#and so was fishing for info for himself to find out what happened

[chenziee]

The Heart and the chain

I'm so sorry for the delay! Work and life in general's been a total dumpster fire the past two weeks 💀 I'll try to get the next one asap but I sadly can't promise anything concrete OTL

Written for: - @truffyfest Summer of Lawlu 2024 - Week 2: CONFESSION | HEART SWAP | “I thought I’d lost you.” - OP Bingo 2023: Volcano - @opfluffzine Wheel of Fluff event: Communication

[ READ ON AO3 | CHAINS OF FATE | COMM INFO ]

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“You want to do what?” 

Luffy snickered at Law’s question. He did expect him to protest the idea but his shocked tone and horrified expression was just something else and Luffy just couldn’t help it. It was too funny, okay?

“Stop laughing, do you realise how serious what you’re asking is?” Law hissed, his frustration more than apparent.

“Sorry, Torao.” Luffy gulped, forcing his mirth down.

For a few seconds, Torao just continued glaring at him, as if to make sure Luffy wasn’t going to start giggling again… and maybe to try and convey how very unimpressed with Luffy he was. But finally, he sighed. 

“Tell me why exactly should I go ahead with this stupid idea?”

“Because you love me!” Luffy answered immediately with a wide smile on his face, leaning forward to peer at Law’s face. There was a complicated look in his sharp, beautiful eyes, a look that told Luffy that he was fighting with himself over it.

Clicking his tongue, Law shoved Luffy’s face away. “That has nothing to do with it. In fact, it’s all the more reason why I shouldn’t do it.” He narrowed his eyes at Luffy, pointing his finger at Luffy and poking at the centre of his chest. “If my heart is in there and something happens to me, you’re dead, Luffy.”

“So?” Luffy asked, a pout making its way on his lips.

Law inhaled sharply, and it looked like he was counting to ten in his mind before he replied, “So, I’m not going to do it. It’s too fucking risky!” He paused, closing his eyes for a second before shooting Luffy a look. “Why do you want me to switch our hearts anyway?”

With a small huff, Luffy slumped against the backrest of the aquarium bar’s couch, watching as the dim light reflecting off of the water dances across Law’s skin, his face, his hair. There were still some barely visible scratches and bruises, a bandage tightly wrapped around his left forearm where his soulmark was. Covering the deep, long slash Torao got from Blackbeard days ago. Chopper said it was likely going to scar, marring his skin forever.

Leaving a mark where only Luffy’s presence should be…

All the while Luffy was on Egghead and completely unaware anything was wrong until after the crew and everyone else got to safety and he thought to check Torao’s vivre card.

They were lucky Bepo was able to get Law to safety before anything worse happened to him, or any of the Heart Pirates.

“It’s just…” Luffy gestured with his hand vaguely. “We’re gonna go our separate ways again. I wanna have something to connect to you.”

“You have my vivre card. I have yours. Pretty sure Nami-ya still has Bepo’s. We have literal soulmarks. You even made us get fucking tattoos,” Law pointed out, raising an eyebrow.

Luffy groaned and looked away, turning to study the fish swimming happily in the aquarium. “It’s slow, okay? If your heart is with me, I’ll know immediately that I need to check your vivre card.”

When Law didn’t say anything for a while, Luffy glanced back at him. He was surprised to find Law’s own eyes boring into him, studying Luffy’s expression and searching his eyes for something. What that something was, Luffy had no idea… but he decided to wait until Law found it—or gave up. 

It took a long while for either of them to say anything; they quietly looked at each other, the silence hanging around them heavy but somehow, it wasn’t uncomfortable. Rather, it felt like a sense of understanding connected them, an invisible string that tied them together and linked them and their thoughts. Somehow, Luffy wouldn’t mind sitting here like this all afternoon. For some reason, he didn’t think he’d even get bored.

… Okay, maybe not the whole afternoon but he could definitely do a few minutes no problem!

But that wasn’t the point.

“What is this really about, Straw Hat-ya?”

Luffy froze at the question, blinking at Law blankly. What was it about? He didn’t really think about it when he suggested the heart swapping, didn’t bother searching for a reason. Thinking wasn’t his strong suit, after all; the idea occurred to him and it felt right so he just said it… But well—

“I don’t know! Does it matter?” Luffy asked, tilting his head to the side. “It’s not a big deal, and I know you’ve done it already two years ago!”

Law startled at the revelation, obviously not expecting Luffy to know. He stared at Luffy with wide eyes for a moment, before a groan escaped him. “It was Penguin, wasn’t it?”

“Yep!” Luffy confirmed with a laugh. “He also said you told him you’d toss him overboard if he ever told me.”

“Why am I not surprised,” Law grumbled, rubbing at the bridge of his nose. “It was a temporary measure to help with treatment. You basically had a volcano erupt in your lungs and you’d have died if I didn’t do it. There’s no medical reason now.”

“Was there one back then though?” Luffy teased, poking Law’s shoulder. “I mean, you could have used anyone’s heart. Or just left me be!”

Seeing the scowl Torao gave him, Luffy couldn’t help but burst out laughing. That only seemed to make Law more annoyed… which in turn made Luffy laugh harder. 

“You’re right, I should have just let you die,” Torao grumbled, rolling his eyes at Luffy’s amusement.

With one last snicker, Luffy shuffled closer, pressing a quick, loud kiss to Law’s cheek before he poked Torao’s side again. “I think your reason was the same as mine is now,” he said quietly.

“I’m not lying on the operating table with a hole in my chest, connected to a ventilator and on the verge of total heart failure,” Law shot back, his voice completely flat and entirely unimpressed.

“Maybe, but when I saw your vivre card, I still thought I’d lost you for a moment. I never wanted to feel that way again after Mingo almost killed you.” Luffy shrugged.

When Law didn’t say anything, Luffy hummed, looking at Law questioningly, only to find a complicated expression on his face. Did he say something weird? He didn’t think he did but seeing how Torao was staring at him…

“What did I say?!” Luffy cried out defensively, only for Law to heave a deep sigh.

“You’re saying that? Did you forget you actually died not three weeks ago?” Law said, narrowing his eyes at Luffy.

That only served to prove Luffy right! “See?!” He grinned victoriously. “We’re thinking the same thing!”

“We are so not,” Law hissed.

Waving his hand dismissively, Luffy shuffled closer still, throwing his legs over Torao’s lap as he made himself comfortable in his personal space. Law didn’t seem to mind, automatically placing one hand over Luffy’s knee. Luffy’s smile widened at the gesture.

“Torao~” he sang. “Let's do it.”

“You’re such a brat.” Law sighed, shooting Luffy an annoyed look and Luffy grinned victoriously—making Torao click his tongue. “Wipe that look off your face, you won nothing.”

“But you’re gonna do it so I win!” Luffy announced, sticking his tongue out.

As Law rolled his eyes at him and a Room formed around the two of them, Luffy felt warmth pooling in his chest, spreading throughout his entire body. Wow, he really loved this man, didn’t he? It was ridiculous; it felt like every day, he was falling deeper—soulmate or not, it didn’t matter to him.

The birdcage he carried on his thigh didn’t matter to him—it was crushed anyway, just like Law’s chain was snapped, just like it should be. They didn’t need their soulmarks. They didn’t need fate.

And seeing Law’s heart, watching as it beat strongly in his hands, feeling its warmth as he inserted it into his own chest…

He was never more sure of that.

Never more sure this was where he should be.

[istayawakereading]

I don’t know if it’s just me reading into things, but the way Ruben reacted to Wanda asking about Lucy Frostblade makes me feel like he didn’t want to see her dead. He comes across as desperate for information not to gain insight into what the world knows about her death, but more so to actually just have knowledge of what happened.

Like it hasn’t been confirmed that the rat grinders killed her, but that’s been my belief so far. BUT what if it was just Bitchface Copperkettle who killed Lucy, and she somehow blackmailed or coerced the rest of the party into keeping quiet about it, and that’s why Ruben wants to know what actually happened? Because it was just Copperfuck working alone who murdered Lucy, and so none of the other party members know exactly what happened, but they know to keep quiet to stay out of trouble with Kipperpettle.

The next episode preview with Ruben having blood just SEEPING from his mouth also makes me think that is somehow Lilyshit Kettlekippy’s fault, and it might be a consequence of him maybe spilling info??

[yoon-kooks]

paired & pierced | jjk

⛓️pairing: hotnerd!jungkook x popular!reader

⛓️genre: smut, fluff, college!au

⛓️summary: When your professor assigns a collaborative midterm project, you’re paired up with Jeon Jungkook, the quiet grumpy smartass who keeps to himself and doesn’t fuck with popular kids like you. If you can win him over, he might give you a taste of the tatted and pierced body he’s carefully tucked away beneath those oversized hoodies.

⛓️word count: 5.3k

⛓️warnings: dom!jungkook, sub!reader, unprotected rough sex, daddy kink, good girl kink, she's tight, he's big, fingering, mutual masturbation, begging, edging, orgasm denial, cumshot, dick tattoo, not the soft jjk i usually write

⛓️p&p masterlist⛓️

a/n: this is a request from @screamertannie !💖 im not used to writing dom/sub stuff but i tried!! paired & puppy-eyed is jungkook's pov✨

It’s become somewhat of a pre-class ritual for the gals to gather around your desk to discuss anything from the latest frat party hookups to guessing the lengths of your male classmates. The gossip doesn’t particularly interest you, and you’ve never once contributed to the cock talk. But who are you to tell them to leave you alone? If people naturally gravitate toward you, you should see it as a good thing.

“I heard that hottie Tim is single again,” Blue Hair Girl says, turning to you with the curious eyes of a true gossiper. “Y/N, you were hanging out with him at that party last weekend, weren’t you? Is he as big as they say?”

“Didn’t see it.” And you’re glad you didn’t. You wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt when he approached you, but he kept pulling you in for PDA conveniently when his ex was in sight. He was clearly using you for something you want no part of. In the end, you let him off easy by saying you had to leave early to feed your fish (you don’t have any fucking fish).

“Aw, that’s too bad.” Blue Hair Girl and the others give you a few pouty frowns.

“Yep.” Not really.

“Well, speaking of hotties, I’ve been trying to get Hoseok’s attention for a week now,” Nose Ring Girl sighs. She suddenly grasps your hands and pleads, “Wait, Y/N, you’re friends with him, right? Think you can give me his number?”

You wouldn’t call Hoseok a “friend”���he’s more of an acquaintance you happen to be friendly with, much like everyone sitting around you. But you do have his number. You have a lot of people’s numbers on your phone even though you can’t match any of their names to their faces.

“Here.” You flash your phone screen with Hoseok’s contact info before Nose Ring Girl. Her eyes light up like fireworks.

“Thank you so much, Y/N! You’re the best!” she squeals.

Toward the end of class, your professor announces something that makes your stomach turn.

“The midterm will be a partner project where you have to debug the code I assign to you and add on to it in a creative way,” she explains. “And because I’m nice, I’ll let everyone choose their own partners. Please let me know who you’ll be working with before taking off.”

You hate this. You’re surprisingly okay about the debugging part because the masochist in you kind of enjoys it, but you’re not okay with the partner part. When it comes to choosing partners, it never ends well for you. Because despite how many people you surround yourself with, you always struggle to find someone who chooses you before anyone else. 

You’re no one’s number one.

This time is no different. The girls who were so happy to be gossiping at your desk an hour ago are partnering up with one another on the other side of the room. Among them, Nose Ring Girl doesn’t appear to have coupled up yet, so she might be your only shot. Besides, you did her a favor earlier by giving her Hoseok’s number. The least she can do is partner up with you.

“Y/N, guess what?” She skips over to your desk with a big fat smile on her face. “I just texted Hoseok, and he asked to partner up with me. It’s all thanks to you, babe!”

“Oh, cool.” You try not to sound so disheartened.

She gives you a quick hug before heading back to the boy you indirectly set her up with. You’re happy for her, but you’d be lying if you said it didn’t suck. Whether intentional or not, it feels like everyone who comes near you just wants something from you—love advice, a boy’s number, PDA to make their ex jealous, or even answers to the homework—which is fine to an extent. The problem is that people keep taking, and you’re tired of not even getting the bare minimum in return.

To top it all off, Big Tim is headed your way. Yes, you want a partner. No, it’s not going to be him. You’ll pick literally anyone else in the class over him. The question is: who else doesn’t have a partner yet? People are paired up left and right. 

Except for maybe the boy sleeping in the seat right next to you.

“Jungkook,” you say in a half-hushed half-hurried voice. The boy doesn’t move an inch. Maybe he’s dead.

You hop out of your chair, stand in front of his desk, and tap on the wooden surface in front of his face. Still no response.

Aware that Big Tim is inching his way closer, you crouch down to hide as if that’ll buy you more time. The boy in front of you needs to wake up right now.

You reach toward his slumped-over body and peel off his hood. There’s a good chance he isn’t dead and just didn’t hear you because he had earbuds in or something. You hope.

No earbuds. But you do find something worth noting—a trail of empty piercing holes up his earlobe. You don’t know Jungkook all that well, but he’s been in a bunch of your comp sci classes and you’ve never seen any piercings on him. You’d remember something like that because you’re a huge sucker for boys covered in piercings and body art. All you remember is that he’s quiet and always gets the highest grades on exams because he’s a genius or whatever.

“Hey Jungkook,” you whisper into his ear and tap one of his fingers. A sleepy eye finally peeks at you. Thank god he isn’t dead. “Wanna be partners?”

He sits up slowly, adjusts his glasses, and looks around the classroom before turning back to your puppy eyes. “Sure, I guess.”

“Good, good,” you sing, scurrying back to your seat. Partner secured. Mission accomplished. Just in the nick of time.

“Y/N, still looking for a partner?” Big Tim asks at your desk.

“I’m actually partnered up with Jungkook, sorry.” You give an apologetic smile. You really need to stop that. If you had just been brutally honest with him the other day at the party, he wouldn’t be here bugging you now.

“That kid asked you to be his partner?” He points a finger at “that kid” who appears to have gone back to sleep.

You nod even though you were the one who technically asked Jungkook.

“And you said yes?”

You nod again. Big Tim continues to stare as if he’s waiting for you to abandon Jungkook for him. Maybe if he wasn’t such an asshole in the first place, you wouldn't be actively avoiding him like the plague. He had his chance.

After several awkward seconds, he finally backs off and Jungkook rises from the dead once more.

“Why didn’t you just partner up with that other guy? It sounded like he wanted to work with you,” Jungkook yawns as he fluffs his bedhead around. He looks so nice and toasty in that hoodie. No wonder why he falls asleep in class so easily.

“That’s not what he wanted.” He wanted to use you to hurt someone else. And you don’t want to be taken advantage of anymore.

“What about everyone else? Aren’t you friends with everyone here?” That’s just the illusion you’ve created. It feels so fake.

You shake your head. “Let’s just say, if a house were on fire and these people had a choice to save either me or one of their actual friends, I’d burn down with the house 10/10 times.”

“And who would you save?” he challenges you. That’s an easy question.

“No one.”

“Good answer.” The edge of his lips curves upward ever so slightly. “Alright, if it’s cool with you, I’ll just do the project myself and slap your name on it. Shouldn’t take me longer than an hour.”

“Wait, I wanna contribute too, you know,” you argue. He might be a smartypants, but you’re not the type of person to slack off and make him do all the work. You wouldn’t be surprised if other people take advantage of him on group projects like this. Maybe that’s why he doesn’t even bother with fake social interactions with peers the way you do. You admire him for that. “We should meet up and work on it together over the weekend.”

“I’m busy,” he says. Bullshit. You can tell when people make up excuses to get out of things because you’re guilty of it too. The difference is that Jungkook doesn’t sugarcoat it with coverup stories like needing to feed your nonexistent fish. Why do you find that so attractive?

“Busy with what?” You flutter your eyelashes and challenge him the way he challenged you. The fact that you’re fighting over the right to help with the project is both silly and refreshing. Usually, it’s the opposite where you’re forced to plead with your group to pull their own weight. But here you are, practically begging the boy to let you do some coding with him. Him pushing you away is a huge turn-on.

“My newborn.” He says it with such a straight face that you take his word for it.

“You have a child?” Your eyes sparkle. That either makes him a young single dilf or a committed family man you probably shouldn’t be batting your eyes at. For everyone’s sake, you hope it’s the former. “If it’s easier for you and the little one, we can work at your place?”

For a long while, he just blinks at you like you’ve said something horribly wrong. Oh no. Maybe he’s still with the kid’s mom and now he thinks you’re trying to invade their space and be some kind of homewrecker.

“I was just fucking with you…” he admits. Why does it feel like he has secondhand embarrassment from your gullible ass? It’s fine, though. You much prefer being gullible over the homewrecker angle. Then he inputs his number and address into your phone. “But if it makes you feel better, come babysit my kid tomorrow.”

The next day, you wake up a little earlier, dress a little cuter, and feel a little more excited than usual. You’re usually indifferent (if not stressed) about hangouts and parties, but Jungkook is different. It’s fun talking to him, and you don’t have to put on a fake smile around him. He’s even got that hot grumpy boy vibe that you’re determined to win over.

After knocking on his door, you wait for a good minute but there’s no response. Maybe he’s still asleep or butt-naked in the shower. You would’ve messaged him that you were on the way, but you were scared he might have second thoughts and cancel the meetup altogether. You’ve lost count of how many times that’s happened to you in your college career.

Just as you lift your fist to knock again, the door swings open. The boy who stands before you has a full sleeve of tattoos, too many piercings to count, a whole man bun, and a handsome face that looks exactly like Jeon Jungkook’s. You didn’t know he had an identical twin with a totally different style. If he wore glasses with a hoodie and took the man bun and piercings out, he’d literally be your quiet neighbor from coding class. It’s fascinating.

“Isn’t it common courtesy to give someone a heads-up before showing up at their door?” he says with his phone in hand. Same grouchy attitude though. You love it.

Wait. You suddenly remember all those mysterious piercing holes you discovered on Jungkook’s ear less than 24 hours ago.

“Why do you look like that?” You point a finger at him as if your question isn’t already rude enough. Maybe you should rephrase it. “I mean, if I’d given you a heads-up, would you have thrown on a hoodie and removed all your piercings before I got here?”

“Maybe.” He lets you into his home, but you’re more concerned about all the sick art on his arm. If he ever rolled up his sleeves in class, you know you’d be too distracted to focus on the lecture. Perhaps that’s why he keeps it all hidden. He’s just looking out for you and your higher education. Yeah right.

“Why do you hide all of this at school?” You’re sure everyone would be coming to you for his number if they knew what he was hiding up his sleeve.

“Tattoos and piercings give people something to talk about,” he explains. “And I’m not really a fan of compliments or small talk.”

Oh. He’s aware of the physical and emotional impact his body art would have on anyone lucky enough to see it with their own eyes. Your poor body is already aching to see more.

“Fine, I won’t talk about how pretty I think your tattoos are.” Or about how hot you find his lip piercing. You’ve always wanted to kiss someone with a lip ring. You’re feeling pouty all of a sudden so you bring out the puppy eyes again.

He studies the way you shamelessly work your charm on him, and you wonder if he picks up on the temptation in your pupils. “I’ll grant you permission to give one single compliment,” he huffs, finally giving in.

You’re quick to wrap your eager paws around his arm and examine it like it’s your most prized possession. The problem is, he has way too many tatts and piercings to fit into a single compliment. You could write a whole essay expressing your love for each piece you see, and that doesn’t even include the ones still buried beneath his clothes.

“Well? Are you gonna fangirl over my tattoos or just keep fondling my arm?” Funny how he’s acting all impatient and bothered by the “fondling” but doesn’t shrug you off of him. In fact, he was the one who lent you his arm in the first place!

“I wish I could see all of them.” That’s your compliment. Because you love the lusting implications behind it.

You flick your eyes up from his arm to his face, and sure enough, he’s got his eye on you as well. It’s almost a crime that it took this long for the two of you to come together like this. You’ve been neighbors in coding class for the past few weeks, and yet you were too busy with the popular crowd and he was too busy not giving a fuck about them. All you want to do now is make up for lost time.

The only thing that distracts you from the boy is a puffy tail minding its own business in the corner of your eye. When you look down, you’re pleasantly surprised to see the tiniest fluffball dropping a mouse toy at your feet.

“Ooh kitty,” you squeal as you squat down to play with the pink-nosed darling. It’s so tiny it fits in the palm of your hand, and its meows sound more like squeaks. “Wait, is this the newborn you were talking about?”

Jungkook nods. “I found her about a week ago and she’s been a menace ever since. Especially in the middle of the night.”

“Is that why you’ve been falling asleep in class lately?” You like the thought of him scolding the kitten for zooming around at 4AM only to fall back asleep with her on his chest. You’ll take a cat dilf any day.

“Yeah. But it also doesn’t help that the professor never says anything important.” He picks up the mouse toy and drops it off with her stash of goodies including a pink bed, a pink blanket, and a pink bunny plushie. The kitten hops into the bed, cuddles up with her bunny, and has the boy cover her up with the blanket. What a spoiled little thing. “So what’s this project about again?”

“You’d know if you were listening!” Gosh, you can’t stand smart people who sleep through every lecture and still come out on top while you’re taking notes and working your ass off. You still want to fuck him though.

“I’m just fucking with you again.” He finally cracks a whole ass smile and it’s beautiful. You’re mesmerized by it as he scoots you over to the computer in his room. “I already finished it, by the way.”

So much for fulfilling your dreams of coding with an exceptionally handsome boy. With a dramatic sigh of disappointment, you run the program on his screen.

As expected, it runs smoothly, free of any bugs. He even threw in an interactive portion with a sleeping kitty. Total cat dad vibes. It’s great, and there’s really no need for you to tamper with the work he’s done. But you refuse to give him the satisfaction of being the one to carry you on this project. Besides, you have an idea of how you can spice up the program and expand on the kitty part.

You spend a good amount of time going through the code line-by-line and inserting small bits here and there. Once you get to the kitty part, you add in a function to wake up the cat and have it start dancing around to a few different songs from your favorite kpop group. When it’s all set, you run it back, earn Jungkook’s stamp of approval, and submit it for your professor to grade.

“Are you sure that Jim guy wasn’t trying to be your partner just to get a good grade? Nerd.” He leans on the chair over your shoulder. You’d correct him on Big Tim’s name, but you’re too focused on the way he looks at you with such gorgeous dark eyes.

“If that were the case, he would’ve asked for a threesome with you too, Nerd,” you fire back. This is the kind of banter that results from putting two smartasses and an immense amount of sexual tension in the same room together. You want more of it.

“Not particularly interested in a threesome with him,” he says rather casually. “Doubt you would be either, judging by that game of dodgeball you were playing yesterday.”

“Well yeah, he’s kind of an asshole.” You shudder at the thought of almost being stuck as Big Tim’s partner. It’s thanks to Jungkook that you escaped that fate. 

“Why do you hang out with those people anyway?” He spins your chair around to face outward and lays himself down on his bed next to the kitten who just woke up from her nap. She’s cleaning her paws like a good girl.

“I know I have a lot of shallow connections, but I figure if I surround myself with enough people, I’ll eventually have to run into someone I genuinely like, right?” You hop out of the chair, sit your ass on the edge of the bed, and convince yourself it’s to play with the kitty. She jumps down right away to catch a fly but you don’t chase after her.

“Found anyone yet?” he asks, gazing up at the ceiling like it’s the night sky. What did you ever do to deserve seeing this handsome boy and his tattoos all laid out on the bed like this? You’d do it a million more times.

“There might be a boy I’m interested in,” you hum.

“I bet it’s Jim, isn’t it?” he laughs. Why is “Jim” the one name this guy knows from your class? “You know, like a passionate love-hate type thing?”

“Fuck no.” You shimmy your ass closer to him and block his scenic view of the ceiling with your face. Now it’s you he’s gazing up at. You’re free to admire the tempting ring around his soft lip, the glimmering piercing through his brow, and all his beautiful features that have drawn you to him. You look him in the eye and lie because you know he already knows the truth. “Never mind, it’s no one.”

“Really?” All of a sudden, he pulls your body down against the mattress and climbs on top of you. One hand holds your wrists above your head while the other caresses your cheek. He leans in close but stops half a centimeter from your lips. “I was under the impression you were kind of into me.”

“What makes you say that?”

“You were begging to work on this project with me yesterday, fondling my arm as soon as you got here, practically eyefucking me a minute ago,” he pauses as his hand unzips your jeans and presses into the folds between your legs. “And you’re pretty wet for me right now.”

You want to lunge at him and devour his lips to prove how right he is, but your arms are still being held captive. He smirks at your failed attempt to bite him. For now, you have to settle for squeezing your thighs against his hand to get the tiniest bit of stimulation. 

“So if it’s not me, who’s this boy you’re interested in?” he whispers into your ear as you feel his hand slipping out from your pleasure spot. “I won’t continue until I get an answer.”

It’d be kinda badass if you had the willpower to keep your lips sealed for at least a minute, but you give in after 0.3 seconds. You never had a fighting chance anyway. “It’s you, Jungkook.”

He smashes his lips against yours, his tongue practically down your throat when he says, “Good girl.”

The ring around his lower lip is cold to the touch, but you keep going in for more. You love the way he tastes—like sweet alcohol that encourages you to keep indulging in the high. He’s so addicting.

At the same time, he helps you kick off your jeans and slides his whole hand back into your panties. He swirls his fingers around, coating them in your lust before rubbing over your clit. The jolt of pleasure draws a soft moan from your mouth and gets your body nice and hot. Normally, you’d be eager to get your hands back to join in on the fun, but the boy somehow knows exactly how you like being touched and toyed with. Plus, you kinda like the idea of being so helpless beneath him.

Eventually, your panties come off, followed by your shirt and his. You get the perfect view of his full sleeve as well as the big shark tattoo on his ribs. If you weren’t so horny, you’d drop everything to analyze each piece in depth. But right now, all your weak mind can handle is admiring the shark.

As soon as he lets your wrists breathe, you run your fingers along his ribs, tracing the tattoo from head to tail. The lines are so smooth and pretty. He has great taste in art and apex predators. You’ll have to ask him for the artist later so you can get yourself a baby shark at your hip.

“Got any others I should know of?” you ask with two paws ready to tear his black jeans off of him. 

“Just one.” He presses his face into the crook of your neck and sucks hard to mark you as his. You can’t wait for Big Tim to see it on Monday. “You’re gonna have to earn it, though.”

You’ll do anything to get his pants off and find that final tattoo. You need to see his bare body in full, and you have an idea of how to earn it.

“Please?” For the hundredth time, you bring out the puppy eyes because that might be his only weakness. His body twitches a tiny bit, but you realize you have to take it up a notch with the dilf angle. “Please, daddy?”

The word not only makes your face hot but also taunts the bulge ready to burst out of his pants. He watches with immense focus as you unbuckle him and free his hard cock from all the fabric standing in its way. 

You assumed you would’ve had to search his skin for that last tattoo, but it’s staring you right in the face. A fat snake slithers along his cock, tempting you to stroke it with its seductive glare. You’d appreciate the design more if not for the fact that snakes eat cute little lizards like salamanders and chameleons, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t incredibly hot.

Without thinking, you wrap both of your hands around his length the same way you had with his arm. Jungkook would probably use the term “fondling” again if he wasn’t so entranced by your touch. If he’s like this with just your hands, you wonder how he’d fare with your whole mouth around him.

Just as you lick the drool from the corner of your lips, he lifts your chin up to meet his gaze. “If you do good today, I’ll let you have a taste tomorrow, yeah?”

Tomorrow is too long of a wait for a starved babe like yourself, but you nod anyway because you want to be praised again.

“Good girl,” he purrs as he removes the final piece of clothing over your breasts. Then he leans back to get your whole bare body in sight. “Can you show daddy how you want to be touched?”

You start by squeezing your breasts together and working your way down to your core. Your legs spread themselves open and your fingers glide right in. One hand pumps in and out of your hole while the other strokes your clit. You’re so wet you’d think you’d already orgasmed several times if you didn’t know any better.

With shy eyes, you glance up at the boy watching your every move. This is the first time someone has ever dropped everything to watch you touch yourself. You usually just tease your clit a little if the cock inside you isn’t enough, but never once has a boy given you his full attention like this. He might not take any notes in class, but he’s definitely jotting a few things down for the next time it’s his turn to play with you.

Your fingers speed up and your panting gets louder. How long is he going to make you suffer before he takes over? The one thing you need right now is for him to fuck you senseless.

But instead of getting handsy with you, he grabs his cock and forces you to watch—not that you’d look away anyway.

“Do you want this cock inside your tight little pussy?” he says rather calmly as he jerks off.

You nod as a gasp for more pleasure escapes you.

“Beg for it.”

“Please daddy,” you whimper, giving up the last of your dignity. “I need you inside my tight little pussy.”

“Such a good girl.” He throws your legs over his shoulders and pushes himself into you. It’s definitely a tight fit, but your body adjusts to him accordingly. You almost lose it when you hear the way he grunts your name. 

As he pounds in and out of you, you feel yourself getting dangerously close. “Jungkook, I’m—”

“Don’t cum yet,” he warns. “Not until I say so.”

You wish you’d known he was the type to torture you for one single release. If you’d known sooner, you would’ve tried to pace yourself. Now you’re stuck on the edge without permission to orgasm. You love it here.

In the meantime, he gives you some more sloppy kisses. His tongue doesn’t have to fight for dominance over your docile one, but he’s certainly not holding back. That, in combination with the forceful thrusting down below, is your definition of the best rough sex.

At some point, the pleasure begins to melt altogether into a foggy haze of feral lust. Your moans have been reduced to a broken record machine, and your poor body is just waiting to hear the word to finally hit its high. You don’t even know how much time has passed.

“You poor thing,” he growls into your mouth. On pure instinct, you tighten around him and feel him tense up. “Do you enjoy it when I tease you like this?”

You nod without thinking too hard about it.

“Think you can go another hour?”

Hell no, but you nod anyway.

“I’m not that mean,” he chuckles as his hands slide up and down your limp legs. “But good to know.”

He quickens the pace to build the pleasure back up with you still so tight around him. Your obnoxious moans and whimpers give porn star vibes. He better let you get your release soon if he doesn’t want any complaints from his neighbors.

“Please, Jungkook, I can’t—” you gasp, biting back the impending wave of pleasure. Your claw marks are etched into his ribs. “Please let me cum.”

Satisfied with your begging, he nods with the cockiest smile you’ve ever seen and gives you the okay. It feels like your whole body breaks into a million pieces of pure pleasure. Your back arches, your walls tighten even more around him, and your chest heaves up and down as you ride the wave out.

Not long after, he pulls out and pumps his fat cock over your breasts until they’re covered in his lust like two glazed donuts. He admires your glossy worn-out body for a good while before tossing you a hand towel to clean up. You feel timid and small all of a sudden. What if there’s nothing left to say after the excitement of sex has come and gone? What if he shrugs you aside like everyone else does once they get what they want from you?

“Did you really call me daddy?” He throws his pants back on and joins you back on the bed. You can tell he’s trying his best to hide a smile, but you see through him. It’s adorable.

“I thought you were into it, no?” Your face is flushed with heat again as you slip back into your outfit.

“It’s cute coming from you, I guess,” he shrugs as if he’s not aware of how weak he is to your baby girl charm. “I was just going with it because you said it first.”

“Well if you don’t like it, I won’t say it next time.” You give him a hmph for extra emphasis.

“I didn’t say that,” he clarifies, almost a little too quickly. You knew it. 

“Hey, can I ask you something?” Your voice is soft.

“Go for it.”

“Why did you invite me over even though you finished most of the project yourself?” It’s been in the back of your mind all day, although you did shove it away during the sex.

“Well, my little demon cat kept me up all night so I thought I might as well work on it. And you were hard set on coming here, weren’t you?” he says. You nod for him to continue. “But also, I wanted you to know that there’s at least one person in our class who’d save you from that house on fire.”

He’d choose you. That’s the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to you.

“Yeah, but you hate everyone else, so I’m your only option.” Your smartass can’t help but point out the flaw in his statement. If anything, it’s you challenging him one last time.

“Maybe you’re the only option that matters,” he hums to himself as if those words don’t mean a thing. Who knew a grumpy boy could say such soft things? And who knew you’d fall for it? 

If a hundred shallow friendships is what it took to bring you to this moment—this boy on this bed—then you’re glad you took that route. And you’re even happier that that route ends where this new one begins.

[shanesbluechicken]

Shane with an ADHD SO?

Farmer has ADHD (Shane)

This comes from my own experience and what I got from family and friends🤗

And I'm aware that I most likely didn't cover all the aspects, but I still hope that you enjoy it!

TW: heavy language

Gender: neutral

Shane definitely has to get used to your mind being all over the place sometimes.

In the morning he sees you fishing at the bridge he always crosses to get to work and then after his shift he finds the fishing rod at the exact same spot, but you're nowhere to be found.

"Where the fuck are they?"

The man literally has to track you down on a regular basis, because you just leave your equipment around town. Not that he minds though considering the sweet smiles you always shoot him when you thank him. At some point he even starts to actively look for your things, but you won't ever catch him admit it.

But he often has a hard time keeping track of your stories during your conversations, because you jump from one topic to another in such a high speed. The mornings are especially hard for him when his brain isn't properly functioning, but all of that doesn't mean you should stop ranting! Dump all the info on him! He does pay attention as much as he can and he loves talking to you.

In his eyes he finds it absolutely adorable when he finds you zoned out somewhere at the farm. Sometimes it's infront of the fire place while you're staring into the flames with wide eyes or leaned against the fence while watching the animals. He sees you just stand there without any movement for solid 30 minutes until he realizes that you're actually zoned out. Might join you actually.

"What are you thinking about?"

"I...I don't actually remember?"

"Cool."

If you take medicine then he makes sure to always accompany you when you go to Harvey's clinic or he even picks them up for you on his way to work.

"I'm sorry if I'm a bit too much sometimes."

"Shut up, you're absolutely not and whoever told you that can fuck themselves."

Shane definitely isn't annoyed by the fact that you sometimes tend to start things, but not finish them. He tries his best to help you with your projects or keep you at least motivated enough to stay at it, but if you don't finish it then so be it. He can't even count on his fingers how often that happened to him throughout his life. When you're getting frustrated about it he will bring you a cold soda from the fridge and give you a kiss on the forehead.

To be honest sending either one of you two to go shopping is going to lead to at least one item being forgotten. You tried going together to avoid it, but it doesn't particularly help much. At the end of the trip when you unpack the shopping bags you guys realize that something is still missing.

Okay, he might get a little bit impatient when he has to repeat instructions to you. It's not that he's annoyed or frustrated with YOU in particular, he just doesn't like repeating himself. So he made it a habit to write down a task or instruction while talking to you about it. It does happen that at the end of the day not even Shane can read his own hand writing so he absolutely won't blame you for not succeeding in it.

If anyone gets annoyed by you though, even if it's not anything serious Shane can and will body slam them into the closest wall.

"For yoba's sake, can you just FOCUS for once in your life?"

"The fuck did you just say? Watch how you're talking to them you fucking idiot!"

Someone hold him back before he beats up the damn governor.

Masterlist

[howlingday]

Dark AU: An idea of how to transition into the Dock scene could be Jaune and Penny go into Vale proper to buy things, Penny gets distracted (pet shop with Betta fish on display perhaps?), notices Jaune isn't around and Sun runs into her while running away. As an apology of sorts Sun helps Penny search for Jaune. Meanwhile Jaune was taken by some faunus on orders if spotted for questioning. (He may not have been revealed as the sole survivor to the public but there are ways to find out for an info broker.) Questioning becomes violent when Jaune gives answers they don't like. Brought to the docks heist to be left behind as an example. Somewhat escapes (Roman/Neo taking pity?) as Penny shows up lasers blazing. Aftermath Jaune gains confidence by saving someone, Penny maybe tells Jaune the truth and Sun eats a banana.

Just an option; if taken change how you like.

Also thanks for listening and for the content!

I like your idea, but I think I know just how to tweak in the way I've been looking for...

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

"Do you really have to see the betta fish again?"

"Yes, of course!" Penny replied, walking next to Jaune. She couldn't stop herself from shaking with excitement. Her favorite time of the week was to go to the pet store and look at all the beautiful betta fish on display. This had become routine since her arrival at Beacon a few months ago, and it was one that she and her partner had no intention of breaking. "Oh? It's closed?"

"Looks like it's being renovated." Jaune noted from the sign. Oddly enough, there were still pets in the window, including betta fish. "Kinda weird for these animals to be out here where it's so sunny."

Penny didn't respond. She was too engrossed in the elegant dance of the betta fish darting about in their tanks and bowls. Jaune smiled as her green eyes darted from one fish to another within seconds between them.

"Hey, kid." Jaune turned, seeing a man in a black apron. "You lookin' to buy?"

"Oh, no, just browsing." Jaune waved off, quickly dismissing his excited partner behind him. He swore he heard her neck snap.

"You sure?" The man tilted his head down, brow raised. "Maybe you want a pet? Something to keep you calm? Like a cat?"

"No, no, really, I'm sure, Mister..." Jaune narrowed his eyes on the nametag. "...Leon?"

"Well, if you're sure. But would you like to help feed them? Kinda got a lot and my back's been aching all morning."

At this, Jaune's face lit up. This was his chance to do some good for once, instead of just sitting around and wallowing in his own self-pity at Beacon. And huntsmen did help those in need, right? Jaune gave a nod.

"We'd be happy to help, right, Penny?" He turned to see his partner didn't respond, too engrossed by an especially red and blue fish. "Well, I'd be happy to help." He got closer to his partner. "Hey, Penny? I'm going to help feed some animals. I'll be inside, okay?"

"Mm..." Penny said, though it may not have been in reply to him.

Giving a shrug, Jaune followed the man inside. The inside was warm and dark, with no lights or any kind of air conditioning on. Were the animals really okay in this kind of environment? It didn't seem safe.

"So, uh, where are the animals?" Jaune asked as he entered the room in the back.

"It's faunus!" Everything went loud and dark. All of a sudden, Jaune couldn't feel anything. Not even the throbbing swelling lump on his head.

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

"Okay, I think I lost them- ACK!"

Penny fell to her side as a young man was straddled over her. His shirt was unbuttoned and wide open, showing off his toned abs while a golden tail swirled from his torn-up jeans. Penny gave a blink a couple of times before she realized what had happened.

"Oh, excuse me!" She said. "I'm sorry if I was in your way."

"Nah, nah, it's cool." The monkey faunus pulled himself to his feet before lending a hand. Penny took it and quickly rose to stand. "Sorry about that. I was just running away from some, uh..." She scratched his head. "Uh, nevermind. The name's Sun Wukong! What's your name?"

"I am Penny Polendina, and this is... Jaune?" Penny turned, looking around. "Jaune?"

"Is Jaune your pet?"

"He is my assigned partner at Beacon Academy."

"Oh, you're going to Beacon? Same! I'm from Haven Academy!"

"I see! Where is your team?"

"They'll get here eventually. I took the fastest way I knew!"

"You abandoned your team?"

"Ah, they'll understand." Sun waved her off. "So, uh, where'd this Jaune partner or yours go? He ditch ya?"

"He would not ditch me. He could not ditch me."

"Oh..." Sun clicked his cheek. "You guys are like that, huh?"

"He is my partner, and I am his. It is up to me to ensure his mental state does not diminish to critical levels."

"Uh... huh..." Sun walked around. "Well, if you guys are that close, then he probably didn't get far." He pointed to the pet store. "You think he's in here?"

"Unlikely." Penny answered. "The building is being renovated."

"With the door wide open and nobody inside?" Sun entered the building, followed by Penny. "Seems kinda weird, not gonna lie." He sniffed. "Wait." He sniffed again. "Oh no..."

Sun quickly rounded the empty cages to the counter, tossing the door aside. Looking down, he could see a clean floor, but his nose didn't lie. Following it to the closet in the back, he found a person laying inside, unconscious.

"The shopkeeper!" Penny shouted. She swiftly turned and ran for the back room. "Jaune?!"

"Ah, hell..." Sun groaned. "The last thing I'd want is to get the cops involved, but it looks like that's what's gonna happen." Sun picked the phone off the counter but set it down when there was no dial tone. "Lights out, hot as Vacuo, and no phone service? There's a lot wrong with this picture."

"Sun! I have found something!" Sun jumped the counter, running to the back room where Penny stood. The inside looked to be a garage with an open door to the back alley. There were skid marks on the ground and a white flag held aloft in the girl's hands. "I think I know who has Jaune."

On the flag was a familiar red symbol of a beast and claw marks.

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

"Where is Jaune now?!" Glynda screamed as she paced the floor of the headmaster's office. "You don't know is not an acceptable answer, Miss Polendina. Jaune Arc is your partner, which means he is your-"

"Glynda!" She flinched, looking to Professor Ozpin. The look on his face was a rare instance of anger. He seldom showed it, which meant it wasn't an emotion to be taken lightly from him. "Hand me the scroll. Focus on finding Jaune from here and ensuring all students are back at Beacon Academy."

"Yes, Headmaster." She gulped, handing over the scroll. "Excuse me, I didn't-"

"You're scared. It's understandable, Glynda." The way he used her first name to calm her down worked, though only a little. "But fear is not what we should be using to respond to this. Now do as you were instructed." With a nod, she left the office, tapping on her personal scroll. "Miss Polendina, this is your headmaster speaking. Remain calm and explain to me what has happened."

Ozpin sat and listened, simultaneously coordinating with police and huntsmen across Vale to find his missing student. This wasn't the first time a student went missing, nor could he hope it would happen be the last. But there was one thing he would do if his power allowed. Jaune Arc would not die. His first years for the current semester may have been single digit numbers, but they would not drop lower than they'd already had.

"Can you determine which direction the tires were going?" He asked, at the same time updating the mission board for the responding huntsmen to read. "Have you contacted the authorities? Are they with you now?" Thankfully, the woman and the animals in the store were alive, though blunt force trauma to the former and heat injuries to the latter hardly constituted as 'and well'. "And you say a student from Haven Academy is present with you?" This would be the most awkward task, since that meant he'd have to explain to Leonardo that one of his students had arrived in Vale months early for the Vytal tournament.

Unfortunately, with all these questions being answered, too many were still left unknown as they appeared. Why was the White Fang in Vale? Why would they kidnap Jaune? And most importantly, where had they taken him?

"Ozpin!" Professor Goodwitch slammed open the door to his office. "We've found him."

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

"Good evening, I'm Lisa Lavender. Tonight, for our top story, we have an interview with the student who survived the initiation of the mass student deaths at Beacon Academy, Jaune Arc." She smiled to him. "Thank you for coming to us, Jaune."

"N-No problem." Jaune gulped. When he woke up, men with bone-white masks pointed guns at him and told him to stay where he was. One of them had pointed ears on his head and the other had a tail curled over his belt.

"Now, Mr. Arc, I understand this is a very difficult topic to discuss, but the audience would appreciate if you could tell us what happened to you at Beacon Academy."

"Uh..." He glanced to the side, where the camera was looking right at him, but not as threateningly as the man next to it holding a gun. With a shaky breath, he made the choice to relive that horrible day. "I... I left for Beacon Academy and when I got there, I..." He gave a chuckle. "I threw up in the trash as soon as I got off the bullhead. A little while after, I met a girl who was in a crater. I... I think it was a dust explosion. She... She told me her name was Ruby."

Jaune's throat dried up, but he kept talking because if he stopped talking, what was going to happen? He'd get shot? He'd die? Telling this woman, the people in the room, and if the camera was any indication, the whole world, everyone was listening to him. However, the next part of the story was the worst part.

"I... I watched as Ruby, she..." He swallowed, feeling tears well in his eyes. "She wasn't as old as me, so seeing her like..." He shook his head. "I'm sorry, do I have to keep going?" He looked to the woman with tears spilling from his eyes.

"Only if you want to." She placed a hand on his.

He flinched as the gun racked, reminding him of who was really in charge.

"I-I-I..." He shuddered. "One girl was tossed over the side of the cliff. I listened as she screamed until I couldn't hear her anymore."

"Do you remember who it was?"

"It... It was the girl with the white hair."

"Do you mean Weiss Schnee, the heiress to the Schnee Dust Company?" He nodded. She closed her eyes and shook her head. "A tragedy felt just as tenderly as everyone else who'd perished that day."

He could hear one of the gunmen give a chuckle.

"My partner and the blond girl... I think one of them was Ruby's sister... They... They both died to the big scorpion one."

"The Deathstalker." She nodded. "And your partner was Pyrrha Nikos, wasn't she?"

"Yeah, she... She helped unlock my aura."

"You entered Beacon without your aura unlocked?" She sounded genuinely caught off guard. "What would possess you to do something so dangerous?"

"I..." He sniffed, glad to be away from the topic, if even for a little bit. "I wanted to prove myself. I was a nobody, and I just... I didn't want to be a nobody forever. A disappointment."

"Well, Jaune, I have to say that what you did was, in my personal opinion, the most selfish, stupid thing you could have done." Jaune's eyes widened. "People have dedicated their lives to training and honing their bodies, their skills, their mental fortitudes so that they can protect innocent people from the horrors of the Grimm, and you attended Beacon because you, 'wanted to prove yourself,' if I'm using your words right. People are dead, Jaune, and how exactly did you survive?"

"I... I went into the caves and..."

"And you hid." Lisa venomously spat. "Like a coward. Weiss Schnee is dead, Jaune. Pyrrha Nikos is dead. Ruby is dead. Every single one of those students is dead because you couldn't act. Because you didn't have the training to do what innocent people would be counting on you to do if you did make it as a huntsman." She threw her arms in the air before folding them. "What did you expect to happen, Jaune? That you and these girls would go to the academy, be best friends, and then just spend the rest of your life going on adventures as a huntsman?" She jabbed a finger at him. "The world isn't a fairy tale, Jaune. People fight and die because the Grimm are monsters who won't stop until we're all dead. But you wanted to prove yourself? Well, I think you've proven yourself well enough... as a coward."

Jaune... did nothing. What could he do? He'd just been slandered to people all over Remnant. His parents, his teachers, complete strangers just heard him get broken down by this woman and called a coward for all the tears he shed. And the worst part of it all was that she was right.

Jaune fled with that girl into the caves after the others died. He didn't have any power to stand against those giant monsters those girls died to, and he thought he could come into Beacon at the same level they did. He was a sham, a fraud. Every word said against him was the truth, and he just had to sit there and accept it.

"I'm Lisa Lavender. Thank you for watching."

"And cut!" The world became loud around Jaune as people moved this direction and that, leaving him seated in his chair. Lisa Lavender had already left the room, though not before shaking her head and scoffing in disgust.

"Come on, kid."

Jaune was grabbed by the shoulder and shoved. He looked up and saw the bone-white mask with red marks. Suddenly, the person in the mask didn't look or sound like a person, but like a monster, growling at Jaune as he fell over, kicking himself away across the floor and to the wall. It gave a bellow, roaring at him to no move. Breathing quickened, fingers twitching, Jaune wanted to let out a scream but couldn't figure out how. Fear attracted the Grimm and his body was in a panic, set to remain frozen so he wouldn't be bothered. The Grimm bellowed a chant.

"One! Two! Three!" Light flashed, and Jaune shut his eyes to not see the girl's face. When he opened his eyes, a different girl was looking right at him.

"P...Penny?"

"S-Sal-u-tations, Jaune!" She cheerily replied. "Do you... require assistance?"

"Surrender your weapons!" Another familiar voice called. "You're all under the custody of Vale Huntress Goodwitch!"

"Over here!" A blond boy waved over to the pair.

As they started moving towards him, a gunshot was heard, making Jaune flinch and fall to the floor. He could feel himself sliding before hands grabbed him by his cheeks and green eyes filled his vision. "Jaune, it is okay. I am here!"

"Penny?" He grunted, blinking before shaking his head. "I'm... I'm good. Thank you, Penny." The students met up through the doors, Jaune panting as he leaned against the wall. "Who... Who are you?"

"Name's Sun." He said. "You're Jaune, right? Penny's told me about you."

"Yeah. Did sh-" Jaune stopped as he looked at Penny, who had her back to him. She'd been shot, but where there should have been a wound, or maybe even nothing because of aura, there was an indent in her body. Like bent metal. Jaune's feet gave out under him and he fell into the black again.

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

"Heck of a performance you did, Miss Lavender."

"Thank you, Roman." The woman on his scroll said. "And really, thank you for providing me with that interview. I'm sure to get an award for that one."

"Anytime, sweetheart." He grinned. "Your news special was just thing we needed to get these schmucks to look somewhere else tonight."

"Will there be a story for me to report tomorrow?"

"Isn't there always?" He chuckled. "I'll deliver my appreciation with the flowers." With a tap, the call had ended, and Roman reveled at all the dust him and his boys had managed to haul from the docks. Walking out of the warehouse, he lit up his cigar, taking a few puffs. "And they say there's nothing original on the news."

[aftertheline]

Welcome to the Universe of SpiderLuca !! 🕷️🐠

continue for an introduction of everyone, their story, and more!! 🫶

this is luca! aka SpiderStar-Fish 🌊🐠💫

he's based off of - and was bitten by - a spotted fishing spider! (i won't put a picture for those afraid of spiders but feel free to look them up yourself)

his lighter, land suit is based off of his human form's shirt and the daytime sky. his darker, underwater suit is based off of his seafolk form and space.

this is giulia jane! aka luca's mary jane 💖

this is alberto! aka SpiderDreamer 🌃🌟

he's based off of - and was bitten by - a striped fishing spider!

his lighter, land suit is based off of his human form's tank top and his eye color. his darker, underwater suit is based off of his seafolk form. he has a hooded suit to resemble his tall hair and to parallel spidergwen's suit. this is to hint at alberto being luca's love interest and to acknowledge the parallels in his and gwen's stories.

so...what is their story?

luca paguro was bitten by a radioactive spider when he was 13 years old, and for the past 3 years... he hasn't been up to much..like at all. luca is *very* scared of being spiderman.

not to mention, his parents have a certain idea of his future that just.. doesn't include being spiderman. so for the past 3 years, luca has actively *not* been spiderman. if someone attacks portorosso, then so be it. he pretends not to care, because it's not his fault..right?

that is, until alberto scorfano shows up one day.

alberto scofano was bitten by a radioactive spider when he was 14, and for the past 3 years he's been trying, and failing, to be the spiderman his universe needs. alberto doesn't fit in his dimension as spiderman.

that's not to say alberto isn't a good spiderman! it's just..he seems to let his personal dreams and side-adventures get in the way of the *real* problems occurring around him. but he's still a good spiderman..right?

after the death of his father, alberto decides there's nothing left for him in a universe that doesn't care about him, and creates a one-time-use-only watch that allows him to travel to any universe.

luca doesn't know what to think when he sees a hooded, masked figure swinging through the streets of portorosso. is he not spiderman afterall? did his time run out since he's been idle so long and someone else is here to replace him? no, he's definitely still spiderman.

a few days pass of luca ignoring this new spiderman. he's doing a good job at keeping the town safe, and everyone is so glad to finally have someone to protect them. luca almost gets comfortable with using his webs just for recreational fun.

but this new spiderman isn't clueless.. he's been on the lookout for this universe's spiderman since the day he got there and when he finally finds him, he realizes why portorosso has been deserted of its spiderman for so long and decides to train luca on all things spiderman.

their training sessions proved to be very successful. luca is thriving as spiderman and he and alberto are making a great team. but alberto is disintegrating. he isn't meant to be in this universe and each glitch rubs it in more.

when luca finds out about this, he panics. he needs to help him. so when the spider society contacts him to join the society and explains how he would be able to visit any dimension without glitching if he did, luca knows what needs to happen.

through much convincing - "i wouldn't be spiderman if it weren't for alberto!" - luca convinces the society to accept alberto as their newest member instead and allow him to stay primarily in luca's dimension. being a member of the spider society provides alberto with the opportunities to chase his dreams in any dimension and gives him the sense of community he's been searching for. plus, with luca being able to keep portorosso safe all by himself, alberto gets to choose when to take on his spiderman duties vs spend time on his passion projects.

other info...!

luca's gwen is his childhood best friend. both their parents always assumed they would get married and luca did too until she died in front of him. he struggled a lot with what his life would look like without her since she was a major part in what he thought his future would be.

the dimension alberto asked his watch to go to was "a universe who needs me". it wasn't just portorosso who needed him :)

giulia jane meets luca and alberto during their first training session together, she doesn't see their suits or abilities but she does hear a large "CRASH!" behind her house and hurries them inside to tend to their cuts and bruises, eventually letting them stay for dinner too

(maybe more extra info to come! if i think of smth specific to add)

[mad-c1oud]

another charlie drabble~

(see this post if you wanna submit some prompts for q!charlie :3)

for the anon who requested Antoine and Gegg with the line "show me where it hurts"! I'll be honest, i'm not sure how to write Gegg so I went with a post transformation-Charlie, but just know that their dynamic for me is like dr jekyll and mr hyde. Do with that info what you want, cause idk

enjoy! this was fun to write :D

+++++

“Show me where it hurts.”

It’s just Charlie’s luck someone found him right after a debate, minutes after he’d just come back to himself, came back to whatever makes him Charlie. He just didn’t expect it to be Antoine of all people, but it’s really him, in all his box and beige + red cloak glory, crouched in front of Charlie. He struggles to remember what just happened, where he is, who he is when the… entity- that the only thing he can think of to describe what Antoine is, an eldritch horror drawn by a child- speaks again.

“Slime,” fingers snap in front of his face and Charlie winces at the sound as his head pounds and pounds and pounds. Just how many drinks did Gegg knock back? Or did he try talking again? Fuck, why can’t he remember anything? “Are you there?”

Sure he wants to say but he can’t find the words. Transforming back into something more human has him all out of sorts, head hurting and limbs burning and numb and god this sucks. That’s when he realizes Antoine didn’t snap his fingers because there are no fingers in front of his face to snap. There are also none pressing into newly formed skin which he can clearly feel so why the fuck can’t he see them. 

Have I officially lost it.

“Your nose is bleeding. I didn’t think slimes could bleed, but maybe that also explains Gegg.”

There is just, way too much going on.

Charlie still can’t find his voice- literally, his voice box is lost somewhere in his chest cavity and he really doesn’t feel like fishing for it when someone else is watching him. It shouldn’t be unnerving having Antoine’s lifeless, boxy eyes staring him down but it’s fucking offputting man. He can’t pick something to focus on it’s all too much between the blood, the punching in his skull, the invisible grip on his arm, his chin, eyes staring at him but also Not and Gegg fuck Gegg he knows Antoine knows he’s going to-

“Here.” Something is pressed to his nose and Charlie watches in bewilderment as a handkerchief floats in the air, Antoine’s cloak rustling with the movement but still no fucking limbs good god. Charlie pats himself down for something, anything he can write with but Gegg only had shitty green, copy paper and that feels too revealing to use so he just frowns at the man-thing-guy in front of him, wanting to say one thing and one thing only. It’s eating at him.

Almost as if sensing his thoughts, Antoine lets out a little “oh!” before a little red notebook materializes out of nowhere, settling itself down in Charlie’s hands with a gentle thump. At his questioning gaze, the other hums happily before answering, “Pomme. She writes a lot, I like to read a lot. I always have extras, just ask.” Antoine laughs to himself and Charlie rolls his eyes at the dig, pulling a green pencil out to write shakily.

Thanks Also- you’re weird, like seriously odd

Antoine just laughs warmly, seating himself in the grass beside Charlie, looking like he’s going to stay. See? Weird.

“That makes two of us, Charlie Slimecicle."

[autiedonnie]

So, what is your Transformers Fan Continuity like? 🤩

Ok ok so Neo:U is a next gen au in a sense? Many fankids bc i adore sparklings and odd crackships that ended up weirdly wholesome. I made it with my bf @official-big-gay-fish

Basically in Neo:U Megatron as the Decepticon leader never lost his way at least in the sense no violence he comitted was against his fellow con, his fight was ALWAYS to liberate the lower caste and cold forged. When he realized the Autobots who in this AU are spear headed by the Senate ( Optimus and those who follow him are a splinter faction of the original Senate controlled Autobots who want to prevent either side from destroying Cybertron and end things peacefully) were going to win he boarded every con the nemesis and left Cybertron. (This is a whole other thing i can get into) Optimus determined to find his old friend travels the starts with his splinter group of Autobots to find them upon discovering the Senate intends to either kill or reprogram every con the capture. Eventually they find Earth and due to low energon reserves they stay there for a while and ironically never interact with humans lmao.

Anyways the main crux of the story is Hot Rod is appointed head of the Survey Corps. where and his group scour Earth for resources and to learn about humans to live in peace with them in the future. Everything’s going great until they run into a group of cons.

Hot Rod being the person he is and not wanting to lose his freedom on Earth convinces everyone to stay quiet. This leads to shenanigans and multiple accidental interactions with the con kids. Especially since this au they use holoavatars a lot. Overtime to keep the peace and keep everyone safe and maybe a bit of curiosity they all truce which turns into friendship. a lot of the story revolves around these kids uncovering their past of a war ravaged planet, who their parents were during the war, coming to terms with trauma (especially generational oop), and finally ending said war. Also uhhhhh oops sorry kids you may be buddies now but hey haha whats that in sky? On no its scourge and the terrorcons.

You get a lot of high tension awkward interactions with the autobot and con kids! I say kids but they’re basically robot 25 which is absolutely baby to the old bots.

Autobots are

Hotrod (this hot rod is a MTO but my god no one will ever know outside Optimus and Ratchet) your typical Hot Rod stuff, big loud jokester who never takes anything seriously and hates himself. He has a Situationship with Magnus that he doesn’t wanna think about.

Strongarm- Shes Jazz and Prowls kid in this universe, looks like Jazz unfortunately takes after Prowl. A lot of her story is unpacking the beliefs Prowl instilled into her. She’s socially awkward and sucks at reading the room, but is very into music and singing. She also finds out she loves fighting and spars with everyone!!

Cloudchaser- One of my OCs, was found in the ruins of Vos as a sparkling by Wheeljack and Ratchet. They tried to find her family but do to what happened to Vos there’s very few flyers in the Autobots making trying to find them dangerous. So now she has a mad scientist grandpa and a grouchy grandpa. Clouds a very bubbly, chatty person. She’s the autobot gossip, if its a rumor Cloud knows it. If its sensitive info Cloud knows it. Cloud is super competent but she hides that behind a hyper egotistical, sassy, bratty mask because she has mixed feelings on being an autobot. Shes Hot Rods amica, and one of the only ones who knows hes a MTO.

Starpursuit- My bfs fankid of Elita-1 and Arcee. They’re a motorcycle and use they/she/he. Pursuits the type if they don’t respect you she’s not listening, they got that bullheadedness in them. Hes definitely a bit obsessive and intense at times, they get bored easy and love fun so shes easily swayed into Hot Rod shenanigans. Shes got the worlds biggest crush on Strongarm.

Metamelody- Another fankid of the bf. He’s Ironhide and Chromias! Hes a big ass van, almost as big as his sire. Mel is extremely soft and sweet. He’s shy, and despite being a ruler follower like Strongarm is easily pulled into shenanigans. He joined Hot Rods crew because he doesn’t know how to tell Ironhide he doesn’t want to go into weapons op, he wants to be a musician.

Decepticon kids

Nitrobreak-BFs oc whose the kid of my characters Cursor and Blackdirge. Nitrobreak is Hot Rods foil, he as zero worrys or doubts about his position as his crews leader. He’s confident and wears it well and it frustrates Hot Rod. Hes well loved amongst his faction and has a very healthy understanding of who he is. His challenge in life is all external vs Hot Rods internal struggles. They hate each other at the start

Blacklight- BFs oc, unfortunately Shockwaves child. If you acknowledge this or bring it up Blacklight will maul you. They were conceived when Shockwave was still a senator, and came into life during the war but because Neonstreak their carrier is a NAIL they never experienced it. They have complicated feelings about Shockwave, they’re scared of him but they love him, they’re obsessed with him, they want to understand him and work with him in energon conservation. They ARE daddy issues.

Dragstrip- Swindles kid because I made a joke they look similar and it somehow stuck. Devious trickster bastard, will sell everything and everyone for a single cornchip minus his carrier.

Wildbreak- u kno the joke wilbreak rid15 is breakdown and knockouts kid? Yeah yeah 100% hes still the awkward shy easily started person hes shown as in rid15. He wants to be a nurse and studies under his sire!

Jetlag- remember when I mentioned some of the ships that were crack ships that became canon? Yeah Jetlags the result of one of those crackships. Hes Skywarp and Thunderhoofs kid. Hes a seeker, but has fuck all antlers and hoof peedes instead of heels. He’s a bit stupid, and continuously bonks people with his antlers by accident. He has a crush on Blacklight but never wants to admit it because he knows Blacklights so scared of becoming Shockwave he doesn’t even want to attempt relationships.

[valsnonsense]

The Rynth Family

What happens when a lizard and a fish fall in love-

Sorry that was terrible lksdjfsldkfj

But here we have the Rynth family! One of my more crackier ships with absolutely no reasoning behind it, but eh, that’s what terminal shipping does to ya.

Synth and Riff met after one of Riff’s concerts. Barb, Riff, and the rest of their band came to Trollstopia to perform on day, and Synth was invited by Branch to come to the performance. Synth was absolutely blown away by the music, but most of all by the drummer. Just something about how incredibly fast he moved, even slamming his own face into the drums was just amazing! So after the concert, when Branch offers to take Synth to meet Barb and the band, Synth jumps on the opportunity.

Imagine Synth’s surprise when the drummer turns out to be Barb’s younger brother, and a Prince no less! Despite this, Synth walked right up to him and shook his hand, going on a long winded spiel about how amazing he found his drumming and how excited he was to meet him, so on and so forth. Riff was taken aback by the excitable techno troll, never having someone come up to compliment him specifically after a show. He shyly thanked him, keeping how he found the Techno Ambassador to be fucking adorable to himself, but did nervously asked to exchange contact info.

The two became fast friends after that night. Synth would call or text him and talk for hours, while Riff would just sit back and listen. After a few months of close friendship, Riff worked up the courage to ask Synth out on a date. Synth was over the moon about it, having started to crush on the Rock Prince himself, and the officially started dating. They hadn’t dated for an entire year before Synth couldn’t take it anymore and popped the question to Riff. Riff immediately said yes, and two were married.

After they wed, Riff moved to Trollstopia, since Synth had duties to fulfill full time as a Councilman. There were some bittersweet tears between Barb and Riff (and maybe Barb pulling Synth to the side and threatening him that if he ever hurt her brother she’d find him and end his entire existence), and Riff officially moved to Trollstopia.

Riff began working as a musical mentor for young trolls, teaching them about rock music and how to play it. It was a few years after they married that Synth found out he was carrying an egg, and the two became parents. And very quickly had two more in rapid succession lol

Riff and Synth love being dads, and raised their kids to appreciate all kinds of music. When Hatchet fell in love with country music, and began working on his own spin on it, the two were over the moon about it. When Hatchet decided to move to Lonesome Flats to pursue his career, the two were sad to see him go, but fully supportive of his dreams. When all three of their kids ended up taking on musical careers, becoming extremely successful super quickly, it was too much for the two. Just look at our babies! They’re so grown up and amazing, omg I can’t take this I’m gonna cry-

They currently still live in Trollstopia with their two youngest, Viper and Lantern, but they can often be found in Lonesome Flats visiting Hatchet or in Techno Reef attending Viper’s raves. They two own copies of all their kids records and show them off proudly to anyone who will listen for two seconds.

And that’s the Rynth fam! Very cheesy love story, but they strike me as a cheesy couple xP And this piece was actually the first one I made exclusively digitally! Super proud of it~

[fried-eggs152]

What are your Phineas and Ferb ships and how do you imagine their dynamics? Love your blog btw! :)

I saw this question and suddenly I wasn’t as tired as I thought I was I sat up and ran to the kitchen I felt like entrapta

(Thank you so much)

OK OKOK!! I have a couple in hand not much but some :D (I went on a rant I’m so sorry)

Let’s start with my two obvious favourites

1. Buford x phineas, sure bully x nerd cliche but this is a different type of relationship I see.

Slowly but surely they become close friends and even buddies, I feel like Buford would be a the same just less defensive with phineas and his random unhinged moments. Usually listening phineas rant about what seems to be a bug (or other things) and what type of bugs he’s allowed and not allowed to eat (summer belongs to you episode), and Buford would talk about his fish they both could keep each other going if they didn’t have their best friend (baljeet and ferb) they can remind each other of the small things they forget say perhaps phineas waking up as early as Buford does. Or reminding Buford to take care of himself once in a while that type of thing. As much as Buford tried to be a bully he has a limit of being a bully and honestly he isn’t so bad of a guy and I can see phineas reading that pretty well.

Their dynamic would be like..not like baljeet and Buford’s it just as much as a symbiotic relationship but a lil differently. Clownfish and anemones!!! That’s their relationship! Buford’s the anemone and phineas is the clownfish! (Ironic because of his shirt) it’s healthy and they keep each other going and safe! (Also phineas would prolly help with biff alot)

2. Perry the platypus x Peter the panda

Yeah I know I doubt Perry likes Peter after doof ‘cheated’ on him with Peter but when they work together (when they saved doofenshmirtz) I feel like Perry’s bitterness would fade slowly. (Also the time they went on a date when they fixed the balloon) as it did happen. Perry would find a way to get Peter in the picture, long term relationship wise. Their dynamic is kinda like ‘I secretly love you but I have to much of a lone wolf ego to say it’ and Peter ‘I know.’ Peter understands Perry’s relationship with Heinz and respects what was probably said boundary wise. The two having to listen to their nemesis or not listen it would be nice to just be with someone you can open up to even if it means in your own agency. And different species. It’s like a..hero x hero typa thing! They can keep each other up and going if their nemesis gets abit..much..I also feel like he’s be texting Peter on how stupidly naive Heinz could be and Peter rant about mysterious (what’s his name) being too closed off to open abit more.

Ok this one is especially weird- like ‘wtf 🤨’ weird

3. Lawrence x Heinz; OK hear me out (pls)

They had one interaction (when Lawrence temporarily became evil..it didn’t last) I didn’t think of it, it’s the dynamic I thought of.

Lawrence watching as Heinz talks to himself about it some platypus and the explosion leaving marks behind he would probably tend to the dirt and messes. Listening to Heinz rant and rant and rant- and when Heinz is done he’d ask for Lawrence’s info about antiques and such and they’d just share each others special interest (ADHD + Autism) and he’d take care of norm every once and awhile so Heinz doesn’t flip out on him. It’s healthy and Heinz would be so affectionate (probably) AND ferb would get to meet Heinz which works out to help Heinz make some fun inator’s (not evil Heinz’s attention would be on ferb and Lawrence’s safety his own is irrelevant) Lawrence would be oblivious to the evil but not to oblivious to see the inator’s. He’d prolly go “what is this dear?” -L

“It’s my new inator that vines down to a traumatic period of my life!” -H

“That’s healthy to put it in scientific technology. Do you want to talk about it over some almond brittle and tea?”-L

“You know me so well” -H

IT WOULD BE ADORABLE. (In my eyes)

4. Buford x ferb.

Alright almost the same thing as BxP but ferb’s silent demeanour would probably have an affect with Buford’s bully behaviour. Like put them in a room together Buford would say a couple mean things then suddenly he’s quiet. Almost sleepy at this point. Then suddenly ferb says one fact and Buford adds on to that fact and suddenly they’re having a one sided conversation as Buford debates said fact and ferb debates silently.

One would be the voice of the other (Buford being ferbs voice) about what’s right or wrong.

(Not much on this ship tbh)

5. Baljeet x phineas the two’s dynamic is simple and easy!

Anddd baljeet would be there to fix little mistakes phineas would do (Audhd) and phineas would be sorta annoyed but literally happy he doesn’t think about that small mistake for the rest of his life.

Another symbiotic relationship. Unknown animals though I’d say Coyote and badger, both smart in their own ways.

Almost about It maybe Isabella one day attention for her x someone

Maybe a fireside girl

Alr let me think some more

[psychic-waffles]

wrote a whole thing out for the dmbj discord yesterday but thought it might be useful here as well

tldr: according to the dmbj books there's probably two different things affecting hei xiazi's eyesight

1. his miscellaneous eye disease that may or may not be related to his immortality that causes him to be able to see better in the dark (he needs a tiny speck of light for it to work, it doesn't work in pitch black) and for him to be able to see other weird details in low light (the best description i’ve seen of this is in  moving forward through the flowery night aka the heihua extra) this may or may not be getting worse (i'm sort of assuming he's gradually able to see less in bright light but his ""darkvision"" remains the same but that’s speculation on my part)

2. what i’m really here to talk about: there’s something making his vision fully black/fade out intermittently (regardless of external light levels) which started probably shortly before the main dmbj story, and has got significantly worse during reboot

more below the cut (contains spoilers for all of reunion book 2, and minor spoilers for the reunion drama)

caveat 1. i haven’t double checked the timeline because ~gestures at dmbj~ so some timings might be vague

caveat 2. *i can’t read chinese and any terms i’ve used are whatever terms were used in merebear’s translations, so please correct me if anything is wrong!

i’m also gonna preface all of this real quick with a couple things. Most of this info is taken from two retellings of "the strange case of the burning corpse" which you can read in full in sha hai chapter 112-115 and reboot book 2. Both times the story is told by xiao hua (mostly), and the when we first hear it in sha hai it's sort of 50/50 whether the story is true or not. When we hear it again in reboot it's a bit more substantial and is atleast probably true. (as always take any of this with a pinch of salt).

***

so the version we hear in sha hai is as follows and talks about the first time xiao hua met hei xiazi: when xiao hua was younger (either teenager or early 20s probably) and staying will granny huo there was an incident nearby where a building burnt down and 14 corpses were pulled out, 13 had drowned before being burned and were laid out in the shape of a fish, and one had burnt standing upright on the roof. The 13 drowned corpses were also found to have a strange eye disease. hei xiazi is called in by chen pi to investigate and after looking round the scene he says there should be a 15th body and proceeds to find a well with an ancient corpse in it under the building with a mirror stuck in it's chest. That night after hei xiazi had gone down into the well he starts experiencing eye problems, every time he opened his eyes he felt something pushing his neck down so he could only look at the floor (xiao hua then says that hei xaizi then blindfolded himself and lived for 6 months without his sight, but then backtracks on this so 🤷‍♂️). meanwhile granny huo finds out the 13 drowned men were loggers who dug up the ancient corpse, they all developed a weird eye disease and found a priestess* to help them, who turned out to be the corpse standing on top of the building burnt up. wu xie (who had been listening to xiao hua tell the story) then falls asleep so we don't get any more context for any of that.

***

all in all pretty weird and possibly mostly made up, however then the story gets revisited in reboot with a bunch more detail and making a bit more sense generally.

context for if you have seen the drama version of reunion: this is all tied to hei xiazi's visit to the mute village, which in the books is a stand alone story set just prior to reboot, only hei xiazi goes there and ershu etc don't follow later.

context for if you haven’t seen or read reunion: hei xiazi goes to ‘mute village’ to investigate some strange happenings related to thunder and an underground river, but while he's there he meets a mute woman called chuchu who is making a documentary about the village.

Hei Xiazi realises he knows chuchu, and figures out he saved her from a fire when she was a child, in connection to the burning corpse case.

***

so back to continue the burning corpse story where it starts up being told again in reboot: hei xiazi tracks down the priestesses daughter. he realises (due to his weird eyesight) he can see something strange on her back, maybe the same thing that was on his back before. the girl says she can do a ritual to help him with this whole case and takes him to a school where they set up an array etc. hei xiazi isn't sure if the ritual is legit or not but the info he gets from this girl is that there's an "immortal thing*" that wants to go back "below" (none of this is elaborate on). Once hei xaizi leaves the school a fire was started and he rushed back in to save some kids one of whom is chuchu (whose vocal cords were presumably damaged in the fire). when they get outside they see a burnt up corpse standing on the roof who turns out to be the priestesses daughter.

now to jump back to approximately the present where hei xiazi is running around mute village: he realises that the "immortal thing" that he'd encountered all those years ago is wrapped around chuchu's neck, over her vocal cords, and realises she was the girl from the fire and it must have latched onto her then. (note: it seems like the ""immortal thing"" goes for weak points? like the vibe i got was it went for chuchu's vocal cords cos there was already a problem there and/or they were damage from the fire?) so he decides he needs to deal with this thing once and for all. him and chuchu go into the underground river and hei xiazi tricks the "immortal thing" into leaving chuchu and going back to being on his back. his eyesight starts to black out, closing in from the edges, and he throws himself into the underground river. to make a long story short; hei xaizi is pretty fucked, mostly blind, and being attacked by evil crabs. luckily 1. whenever thunder rings out through this underground river hei xiazi’s eyesight returns briefly, and 2. xiaoge shows up out of nowhere and helps him use a mirror they find (like the one originally stuck in the ancient corpse) to potentially kill the creature on the back of hei xiazi's neck, or at the very least drive it away into the depths of the underground river.

***

so that's all context i guess, the sort of important bit is the following: after hei xiazi had the "immortal thing" on his neck last time it took 19 days for his sight to return at all, and since then his sight faded in and out on the daily (like that moment in the heihua movie). at the point of xiaoge rescuing him this time around he didn't know if his sight would return but at the point they escape the underground river he is fully 100% blind.

once again npss i would love it if you could concisely explain any of this 🙏🙏🙏 and/or atleast confirm if the story being told here is true and hei xiazi isn’t just making up some bullshit

[vampirzina]

Sharing is Caring ; Pet Headcanon Series

pt. 1: Purrs and Paws

You have a cat. All cats are different, but how will the moon boys react to a feline that makes it known they were there first?

Masterlist | AO3 | Table of Contents | Dogs

notes: hi everyone! more headcanons. this will have two parts: cats and dogs. whatever pets you think of/want to see are done through requests onwards. enjoy

Marc Spector

A cat, cool! At first.

Your cat not too keen on visitors

Instead of running up to you, she scatters once she sees that you have Marc with you

Marc is a little sad now, but you quickly do away with those feelings

“Don’t worry. She’s just a little shy,” you reassure with a cheek kiss, “She will love you soon, just as much as I do.”

He doubts it at first, but believes you soon

When your cat gets brave and approaches him just for a sniff, he’s secretly over the moon

When your cat approaches you for pets and loving, he’s finds himself jealous

He’s actually jealous of the cat

The cat even makes eye contact with him once, twice before deciding love time was over

He’s all over you once she’s done with you

For a while, it seems like your cat is indifferent to Marc and virtually ignores him every time he beckons to her

“Call her like a cat, not a dog,” you said to a disappointed Marc

It’s successful, but he makes one (1) mistake

She flops down on your lap to expose her belly, and he reaches out to pet her there

Several bunny kicks and arm wrestles later, you’re out of breath from laughing and Marc is frustrated

How your cat comes to love Marc? He always pets under the chin now instead

Steven Grant

Gus. And other Gus.

Fish do not have legs to walk, but he can’t help but worry about the cat and his fish and what to do if you were to move in together

You reassure him that your cat is well behaved and doesn’t settle for goldfish

The cat is just as much worried about him too, being around you and (what was) their space

Steven doesn’t bother her or vie for her acceptance, even when the cat is clearly more into smothering you than him

He info-dumps you on cats relationship with Egypt, Bastet and Sekhmet when you two cuddle

Eventually, though… He gets curious.

When you’re out on a grocery trip, he approaches the cat that’s on the couch

He experiments first to let her sniff; so far so good. Then he moves to pet her…

Ouch! Not loving time.

He’s not bleeding, luckily, but her teeth hurt

With a sore finger, he retreats and waits until you get home like he should’ve

“The cats’ got you didn’t she?” you guess, even though he hasn’t said much.

You comfort Steven, but he’s determined now to get acquainted with your cat

He tries for a while, but he starts getting impatient when the cat is only letting him pet in one place and then going to you for more

Steven is a little jealous of both sides, but he doesn’t let it get the best of him

“She’ll love you much soon,” you reassure as he watches the ball of fur smother your face.

You’re right, and Steven believes you with his whole heart because he loves the both of you, even if the cat doesn’t back

He will try just a little harder

How your cat comes to love Steven? He feeds her treats she begs for while you’re away and he happens to be over

Jake Lockley

A cat… Okay.

He doesn’t make an effort like the other two, he just leaves her alone because he’s here for you

For as long as possible he wants to leave her alone, but she’s onto him

Eventually he can’t ignore her, and is finding himself competing with your cat full-stop, not subtly like Marc

And quick

It becomes a competition the third time when he was having his alone time with you and the cat decided it was time for love

“Are you seriously competing with a cat, babe?” you massage your cats head as she purrs dotingly.

Jake’s been glaring the entire time. “So?”

“It’s a cat!”

He doesn’t care she was there first, he will fight for you even if it’s a cat being a cat

When you’re sleeping peacefully, the zooming hour is nigh

Expletives in Spanish fly as he’s trampled by her paws rapidly, half-asleep and angry now

One day he’s left alone with your cat, bored waiting for you, and he’s watching it play with a ball

Without thinking, he picks up one of the stick toys and watches as it plays with the toy on the string on the other end

How your cat comes to love Jake? He supports her when she wants to play every time he comes over

want to be a part of the taglist for this series? let me know in the replies ☻

[intertexts]

ok you asked about my sad fish boy i hope u know how much of a mistake that is. holy shit. dude jrwi is so fucking good. if u need a new dnd podcast may i please recommend jrwi..theyre pirates. ohhh my god theyre pirates .

so. uhm. fish boy. his name is gillion tidestrider (champion of the undersea, hero of the deep, etc etc about a billion more titles that he just keeps aquiring as the campaign goes on) and hes a paladin with ohhhhh so much of a hero complex. oh my god. dude. hes so . everything to me . (played by charlie slimecicle btw. that guy is so fucking good at balancing silly goofy moments with heartwrenching voice acting. in one of the most recent episodes he is literally. hanging from a hook through his hands missing chunks of skin on 1hp literally only alive because he happened to cast death ward on himself. and hes wearing those goddamn trout fish sandals that u see on facebook ads or whatever.)

uhm. so. holy shit. where do i even start. he is the chosen one of a prophecy that says its his duty to one day choose who will survive between the undersea (triton, underwater creatures, where he grew up) and the oversea (basically. land.) and the other will be destroyed. so when he was very young (i want to say maybe like..5 or 6? i dont remember im actually searching for that info rn for the thing im writing) he was taken away from his family to begin training with the Elders (basically the. rulers of the undersea) . my boy he was raised to be a weapon. he was raised to be a tool (<< real canon words out of his own mouth). my favorite little child soldier. he wore armor that was too big for him and carried swords that were taller than he was. he was raised to put protecting others over his own safety so he rushes out into danger without even thinking about how it might affect him. he is so passively suicidal and ready to sacrifice himself at any minor inconvenience that when this information is eventually put in front of him his response is "what? no, thats what im Supposed to do." a very important phrase for him in early episodes was "whats one more burden?"

also he has a pet frogtopus (frog + octopus) her name is pretzel and she rides around in a little orb on his belt and also on his shoulders sometimes. i love her

(<- official art. shes so perfect in every way)

I THINK I MIGHT BE RUNNING OUT OF SPACE SOON BUT HE ALSO HAS AN OLDER SISTER AND SHES EVERYTHING TO ME OHMYGOD . her name is Edyn and shes so. uaghghhh if i think about her for too long i start crying. im writing a fic from her pov as we speak. she was the only one who would visit him during his training as a kid she was his best friend she wanted to protect him but she was also just a kid so she couldnt do anything but try her best to comfort him. shes the one who gave him pretzel. ohhh my god. i lvoe you edyn tidestrider youre everything to me. giving you a freshly written unedited at all snippet from the fic im writing because it describes how i feel about their dynamic so much better than i could possibly type out in a tumblr ask::::

uhnmmm what else. im so insane about the tidestrider siblings forever. do not get me wrong the other PCs in this campaign are also excellent and i love them (Jay is the daughter of a navy captain who defected to join a pirate crew to figure out what caused the death of her older sister. Chip is. oh boy. orphan who was taken in by a pirate crew when he was 7. pirate crew in question was swallowed by some sort of magic force that corrupted literally a fourth of the globe. but he somehow survived and is now trying to find out if his old family is still alive. jay and chip are like adopted siblings to me. chip and gillion had to roll a performance check for a kiss one time and they both got nat 20s and its all gone downhill from there for them. i love jay and chip dearly but something abojt gillion just scratches a very specific itch in my brain i love him so much and its only partially because hes a fish and im the fish guy.) ALSO I FORGOT TO MENTION GILLION IS CANONICALLY ASEXUAL and this is a fact that actually has come up within canon and is not just a word of god twitter mention fact. no. my boy is actively asexual and it makes me soooooo happy forever.

uh. sorry for the wall of text. infodump over. im forever crying abojt pirates and fish people . thank u i love u

OUSUGHFGHFJHH................... I LIKE UR FISH BOY MAC. IM A BIG FAN OF UR FISH BOY. i heard paladin with a hero complex & it was immediately a direct hit thats so... ouuhgh. child soldier character type of guy makes me go bonkers!!!! this whole paragraph is like five critical hits in a row... im so curious now.... also ive seen SO much art for these guys jay also looks so cool? her art is always so compelling 2 me... anyway OUHG. i'm currently working my way through friends at the table twilight mirage (meticulously crafted post-utopian cyberpunk/science fiction about mechs and gods and mech gods and more specifically Dead mech gods & living in their husks & humanity & nonhumanity & empire, etc) + tryna catch up on critrole but... hgghhbh. we'll see. we'll see what happens...

[aita-blorbos]

aita for leaving my brother to die?

yeah, yeah, i know how that sounds. hear me out.

me and my twin brother L don't exactly live in what you'd call a normal town. no one knows for sure what the deal is, whether it's a curse, a time loop, you name it. fact of the matter is, people die pretty much every day, and then come back the next like nothing happened.

my brother and i are thieves. i'll admit that flat out. we steal whatever we can get our hands on, whenever we can get our hands on it. that usually ends with the both of us dead, but we've been doing it for so long that it's whatever.

recently, a couple other guys in town fished up a map leading to some sunken treasure. obviously, we wanted to get ahold of that, so we tailed the guys in a submarine we stole, and jumped in right as one of them was about to take the treasure chest for himself.

it went like a dream! we opened it up to find all sorts of gold coins and jewelry. we'd be loaded for sure. L grabbed up a bunch of the jewelry and even a crown, and i loaded up on as many coins as would fit in my pockets, and even dumped a bunch into the hat i wear, for good measure.

then... well, i'm not sure what happened. we must have gone over a heat vent or something, because the sub started to break down. one second, everything was fine and dandy, the next, L is trapped under a couple beams that broke off the ceiling.

here's the part where i may be the asshole. i knew there was no way i was gonna be able to get him out from under there and save my own skin, but when i walked over there, he seemed like he thought i was gonna help him. obviously, i didn't do that. i swiped the bracelets off his arms and the crown off his head, and got the hell out of there. he was pissed, but seriously, it had gotten hot enough that my feet were sticking to the floor, there was no time.

course, it all ended up biting me in the ass not even a couple minutes later. turns out gold melts pretty quick at temperatures like that, and i was covered in the stuff. i was covered in molten gold in seconds, and that was it for me.

the thing that gets me is that before he got angry, there was a split second where L just looked... completely betrayed.

i think i was justified, and i guess i got my karma for it anyways, but i'm starting to second guess myself.

AITA?

[deltaclaws]

Creature’s Comforts- Preview

Really jazzed with how this is coming along, so here’s a preview of the first chapter for my next LMK fic.

When Monkey King got a new phone at the humble, totally not using his puppy dog face request of his successor, he made the firm rule that only MK would have his number. His reasoning being he was already harassed enough through his email address, and he liked to keep a low profile.

That was broken within the first week as Mei somehow, oh so mysteriously got his contact info, and he only made 15 attempts at blocking her number before he gave in and muted her texts- because every convo ended up the same.

[Mei, pls only text me if its important :/] 8:55 AM

[Kk monkie dad! ⊂((*＞⊥σ))⊃ Dragon horse’s honor (≧ω≦)ゞ] 8:55 AM

[Thank you] 8:56 AM

[Link: Top 10 Funniest Viral Videos This Week…] 9:01 AM

[This is super important] 9:01 AM

It’s not that he wanted to avoid talking with her, she was a good kid!... It was her erratic schedule of messages that more often than not came well after nap o’ clock, or I Wanna Sleep In AM..

So, with Mei being Mei and his phone number unlisted, Wukong only ever heard from MK when he made the once in a while call in lieu of using Mystic Monkey Messaging.

He was thinking of giving the kid a ring now, as it was almost half an hour past their scheduled meet up at his mountain for their (now mandatory) heart-to-heart talk and training. MK was hardly ever late to their sessions, and if he was, he at least gave a heads-up. It was starting to give him a small, eensy teensy bit of emotion he couldn’t quite name.

Monkey King checked his phone again, and saw no missed calls or messages from his student, which only made the wiggling crumb of… something, settle deeper into his already hungry belly. No one would blame him for worrying about MK after everything that’s happened, but turning into an overbearing parent- which, no, could he call himself that? Was he allowed to?- wasn’t going to help. A nice snack would though.

Just as Wukong was walking into his kitchen to get some chopped peaches from his freezer to settle his stomach and redirect those thoughts, the Super Monkey Mech theme chimed out from his sash.

“Speak of the demon,” he chuckled with relief as he fished out his phone from the folds of his belt. Wukong flicked his thumb, accepted the call, and went rooting for his snack. “Hey bud! What’s the hold up?” he asked casually. 

“Ah, hey Monkey King,” came a gruff, clipped voice. Wukong snapped straight up, a terrible move as he thumped his crown harshly on the inside of the freezer. Beyond the sudden discomfort as he held the top of his head, sucking in a breath through clenched teeth, was that shred of emotion now knotting his guts. “First off-”

“What’s wrong.” he interjected. The momentary pain was shunted away- now on high alert, he marched out of his house with purpose. He could hear a creaking noise beyond the grumble of Pigsy’s words.

“I’m trying to tell you- yes, MK, we ARE doing this.”

 “Is he hurt?”

“No, he’s not hurt. If you’d both stop-”

“Do I need to-”

“Would you two quit talkin’ over me at the SAME TIME?!” the irate pig shouted. Wukong halted his forward momentum right as his foot met the first step out of his home. There was a crackling sigh and a distant cough before Pigsy continued. “Monkey King, the kid’s fine. Sittin’ right next to me. Now listen before you come flyin’ over here. Please.” he groused.

“Alright, I’m listening.” Wukong deadpanned as he leaned on the railing of his porch, tail swishing.

Another cough met his ears before Pigsy spoke again. “Alright, I’ve got ya on speaker. Kid, say hi to Monkey King, SLOWLY, so he knows you’re alive.” Wukong wanted to jab right back, but for the moment he felt it would be a little tasteless on his part.

“Hey, Monkey King,” MK rasped after another small cough, sending a warning flag up in the monkey’s mind,  “Sorry I didn’t call. I couldn’t find my phone after, uh, I accidentally broke a couple booths at the sh, sh, sha, shop!” His words broke off into hacking, which quickly rose in pitch. What Wukong heard after the “Hu-geugh!” he would possibly describe as someone slapping their hand across a sound board.

There was shouting- probably Pigsy- some crunching, definitely property damage, and what sounded like glass breaking amongst the cacophony. That new insurance money was gonna go fast.

Wukong waited, eyebrows drawn low as curtains, as nothing but white noise and a withering groan came over the speaker. “Ummm,” he drawled after he heard neither pig nor kid speak up, “Eeeverything good over there?” the king asked, halfway expecting to not get a response.

A grunt was his answer. “Eh, not the worst it’s been,” said a very resigned sounding Pigsy. There was a noise of frustration, along with more wheezing that sounded like a laugh, and Wukong could practically hear the chef massaging a behooved finger between his eyes. “As I was sayin’, MK’s sick. His coughing is making his body freak out, and I need you to come pick him up and take care of him ‘til he’s feeling better. You’re gonna be able to help him more than me right now, and I’d like my shop to at least go one month this year without getting a remodeling.”

“Freak out? Like- No, wait- backtrack,” Wukong frantically waved his free hand, totally visible over the audio only phone call, “MK’s sick? Sick with what?” he asked urgently. 

“It’s just a cold,” MK tried to assert, throat sounding strained, before he was interrupted by Pigsy gently shushing him.

“Kid, you’re a bad liar, and you’re gonna bust a lung at this rate.” he chided, though his voice was far warmer than it was before. Wukong waited for the chef to speak to him again, tail practically swatting a quick rhythm now as he listened impatiently to more shuffling. “Monkey King, just, come over. I’m not gonna be able to make the kid budge without your help, and I think this is something you gotta see in person.”

At that he heard an overly offended ‘hey!’ that lost all of its power when the kid’s voice cracked. It eased the tension in his shoulders and abated some of the worry that replaced the foreign feeling from earlier. WIth a chuff, he said “You know, there’s this thing you’re using right now that I’m pretty sure can also take and send pictures, if the lens isn’t busted anymore.”

There was another noise of indignation from MK that bubbled off into a grumble, which was almost entirely obscured by Pigsy’s terse rebuttal. “Alright smart guy, I’m hanging up and helping the kid pack. See you in 10.” Monkey King gave an affirmative hum, tucking his phone back into his sash as the call disconnected.

He let himself droop and fold dramatically over the railing, deflating further as he released a long, suffering, groan. Wukong couldn’t see anything past the legs of his pants, but he heard the light tap-tap-tap of one of the monkeys coming around the porch. With a thump and a graceful landing, his subject sat on his back and let out a questioning chitter.

“Well,” he huffed, scrubbing a nervous hand through his mane. “Looks like we’re not gonna catch a break just yet.”

[revelationschapter6]

cinnamon and myrrh

Events: Sicktember, Whumptember, Bad Things Happen Bingo

Prompts:

Desperate measures

Head lolling

Coughing fit

Preventative Measures (Not taken)

Side effects/Adverse reaction

Uncooperative Patient

Confused

Disoriented

Hurts to Breathe

Warnings:

implications of depression

This fill is written as a one-shot of my original story, Saudade. You can find my info page for Saudade here.

What context you need to read this is:

In Saudade, the Archangel Raphael Fell during the Rebellion. It was a misunderstanding that spiraled out of control, and he was thrown out by four angels while his partner, the Power Camael, tried to help him.

The angels who didn't Fall were made to forget those who did. They don't remember they ever knew them. As far as they know, all the Fallen were on the fringes of Heaven's society. If they asked around, they might go, "Wait, no one knew a Fallen?" But they Don't Ask Questions.

Raphael worked to gain Camael's trust again, and eventually won it. Camael learned he did, in fact, know Raphael before the Fall by regaining a memory, and convinced Raphael's siblings to hear him out. Now they're trying to figure out WTF to do.

Who, in their right mind, burns myrrh for funsies? Humans, apparently. And in the middle of the holiday season no less, so the smell of it is covered up by the reek of all that damn cinnamon. Raphael really should have learned by now. Whumptember: Desperate measures, head lolling Sicktember: Coughing fit, Preventative Measures (Not Taken), Side Effects/Adverse Reaction, Uncooperative Patient, Confused, Disoriented Bad Things Happen Bingo: hurts to breathe

can be read on AO3 or below the cut

Raphael watched the little blurs that were the light-up battery-powered fish in his fish tank.

When he’d moved into this apartment, he’d thought about getting a cat. But they had such short lifespans compared to his. It just wasn’t worth getting attached. Dogs were the same. Rodents were even worse. It felt like they barely took a breath before dying. It was nearly impossible to find an apartment that would allow a bird, though even they didn’t live terribly long in the span of his life, and he hated turtles.

A hellish animal might have been an option, but he didn’t like any of them. Hellcats, with their too many tails, disturbed him greatly and brought to mind Kitsune, who he didn’t want to think of as he cleaned a litter box. (Their litter boxes had a nasty habit of bursting into flames, besides.) Hellhounds came in every shape and breed of dog, but being around Lilith’s was enough. He didn’t have nearly enough water to keep an ahuizotl, and he already had plenty of nightmares without inviting in a Pesanta.

So, finally, he’d bought a fish tank and some light-up, battery-powered fake fish and been quite happy with them.

Through the poorly insulated walls of his apartment, he could make out general merriment. Carolers on the street, the buzz of countless lights, cheerful voices. Could smell pine from pine trees, burning gingerbread from a few doors down, and tried not to cough at the thickness of cinnamon in the air. It had been strong for days, no matter where he went. Cinnamon brooms lingered on his neighbors’ doorsteps, and it seemed every shop he passed was cluttered with them.

He’d never liked Christmas, not really. Though the Giant Lantern Festival was beautiful, he’d admit that, and he always had fun trying to burn the Gävle Goat. Any Fallen loved Krampusnacht, none more so than Krampus himself. But Christmas was a time for those with friends and family. He might have called Maalik a friend once, but he was long dead. Lilith and Lethe, perhaps, but they were busy doing their own things, and they saw each other only every few decades, besides. He still wasn’t sure if he could call Samyaza a friend.

And he certainly had no family.

He had Camael back, somewhat. But Camael, though he knew now, didn’t remember, surely wasn’t willing to spend a holiday with him. And Gabriel and Michael still looked half-ready to run him through if he sneezed wrong, though they knew too.

So he hadn’t even bothered to ask.

Raphael sighed, trying to tune out the music his neighbors were listening to: the one above him was listening to some caterwauling cover of All I Want for Christmas is You, the one below him Last Christmas, to the right a pop cover of Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas (why?), and to the left Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer (again, why?). He could make out the neighbors further down the hall, but it all clashed together into raucous noise.

He rolled over, stretching out on his bed. It smelled far better than the cloying cinnamon. Though lingering sulfur and rain-dampened dirt weren’t exactly appealing either.

It wasn’t Christmas Day or Eve. At least, he didn’t think so.

He couldn’t hear wrapping paper tearing—well, that was a lie. The gender-optional tenant three doors down was wrapping gifts it sounded like—or smell ham or turkey or baking cookies.

Then again, he’d slept for quite a while, so he couldn’t be certain. He’d only gotten up long enough to duck into the corner store and wolf down the taquitos whose wrappers lay crumpled on his nightstand.

Raphael clutched his pillow, curling up. Hell, but he was tired. He’d slept the better part of the last two days, and still, he was exhausted.

So what was the harm in sleeping? It wasn’t as if he’d miss anything.

His phone rang, and he grumbled. Blearily, he thought that he needed to take it into the store to get it looked at because the voice announcing the caller was so muffled that he couldn’t make out what it said. Raphael reached for it, fumbling, but it was out of his reach, and he was still so tired.

If it was important, whoever it was could leave a voicemail.

Someone banged on his door, and he groaned. Did they have to be so loud? He could hear the door rattling in the frame. It was probably someone looking for the man down the hall. It wouldn’t be the first time he’d had someone knock on his door by mistake, so he didn’t feel sorry that he didn’t even open his eyes.

There were voices, and he felt he should wake up. Because sleeping while someone was near him was never a good thing, barring a few people. And those weren’t Lethe or Lilith’s voices. He could tell. But his bed was so warm, the blankets so soft and comfortable, so surely he could sleep a few minutes more?

Besides, those voices felt safe. What was the harm?

Hands—cold hands, familiar, rough hands, though who they belonged to escaped him at the moment—grabbed and shook him. He wanted to tell them to let him sleep—even with their hands on him, he felt leaden—but his voice wilted and died in his throat before he could make a sound.

The voice called his name again, and two more hands, rougher and larger, joined the first.

His name was called again, this time by a voice deeper than the one before, and the hands became so rough that his head rolled on his pillow. It was irritating, and he tried again to tell them to leave him be. But his voice died, and his eyelids were so heavy that he couldn’t even glare at them to go away. His breath hitched, as sluggish as the rest of him, and struggled in his throat.

Raphael felt that should have worried him, but he was too comfortable and tired to care.

The hands went away, and he was grateful. Now, surely they’d leave him alone? Whatever they needed couldn’t be that important. It could wait.

Surely, they’d finally let him sleep.

A pair of hands slid under him, separating his head from his pillow and awkwardly gripping the underside of his knees. He shivered as he was torn away from the warmth of his blankets, the cold biting into him worse than the blizzards of Cocytus. A complaint started, then died, in his throat. His head lolled back, his neck arched painfully, and while one arm had been scooped up so it rested on his stomach, the other dangled uncomfortably.

The person carrying him moved jerkily, jolting him violently, even as they rubbed their thumbs along his skin as if to try to warm him. They came to an abrupt stop, and he tried to open his eyes. Some part of him was alarmed when he couldn’t get them to respond, but he was too tired to get anxious.

One hand came up to cradle the back of his head as he was made to stand. Well, stand by the faintest gasp of the word. If it wasn’t for the hand, or the body he was propped against, he surely would have collapsed. His feet tingled differently than usual, more numb than throbbing or sensitive. Even when he tried to make them, his knees wouldn’t support his weight. The person behind him, a sturdy wall, held him carefully upright. Raphael felt he should recognize them, if not from everything else than from their height, his head coming up to their chest from the feel of it as it lolled on his irritatingly unresponsive neck.

The first, smaller pair of hands, fingers slimmer than the ones holding him, tugged off his sweats, boxers, and nightshirt. Some part of him felt he should cover himself, like there was something he needed to hide, that he despised, tried to never let anyone see, and was forgetting.

But that would mean moving, which he didn’t think he could do even if he tried. His arms were so heavy, and was it really so bad if they saw it?

He lost time.

And then he was scalding, dragged beneath a spray of water. He gasped through a barely open mouth, his breath rasping loudly in his throat, then started to cough violently.

Were they trying to drown him?

A heave ran through him as he coughed, desperate for breath he didn’t actually need, feeling as though he were fighting to breathe through wet cloth. One of the hands, the one with the thicker fingers, caught his chin and squeezed the joints of his jaw. He tried to jerk back and felt like he was back in Boston, struggling to wade through molasses. His body wouldn’t listen to him, every moment slow and faltering, a twitch of a movement if he managed to move at all.

"Shit, he’s covered in it."

Raphael retched as a wet finger pressed down on his tongue, sweeping along his throat. It was a horrible feeling, but when the finger drew out, he could finally breathe. He coughed harshly, gulping air down greedily.

His fingers twitched, and the hand on the back of his head tightened in his hair to keep him from doubling over. He could taste rotten sulfur, his throat stinging as he struggled to get his coughing under control. There wasn’t an inch of his skin that hadn’t begun to tingle unpleasantly, bordering on a faint burn.

The smaller set of hands left his skin, replaced a moment later by a washcloth. The tingling quickly built to a burn, and as energy began to return to his limbs, he struggled weakly. Being pinned had never resulted in anything good, and slowly awareness was filtering to him; he shouldn’t be so confused and so tired; he should have been wide awake long before they’d made it into his apartment. He’d never known the touch of holy water, but having water flow over his body just before he began to burn did not bode well.

The arms tightened around him, and a familiar voice grunted as he managed to brace one foot on the slippery tile and drive the heel of the other into the shin of the person behind him.

"Stop fighting us, dammit!"

Wait—he did know that voice. Now that it didn’t sound so far away, so muffled, he did know that voice. And those hands felt familiar, as did the body behind him. And now, with the insulated walls of the shower between him and that awful, seeping cinnamon scent, he could make out the strong bite of petrichor.

He forced his eyes open, though they were very reluctant. His vision swam, eyes stinging, and they’d only open a slit. But even through a film of silver tears, he’d know that angel anywhere. She was too close for him to make out her features, but even darkened and flattened to her scalp by water, that red hair was unmistakeable.

"M’ch’l?" His tongue was slow, heavy, and unresponsive in his mouth. Just that word, if you could call it a word, made him cough again, tearing at his throat. He whimpered, and the angel behind him held him up when the force of it tried to bend him over. Ichor sprayed, foul and thick, across his tongue. Before he could do anything, Camael reached up and swiped his fingers across his tongue and throat. Raphael retched, but strangely, his throat hurt far less.

"Shut up," she snapped as he panted, stooping and running the washcloth down his legs.

"You’re a real idiot, you know," she said as she straightened.

"Wh-?" He cleared his throat, trying to get his voice to obey him. His voice sounded ridiculous, slurring and rough. "Why?"

Finally, he got his legs to support him, though they shook violently. Still, when Camael pushed him forward and Michael pulled him towards her, he went easily. He slumped, head resting on her shoulder, letting her take most of his weight. Behind him, Camael wiped him down with quick, rough movements. His skin burned, too sensitive, under the touch of the rag, and he whined as his hands and feet began to sting. He hadn’t even realized how numb they’d gone, but now that they felt as if they were being lanced with needles, he wished they’d go back to being numb.

Camael knelt, pushing him so he put more of his weight on Michael, and pulled up his foot. He did cry out, then. They were always either sensitive or numb, but the feel of the rag was agony. Then he began to cough again, struggling against the burn in his chest. Each small gasp of breath he managed to get only fueled the burn, and he sobbed.

"Sorry, sorry," Camael muttered, hurrying to finish. The other foot hurt just as badly, if not more, and it was only because Michael braced herself that they weren’t both taken to the ground when his leg gave out.

"Close your eyes," Camael said, and then Michael guided him to stand upright and bend over. He wheezed, beginning to cough again, wrinkling his nose at the foul taste of sulfur. When the stream of water was aimed at his hair, he flinched, so Michael brought one hand up to cover his eyes. Hands ran roughly through his hair, tugging at tangles, Camael murmuring apologies every time he tugged roughly at his scalp.

"Is that all of it?" Camael asked, helping him to stand upright. He wavered, blinking blearily at Michael as he struggled to catch his breath.

The burning was starting up again in his throat, and he managed to say "All of-" before it irritated his throat so badly that he started to cough again. When the force of it, pain shooting through his upper back, threatened to take him to the ground, Camael held him upright. Heat filled his mouth, and he tasted sulfur as the water shut off.

"Don’t let him get any on his skin," Camael said as Michael pressed the cloth to his mouth.

"I know," she scowled. "Next time he can catch his breath, hold his head up and his mouth open."

It felt like ages as he coughed. His throat and chest burned, and tears trickled down his face. Camael slid one hand up to rest over his racing heart, Michael replacing his grip on Raphael’s arm with her own.

Finally, he was able to take a breath. It wasn’t much, but for a moment, he could stop coughing. His breath whistled in his throat, an awful sound that set his teeth on edge. Camael grabbed his jaw, making him tilt his head back, then, as gently as he could, squeezed the joints of his jaw.

Raphael coughed, jerking awkwardly at the angle his throat was forced to. He didn’t struggle as Camael lowered him, and Michael stood on the tips of her toes. She raised her hand, and Raphael’s instincts screamed as divinity spiked strongly in the air. Gold-tinged smoke trickled from his mouth as Michael pinched the air, then pulled back. There was an awful tugging feeling in his chest before the burning flared. He struggled against Camael’s pinning grip, but as the agonizing burn rose through his throat, his chest stopped hurting.

With a gasp, he began to gulp down air. Each breath came easier than the last, the burn moving to his tongue, then gone completely. Camael loosened his grip, letting him slump against him as he gasped for breath. Camael was saying something. He could tell by the vibrations of his chest against his back, and maybe Michael was, too. But his heart raced loudly in his ears, and he couldn’t hear anything else. He twisted, spitting ichor into the drain.

Michael stepped out of the shower, and scooping Raphael up, Camael followed.

Please tell me I’m not naked.

Michael looked away as she grabbed a towel. "Can you stand?"

He cleared his throat, basking in being able to breathe. "Y-yeah," he said, though he wasn’t really sure. Camael carefully set him down, making sure he could take his own weight before releasing him.

Raphael hadn’t known this Camael could be so gentle or kind. He wished he’d been aware enough to enjoy it.

Hands shaking, he took the towel she offered. His head was still a bit foggy, the world moving slowly around him, but now he could feel the alarm he should have felt before creeping up on him.

"How dumb are you?" Michael asked as he toweled himself dry before he could ask what the hell had happened. It was only as he carefully picked up a foot to towel it dry, leaning into Camael’s supporting hand, seeing the discolored flesh that went up nearly to his knee, that his heart dropped into his stomach.

His glamors.

He wasn’t wearing his glamors.

They’d have seen the discolorations for sure, and they certainly would have felt them. It was a miracle he hadn’t, in his daze, brought out his spines.

The thought made him feel ill.

And–his eyes. His eyes didn’t have the reassuring, faint warmth of his glamor, the one he applied without thought the moment he woke. That glamor—they'd have seen his eyes; they’d have seen those monstrous eyes. How had Michael stomached seeing them?

He took deep breaths, reveling in them, and answered her. "I don’t know... I don’t even know what happened." Frantically, he tried to call up the glamor. It was child’s play—something he could do when bleeding and half-dead. But his power, usually burning and riotous, was barely more than a smolder in his chest. His eyes remained unchanged.

"Myrrh," she said as she walked out of the bathroom, speaking over her shoulder as he tied the towel around his waist. Camael helped him follow on shaky legs. "You got yourself covered from head to toe in myrrh." When he walked into the rest of the apartment, the hair on the back of his neck stood on end. The entire place smelled like ozone, divinity sparking along his skin.

Michael rummaged through his dresser, pulling out a shirt and tossing it to him once he’d sat on the edge (well, his bed was round, so it didn’t have edges) of his bed. It had been stripped down to the mattress, and the rough mattress itched his sensitive skin.

"And inhaled it," Camael added as he pulled the shirt on. He sounded pissed, and Raphael cringed. "How the hell did you manage that?"

"I didn’t mean to," Raphael protested as he wriggled awkwardly into a pair of shorts that landed in his lap. He mourned his boxers but would rather that Michael didn’t go into his underwear drawer. Remembering the days of robes and little else, then the days of kaunakes, which covered even less, he wondered when he’d become so prudish. What Fallen would mean to inhale myrrh? "Who burns myrrh anymore?"

Michael wasn’t far enough away for him to make out her expression, but he was fairly certain she was looking to Heaven for strength.

He didn’t need to look to know that Camael was rolling his eyes. "I’m serious," Raphael said. "I haven’t been able to smell anything but cinnamon for weeks. You think I’d’ve stuck around if I smelled myrrh?"

Of all the things hellish beings were weak to—blessed objects, certain sacred symbols and objects, holy water, purified salt, consecrated ground, certain sigils and runes, among other things—Raphael found myrrh the most insidious. Sacred symbols and objects you could avoid; you had to touch them, usually, to be harmed by them. Pick them up or have them thrown at you. They were only dangerous if they touched bare skin. Any hellish being knew well what those tended to be. Blessed objects were more dangerous; anything could be blessed. Sacred symbols and objects counted among blessed objects, like crosses, ushabti, and holy books. But it was entirely possible to rummage through a pile of clothing and find a blessed shirt. Sigils and runes had to be carved or painted, and were far less reliable. They were so finicky that a shaky hand or a shed eyelash in the wrong spot could ruin the entire thing. They were usually best at keeping hellish beings out, or he’d have considered them much worse. But if someone knew what they were doing, they could make the barrier far more dangerous, even lethal. The ones he’d painted around his cave served as an electric fence, although he’d seen an imp fried to ash when it insisted on continuing to try to come in. Once, though, he’d seen a demon walk over an intricate rune set, unaware, and be instantly and mercilessly erased from existence.

Consecrated ground, well. Raphael, personally, hated consecrated ground after spending years recovering from a run-in with it. But provided you weren’t him and weren’t foolish with it, it wasn’t too much of a danger. Consecrated ground was almost always a holy building, religious or spiritual retreat, sacred grove, or sacred site. So long as you avoided those, you were just fine. That wasn’t a hard rule—he was still deeply confused by a six-inch-by-six-inch patch he’d found deep in Baikunthapur Forest—but it was a safe one to live by. And, if you were unlucky enough to find some random patch, you just had to step off of it.

It was only when you stayed standing on it that it started to eat away at your being.

Purified salt, unless consumed, was only really useful for making a salt circle. If it touched the skin, it acted as a bit of an irritant, but when consumed in large amounts, it became an anticoagulant. ‘Large amounts’ being the key word; it diluted in drinks, and any amounts that would be dangerous to a hellish being made food noticeably salty. And holy water—well, any self-respecting hellish being feared holy water, especially with people carrying it around now. You never knew how pure it would be, whether it was just tap water with a prayer said over it by some human or water properly blessed by an angel. The former, a Fallen or demon would have to be dunked in or guzzle to be killed by, and it would be a long, drawn-out, preventable death. Otherwise, it hurt like hot oil.

Not pleasant, but better than the latter. The latter was like acid; a few drops would eat away at your skin, but any significant amount was liable to outright dissolve you away.

Myrrh, though. In its natural state, it was harmless. He could hold it with his bare hands if he wanted to. But when burned, which humans had taken to doing, it became smoke. And it was the smoke that was so dangerous. That it had such a strong, distinct scent meant it was one of the easier dangers to avoid. Still, if, somehow, you breathed it—perhaps being a new demon, or a Fallen with little experience of Creation—it settled in your lungs, clinging to your throat. Often, it coated your skin as well, if you were unlucky enough to be too close. It ate away at you slowly, siphoning away your power. This made you tired, too dazed to register that something was wrong. If you fell asleep, you never woke up again.

Raphael remembered how groggy he’d felt, how tired and listless, so certain that it would be no harm at all just to go back to sleep. How he hadn’t cared though there’d been hands on him, strangers (or so they’d seemed at the time) crowded around him while he was vulnerable. If that had happened in Hell...

He shivered.

Michael had been talking, and he quickly scrubbed his hair dry, trying to pretend he’d been listening.

"–lucky we found you when we did!"

"I know," he said. There were so many ways he was lucky, as much as he sometimes thought himself otherwise. When it mattered, he was damn lucky.

"Really," Camael said behind him, his voice soft. "You were almost dead, Raphael. If we had waited a few hours–"

Raphael was startled when Camael’s voice hitched. And, he realized, Michael’s had sounded decidedly rattled. They cared. He barely managed to keep from smiling, as inappropriate as that would be. They still didn’t remember him. Camael hadn’t told him what he’d seen, but he’d seen a memory, or more than one. Enough to know he had known him once. That, for all these years, Raphael hadn’t been lying. He didn’t know the depth of their relationship, but that was fine. Gabriel and Michael, through Camael, had come to accept that they’d known him as well.

It was hard to deny, especially once he showed them their feathers on his necklace and that his were on their jewelry. He couldn’t fake the feathers on his necklace. They shed feathers, sure. But the feathers on his necklace sparked with their divinity—the remnants of when they’d shrunk them, solidifying them so they wouldn’t be ruined in his day-to-day. There wasn’t any of his foul power on them.

Right, his power. It was a bit of a struggle, but after a moment, he managed to pull a glamor over his eyes. He’d done his best not to look them in the eye, but they’d certainly noticed something was off, even if they’d been distracted when they’d seen it.

How they hadn’t realized they had his feathers—well, he had his suspicions. They’d worn them since before Creation, and that was a very long time not to question the seemingly random feathers they shared. Then again, there were so many things that didn’t make sense that no one in Heaven, it seemed, had questioned.

His necklace-! He reached for his throat, fumbling where the cold chain always was. He’d only taken it off once since they’d given it to him, when he’d handed it to Michael to prove he really did have their feathers. But his neck was bare, and, to his horror, so was his wrist. Camael’s bracelet was gone, too.

"Here." Michael’s voice was undeniably strangled. When he looked at her, he sighed in relief. A little smear of gold and what looked to be a miniscule streak of the same with three white blobs dangling from it hung from her hand. They reeked of ozone, and divinity brushed against his skin when he took them.

"We-"

"We?"

"Michael banished your bedding. It had myrrh all over it." Raphael had liked that bedding. "Your clothes too. She cleaned everything. We didn’t want to risk missing some."

"When did you manage to do that?" He gaped at Michael. Everything between falling asleep and Camael washing his hair was blurry, with massive blank spots. Still, he was fairly certain there hadn’t been a moment when she wasn’t there.

Camael took the clasp he’d been struggling with, ignoring his startled flinch, and fastened his necklace for him. Feeling was still coming back to his extremities, and he felt rather fumbly.

"Right after I took off your clothes," she said plainly. Raphael was sure he turned an impressive silver as he remembered her stripping him under the water, Camael holding up his dead weight. She was his sister, but still. He’d have been just as embarrassed if it were Gabriel. Hell, Camael being there was almost as embarrassing.

…wow, he really had become a prude.

"I did it all at the same time. It’s not that hard if you’re doing all the room at once. Though, uh," she sounded sheepish. He remembered the way she’d avert her eyes when embarrassed, dark skin taking on a twinkling gold glint. "I might have been a bit overzealous. Some of those lights went out… and I might have vanished some of your towels."

That did not surprise him. You didn’t have to put much thought into using power—or divinity, as the case might be—but the less you focused, the more mistakes it might make or the more liberties it might take. If she’d thought ‘bedding and clothing’ it might have included ‘fabrics’ in that, and he should feel lucky he had any clothing or towels left at all. Hell, if she’d been rushing and had intentions such as ‘purify everything’, he was lucky he had anything left; such broad intentions could easily have ‘purified’ his apartment by emptying it.

He laughed. It felt good to laugh, to enjoy being able to breathe without that awful burn. "Don’t, don’t worry about it. Those were shit towels."

Forgetting himself, used to only letting Lilith and Lethe at his back, he reclined back against Camael. Camael stiffened against him, and he went rigid. Then, slowly, Camael relaxed.

Michael moved to sit next to him, sighing loudly.

"You have to be more careful," she said, sounding her age. Not the one her physical body appeared, but how old she truly was.

"I usually am." Sometimes. With some things. He was still alive, wasn’t he? And in (mostly) one piece.

Camael snorted.

"I avoid myrrh, I promise. We all do." He winced. Usually, he did all he could to keep from mentioning Hell, demons, or other Fallen. "If I have to get close to it, I layer up and wear masks. I avoid anywhere that burns incense or anything." This did, however, make it very hard to source materials for runes and sigils. Oh. The fucking corner store! The person who ran it was always burning candles. He’d been going there for years. "And if I even think I’m exposed to it, I shower. I just couldn’t smell anything through that damn cinnamon. It’s been strong the last few years, but never this bad."

...then again, he forced himself not to grimace; he hadn’t even worn his mask. Some dumbass had yelled at him the last time he had, and he hadn’t had it in him to get into an argument if he ran into someone else who took issue with him. Of course, that would be the one time Georgie burned fucking myrrh instead of their ‘field of fresh-mown grass’ candles.

In fact, he had sneezed. But their candles usually made him sneeze, and the cinnamon brooms irritated his nose, so he hadn’t thought anything of it.

Damn, he was stupid.

"Well, it is. What are you going to do now?"

Camael asked a good question. Raphael pinched the bridge of his nose as he thought. "I’ll have to be more careful. Cover up as much as I can, stay away from any shops if I can, wear a mask. Definitely will shower as soon as I get home no matter what... that was dumb of me."

"Very."

It was funny when Michael and Gabriel did it. When Michael and Camael spoke together, it was just disconcerting.

"Burn any cinnamon brooms I find," he added, sotto voce.

"Why are they even a thing?" Michael shook her head. "Makes you feel like you shoved a bar of cinnamon up your nose."

He laughed, enjoying the rumble of Camael’s chest behind him as he did the same.

God, he’d missed this.

"What were you doing here, anyway?" He'd been sure he’d be spending Christmas alone. But here were Michael and Camael in his apartment, having saved his life. "Not that I’m not grateful!" He was quick to add.

Camael didn’t laugh again, but Raphael could feel the rumble of his chuckle against his back. The warmth that spread through his chest, then, was anything but painful.

"Well, it’s Christmas, isn’t it?" Camael said, and now that he paid attention, Raphael realized he was right. Even through the cinnamon, he could smell turkeys and hams baking; his gender-optional neighbor had, it seemed, procrastinated and was only now baking an over-sweetened apple pie. Children were shrieking (he grimaced. Michael snickered.), and adults and older children were laughing. Awful Christmas music was playing, muffling the tearing of wrapping paper and the high-pitched noises of children trying out their new toys.

"You really thought we were going to let you spend it alone? Our own brother?"

Yes.

"I didn’t think you celebrated, honestly."

He knew they celebrated. He’d seen them more than once, participating in so many holidays over the centuries. So many New Year's celebrations, sometimes more than one in the same year. Why humans couldn’t pick a calendar and stick with it, he’d never know. Sometimes it was just Michael and Gabriel. Others, it was Michael, Gabriel, and Camael, and he was glad about it. It was nice to know they were still close. Rarely, it was just one of them. Often, it was Michael and Raguel, Camael, and, bafflingly, Gabriel and Kushiel. He’d seen them giving gifts of protection during Handsel Monday centuries ago, helping with the harvest and blessing the loaves of Lammas, preventing injuries during Gŵyl Mabsant, betting on who’d fail to carry the burning barrels during Up Helly Aa, throwing tomatoes at each other (from what he could tell through watching from afar, they lost points if they hit humans) each La Tomatina he’d seen, and, on one memorable occasion, Gabriel, Kushiel, and Raguel, glamored to appear as a man, competing in a heated discus throwing competition at one of the last Ancient Olympic games while Michael and Camael egged them on. This had ended very quickly when Gabriel, scowling at Kushiel, had flung his discus an impossible distance and lodged it into the wall of the stadium. There had been a very brief chaos as the angels rushed to make the humans forget what they saw.

Raphael would have helped, honestly, but he’d been too busy laughing until he cried at the horror on their faces.

And, in recent years, Gabriel seemed to have found it great fun to participate in Blasphemy Day. Michael always followed him, telling him he shouldn’t, but if Raphael got close enough that he could make out her face, she was always grinning.

But why should he think they’d want to celebrate with him?

"Of course we do," Michael frowned. "Actually, Camael, can you text Gabriel? He’s probably wondering where we are."

"Wait, Gabriel–?"

"He’s at Camael’s apartment. We’ve got a tree up and everything. If you’re feeling up to it, of course?"

Of course, he was up to it. He’d drag himself across shards of blessed glass if only to have a moment with any of them. His skin was a bit too sensitive, but otherwise? He’d have had no idea that he’d almost died in such a stupid way.

"Yeah, of course." Michael stared him down, but she’d raised him, insofar as any of them had been raised, so he didn’t squirm or look away.

"Tell Gabriel we’re about to head over," she finally said, apparently satisfied. Then she leaned forward, grabbing something out of his sightline that crinkled loudly. When she leaned back, she held a lumpy package in her hands, covered in gaudy, multi-colored stripes. At least, he assumed so. They smeared, hurting his eyes. She dropped it in his lap.

"What’s this?" He picked it up, wrinkling his brow when it gave under his touch.

"You have to look the part." Even still, she sounded tired, and he felt horrible for scaring her so badly.

Look the part?

Finally, he really looked at her. And then he had to laugh. He’d been a bit distracted, but now it was impossible to miss the garish red sweater she wore. It clashed horribly with her hair, and he wished more than anything that he could make out what those twinkling, white blobs were.

"Camael’s is worse," she grumped. That he had to see. He twisted, then laughed harder. Raphael hadn’t known blue could be that bright, and the fuzziness of it explained the coarseness he’d felt against his exposed skin. Lights of various colors twinkled, and he snorted, then laughed at that.

"Oh God," he rubbed at his eyes as they teared up, "that’s bad."

"Wait until you see yours." Camael patted his shoulder.

"Mine?" The word came out far louder than he’d intended it to.

They really did want him, didn’t they? A gift, a Christmas tree, and now an ugly Christmas sweater. His grin, he was sure, was wobbly. Raphael had gifts for them too, of course. But he’d had no delusions of being able to give them to them. He had intended to give them to Camael the next time he saw him, Oh, I saw these, thought of you guys. Mind giving those to Michael and Gabriel next you see them? Thanks!

He’d never dreamed of being able to see them open them.

"Now, get dressed. Put that on, get some pants. Sister or not, I’m not going through your underwear drawer."

"Thank you for that."

He had so much to thank her for. Raphael didn’t think he’d ever be able to say them all.