good dose of magical fairy dust except for Wolverine and Nightcrawler, who get turned into the Tasmanian Devil and a horny smurf, respectively

1982 is a pretty arc-based year. Most of it is dedicated to space operas, the Brood and Shi’ar politics (yawn), but there are a few outliers. Most notable of these two exceptions are issue 153 - Kitty’s fairytale - and issue 160, the introduction of Limbo. I’ve chosen to highlight these two issues because they are fun, fascinating and, moreover, they are sort of dark mirrors of one another.

Both feature Illyana as a catalyst for the action; both of them feature someone spinning her a little fairytale..

Both feature alternate takes on X-Men: one high fairytale, the other grimdark.

Both are standalone issues that barely feature into the main Shi’ar-plot of 1982 -- seriously, you can take them out without disrupting any narratives -- while still introducing plot points that would become a part of the X-Men mythos. (The Lockheed dragon; the bamf and, most importantly, the introduction of Illyana as Magik.)

It’s funny how the Brood saga takes up almost 80% of the narrative space this year, whereas the whole Limbo/Belasco/Illyana-thing is almost a throwaway plot that is arguably more iconic for the X-Men currently than the Brood are.

Anyway, context. The mansion is in shambles after the attack on the Hellfire Club. Illyana hasn’t returned home after being kidnapped by Arcade -- perhaps to give Colossus a little relief of his homesickness. Illyana then tempts fate:

Take note of that stuffed Fozzi toy, wocka wocka!

Illyana prefers Kitty to tell the story, and I get it. Colossus is a sweetheart, but the dude’s not exactly light of heart. Piotr would probably tell something dreary and fatalistic about three old sisters in a decaying orchard, while Kitty is a lot more fun.

Claremont shows that he is familiar with the workings of the teenage mind, because when faced with the challenge to tell a story, she does the same thing I did when I was thirteen: she goes for a self insert. And she incidentally writes in the boy she has a crush on as her boyfriend.

Look, all I’m saying, we’ve all been there, right?

Anyway, Kitty’s fairytale. Kitty is a pirate, Peter is her shipmate and they stumble upon a quest when ruffians accost a blind prince -- Scott -- and a wizard on his own personal flying carpet -- Xavier. They help out and get roped into the prince’s quest to save his princess from an evil corrupting influence. Sound familiar?

In true Final Fantasy-fashion, all the other party members are introduced one by one. Kitty calls upon a dragon called Lockheed she befriended while Piotr saves a weather goddess trapped in a bottle by the cursed princess. Best highlights, however, are Kitty’s versions of Kurt and Wolverine.

Way of X, I love you, but take note. Kurt was never meant to be puritan.

One of the best parts of this issue is the reaction shots of the other X-Men who listen in to Kitty’s tale. Most of their alternative versions fit stock fairytale characters, although Bamf is more a Disney sidekick than anything else. Wolverine is straight up a Looney Tune though:

At some point, someone looked at this character design and first thought of Sabretooth, right?

The kicker of all of this Kitty wasn´t actually there for the Phoenix Saga: she only met Jean once, briefly, when Jean saved her and the other X-Men from Emma. Kitty never met Dark Phoenix, she only ever heard the details secondhand. Still, she gets it mostly right: prince Scott and princess Jean are star-crossed lovers until Jean is cursed by a corrupting force. As Dark Phoenix, she is hellbent on stopping wizard Xavier and the prince in their tracks, lest they lift the curse by confronting her with her one weakness.

THE HUMANITY

Xavier uses Jean’s humanity to fight off the dark Phoenix and, in this particular universe, they succeed. Scott and Jean get the happy ending they didn’t get in the actual timeline: Kitty even cures his cursed eyebeams. It’s kind of funny that this is the only happy ending the X-Men will ever get during Claremont’s reign.

Speaking of a lack of happy endings, the dark counterpart of Kitty’s fairytale also starts with someone telling Illyana some sweet little lies:

I’m assuming that the whole Stranger Danger-campaign only got big after the eighties? Illyana has all the self preservation skills of a lemming.

Kitty notices that Illyana has vanished and is curious, following her. She steps on a strange light disk and vanishes.

As a slightly piquant aside, I was pleasantly surprised when reading this one digitally. I own a copy of this comic in Dutch (straight from the eighties) and apparently, they censored the version for the low lands. In a comic with creepy assaultey Nightcrawler and many, many, many naked Storms and Wolverines, this page was a bridge too far:

Look, maybe they weren’t entirely wrong. Last time three guys were bouncing around me and I invited them for a shower, I wasn’t entirely innocent either.

I was “also not welcome in that gym again” but that’s besides the point.

Who knows, maybe they just wanted to cut out the clunky exposition of storylines recent. In any case, the X-Men decide to investigate and they are also whisked away: those disks of light are apparently teleportation circles.

Also, can someone please tell Chris Claremont that German sometimes does have i before e?

They’re pulled into a pocket dimension where time and space are treated as guidelines rather than hard and fast rules. While Belasco taunts Kitty (and pulls her skeleton from her body to keep her from escaping), the other X-Men get separated, wandering about this utterly foreign dimension and encountering future/alternative versions of themselves.

I still love how alien this first version of Limbo is. The comic is titled ‘Shoots & Ladders’ and it’s exactly like that, except in creepy, never-ending tunnels and topsy-turvy, shadowy caverns.

Both Wolverine and Colossus are confronted by their dead selves, killed by S’ym, Belasco’s brutish lackey. The alternative Nightcrawler, meanwhile, has been perverted into a freaky little toady who has no qualms about touching Kitty inappropriately. (He's essentially the creepy, disturbing version of a Bamf.) Storm, meanwhile, is aided by an older, jaded version of herself. She’s also the one in charge of teleportation disks, which she uses to aid the X-Men:

Kitty’s casually waving skeleton always sends me

Storm is furious with what Belasco has wrought onto Kitty, her Mother Bear Instincts activating. She wants to give chase, but that’s when older!Storm intervenes. She warns Storm that this is a crossroads. In her variant universe, the X-Men chased after Belasco and it went badly for them: Wolverine and Colossus died, Nightcrawler turned evil and Storm became trapped in Limbo.

There’s no word of what happened to their Kitty or Illyana, but I think that’s because Limbo does not play by any of our regular rules. See, if Belasco wanted Illyana, wouldn't he have one now? But he doesn’t. So maybe Limbo is the Schrödinger’s place, where the X-Men both did and didn’t chase Belasco. Because if they didn’t give chase, they wouldn’t have the older Storm to tell them they shouldn’t give chase, which they end up not doing. But if they don't, there wouldn't be a Storm to warn them from not going, so they would. But they wouldn't.

Got that?

Just when older!Storm prepares to send them home, Belasco returns with an army of demons.

See? I told you that paying attention to that Fozzi-toy would pay off! (Wocka wocka)

And it ends there, with Illyana rescued from her nightmare, but with the promise of more darkness in her future.

I love how Chris Claremont takes a soap opera trope -- aging up a child in the shortest amount of time possible to an age where there’s more to do with them narratively -- and makes it fit into his crazy X-Universe.

And that’s it. Two relatively pared down stories where the normal rules of reality take a backseat: one to lift Illyana’s spirits, one to break her beyond belief. In a year that’s defined by space opera, these two stories have always stuck out to me, simply because of the way they break the mold of the X-Universe. More importantly, they've given us Magik. And Bamf!

Next up: Brood, Brood, Brood, and Shi'ar.

[artemisia--hq]

This prompt is from @kittensocute ‘kageyama and hinata are stuck on a ferris wheel ride’

(*ﾟ▽ﾟ)ﾉ

—————————————

When one thinks of amusement parks, games and rides, and generally a fun, happy time instantly comes into mind. This, however is decidedly not fun. This is a nightmare, a weaving of pure fear and terror, and Tobio swears if he ever manages to get out of here alive, he is so going to—

“Aaahh! Ahh! We’re gonna die! We’re gonna die!”

“Stop yelling, dumbass!” Tobio yells. He rubs his face with both of his palms when Hinata still wouldn’t stop screaming like a banshee. “Death is gonna be the least of your concern because I’m gonna kill you first if you don’t! Stop! Yelling!”

“That doesn’t even make any sense!” Hinata cries, “and you’re yelling, too!” He serves Tobio a stink eye, or as stinky as he can possibly muster with his ashen face and trembling lips. Tobio just returns the glare a hundred-fold, and that seems to do the job of shutting the idiot up as he looks away with an obnoxious huff.

But the sudden silence only gives way for Tobio to marinate in regret, recounting every action that had led to the disaster they’re currently in.

It was supposed to be a fun day in the amusement park, and it did start out that way. The first and last time Tobio had been to one was years ago, with Kazuyo-san and Miwa for his tenth birthday. It is one of his most treasured memories that is completely unrelated to volleyball, the only time he had fun without it.

But spending it with his friends (and yes, that includes that bastard Tsukishima, however mortifying that concept is), had been admittedly fun, too. They were all together during the first hour, playing games and getting into every ride they could. But he and Hinata had been pre-occupied with one-upping each other with a shooting game and before they knew it, their friends were out of sight.

It was Hinata’s idea to ride the ferris wheel to look for them. Now they’re stuck in a cramped, glass-covered carriage for fifteen minutes.

“This is why you don’t get to have any dumbass ideas, you dumbass,” Tobio grumbles out loud.

Hinata bristles. “Wh-what?!”

“This is all your fault in the first place.”

The other boy lets out a disbelieving gasp. “You’re the one who said, ‘oh yeah. Good idea,’” he says in mock imitation of Tobio, flattening his hair as he does so.

He’s not wrong, but Tobio can’t give Hinata the satisfaction of being right, either, so he clicks his tongue and looks away.

Silence once again engulfs them.

Tobio gazes through the glass of the carriage to take his mind off of certain things that’s been circling his consciousness like incessant, annoying flies, things that shouldn’t be given permission to reside in his thoughts.

Getting stuck a hundred feet above the ground is bad enough as it is—getting stuck with the worst possible person just makes it a hundred times worse.

Tobio risks a sideway glance out on the corner of his eyes. Hinata has his arms around himself, as if he’s purposely trying to take up as little space as possible. Which is a weird concept to wrap around—as small as Hinata is, his larger than life presence could more than fill up a room, with that beaming smile and loud, cheery voice.

But Hinata is none of that presently. He looks quite pale, wide eyes darting around for every creak and squeak of the ferris wheel carriage, small hands clenching and unclenching the sleeves of his sweater. The most frustrating thing of all: he wouldn’t stop chewing his lower lip, now looking red and swollen and just so ki—

Tobio has to give himself a few mental punches in the head to wrench his attention away from it and to clear his thoughts.

See, this is why he absolutely shouldn’t be alone with this orange-haired gremlin. He gives Tobio horrendous ideas.

“K-Kageyama?”

Tobio’s body temperature drops to subzero. Fuck, was he caught staring? Was he too obvious? He should run—wait, no, fuck, he’s trap, he’s done for—

“Wh-what?” He snaps, anger immediately acting as a reflex.

Hinata flinches, then he sighs, looking down on his feet. “Never mind.”

Something twinges in Tobio’s chest. God, why is he so…taken with this stupid idiot. “What is it?” he asks, cutting down his tone, just a little.

The other boy still has his eyes cast down, squirming. “Uhm…”

“Out with it, dumbass.”

Those round brown eyes squeezes tight as Hinata blurts out, “Canyouholdmyhands?”

Tobio sputters, “Wh-what?”

“Can you hold my hands, please!” Hinata yells, extending both of his hands like an offering.

Okay, either he has completely lost his mind, or Hinata has.

He goes for the more convenient option.

“Are you crazy? No!” He whips his hands behind him, for good measure. “Why would I?”

“Because I’m scared and my hands are cold!” Hinata grouches, and for a second, he has every intent to fight and demand for it, like he always does, but then he deflates and slumps on his side of the carriage. “I-It’s fine. That was weird, anyway. Sorry.” He then proceeds to hug himself again, shrinking within his sweater.

Hinata has never looked so tiny and vulnerable.

Tobio’s mouth starts to open when the carriage suddenly sways and groans on his hinges. Hinata screams and Tobio is already lunging forward even before his mind could even process things, and his hands grabs onto cold, clammy ones, fingers intertwining tightly.

“We’re gonna die! We’re gonna die, Kageyama!”

“Sh-shut up! That was just the wind!”

“I-I don’t want to die, Kageyama!” Hinata wails, tears pricking on the corners of his blown, shaky eyes. “I-I still have to be good in volleyball! I still have to beat you!”

Tobio has never seen Hinata this distressed before, or even this legitimately terrified. He’s always been a scaredy-cat, but never like this. Tobio shuffles closer, gripping their joined hands. “No one’s going to die, so stop screaming.” He gives another reassuring squeeze, and it might be instinct or reflex, but Hinata squeezes back. “I won’t let that happen.”

Hinata sniffs. He blinks his glossy, golden eyes at Tobio “R-really?”

Tobio nods. “Yeah.” He hears some commotion from below and he presses his face on the glass. “Look, they’re doing something about it now.” He turns to face Hinata again. He could go in for a smile, but he figures that would only scare Hinata more than comfort him. “We’ll be out of here in no time, so just…think about something else.”

Hinata shakes his head frantically. “I-I can’t. There’s nothing in here that can distract me!” Then his gaze lands on their entwined hands. “Except, maybe…this.”

“Yeah, well…if that helps,” Tobio murmurs as he stares at their hands, too, before stalwartly looking away. If Hinata finds comfort in that, Tobio, on the contrary, needs a distraction of his own away from it. He settles at looking over the glistening lake dotted with tiny boats shaped like swans and turtles at the distance, but all of his nerve endings seem to concentrate on the point of contact between the, feeling each ridge and bumps of those rough, calloused hands wrapping around his own. Yet, they’re also unbelievably soft, if that makes any sense. Hinata just seems to defy all rules of the universe, from his jumps to the feel of his hands.

They are a bit sweaty, though, which is kind of gross. But Hinata being gross is not an entirely alien concept to Tobio, so whatever.

“Your hands are really warm,” Hinata says suddenly in genuine awe, as if he doesn’t mean to say them out loud.

Tobio’s hands are not the only ones getting warm—he can feel the back of his neck and his ears prickle with heat. “And really big. And your fingers are super long.” Hinata adds.

Tobio is half a mind to withdraw his hand and pocket them into safety, if only to keep them away from scrutinizing large eyes and to save himself from spontaneously combusting. But it does seem to calm Hinata, so it’s a risk he just has to endure.

He faces the other boy—the whole distract himself thing isn’t really working, anyway. “Obviously, dumbass,” he jibes, “I’m bigger than you everywhere.”

Hinata just nods, then he’s silent for a moment, before whispering, “Is this weird for you?”

“What, that I’m bigger?”

“No, stupid,” Hinata says with a roll of his eyes. “I meant, this.” He gestures at their hand, lifting them and letting it drop in the space between their knees.

“It’s only weird if you make it weird,” Tobio says, although he’s not really sure if he’s saying that to Hinata or himself. “You’re the one who asked for it.”

Hinata shrugs. “That’s different. I didn’t think you’d be up for it.” When Tobio doesn’t answer, Hinata sighs. “I-I mean, you normally do this kind of thing with…you know…” he trails, his pale cheeks quickly rising in color, eyes looking anywhere but at Tobio’s face.

“No, I don’t know,” Tobio says.

Amber eyes finally locking with blue ones, Hinata says in the softest voice, “You do this kind of thing with the person you like.”

“I do like you.”

It must be the work of altitude and oxygen and all the science-y stuff Tobio never paid any attention to in class because it’s the only logical explanation why his mouth decides to run off without his brain. He resists the urge to face palm himself hard enough to propel himself into the next dimension.

Hinata, understandably, stares at Tobio like he’s grown an extra head plus a tail. “You—like—what?!” he screeches, face and neck dousing in crimson red, and Tobio figures, he’s faring no better. “Y-you like me?!”

“I-I meant as a-a friend!” Tobio stammers, shouts, whatever. “As a friend and—and teammate! Dumbass!”

“I-I know that! I-It just surprised me!” Hinata shouts back, even as his face burns even deeper, redder than the sun settling behind the mountains.

Then he snickers, quickly turning into a full-on laugh.

“W-what? What’s funny?” Trying to sound demanding is hard when Tobio’s heart is lodged in his throat and with his entire body on fire.

Hinata snorts out a giggle, then he’s smiling at Tobio, radiant and flushed and—

Beautiful.

Here, trapped in a cramped, musty enclosed glass a hundred feet up in the air, Hinata—his rival, his partner, and if it isn’t obvious enough, the guy he’s been crushing on for months, looks achingly beautiful.

“Well, that makes me happy, because I like you, too!” Hinata exclaims.

Tobio has never really understood the expression ‘on cloud nine high,’ but he’s pretty sure this bursting feeling within his chest must be pretty damn close.

Then the beaming smile turns into a teasing smirk. “Even though you’re sometimes mean and violent and calls me dumbass more than my own name.”

And Tobio can’t help it, he smirks right back. “Dumbass.”

Their nonsensical argument of who likes who continues until the ferris wheel starts to turn and move again, continuing even after their feet touch the ground, as they zigzag their way among the crowd in search of their friends.

With Hinata’s hand still clutched over his.

—————————————

Thank you for indulging my request (begging) for a prompt! I have to apologize, though, this is not as good as I’d like to be, but it does help me ease out of my writing slump. I hope you enjoyed it nevertheless! ^o^

You can also read it on ao3 (with minor edits)

[nvrlostword]

cookie run kingdom au bc i’m out of control

ok first of all the kid cookies legally cannot go on missions

chili pepper (though she generally hates rules) established this rule after stage 2-18 when she saw the jelly worm get turned into a dragon and thought maybe this wasn’t the best environment for children

soon after this snow sugar and alchemist run into espresso and are like “wow! a magic cookie! will you come live in our kingdom?!”

espresso agrees because he’s a big softie for kids deep down because he’s been roaming around studying magic for a little while now and it would be nice to have a place to settle down and maybe start up a coffee magic school

of course as soon as they reach the kingdom gate, who else would be there but madeleine cookie

espresso: i need to leave immediately

espresso does consider booking it but alchemist seems so eager to learn magic from him and how could he break his promise to snow sugar to live in her kingdom

meanwhile madeleine, who’s been in the kingdom for a little while now, is surprised to see that one guy from the republic again so he waves cheerfully at espresso and espresso just. walks past him. not even acknowledged

espresso hopes that he won’t have to interact with madeleine much and he can just ignore him. unfortunately, the only house available is the one next to madeleine’s (because madeleine’s house gives off a blinding aura that makes it hard for other cookies to sleep at night, thus no one wants to live next to him except angel cookie, who’s his neighbor on the other side)

regret.png

at DAWN the next day madeleine’s at espresso’s door. espresso (regrettably) answers after like two and a half hours of madeleine standing there at his door, knocking

madeleine asks espresso to join the exploration team and espresso slams the door in his face

madeleine continues to talk to espresso through the door and espresso makes a note to ask the sugar gnomes to install a thicker door

the only reason espresso eventually agrees is because snow sugar asks him to

so when espresso joins, he’s not terribly surprised that the team is a mess (because why else would madeleine, of all people, ask him to join- he must have been desperate), but he didn’t expect it to be... well, as much of a mess as it was. we’ve got madeleine (strong but stupid), avocado (who’s okay at combat but really is a lot better at weaponsmithing), angel (who sometimes does healing magic but more often than not just focuses on making a glowing aura around madeleine), and vampire (does he even do anything???).

madeleine is so happy to have a cookie that’s competent in combat that he gives espresso one of those friendly pats on the back except he’s too overexcited and ends up knocking espresso over

espresso: *long sigh*

so a couple days later espresso is like “why tf is chili pepper cookie not on our combat team???”

turns out chili pepper and madeleine had a disagreement about the morality of stealing and chili pepper refused to do combat for the kingdom ever since

espresso comes in and smooths things over and chili pepper replaces vampire cookie in the exploration team, a change which makes everyone happier

then they meet rye cookie during the chilirye quests

episode 4 and the beginning of episode 5 are kind of rough for our exploration team bc they’re being chased by both licorice and rye cookie

but when they get to pomegranate village and rye hears the whole thing about dark enchantress cookie coming to take over the world, rye begrudgingly agrees to work with the team and avocado goes back to working at the kingdom forge

thus, an epic slow burn chilirye romance begins

the same thing has been happening with espresseleine but like stupidly slow

lore time: ok so in my mind dark magic and black magic are two different things. black magic is like the evil stuff dark enchantress uses, and it’s just one branch of dark magic (coffee magic would be another branch of dark magic), but a lot of cookies get the two confused and so dark mages are looked at as evil

what does this have to do with anything, you ask? well, it just so happens that madeleine and espresso did, in fact, meet once before when they were kids. madeleine was afraid of espresso bc he practiced “black” magic and ran away from him

madeleine doesn’t remember this interaction. espresso does.

it was espresso’s first experience with cookies mistaking him for a black mage, and it wouldn’t be the last, especially from light mages. this is part of why he’s so dedicated to his studies- to prove that not all dark magic is bad

so as the group travels together, they all realize some things. chili pepper and rye realize they’re not so different after all, espresso and madeleine (respectively) realize that dark and light magic (and each other) aren’t so bad, and angel cookie realizes she’s surrounded by gay cookies

everything goes great until 7-25. you remember 7-25 and the nightmare-ridden librarian? i do. i was stuck on that level for WEEKS

anyway. the party gets to the librarian and they are HURTING. chili pepper and rye end up confessing their love to each other- which says a lot about how dire the situation was if you could get two lesbians to confess their love

so madeleine’s at the front and the librarian is about to absolutely murder him when espresso says not today, not my man. espresso steps up and uses all of his remaining energy to send the librarian to a pocket dimension or something, but espresso ends up getting pulled in too and he’s assumed dead

he’s not dead he’s just kinda in suspended animation in the void but the others don’t know that

then the cookies go back to the kingdom bc they need healing, right? wrong. madeleine stays by where espresso disappeared and refuses to move bc what if he comes back, he was injured and when he comes back he’ll need someone there to help him even if he won’t admit it, he’ll be back any minute now

eventually chili pepper has to knock madeleine out just so they can get back to the kingdom

they’re all kinda depresso about losing espresso but none moreso than madeleine. he’s so depressed, in fact, that his light magic actually weakens

he’s still a part of the exploration missions but he’s just. distracted. in a way he wasn’t before. he’s more careless in battle, spends more time alone, and people have actually seen him without his smile

so while our crew is somewhere in episode 8, pomegranate cookie happens to go back to the library and finds the dark magic rift. unlike the cookies on our adventure team, she can actually open it

pomegranate, finding a weakened espresso in the rift: it’s free real estate

pomegranate is really impressed by espresso’s magical talent and takes him back to dark enchantress cookie (who has been summoned at this point and is starting to really cause chaos). dark enchantress wants to recruit espresso but he refuses because of a certain light magic idiot dark enchantress is the one who made people look at dark magic as evil

dark enchantress: ok *casts a mind control spell on espresso*

posesso the espresso

meanwhile, madeleine is doing the talking to himself thing that he does (in the MIDDLE of a battle) and he’s like “why would espresso do that, anyway? he’s never done anything selfless in his life!” and chili pepper just rolls her eyes and as she’s taking out an enemy and says “because he was in love with you”

*madeleine voice* HUH????????

everyone else thought madeleine and espresso were together bc they obviously had a thing for each other and that’s why madeleine was so distraught when espresso “died”

madeleine suddenly realizes he like likes espresso, which is unfortunate bc he’s “dead”

at this exact moment, white lily shows up claiming she was attacked by espresso

madeleine: THAT’S WONDERFUL NEWS!!!!!!!!!!!1!!!11!!

some distance away, possessed!espresso facepalms. “why did i just do that,” he wonders

so this is how they learn espresso is alive but possessed by dark enchantress. madeleine, however, only cares about the first part, bc at least there’s hope now that he can bring espresso home

his magic returns, even stronger than before, and the revitalized team plows through the rest of episode 8

so they finally get to dark enchantress and face her. dark choco decides to join the hero team bc pomegranate bullied him

which is really good for the team bc their front, madeleine, runs off to fight possessed!espresso alone at the beginning of the fight

espresso and madeleine would do a lot of sparring and stuff together and they were pretty evenly matched because of their different areas of strength, but this is different bc possessed!espresso is actively trying to kill madeleine and he has a black magic buff

possessed!espresso has the upper hand here, so he gets madeleine cornered and is about to deliver the final blow but he can’t

madeleine sees his hesitation and is like !!!!!! he’s still in there!!!!!!!

he also realizes there’s a pomegranate seed over the eye that espresso covers with his hair and realizes that must be what’s causing the possession spell (like in ovenbreak story run when wind archer gets possessed)

instead of fighting possessed!espresso, madeleine starts talking to him, reminding him of how they started out as kind of enemies, but how they became close friends. madeleine talks about how espresso made him realize that not all dark magic was evil, and there’s beauty in dark magic, too, all while slowly getting closer to possessed!espresso, who’s still poised and ready to deliver the killing blow

finally, madeleine asks possessed!espresso to trust him, and then he reaches out and touches the pomegranate seen over possessed!espresso’s eye. there’s a burst of light magic, the seed falls off, and espresso is back to normal

he and madeleine confess their feelings to each other then go help the others defeat dark enchantress cookie. the kingdom is saved, everyone is happy, and our two couples live in domestic bliss the end

[theamberwriter]

Pocket Omega [Alpha!Dabi]

Pairing: Alpha!Dabi x Omega!Reader

Word Count: 3705

Warnings: Cursing, as usual lmao

A/N: I’ve never written for Dabi in my life, I hope this came out okay!

~ You were something of a prisoner for the League of Villains. You weren't directly part of it. But you weren't not part of it. You'd wandered into their hideout by accident. Toga found you first and begged to keep you. She was ecstatic to have another omega around. But they only kept you because you could create pocket dimensions. 

The pocket dimensions were good for spying and fast travel. They were less obvious than the big black mist of Kurogiri. You kept many of them open in many places, so you could watch and listen from a central point. Just tiny slits in the ceiling, or little holes in the wall. You did this in return for them not killing you. You knew you'd never be allowed to leave. You could try all you wanted, but you were smart enough to know that they'd find you.

The fact that the hideout was full of alphas, save for Twice's beta half, was overwhelming. Their scents were potent. Nauseating. They didn't mix well with each other. You didn't understand how Himiko could stand it. She just shrugged it off.

There was one, though, that you were drawn to. It was wood smoke and spices. It sent your mouth a-watering. The omega in you called you to run to him. But your rational mind wanted to keep your little infatuation a secret. Even Himiko, who turned into your best friend quiet easily, couldn't know about your crush on Dabi. She'd spew it everywhere.

Instead, you took to observing. Sat in a little bubble in a pocket dimension. You didn't like being around everyone, so you often secluded yourself in a private space. Himiko had access to a dimension you made just for the two of you. Other than that, no one could reach you until you wanted them to.

But that didn't mean you hid all the time. You made the best of the situation. Trying to get along with who you could. If they weren’t all that bad even for villains. You probably could’ve been friends before all this. That included Dabi. You two did missions together, on occasion. 

He was your favorite to go with. Twice was...well Twice. And Himiko got distracted too easily. She liked it when you opened little holes into stores so she could shoplift without going in. And everyone else was boring. Some were still suspicious of you, so you sat in uncomfortable silence as they glared you down.

You and Dabi spent a lot of time in quiet. But it was comfortable. Though the talking you did do was pleasant. You felt...seen. More so than under the eyes of any alpha you'd talked to. But you still kept your distance, spending some of the time in a pocket. You kept it open for a quick escape. But also so you could take a break from Dabi's alluring scent.

It wasn't long before you started nesting. Which frustrated you. The omega in you wanted everything to smell like Dabi. That was impossible, of course. And you didn't want to outright ask him to scent things for you. Your feelings must be kept a secret! 

You knew it was a bad idea. But you couldn't help setting up a pocket in Dabi's room. You knew you shouldn't have. The nesting omega in you forced your hand. You tried nesting in your room for months, it just didn't feel right. You wanted to be close, his scent wrapping you up in warm comfort. 

You'd snuck in one day while Dabi was out. Opening up a slit in his ceiling. You'd have a zipper on this one. The pull was typically invisible to the naked eye. Every now and then you'd run into someone who could see it. It was a tiny, translucent tab of energy jutting from wherever you'd made your dimensions. Most people never noticed while the entrances glowed for you.

You'd been sneakily snagging items from his room. Nothing he'd notice. A shirt here, a sock there. You'd sporadically take them. Being extremely careful that it wasn't too much. If you heard him ask after something, you'd put it back where you found it when he left.

You would die of embarrassment if Dabi ever found out about your crush. He'd never messed with any of your zipper tabs before. You hoped he just couldn't see them. You had a series of escape routes, just in case you heard him question so you could bolt. You prayed you'd never need them though. 

You were so glad when you finally finished your nest. It always took you forever to make one. Mostly due to procrastinating. But nothing brought you more joy than the day you could finally just curl up in your bubble; surrounded by pillows and blankets and the utterly intoxicating scent of Dabi. You even stuffed a pillow into one of his shirts. You'd snagged enough, along with having a dimension above his room, to be completely enveloped in his scent. 

You barely came out of your nest. So content in the warmth and safety of the things you'd stowed away. Enjoying, for the first time, the scent of an alpha. You couldn't have been more at ease. More relaxed. Everything was perfect. Even with Himiko whining she never saw you, though she was nesting in her own room.

After a few weeks of being gone, Dabi was finally back. He was glad to just relax away from everyone. Sure, there were things to do. Shigaraki was whining about something. People were complaining about staying put. But he couldn't have been bothered. The League had been lying low anyway. 

However, Dabi wasn't super excited to be back in the scent of a specific omega. You. Your scent had driven him nuts in a way nothing and no one ever had. It bothered him to no end. That’s why he’d been staying away more, despite the protests from Kurogiri and Shigaraki. You clouded up his mind too much. Made his alpha instincts rear up in a way he’d never experienced. To the point, he didn’t want you to physically go on missions, because he was worried you’d be hurt. Since when did he worry about anyone but himself?

What was it about you that made him want to claim you? Why did he get jealous when you finally showed but ignored him to talk to the others? Why did his heart flutter when he found out you two had a mission together? Why was he so disgusted in the scents of those who threw themselves at him? But moreover - what would you want with him anyway? After all, he was part of the reason you'd been stuck here for a year.

He'd been lying on his bed staring at the ceiling when he noticed something. It was barely there. He never would've seen it if the light hadn't hit it just right. It was a little tab. He recognized it - a zipper pull. What was it doing here?

Quietly, he grabbed a chair and placed it behind the zipper. When he got up to ceiling height, he could smell you. It was potent. Some sort of fruit mixed with the scent of earth after a rain shower. It made his heart lurch and his head swim. He thought he had noticed it before. But he’d assumed it was because you'd been roaming the compound. 

With a zzzzzzrrrrriiiiiiipppppppp he tore open the zipper. Your scent flooded out, taking his breath away. And then fell blankets and pillows and stuffed animals. Finally, with a thump, you landed on the floor. You were clutching for dear life to a pillow.

You groaned. "What the hell? That was a rude awakening."

The groggy fog in your voice made his heart pound. The complete confusion on your sleepy face was utterly adorable. Your bed head made him want to curl up and cuddle you back to sleep. And he hated every moment of it. Because he was weak to you. Because you weren't his omega. Because he was so painfully sure you had an alpha outside of all this. It made his blood boil.

"What the hell were you doing?" Dabi asked bluntly. Pushing back the things mixing and fogging up his mind.

You shrieked as you noticed him standing over you. You scrambled backward, but only got tangled in everything. You kept trying to move, but he placed his foot on your chest, pushing your back flat against the floor. You couldn't deny the spark in his eyes, he was about to kill you.

"Well?" He pushed down harder. 

You wanted to speak, to move, but you were drowning in his scent. You'd avoided being this close to him. As soon as you realized that feeling you got when you smelled him, you kept your distance. Still, you couldn't help the mewl that escaped your throat. Dabi's face didn’t change, but you saw his shoulders tensing. Heat flooded your neck and cheeks, prickling your ears, you slapped the pillow over your face.

"So that's where my shit's been going." Dabi leaned down and yanked the pillow out of your grasp. "What's wrong - little omega?"

"I-I'm sorry," you breathed and opened a pocket under you. 

Dabi, losing his balance as you disappeared from under him, fell into the pocket too. He landed right on top of you. You groaned and the space stopped expanding around you. You felt like dying as he crouched over you. His apathetic face edged on anger and disapproval. 

"Get out of my pocket!" you whined, pulling your foot up to his chest and shoving. He still had the pillow, using it as padding against you. You squished him against the space where the floor used to be."Get out! Get out! Ge -"

"Fucking stop that," Dabi snapped, grabbing your foot and yanking it up over his shoulder that way you couldn't get a grip. 

You couldn't hide here. In this space, white webbed over infinite, swirling black. You stared at each other. Both pumping out pheromones of your own. You could nearly drown in it. Soon, the small space was choking you. Dabi leaned closer, pushing your leg up farther towards your head and adjusting the other to sit more comfortably between your legs. His face got extremely close to yours. 

You couldn't take him being that close. You couldn't take your bodies touching like that. You definitely couldn't take that position that got you uncomfortably aroused, a smirk coming to his lips as your scent changed. You flung your arms out, and the pocket around you opened up. Causing both of you to plummet, though the room caught you and lowered you down. You scrambled back, untangling from him, once you both were on a surface again. You stood and started pacing, glad you hadn't broken or pulled anything.

"I can't fucking believe this!!" you muttered going back and forth. "You're so stupid, [Name]! You knew you shouldn't have done it!"

Dabi groaned and stood, starting to come towards you. You enlarged the space between you. He didn’t seem phased. He kept walking, essentially going nowhere. The faster he moved, the faster you widened the room.

"I can expand this infinitely," you yelled. "Just stop!"

"You stop," he growled back, his scent peaking. It became sharp and threatening, it burned your nose. Still, that immediately shut down the omega in you. You couldn’t force yourself to do anything else. You just - froze up. Dabi charged up to you, grabbing the front of your shirt before you could send him away again. "What is your deal?"

"My deal?" you laughed breathily. You couldn't stand being this close to that enticing scent again. You tried not to breathe. "What's yours?"

He pulled you closer. "Why did you have a pocket over my room? What kind of fucking weirdo -"

You tried to jerk out of his grip. "I was nesting! Leave me alone, it's perfectly normal!"

"You're not supposed to steal shit from just any alpha! They have to -" Dabi couldn't bring himself to finish the rest of the sentence. “You just - shouldn’t be building it around me.”

You avoided his eyes as you finished his partial thought. "The alpha has to make us feel safe. I know. - I've been nesting without an alpha for years. Trust me...I know."

He searched your features, looking for any sign of lies in your flustered face. “You don’t have an alpha outside of all this?”

You nodded weakly. “Don’t look so surprised.” 

The unreadable mix of emotions on his face made your stomach sink.  Dabi let you go, backing away. He picked the pillow back up, turning it over in his hands.  It smelled like you had this shirt for a while. He’d have to remember to rescent it for you.

“An omega like you? - I’d thought you’d’ve had your own harem. You seem to have all the alphas here wrapped around your finger. Even that bitch omega can’t get enough of you. - They’re going to be disappointed if they find out you’re here.” He smirked, chuckling at the disappointed faces he saw in his mind. 

"This wasn't supposed to happen! You weren't supposed to notice the zipper! And I'm sorry for stealing your stuff. I just…" You flopped down, sitting cross-legged as you hid your face in your hands. You tried to disregard most of what he said. But you wondered if you had him around your finger too. You didn’t get your hopes up. You groaned loudly. "Just kill me now. That'd be less painful."

To your surprise, Dabi calmly came to stand near you. You peeked through your fingers when you smelled his scent getting stronger. His face was blank as ever as he stood over you. You were scared of what he was going to do.

"You can keep this." He tossed the pillow, which you were quick to catch.

You looked between him and the object in your hands. "But - aren't you mad? Don't you want your stuff back?"

Dabi smirked again then, and it sent your heart hammering. "Stand up."

You did as you were told. Dabi grabbed your arm and yanked you close. He rubbed on you before he could convince himself out of it. His scent soon overtook yours, causing you to relax into him. You couldn't help the contented sound that escaped you. Even though you were up to your eyeballs with questions.

"The only thing I want," he muttered, his face coming to settle in the crook of your neck. His nose pressed against your scent gland. "Is for everyone to know who you belong to."

You yelped as he bit you. It drew blood. You could feel it trickling down your shoulder. Himiko was going to be jealous. Your skin felt like pins and needles as he pulled back. A bit of your blood was smeared on his face.

Dabi wiped at his chin with his shirt sleeve. "Make your nest in my room, not above it."

You nodded, taking a step closer. You just studied his face. Trying to understand what was going on. What this meant. What you two were now. His eyes held no answers. Just watching on in amusement. 

"What? You gonna kiss me?" Dabi asked. You were very close to him. Your own face heated up, and you took a step back.

"We should head back, I guess," you uttered, averting your eyes. "I have work to do."

He nodded. You hesitated before taking his rough hand, which quickly folded with yours, and opened the top of the pocket back up. You lifted the floor, and it pushed you back through to his room, closing itself beneath you. You started gathering up the blankets that fell from your nest. Piling everything up in a corner.

"There's still some stuff up there, gimme a sec," you noted, shy under Dabi's intensely watchful eyes. You opened a pocket entrance in front of you. Then stepped into the pocket where you made your nest, shutting the new hole behind you.

"Hey, Dabi!" Himiko exclaimed, barging in. "Have you seen -"

You popped your head out, hanging upside down from the ceiling. It only took her a second. She immediately caught the blood dribbling from your mark. She didn't even question that you were hanging from a hole in the ceiling.

"You let him mark you?!" she exclaimed, pointing her knife at Dabi. "That's so unfair! I wanted to make your beautiful red blood run first -"

"You hurt them and I won't hesitate to kill you, you fucking psycho," Dabi warned. Himiko chuckled excitedly at the threat. She ran her tongue across her clean blade.

"Himiko is my friend, Dabi," you pouted. "That's how she shows affection."

Dabi turned to glare at you. "You're my omega, now. No one gets to fuck with you."

Himiko rolled her eyes. "As if anyone had a chance before. - Are you two finally going to fuck? We've all been drowning in your sexual tension -"

"Himiko!" you groaned, you wanted to hide. Dabi looked at you over his shoulder, smirking. You could see the wheels turning in his mind.

"None your damn business," he said turning back.

Himiko grinned, her eyes clouding over. "Can I watch -"

"No, now fuck off!" Dabi literally shoved her out the door, slamming it behind her.

Once she was gone, you went back into the pocket. Just glad to be able to get away from that. At least there was wasn't much left. Dabi watched on, amused, as you threw down socks, shirts, and a few other odds and ends. Finally, you came down with a stuffed rabbit in hand. Standing on the chair, you zipped the pocket back up and yanked out the tab making it disappear.

Dabi pulled the rabbit from your hands as you climbed down. He wrinkled his nose at it. "Why does this smell like her?"

You laughed. "Himiko wanted me to have her in my nest. I scented a pillow and gave it to her. I've never had a friend who wanted to do that before. I thought it was nice."

Your heart sank a bit as Dabi lit the rabbit on fire, letting the ashes crumble to the floor. "I don't want her scent in here."

You were a little upset but didn't argue as you started to putt around, pulling blankets and pillows to where you wanted. You laid out his shirts, handing them over to be scented when you gave them a disapproving face. Dabi didn't seem to mind. Just watching as you did your thing.

For him, it was surreal having you here. In his space that he shared with no one. That he'd imagined, more than he'd care to admit, sharing with you. He couldn't quite take in the fact that you were making a nest with his musk to keep you safe. He was totally drunk on your scent. On the way you moved. How you'd place something, step back to observe, mutter under your breath, then shake your head as you moved it again. He watched until he couldn't handle it.

"This is going to take a while," you stated. "You don't have to stay. I know it's boring."

Dabi smirked, and went to you. A hand on your waist, he pulled you to him. Then, finally, he leaned down to kiss you. You could feel his heart in his chest. Yours pounding just as fearfully. The texture difference in his skin surprised you. But it wasn’t unpleasant. In fact, it made you a little more drunk on him. His kisses started soft, but the more intoxicated you both became on each other, the rougher the kisses got. Dabi lead you to the bed, where he pulled you into his lap. He just couldn't get enough of your scent. Of the fact that he was totally content in having you as his own.

"Why don't you take a break?" he muttered, breathlessly. Chuckling just a bit at the whimper that left your lips at being separated from his. He brushed his thumb across your cheek. "Just lay here and sleep awhile. You look tired."

"You did disrupt my nap," you yawned, kissing him again before relaxing into him. 

Dabi laid down, pulling you to him. His face was in your hair. He hated having a weakness, but he loved this feeling. This was going to take some getting used to for both of you. Before you totally drifted off, you stretched up and kissed his cheek.

"Why me?" you uttered sleepily.

"You're the only one who didn't smell like garbage," he replied drowsily.

You sighed. "Seriously, Dabi. I...I know I wasn't the only one that wanted you as an alpha. Why bother with me? - Because I was here?"

He rolled his eyes. "Why did you never have another alpha? I thought for sure you'd have one."

You fidgeted with his shirt. Being so close made you nervous. You were suddenly very aware that you've probably looked a mess this whole time. This was new territory for the both of you.

"No one was right,” you uttered softly. “Most alphas I’ve run into want omegas to own us. Not for who we are as people. But you...I could talk to you. You saw me as someone, I could tell. I...I liked doing missions with you more than anyone. - Don't tell Himiko, though. - And I couldn’t stand being around your scent. But in a good way."

"That psycho will try to skin us both," he noted disapprovingly. 

You nodded, shivering at the thought. Dabi held you closer. As if Himiko was going to burst in, knives ablazing, at any moment. And he was going to throw himself in front of you to fend her off.

"I wanted you," Dabi muttered, finally. "That's all, now go to sleep."

"Yes, sir," you snickered, settling cozily into his body heat.

Dabi knew there was more to it. To you. To this whole thing. More than just he wanted you. He was fearful of things to come. But, for now, he would just enjoy being yours. And finally, finally having you all to himself.

 ~*~