#and right after the 6 lightbulbs i had to change

[btsmosphere]

Supercharged | JJK

Chapter 6: Burn Out

prev | masterlist | next

🗲summary: It starts with a blow to the chest that changes your life. When your city’s most celebrated hero pays a visit, it turns out the noble Bolt has no trouble tossing lives aside. Lives that won't be missed. Lives like yours. Seven mysterious and powerful men give you another chance – one that starts to feel more like a curse the moment you meet golden boy Jungkook. The boy who wants you as far from his brothers as he can get you. Is it you he hates, or the blue lightning that now runs through your veins? And could it be his golden light that illuminates your heart when darkness threatens? 🗲this chapter: When things get ahead of you, your powers aren’t the only things to spill over; some truth is ready to breach the surface.

🗲pairing: jungkook x female reader 🗲word count: 7k 🗲genre: angst, action, eventual fluff, enemies to lovers, slow burn, superheroes/villains au, found family 🗲rating: pg15 🗲warnings: violence with superpowers, swearing, minor injuries, self-doubt, over-training, loss of control and... awkwardness

a/n: this could have been two chapters, and I did think about it, but fuck it, you guys deserve a nice hefty update! this just means there's a fair bit of development ahead...

“At least Namjoon didn’t blow out any of the lightbulbs. Those are a nightmare to replace.”

Jimin smiled weakly when you didn’t respond to his joke. His worried gaze travelled to V, who stood behind you. He shrugged.

With a sigh, Jimin sat back. You hadn’t looked him in the eye as he checked your wounds, too caught up thinking. About the ways Jungkook was stronger than you. The ways you messed up. If only you had more stamina, if only you could shoot quicker, use more power.

The fight replayed in your head, displaying all the moments you could have responded better.

Was Jungkook right? Were you anywhere near ready to go out there?

“All done.”

You blinked, finding Jimin staring back at you. How long had he been waiting?

“Oh. Thanks,” you tried your best to muster a smile.

Sending you a smile in return, he stood up, placing the first aid box into the cupboard.

“It’s alright. At least you got out relatively unscathed,” he said, “just some bruises, a couple of singes here and there.”

He winced again at the sight of the faint bruising on your neck. Though he wished he could say this wasn’t like the Jungkook he knew, he would be lying.

Jungkook hurt people all the time: all of them did. But here, at home, he was usually at ease with their little family. After everything he had been through, however, Jimin knew very well how short his youngest brother’s fuse could be.

A quiet click announced the newcomer as Hobi poked his head round the bathroom door.

“Everything alright?” he asked.

It fell a little awkwardly in the space. Nothing was alright after tensions had boiled over so violently just half an hour ago, and you all knew it. Still, you gave him a nod.

Slipping into the room, Hope leaned against the counter, dodging out of the way as Jimin threw a few band-aid wrappers in the bin.

“Sorry about Jungkook,” Hope began, “he… he’s a bit protective. But we thought it would get better. It should never have got this far.

“You can do whatever you want today, get food and watch movies. I should think Kook will be training for quite a while.”

The way he said that left no doubt as to what the younger was actually doing. Images from his rage workout the other day invaded your head. Good, as long as he was away from you.

Tugging your hoodie back on to cover the bruises you had acquired, you agreed and followed the others to the living room. Soon taking up residency on the couch, you didn’t intend on moving anywhere soon.

Thankfully, the others didn’t expect you to either. Nor did they push you for conversation when you were so evidently staying quiet, and instead they put a film on and chatted around you.

You didn’t see Jungkook that whole day.

That didn’t mean he wasn’t lingering in your mind, though. At the very least, the slight discomfort from the bruises he had given you served as a reminder of everything that had transpired. But your frustration fluctuated between him and yourself.

If Jungkook’s behaviour could be excused as protective, you were going to need a lot more explanation than that. What reason had you given him to hate you so much?

He hadn’t given you the chance to do anything but fail since you got there, so how could you be expected to trust him?

But while you wanted him to see that you could be trusted, you started to doubt that yourself. Maybe you were trying to help the boys by joining them, but as much as you wanted to deny it, Jungkook had proved that you were weak.

For now, you didn’t want to go near him, so you used that as your excuse for staying put all day, letting the household go about its day around you. But steadily, your mind filled with all the things you needed to work on. You had to patch up the gaps where your powers lacked, and you weren’t going to rely on Jungkook to do it anymore.

Maybe if you proved yourself, they would want you after all? Besides showing your lack of bond with Jungkook, today had surely showed Namjoon that you weren’t up to the task.

That was why he had stood you down.

Which was why you found yourself alone in a training room a few days later.

Since that day, you hadn’t trained. For one thing, your trainer had cemented his place as your mortal enemy, so you had no one to practise your powers with, since the others were all preparing for other things.

As for physical training, you thought they would at least let you do that. But they insisted you needed to rest for a couple more days.

You didn’t protest too much, but you knew this was how it would begin. This was their excuse to stop you training. They had given up on you, thinking you weren’t good enough to join them.

You were going to show them, Jungkook above all.

Now they were away on a mission, Jungkook nowhere to be found, leaving you the opportunity at last.

With the way the last outing had gone, they had switched plans. Now, instead of waiting around for Bolt to strike, they were beginning to relocate their allies, moving important weapons and things to more secure locations, while feeding Bolt’s informants the impression that the vacated premises were still operational. They hoped it would buy some time so they could formulate more of a plan to combat Bolt, without him gaining more power in the meantime.

Of course, Jungkook was still seething. He had made himself scarce the moment the others left, no doubt wanting to avoid spending any time with you.

You weren’t complaining.

Breathing deeply, you assessed the targets you had set up. A smile graced your face. The last time you had trained alone, you had accomplished a lot. Maybe you would try lifting objects again.

But first, you had to work on your speed. That was the main weaknesses Jungkook had highlighted. You weren’t able to keep up with him, and you had to change that.

Rolling out your stiff shoulders, wincing for a moment when it twinged the last remnants of your bruises, you raised an arm.

Your power felt a little rusty as it burst from your palm. Gritting your teeth against the slight tingle of pain, you cut it off and fired again. After a few tries, it felt pretty much normal. You weren’t going to wait any longer.

Lifting both arms now, you alternated your fire, turning in the space as you tried to hit each target. You hit them all, bolstering your confidence as you took a breather and went again. You may have hit them all, but you wanted to be faster.

This time, you didn’t even wait for one bolt to die away before you fired the next one. Focussing on short, sharp bursts, you let your powers pulse through the air.

The rattle and clash of metal filled the space as you shook each target in turn.

You made it around the room again, finding a rhythm, but this time you didn’t stop. Bolt wouldn’t stop if he was attacking you; Jungkook hadn’t. You had to push through.

So when you approached the familiar feeling of your powers slipping, you simply pushed through. You maintained your speed, barely able to keep up with the pace you had set. It was like running while the ground was slipping from under you, but you stayed standing and on your toes, enjoying the exhilaration of the electricity flowing through you.

You felt its power, hot and fierce in your chest, revelling in your ability to control it.

Then, one bolt sputtered and died. You picked it up again in a split second as you fired the next lightning into the space, but it scared you. Picturing the onslaught of gold from the other day, you knew that could cost you dearly in a fight.

So while your powers protested, you pressed on. Now, you had to force out each beam of light, but you weren’t about to stop. You had to improve. You had to succeed.

You didn’t notice when the heat of your powers became unpleasant. That burning sensation hadn’t invaded you for so long, but suddenly it was overwhelming, crashing down on you.

Gasping at the sharp pain, you staggered for a moment, not wanting to stop.

You raised your arm again. This would not defeat you. You had to push through.

Nothing came.

You searched for the familiar feeling to unleash your power, but instead you felt a tangle in your chest, a sparking ball of electricity that hissed at you like a wild animal.

Not now…

A stabbing pain lanced through your chest, blue suddenly erupting into the air. But this time it wasn’t you. Your power clawed its way down your arm, leaving a burning trail in its wake.

Biting down on a pained cry, you looked around in fear at the empty training room.

Though panicked, you knew you had to control it. You had pushed just a little too far, you only needed to reign it in again.

But as you closed your eyes, trying to find the centre of your power, shut it off like you were used to, more blasts leapt from that chasm in your chest. You battled to close it down, but it had power over you now.

Blue filled the space, colliding with the walls, clattering against targets.

Your knees buckled, sending you crashing to the floor. Now, you were unable to control it as you cried out, each release of your power coming with its own wave of pain. You thought you had left this unbearable heat behind, but now it seared through your body with a vengeance as your powers ran rampant.

Control it, control it-

But you couldn’t find space to breathe, let alone to calm your powers. Your arms shook, a tear breaking free from your eye as you gasped.

What had you done?

In your vision, blurry with pained tears and cut up by streaks of luminescent blue, something moved.

Though you lay panting on the floor, you squinted towards it. It was a person.

Were the others back? Your frazzled mind barely had time to wonder this, before the most pressing issue asserted itself again.

Wincing and curling in on yourself as another shot of electricity forced its way from you, you called out. Your voice was raw and shaking, but you had to protect them.

“Don’t come near! I’ll- I might hurt you!”

You knew your voice was thick with tears, but surely they could understand you? Why were they coming closer?

At the same time, both a yelp of pain and a lightning bolt escaped you. Your eyes widened; the figure was directly in its path.

A flash of gold.

The figure ran closer.

Despite your state, you had enough presence of mind to feel your cheeks burning as Jungkook came to a stop in front of you, looking down at you with wide, panicked eyes. For a few seconds, his mouth opened and closed uselessly.

Then, another bolt. And another.

As they cut through the room, leaving behind their signature of burning pain, the world tilted. Your eyes squeezed shut, Jungkook forgotten as the sizzling sting of your powers took up your thoughts.

You wanted it to stop.

“Control it.”

The instruction was muttered in your ear, closer than you expected. The next moment, a weight shifted against your back, pulling you to sit upright and against something. Someone.

Still heaving for air, you shook your head.

“I- I c-can’t!”

Another flash of blue, another flash of pain.

The arm that was looped around you squeezed tighter.

“You have to. Control it.”

And then a hand was placed against your back, steady and firm compared to your own body. It nestled between your shoulder blades.

The next thing you knew, a warm sensation bloomed there. But not uncomfortable, like your own rebelling powers. It bled through you, enveloping the mess that your powers had become. Your eyes slid closed, basking in the relief from the searing pain.

You could feel your powers, a blue weight sitting in your chest. You couldn’t see them, of course, but you had always felt them to be blue – not that you had realised. Not until now, at least, because the calming light that surrounded your power felt startlingly gold in comparison.

After a moment, you were collected enough to take control. With the aid of soothing gold containing your power, you were able to breathe deeply, closing off the electricity as you had done that first time in Namjoon’s office.

The gold faded.

Still, the hand on your back lingered, remaining steady.

“Okay?”

It was only now that the weight of this situation hit you. Jungkook had had to rescue you. From your own powers, no less.

You simply nodded, not trusting words to form.

At your confirmation, his hand finally left you. He had been sitting behind you, supporting you, but now he moved away. You would deny that you missed it.

But he only shifted around to your side, sliding an arm under your own.

“Are you crazy?” he asked, but there wasn’t much bite behind it.

Shaking his head, he muttered a curse as he helped lift you from the ground.

“What were you thinking?”

Again, the usual venom was missing from his voice. You kept your eyes down, not responding.

Huffing a little, he turned towards to the door. And paused.

“Can you get upstairs?”

Chewing on your lip, you kept your eyes fixed on your mug. You found the blanket you were wrapped in very interesting all of a sudden, fiddling and tugging at it with your free hand.

It was quiet.

It had been quiet for a while now, but neither of you were particularly inclined to change that.

Jungkook sat across from you, stiff and upright in his seat while you were huddled inside a blanket. He had sort of thrown it at you earlier. He hadn’t given you a second glance, instructing you rather coldly to sit, but it had to be the closest thing to affection he had ever shown you.

He was also holding a mug of tea. Perhaps it was just for show; he hadn’t lifted it once.

In a moment of weakness, your eyes darted up. You instantly regretted it, as you found his gaze already trained on you, and you both hurriedly averted your eyes again.

Just for something to do, you took a sip of tea, the slurp painfully audible in the silence. Your hand still shook a little when you lifted the mug.

Lowering it slowly, you chewed on your cheek.

“Thanks.”

You blurted it out without much consideration, the silence finally becoming too much for you.

Unfortunately, the quiet hung around a bit longer. Warily raising your eyes again, you watched Jungkook for a reaction.

His eyes were avoiding you, looking instead at a blank spot on the wall.

Then he sucked in a breath, leaning forwards to deposit his still-full mug on the coffee table.

“So do you want to tell me what you were doing?”

Finally his eyes turned to you, leaving you breathless. Your shame over what happened made words stick in your throat, but you knew you would have to explain.

Tearing your gaze from his to glare at your mug again, you felt your cheeks heating up. But you forced yourself to talk.

“You… you were right the other day. I’m not strong enough, or fast enough. I was trying to work on that – on my speed. I thought if I pushed myself, it might help. But I… I just lost control.”

Letting out a breath when you finished speaking, you looked up hesitantly. A light frown was on Jungkook’s face as he assessed you. He was thinking a little too hard for your liking.

He sat back.

“You remind me of Bolt.”

If you were still drinking, you would have choked. Your eyes widened, not knowing how to respond to that. In your search for words, all you could manage was an indignant but half-hearted excuse me?

A smirk quirked the corner of Jungkook’s mouth.

“You’re so pig-headed,” he began, “you treat your powers like some sort of game and pretend you’re good at everything…”

You simply stared, disbelieving. Was he seriously saying this to your face?

“And when you want something, you decide you’re getting it–” he eyed you before adding “–not to mention all the blue shit.”

He gestured in the general direction of all of you. You gaped.

But then he dropped his gaze, sighing.

“I… wanted to knock you down. You’re way too good at everything. You remind me of Bolt because he’s indestructible. Or it seems that way.”

Finally managing to scoff at his words, you shook your head incredulously.

“So now you think I’m good enough?”

“I didn’t want you going out there, okay?” he snapped, “I don’t trust you.”

“Just because my powers look like Bolt’s? Is that it? I never asked for this-”

“I know.”

Jungkook’s voice was softer now, startling your rant to a halt. His hands were clasped, elbows resting on his knees. And he wouldn’t quite look you in the eye.

“You’re not like Bolt. He’s the one that hurt you. I just couldn’t separate the image of you from him, what with you being so… obnoxious, and determined.”

He paused. Sighed.

“And I lied, okay?” his voice was quiet, “you’re fine. Your speed is good, you could pretty much keep up with me, and that’s saying something. I thought you’d know better.”

A frown creased your brows together. Now you were confused.

Looking up once again, he met your eyes.

“You shouldn’t push your powers, surely the others told you that? They can reach their limit, and I’m fairly sure yours did when we fought. Today was too soon, you shouldn’t have worn them out like that. You won’t be able to use them for a while. Not like that, anyway.”

“Like what?”

“Fast. You overwhelmed them, it might take a bit to build up your speed again.”

You swallowed, not wanting to believe his words.

“Or, you just want me out of training-” you bit back, but he cut you off.

“Oh, I couldn’t care less,” he sniggered, “go ahead and burn out your powers for all I care. I’m just telling you.”

You didn’t really know what to say to that. You simply tugged your blanket a little tighter around your shoulders.

“Turns out you’re human just like the rest of us.”

Was that supposed to be a compliment? Or an insult? You couldn’t really tell.

After a moment holding his gaze, you went back to your tea. The two of you seemed to agree on one thing at least, and that was avoiding each other’s eyes as the silence stretched on.

Even once your mug was emptied, you fidgeted with it, letting your fingers slide around the handle for something to do. Jungkook’s words turned over in your head. It was probably the closest he had ever come to giving you actual advice. Perhaps you should take it, give your powers a rest for a short while.

It surprised you that Jungkook hadn’t yet left. He looked remarkably awkward on the other couch, refusing to relax into the seat but sitting ramrod straight on the edge instead, insisting for some reason on staying there.

Never before had he voluntarily endured your presence for this long.

He seemed to notice you sizing him up. He turned his gaze to find you watching him with your head tilted. And somehow, he too looked hesitant, far from the confidence you usually saw in him.

You swallowed, but didn’t look away.

“Don’t tell the others?”

Your voice was quiet but clear in the space. Jungkook quirked an eyebrow.

“You’re really determined to join us, aren’t you?”

With a sigh, your expression softened. You finally looked away, picking absently at your blanket while you replied.

“I agree with what you guys are doing. Bolt tried to kill me, all because I was just… there, at the wrong time. I didn’t matter to him. That doesn’t seem like someone who cares about protecting people. So I don’t want him to get whatever he wants with those weapons he’s collecting.”

Expecting the usual argument about you being of no use, you kept your eyes stubbornly down. But Jungkook was quiet.

If you looked up, you would have seen him blinking at you. Curious, almost.

But you never did, not until his expression clouded over again and he made to speak.

“And if the others knew you did something this stupid, they’d keep you away from the action even longer.”

You rolled your eyes, but had to admit that Jungkook wasn’t wrong.

“Pretty much,” you conceded, “and I do want this. It finally feels like I have a purpose.”

You had never expected to be so blisteringly honest with Jungkook, but when you laid beseeching eyes on him, you knew you had got through somehow.

Seemingly displeased with his own decision, his mouth straightened into a line.

“Fine. I won’t tell them. But you better not do it again, you know I’ll get the blame as well.”

You weren’t sure if that was entirely true, but if Jungkook wanted to make that his reason for helping you out, then so be it.

At last, it seemed he had reached his limit with you. He stood abruptly, casting one more glance at you, and strode away. Watching his retreating form, you sunk further into the sofa. A subtle smile took up residence on your face.

You hadn’t even put the tv on. Silence filled the apartment and you stared up at the ceiling from your position on the sofa.

Since you and Jungkook talked a few days ago, he had, surprisingly, kept his word. Around the others he stoically ignored you as normal, but also diligently kept his mouth shut about your little accident.

You suspected he also didn’t want to admit to helping you. But whatever kept him quiet worked for you.

It was true that he glanced over at you more often despite his continued frosty attitude towards you. Or perhaps you were imagining that? He was just glaring at you like always – only, you began to read into it too much. Now you two shared a secret, in a sense, it meant that every time his eyes locked with yours they seemed to hold more significance.

However, you had to remind yourself nothing had changed. The two of you were still only here because you were stuck together on Namjoon’s orders. Which was the same reason Jungkook had been the one to help you before.

No, nothing had changed.

Turning your head, you let your cheek fall against the cushion as you hesitantly gazed at the tv. Maybe you should put it on, just to fill the silence?

The lack of noise in the house served as proof that Jungkook wanted as little to do with you as ever. The moment the boys were out, he made himself scarce.

At least you had been permitted to learn more about what exactly they were doing when they went out. They were leaving the house more and more frequently, and for longer stretches of time. Given Bolt’s movements, and his startling power at their last encounter (due to the weapons he had stolen from Kuyang), the boys were launching a counter-operation.

If they couldn’t defend their allies from a direct attack, they had to bide their time until they could build an attack strategy.

So for now, they were relocating important developers to throw Bolt off. Stop him before he could gain even more power; before he became too much of a match for them.

Jin seemed fairly confident that they had tracked Bolt’s sources well enough to feed him misinformation to keep him unaware of their movements. The only risk now lay in the transportation of what you could only assume were deadly weapons through the city.

Standing on the kitchen counter was a small black receiver. You could turn it on if you wanted, hear what was happening.

You were contemplating it when something pulled at your thoughts. Your focus frayed, distracted by that incomprehensible feeling that there was someone behind you.

Flipping over on the sofa, you found Jungkook leaning against the wall. His arms were folded, but there was no glare entrenched on his face. Startled, you eyed his damp hair, the oversized black shirt hanging from his shoulders.

Clearly he had just come from a shower, so why wasn’t he going to train?

The absence of a scowl was really throwing you off. He didn’t look totally comfortable, expression tight and slightly expectant, but what did he want with you?

You raised your eyebrows in question.

He blinked at you, then his eyes slid away from your face, looking somewhere over your head and through to the kitchen.

“Training,” he said.

You continued to stare, but he just as stubbornly avoided your eyes.

After another moment, you huffed and sat up.

“Training?” you echoed.

“We’re going to training.”

“…we?”

“You heard me.”

His response was dry. Already, he was pushing away from the wall and turning his back on you, leaving you little choice but to follow.

Leaving the couch and hurrying after him, you made it to his side on the stairs.

“I thought I wasn’t supposed to use my powers? After…”

“Not for speed,” he corrected you, eyes fixed ahead.

A frown furrowed your brow as you reached the training space. Today, you remained in the main, largest room. There was no one around and clearly Jungkook didn’t have want of the targets you normally used, as he stopped right in the middle and turned to you.

His brows were pinched, clearly a little hesitant about this. You noticed the way his teeth pulled slightly at his lower lip.

“Power,” he said.

You stared. With a subtle roll of his eyes, he elaborated.

“Apart from speed, that’s what you need to work on. You need to connect with your powers, feel like the light is an extension of you. Since you can’t work on your agility, it’s time to think about force.”

Nodding, you felt your confidence raise a little. When you had trained by yourself before, you had hit upon that exact feeling he described, an almost physical connection that let you lift the target.

Plus, using a little force would be more than welcome, with the pent up tension you had felt since your last disastrous practice.

Jungkook took your confirmation and stepped forwards into line with you, holding your gaze. He held his arms slightly away from his body, palms facing you.

“Summon your powers and push against me,” he instructed.

It took you a moment to get your bearings and prepare to use your powers. It had been a while. You tried to hide your slight wince when you searched for the powers only to find a scorching, tangled mess where they usually flowed from, like someone had knotted barbed wire there.

Swallowing, you let your eyes slide shut for a moment. It was as if your power was hissing at you, an animal you had to coax from hiding.

But coax it you did, the first slight tug leading them to easily unravel until the electricity flowed through your veins again. Beside a slight tremor in the flow of blue light you released, it seemed fairly normal.

Surely Jungkook wouldn’t approve of the clumsiness with which you handled your powers, though? But when you looked up, he only appeared focussed.

With a small nod as your powers shot through the air, his eyes clouded with gold and his own luminous lightning welled in his hands.

He didn’t fire a strong bolt to match yours. It appeared that he held a small golden fountain in each hand, bubbling gently, just enough to dispel your blue electricity before it could strike his palms.

Your eyes connected.

It was curious, how Jungkook’s eyes looked so much less deadly when they were literally glowing with power. As you held his gaze, you felt no urge to look away. Instead, his focus, gentle and firm at the same time, affirmed you.

Taking a breath, you continued to let your powers flow freely.

“Concentrate on your powers,” he spoke in a low voice, “feel them moving through you. Then follow that feeling outwards, feel where they connect with me.”

Taking in his words with a determined nod, you searched within you for the feeling he spoke of.

This time, you didn’t close your eyes. You were already familiar with the taste of your power in your veins, and found it with little effort.

But you stared into those gold eyes as you searched for him, the sight of them making it easier to find the corresponding sensation. Colliding with your power, you were surprised to stumble across a warmth pulsing against them. You hadn’t even realised you had followed the flow of your powers outside your fingertips; the feeling hadn’t altered as far as you could tell.

Sure enough, however, there was Jungkook – it was undeniable. Inexplicably, the intensity of his eyes felt the exact same as the fiery power rushing to meet your own lightning.

Before you could say anything, Jungkook’s lips twitched into a smirk.

“You can feel it, right?”

Now you had found it, it was easy to hold onto the sensation of his powers as they met your own.

Elated, you exhaled with a smile. His grew too.

“I’m going to push back now,” he said, “keep the connection. It’ll be like arm wrestling, only with our powers.”

You knew you should have felt a little sceptical about that. If it was anything like arm wrestling, Jungkook would be able to topple you in a second. He had been training much longer than you, and was undeniably stronger.

In fact, all you felt was an ignition in your chest, competitiveness flaring up inside you.

Jungkook’s expression shifted into focus. His smirk slipped into a concentrated line.

Where the gold in his eyes had been rippling lazily, it now grew in ferocity, blazing harshly in contrast to the abysses of his dark pupils.

The instant his powers switched, you felt it. No longer a soft warmth, they sent a jolt through you as they connected in earnest, the threads of your electricity fusing together like wires and throwing out a ball of sparks.

The molten light warred in the air between you, your eyes no doubt as vivid as Jungkook’s as you allowed more power through your palms to match his force.

To your surprise, they complied instantly. It seemed your powers were enjoying being let out like this, having lashed out the last time when you had stubbornly forced them to stop and start. With the growing power flowing from you, their connection with Jungkook strengthened as well. You could sense a distinctly gold force clashing with your powers.

Even though you could see the point where your powers converged, the feeling allowed you to notice every minute crackle of electricity, every pulse of Jungkook’s lightning.

Just like before, when you had lifted the target, your powers felt much more than just a fleeting rush of sparks. They formed a bridge outwards from your body, reaching beyond.

You felt strong.

And if Jungkook wanted to wrestle, you weren’t going to go down easily.

Channelling yet more power outwards, you pushed hard against his gold powers where they met your own.

For a moment, you succeeded in subduing the opposing force. Sparks flew again, Jungkook staggering back a step as the gold light retreated from your advance, blue dominating the bolt of energy that connected you two.

Jungkook smiled.

The next moment, it became clear he had been waiting for you to get used to the feeling and make a move. But you had no time to be touched by his newfound patience as you found yourself battling against a renewed burst of pressure from his end.

Raising your arms to be level with your shoulders, aiming at him, you gritted your teeth and stubbornly weathered the temptation to step back as his powers shoved against yours.

Now both of you were using all your energy, the connection was more vivid than before. You could sense every vein of the electricity, his as well as yours. Finding strength from somewhere, you resisted his onslaught and managed to take a step forwards.

Your tussle continued, fire against fire, both of you matching the other’s power but advancing until you were practically toe to toe.

Outstretched, slightly above your head, your hands were level, vibrant light still connecting them although his palm was just inches from yours. A waterfall of blue and gold sparks fell between your faces while you stared at each other with blazing eyes. Your breathing was heavy, trying to keep up with his relentless power, but Jungkook was also panting, damp hair falling over his eyes.

You were out of breath, but the warm air brushing over your face from Jungkook’s lips assured you that you weren’t the only one.

A sharp, exhilarated smile lit up his mouth. A brow quirked, his words breathless as he spoke.

“Not bad. Hold it…”

Sucking in a breath, you prepared for one last effort. Avoiding Jungkook’s eyes had long left your priority list, and now you were drawn in by the burning gold within them. It was like you were staring at the sun, but you couldn’t look away, not even when their light grew, yet more of his power flowing through you.

His gaze burned just as intently back, eyes trained on your own which were surely lit up blue. A slight crease formed in his brow, perhaps from concentration…

Again, you matched his power even as he overloaded the connection, more and more energy sparking in the air-

His gaze flitted away, the connection cutting abruptly.

For a moment, the brightness of the sparks, and Jungkook’s eyes, left dazzling prints on your vision even as they sputtered from existence. Air rushed in and out of your lungs, the exertion not hitting you until now.

Without the channel to focus your energy, you staggered back from Jungkook, blinking in the relative dimness.

Sensing the strength that had drained from you, you let yourself take another step to sink against the wall behind you. Breathing still heavy, you looked up at Jungkook. Though his chest heaved too, cheeks slightly flushed under his dripping hair, he hadn’t moved an inch.

Only when you met his eyes, which had returned to their regular darkness, did he start, quickly marching away to grab water bottles from the corner of the room.

One flew in your direction. Just about managing to snatch it from the air, you took an eager sip. Now you had had time to catch your breath, a strange silence settled.

“How did it feel?”

Jungkook wasn’t even looking at you. He had made his way to the bottom of the staircase, and now leaned against them, apparently finding the floor very interesting.

Hesitantly, you made your way closer, following a step behind as he started climbing back to the main house.

“Yeah, my powers, they feel… it wasn’t painful,” you replied, “they’re like normal again.”

Jungkook nodded.

“You did good. Still, don’t push it.”

By then, you had reached the top of the stairs. After pausing for a moment, Jungkook awkwardly moved away to the kitchen, while you hung back to have a shower.

The odd tension that had clung to the space between you since training occupied your mind as the water flowed over you, reinvigorating your tired body. In a way, it was just like usual. You and Jungkook had never been comfortable around each other.

But then why did it feel odd now?

The training session had given you a taste of something different. For once, Jungkook hadn’t spent the time trying to antagonise you. Instead, you had a real chance to push yourself.

It was probably the fact that, after so long without using your powers, you simply missed feeling the rush of electricity. No matter if it was also because connecting with Jungkook's powers had felt so thrilling too.

That thought was gone as quickly as the water running over you. Outside the training room at least, you knew where you stood. And that was very, very far from Jungkook.

Which is why you were so perplexed when you reached the kitchen, and didn’t find it empty.

Pausing in the hallway, you honestly considered turning back around and leaving. Trust Jungkook to try and claim the kitchen since you were absent.

But you weren’t going to be deterred. You were hungry.

It was his fault anyway, for training you so hard, so you took a breath and pushed your damp hair behind your shoulder before striding into the space.

At first, you made your best attempt at keeping your chin up, confident while also acting as if you magically couldn’t see Jungkook at all. It was how you usually approached each other. Unfortunately, you couldn’t stop yourself from noticing that whatever he was making wasn’t going well.

Halfway through throwing your own ingredients onto the counter, you stopped to cast a sceptical eye over the mess he was making. He was making an equally good show of not noticing your presence, and continued throwing in random sauces, not before eyeing them all fairly hesitantly first.

Biting your lip, you shrugged it off and turned your eyes back to your own dinner.

But you could no longer ignore it when he took a taste from his spoon and quite literally recoiled.

Loudly putting your knife down, you sighed in frustration.

“Do you want some help?”

Quickly straightening out his face from the way it had been screwed up from the taste, he blinked around at you. He really did look surprised at your presence.

You rolled your eyes, marching over to him and peering into his pan.

“What are you making?”

Folding his arms across his chest, you could hear the pout in his voice as he replied.

“Tteokbokki.”

You stared. At the food, which certainly did not resemble tteokbokki, and then at Jungkook.

“No you’re not.”

“I am! Jin always makes it like this!”

“Maybe when he’s making something for his science experiments,” you scoffed.

Defiant, Jungkook reached for his packet of soft rice cakes, totally ignoring you. You had to lunge across the counter to save them from a grizzly fate in that pan of definitely not tteokbokki.

Deep down, he clearly agreed with you, because he didn’t protest all that much as you forcibly removed the pan from the stove, depositing the whole mess in the bin.

“This is how you’ve been eating?”

Jungkook looked a little startled, his eyes wide for a moment before he managed to resurrect his scowl.

“We ran out of ramen,” he muttered.

You stared at him in disbelief. Had no one taught him to cook?

“What would Jin say?” you huffed, returning to the stove and elbowing him out the way.

Before long, you had your own meal cooking, now with some extra added. After a few moments, Jungkook had skulked away, watching you silently from the table. Once again, you pretended not to pay him any mind.

Two steaming bowls of (actually edible) food eventually made it to the table.

Sitting down opposite him, neither of you began for a moment. Each of you was waiting for the other to do something.

When at last you reached for your chopsticks, the sound was deafening against the strained silence between you.

Perhaps Jungkook was encouraged to see you didn’t drop dead after taking a bite, because he finally started to eat as well. Not that you let yourself look at him beyond the odd brief glance. You kept your attention firmly on the meal, which was actually quite tasty if you did say so yourself.

“Thanks.”

You nearly jumped out of your skin, eyes shooting up to stare at Jungkook. He stopped mid-bite, big eyes returning your bewildered gaze as if he had no idea who had spoken.

You blinked. Clearing your throat, you averted your gaze again, picking at your food.

“No problem.”

“It’s nearly as good as Jin’s,” he drawled next.

Disbelieving, you swallowed your next bite and raised your eyebrows.

“Are you seriously trying to come for me after I gave you food?”

“That’s a compliment!” he defended.

“Sure.”

“Fine,” he huffed, attacking his food a bit more aggressively.

Taking a breath, you chewed your lip. Jungkook took a bite with more force than strictly necessary, brows furrowed. Maybe he had really meant it in a nice way?

You had trouble believing that, somehow.

“It’s a hell of a lot better than yours would have been,” you grumbled, then paused. “but… I suppose Jin is a very good chef.”

For a moment, Jungkook didn’t reply. But he finished chewing and set his chopsticks down a bit more gently.

“Why would I have to practise cooking when he’s always here to do it?” he murmured.

Deciding for once to take the opportunity to ease the situation, you smiled.

“I don’t blame you.”

Both of you allowed a temporary ceasefire to settle as you cleared your plates. You didn’t miss Jungkook’s glance towards the little black receiver standing on the table.

With the frequency of operations at the moment, it was clear Namjoon classed the whole situation with Bolt as an emergency. Jungkook hadn’t been wrong – Jin was usually there, or one of the others, to cook. As much as it still surprised you that he was so clueless, you saw that prying was going to get you nowhere.

He wasn’t the only one that missed the others, though. Or hoped they were okay.

You leaned over and turned the receiver on.

Thank you for reading! I really mean it, it's wonderful now I'm finally sharing this story to hear what you guys think as we go through it!! I appreciate every last one of you who comments💜💜

<prev | masterlist | next>

Let me know if you want to join the taglist!!

taglist: @aianloveseven @preciouschimine @written-in-flowers @taegularities @dvalities

@parapiop7 @taiwan0618 @11thenightwemet11 @junniesoleilkth @doctorquack

@oddinary4bts @svnbangtansworld @ktownshizzle @minisugakoobies @jksusawife

@kokoandkookie @veemegatron @kookxin @seokout @jkayy

@peaaachpit @stxrrielle @welcometomyworld13 @ssexsellls

[rentoraanyan]

the god damn rush of adrenaline experienced today when my fucking spatula fell right out of my pan BEHIND my piece of kitchen furniture

[echoingalaxies]

Content: self-punishment/injury, conditioned whumpee, trauma

Whumpee got up before dawn to prepare breakfast. For so long now, it had been their routine, something they'd gotten used to doing no matter their condition, no matter the amount of pain or exhaustion weighing them down. Coffee with two sugars, and three fried eggs, would have to be ready to be served precisely at 6, and Whumpee would carry them to Whumper's room where he would still be sleeping, wake him up, and stand there, head bowed, wait until he finished his meal and then take the dirty dishes to the sink.

The few times Whumpee had missed the 6 am mark, even by a couple of minutes, hadn't ended well. Whumpee ran their fingers over the scars they'd received for those mistakes, wide and raised under their shirt, as they waited for the food to cook. They kept glancing at the clock, anxiously, shivering at the thought of being late, but they also couldn't hurry too much because the punishment for undercooked eggs would be just as cruel.

At 5:58, Whumpee had everything set up, and taking the plate and the large mug of coffee in their hands, they started to head toward the stairs, moving slowly for their aching body. Whumpee had become really good at counting in their head, so they knew they were right on time, as they balanced the mug on the plate for a second to knock on Whumper's door.

They pushed the door open, flicked on the lights - so much brighter than Whumpee remembered... He hadn't changed the lightbulb, so had Whumper had to do it himself? How come hadn't he told Whumpee to do it? - and went next to his bed.

"Your breakfast, sir," they said, trying to sound chipper but gentle, humble and happy to be there. "Good morning, sir," they added quickly after, almost having forgotten the proper way of greeting. What has wrong with them today?

Whumper, usually waking up to their voice and demanding to have the food immediately, just pulled the duvet to his chin, face deep buried into pillows. He grunted something inaudible, and Whumpee was left standing there, unsure what to do.

"S-sir? It's morning, sir, time to rise. Are you feeling ill?"

"Shut up," Whumper growled, and his voice was odd, but Whumpee pressed their lips together tightly, afraid to make a sound. "What the fuck are you doing, it's so damn early..."

The plate and the mug were shaking in Whumpee's hands as they began to breathe heavily, panicking. They'd been on time, but they'd made a mistake. They'd made some kind of mistake. Whumper was upset, and oh, when he'd wake up, hell was awaiting for them...

"Please," Whumpee whispered. "I- I'm so sorry. So sorry, sir..."

After a few mess-ups, Whumper had introduced Whumpee to an alternative option when it came to punishments of slipping off schedule or not completing their tasks just as Whumper had told them to. Quicker, easier, and for Whumper, even more fun than getting to carve marks on Whumpee's skin.

He'd love to watch Whumpee be humiliated.

"I don't want to waste my time on you when I have better things to do," Whumper had once said. "Make it simpler for the both of us. You know when you mess up. Why not get the consequenses out of the way? Use whatever's available, as long as you clean up the blood."

Whumper was still under the covers, perhaps falling back to sleep. Whumpee was still confused by the situation, but it seemed like he should've somehow known to not bother him this morning, oh no, they'd done gravely wrong, and there was only two ways out...

And they'd made their choice which route to take.

Whumpee set the plate on the nightstand, and closed their eyes, when with trembling hands, they took the mug of still steaming coffee above their head and spilled it all over themselves. Even as cried out in agony, they kept reminding themselves whatever Whumper would have done to them would've been worse, and with any luck, this would be enough.

Whumper was once again woken up by Whumpee's cries, and bolted up from the bed like he'd been electrocuted. Whumpee felt a sting in their heart. Of course they'd want to watch. Why would they miss the show? Maybe they'd be unsatisfied with their pain and make Whumpee throw themselves down the stairs for good measure.

Whumper cursed loudly and grabbed Whumpee's arm, pulling them out of the room and to the nearest bathroom. He shoved Whumpee under the shower and turned it on, turning the temperature cold. He squeezed Whumpee's arms, shaking them lightly.

"Oh god, Whumpee, why would you do that? What were you thinking?"

Whumpee coughed, the water getting into their mouth. They shivered, from cold and from fear.

Another mistake.

Nothing made sense.

Why was whumper helping him? What was all of this?

Whumpee tried to pry themselves away from Whumper's grip and out of the shower, but Whumper held them still.

"I'm sorry, sir, I'm sorry -"

"Wait," he said, sounding concerned rather than angry now. "Oh shit, Whumpee, no, stop that. Look at me. I'm not him."

Whumpee did as they were told and raised their gaze to meet the eyes they expected to be gray and cruel, and was shocked to see hazel, and nothing but kindness.

"I'm not him," he repeated, and Whumpee blinked a few times, letting their eyes take in the rest of the person's face. "Everything is okay. You're home, remember? Safe."

The person had dark circles under their eyes. They had a friendly face, although right now, they wore a worried expression. Whumpee wiped water from their face to see better... their eyes must've been lying to them...

"I..." Whumpee begun, stammering. "S-sorry... I should've let you sleep... I didn't know... I'm sorry..."

"Whumpee, shh." The person reached to turn off the shower and then let go of them to grab a large, thick towel they spread on Whumpee's shoulders. "Don't, I'm sorry, okay? I didn't realise it was you. You shouldn't even be walking! I thought it was Teammate just annoying me, I was barely awake, I didn't mean to be harsh towards you."

Whumpee pulled the towel around them, turning their head to look around. They knew this bathroom. They'd been patched up here many times before, years earlier. It was Caretaker's.

They looked at the person in front of them. They knew them. It was coming to them slowly, but they knew them better than anyone.

"Caretaker?"

They smiled. "Yeah. It's me. It's okay. You've been home for a few days now, remember?"

"I... guess."

Caretaker helped Whumpee out of their wet clothes and let them shower privately, washing the coffee off their hair and ease the pain in the burns on their scalp, their face, their shoulders.

When whumpee was ready, they opened the door to let Caretaker in once again. Caretaker sat them down on a little stool and started to treat their injuries, talking in a calming matter throughout the process. Whumpee was still feeling lost, his brain struggling to understand what was real and what was not.

"I'm still so sorry, Whumpee," Caretaker said, spreading something soothing over his burns. "I never should've allowed things to go so far that you'd do this to yourself."

"I didn't want you to hurt me," Whumpee said quietly. Caretaker stilled for a second, then continued rubbing the lotion on Whumpee's skin. Whumpee bit their cheeks. Caretaker, and everybody else, didn't know much about what he'd been through with Whumper. They hadn't had many opportunities to talk that much yet.

"I would never do that." Caretaker leaned in and pressed an unexpected kiss on Whumpee's forehead. Whumpee blushed, though they were grateful it probably was hidden by their already reddened face. No one had done that for... Whumpee didn't even know how long. "No one will ever hurt you here. And you never have to hurt yourself, okay?"

Whumpee wished they could keep that promise. But who was to say what happened this morning wouldn't happen again?

"Yeah," they said. Caretaker's touch was gentle and comforting, and Whumpee remembered them as a trustworthy person.

Only it all wasn't up to Caretaker.

And it wasn't up to Whumpee. They didn't decide to forget they were not living in that nightmare anymore.

But if things were to be like this, would they ever truly get out?

[klausinamarink]

One Kid Gone, Another Up and Vanished (part 6)

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 next: Part 7

Hey I’m back! starting to change the POVs around a bit - plot is kicking ^-^

After she strings the last line of Christmas lights on the wall, Joyce starts painting the alphabet letters underneath each bulb with determination.

This might not work, but she knows her son can do it. He’s already brilliant to use the lights and this will be much easier for him. For her.

Satisfied with her work, Joyce steps back down on the floor. The lights are off, but she knows they’ll turn bright anyways.

“Okay, Will, sweetie?” She calls out. She imagines that Will is pressed against her leg just like he does when he’s shy and alone. Her heart aches at the thought. “I’ve done something that it’ll be- well, I hope it’ll be better than the ‘yes’ or ‘no’s. But, uh, if you can see this, you can actually spell out what you need to say.”

She waits for a few seconds. Then, the light for Y flickers.

“We can practice if you want!” Oh, she hopes it works. But Will can do it. “Can you- ah, what to do.. Oh! Your name! Can you spell your name on this?”

Will’s response takes another few seconds, almost too long. But lights flicker individually before Joyce’s eyes.

W-I-L-L

Joyce can’t stop herself from clapping excitedly. “Oh my god, Will! You did it! I knew you can do it!”

One of the lamps next to the couch flicker repeatedly. Is this Will’s way of clapping and cheering with her? Her heart fills up, almost as painful as the past few days had been. Then the lights on the wall start spelling again.

A-N-D-E-D-D-I-E

“And.. Eddie?” Joyce frowns. Is her son not alone? Wherever he is that she can’t reach? Shit, is he safe? “I’m sorry, sweetie, are you- tell me you are safe. Are you alone?”

S-A-F-E-N-O-T-A-L-O-N-E

”I-I’m sorry, Will.” Joyce shakes her head, feeling suddenly overwhelmed. “I don’t really understand right now, but can we stick to short answers for now? Can you tell me where exactly are you?”

H-E-R-E

“Here? Here, where? Will, where is here? I- I can’t see you!”

Several lightbulbs seems to combat with each other one in blues and reds. Then they stop. And then-

R-U-N

Every light in the house flickers maniacally and Joyce runs outside as something in the wall starts tearing out again.

—

Eddie slams his back against one of the largest trees, clenching Will and their spears close to his chest. His lungs are collapsing in themselves so hard that he won’t be surprised if they turn into a new galaxy system or whatever.

The demogorgon roars, the sound echoing closer by the second.

His breathing is sharp as needles as he tries to get it under control. It only sends him into a coughing fit. Will kicks him in the ankle, hissing, “It’ll hear us!”

Eddie tells him, “Do you think I’m doing this on purpose?” Or at least he tries to when he starts coughing again. He slides down to his ass, feeling the prickle of tears in his eyes. It almost overlaps with the even louder branches snapping from behind.

Will’s hands fly to Eddie’s mouth and clamp down hard on his cloth mask. He forces to swallow down the coughs despite his throat tickling uncomfortably.

He hears the demogorgon stomping around, roaring in frustration. Eddie’s chest constricts from lack of air and he’s seeing black spots again.

Please go away, you Venus Fly-Trap face fuck.

It does not go away. Instead, the demogorgon comes out right next to them.

Eddie would’ve screamed.

So by the laws of natural order, it’s Will who screams at the demogorgon and makes it worse by thrusting one of the fucking spears at it.

What happens next is a literal blur.

Eddie does still remember the demogorgon screeching before it grabs Will and throws him across the forest floor. He remembers somehow standing up and somehow getting the demogorgon’s attention on Eddie. He remembers darting to the side at the last second so the monster crashes right into the tree.

He remembers running, Will’s hand gripped tightly in his.

They crash into another block of houses that Eddie doesn’t really recognize at first glance. He only laser-focuses on running into one of the open garages where the doors to the occupant’s living are wide open for him to drop into without a risk of messing with the vines.

Well, he still steps over the vines and barely checks for a wide enough space to collapse onto, but not really the point.

Eddie wheezes, his back on the floor and gaze to the dark-stained ceiling. His lungs rattle uncontrollably as he coughs and coughs until he feels a glass bottle in his hand. He’s careful not to drink it down fast, but it soothes his throat enough to subside the coughing.

He hears Will give out a whoosh of air, “I think the demogorgon won’t find us for a while.”

Eddie doesn’t stop snapping his head towards the boy’s direction. Or the newborn wrath in his voice as he questions, “You think?”

Will immediately shrinks down, his body retracting into his vest like a baby turtle.

“You think the demogorgon can’t get us because you think it was great to stab it?”

Anger shimmers off Eddie as he stands up, albeit with shaking legs. “What the fuck were you thinking?! Whatever happen to hiding so it doesn’t, oh god I don’t know, kill us?”

“I-I know it wasn’t a good idea…” Will’s voice is small. Eddie’s brain is telling himself to shut the hell up, but Eddie doesn’t listen to his brain most of his time so he continues the triad.

“What was supposed to be your plan, Little Byers? Huh? Stab the demogorgon? Just like that? Without a goddamn second thought of ‘hey, maybe this will get me and my new best friend killed and I would never go home at all!’ Jesus Christ… you’re a goddamn lucky charm not to lose that spear. And it had to be right after you finally talked to your mom who was so fucking happy to even hear-”

A gut wrenching sob breaks through his words.

Eddie stops himself and looks down at Will, curled up to himself as his body violently shudder with every sob.

Munson, you fucking idiot.

“Oh shit,” Eddie is already on his knees, facing Will. His hands hover uselessly over the boy. “Will, hey, hey. I’m sorry. I’m really so sorry. I never meant-”

Will flinches away from him, burying his face deeper into his arms.

And if that didn’t already break Eddie’s heart, he doesn’t know what else would. And he knows firsthand what yelling and incessantly blaming a child for a mistake does wonders. He knows what it’s like to live constantly on eggshells because the person you love can hurt you at a moment’s notice.

Even for something life threatening as being chased by man-eating monsters in an alternate dimension, Will Byers doesn’t deserve that. And Eddie just ruined it.

“Will-” He reaches out again. This time, Will kicks and hits him, snot and tears pouring out of him. This time, Eddie keeps his arms around Will and holds him tight as close as he can.

“Let me go!” Will cries. “I just wanna go home! Let me see my mom by myself! I want to go home!”

“I know, I know.” Eddie shushes him, gently rocking him back and forth. A far cry mimic from what his mom and Wayne used to do, but he hopes it’s good enough. Please let it be good enough. “I’m sorry I yelled at you. I’m sorry I made you feel more hurt. I’m sorry I made you cry. I’m sorry-”

Will eventually goes limp but moves his arms around Eddie’s neck. Eddie keeps rocking him even when his apologies are done. Will’s tears stain his shirt even when the kid starts singing The Clash song with broken breaths. Eddie keeps holding him as he joins in.

They’re the only ones in hell after all.

—

There’s a knocking on the front door and it makes Wayne dash faster than he ever did in ‘Nam. He already sees Eddie on the steps, dirty and tired but safe-

But it’s only Jim Hopper, holding a small brown bag.

“Hey, Wayne.” The chief smiles thinly in exhaustion. Wayne doesn’t smile back. “Thought I would bring a bit of breakfast.”

“Why are you here, Jim?” He cuts through the pleasantries, hoping, hoping that it’s not any bad news.

Hopper says nothing. Just gestures to the picnic table near the trailer. Wayne thinks about shutting the door instead, about assuming the worst and let the grief come in.

But he only goes inside to grab his cup of coffee and cigarettes. Then he follows Hopper outside.

They sit down, neither of them reaching for the bag. Wayne doesn’t have much of an appetite recently and he doesn’t take good cop food. Though he allows Hopper to take one of his cigarettes.

Finally, just as the morning air continues to weigh on them, Hopper sighs heavily and says, “Will Byers was found last night.”

“Where?”

“The quarry.”

Christ.

Wayne closes his eyes. He doesn’t ask about how the boy was found because he and his brother grew up next to a wetland back home and when too many boys went there to swim, it was guaranteed that one of them would be as still as the water’s surface by sunset. And he could count on both hands how many boys met that fate.

He hopes that Joyce Byers and her eldest weren’t there to find him.

“We haven’t found any leads on Eddie so far.”

“Thought the hit and run theory was the only one.” Wayne doesn’t hide the disdain in his voice. He takes a drag, hearing Hopper’s frustrated huff.

“If it makes you feel better, I fired Powell’s ass.”

Wayne takes another drag of his cigarette. He clicks his tongue before saying, “I appreciate the act of kindness. But I’ll feel better when Eddie comes home.”

“I know you want your nephew back safe but…” He shoots Hopper a look, watching the chief fumble the words before he continues, “I’m not gonna sugarcoat this, Wayne, but there’s a couple new cases that popped up. The state is getting involved too.”

“The state.” Wayne feels a dry twinge in his mouth.

“Yeah.” Hopper shakes his head. “It’s a little fishy, if you ask. But if they are going to at least help out-”

Wayne doesn’t hear what he says next because he’s standing up and walking back to the trailer. He’s only inside for a second just to swipe his leather-bound notebook off the kitchen counter. He comes back and throws it on the wooden table in front of Hopper with a thick slam.

The chief gets startled by that, looks up at Wayne, and back to the notebook when Wayne gives him nothing else. He watches Hopper flip through the pages and then read one. “What-”

“This-” Wayne points at the book he’d filled in the past few hours when sleeping was hopeless, “is everything I’ve done so far about Eddie’s whereabouts. I’ve asked everyone in town. I’ve checked every godforsaken place both in and out of Hawkins, even the ones that are dangerous lookin’. Nobody even has a clue he’s missing. Some of ‘em even said I worried too much for a boy who ran off to a silly city concert. As if worrying for my boy has been my livelihood since he first came to my front door.”

He stares hard at Hopper. The chief just looks down at the book, his face unreadable.

“Even if you were busy with the Byers boy, you should’ve gone looking for Eddie too. But none of ya did so I did. Now I’m running out of leads, chief. I don’t know where to find him next.”

Wayne is always a calm person. But anger always finds a way to crawl out like a maggot.

He takes a deep breath, blinking his eyes hard. “How long it’ll take for you to even care out what happened to my nephew before his body turns up next?”

It feels horribly wrong to assume Eddie’s already dead. It breaks his heart to say it aloud. But Wayne knows from the bottom of his soul and his great-aunt’s crockpot that Eddie’s alive. Missing but somehow here in the world and breathing.

Hopper closes his eyes. After taking a breath, he stands up, leaving the notebook on the table.

“Take it.” Wayne orders. Hopper looks at him uncertainly. “Might as well share it with the state if they’re that cooperative.”

Hopper sighs again and takes the notebook in hand, walking back to his car. He leaves the brown bag on the table though. Before he gets in, Hopper turns and calls out, “Some lab results came back. The stain on the van’s front is just animal blood.”

Wayne just crosses his arms and says nothing back.

As he watches him leave, he realizes his cigarette is still burning. He drops it on bench where Hopper had sat and crushes it under his boot.

—

“You said that Will was alive and we could find him! But now he’s dead!” Mike scrubs his hands over his wet face again as he paces fiercely in the basement. El’s sitting in the tent, watching him with sad eyes. She’s been doing this since-

Another bottle of tears well up in him. Mike shuts his eyes, hoping not to burst. He’s already been a crying mess since he got home last night and had to tell his mom about Will-

“Why did you lie to us? Why did you lie to me? Why?” He doesn’t look at El because if he does, her eyes will still be sad and he’s going to cry again. “Friends don’t lie! Why did you have to hide he was dead? Why couldn’t-”

His walkie turns on with static. He whirls around, almost ready to throw it at the wall if it was from Dustin or Lucas asking if he’s okay. But he sees it on El’s hands. Her eyes are closed, concentrating.

“Hey, don’t-!” He starts forward but freezes when a familiar voice comes through.

“-I stay or should I go? Darling, you got to let me know?”

It’s Will. Clear as day. Alive.

“C’mon, you have to know the next lines by now. Can you sing them?”

Mike’s wide eyes are on the radio. Tears are prickling but for a different reason.

There’s an aggravated sigh and then, “Little Byers, I have to admit that your song is giving me a massive ear worm. I’m sorry but I will not sing The Clash from my own tongue.”

That’s… not Will.

“This can be the last time, I swear! Then you can sing Bowie-”

“I thought I told you I don’t listen to David Bowie!?” The second person squawks.

“You said not to tell anyone you listen to Bowie. And there’s nobody here… so-”

Mike grabs his walkie from El’s hands and yells, “Will! I’m here! I can hear you! Can you read me?! Over!”

“God, this.. how… crafted image dies...”

“What’s… -ur deal… Bowie… -t ba-…”

The static comes back and soon takes away Will’s sound. Mike tries to radio again but nothing happens. He whirls back to El with an open mouth. “Was that…?”

El smiles softly, her nose bleeding. “Will. Eddie.”

Many questions run through Mike’s head. The first one out of his mouth is, “Who the heck is Eddie?”

— —

Taglist: @unclewaynemunson @steves-strapcollection @hellion-child @sidekick-hero @mmmmwaffles94 @demolitionjetstar @hbyrde36@princessstevemunson @sirsnacksalot @tartarusknight @lyriclight @kodaik97 @plsdontdrinkmylavalamp @wuttttttttttt @bookbinderbitch@gutterflower77 @tentativeghost @soaringornithopter @angeldreamsoffanfic @panicatthediaz @renaissan-vvitch @manda-panda-monium @newtstabber

[densi-mber]

A Gift of Joy

A/N: Yes, I’m being very self-indulgent, as usual, for my birthday.

***

“I scheduled the appointment to bring my SUV in for maintenance next week,” Kensi told Deeks. He glanced up from switching out a mini lightbulb from a strand of lights on the Christmas tree.

“Sweet.”

“Also, my water just broke.”

Deeks stilled, one eyebrow arching up as he processed this piece of information. “Are you having any contractions yet?”

“Yeah, but only one so far and not very strong,” Kensi answered.

“Ok, well, Sheila said we probably wouldn’t need to head to the hospital until you get to five minutes between contractions, right?” Deeks checked, clearly already three steps ahead in his head.

“Yeah. Unless I have any severe pain, get dizzy, or feel like I need to push.” She knew she wasn’t telling Deeks anything new, since he’d taken copious notes during all of their pregnancy classes provided by their midwife, Sheila. It was more to confirm that she wasn’t experiencing any unusual symptoms.

“All right. I’ll, uh, call Sheila so she’s ready when it’s time, and double check we have everything packed.”

Kensi watched him, unbelievably proud of his ability to stay calm. Aside from the first few days after finding out she was pregnant, when they’d both been in a state of shock and overwhelmed, Deeks had attacked the preparation with the same energy and focus he would a case.

“Thanks.” Kensi winced faintly as another contraction rippled through her abdomen and back. Deeks was in front of her, gently clasping her hand in a second.

“You ok, baby?”

“Yeah, that one was just a little stronger,” she explained. “It wasn’t that bad though and about 10 minutes from the last one.”

“Let me know if that changes,” Deeks said. “Do you wanna call Rosa?”

“Yeah, I will as soon as I grab something to eat.” He started to move away, but Kensi stop him with a brief tug of his hand. “Hey, thanks for taking such good care of us.”

“Alway. I love you,” Deeks murmured, kissing her softly. He sank to one knee and pressed his lips to her stomach, his touch so loving and gentle, Kensi felt her throat tighten. Standing up again, Deeks squeezed her hand one more time before rushing off to get things ready.

***

Caleb and Sophia Deeks entered the world 6 minutes apart and just short of four hours after Kensi went into labor. It was a remarkably uncomplicated, if fast, delivery. After checking that Kensi and the babies were all healthy, Sheila had left the family alone to bond.

“This is insane,” Deeks murmured, peering down at Caleb curled up on his bare chest. His hand looked giant against Caleb’s tiny back. For the first time today, he looked, and sounded, a touch overwhelmed. Or maybe awed was a better word.

It gave Kensi so much joy to see him realizing one of his most fervent wishes.

“Hey, come here,” Kensi called softly, not wanting to wake Sophia, who was similarly cradled in her own arms. Both babies had initially cried upon making their grand entrances into the world, then fallen asleep shortly after.

Deeks stood up carefully, keeping Caleb anchored to his chest with one hand. When he reached the side of the hospital bed, Kensi patted the mattress beside her. Deeks slid onto the bed, slipping his free arm around Kensi and Sophia once he was situated.

“I always forget how tiny and completely helpless they are at first. It’s incredible and so, so terrifying,” he said, brushing his finger over Sophia’s round cheek. She sighed in her sleep, shakily stretching one arm to the side before settling again.

“It is, but you’re a natural,” Kensi assured him. “You’ve always been. I mean, just look at how calm he is.” She snuggled closer to him. “I couldn’t have done any of this without you.”

Deeks scoffed. “Please. I just had to stand there while you pushed out these two.”

“You did so much more than that. You gave me the strength and courage I needed to get through labor.” Kensi smiled up at him. “Like you always do.”

“Either way, we made some cute kids,” he said with a smitten look. “I can’t wait for Rosa to meet them.”

“Yeah, just like their daddy.” Kensi tugged at one of his curls, and Deeks snorted.

“You’re ridiculous.” He gestured with his chin towards Sophia. “You wanna switch?”

They carefully made the swap, settling in once more. Kensi leaned her head against his, looking down on their two bundles of joy.

***

A/N: Yes, yes, yes, this time around I gave the babies my birthday. Title references my own middle name. And yes, this is incredibly cheesy.

[danceswithsporks]

Calm-Part 2

Part 2 of 6 in the Complete Series!

Wrecker x F!Seamstress Reader

Part 1

Chapter Summary: Life on Pabu tries to return to normal after the tsunami and you and Wrecker draw closer.

Authors Notes: WOW! I am so sorry this took -checks notes- 2 MONTHS?!?!? Gods I am so sorry to all of you. My brain shut down and I just couldn’t seem to get back into the groove. Once I did I felt like this chapter was a chore I had to get down and that made me drag my feet even more. So I really hope all of you can truly forgive me.

As an offering to regain all of your favors, I give you this extra long chapter!

Chaos, that’s what life on Pabu was like in the days following the tsunami. So many had been uprooted from their homes and lost everything they’d ever owned and known. As the waters receded the true extent of the damage had become known. The lower the waters went, the worse the damage became. Those with homes closest to the docks had felt the brunt of the damage. So many buildings had been destroyed while others had only lost a wall here or a chimney there. It would take weeks to rebuild properly.

Which meant hundreds of people were now without a place to sleep. So you’d done the only thing you could think of, you lent out your home to families with children while you crashed in your shop. Even the private courtyard between your house and the shop was being lent out. But you didn’t mind, your shop was cozy and had everything you needed. Plus with how busy you were, helping with gathering supplies and making clothes, you were too tired to even walk the 30 feet between the shop and your house.

But a big plus did come from the chaos of everything. Wrecker. Your sweet clone helper who always seemed to be around just when you needed him. He’d been there when the shipments from other islands had started to arrive. Crates upon crates of supplies that were far too heavy for you to carry. But for your strong helper? Like lifting a feather. Even inside of your shop, he was helpful. Helping to put the heavier bolts up high when you’d usually need to find your step stool. He helped you move some furniture around so your cot would fit better and even helped you change some lightbulbs in the shop.

It had been a test really, to see just where the line was for how helpful he was being. You’d jokingly stated that the sound your lights were making was keeping you up and that you needed to change them. He’d offered to help and before you could tell him it was fine you’d do it later. He was heading to your supply room to grab the lightbulbs. When Wrecker had returned you’d try to explain it was a simple test and you didn’t need to change them. But he hadn’t listened. You’d expected him to just reach up and start changing them but instead, he’d hoisted you into his shoulder with ease and passed you a lightbulb. Your mind had been too busy savoring the sudden feeling of his large hands wrapping around your waist to fight back.

He moved with ease around your little shop while you easily changed five bulbs. You weren’t sure, but you could swear he was flexing his shoulders beneath your butt on purpose. The first time he’d done it had made you squeak in surprise. After that, he’d continued to do it periodically. Something that made you giggle after a while, which made him chuckle, which made you giggle even more. By the time his large hands were wrapping around your waist once more to help you down, you’d become very comfortable on his shoulder.

“You know I really didn’t need to change those, right?” You’d asked with a smirk.

Wrecker smiled over his shoulder at you as he carefully placed the old bulbs into your trash can. “I know. Couldn’t miss the chance to do some measuring of my own.”

The way he’d said it, with a sexy smirk of his own, had your breath leaving your body. “W-what did you measure?” Was it suddenly getting hot in here? You felt like it was getting hot in here. To your absolute surprise, he picked up your trash can, headed towards the door, and winked at you before speaking.

“I’ll tell ya one day. Gotta have enough for us to talk ‘bout.” He held the trash up for you to see. “Gonna take this to the incinerator, don’t want ya hurtin' yourself.” And then he was gone. Leaving you standing in the middle of your shop in surprise at his words.

You found yourself thinking about that moment a lot over the next few days. Wrecker and his brothers had been kind enough to offer to pick up supplies from one of their friends on some planet that they wouldn’t tell you the name of. “Top Secret.” Had been Tech's response when you’d asked. Wrecker had promised to be back soon to help you with your next shipment of fabric before tapping your chin cutely. Your brain had short-circuited when he’d done that, stopping you from asking more questions. By the time you had come back down from the cloud you were on, they were already boarding their ship.

How that man was able to slip his way into making you lose your head whenever he was around was beyond you. It was maddening, you did everything you could to keep yourself busy while he was gone and yet you found yourself staring at your gate or your door waiting for him to walk in. Never had a man achieved such a thing from you. Sure you’d have fleeting thoughts about a guy after a quick hookup, but never had one consumed every thought like Wrecker was. Not even the man you’d first ‘loved’, if you could even call it that. You thought about him on and off but the moment he’d left the planet, leaving you behind and slightly broken-hearted, he was just a fleeting thought in the back of your mind.

But Wrecker was something else. He did something to you. Made you feel a way you hadn’t felt before. You weren’t unhappy with your life here, not in the slightest. But ever since you’d lost your parents it just seemed like something was off within you. Like everything within you was a chaotic organized mess, if that made any sense. But when Wrecker was next to you and helping you it felt like things suddenly began to fall in line. It was almost frustrating in a way. How dare he make you feel this way without your permission! A decision was made as you leaned against the wall in your private courtyard and looked up at the night sky. When he got back to Pabu it would be payback time.

After all, it was only fair.

-*-

Wrecker shifted slightly as he felt the cool material of your tape measure against his skin. He heard you chuckle softly before feeling your warm fingers against his bicep. A nervous chuckle left Wrecker as you moved closer towards him. “It tickles.”

“Does it?” A smirk played on your lips as you purposely slid the tape measure across his bicep once more. Everyone always said it tickled. “I’ve never heard that before.” Looking across the room, you winked at Omega who was happily eating some of the cookies you’d put out.

His sister's laugh made Wrecker wonder if he’d missed something. He tried to glance towards her but realized that she was on his blind side. “You haven’t?” His cinnamon-colored eyes watched as you carefully stepped off the tall stool you were standing on. “Are you sure there isn’t another way for you to do this?” His hand went out and gripped your upper arm carefully, helping you down.

“I need you standing up straight so that these measurements are accurate.” You stepped over to your datapad and quickly put the measurements in before returning to Wrecker. “You’re definitely the tallest person I’ve ever measured.” A squeak left you as his large hands wrapped around your waist once more and lifted you back onto the stool. Your head instantly began to swim again.

“He’s the tallest clone I’ve ever seen! He’s even taller than Crosshair!” Omega cheerfully watched Wrecker lift you. The look on your face was really funny. Like you were trying not to pass out or something.

You staggered slightly as your feet found the stool. It wasn’t the sturdiest of things to stand on, but it was the tallest thing you had. “He may be the tallest clone I’ve ever seen, but you are definitely the smallest clone I’ve ever seen.” You looked over at Omega who sported a shocked face. You laughed brightly as you wrapped the measure around Wrecker's other arm just to confirm the sizes. To your delight, he laughed with you.

“I’m not that short! There were others shorter than me on Kamino!” With a huff, she crossed her arms and leaned back against the chair she was in. Her cinnamon-colored eyes watched as Wrecker lit up as you laughed and his own joined yours. He’d talked a lot about you during the last trip. How nice you smelled, how pretty your hair was, and how you made his stomach tingly. While Hunter and Tech seemed to understand what was going on, Omega was lost, but she’d still agreed to help him when he approached her with a request.

Satisfied that the measurements came out the same. You laid the tape from his shoulder down to his wrist. “You guys are the only clones I’ve ever seen. So as it stands you are the shortest one I’ve ever met.”

“Ya really never seen any other clones?” Wrecker watched as you shrugged before motioning for him to spin so you could do his back. Your fingers slid across his bare shoulders and a shiver ran down his spine.

“Never had any come through here before your group.” It was so hard to focus with Wrecker's broad, strong, bare shoulders beneath your fingers. He’d arrived for the measuring with his blacks on and those were tight. But then he suggested removing his shirt to make it easier for you. Your head had swam at that comment and before you could say something to stop him, Omega had agreed. Something told you that she was in on his plan. “Last time I was off planet the clones weren’t even known about. Probably didn’t even exist.” Under your fingers, Wrecker flexed and you stifled the giggle that tried to escape you. You were supposed to be making his head spin, not the other way around!

Omega pulled her knees up to her chin and wrapped her arms around them. “How old were you?”

Your finger that was running the measure across his shoulders froze in the center of his back at that question. The last time you’d left the planet had been when you’d lost both of your parents. “13” came as a whisper from you as you stared at the back of Wrecker's neck.

It was like he sensed the sadness forming in you. It wasn’t in the way he told Omega to run down to the tea shop and grab you all something to drink. Nor was it in the way the proudness of his shoulders dropped to that of sadness. It was in the way that he didn’t turn to face you. Instead, he continued to face forward and placed his hand on his shoulder, offering it to you.

“You once said you lost both of your parents when you were young. Was it then?” Gone was his usual booming strong voice that made your heart race. In its place was now a quiet and comforting voice.

The fact that he’d remembered that small conversation from so many days ago was surprising and heartwarming. Reaching out, you placed your hand on top of his.“How could you tell?”

Wrecker took a breath before moving his hand to hold yours and turn to face you. That gorgeous smile that was usually on your lips was gone and instead, he could see you chewing your lip with sadness in your eyes. “Your voice changed just like Omegas does when Kamino is brought up.”

Oh, those wonderful eyes staring at you were so warm and caring. Your own eyes watched as he shifted away from you. You raised your hand to his scarred cheek and held it carefully, your thumb ran across the uneven surface while you wondered silently how he got it. “What happened at Kamino?”

He opened his mouth to ask the same question but stopped. He loved how your hand felt on his cheek. So soft yet your fingertips were calloused from years of sewing. His brain wanted to know how you’d lost your parents, why you hadn’t left Pabu since then. As he tried to figure out what to say, a memory pulled to the front of his mind.

“I’ll tell ya the same thing I told Tech.” Hunter shifted in the pilot seat of the Marauder, his eyes scanning the screens and panels. Tech and Omega had gone to bed for the night and Wrecker found himself unable to do the same. “Just go with the flow and see where things lead. Don’t think too much into everything, follow ya heart.”

“What if it’s telling me to kiss her?” Wrecker sighed as he closed his eyes and leaned back against his chair. Maybe he should have exchanged comm info with you before he left. He wanted to talk to you so much more. The way you made him feel was nice. Like he wasn’t a big accident-prone oaf. “She’s so pretty, Hunter. She’s got these eyes that are like stars and this laugh that makes ya feel like everything’s gonna be ok. And the way she makes my heart race like there’s a bunch of speeders in it is just…” Wrecker hummed at the memory of your sweet laugh.

Hunter had never heard Wrecker talk about someone this way. Sure he had the people he looked up to, the people he kind of liked, and those he tolerated. But never had someone made him sigh and hum the way he was right now. Maybe Hunter needed to reach out to someone else about this stuff, he was at a loss. “Look, I’m gonna tell ya something that ya can’t tell the others.” Looking around them quickly, Hunter tapped the door button and locked it. Ensuring that they wouldn’t be interrupted.

What was going on? Hunter was never super secretive like this. Wrecker leaned forward and looked at Hunter carefully. “What’s going on?”

A long sigh left Hunter as he leaned forward as well, his voice dropping to a whisper. “I have…on occasion… enjoyed the mind-numbing joke that is romantic comedy movies and in tho-“ his sentence was cut off by Wrecker's booming laugh filling the cockpit. “Why are you laughing!”

“Everyone knows you watch those! And those romances where there’s always something going wrong!” Countless times they’d overhead him watching his movies or shows while he was in his bunk. They’d just all agreed not to say anything. Everyone relaxed in their own way.

“Oh.” Well, that was an embarrassing surprise. Here he thought he’d been sneaky about it. “So you’ve all always known? Even Cross and Omega?” When Wrecker smirked and nodded, Hunter let out a small whine. He’d have to address this new problem later. “Anyway. In those, one person will usually rub their nose against the other person's nose when they want to kiss them. She’ll either pull away or…” he waved his hand to indicate the rest.

“Her nose, huh?” Wrecker mulled the words over in his head for a moment. Maybe Hunter was onto something. “What else?”

Wrecker leaned forward and gently ran his nose against yours. With you standing on the stool, he was able to be face-level with you. You smelled like fabric and sweets. “A while ago, our home was attacked and destroyed. We…watched as the only home we’d ever known was completely sunk.”

Oh. You leaned into him and pressed your forehead against his as your eyes closed. “I’m sorry.” Your teeth ran across your bottom lip before you spoke. “My mother and father were killed in front of me.”

“I’m sorry.” Came from Wrecker. Every inch of his body felt like a livewire. His large arms wrapped around your body and beneath your butt, as he pulled you close. Your arms wrapped around his thick neck as he did so. His eyes took in every part of your face, your long lashes, and how you still looked like you were smiling even with the seriousness of the situation.

The air hung tightly around the two of you as you both took in each other's closeness. The setting sun cast a warm orangish-red glow in the room, and a cool breeze from the ocean swam around the room from your open window. The door opened with a quiet hiss and the two of you didn’t even flinch. Too lost in whatever quiet moment you two were sharing. Omega stopped in the doorway and watched you two silently for a moment, a bright smile on her lips as she did so. Quietly, she placed the drinks on the floor next to the door before quickly backing out of the building.

The sound of the door closing crossed your thoughts for a moment before you felt Wrecker's arms tighten slightly. Your head swam once more as you closed the distance between the two of you and placed your lips against his. They were rough and dry but so gentle as they moved against yours. The kiss wasn’t passionate and sexy and mind-numbing. Instead, it was careful and sweet, like he was worried that you’d suddenly run. Which would honestly be hard to do considering he was holding you so high up right now.

You wanted to look down and see just how high up you were. But to do so, you’d need to break your lips away from his, and right now you didn’t want to do that.

Wrecker had kissed women before, quick pecks here and there or sloppy drunk sessions as he found his release in some chick he met at 79’s. But nothing, and he truly meant nothing, could compare to kissing someone as beautiful as you. Someone who made him comfortable enough to drop the strong-man act and be himself. Someone who filled his nighttime dreams and his daydreams with happy giggles and playful glances. A woman that he wanted to do everything the right way with. From the movies that Hunter had told him to watch, that meant not rushing into sex or anything like that. Maker, did you feel amazing in his arms though? Like a missing puzzle piece that fit into him perfectly.

A sigh left Wrecker's lips as your hands found their way to his scarred cheek. The women he hooked up with usually avoided touching that side of his face. Scared of how it looked or how it would feel. But your fingers danced across it sweetly and traced each part carefully. He didn’t mean to break the kiss and lean into your touch, but it was just so nice.

Stars, he was so adorable right now. Just the absolute cutest. Your tongue ran across your lips as you tasted the remnants of your kiss, eyes fluttering at the special taste it held. His own warm eyes fluttered open and stared at yours. Unable to find the right words, you allowed the first thing that came to mind to leave your mouth.

“Stay for dinner?”

-*-

“Watch your he-“ A thunk rang out through your living room as Wrecker's head made contact with the doorframe. Turning to face him, you stifled a laugh as your hands covered your lips. You watched him rub his forehead for a moment before moving across the room to make sure he was okay. “Here, sit down and let me take a look at it?”

He’d hit his head countless times on low door frames, pipes, bars and so much more. Maybe he’d feel a drop of embarrassment here or there but never all the time. Right now though, he felt like running and hiding somewhere. Such an easy thing to notice and he’d been too distracted by you to pay attention! The way your butt looked in the linen pants you were wearing was just unreal and he couldn’t pull his eyes away. “I’m ok. Just hurts a little.” He allowed the door to shut behind him as he began to look around your living room.

“Nonsense, Wrecker. I can see it getting red from here. Sit down.” You playfully placed your hands on your hips and looked towards your couch. “Come on. Before you make me get ugly.”

Wrecker smirked as he did as he was told. “I doubt you could ever be ugly. You’re way too pretty.” He enjoyed the way the corner of your lip twitched at his words. If he was going to be flustered by you then it was only right he returned the favor. Sitting back on the dark couch, Wrecker watched you sit on his thigh and pull his head forward. Your eyes scanned his forehead carefully in silence before the feeling of warmth danced across the spot he’d hit. You’d kissed his forehead while sitting in his lap. Wrecker felt his body tense slightly as you adjusted comfortably on his leg. Your butt on his leg felt very nice and without hesitation, he wrapped his arm behind your back and rested his hand on your hip.

Oh, he was as comfy as you’d hoped he’d be. Just like when he’d held you earlier, you found you fit perfectly into him this way as well. The red that crept across his face once you’d kissed his forehead was so unbelievably adorable that it made you want to kiss him again and again. “So” you clapped your hands together in front of you to emphasize the word. “I’ve got a couple of options for dinner. Fish, meat, pasta. What would you like to taste tonight, strong man?”

His stomach growled at the idea of fish, meat, and pasta. All of it sounded so damn good and if your sandwiches were anything to go off, your actual meals would be just as good. But while his stomach was focused on the aforementioned food, his mind was focused on your lips and tasting them once more. Wrecker took a deep breath and tried to remember what he’d seen in the holos he’d watched the night before. “The only thing I want to taste right now is those lips of yours.” The words left him in a deep growl as his hand cupped your cheek.

A happy hum left your lips as you turned and straddled his thigh. “We have known each other for longer than an hour.” You purred the words as your face drew closer to his. His hand on your cheek ran down to your chin before you felt the rough pad of his thumb running over your lips. A shuttered breath left you at the way it felt. Oh, he was good.

Wrecker let a deep chuckle leave his body as your hands were placed against his chest. The absolute warmth he felt between your legs was mind-numbing. He had to remind himself that he wanted to take things slow with you. Even if that felt like the greatest challenge he’d ever faced in his life. “Should I move you closer to a wall then?” Leaning forward, he rubbed the tip of his nose against yours, savoring the way your hands fisted into his shirt.

Stars, you were so happy he’d put his shirt back on. If he hadn’t then you’d be completely weak to those sexy muscles of his. “Mmmm. I think I need to know you longer than a month for that.” With a wink, you leaned forward and pressed your lips against his once more. The hand on your chin held you close as his lips danced across yours.

“So then tomorrow?” Wrecker had broken from the kiss for a moment to ask his question. When you chuckled quietly his lips returned to yours. His hand fell from your chin and gripped your waist carefully. You fit so perfectly in his hands like they were designed just to hold you.

“Mmmm, I’ll let you know when we wake up tomorrow morning.” His leg shifted between your legs and a shuddered moan left your body. Now that was just playing dirty.

The sound you made was delicious. Wrecker bounced his leg to see if he could get you to make the sound once more, and he did. “You want me to come back tomorrow morning just to find out?” He flashed a playful smirk at you, loving the way your eyes took on a dark haze.

His leg continued to bounce beneath you and began to make that spot between your legs feel so damn good. You shifted off the leg before you became too far gone in that lovely feeling. Instead, you decided to straddle his lap. Leaning against his chest once more, you nipped at his bottom lip. “Who said anything about you leaving?”

Wrecker wasn’t sure where to place his hands with your new position. The way you were sitting left only your hips or your ass. Both sounded appealing to him. With the way you nipped at his lip, his choice was clear. His large hands gripped your waist carefully as he pressed another kiss against your lips. “I was hoping you’d say that.” With a deep growl, his hands moved from your waist and to your ass. He gave both cheeks a firm squeeze, eliciting an excited squeak from you. Damn, they felt amazing in his hands.

Okay, so maybe this wasn’t the best position. The way he was kneading and squeezing your ass while his lips danced with yours was wonderful. You let out a hum before breaking the kiss and leaning your head back. “Keep this up and we may have to skip dinner.” You’d thought that would have worked to distract him, but to your surprise, he leaned forward and began to kiss your neck. Your eyes fluttered at the wonderful feeling as his hands continued to squeeze your ass. Damn this man, how could he tease you so easily? You needed to find a better way to tease him back.

“Mmmm, we could always work up our appetites, sarad.” Wrecker continued to pepper kiss against your skin. Skin that tasted absolutely amazing. You let out a needy whine as he sucked against the crook of your neck. As much as he kept telling himself he wouldn’t make love to you just yet, he found himself beginning to weaken. You were just too perfect, too gorgeous, and delicious for him to resist.

That wasn’t a bad idea. If you screwed now then you could have a nice break and eat dinner, then screw again and then have dessert! The fire in your belly made it all seem like a great plan that you were definitely about to give into when thankfully you heard Wrecker's stomach growl loudly. Your brain took control back from your cunt and allowed you to pull away from the sexy man beneath you. “Sounds to me like your stomach has its own opinion on the matter.”

Forcing yourself off of him was hard, nearly impossible thanks to the way he gripped your ass. But once he realized you indeed wanted to get off of him, he removed them while giving you the saddest look ever. Oh man, he looked like a sad puppy. “Come on. Let’s make dinner.” Turning away from him, you made your way towards the kitchen.

It felt like a cold bucket of water had been poured on him when you got off of him. Which was honestly a good thing he realized. He’d been so close to giving in to his desire to take you right then and there. Wrecker wanted to do everything perfectly with you. A sweet first date, a romantic kiss under the stars, and making love for the first time someplace truly romantic. At least your first kiss had been somewhat romantic.

Wrecker took the moment to watch you walk away, the sway of your hips making him bite his lip. Now that his mind wasn’t hazed by his desire for you, Wrecker could finally take in your house. It was bigger than your shop. To his right, he could see a hallway of sorts, no doubt leading to the bedrooms. The living room was large and comfortable with two couches and a wood coffee table in the center. The walls were the same shade of white as the outside of the building with a dark wood for the floor and ceiling. From the numerous holo-frames and knickknacks around the room, he could tell you’d lived there for a long time. Standing up from the couch, the problem that had been preventing him from doing so having finally gone down, he made his way towards the kitchen.

The sound of you gathering supplies filled the room. He stopped in the doorway and watched as you pulled a few vegetables from your conservator. The kitchen was surprisingly large with more than enough space for multiple people to cook at the same time. His eyes fell on an older holo-frame hanging in the kitchen, from his count, he could see ten people in the image. A young girl could be seen in the front of the group holding a large lothcat. “This your family?”

You looked over from the vegetables that you were currently washing in the sink. “Oh, yeah! That’s my grandparents, aunts, and my mom and dad.”

“The little kid you?” Wrecker took in the familiar features of the child that you sported as well.

“Mhmm.” You smiled at him before looking back to the vegetables. “We took that the day before my youngest aunt moved to Coruscant. She owns a boutique there now.”

“Wow, so your family has been here for a while then?” Wrecker moved into the kitchen and stood beside you. He reached his hand out to help clean the vegetables.

Smiling brightly, you passed him the eggplant in your hand. “My grandparents immigrated here when my aunt and mom were still kids. Dad moved here when he was about my age. Family has been here ever since.”

Wrecker copied the way you cleaned the vegetable as he listened. “So you were born and raised here?” When you nodded, Wrecker hummed softly. “Sounds like the clones with Kamino. We were created there and raised there. Was the only home we’d ever known.”

You placed the onion in your hand down in the sink and turned to look at him. “What happened?”

“The Empire attacked Tipoca City. Used their ships to completely sink it, with us inside.” Wrecker took the onion from where you placed it and continued to clean it. His eyes intensely focused on the round vegetable.

“You were inside it?” A gasp left you as you reached out and placed your hand on his arm. “Why would they do that?”

“Tech says it’s because they want to completely control the ability to make clones. They left us there because we were seen as defective. We didn’t follow their way of thinking. Didn’t blindly follow orders like the others. They used it as a chance to dispose of us.” Wrecker appreciated you trying to comfort him.

Wow, the Empire was shittier than you realized. “How’d you survive?” Reaching over, you took the clean vegetables from him and placed them on the counter. You felt bad that he’d gone through something so horrendous like that.

“We almost didn’t, but we worked together as a family and survived. Me, Tech, Hunter, Omega, Echo and Crosshair. Was the last time we were together as a family.” Wrecker reached up and placed his hand on your cheek, your eyes looked so sad.

“Crosshair?” He’d told you about Echo and a few of their other brothers. But never Crosshair. “Is he another one of your brothers?”

“Yeah.” Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out his comm and accessed a picture of the Batch before everything crumbled. “He was part of our original group. But he was the only one to go with the Empire.” Wrecker sighed softly as he showed you the picture. “Even when they abandoned us and left us to die, he still went back to them.”

Seeing the entire group together like this was shocking. They all looked so happy in the picture. One thing you noticed was that Omega wasn’t in the picture, it must have been before she’d joined them. There were 3 of them that arrived on Pabu. It must have been so hard to lose his two brothers. “Why would he choose them over his own family?”

Wrecker shrugged as he put the comm back into his pocket. “I don’t know. Tech says it’s just how Crosshair is.”

“Do you miss him?” You tilted your head into his hand and looked into his warm cinnamon eyes.

“Everyday.” Wrecker hummed softly as your hand was raised and placed against his scarred cheek.

You ran your thumb across the scar before standing on your tiptoes and leaning forward to kiss him. He thankfully bent forward to help you. “I hope that he comes back to you guys one day. I’m sure he misses all of you just as much as you miss him.” Your lips gently pressed against his before you pulled away once more.

This was probably the first serious conversation the two of you had had in the time you’d known each other. Wrecker felt so comfortable with you. You were kind and caring and sweet and funny. You were perfect. “So do I.” He leaned down and kissed you one more time before deciding to move the conversation to something better. “So, what are we making for dinner?”

The fact that he had been so open with you about what had happened and his emotions had moved you. Made you feel even closer to him in a way. You wanted to tell him about your own pain, about what happened to your parents. But that pain, that fear, was just too strong. One day you’d share it with him, one day you’d be brave. “It’s my grandma's recipe. It’s called Moussaka.”

-*-

Wrecker sighed softly as he leaned back in the chair that sat in your private courtyard. His arms wrapped contently around your waist as you sat in his lap, your back against his chest. “That dinner was so good.” Wrecker buried his face into the crook of your neck, enjoying the lingering scent of dinner on your skin.

A hum left you as you felt his face against your skin. A cool night breeze blew through the courtyard making you move closer to Wrecker. “I’m glad you liked it. Usually, it takes me twice as long to prepare everything. But with you here, it went a lot faster.”

“Glad I could help, Sarad.” Wrecker wrapped his arms tighter around you as he felt a shiver run through you.

You sighed softly as a family of moon-yo’s ran by on the stone wall. “You're surprisingly useful in the kitchen. How do you know how to cook like that?” It had taken you years to learn how to make a béchamel sauce and he seemed so natural at it!

“I like to watch cooking holos in my downtime. I’ve tried cooking a few things at Cid's, the others seemed to like it. Omega loved it.” Wrecker was actually pretty proud of how far his clocking skills had come. He wouldn’t say he was a pro, but he felt like he was pretty good.

A smirk played on your lips as you leaned back and pulled his face towards yours. “So, does that mean you’ll be making our next meal?”

Wrecker chuckled softly as he placed his lips against yours, the taste of them making him hum happily. “Depends, will it be breakfast or dinner?” A growl left him as he nipped at your bottom lip.

The way he said that was delicious. A heat rushed through your belly. Pulling away from Wrecker, you turned in his lap and straddled him once more. “Depends on what time it is.” Your arms snaked around his neck and stroked the back of his head carefully. “So tell me, strong man.” Soft lips brushed against his rough ones for a moment before you pulled away. “You got the time?”

A needy groan left Wrecker as your lips moved against his. His hands found their way beneath your shirt and against your warm smooth skin. “Late.” Came as a murmur when you broke the kiss. Not wanting to miss them for a moment longer, he pressed his against yours once more. You moaned happily into his mouth as his tongue slid across your bottom lip. The taste of dinner still lingered in your mouth giving it a savory taste that he enjoyed.

The feeling of his calloused fingers against your stomach felt just right, the coarseness of them sending a chill through your body. His tongue danced across your lips and you happily gave him entrance. Now this was one hell of a dessert. “Is it late?” You took his bottom lip in yours and nibbled it carefully before releasing. Your eyes stared into his eyes while you smirked. “Or is it early?”

Now that did something to him. Wrecker wrapped his arm around your waist and pulled you close to him as his other hand reached into his pocket for his comm. ‘Please be a new day. Please be a new day.’ Ran through Wrecker's brain as he raised the device to check the time. “It’s late.”

A glance at the device let you know that it was nearly the next day. Just had to kill some time. “We should find a way to kill some time then.”

Now that was an idea. “ I’m sure we can come up with a few ideas,” Wrecker smirked as he replaced the comm into his pocket and raised the now free hand to your cheek. His warm eyes stared into yours before pulling you into another kiss. Your hands rested against his chest as your tongues danced with one another. Something hard pressed against your core making your hips grind against his lap. A deep growl left Wrecker while his hand tightened around your hip.

This man was making your head practically spin. The way he touched you and kissed you the noises he made! Stars! It was all so dizzying. “W-what did you have in mind?” You broke for some desperately needed air and a moment to steady your head.

Wrecker smirked as a thought came to him. “Today you measured my brothers, my sister, and myself. It seems the only one not measured today was you.” Leaning his head into the crook of your neck, he began to pepper kisses against your delicate skin.

Just as your head was beginning to settle, he was back to making it spin with the way he purred those words to you. “You want to measure me?” Your eyes fluttered closed as your head leaned back. The hand on your hip tightened while the other one found its way up to your bra. Thick calloused fingers began to pull at the material.

“You got to measure me. Only fair.” His nose ran across the skin of your neck and up towards your ear. “I can measure you outside” he paused and pulled at the bottom of your ear with his teeth. His hot breath making a whine leave you. “Or inside.”

“L- let me get the measuring tape first.” He’d need that, wouldn’t he? A deep rumbling chuckle left him as the hand on your hip moved to your ass and squeezed it carefully.

“Who said anything about using the measuring tape?” He pulled away from your neck and looked carefully into your eyes, wanting to see your reaction. Your cute mouth fell open as an eyebrow raised, letting him know you were a bit confused. “Don’t worry, Sarad. I know something big enough to measure you.”

You felt him grind the bulge in his pants against your core and suddenly it all became clear. Was he confirming that he was as big as you were hoping he was? Now it made you wonder what he meant by inside or outside. The thought made the heat forming in your belly intensify. He was doing all of this to you so easily, it was so unfair how hot he was being. The way those cinnamon eyes were staring at you was driving you mad.

But you’d been around Wrecker long enough now to know that if you could just say or do the right thing, he’d become putty in your hands. Reaching down, you pulled his hand from its place on your ass and towards your chest. “Perhaps you should start here then, while I make sure your tool is big enough to measure me.” The smug look on his face fell as you pressed his hands against your chest, one hand above your shirt and the other beneath it. Leaning forward, you brushed your lips against his scarred ear. “Don’t worry about being too rough. I like it that way.” A shuttered breath left the clone as he gave a tentative hard squeeze with both hands. You let out a long satisfied sigh and to your delight, he shuttered a breath.

Wrecker had thought he’d won this round. You’d melted so easily for him that he was sure he’d walk away the victor. But now you’d turned the tables and maker, you felt absolutely amazing within his hands. The warmth of your breast against his fingertips beneath your shirt was a maddening tease of what he’d be feeling soon. Wrecker shuttered a sigh as he felt your hands run down his chest and stop at the top of his pants. “S-same.” Your fingers dipped into the waistband of his pants, allowing your nails to trail across the sensitive skin just above his very hard cock.

Your nails swirled around the curls covering the base of his warm hard member. So he did have hair beside his face. Maybe it was the same shade of brown as Techs was. Your thumb rubbed against the button holding his pants closed, it felt like they were the snap kind. Which meant that with the right pressure, you could just pop them open. “Something else we have in common then.”

“W-what else is there?” His pants made a click as you unfastened them, followed by the sound of the zipper descending. You hummed in thought next to his ear making him inhale slowly.

“We both like to measure. That’s one thing.” You nibbled his ear before pulling back and looking at his sweet lips. “We both enjoy kissing.” You pressed your lips against his and savored the way he returned the kiss. “And we bo-“

*trill trill trill*

*trill trill trill*

The sound of Wreckers comm rang through your courtyard. Pressing your forehead against his, a little sigh left you. “You should probably get that.” Came as a whisper.

You were probably right. He could also just ignore it and hope it wasn’t important. But no one called him usually and especially not this late. That thought alone made him pull the device from his pocket and answer the call on voice only. “Wrecker, here.”

“Wrecker?” Omega's sweet voice filled the air, though you could pick up that she’d been crying. “I had the nightmare again.”

Oh. Well, that kind of did take precedence over you. You nuzzled your nose against his for a moment before removing yourself from his lap. “You should go.” Was mouthed to him. You liked Omega, she was a sweet girl with a beautiful imagination and a heart of gold. If your mom was around still she’d say that Omega had a soul too pure for this galaxy.

“It’s ok, ‘mega. I’m on my way.” Wrecker listened as the child sniffled slightly into the comm. The eyes that had just been staring at you seductively and making your head spin were now filled with worry.

“T-thank you, Wrecker.” Omega surprised a scared cry before hanging up the device.

Taking a moment to replace the device in his pocket, Wrecker let out a long sigh before standing up. “I’m sorry.” He watched as you quickly shook your head and raised a hand to stop him.

“Don’t apologize. She’s your sister and she needs you.” Extending your hand, you helped him stand from the chair. “Does she have these a lot?” The question left you quicker than you intended.

Wrecker shrugged carefully as he adjusted his pants a few times before pulling you into his arms. “A lot more recently since Echo left us. He was always the best at talking her through this stuff. Probably ‘cause he had his own.” Leaning down, Wrecker kissed you deeply, his thumb brushing your cheek sweetly. “I’ll make this up to ya.”

You let out a sweet hum as he kissed you. “You don’t have to. Seeing how much you care about her is enough.” Taking his hand in yours, you led him towards the front of the shop. “If there’s anything I can do to help.”

He appreciated how much you cared for Omega. Stopping by the front door, he leaned against the wall and ran his hand over his face slowly. “How do I help her?”

Now that was tricky. It was hard to know how to help when it came to nightmares. “Ask her what they’re about. Listen.” Shrugging, you remembered something your aunt had given you to help you sleep after your parents' deaths. “One sec.”

Wrecker watched as you walked over to the counter with the register and began to dig through the drawer. After a moment an ‘ah ha!’ left you as you stood up with a small black satchel in your hands. “What’s that?”

“Put this under her pillow, maybe the scent will help her sleep.” You held the satchel up to your nose and sniffed it. The faint scent drifted through your nose and brought memories forward. “Valerian, Patchouli, and Rosemary. My aunt gave it to me when I was younger.” Reaching into the velvet bag, you pulled out the small vial holding the herbs. “Open this and pour the contents into the satchel then slide it under her pillow.”

The satchel was passed to Wrecker and he stared at it carefully. Would something like this really help Omega? “Thanks. We’ll give it a try tonight.”

You nodded at him before watching him open the door and step back out into the cool night air. “Let me know if it works?” When he nodded back, you hummed. “Goodnight, Wrecker.”

“Goodnight, Sarad.” Placing a final kiss on your cheek, Wrecker turned and made his way up the path and towards the Marauder.

You watched him until he finally vanished over the top of the path, your eyes admiring his strong but gentle form. Something about knowing he was going back to take care of his little sister was heartwarming but also stirred something deep inside you. You had a feeling he’d be a great father one day. Maybe it was that idea of him as a father that was stirring that heat inside of you. That and the fact that you were so incredibly wound up after the night's teasing.

A shower would help you calm down. It had to or else you’d be getting zero sleep tonight. With one final glance at the top of the path and a whisper of Goodnight to Wrecker and Omega, you went inside to take a cold shower.

-*-

“Wrecker! Hunter! Omega!” You smiled brightly as you walked across the busy beach to the group of clones. “I’m so happy you guys made it!”

“Sarad!” Omega ran to you and enveloped you in a tight hug. “Thank you for the herbs. I slept better once I smelled it.” She’d never smelled something so good either. “I’m sorry about interrupting your date with Wrecker last night.” She sheepishly brushed some of her blonde hair behind her ear, she hadn’t realized the two of you were still hanging out that late. It wasn’t until she’d heard Hunter ask how the date had gone after he’d put her back to bed that she realized that she’d interrupted the two of you.

“Oh, please don’t apologize. N-nothing was interrupted.” Nothing that she needed to know about at least. But from the way Hunter was looking at you, with that eyebrow of his raised in suspicion, he knew what had been interrupted. “Right, Wrecker?”

Wrecker cleared his throat awkwardly before nodding. “We were just talking about measuring.”

Your cheeks flared at his comment. From the way Wrecker was burying his face into his hand, he’d realized his mistake as well. Beside him, Hunter was trying not to smile, or laugh, or maybe both.

“What were you guys measuring?” Omega tilted her head to the side confused by everyone’s reactions.

The bags in your hands were adjusted to the side as you cleared your throat quickly. “Just some…materials.” You winked at Wrecker before handing one of the bags to the blonde. “This is for you.”

Omega's eyes lit up as she took the teal bag and looked inside. A black, red, and white pile of fabric lay inside, folded perfectly and tied together with a red ribbon. “What is it?” Reaching in, she ran her fingers over the material, happy to feel how smooth it was.

“The first of your new wardrobe.” The two clones looked at you with the quirk of an eyebrow each. “It’s a proper bathing suit for a young lady. Follow me, I’ll show you to the changing rooms.”

The blonde looked at her two protectors for confirmation that it would be okay to go with you. When they nodded, she smiled excitedly and reached for your offered hand. “I thought it would be a while before you would have anything ready?” That’s what you had said the day before.

Taking her hand in yours, you smiled at Wrecker. “I had a lot on my mind last night.”

“About measuring?” How interesting could that conversation have been? Adults were weird.

You stifled a laugh that tried to escape you, your eyes meeting Wreckers once more. The way the man was looking at you as you held his sister's hand and took care of her was stirring that heat again. “Yeah, about measuring.” You turned to lead the way when a question popped into your mind. “Where’s Tech? Is he not coming?”

Omega let out a giggle at the mention of the goggled clone. “He has a date with the tea shop girl.”

“Chai?” You thought for a moment and nodded as you remembered her questions the last time you’d seen her. Questions about asking a guy out that she liked and her request for a new dress. Now you understood why, you and the ladies had just finished it this morning. “They’ll make a cute couple.”

Hunter looked at you questioningly. “Chai?”

“When we were in school together she loved Chai tea. Drank every type of combination you could think of.” The two of you had been friends for a while. You, her, and Doll, the innkeeper who earned her nickname from how her grandmother used to dress her, had known each other for years now. You and Doll were close, but you and Chai were closer.

“Does she have a nickname for you?” Omega swung your hands back and forth as she looked up at you. You were so pretty, no wonder Wrecker talked about you in his sleep.

A chuckled sigh left you as you bit your lip. “Stitches.”

Wrecker tilted his head to the side, surprised by the name. “Stitches?”

“I used to carry this embroidery loop around to practice my stitches on. Any free time I had, I was stitching.” Reaching up to Omega, you ran your finger down a strand of her hair. “Maybe we should come up with a nickname for you as well?”

The little blonde's eyes lit up. “Really?” The excitement radiating from the girl could practically be cut with a knife. “Can we think of some for Wrecker, Hunter, and Tech?”

You smirked as you looked back at the men. “Maybe.” With a wave to them, you led Omega towards the changing rooms.

Once you and Omega were out of sight, Hunter turned with a smirk to Wrecker. Crossing his arms and smirking at the large clone, Hunter spoke. “Measuring, huh?”

Wrecker groaned as he turned. “D-don’t start.” He couldn’t believe he’d actually kriffin said that in front of Omega.

“If Crosshair ever comes back, I’m telling him about this.” Hunter looked over towards the water line and spotted fishermen, beside them their wives worked at temporary tables to gut and clean the fish the men caught. Perhaps they should go help with the preparations.

-*-

“Stitches?” Omega peeked her head out of her changing room and looked towards your room.

Looking away from the mirror, satisfied with how your bathing suit sat on your body, you peeked your head out as well and answered the girl. “Yes, Omega?”

“You like Wrecker a lot, right?” Her brown eyes stared into yours, noticing the way your cheeks flared.

With a smile and a nod, you stepped out of the changing room and over to her. “I do. He’s very sweet and funny.”

You looked really pretty in your bathing suit, Omega wondered if she’d look that nice in the one you made for her. “He’s really strong too!”

Oh, he was. The way he easily showed off his strength always drove you crazy. “That he is.” Clapping your hands together happily, you motioned to Omega. “How’s the suit fitting?”

“I…think it’s ok? I’ve never had something like this before so I don’t really know how it’s supposed to fit.” She adjusted carefully before opening the door for you to see.

“Oh, Omega! You look perfect!” The design was perfect for her. You’d styled it after an old style you’d seen before. According to your Aunt on Coruscant, these retro designs were on the rise once more and you honestly adored the style. So you’d taken inspiration from old sailor's outfits and added your own flair to it. You’d added lines to the white base one piece to mimic clone armor while also adding a ruffled skirt around the hips. On one side of the skirt, you’d added the 99 symbol that Wrecker had shown you one night along with the design of her favorite doll, Lula. Stepping forward, you adjusted the red bow in the center of the neckline. “Here, turn around and I’ll braid your hair up.” Having Omega around was like having the little sister you always wanted. Your fingers danced over her lovely blonde locs as you worked out how you wanted to style her hair.

Omega looked into the mirror in the room and smiled slightly at her reflection. She did kind of like how the suit looked on her. With you standing behind her, doing her hair, she felt more like a girl. Her entire life she’d been surrounded by other clones, other men, and the Kaminoans. The only women she’d ever seen there were the Senators or Jedi that came through the facility. Even after they’d left Kamino and went on the run, she’d barely ever spent time around other women like you. Except for Senator Chuchi and that had been under much different circumstances. Though, she did enjoy the outfit she’d gotten from her. Maybe you could help her clean it and fix a few holes in it? Omega watched as you began a braid in her hair, the softest of smiles on your lips. “Stitches?”

“Yes?” You carefully worked the strands of her hair into the start of a halo braid. Looking into the mirror, you watched as she chewed her lip in thought.

“Have you…kissed Wrecker?” She watched as your cheeks flared a red color. She’d wanted to ask if you’d be her big sister but chickened out.

Well, that was a question you weren’t expecting. “I…well…” a little breath left you as you calmed your brain. “I have.” You watched her lips turn into a smile. “Why do you ask?”

Because her brain panicked and asked something else. Because she so desperately wanted another girl to be around? “Just wondering.” She watched as you chuckled before returning to her hair. “Wrecker likes you. I hear him and Hunter talking about you at night when they think I’m asleep. He says you smell like warmth and happiness.”

Your fingers stopped once more at the little confession. He talked about you to his brothers and liked how you smelled. That made your heart jump a bit. “I really like him too.” Omega’s eyes sparkled at that. “Enough about me and Wrecker. Tell me more about you, Omega.”

-*-

By the time you’d returned to where you’d left the guys more families had arrived. This would be the last night of freedom for the kids on the island before school started once more. There would be a cookout with fresh fish and fresh fruit. It was also a night of celebration and remembrance of what had happened a month prior. The island was strong, its people sturdy and hardworking. You had all bounced back with no problems. If luck was on your side, it would be many decades before another disaster like that would happen again.

Looking around the growing number of people, it took you a moment to find Hunter and Wrecker. Both men were currently helping to build the large bonfire that would be lit once nightfall came. You took a moment to enjoy the way Wrecker's bare muscles flexed each time he picked up a large log and moved it. Stars, that man was delicious to look at. The sound of children’s laughter nearby drew your attention and turning with Omega, you watched as a group of island kids ran up to you both.

“Omega! Come swim with us!”

“Your bathing suit is so pretty!”

“I want one like it!”

The multiple children talked over one another in a flurry of voices. You watched as Omega's shoulders relaxed with each compliment. She had been nervous to step out of the changing rooms in her new look, but with your reassurance that she looked amazing, she’d stepped out. “Go on.” You motioned for her to go with the children.

Her brown eyes lit up as she looked up at you. “Really?” When you nodded happily, Omega bounced in excitement. “What about Hunter and Wrecker?”

A hand was waived dismissively as you glanced back toward the two clones in question. “Don’t worry. I’ll handle them.” You looked at the group of kids sternly for a moment. “All of you have a good time and be safe. Remember, the cove is off-limits. Doesn’t matter how good of a swimmer you are.”

A chorus of “We know.” And “We‘ll stay away.” Rang around you once more before you nodded and waved them off. Omega looked over her shoulder at you one more time before feeling her arm pulled towards the waiting sea by Lyana. The smile on her face made you so happy to see. She deserved to have some fun.

Satisfied that the kids would be okay, you continued over towards the bonfire. “Wrecker!” You smiled brightly as the clone looked towards you and his eyes widened. Seemed your new swimsuit had done the trick in surprising him. The logs in his arms were dropped with a loud clatter as he quickly made his way across the sand and to you. He stumbled against the sand a few times as he crossed the simple forty or so feet between the two of you. A stuttered ‘hi’ left his lips when he finally reached you. “Hi, yourself.” With a bright smile, you placed your hand on his bare chest and let out a soft giggle. “I like this look on you.” Bare-chested and covered in sweat and sand.

Wrecker couldn’t even begin to process how stunning you looked in your one piece. The beige color with the cutouts on the side and ruffles on the top made your body look so grabable. Like the cutouts on your sides were showing him exactly where to grab you. Would it be ok for him to do that right now? “I like this look on you.” The words left him before he could think about the implication of them. “I…I mean that you look good in your suit!” Wait, that wasn’t any better, was it? “I mean th-that you look good out of it too. Not that I’ve seen you naked! I mean.” He hung his head in shame as he tried to fix what he’d said and failed. But the way you were smiling and laughing let him know you were enjoying the exchange. “What I meant to say is that you look beautiful in this, and what you wear usually.”

He was so cute when he got like this. You motioned for him to lean down to you and when he did, you kissed his cheek softly. “That’s for being so cute.” When he kissed your cheek back, you laughed brightly. “What’s that for?”

“For being so beautiful.” Wrecker stood once more and looked around the beach. “So where is Omega?” His eyes landed on a blonde-haired form out in the water with many of the other children. “Oh.”

Turning, you leaned your back against him and sighed as the blonde let out a happy laugh before splashing water towards the others. “Being a kid, for once.”

Omega looked happier than she had in a long time. The way her eyes lit up and the way her laughter chimed across the water made Wrecker far happier than it probably should. “She looks great in the new outfit. You did a good job.”

A happy hun left you as you felt his arm wrap around your back and rub your arm. “Thanks, she honestly has perfect proportions. It’ll be fun making the rest of her wardrobe.”

Wrecker wasn’t entirely sure what you meant by perfect proportions. But if it meant you were going to enjoy making clothing for the girl, then that was okay. “Do you have some ideas already?”

“So many. It’ll be a lot of work for me to restrain myself and not make her more than she has space for.” Just from her current looks, you could tell she would be drop-dead gorgeous as she got older. No doubt Hunter would be fighting suitors off with a stick. “Don’t worry. I have some ideas for you and your brothers as well.” Reaching over to his hand on your arm, you took it in yours and began to walk towards the cliffs. “Come on, I want to show you the best view on Pabu.”

“I thought I was already looking at the best view?” Wrecker watched you stop and look back at him with a surprised grin. He may or may not have watched another one of Hunter's movies after getting Omega back to sleep.

Oh, he was good. You moved close to him once more and stood on the tips of your toes. It seemed Wrecker was learning because the tall clone leaned down so his lips were close to yours without being asked. “If that’s the case. Then I guess we can stay here with everyone else.” You placed a kiss on his cheek before moving your lips towards his ear to whisper. “We don’t really need privacy, do we?” Settling back into the sand, you turned and began to walk away.

Privacy? Wrecker watched you saunter away from him and down the beach. The way those luscious hips of yours were swaying as you walked was driving him up a wall. “Woah woah woah! Sarad, wait for me!” He called out as he took off after you. You spun and winked at him playfully before taking off in the sand as well. How the hell were you running so easily when he was stumbling?

Growing up on Pabu had many advantages. Learning to swim in strong currents and riptides. Climbing the coastal cliffs and navigating the rock outcrops. But what seemed the most important right now, was running in the sand. Turning to look back at your adorable clone, you laughed brightly at the sight of him stumbling. Maybe you should offer him some help. “If you have any hope of catching me, you might want to remove those boots, strong man!”

Hunter watched as his brother dropped to the sand and quickly began to fumble with his boots. It was abundantly clear that the two of you were falling for one another. His brother seemed happier and lighter over the past few weeks. No doubt this was thanks to you. Hunter was surprised with how long it was taking his brother to get his boots off. Usually, Wrecker was the quickest when it came to removing them, excited to relax and let his feet breathe. His brown eyes watched you walk towards his brother before you knelt on the warm sand and began to help. The two of you looked good together, he hoped that you’d be able to work out a relationship.

All Hunter wanted at this point was to see his brothers and sister safe and happy. Maybe one day he’d think about finding someone of his own if that was in the cards for him. But his focus needed to be the safety of his family. For weeks he’d gone back and forth with their decision to leave Cid and stay on Pabu. If this truly was the best course of action. All they’d ever known was battle and war. A loud giggle sounded in the air and Hunter looked from the bonfire wood pile towards the sea where Omega was playing. His sister splashed towards another kid before diving under the water and resurfacing a few feet away. She was so happy. Another laugh drew his attention and he looked towards you and Wrecker. You now laid across his brother's chest with a bright smile. Hunter was sure he’d seen this move in one of his romcoms. He had to admit, he was proud of his brother.

“You tricked me!” You brushed the tip of your nose against his. “I’ll get you back for this, Wrecker.”

Wrecker chuckled as he wrapped his arms around your waist and kissed you sweetly, fully claiming you in front of the other men around. He’d seen the way they were all staring at you, the way they whispered and undressed you with their eyes. He didn’t like knowing that the other men around the island had you in their thoughts, that they’d go home thinking of you and forming ideas in their heads. Wrecker needed to make it clear that you had someone, him.

Now this was a new type of kiss from him. Dominating and possessive. He was trying to claim you, wasn’t he? To show the men of the island that you had someone in your life now and their days of flirting were over. You hummed into the kiss and ran one of your hands against his cheek. After a moment you pulled away and smirked wickedly, a thought forming in your head. “If you want to claim me then you should leave your mark.” You wiggled your way off of him and stood with a happy huff. Raising your arms above your head, you pretended to stretch before taping your sides in a feigned attempt to search for something. “Oh shoot, I forgot my datapad to take holos. Walk with me back to my place to get it?”

Leave his mark? What did you mean by that? “S-Sure?” Wrecker stood quickly and followed behind you as you worked your way off the beach. “W-what about our shoes?”

“Wrecker” You waited for him to catch up with you. Once he was close, you took his hand in yours. “When was the last time you just felt the sand and grass between your toes?”

“Don’t think I ever had, Sarad.” He liked how you hummed sweetly and pressed your hand against his chest. “Maybe I should start doing it more.”

“Maybe you should.” Winking at him, you turned and led him off the beach and towards your home.

Hunter watched as the two of you made your way off the beach, his brother's boots forgotten in the sand. Something told him he wouldn’t be seeing either of you for a while. Sighing as he walked across the beach and picked up Wrecker’s boots, Hunter caught a glimpse of Wrecker scooping you into his arms and kissing you as he carried you up the path. He wondered if he’d see you two at all before tomorrow morning. The sound of Omega calling his name drew his attention back towards the sea, the least he could do was keep her out of your hair.

-*-

“How long have we known each other?” Wrecker helped to open your door as he peppered kisses across your neck. Your legs were wrapped around his waist while his other hand easily held your ass, and you, in place.

“Over a month, Strongman.” You hummed as you felt him squeeze your ass tightly.

Wrecker sucked against the skin on your neck while moving into the living room. “Perfect.” He allowed the door to slide closed behind you both before turning you and pressing you against it. “What was it you asked me to do to you again?”

“Press me against the wall and kiss me.” The smirk that crossed his lips made the heat in your belly grow. His hands tightened around your thighs as he pressed himself into you and rubbed the tip of his nose against yours.

“All you want is for me to kiss you?” He enjoyed the way your eyes fluttered as he growled the words to you. Your sweet lips parted in a tiny gasp as he ground his bulge against your core.

The difference between silly Wrecker and this dark and seductive Wrecker was stark and damn did you love it. “Kiss me, fuck me, make me scream your name. Take your pick.” His lips crashed against yours and you silently thanked the stars that he was holding you because your legs had turned to jelly.

“ I didn’t realize you were so demanding.” Wrecker pulled his lips away and watched as a flush began to cross your cheeks. “I do owe you for what happened last night. Will you let me take care of that now?”

“Stars, yes!” You hadn’t meant for that to leave you in such a loud and needy breath. Wrecker chuckled at you and you sheepishly chewed your lip. “How do you intend to make it up to me?”

A wicked grin found its way across his lips. “I have something in mind. But first, I’m so thirsty, can you help me quench my thirst?”

He was asking for a drink now? “Yes? Do you want water?”

“No. I would rather something sweeter.” Wrecker adjusted you into one arm as he lowered to his knees. “Do you trust me?”

Now what was he playing at? “ Yes.” A loud gasp left you as he placed you on his shoulders, his face now easily between your legs.

His nose ran against the inside of your thigh, the scent of your heat drawing him closer and closer. “ I’ve been dreaming about tasting you for so many nights.” His cinnamon eyes flickered up towards you as if waiting for your permission.

The way his breath felt against your cunt was almost maddening. “P-please.” Your head fell back against the door with a thud as his mouth found its way onto your heat over your swimsuit. He breathed a heavy hot breath against you making you squirm in his grasp. “We could move someplace else to make this easier for you.”

Wrecker slowly dragged his teeth across your thigh while releasing a low growl. The hand that was supporting you squeezed your ass. “I thought you liked feeling how strong I am.��

Oh, how you did love feeling those muscles around and beneath you. “I d-do.” His shoulders flexed beneath your legs making you squirm. You felt his rough fingers move across your thigh and find their way to the hem of your suit that covered your soaking core.

“So wet already.” He slowly dragged his tongue across your folds, lapping up the sweet droplets of your essence. The cute mewling noise that you made made his cock ache. But he owed you for the night before and he intended to make it up to you. “Kriff, you taste so fucking good.” Your hips rolled against his face trying to chase the sensation and it made him chuckle. “So needy.”

“Stop teasing me. Please.” You felt his tongue across your clit once more and you practically screamed at the sensation. For being someone so silly, Wrecker was skilled with his mouth. “F-fuck. Wrecker.” You felt his hand tighten around your thigh stopping you from squirming against his face.

“Be a good girl and hold still. Let me do all the work, goddess.” He licked another strip across you before placing his lips around your cunt and sucking. You mewled a long beautiful cry of pleasure, making his cock twitch. Fuck, his pants were becoming too tight. He needed to get them off.

“Goddess?” Now that was a nickname you’d never heard before. Your thoughts went blank as Wrecker introduced his tongue to your clit. A long high pitched moan left you making your head fall back and your eyes screwed shut.

Wrecker looked up from between your legs and nearly sighed at the sight of you. “Because you look ethereal like this.” There was almost a glow to you as you enjoyed the pleasure he was giving you. If there was one thing Wrecker had become good at, besides blowing things up, it was pleasuring a woman. While they may not have enjoyed his looks, the women he hooked up with in the past had always come out blissed out from their time with him.

You wanted to give him some kind of smart retort about that being the corniest thing you’d ever heard, but it was impossible to even form a coherent sentence right now. All you could do was grab your knees and hold on as he continued to tongue you. “Wrecker. Fuck. Please. More.” You wanted more, so much more. To see if your theory on his dick size was accurate, to see if you could even handle him inside of you, and most importantly, to just fucking have him inside of you. It seemed the latter was also on the bald clone between your legs thoughts as well as he dipped his tongue inside of you. Was it his dick? Not even close but fuck was he doing a great job.

Every time you said his name from that sexy pleasure-filled mouth of yours, it made his pants tighter. “Hold on.” Came a growl from him as he kept his face buried between your thighs. Your hands found their way to his head while he used his free hand to fumble with his pants. The zipper moved easily and the moment the pants were pushed down, his cock sprung free from its confines and bounced against the cool air. It took more work than he expected, but Wrecker maneuvered the clothing to his knees before easily standing and pulling them fully off. With a thud, they were thrown off to the side and Wrecker fell to his knees once more.

His mouth never left your heat while he maneuvered his pants off. The only reason you even knew that's what he was doing was from the familiar sound of denim being tossed to the side. If it wasn’t for that sound you would have zero idea what he’d done since your mind was swimming from the way he was making you feel. Once again, he was showing his strength off by lifting you with one hand massaging your ass and the other removing his pants. “Fuck.” It was feeling so damn good. “N-need…” A chuckle from him made you stop.

“Don’t worry, I got what ya need.” His thick finger ran across your opening, teasing you with its roughness as his tongue swirled around your heat.

You whined loudly when his thick finger began to press into you. They were so fucking thick, if they were like this then how the hell would his cock feel inside of you. “Wre… Wrecker!” His finger fully dipped into you and you saw stars. Beautiful wonderful stars as he continued to pump your pussy. The rough and calloused feeling of the digit inside you added to the magnificent feeling rushing through your entire body. Your hips rolled against his face and his finger, chasing the feeling that was tightening within you. “So close. Please.”

Wrecker crooked an eyebrow to you as he twisted his finger slowly before removing it from you and licking the juices you’d left behind. “Fuck, Cyare. You taste fucking amazing.” He placed his finger back inside you before slowly adding another. “Need to make sure you’re ready for me.” He watched you carefully as his tongue made slow languid circles against your clit. One of his fingers was thick, two would be close to his size. He wanted to be sure you were ready and could handle him. The last thing he wanted was to hurt you. “Tell me to stop if it’s too much.”

“Mmmm. Feels…ah…so good.” Now this was a mind-blowing feeling. The sheer fullness of two of his fingers was about to make you break. “Don’t. Ah. Don’t stop!” His fingers scissored and stretched you before twisting and finding that perfect spot.

Cinnamon eyes watched as you came undone around his fingers. The screams of ecstasy as you practically bounced on his fingers and released all over him was beautiful. “ That’s it. Scream my name. Let the entire island know.”

“Wrecker! Yes!” His fingers stroked the spongy part of you perfectly as you came in a blinding light. You felt his tongue dip and lap at your essence as it burst from you and all over his face. He demanded that you let the island know you were his and you did as loudly as you could. It felt as though you would lose your voice in the moment and that would be fine.

Not a drop was wasted as he took each and every piece of you into his mouth. It was truly the sweetest berry he’d ever tasted in the whole of his life. Like a rare honey that only kings and gods could taste. He wondered if there was a term for it, maybe Tech knew and maybe he’d ask him one day. But for now, Wrecker simply wanted to indulge in what you could give him.

It was only moments but they felt like hours as he drank from you. Your head swam with a dizzying euphoric feeling as you rode your high and came down from the feeling. “Amazing.” Your breath raced while he lowered you fully to the ground. His movements were now gentle as opposed to the rough and dominating movements from earlier. The stark difference between the two was something you loved. A satisfied hum left you as the coolness from the door behind you spread across your hot body.

Wrecker nuzzled into your neck as he moved next to you. “Did that make up for last night?”

“And so much more. That was… mind-blowing.” Your head lulled back and forth as you looked up at the man beside you. Between his legs, the large and delicious-looking member of his twitched in need. “My turn.” You purred while pulling away from him and turning onto your knees. The sight of him was making you drool. “It’s only fair.” You smirked while sitting on your heels and raising your arms to your neck.

His eyes widened as he watched you release the clasp on the halter top of your suit. The strap fell but the material stayed tight against your chest until you reached up and pulled it fully down to your waist. Your breasts bounced from the movement while your nipples hardened against the cool hair. “M-maker. You're beautiful.” Stars, this is what you looked like naked? Wrecker fought to focus on his breath as you leaned forward and crawled towards him with a hungry look in your eyes, like a loth wolf. “W-what about the bonfire?”

You hummed happily before leaning forward and licking a long strip up his large cock. “Don’t worry. We’ll make it back in time.”

-*-

Hunter watched the two of you as you cuddled against one another in front of the bonfire. Wrecker's back was against a large boulder while you rested in his lap against his chest. A blanket covered the two of you keeping you warm against the cool night air. What made Hunter smile was Omega asleep in your lap. Her braided hair had fallen out and now covered part of her face as the girl slept off a long day of swimming and fun.

The two of you had returned an hour prior from the grotto, or so you said. It was a good lie in Hunter's opinion. Both of you were wet and your hair was still dripping from your supposed dip in the water. Others easily believed you, asking how the current was and the water temperature. But to someone trained to notice the small things, and who had heightened senses, he could see through your lie. No longer did his brother smell of the GAR soap they all still used, the supply of which was finally running low, but instead, he smelled of you and your body wash. A floral arrangement that reminded him of an open field of wildflowers. Not to mention the love mark that was peeking out the top of your bathing suit right above your breast that was not there earlier in the day. Hunter had to admit that he was impressed that the two of you had snuck off to have some fun while everyone was at the beach. It was a smart move.

Your fingers mindlessly stroked through the blonde locs in your lap as you laughed at something Wrecker said. You three looked like a little family like this. Hunter wished that he could capture this moment as a holo. The image would no doubt delight all three of you and let Omega see how much she was cared for. But he’d forgotten his datapad and he’d rather not interrupt Tech who was on a date of his own. Seeing his two siblings happy like this made Hunter positive that they’d made the right decision to stay here. His family was happy and safe. Even Tech was making strides in his relationship with the tea girl. Yes. This was the right decision and nothing would change his mind. Finally, everything was going right.

His comm rang in his pocket drawing his attention away from the three of you. “Tech, how’s things going?” He was a bit surprised to be hearing from Tech. Wasn’t he supposed to be with Chai?

“Hunter, I have just received a message from Echo.” His eyes glanced up the hill where the girl he’d almost kissed had just vanished. “Sounds like an emergency.”

Hunter sighed softly, Of course, the moment he felt like everything was perfect something would come up. “Got ya. I’m heading to the Marauder now.”

“Would you like me to contact Wrecker?” Tech had begun to gather his supplies and start the long trek up the island.

“Nah, they’re both having fun right now. If it’s something we gotta do now, I’ll get them. For now, let’s keep this between us.” Hunter stood from his place and turned away from the bonfire. He truly hoped this was something that could easily be handled here on the island. The clone was tired of his family being in danger.

“Understood. I will see you at the ship.”

The line went dead and Hunter began his hike back to the top of the island. Everything would be fine, he continued to tell himself.

Everything would be fine.

Tag list:

@rndmpeep @sarahskywalker-amadala @queenariesofnarnia @idoubleswearimawriter @bambambunny @ravenclawbitch426 @jupitersaturnapollo @mzjakao @heylosers06 @dangraccoon @impala1967666 @andrakass2 @ducks118 @motte-the-goblin @rintheemolion @merkitty49 @jediknightjana @onyxtides @moon-wrecked

[houseofbrat]

HOB - Do you believe the story that just came out about her medical condition being leaked?

If it is true, it’s well within the public interest to publish the truth because KP the LIED when they briefed the media initially that her surgery was “non-cancerous”.

I think this is just another story spoon fed by KP to paint themselves as forever victims. The Daily Mail is calling William “dutiful” today with a straight face for…taking another month off 🙄

Kensington Palace seems to have a credibility problem when it comes to their pr timeline, which is in addition to their usual incompetence issues.

On Sunday, 17 March 2024, Roya Nikkhah published an article whereupon a "royal source" said, "I can see a world in which the princess might discuss her recovery out on engagements. If she was going to do it, that’s how she would do it.” Meanwhile, Forbes publishes an article with the rumor that the BBC has been told to be on alert for an announcement from the Royal Family regarding Kate's health.

It would have taken Roya a bit of time to gather information from her KP sources to write that article, and Roya clearly does have sources at KP, given all the exclusives she's gotten from them in the past few years, and publish it in the Sunday papers. So why push that line through the UK press, such as The Sunday Times, that Kate will only talk about it in the distant future IF THE REAL PLAN was to always announce it when the kids go on their term/Easter break?

Well, if the Daily Mail's recent article is true, then it makes a lot more sense that the video happened because they--KP, Kate & Will--felt forced to do it. Supporting evidence of KP having no real pr strategy is found with Valentine Low's recent comments in this video, starting at the 6:20 mark.

"But you do have to ask yourself whether they had the right strategy because there was so much madness around them, and it was very damaging for a while and i don't think the royal family, well, Kensington Palace had really anticipated how bad it would get. But of course, it was all fueled when William suddenly pulled out of that memorial service for his godfather, King Constantine of Greece. Now, it's not clear exactly when he pulled out. We're told now that it was to do with Kate's cancer diagnosis. But I've also heard another narrative that he told the organizers of that service that two weeks earlier that he wasn't going, so it's a little unclear. But suddenly things went mad after that and obviously, I think, the overall strategy at Kensington Palace was very much driven by William and Kate. I think it was their desires to keep things under wrap. Their desires to keep private medical information private, but I just wondered whether in the current climate and in the world we live in where social media is so rampant whether there might be an argument for greater transparency and greater openness."

So which is it? Did William really pull out two weeks prior, and KP just let everyone think he was going to attend until the day of? Or did he really pull out the day of the service? Because if William really did pull out two weeks beforehand, then KP is looking really incompetent by not having a better excuse than "personal reasons." Do they know how to change the lightbulbs over there? How many KP staffers does it take to change a lightbulb?

The whole situation reeks of a whole lot of this:

[pullingyourstrings]

Sunny with a chance of rainbows

Pairing: dad!gareth x bestfriend gn!reader

Summary: Your best friend Gareth becomes a single dad and you decide to help him raise his daughter Sunny.

Words: 1.7k

Warnings: oc!Sunny Emerson, oc!Anne, character death, dealing with grief, fluff, happy ending.

Gareth was your best friend since you were kids and you still talked everyday, even when you moved out to another city. So it was obvious you were coming back to Hawkins the day he called to tell you his girlfriend Anne got into a car accident, leaving him and their 6 months old daughter, Sunny, all alone.

You arrived at Mrs. Emerson's house the same day, supporting them any way you could and helping Gareth move back and into his feet on the next few days. He was immensely grateful to you, but insisted you didn't need to stay forever. He and his mom would make it work. But you knew his mom was old and sure, she could help with Sunny, but babies need a lot of care and attention and she couldn't do it alone all the time while Gareth worked hard to support his family.

"Gare, please let me help you. At least until Corroded Coffin fires off and you don't have to work at that shitty restaurant anymore" you offered.

"Are you sure? I don't wanna bother you more than I already did, I don't wanna ruin all your plans and–" you understood where he was coming from, even grieving he was always kind and selfless, but to you this was more important than anything. You remembered all the times Gareth and his family helped with your troubled childhood, how many times they welcomed you in their house, how many times they went to your presentations when your busy parents couldn't make it, how Gareth's mom taught you how to cook and how to fix a lightbulb for when you were on your own, his sisters taught you how to wear make up and his dad helped you get your first job. You remembered how Anne always treated you nicely, how she made sure Gareth called to check up on you. It was only fair you gave something in return to all of them.

"I'm staying. You're not bothering me. I can stay here with her, help your mom around the house..." you turned your attention to Sunny, resting her head on her dad's chest and giving you the side eye. "Isn't that right, honey? We're gonna have so much fun!" you talked in a warm, reassuring voice and Sunny expression changed, smiling big and giving you grabby hands. She threw herself from her dad's arms and you grabbed her.

"That's right! Let's go inside to play, yeah?" you walked towards Gareth's house, tickling Sunny's tummy and making her giggle. "Say bye bye to daddy" you waved at Gareth's direction and Sunny mirrored you. Gareth smiled and waved back before getting in his car and leaving for work.

You never wanted kids, mainly because you've always been scared of the pregnancy part, but helping your best friend raise his kid? That's pretty rad. You found yourself quite enjoying it and getting more and more attached to Sunny. She was the funniest smartest little girl you've ever known. She liked playing games, listening to music and dancing. She was really easy to take care of, she rarely threw tantrums and enjoyed quiet times watching TV or when you're reading her a book. Mrs. Emerson said her good behavior meant you were doing a pretty good job at raising her and you liked to believe it was true. After all, you weren't doing it alone and Gareth was indeed a really great dad. He always said he wanted to be the dad he never had. He played with her, took her to corroded coffin rehearsals, they often baked together... He made sure to give her everything she needed, all attention and love he could.

Time flew by and suddenly it was Sunny's 2 year old birthday. Still, you only stayed with her while Gareth was working and went home to your little cabin as soon as he got home. Mrs. Emerson would always invite you to stay, since after Gareth's sisters left to build their own families, she often felt lonely. Sunny has been a light on her life and she also really enjoyed your company. But you thought it was better this way. You liked to give them space to be their own little family because, sometimes, you still felt like an intruder. You weren't trying to replace her mother. You were just trying your best to raise her in a respectful, kind and loveable way and you hoped that, wherever Anne was, she was watching approvingly. You knew Gareth was. You two spent a lot of time together, from taking Sunny out on fun trips to the mall, the park or the beach, to staying home with her, baking and watching movies. And you often caught him staring at you while you played with her and he had this look on his face, this soft smile and shining eyes, that you couldn't point your finger on what it meant. So you took it as approval, as recognition that he saw how much you cared and loved his kid. So much, that you couldn't help but miss her and be worried whenever you were apart from her.

You received a call one night, a tired Gareth on the other side and you could hear the faint noise of Sunny's crying.

"Hey... Can you come over please? Sunny has been crying nonstop since you left and I-I don't know what to do."

"I'm coming." you left immediately, heading to his house. You walked up the stairs quickly, finding him with her in his arms, swaying her back and forth. You could tell she was tired, eyes closed, body limp on his arms but she still cried, inconsolable.

"What's wrong?" you asked worried, approaching them.

"I don't know! I tried everything, I fed her, changed her diaper, checked her temperature. Everything is fine, you're fine baby" he talked more to her than to you, kissing her forehead gently and shushing her.

"Can I try?" you offered and Gareth nodded, placing her in your lap. You hugged her close to your chest and started humming to her a little song you made up when you just started doing this. She stopped crying when she recognized you and your voice, sighing deeply. She was asleep just minutes after.

"Huh. I guess she just missed you. She's so used to having you around" Gareth whispered as you placed her in her crib gently as to not wake her up. "Which is great. Because I guess I'm pretty used to it too" he completed when you turned to face him. And there was that face again, the one you couldn't point your finger on. You understood it now as he got closer to you.

"Listen, Gare, you don't need to do this. I love Sunny like she's mine but we don't have to just because I'm helping with her" you placed your hand on his chest and took a few steps back.

"I know but I want to. I really like you, Y/N..." he grabbed your hand and despite you shutting him down, he still smiled softly.

"I like you too, we've been friends forever but..." his smile faded. "But I knew Anne and I'm not in any way trying to replace her." you confessed. You knew you were letting your insecurities get in the way, but he needed to know.

"I understand that." He took a step back, leaning on the wall opposite from Sunny's crib. You leaned beside him, watching her sleep. "You're not replacing her though. She's part of our life and she always will be. But knowing her, she would want Sunny to have the best family ever. She would want us to be happy. And you make us happy." he reassured you. "So if you want to just... keep things like they are... that's fine by me. But I really, really want us to be a family. Like, officially." he finally looked at you, your eyes meeting again. You thought about it, your heart racing uncontrollably. This wasn't new. You always had a special place for Gareth in your heart and the connection you two had was something meant to be since the first time you met. Raising Sunny together was only a confirmation of that, besides being the best thing that ever happened to you.

"Okay" you smiled "I think I want that too."

Nothing really changes, other than you moving in with them to stop paying rent and stopping answering "Oh no, we're not a couple" when people in the street asked about you and Gareth.

With Gareth being your best friend since forever, you were already close, already knew all of his perks and you already loved him when it all started, so your relationship blossomed easily. Gareth is easy to love and fun to be around and he found himself in the same situation, falling in love with you more and more everyday. Eddie would often joke and say that you looked like the perfect family he saw on tv ads.

Eventually Corroded Coffin blows up and the boys sign a deal for their first tour around America. Gareth finds himself in a conflict, because he REALLY doesn't want to leave you and Sunny in Hawkins while he travels. He'll just miss you too much. But this was always his dream, he couldn't just drop it now that they finally got something. So his plan was to arrange everything so it would accommodate you both, from the most comfortable tour bus to how it would work with Sunny's education and healthcare. That way, you couldn't say no when he invited you to go touring with them. And you're glad he did because it was a blast. All the fans knew about Sunny and they really loved and cared about her. They also knew about you and how happy you and Gareth were as a couple, so they're always respectful and kind. Sunny grew up on a tour bus, traveling the world, and all of you loved it so much, so happy you created this amazing family.

[theydonthavenames]

Subtlety of Simon’s arc

A lot has been said about Simon's arc- or lack of thereof in some people's eyes. So here's my take. I appreciate his arc this season wasn't as 'prominent' as Wille's, but Simon definitely had one and the role of his character wasn't purely reduced to love interest in my opinion. Simon's gone a long way to understand what's important in life and to find himself again after a lot of turmoil- and I think that's big thing for a 16 year old. Something that stands out to me, and I haven't seen many people discussing it, is I think Simon realised he's in with Wille for the long run. After the hot and cold Wille's behaviour in S1, all the cat and mouse dynamic in season 2, one can get lost in what they actually want from a relationship. At the beginning of the season, the thought of having to wait for Wille for two years felt ridiculous to Simon, and I completely get that. Two years for a teenager feels like eternity. But in episode 6, he himself admitted to Ayub it will only have to be two years until they're not a secret. Simon realised that what they have with Wille is not a fling, it will not easily pass. He tried to replicate it with Markus, it failed miserably. He realised his feelings to Wille are deeply rooted, and he's even willing to sacrifice part of his integrity for Wille. Wille played a part in his realisation as well. He told Simon he could abdicate for him- he can give up a massive part of the whole of adult life just to be with him, and maybe that was a lightbulb or self realization moment for him. I think (and from my experience) when you hear big commitments, especially when you're a teenager, can make you feel two ways- you either panic, because you're not ready, or you embrace the idea. Simon did the latter, and maybe this is when he also realised that he he wants to be with Wille for good. I'm not saying they declared to be together till the end of their lifes- but they both came to realisation they are serious about each other, and that's quite beautiful, especially when you're 16. Another part of Simon's arc that I found fascinating (and I think it happened as a result of my first point) was letting go of some parts of his integrity, that he was so protective over in season 1, in order to find himself again- and agreeing to be a secret. And before people shouting that it's not good to alter your integrity for someone else- this is what happens in real life especially when you're young, especially when you know this person is the one. There are times or events in your life that push you towards reevaluating your values and asking yourself again what really matters to you. And that's what Simon did. Wille told Simon that sometimes you need to do what's best for yourself, even if it means going against what you previously believed was right. Simon has grown to understand that sticking to his current values, refusing to be a secret will only make him miserable. He won't be a secret, but he also won't be with Wille. And that's the new compromise and balance he had to find within himself. He needed to understood that to simply be happy, something’s gonna give. And I believe that's a massive step for a 16 yo! I think up to last moments he felt conflicted about his decision, but I don't think he regretted it at all. When he finally confessed to Wille, there was this aura of calmness, confidence and contentedness around him. He learnt Wille was important enough for him to make these sacrifices. He tried to keep up his morale, stay away from Wille and move on, but he's realised by doing so, he's only hurting both of them. Of course for this scenario to work he needed Wille to up his game too and change his ways, otherwise there would be an imbalance between them- but Wille he thankfully did that, and that played a massive part in Simon's change of heart. Simon felt like he could start trusting him again, like he could make this massive step not only for Wille, but primarily for himself. And I think those two realisations brought Simon to a beautiful arc this season.

[afterartist]

any lore you've wanted o share but haven't had an excuse to yet relating to ur aus? :3

OH BOY DO I?!!

Strap ur selfves in, cause I got a lot of lore I wanna talk about :D

(I’ll be sticking to my main 6 tho cause I got way too many aus lmao)

General Lore:

Barrierfall:

Barrierfall is my angstiest AU as many of you know, what some people don’t know however, is that it’s also one of my only True Pacifist a Surface AUs (which kinda makes the fact that all but 3 die sadder but meh)

Magic in this AU is more of a solid thing, it’s why Monsters can create Magical Attacks and Magical food, and in the AU, instead of loosing the ability to use magic, Humans just loose the ability to cast magic themselves and instead have to use items to channel the magic they naturally produce (which is why the items left over by the other human souls have magical aspects)

In Barrierfall Monsters can freely use magic but can’t create it as easily, and Humans create it but can’t use it, this was originally a symbiosis the two species had before the war,

But being locked underground means the monsters were slowly using up all their magic resources, weakening their magic, this is why Frisk has the Reset ability, because they’re not fighting any other magic,

But with the monsters underground, the Humans have a whole lot of magic build up that they’re not using.

So, what happens if you break a window in a submarine?

All the pressure of the water floods in and the sub implodes,

Now, what happens if you break a barrier that’s been stopping any of the magic getting into a basically magic-less cavern?? What happens when a tiny lightbulb is compared to the sun? What happens when a drop of determination is compared to a world of magic??

In other words, here’s the answer to your question everyone who’s been asking why the underground falls and why the reset button is destroyed :D

Spoketale:

The residents of Spoketale know they’re in a game, they’re not supposed to, but when your player is a hacker a few glitches can occur.

386 neutral runs, with various hacking/glitches, Player is curious about how far they can push the characters before something changes, they have however, never done a Genocide or Pacifist route, these glitches can be minor things like; switching item pickups (this is an important lore point to Spoke himself), GodModing and taking no damage, to more impactful glitches,

Like, let’s say… deleting entire characters?? Spoke was right, his papyrus isn’t dead (:

But a side effect of all the glitches is different characters gaining awareness, the story of Spoketale actually takes place where Sans meets Player at the ruins to distract them and buy Alphys and Undyne time to evacuate the underground because they know about the resets and Player (it’s also where Spoke gets the crack in his skull)

Idletale:

If you’ve read the prologue of my fic for Idletale you’ll probably have pieced this together already, but Idletale is set in an AU where Gaster tried to create fake human souls (similar to Handplates) by taking a 16th of a human soul and injecting it into a Host’s soul, after various tests it’s found that a single trait being injected will just overwhelm the soul and kill the host, but with two human traits they cancel each other out allowing the 3 souls to synergies

The three survivors of these tests are Sans (Idle) Papyrus and Undyne,

Sans getting Patients and Justice

Papyrus getting Bravery and Integrity

Undyne getting Kindness and Perseverance

All of them are able to summon the items attributed to the soul traits (yes Idle can summon a gun whenever he wants and yes it’s a horrible idea- who let him do this-)

Another side effect of these tests being that each host can see their soul traits (they can’t see the others only their own)

Sans calls herself a Pb&J Sanswitch much to the chagrin of Patients and Joy of Justice

They’re also able to switch out with their hosts (not this is not DID, I’m not trying to make it an allegory for any disorder) which strengthens certain attacks depending on who’s at the helm

Furcatetale (Rivper):

Not too much lore to tell here, but Rivper himself was the first Sans to receive one of ‘The Keys’, the Integrity Key, given to him by his River Person (due to his Gaster being a massive dick (and the reason Rivper ended up with a half melted Integrity Soul) Riverperson basically adopted Rivper as their own)

The key and internship as a riverperson is why Rivper acts as a multiverse taxi, being able to take anyone to any AU they want (as long as either Rivper or the Passenger have been there before) for 5G,

Their Ferry is also a Gaster blaster (I’ll draw a sketch of it or smthn if y’all r interested)

Helicaltale:

Heck yeah I love this world so much,

Basically helicaltale takes place where after the war, instead of being sealed underground the Monsters were chased away from the safety of MtEbott and instead took refuse in the desert, setting up basically a tent city,

The Humans then placed a curse on them that they can never touch sunlight (I though of this after 47 hrs straight of Minecraft playing so think of how hostile mobs burn in sunlight and that’s basically what happens)

When Sans was 12 (Papyrus being 7) a sickness ran through the camp (it was called ‘The Sunlight Sickness’ cause I thought it sounded cool but now I can think of a better name :/) and during that time the cost of medicines rose 10fold (there’s more lore here but I’ll mention it later in the TW side of this post)

Climatetale:

First things first- basically the polar opposite of Barrierfall where everyone is alive!! Including the human souls

In the AU all the Souls including Frisk and Chara are alive and around the age of 23 (THIS IS FOR JOB/DRIVING REASONS- NOT FOR SHIPPING YOU DEGENERATES. do not use the characters ages as an excuse to ship, both Chara and Frisk are Asexual/Aromantic in this AU, don’t be nasty.)

And all of the Souls work for their Collage newspaper/as reporters, aiming to uncover the truth about the Monsters of Myth.

There was no war in this AU, and similar to Reapertale, a Climatetale monsters are based off ‘things’, Natural Phenomena and Natural Disasters, for Example Sans is based off a Lightning Sprite, Papyrus is based off lighting, Unydne is based off Tsunamis and Alphys is based off Asteroids (cause I think a Dino adjacent character being based off meteors hilarious)

Also, instead of an underground, Mt Ebott erupted Centuries ago (thx Asgore) and its basin cooled and became a massive sinkhole oasis that all of the Monsters live in peacefully,

Frisk and Chara being the first humans they meet in decades

And now onto some of the sadder stuff,

This is bits or lore that are much more confronting, not all my AUs have this,

None of this is too integral so you can stop reading here if the following Trigger Warnings are too upsetting

TW: Suicidal Ideation, Child Abuse/Neglet

Barrierfall:

Despite his vitriol to Ink, Barrier actually blames himself for the loss of his AU,

He was also forced to kill his Papyrus, so survivors guilt and just guilt in general eats at him,

He was the one given the warning by his future self that he didn’t listen to, he was the one that entrusted his AU’s safety to a stranger, he was the one that got himself permanently banned from the Omega-Timeline cutting himself off from the only two other survivors forever,

He says he blames Ink and he’s hunting the creator down for revenge, but honestly, he’s looking for an easy excuse to end up dead,

He knows he can’t beat Ink, he just hopes going into an unwinnable fight would be a step forward in making up for his sins

(Which is stupid cause it’s not his fault but the dumb dumb can’t get it through his thick skull)

Spoketale:

Spoke is cannonicaly dead, while his Papyrus isn’t, Spoke is,

He died when confronting the Player in the Ruins, taking a knife to the eye that killed him near instantly,

Only due to a glitch caused by Players hacking was he able to use a monster candy and restore his HP, leaving him at 10/1HP permanently, but he’s never mentioned it too anyone, not even his papyrus or any of his other friends, too scared that as soon as he acknowledges it, the game codes will realise the glitch and kill him for good,

Never telling anyone about his fears bring mass paranoia making him much more likely to attack when getting defensive

He’s also deathly afraid of reaper sans (pun intended)

Helicaltale:

Remember how I brought up the Sunshine Sickness?? Well it shouldn’t be too bad, their Gaster works in a top level lab in the city with humans to try and find a cure for the curse, making more money then he could ever want

The problem is, he’s always in the city, surely sans is old enough to look after himself and his brother, why would they need a parental figure to take care of them? Phone calls? No, only an email once a month, if lucky

Sure, maybe Gaster doesn’t even know how old his kids are, but it can’t be that bad right??

Papyrus gets sick.

With not enough money for both food and medicine, sans is forced to seek out help from the black market, eventually selling his right eyelight (using it allows the buyer the same teleportation ability sans has) in exchange for the medicine for papyrus,

He’s 12 when he looses his eye, his father never notices, he doesn’t tell anyone, papyrus gets better

This is what inspires Papyrus to join the Royal guard, wanting to protect sans the way he protected him, it’s also what inspires sans to become a magical items trader in the black market (with a strict rule that he doesn’t deal with anyone who hurts kids)

It’s also how he eventually ends up with his own Key, the Bravery Key was given to him in a box along with the orange Glass Eye (this was actually a trade he made with Frisk who needed medicine for their sibling Chara who got sick with Sunshine Sickness as the two had first come to the Underground Tent City)

Anywayssss that’s it for this lore drop

I’m too lazy to actually create in-depth and we’ll thought out lore but I hope this is interesting none the less :D

Also,

WHERE DO YOU ANNONS KEEP COMING FROM??!

[thatcheesyler]

Gambling has it's perks

Summary: Cuphead and Mugman are about to lose it all at the casino, but Cuphead has a little trick up his sleeve. Can they beat King Dice at his own game? Read and see ;)

A/N: This is a sfw Cuphead tickle fic, if you do not like it, please dni. Enjoy! <3

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

You'd think that most people would quit once they'd almost lost everything in a gamble. But the cup brothers were certainly not most people, even after losing to the devil himself.

Now, gambling with the devil's right hand man wasn't any less dangerous, but at least there was the possibility he'd give you a second chance. Well, only if you weren't cuphead or mugman. Speaking of them, right now they are pretty much betting their lives away for money, one wrong move and they could say bye-bye to their souls.

"Wait! Uh..King Dice sir, could me and my brother talk alone for a moment?" Mugman interrupted politely, not wanting to make the wrong choice. "Hmmm, I'll give you two minutes, but no cheating boys!" King Dice replied with a shit-eating grin. Mugman wasted no time in grabbing Cuphead's arm and running to a different room where Dice couldn't hear. "Mugsy! Whaddya doin', I was about to play our last turn!" Cuphead's whisper-shouted, angry but curious on what his brother had to say. "L-look Cuphead, I'm not so sure we should do this without a plan. I mean what if we get it wrong?!" Mugman couldn't help but stress out about their current situation. Cuphead still wanted to wing it, but he had to agree that blind luck had seldom worked for them in the past.

But just when Mugman was about to accept his fate, Cuphead had a little lightbulb moment. "Hey Mugsy! I got the perfect plan, listen to this" He announced, trying to keep his voice down nevertheless. The mug was intruiged and leant his 'ear' close to hear his brothers so-called plan. Inaudible mutters and mumbles were heard until they had it all figured out completely. Just in time too, as it had gone 2 minutes, "Boys! Time's up~" Dice called out. The brothers nodded firmly at eachother, walking back to the other room to greet their opponent. "Okay Dice, I'll play my turn now." Cuphead stated hastily, picking up the small 6-sided dice on the table. He was about to roll when....he stopped, "I-..I don't know if I can do this, I mean losing would just be- GET 'IM MUGSY!" All of a sudden, Mugman jumped up onto the table and swiftly pounced on King Dice, trapping his hands behind him. This earned a yell from the taller man, focusing so much on Mugman that he didn't notice Cuphead approaching. "Not so tough now, huh Dice?" Said man whipped his head around to the voice, instinctively bringing his knees to his chest out of fear. "Geez, King Dice sir, the Devil must treat you really badly if you're scared of us" Mugman pitifully remarked. Dice just sat silently staring at the floor, still partly afraid of what was to happen to him now. "Relax, Dice! Me and my brudda ain't gonna hurt ya!" Cuphead assured him, leaving Dice as confused as ever.

"*Sigh* Dare I ask what you're going to do, little nuisances." He wearily said. The brothers shared a 'should we tell him?' look before concluding that it wouldn't really change anything. "Well, hurtin' ya is against the rules, so we're gonna tickle ya to pieces instead!" Cuphead answered. Dice widened his eyes upon this and quickly grew nervous, knowing fully well how relentless children could be. 'What do I do?! How do I get out of this?!' King Dice's thoughts disappeared entirely as he felt a gloved finger gliding down his stomach. A twitchy smile was created on his face, gritting his teeth as Cuphead lightly scratched his ribs.

"C'mon Dice, where's that laugh~?" The cup teased, his brother still restraining their targets arms. What all three of them didn't expect, was for another voice to be coming their way.

"Heya, boys! I just thought I'd drop on by to make sure you two ding-dongs aren't dead yet!" It was the one and only Ms. Chalice. King Dice's jaw dropped to the ground upon her appearance, while the two 'ding-dongs' shared an overjoyed smile. "Chalice!" They shouted in sync, said girl making her way over to them.

"Wow, looks like you boys have this guy in a real bind, mind if I help out?" She offered, smirking fondly at Dice, who seemed to have stopped functioning. "I- wh- h-how-"

"Trust me fella, it's too long a story. Now, what exactly is goin' on here?"

"We don't wanna lose our souls so we're ticklin' Dicey here till he gives up!" Cuphead blurted out, making Dice groan and blush a bit. Chalice chuckled and knealt down beside Mugman, whispering something inaudible into his straw. The mug's face lit up, suddenly hoisting King Dice's hands above his head. Dice struggled against Mugman's surprisingly strong grip, but gave up easily as it was no use. "Alright, scoot over Cuphead, I wanna get in on this too!" Chalice said. The cup obliged, leaving Dice twice as scared as he noticed how thin and tickly her fingers looked.

"Hmmm, how 'bout you go for his underarms and I stick to his belly?" Cuphead suggested.

"Got it, Mugman are you gonna gonna be fine holdin' him?"

"Yep! I'm feeling particularly strong today!" Mugman replied, even though there was practically no struggle against his grasp. On the count of three, Cuphead and Chalice started poking and prodding every inch of stomach and armpit they could find. Giggles and snickers found their way out of Dice's mouth, his feet kicking a little.

"Hehehahaha, yohohuhuhu brahahats are sohoho dehehahad whehehen thihihis ehehehends!" He 'threatened', it lacked intimidation though considering he was being tickled silly. Dice squeaked when a certain cup lightly pinched his side, his face growing crimson red again. "Awww, your squeaks are adorable~!" (⚠️Not a ship!⚠️)

"Shuhuhuhut ihihit cupfahahace, yohou pihihehece ohof shi-ACK!! WAHAHAHIHIHIT NOHOHOHO, STOHOHOHOP!!!" Dice suddenly exclaimed as Chalice squeezed his hip repeatedly. "Better watch your mouth mister, or I'll make it ten times worse next time!" She said, giving one more squeeze that felt like a ticklish electric shock. Everything then went at a steady pace for a while until Mugman just had to think out loud.

"Hey guys, so people normally have ticklish necks, but since Mr Dice has no neck, wouldn't it be realistic if he was ticklish around the neck?" King Dice mentally gulped after he said that. After a recent 'makeup incident' with his playing cards colouring the pips on the underside of his head, both Dice and his cards learnt how ridiculously sensitive he was there. Both Cuphead and Chalice turned to look at where Dice's neck should be, wondering if what Mug said was true or not.

"Listen kids, I will let you go anywhere else you like. But please, do not touch that area." But his pleading only made them more interested. Mischief ignited their eyes, huge smirks forming on their lips. The last words he could choke out before they attacked were,

"Oh crap."

Soon thin fingers were dancing along the underside of his head, while some thicker fingers scratched and poked. Meanwhile Kind Dice was thrown into hysterics,

"WAHAHAHIHIHIT, WAHAHAHAHIHIHIHIT! PLEHEHEHEHAHASE STAHAHAHAHAP, IHIHIHIH CAHAHAN'T TAHAHAKE IHIHIT!!" He yelled, just hoping that at least one of them would stop. His wish technically came true as Chalice slowed down, slightly worried about going too far. She sighed and said, "alright, let's stop this now, Cuphead." Her friend obeyed, ceasing his hands.

Dice inhaled desperately and Mugman decided to let go of his arms, Dice immediately rubbed his tingling body.

"*huff* y'know, after all that *huff*, I don't give up and I wanna see who wins the bet. *huff*" He admitted, his smug attitude returning.

"Don't worry ding-dongs, I got this" Chalice reassured them. "Mugman, now!"

As fast as he could, Mugman pulled Dice's head really hard so that it popped right off his shoulders. King Dice obviously tried to grab it, but again to no avail as he couldn't entirely move without his head.

"Ugh, what now? Gonna roll me like a dice until I give up?- wait no don't actually do that, I'll be sick." Dice remarked, completely oblivious about the now exposed underside of his head. "Nope, it's just a little experiment to see if you'd change your mind!" Chalice explained. Without warning, she blew a big raspberry on the bottom of his head, and boy did he f*cking scream 💀.

"NONONONONO STAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHA!!" Uncontrollable laughter poured out of him, luckily it was a rather short raspberry. "Give up yet, Mister Dice?" Chalice asked cockily, Mugman popped his head back onto his body in the meantime. King Dice collapsed into a giggly puddle, holding his poor head. It took about 5 minutes before he had finally regained his breath and stamina. It was only then he admitted defeat, he also realized that Chips was staring wide-eyed from the other side of the room. Dice turned so red you'd wonder if his head was white in the first place. "H-....how long have you been here?" Chips grinned and replied "Oh, y'know, I saw like all of it. I won't tell, I promise boss." He surrendered his hands to show he'd keep the promise. "Good, 'cause you're fired if you tell anyone about this." Dice threatened, he was lucky the Devil didn't see though, he'd be teased for it every.single.day.

Chips kept his promise, but he took advantage of this discovery every chance he got just to mess with the Devil's number one.

In reality, Dice didn't mind one bit if it meant he got some bonding time with his colleagues. The Devil did find out eventually though, and, well, let's just say Dice was too tired to get up the next morning ;). (Stop I'm reading this again a while later and this line sounds so stupidly dirty, I'm so sorry 😭)

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

Okay, this took WAY longer than it needed to so I'm sorry for that but I hope you enjoyed this fic. Honestly though KD has gotta be one of the funniest villains ever 😂.

Have a lovely day/night <3

[missmeikakuna]

Let Me Speak to the Manager! Ch. 6- Karen x Manager [END]

The sixth and final chapter of my new story, a Karen x Manager yuri romcom. Yes, you read that right.

Fandom: Original (unless Karen memes count as a fandom)

Rated: T (some swearing and mature themes)

Pairing: F/F

Description: After being denied a discount at a supermarket, single mother Karen demands to see the manager. Much to her horror, the manager is hot enough to be her first woman crush. But Karen would rather join a pyramid scheme than deal with her feelings, much less admit them.

Potential Content Warning: Religious homophobia

Cover art by Galdsy- Tumblr: www.tumblr.com/galdsy Twitter: twitter.com/galdsy Instagram: www.instagram.com/galdles/?hl=…

Chapter 6: Karen and The Manager vs Society

Kyle, Sharon and Carol sat by the dining table. ‘What’s up with mum?’ Carol asked, stirring the chocolate powder in her cup of milk.

It was nighttime and Karen had already gone to sleep. The three children were lit by the flashlight feature on their phones, unwilling to turn on the kitchen lights and risk awakening their mother. The room still reeked of lavender and honey, which would be nice if it wasn’t so potent. Karen had a habit of leaving the oil diffuser on for hours.

‘It’s that dumb business she’s started,’ Kyle answered, slamming his fist against the table.

Sharon nodded. ‘She tried to put oil in my ear last night. Claimed it could help me get to sleep. As if I could sleep if I’m worried about getting shit poured in my ear.’

‘So… what do we do?’ Kyle asked. The other two shrugged, then Carol took a sip of her homemade chocolate milk. Sharon absentmindedly tapped the placemat in front of her. They collectively sighed.

The next day, Karen came home from work with bags under her eyes. She collapsed on her bed but forced herself to take out her phone and check her WonderLiving page on Friendful. 

Kyle, Sharon and Carol burst through the doorway to her bedroom and Kyle stood in front of the door to block Karen from leaving. Carol and Sharon swooped to Karen’s side.

‘What are you guys doing?’

Sharon ‘Well… you see, we’re concerned about-’

‘Your new business sucks,’ Carol interjected.

Sharon slapped Carol’s shoulder. ‘Carol!’

‘What? It’s true. Mum, you keep saying you can’t buy us stuff because you’re trying to get your business off the ground. Why do you even need it? What are you even selling?’

Karen started her rehearsed spiel about the benefits of WonderLiving essential oils. Kyle’s eyelids quickly began to lower.

‘Are you making any money from these oils?’ Sharon asked.

Karen paused, then shook her head. ‘But I’m sure soon the money will start pouring in!’

Carol groaned. ‘Why did you need the extra money? We were fine before you joined this Wonder… whatever.’

‘Well, you know how expensive groceries are now, since I had to change where I shop.’

‘Just apologise to the supermarket,’ Sharon suggested. ‘That was ages ago.’

Karen crossed her arms and was silent for a moment, her face a blank slate. ‘I may or may not have had another… outburst… in front of the same manager.’

‘Then apologise to that manager.’

‘No way am I talking to that temptress Frema again!’

Carol raised an eyebrow, noting the redness of Karen’s cheeks. ‘Temptress?’ The memory of Karen’s behaviour upon first meeting Frema lit up like a lightbulb in her mind. She held in her laughter and looked at her siblings to see if they had any clue what was going on. 

That question brought Karen to her feet. ‘Get out of my room,’ she said as she reached past Kyle to grab the doorknob. Kyle stood resolute, not budging an inch.

‘It’s okay,’ Carol said to Kyle, who moved on command. Despite Karen telling her children to leave, she was the one who exited the room.

Sharon sat down on the bed. ‘What was that all about?’

Carol paused to think. Was she crazy? ‘Temptress… did this manager tempt mum? Into what, exactly?’ She looked to her siblings to see if they picked up on her cues.

Sharon lifted her legs until she was sitting cross-legged on the bed. Her eyes grew three sizes and her jaw hit the floor.

‘But Mum’s not a lesbian!’

‘I never said she was.’

‘Wait, Mum’s a lesbian?’ Kyle asked with the face of an F-grade student given the Mensa test.

‘Either way, we need to talk to this manager,’ Carol said, her eyebrows low with determination.

Sharon pointed out, ‘And get her to do what? Even if Mum goes back to the supermarket, she might still want to stay in that company.’

Kyle looked at his hands like they were fading away. ‘Woah, woah, woah. But if Mum’s a lesbian, then how was I born?’ He patted down his body to check it was still there.

Carol ignored him to continue discussing with Sharon. ‘Well, if my deduction’s right, then this manager might be the last person left who can talk some sense into her. She might listen. Or hell. She could be tempted to leave Wonder-whatever.’

Sharon shook her head. ‘We don’t even know when this woman’s on her shift. How do we find her and convince her to help?’

‘Listen to me!’ Kyle yelled. Carol and Sharon turned their heads. ‘Is Mum a lesbian?’

The twins shrugged in perfect synchronisation. ‘Anyway,’ Carol said. ‘Time to make a plan.’

Frema pushed the trolleys into each other, struggling to get all of them to fit. A single drop of sweat slid down her forehead. After wiping it away, she smiled at customers and began visiting each aisle to inspect the employees’ recovery work. 

A bland and repetitive but vaguely upbeat pop song played through the speakers. This should have been fine, as Frema was no music snob despite her personal tastes. That being said, hearing it for the fifth time in an hour would turn anyone into a hipster who funnel-chugs lowercase ambient albums.

Sunlight burst through the windows and glass doors but the building was still a little chilly, thanks to the frequently opened but rarely closed fridge doors in the frozen produce section. As she made her way through the aisles, she made sure she closed every single one of those fridge doors.

This was a rather average work day.

The company phone buzzed in Frema’s pant pocket. She immediately took it out. ‘Welcome to Wilco’s. Frema speaking. How may I help you?’

‘Oh, you’re there,’ Carol said. ‘How long will your shift last? We’ll be there as soon as possible.’

Frema’s eyebrows met in confusion. ‘Could I have your name? I’m afraid I don’t recognise your voice.’

‘Oh, you probably don’t remember us.’

Kyle had to butt in the conversation. ‘We’re Karen’s kids.’

‘I see… is there anything you need?’

‘Nope!’ Sharon replied. ‘We’ll see you soon.’ She hung up.

Frema stared at the phone in her hand, dumbfounded. She released a quick chuckle before pushing the phone back into her pocket and continuing her inspection.

It wasn’t long before the three kids arrived. Carol asked a staff member where Frema was. Frema wound up recognising the three pretty quickly. They were the spitting image of Karen.

‘Can I help you?’

Kyle said, ‘Maybe.’ His face was still shocked as he tried to understand what his mother’s sexuality was.

‘Yes!’ Carol yelped, stepping on Kyle’s foot. Kyle yelped even louder at the shoe on his foot. He glared at her but she ignored him. ‘We need you to get Mum to leave a company she keeps spending money on.’

Frema raised a single eyebrow and wore an awkward grin. ‘I’m not sure I’d be much help with that. I doubt she’d-’

‘But you have to try-’

‘I did. I can’t deal with her anymore.’ She pulled a line of items forward on the shelf. ‘She doesn’t listen to reason.’

‘But you’re a temptress!’ Sharon argued a little too loud. She lowered her head as shoppers turned theirs. ‘I mean, that’s what Mum said. Can’t you tempt her to leave the pyramid scheme she’s in? She won’t hear what we have to say.’

That word shot into Frema’s brain like a pinball, bouncing around it faster and faster. Temptress. What a word. Frema’s heart couldn’t help but grow wings and gently fly up. She closed her eyes and thought.

Following half a minute of deliberation, she spoke. ‘Fine. I’ll give it one more shot. Where’s your mum? My shift ends in a few minutes.’

Once her shift was over, she drove the kids to Karen’s home. They walked up to the front door and Carol knocked on it.

When Karen opened it, her face went through the entire spectrum of emotions. She eventually settled on fear and began to close the door. Frema held the edge of the door with the grip of a coconut crab. Karen may have been an unstoppable force, but Frema was an immovable object. The result turned out to be an explosion.

‘Leave me alone!’ Karen screeched.

‘Not until I have a good talk with you!’

‘And what? Judge my life while you live the worst possible lifestyle?’

‘Coming from the woman who called me a temptress!’

Karen gulped. She sighed, looked at her feet and opened the door. A voice unfamiliar to Frema entered her ears from behind Karen.

‘Oh, is someone late to the party? You’re not going to give the whole presentation again, are you? That’s a common rookie mistake.’

Something about that voice and its platitudinously plastic tone ground against Frema’s ears. It was a sensation akin to hearing the familiar squeak of a roller shopping basket scraping against the floor. She looked up and saw a middle-aged woman, taller than even Frema herself, with a blonde bun whose tightness highlighted her extensive use of botox.

Behind her, a gathering of similarly aged women stood in the living room like they were surrounding a water cooler at work, wine glasses in their hands. Most of them had a haircut eerily like Karen’s.

The bun-wearing woman, herself holding a wine glass in one hand, shook Frema’s with her other. Her smile was positively Stepfordian. 

‘Nice to meet you. I’m Brenda. Did you want to try some of Karen’s products?’ Her wine flipped like a pancake in her glass as she swung her arm towards a full table of WonderLiving products. ‘There are still some left to buy.’ Despite keeping the same plastic smile, her voice smirked when she said that last part. 

Frema finally stepped through the door, inadvertently pushing it into Karen. ‘Frema. You must be Karen’s upline.’ The air between Frema and Brenda was like the surface of still water. Karen’s shoulders felt much the same way. She smiled big enough to show her teeth but not enough to be convincing. The only movement she could make was turning her head from Frema to Brenda and back again like she was watching a tennis match.

Brenda blinked her wide but dead eyes. ‘I see you’re already familiar with network marketing. How wonderful! You seem like you’d be a good fit as a distributor like Karen.’

‘Oh, no, I really couldn’t-’

‘Anyone can! That’s the beauty of working at WonderLiving.’

Frema laughed but its lack of ugliness caused Karen’s body to clam up even more. ‘Well, you know the saying. Just because they can doesn’t mean they should.’

‘Where do you work? I’m sure you could use some extra cash.’

‘I’m a supermarket manager.’

The smirk transferred from Brenda’s voice to her face, finally showing itself. ‘Well, you definitely sound like you should work at WonderLiving,’ she said as she took another sip of her wine. Her words cut deep, surprising Frema. She should have been used to this kind of thinking by now, and yet-

‘What’s that supposed to mean?’

The two battlers turned their heads towards Karen, who looked akin to a deer angry at the headlights.

Brenda swallowed the wine in her mouth. ‘Well, who would want to work at that kind of place when you could be your own boss and earn a lot more? A supermarket manager…’ Brenda shivered before stepping towards a finger food table. She wiggled her fingers but decided not to eat anything Karen had prepared. ‘Though I guess you can tell a lot by the company you keep.’

Karen’s shoulders rose, she spluttered drops of wine left inside her mouth and she began lending a magpie’s eye to the nest that was her table of essential oils.

‘A supermarket manager is a perfectly fine job!’

‘Do you really believe that?’ Brenda asked.

‘Of course, I do! Frema works hard and is making a life for herself, unlike SOME people! You don’t know her, so stop talking shit!’

The crowd of bob-haired women gasped. Even Brenda was taken aback. ‘How dare you talk to me like that. Let’s not forget who helped you gather people for this Pharaoh’s Court. You couldn’t do it without me.’

Karen looked down in shame. Then she felt Frema’s comforting hand on her shoulder and looked back up with fire in her eyes.

‘Yeah, you’re right, and I think it’s time for them all to leave! Go! Shoo! Shoo!’ She stormed into the middle of the gathering and shooed them away just as she said. She looked at the essential oil table and raised her arm to push them all to the ground. She saw Frema’s embarrassed stare and brought her arm back to her side.

After closing her eyes and taking a few deep breaths, Karen said, ‘I’d rather not share my home with someone who doesn’t appreciate hard workers like Frema.’ 

Brenda glared at Frema before grabbing her purse and shutting the front door behind her. Frema opened her mouth but Karen held up her pointer finger with her eyes closed again and her lips pursed.

She said nothing but led Frema to the study. There was no way in hell she was going to take her to her bedroom.

Naturally, once the kids finally walked into the house, they kept their distance from the study but listened in. Karen, to their luck, didn’t notice. ‘What do you want? Did you enjoy ruining my party?’ she asked Frema as she plopped down onto the swivel chair.

‘I want you to be honest with me.’ Karen swirled in her chair until she was facing away from Frema. ‘I’d also like you to be more mature, but we can’t have everything, can we?’ A groan jumped out from Karen’s lips. ‘Why did you join a pyramid scheme?’

Karen whipped back around to face Frema. ‘It’s not a pyramid scheme! It’s network marketing. Pyramid schemes are illegal!’

Frema considered arguing over this point but decided to move on. ‘Okay, then why did you join a network marketing company? And don’t give me a sales pitch.’

Karen started to turn back but Frema grabbed the top of the chair and pulled it towards her. She leaned down until their faces were inches apart. Karen couldn’t form words when confronted with Frema’s horrifying beauty. All she could do was stare silently at Frema’s lips.

Frema’s whispers tickled Karen’s own lips. ‘What changed in your life to make you decide that?’

Before Karen could think, she kissed Frema. The other woman’s lips were soft and the kiss was delicate, as if they both feared the other would disappear if they went too hard.

Frema broke the kiss almost immediately. ‘Nope. Less kissing, more talking.’

‘I knew it!’ Carol exclaimed. Karen’s eyes popped out of her sockets. Frema slid open the door fast enough to make a thud against the frame.

‘Shoo! Get outta here, you weirdos!’ The three kids obliged. With a sigh, Frema shut the door again and rubbed the side of her face. ‘Your kids are… something else.’

Karen nodded, her head hung in the greatest shame she had ever felt. ‘They know… they can’t! I’m not even…’

Frema kneeled down and placed a soft hand on Karen’s. ‘It’s okay. You don’t have to come out as anything if you’re not ready.’

Karen shook her head. ‘I was supposed to forget. I was supposed to do something, anything, to forget about you.’

‘What makes you think you could forget this ugly mug?’ Frema’s gorgeously awful laugh returned.

Karen gradually joined in despite disagreeing, then gradually stopped. ‘I haven’t known you very long. I barely-’

‘And that’s completely fine,’ Frema replied, slowly sliding her hand up the other woman’s arm. ‘We can get to know each other over dinner, maybe. Just, please leave that company. I beg you. Your kids are so worried and I hate what it turned you into.’

Karen pushed Frema’s hand away. ‘Turned me into? You already had every reason to hate me. I’m a mess who can’t handle any change. All I can do is knock things over and leave.’

‘Can’t argue with that. But you know what I discovered when you complimented my jacket?’ Frema brushed some of Karen’s hair behind her ear. ‘Even the worst customers can change, and maybe that means I’ve been able to change myself. Trust me, you’re not the first bad customer I’ve run into. When they left, I always saw them as complete scum who could never be redeemed. But you listened to me when I was complaining about my life. No one’s really done that for me before. Hell, look what you did just now at your party!’

Tears rolled down Karen’s cheeks and Frema wiped them away. Karen asked, ‘But what about all the stock I bought? No one wants it.’

‘I’m sure we can figure something out. But buying more stock won’t solve the problem.’

Karen nodded and wrapped her arms around Frema’s neck, pulling her closer. She continued sobbing as she whispered thank yous and sorries into her shoulder.

She could not sell the stock, but she concluded that the essential oils smelled nice enough to use in moderation. She diffused a bottle of oil every couple of days, enough to lessen the stock without polluting the air her children breathed.

Every weekend or so, she and Frema would go on a date. They spent a chunk of their time together whining about their lives, but they both listened to each other intently. By the end of the date, they had moved on to chatting about anything that brought them joy, from a new tv show to a series of photos Frema was proud of taking. It was as if they had forgotten what they had whinged about at the start.

After seeing sparkles in Karen’s eyes when she talked about the things Carol and Sharon had built, Frema suggested that she try woodworking again. At first, Karen shook her head and laughed awkwardly.

‘I couldn’t.’

‘But do you want to?’

Karen couldn’t help but nod.

A few days later, she invited Frema over without telling her what she wanted to do. As soon as she came in, Frema was greeted by the smell of wood chips. Karen handed her a hammer and led her to the backyard, where the whole family was building a dollhouse.

‘If I sell these, I can make back the money I spent at that....’ Karen’s words trailed off and a blush appeared on her face.’

‘That pyramid scheme?’ Carol asked with a chuckle.

The blush got redder. ‘Yes, that pyramid scheme. Now quiet down and do your job!’

The three kids snickered. Frema chuckled and gave Karen a comforting kiss before joining her in hammering nails into the dollhouse. It took a couple of hours, but they eventually created a little home for themselves.

[kire112123]

Asking For Help

A “The Cleaning Lady” sickfic

Thony’s POV

It was 12:34a.m. when she received a call on her burner phone.

“Where? And how many bodies?” She asked as a greeting.

“Hello to you too.” Arman replied, his voice sounding off. He continued: “No one’s dead, but I need your help with something.”

“I can't harbor you here, we’ve talked about this. It’s too risky.” She replied.

“That’s not.. what I am asking for.” He said, stopping in the middle of the sentence to take a deep breath.

“Then what are you asking? I don’t have much money.” She said, confused.

“You used to be a doctor, right? In the Philippines?” He asked, ignoring her last statement.

“Yes. What’s going on?” She asked, concerned.

“I need you to come to the empty warehouse off of eighth street. Bring cleaning supplies and medical supplies. I’ll explain more when you get here.” He said, speaking quickly, before ending the call.

Cursing, she loaded her cleaning supplies into the back of the car. Medical supplies? What medical supplies would be needed? Considering that he was part of the mafia, she figured something for a gunshot or the like. Who had he hurt? Gathering what she would need for that, she quickly loaded it in the car. She made a note for Fiona, saying that she had to run out. Grabbing the keys, she walked to the car, wondering what the hell was going on.

********************Break******************

Arman’s POV

It was a small deal, only $10,000 dollars. The guy had insisted on no security, saying that he wouldn’t bring any either. Hayak had been reluctant, but had eventually agreed with some convincing from Arman, saying that he could handle himself.

Something had seemed wrong, but he had brushed it off, thinking that it was just due to the weird timing of the deal. Midnight. That was when the buyer wanted it, and the buyer gets what he wants. So there he was, walking into an empty warehouse at midnight on the dot, the guns in a small suitcase that he was carrying.

Ben, the buyer, smiled at him as he approached. After Arman set down the guns, Ben reached forward to shake his hand, and that’s when the second person struck. He fell unconscious when something hit his temple, a foot, dropping down from the rafters. He felt a sharp pain in his abdomen, before everything went black.

*************Teensy tiny break***************

30 mins later

He came to consciousness with a groan, a small headache forming. What had happened? After a few seconds he remembered: Ben, the guns. God damnit. The asshole had tricked him. Always look up, isn’t that what he always told himself? The one time he didn’t, and look where it got him. Where exactly had it got him? Squinting his eyes against the harsh lighting of the 6 fluorescent lightbulbs hanging from the ceiling, he saw that he was still in the warehouse. 

Putting his hands down to push himself up, they were instantly covered with something wet. It didn’t flood here, so what was wet? Ignoring it for the moment, he pushed himself up, letting out a hiss at a sharp pain in his abdomen. Looking down, he saw a knife sticking out from it. Shit. Shit, that’s bad. He looked down at his hands, seeing that the wet substance, was his blood. There was a decent sized puddle. Attempting to stand, he felt his legs give out from under him, as a wave of dizziness washed over him.

Changing course, crawled over a wall and grabbed out his phone. He didn’t feel like dealing with Hayak right now, and Dr. Saroyan was out of the country. That left Thony.

Sighing, he called her, not giving much detail, but enough so that she knew where to come. He felt dizzy multiple times on the call, but he didn’t want to concern Thony more than he had to. She would be concerned enough when she came here.

20 minutes later, he heard the door open.

*****************Break******************

Thony’s POV

It took her around twenty minutes to arrive, the traffic being fairly light for this time at night. 

She grabbed the medical supplies, opting to leave the cleaning supplies in her car for the moment. Walking up to the warehouse, she opened the door. Instantly, she saw a puddle of blood on the ground. Who had he hurt? She walked further into the building, looking around. She finally spotted Arman, slumped against a wall. He was sitting, blinking slowly, hunched over his abdomen, where Thony could see the handle of a knife sticking out. There was a small puddle of blood forming around him.

“Arman. What happened?” She asked, rushing to him.

He weakly smiled at her, before saying: “A deal went bad. It was… w-weird. Shouldn’t have… agreed to it.” His eyes fluttered multiple times while he was speaking.

“You need a hospital.” Thony said, pulling out her phone.

“No. Can’t g-go to a hospit-ital. You’re a doctor, f-fix it.” Arman stuttered, reaching out his hand to stop her. His hand which was covered in blood. She stared at it for a moment, before putting her phone back in her pocket.

“I’m not sure that I can. You might need a transfusion.” She replied.

“Try.” He said, slumping down more into the wall.

A/N: I’m not sure how to treat a stab wound, so this is all just guessing. If you know, I can rewrite it to be more medically accurate. I was going to make the knife a couple inches longer, until I realized that probably would’ve killed him. Not trying to do that😂.

She pulled on gloves and grabbed a cloth, setting it down on her lap.

“I’m going to pull out the knife now.” She said, to which Arman just grunted.

She pulled out the knife, a 3 inch blade, where about half of it had been imbedded. Wiping it off, she set it to the side. She quickly grabbed a cloth from the bag, and pulled up his shirt to apply pressure to the wound. Once the bleeding had slowed, she grabbed out the antiseptic, some rum that she had stored in the kit.

“This is going to hurt.” She warned. When she got no response, she looked up at his face. She saw that he was fully unconscious now, head drooping to his chest.

She poured the rum onto the wound. She gently dabbed it off, and then sterilized the needle. Working as quickly as she could, she stitched up the wound. She left him for a few minutes to clean up the puddle, and then grabbed him by the legs and moved him, so that she could clean up the the blood around him. She gently cleaned his hands, still getting no response. She shook Arman, needing to wrap a bandage around his abdomen, which she couldn’t do with him lying down. He blinked up at her, seeming disoriented. 

“I need wrap a bandage around your waist. But, I need you to sit up first.” She said, holding up the wrap and gauze as proof. He blinked at her for a few seconds, before bending his arms to sit up. He lifted himself about an inch off the floor, before falling back, breathing heavily.

“Okay. Change of plan. We’ll get you sat up together, okay? One, two, three.” She said, lifting him by the armpits and getting him slumped against a wall. She gently wrapped the bandage around the wound, securing once she was done. She put her cleaning and medical supplies back in her car, trying to figure out the best way to get him to his house.

“I’m assuming you want to go to your house?” She asked, earning a slight nod from the barely conscious man.

“How do I get you to the car?” She wondered aloud. Fiona! She had left some Molly under the backseat. 

“I have an idea, but you’ll need to trust me.” She said.

He let out a breathy laugh, before whispering: “I don’t really have a choice.”

She ran back to the car and grabbed the ecstasy from under the seat. When she came back in with the pills, Arman lifted his eyes to see what she held. He slightly nodded to show his consent.

“I can’t believe I’m doing this.” Thony said, putting a pill in his mouth, which he chewed and swallowed.

After about ten minutes, she saw a change in his face. He still seemed to be in pain, but he seemed more conscious.

“Do you think you can make it to the car?” She said. 

He just grinned at her, pupils wide.

“You know, this is my first time getting high. High like the clouds. High like birds.” Arman said, moving his arm drunkenly.

“Okay. Let’s go.” She said, lifting him and placing his arm over her shoulders, hand on his waist.

With a lot of manhandling, she finally got him into the back seat of the car. Going around to the front, she got into the driver’s side and turned on the engine. When she turned back to look at him, he was quietly laughing to himself. How the hell was she going to explain this to Nadia? 

“What’s so funny?” She asked.

“That we are both married. What are the odds?” He said, grinning at her.

“A lot of people are married.” She said, frowning.

“No. We are both married, and neither of us are happy.” He said.

“You’re not happy with Nadia? She seems nice.” Thony asked, pulling out into traffic.

“She’s nice, but a bit bitchy. Being with you makes me happy.” Arman said.

“You’re high right now, and delirious from blood loss. You have no idea what you are saying.” She said.

“I know what I am saying, and I know that I like being with you.” Aaron said, defensively.

“Okay. Don’t say that when I get you home, okay? We’ll deal with your delirious ramblings tomorrow.” She said, turning onto his street.

“Hogar. Donde esta el corazon.” Arman said, letting out a laugh.

“I don’t speak Spanish.” Thony said.

“Estoy hablando inglés.” Arman said, frowning.

Thony just sighed at this. They were almost to his house, and Nadia would know what he was saying.

“¿Estás... mareado? Estoy-y mar-eado.” Arman stuttered, slumping further in his seat.

When she glanced back at him, she could see his eyes fluttering, fighting to stay awake.

“Hey, no sleeping until you’re home. Tell me about how you and Nadia met.” She said. 

He just mumbled incoherently in Spanish until Thony pulled into his driveway. 

“Stay here, okay?” She told him, interrupting his mumbling.

“Sí.” He said, which she knew meant yes.

She walked up to the big house, and rung the doorbell. After a minute with no answer, she rang it again, hearing a woman speaking irritated Spanish inside the house.

When Nadia opened the door, she looked surprised. “Thony? Arman isn’t here right now. Why are you here?” She asked, setting the handgun she held on the table next to the door.

“I need your help. He called me, saying that he needed help. He was stabbed, but I got it stitched. I’ll need your help getting him inside.” Thony said, Nadia following her back to the car.

“Stabbed? Is he okay?” Nadia asked.

“He should be fine. I do have to warn you though, he’s currently speaking only Spanish.” Thony said.

“That must have been terribly confus- Why is he grinning?” Nadia started saying, before interrupting herself when she opened the car door and Arman looked at her and grinned.

“I couldn’t get him to the car on my own, and my friend left some ecstasy in the car, so…” Thony said, trailing off.

“Oh my god. He’s high?” Nadia asked, holding back laughter. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen him high.” 

“According to him, it’s his first time.” Thony said.

“Of course. He’s probably the only guy working for the mafia that refuses to do drugs; he’s plenty friendly with alcohol though.” Nadia said, shaking her head.

“Let’s get him inside.” Thony said.

She pulled him out of the car, Nadia on one side and herself on the other. He just mumbled incoherent Spanish while they struggled to get him up the porch steps and into a guest bed on the downstairs level.

Once they got him situated, he quickly fell asleep. Nadia and she walked into the kitchen.

“Wine?” Nadia asked, pulling out a bottle and pouring herself a glass

“No, thank you. I really should be getting home, I have a cleaning at 8.” Thony said, checking her watch, which read: 2:03 a.m.

“I’ll walk you out. Thank you for helping him, I swear that man is going to get himself killed.” Nadia said, leading Thony to the door.

Thony laughed, not quite sure how to respond. Nadia waved and shut the door as Thony walked to her car.

Once inside the relative safety of her car, she let out the breath she was holding. That had not been what she expected when her phone rang. Hopefully, that would never happen again.

[msternberg]

There was a time when folks on the left were brilliant and learned, and debate required folks on the right to work hard to match wits with them. That was the 60's-early 80's. Now the left resembles the day room in a 19th Century institution for the feeble-minded. So let's deconstruct the latest meanderings from another skull tragically filled with mush. Pay attention liberal kids. School is now in session at Casa Nadal, and your teacher has taken some time to put together this liberating list of facts.

1. In 1803 John Dalton called the smallest particles of matter, "atoms." Though he did this slightly after the U.S. Constitution was written, the writers of that document were classically schooled in Greek and Latin. They knew well what Dalton knew:

It was the Greeks 2,000 years earlier who reasoned that one could only divide matter for a finite number of divisions until one reached that which could no longer be divided. They called these fundamental units of matter, "atomos." ATOMS!

2. Medicine based on the Four Humors (Blood, Phlegm, Black Bile, Yellow Bile). The ancient Greeks believed health resulted from these four fluids being in balance. The view dominated Western medicine until 1628, when the great anatomist and physician, William Harvey, began to change the thinking. He was preceded in the 1500's by the Swiss physician and alchemist, Paracelsus (Theophrastus von Hohenheim), who developed the idea that various combinations of herbs and minerals had therapeutic effects.

In 1729, Irish immigrant, Christopher Marshall, opened one of the first apothecaries (pharmacies) in the colonies, setting up in Philadelphia, PA.

In 1752 The Philadelphia Hospital opened the first hospital pharmacy.

In 1799 Scottish physician, John Ferriar, discovered the heart medicine, digitalis. He applied its use in cases of dropsy (severe congestive heart failure). While blood letting was still a thing in western medicine, it was one of the last vestiges of humoral medicine as the preceding 250 years had begun to revolutionize medical practice with detailed study of anatomy and the emerging field of pharmaceutical science.

3. A well-trained soldier could fire five rounds per minute (not four) from a musket, which had to be muzzle-loaded. It is interesting that the same people who decry semi-automatic weapons in the 21st Century and appeal to the muzzle-loading muskets of the Founders as having been sufficient for them, should then ridicule that same 18th Century technology as symbolic of primitiveness, but I digress...

4. In 1677 Robert Plot is credited with discovering the first dinosauer bone, but thought it belonged to a giant human. It wouldn't be until 1824 that the Oxford geologist, William Buckland, would discover bones from the same creature as Robert Plot, and name it, Megalosaurus (Great Lizard). So, nobody knew at the time of our founding that dinosaurs existed.

What exactly the knowledge of dinosaurs has to do with systems of government seems to be an issue only in liberal minds.

5. Women were NEVER considered property by the Founders, and indeed the status of women was markedly different between unmarried and married women under Common Law. If the meme's author studied their AP US History in High School, they would have known this. So here's a bit from the AP US History study materials:

https://ap.gilderlehrman.org/essay/legal-status-women-1776–1830

6. Only a dimwit would have written this about lightbulbs. Benjamin Franklin was not only a Founding Father of the United States, he was also one of the Founding Fathers in the field of Electrical Science, and was world renowned in his lifetime for it.

He designed an electric battery and coined that very term.

He also coined the terms, "positive charge" and "negative charge."

He did experiments with Leyden Jars, used to store electricity, and discovered that electricity was stored in the material in the jars, and not in the water surrounding those materials. He also discovered that the amount of energy stored depended on the materials the jars were made of.

He discovered that electricity was not generated by rubbing two objects together, but was transferred from one object to the other. He thus contributed the Principle of Conservation of Electrical Charge, and used the terms "charging" and "discharging" to describe the transfer of electrical charge between two bodies.

Based on his kite experiment, Franklin invented the lightning rod.

Had the Founding Fathers been shown a lightbulb they would have grasped almost immediately the principle by which it works, as parlor demonstrations of electricity were around since the early 1700's, and only grew in complexity and wonder because of Franklin's discoveries.

Far from being unenlightened rustics, the Founding Fathers distilled 250 years of Enlightenment Philosophy into these few lines that set off revolutions around the world:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness."

Then, knowing the imperfections of the system they set in place, they built in the machinery for future generations to amend the Constitution.

They lived in the age of modern Medicine's beginnings, Chemistry's beginnings, Physics' beginnings, Pharmaceutical Science's beginnings, Paleontology's beginnings, among others. They revolutionized the world as much as the world's intellectual revolutions shaped them.

The nation they founded would rise up to lead the world in the industrial revolution, and most of the scientific and technological revolution of the latter 20th Century.

If the preamble to the Declaration of Independence is the distillation of 250 years of Enlightenment philosophy into just a few lines, this meme is the distillation of ignorance of the life, times, and contributions of the Founding Fathers, and the 246 subsequent years of the American experience into even fewer words.

[velmashaircut]

I wishhh I had my own room so badly. I share with my sister and tbh I wouldn’t describe it as ‘our’ room. it’s her room I get to sleep and put my stuff in. I only go in there to sleep and when she isn’t there, which is like once a week when she goes to work. Any other time she kicks me out cause she wants to be alone, I can’t argue with her cause she gets pissed off really quickly so I basically have to spend my day either downstairs where my parents are (not fun) or in their bedroom (weird ik but I don’t think they’ve fucked in like 17 years). My parents say they don’t mind because they know I have nowhere else to go but I feel bad because I know they end up taking naps downstairs instead when they should be doing that in their beds.

My sister is an awful roommate she isn’t dirty but she’s messy. She has so much shit there’s still a huge pile of clothes in the room even though she has half the wardrobe and other storage such as baskets and foldable boxes/ bags for her clothes. There’s a small space between my bed and a shelf and I was going to buy a small bedside table but I couldn’t after she put a box there for her stuff…Speaking of, all of her stuff litters the floor, it’s like a sea of junk it’s everywhere and I have to sometimes jump over to get to the other side of the room. It’s like I’m playing the floor is lava. She says she’s going to clean it all but she rarely does, even if she did it comes back like a week later. She’s not a hoarder or anything she just has loads of stuff.

Also, she forget where she puts her stuff frequently too, so she has to dig through all her shit on the floor. She lost one of her shoes a few days ago and it took her like ten minutes to find it in her pile of stuff.

Also she throws her clothes on my bed all the time, granted she doesn’t do it when I’m in bed most of the time but still. When I go to my room to sleep I’ll see her worn clothes, bags, recipes, ironed clothes and even her damp towel on my bed and she’s just in her bed on her phone. I have to move it all onto the floor or on her bed and she’ll just chuck the clothes onto her clothes pile. I told her to stop putting shit on my bed cause I didn’t like it and she said she didn’t care how I felt and she laughed when she said it too. It turned into a whole argument and nothing changed obviously. It feels really demeaning having to move peoples crap off of your bed. My beds the only personal space I have and just disrespects it. Ik if she was roommates with others she wouldn’t behave like this she just does it to me which sucks even more.

Also just some minor things that really annoy me, her alarm isn’t on silent so I have to hear it go off for things like work. I don’t hold that against her because some people need to hear the alarm to wake up but whenever she goes on holidays or trips with her friends she tends to leave early so her alarms wake me up at like 4 - 6 am. She also plays music or watches YouTube whilst she gets ready so it’s not like I can go back to bed either since the vanity is next to my bed. The lightbulb in the room is right above my bed as well, so the light wakes me up also, I have to go under my covers but then I feel like a hot potato. Whenever she’s doing her uni work or her nails at night I can’t go to bed until she’s turned off the lights either, but tbf I’m on my phone until like 1am on days I have no uni and she usually turns the lights off at like 12. But the lights being on and her making noise makes it hard for me to fully relax, it feels like I’m just waiting for her to finish what she’s doing.

Also she says I’m inconsiderate which I’m not going to deny but you can’t call someone inconsiderate and then behave like that.

The reason I’m complaining about all of this is because I have to do a placement for my module, and it’s mostly online so that’s where I do my teams meetings and such which is pretty often. I don’t have my own room so I either have to attend meetings in other peoples rooms or downstairs where it’s always noisy because people are always going in and out of rooms. I’m always anxious then cause I have to show my face and speak but I’m worried about who’s going to go into the room and stuff, the placement is at a bank so I can’t just have that going on in the background. If I had my own room I’d be less stressful for me.

[islandpcosjourney]

As the daily wonder of “why do I put so much pressure on myself?” runs through my head, I think back to days gone by when life seemed much easier.

They were all pre-PCOS diagnosis, which in turn was pre-Kevin (the long-term commitment time around 🤪), pre-changing jobs, pre-uprooting myself several times, pre-buying a messed up house, pre-engagement, pre-marriage, pre-grief.

An awful lot has happened in the last 11yrs but you know what, I wouldn’t change any of it.

God has his plan. He meant for me to suffer. He meant for me to hit rock bottom before picking myself up again, for the benefit of everything. Suffering is good. It makes us stronger, more resilient, more aware, more grateful, more respectful, more patient. It also makes us bitter, resentful, jealous, depressed, forgetful.

I often wonder if I’d have longed for a family as much as I do now, if I hadn’t been given a bleak fertility diagnosis before I’d even had the opportunity to think about it. If we’d started marriage just leaving it in God’s hands, as most Christian couples do (& without knowledge of what is going on within us) it wouldn’t have even crossed my mind that 6yrs in, we’d be living a child-less life! I was looking forward to our wedding, believing we’d be able to conquer all the statistics which were against us, prove everyone wrong & create a nice little family straight away. I had such faith in everything working out that I was so shocked that 6 months on, 1 year on, 18 months on that I had been proved wrong. Were we trying too hard? Wanting too much? Expecting the impossible? Had our marriage not been blessed by God after-all?

Perhaps I’d become complacent, allowing myself to lose sight of solving the problem by burying my head in the sand. I wasn’t looking into my medical issues like I had done at the start. Letting go and letting be, just seeing what happens back then, was by “doing nothing productively to help the situation”. It was using plasters rather than tackling the underlying “unknowns”. Perhaps if I hadn’t been diagnosed 5yrs before we’d started trying, the issues could’ve been best attacked with a force of 2 people facing it rather than just 1, as it was when I was simply a single lady. As much as Kevin came on board only a few months after my diagnosis, we hadn’t faced the news together at the same time. We were at different stages of the process & continued to be until December 2020 when we got a fresh bunch of hope sent to us, we just didn’t know it until then.

When somebody tells you you can’t have something, what do you think about? 🤷🏻‍♀️

When somebody tells you you can’t have something, you can choose to believe them or choose to ignore them & trust in someone/something else.

When I was told I might never be able to have children, a fire was ignited in me that day. Sometimes I’ve let it burn right down so much so that it’s gone right out. You know what that’s called? Letting the devil take over. The moments where you’ve had faith & hope leading you for so long but nothing is happening, nothing is changing & the little guy on your shoulder starts telling you that you were stupid to believe it might be any different? That’s what he wants. He wants you to stop believing so you start to look in all the wrong places, giving you false hope, false information, false directions!

When the fire re-ignites, what’s the source? God, at the heart of it, each time. I don’t choose the moments when I’m hurt, when I’m triggered, when I’m comforted, when I get “lightbulb” ideas, when I’m able to put it to the back of my mind, when all I can think about is the failure of my body to do it’s womanly duty! Nobody can choose those moments. They are put in front of us like challenges or solutions.

Some days it’s the hardest thing to live life knowing you’re missing out on something.

Some days it’s the easiest thing to live life knowing that no matter what, your life is planned out before you & actually, what is there to worry about?

Sometimes letting go & letting be is the hardest decision we have to make, be it hourly, daily, monthly, annually.

Then I have the moments where I stop analysing and realise that every day is a journey. A chance to put another step forward, to have another stab at whatever it is that might’ve gone wrong yesterday.

Each day is a new opportunity. It only takes a second to wake up in the morning and decide if you’re going to get up or not, move forward or stay put. Then the next decision you make is whether you’re going to create a good, positive energy for the day in the form of smiling at your loved one, greeting them with a kiss, texting them good morning, making them a cup of tea OR starting off “by getting out of bed on the wrong side” by being angry, annoyed, grouchy, forgetting that every decision you make, shapes the next one and the next one and the next one. Energy creates energy. You have to move to be able to continue to move. You can’t make something out of nothing.

No matter how tired I might feel, I already know that tomorrow I’ll wake up and bounce out of bed, because I know that positive energy feeds even more positive energy. Who knows what might happen from that positive energy. Oh wait, HE knows 🤪