#anyway. apparently i have thoughts on sneezing .>.

[mispatchedgreens]

wrist? limp. canine? crooked. boy? acquired

[star-wrote]

Need

ao3 link

Character: Daryl Dixon x Fem!Reader | Prison Era

Summary: After somehow convincing Daryl to let you go on a hunt with him, you stop to admire a pretty flower. Little did you know, the pollen would have an… interesting effect on you.

Warnings: smut, swearing, sexual details, sex pollen??, insecurity on daryl’s part, a little fluffy, a little angsty, apparently no threat of walkers bc they get it on in the woods.

Word Count: 2,500 ish

18+

Convincing Daryl to let you tag along on a hunt was a task in itself. He was the closest thing you had to a best friend these days, so he knew how antsy you got when being behind the prison gates for too long. He felt the same way. That didn’t mean he was going to let you go out into possible danger any easier though. You practically had to drop to your knees and beg him to let you join, swearing you’d bring extra luck for him to catch a deer. Muttering something like “ain’t need no luck” under his breath, he eventually agreed to let you join. You pretended not to see his cheeks redden when you wrapped your arms around his neck in an excited hug.

That was about two hours ago. Now, you were following him through the forest as he tracked some animal. You were doing your best to keep quiet, given the fact that he had scolded you just about five minutes ago for walking too carelessly (whatever that means). You started to grow bored. Sure it was nice being away from the prison, but you figured your best friend would entertain you in at least some conversation. You should’ve known better, this was Daryl Dixon.

You were about to suggest playing a silly game of truth or truth when you saw something pink out of the corner of your eye. You paused and walked over, observing a beautiful flower that looked like it belonged to a storybook. Your internal battle of deciding whether or not to pick it was fast as you assumed a walker would just trample it anyway. So you picked it.

Daryl knew right away that you weren’t following him anymore, so he paused for a drink of water while he watched you get distracted by a flower. He rolled his eyes, but couldn’t fight the smile as he noticed you pick it and immediately bring it to your nose to inhale the scent. As you pulled it away from your face, he saw it left pink specks of pollen on your nose.

“Ya got a lil somethin’ on yer nose.”

Instead of a reply, he was met with a series of four loud sneezes.

“Jeez woman, gonna draw all the walkers in.”

You giggled, wiped your nose, and finally replied with a small, “sorry.”

“If yer done pickin’ flowers, let’s get back to trackin’ this deer,” he said as he grabbed his bag from where he placed it on the forest floor.

You gasped, “You didn’t tell me we were tracking a deer! I told you I would bring good luck.”

He rolled his eyes at you for the second time that day and muttered “stop.”

It started as an ache in between your legs. It wasn’t particularly unpleasant, but it was surprising how strong it was.

You weren’t unfamiliar with the feeling of arousal. You were a girl who knew her own body. At least before the end of the world. There wasn’t enough time, safety, or privacy to bring yourself pleasure. Not to mention the lack of people throwing themselves at you.

Still, it was unfamiliar for you to feel so much arousal on a hunt with Daryl.

Daryl.

You found your gaze wandering to the archer taking sure steps in front of you. His shoulders seemed to be broader than normal… no, he was always this large. Your eyes went lower as you found yourself thinking about what else had to be large, accidentally letting out a whimper.

Daryl didn’t stop walking, just tossed a “ya okay?” over his shoulder.

You shook your head, as if it would cleanse your brain of the impure thoughts you had for your best friend, and answered.

“Yeah, sorry, just tripped over my feet. You know me, super clumsy haha.” Stop talking!

He just grunted in response. Phew.

You wondered if he would grunt like that while he was deep inside of you…

This time you actually did trip, bumping into the firm man in front of you. He whipped around and grabbed you by your shoulders.

“Tha’ hell? What’s gotten into ya?”

Not you, sadly.

He looked at you more deeply and noticed your face was flushed pink like the flower you still held in your hand, and your chest was rising and falling with heavy breaths.

“Are ya okay? Ya bit?” He asked with a worried look as his eyes ran down your frame.

It wouldn’t make sense for you to have gotten bit, he was with you the entire time. No, it was something else.

You looked up at him with a glazed look in your eyes and got out the words “so hot.” You weren’t sure if you were talking about your body temperature or him at this point. His big hands on your shoulders felt as if they were burning holes through your skin. The ache between your legs had turned into a stabbing pain, and your lower stomach felt a different kind of hunger. Lust.

Daryl was beyond worried when he saw you drop your flower to clutch at your stomach. His eyes looked to the flower and recognition finally crossed his brain. Oh no.

He scooped you up bridal style, and you all but moaned. Now that he knew what was happening, a blush reached his face. He carried you to a nearby willow tree next to a lake and sat you down under the shade. You whined when he let go, so he made sure to at least grab your hands with his.

“Sunshine? I need ya to listen to me.”

You met his eyes and nodded, but still had a glazed over expression.

He sighed, knowing this was the best it would get. “I think tha’ flower ya smelled was one of those aphrodisiacs. A really strong one too. I remember reading about it in that unique plants of Georgia book ya found for me.”

Your eyes widened and you let out another whine. “It hurts so bad. I- I need. Ugh.”

“Ya need to just wait it out. Could be a couple of hours.”

“No Daryl I can’t. I need you to fix it. Please fix it.”

He wasn’t sure what you were asking for, but he knew he’d give you anything if you asked him with those big, round eyes.

“Honey, I’m not sure what yer askin’.

“Need you to fuck me.”

That stopped his breath where it was in his chest. His eyes widened as he looked anywhere but your desperate face. He knew you weren’t in your right mind. You didn’t actually want him, you just wanted to act on the arousal you felt. He wasn’t sure he could handle your touch if it wasn’t genuine.

He was drawn out of his thoughts as he saw you strip your shirt off out of the corner of his eye. Somehow, his face grew even more red.

“Nah, you don’t wanna do this. You don’t want me.”

“Daryl please, I only want you. I’ve only wanted you for so long. Since the farm. Not just your body, but your soul and mind and thoughts and oh my god please I just need you to fuck me. Make it go away please.” You cried.

His heart stopped at your confession. Was this true or was it just the drug from the flower talking?

He brought his hands up to your cheeks and looked into your eyes as you nuzzled into his warm palms.

“Need ya to look at me.” He waited until your eyes met his. “Need ya to tell me that you really want this, want me. And that ya wont regret it.”

You brought your hands to his on your face. “I promise. I want you. I want you so bad. Only you.”

With that, he roughly pushed his lips to yours in a heated kiss. You could’ve melted then and there. Especially when you moved your hand to wrap around the back of his hair and heard the sound he let out. A kind of grunt that you had only heard in your dreams until then.

“Imma take care of ya. Don’t worry baby.” He panted.

Clothes were off in an instant, but Daryl’s shirt stayed on. You knew about the scars and had seen them a few times, but you didn’t want to push him. Plus, you weren’t in the state to reassure him much anyway.

He currently had you on your back on the soft moss next to the willow tree, his mouth sucking your clit and fingers deep in your pussy. He said he needed to warm you up, even after you tried to convince him you were warmed up enough. You had a feeling it was more for him to prepare himself anyway.

It was heavenly, his eyes closed and arms wrapped around your thighs. His tongue never stopping at lapping up your wetness. His fingers gently but firmly hooking into you at a steady pace. It was perfect.

But it wasn’t enough.

“Daryl, please, I need more. I need you, please.” You gasped out.

He released your clit with a wet pop and pulled his fingers out of you, licking them clean of your juices. Your eyes could’ve rolled back in your head at the sight.

“Alright,” he rasped out, “quit yer whinin’ girl.”

You grinned up at him as he pumped his cock in his hands. You knew he was big.

He must’ve seen you drooling over his dick because he smirked and gently caressed your cheek before popping his thumb into your mouth for you to suck.

You weren’t sure where this newfound confidence came from, but god you loved it.

He took his thumb out and shushed you as you whined in protest.

“Ya ready for me baby?”

You could’ve nodded until your head fell off. His “warming you up” took the edge off, but the ache was back in full force, begging for you to just jump on him.

“Please Daryl. Need you so bad.”

“Alright, alright. Tell me if anythin’ hurts. I’ll try and be gentle baby.”

Your heart swooned but your lust clouded brain wanted you to yell at him to not be gentle. Instead, you settled on nodding at him.

Daryl placed his tip at your entrance and looked into your eyes as he pushed inside. Any amount of hesitance he felt dissipated as soon as he felt your wet, warm walls squeezing him.

The stretch you felt was the relief you needed. You felt your thoughts clear, as well as your clouded eyes.

Daryl noticed the change immediately and kissed your nose, then your forehead.

“Ya okay? Want me to stop?” He asked with a hint of embarrassment. Now that he solved your “problem” he was worried that you’d suddenly find him less appealing and grow disgusted with him. He tried to push the thoughts away, but his brain has always been programmed to doubt himself. He felt your arms snake up his back and hold on tight to him as your legs wrapped around him to keep him inside of you.

“Don’t you dare stop.” You breathed out, still accommodating to the stretch you felt between your legs. “I still want you. Still need you.”

Even though the effects of the pollen were sated as soon as he entered you, that didn’t stop you from being turned on by the archer. You always knew you wanted something more with him, and now you were finally getting it. So you bucked your hips up further on his length with a moan.

He closed his eyes tight to prevent himself from thrusting the rest of the way into you. He knew he was big, and now that you were thinking more clearly, he knew that he had to be more gentle. When he opened his eyes, he saw you looking at him with wide eyes and your teeth tugging on your lower lip. God, you were beautiful.

He brought your hands above your head and locked your fingers with his. Then he slowly and finally filled you up the rest of the way. You both gasped and squeezed each other’s hands.

You let out a whine when he pulled out again, but sighed as he thrusted back in.

“Harder, you won’t break me.” You pleaded with him.

“I gotcha.” His next thrust was hard enough for you to release his hands and clutch onto his back. He leaned on one of his arms above you and brought the other to press into your lower stomach. “You feel me right here, baby? So deep huh?”

“Oh my god!” You moaned out for him. “Daryl… feels so good.”

He just thrusted faster and harder in response, desperate to make you feel good like you deserve.

He felt you tighten around him and he read your body signs with ease, as if you two had done this a million times before. He brought the hand was pressing on your lower stomach down to find and circle your puffy clit, getting a reaction immediately. You gasped and scratched your nails down his covered back as you somehow got out the word, “gonna-“

“I know, let go for me baby, c’mon.” He felt himself getting closer, wishing so bad that he could stay inside your cunt and finish there, but he knew the risks.

You tugged his body into yours as you finished around him, squeezing him in more ways than one.

Daryl let you ride out your pleasure before pulling out of the sweet cunt that kept sucking him in. It only took two pumps for him to release all over your inner thighs with a raspy grunt. He sat back on his knees and watched as his cum trickled down the puffy wetness between your legs and fell into the moss below him. He wished he has a camera in a moment like this, but he decided to settle on a mental snapshot for later.

He grabbed his handkerchief from his pants on the forest floor and wiped his cum from your thighs. You smiled up at him even though he wouldn’t meet your eyes. You grabbed his hand when he finished and brought it up to your lips to kiss his knuckles.

You could’ve laughed at the blush that crossed his features. This man just said the dirtiest things to you without shame, but got so shy over a small kiss to his hand.

When Daryl finally met your eyes, a look of relief showed on his face as he saw the smile that graced your lips. He suddenly collapsed onto his back next to you and brought your face to his in the sweetest kiss ever experienced between you two.

“This wasn’t a one time thing, right?” You asked, furrowing a brow at him.

He pecked your pouted lips again. “Nah, now that I have ya, I ain’t lettin’ ya go.”

As you and Daryl enjoyed the blissful silence together, tracing fingers along each other’s frames, you both jumped when you heard sticks cracking a couple of feet away.

You both relaxed when you saw that it was the deer that brought you both out here in the first place. You started giggling uncontrollably, scaring the deer away.

Daryl scoffed. “Last time I take ya on a hunt with me, woman.”

You just continued giggling into his chest with the smile that he adored.

[whalesforhands]

kaizen daycare! 2

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“(name)-sensei! Why’d you look so n-nerv—“ His little eyebrows furrow, tiny hand coming up to scratch his head in focused thought. “Nerv-y?”

(He promised Nanamin he would use a new word today.)

You giggle as you ruffle his hair. “That was a wonderful try, Yuuji-kun.” Two of your hands settle on his squishy cheeks as he stares up at you. “But I suppose I am a little nervous.”

Hmm… So that’s how it was pronounced! He’s gonna tell Nanamin he tried anyway. But… What’s causing you to be this way, though? That faraway look in your eyes is troubling him too… Oh!

“Didya forget to eat today, (name)-sensei?!” A pat to your knee as he stares up at you, all sparkly gaze and blushy cheeks with a smile that was overflowing with glowing excitement.

So cute. He reminds you of a blooming flower.

“Ahah, Yuuji-kun that’s not—“

Blonde, brunettes and raven-haired heads perk up at the little boy’s voice, their attention lost on the toys as they quickly start to trickle out of your sight and making a run for their cubbies. Are they-

“I got riceballs today!”

“Nanamin said he made me karaage!”

“Papa said our chara-bens are cute today too!”

“Daddy bought us kikufuku mochi for dessert!”

“Ahh, wait— Children-!” You realized a little too late.

It isn’t long before a clatter of bento boxes and a small assortment of various treats settle themselves in front of you, scattered into a small pile as the twins start pushing their treats forward a little more to make you notice it first.

“Mmm! (nwame)-swensei mwakes goodsh food!” Kugisaki Nobara finds herself being fed an adult’s lunch as she chews, her eyes closed in satisfaction and her feet kicking about as she continues to savour the taste of the food you were sharing with her.

(Sharing is an understatement. You’re surprised by how much she could eat, and how she was vacuuming up almost the entirety of your own packed lunch.)

“I’ll mwake sure to-“ She stops when she sees your stern gaze, not minding at all but taking the moment to swallow. “Forget my bento more off-then!” You only giggle as you shake your head in response, wiping off the grain of rice at the corner of her lips.

“Your grandma will be sad if you don’t eat her food often, Nobara-chan. You have to remember to bring it all the time, okay?”

“Mmm…” She’s still thinking as she watches your amused face, a hand on her cheek. “If (name)-sensei thinks so…” Her face breaks into a grin as she shows you a thumbs-up. “Okay!”

You hear several growls next to you. A turn of your head reveals the wanting gaze of the rest of your kids, all hungry ministrations of eating their own packed lunches stopped.

“Eh…?” The chopsticks in your hand have paused midair in bewilderment, wrist just in distance of Megumi as he makes a small grab for it, leading your utensil into his mouth as he noms down on the tamagoyaki you held.

“…it’s good…!” His eyes sparkle as he turns his head to face the growing pouts of his classmates, the rising jealousy not at all apparent to him as he feels you gently pry the chopsticks out of his mouth, a small tap to his nose in slight scolding that makes him nearly want to sneeze.

“Nanako wants some too!”

“M-mimiko as well!”

“I’m still hungry, (name)-sensei!”

“E-eh???? (name)-sensei was feeding me first!”

In the end, you had an empty lunch box and a very, very satisfied class of kids who had very full bellies that day.

(Are they trying to pay you back for that day? You’re really starting to think you have the sweetest kids to ever exist.)

“You all…” Megumi shifts closer to you, nestling himself on your lap as your hand goes up to support him, beginning to peek up at your face. You had started to tremble from where you sat on the floor of the foam-tiled play area, growing silent as the rest of the kids slowly crowded around you.

(Were they in trouble? Are you upset with them…? Please, please don’t be! They’re good kids!)

Megumi catches a glimmer forming at the corner of your eye, his small hands starting to grip onto your shirt and his green eyes starting to widen as he realizes that you’re cryi—

“Are so cute!” You’re already scooping them all into your arms, your face hot with gratuitous joy as you embrace the squealing kids close to you, enjoying their cuddly warmth and pats of your face.

(“Oh, but-” You begin to tut, staring down at the five kids squished together on your lap. “I have my own lunch today, kids.”

There’s a glower on their faces, disappointment and disheartened expressions clear and evident. It squeezes at your heart in guilt as the colorful plastic wrapping of one of the sweets is captured from the corner of your eye.

“B-but! It seems that I would need help clearing all these treats up!”)

——

You tiptoe out the room, gently shutting the door of the nap room behind you.

“Good work today.” Ieiri Shoko is sipping her second cup of coffee of the day as she appears behind you, clearly amused at your frazzled form after putting the children to sleep.

“There’s nothing good about today…” You’re sulking as you slump against the door, your knees bent as you let out a loud sigh.

A smirk appears on her face. “Why? Scared of being alone with a couple guys and their kids?” She heard the whole conversation. Perks of being one of the first few to arrive just to get some time to be alone with you.

Your feet shift nervously as you hands begin to fiddle with each other, a sigh escaping your lips as you lean back against the door. “You know I’m no good at being social, Shoko…”

You’re pouting at her as your cheeks start to warm from embarrassment. “What if they find me weird and unsettling and—“ You nearly want to scream. “What if they pull Megumi and the twins out of school because they think I’m unsuitable—“ You stop yourself. “But at the same time if they’ve moved into the neighborhood I’ll be running into them 24/7! If they find out I’m just some loser who stays at home all day and reads—“

You cough to cut yourself off at your spiel. Relax… You take in a deep breath as you finally start to calm. “And what if…” Your eyes flicker towards the ground. “They just… Don’t like me?”

A beat passes, and another.

Her eyes trail off to the side, letting the silence beat amongst the both of you. “They’ll like you like I love you, (name).” Her dark eyes meet yours, her steps stopping right before you as you catch the sight of her heels. “And if you’re so worried, you could always catch dinner with me instead as an excuse.”

(She would even call him up using the school register to tell him you can’t make it because your plant died or some other stupid excuse if that was what you wanted.)

“You’re so kind Shoko…!” You tackle her into a hug. “Your kindness precedes a being like me!” You pull back, glancing up at her blank, unimpressed gaze as you let a smile grace your face. “Jokes aside,” You scratch your cheek.

“I think it’s too late to even fully reject him now…”

You gulp nervously as the domineering man stood before you, all smiles and teeth and turned up eyes behind dark sunglasses that gleam with expectant want.

“I-I think that I have—“ Distance is closed in an instance, a towering frame leaning over you and breaking all boundaries of personal space.

“Y’know, the kids are gonna be super super excited once they find out we’re moving in next to ya!” Large porcelain hands reach up to grasp both of your own in his. “Won’tcha please come make them happy? Megumi and the twins talk about you lots, ya know? They even forget to eat sometimes when they get to tell us all about you.” There’s a cute pout on his face that makes your stomach swirl, your bewildered eyes starting to twirl as the scent of his cologne invades your nose…

(He’s so handsome… And so thoughtful of his kids… Ahh, you can feel your heart stutter…)

“I-I suppose I do have some free time today…!” He’s so close! If he leans down anymore, your lips would be—!

“Oho, that’s nice to hear, sensei!” A grin and a pat to your head. “We should have fully settled in by this afternoon, so I’ll come pick ya up after school, kay?” He pulls himself away (begrudgingly) as he pats his pockets for his car keys.

“O-oh, that’s not—“

“See ya later, sweetheart!” He’s practically already skipping out the door, sending you a salute and a wink as you stand there in stunned silence.

It looks like you have plans tonight with your neighbour… You turn towards the corridor before you pause in your steps abruptly, a small chill going up your spine.

Did you ever tell him your unit number…?

(Oh, you must’ve forgotten to close a window somewhere. No time to dawdle on your bad memory now when the kids’ health is at stake!)

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Notes:

You did actually go pretty hungry that day considering your lunch was fully consumed by 5 overeager toddlers. Shoko shared her convenience store sandwich with you.

Suguru heard the story of your shared lunch from Mimiko and used that as an excuse to talk recipes with you. Character-bentos are a popular topic between the both of you.

nvy’s aftertalk:

to all the anons who guessed that i was watching gakuen babysitters i am ashamed to admit that you are right i am a sucker for babies and cannot stop rewatching this dumb anime

[vinelark]

Do you have any more outtakes you'd be willing to share? I love seeing what did and didn't make the cut on fics

i do!! i remember doing a little roundup of some outtakes for chapters 1 - 3 (found it! here) and i have some similar snippets from chapters 4 & 5 ☺️

chapter 4

a bit of cut dialogue from the zoo rescue:

“Oh, I’m aware,” Nightwing says. “Atlanta, remember?”

“What happened in Atlanta?” Tim demands, ducking away from another bird.

Nightwing waves a hand. “Classified superhero business.”

“Superboy, what happened in Atlanta?”

In Atlanta, Kon yelled at Superman about Tim’s misinterpreted fear toxin hallucinations right in front of Batman and Nightwing, which still makes Kon cringe a bit to think about. “Uhh,” Kon says. “Yeah, classified.”

two cut texting exchanges after the date:

Text message: Clark & Kon

[Saturday, 10:21pm ET]

Clark

Hey Kon—is everything all right?

I can have someone cover the rest of my watch if need be.

Kon

no, all good

apparently mr. wayne’s lawyers are On It

whatever that means in rich people speak

sorry if you like. get asked about this by the press lol

like we weren’t trying for a photo op but i should’ve heard the drone earlier

Clark

This isn’t your fault.

And I’m sure Bruce’s lawyers will have it sorted out by morning

Kon

yeah that’s basically what tim said

Text message: Jon & Conner

[Saturday, 10:23pm ET]

Jon

Ok the live is gone now

Also pa’s asking where u are what do i tell him

I think i have to tell him the truth he sounds worried because earlier i said u went to rescue someone n you haven’t come back

I can’t lie about this i feel bad :(

oh i just heard your window open nvm !!

Conner

all good kiddo, thanks for looking out

in tim & bruce’s conversation, there was a longer section about tim leaning into the “socialite” civilian role, which included the following exchange:

“Like…Paris Fashion Week?” Tim says. That’s always a big one for Bruce Wayne to be caught ducking into dressing rooms with various models.

Bruce gives him a flat look. “You are welcome to attend Paris Fashion Week. Chaperoned.”

tim’s instagram post originally had comments:

briancollinsss i KNEW i saw superboy at car’s party!!!

jerseygirlsteph 👅👅👅

itsanickname_grayson Hope you stayed safe up there!

chapter 5

this exchange in the flashback at the top of chapter 5 was cut/altered for flow, but i still like it:

“Okay,” Tim had said. “And, um, if you can’t come get me, is there a plan B?”

“I will come for you,” Bruce repeated, at the same time Dick called: “Superman.”

extra banter (co-brainstormed by @tigerjpg) that got cut because it didn’t quite keep with the tone, but i still adore it:

“I’m not perfect, anyway,” Kon says. “I snore. Maybe next time make a specimen who doesn’t snore.”

“Sometimes his sneezes register on the Richter Scale,” Tim says.

“And I have a crooked tooth, though honestly that might be from the time I slammed face-first into a volcano.”

“He also thinks wearing sunglasses at night is cool.”

and a bit later, also cut for tone/flow:

“[…] Hey, how unhinged about eugenics do you have to be for Cadmus to send you packing as an intern?”

Cadmus. Did Kon—did he tell Tim the name Cadmus, earlier? He can’t remember—he doesn’t think he did—but it doesn’t matter, because his thoughts scatter as the guy whirls on Tim. The rod comes up, jams under Tim’s jaw, pressing into the side of his neck. Not on yet, but it could be. Kon freezes; Tim doesn’t react except to go rigid, still tracking the guy with his eyes.

“Tell me honestly,” Cadmus guy says, lip curling as he looks sideways to address Kon. “Do you even like this one, or was kissing him the only way you could get him to shut up?”

Kon’s heart pounds in his throat. “You’re so…obsessed with my dating life, dude,” he says. Every moment the guy is looking at him feels like one less moment the rod might switch on. “Sorry, but you’re a bit old for me.”

and i have some extra core four shenanigans that probably won’t fit into chapter 6 at this point, but i’ll wait til i’m done to share that 💪

[sidekick-hero]

(steddie | teen | 2.7k | tags: animal shelter workers Eddie and Chrissy, platonic stobin, background buckingham, Idiots to lovers | @steddielovemonth prompt Love is when you look at his lips for half the conversation because you can’t stop thinking about kissing him by @starryeyedjanai | AO3)

This was all Robin's fault, Steve decided as he sneezed violently, his eyes burning and his throat itching. He was just trying to be a good friend to her, supporting her in whatever crazy ideas she had after her breakup with Vicky. Because that's what friends do, right? Support you in your pain and later help you clean up the inevitable mess when you come to your senses.

So when Robin asked him to drive her to the nearest animal shelter, he didn't hesitate.

Okay, maybe for a minute or so, but he quickly caved when she explained that she was clearly doomed to die alone, so she needed to go all in. Become the crazy lesbian cat lady she was so clearly meant to be.

Hence, the animal shelter to acquire said cat.

Steve expected to drive her there, look at some cats, and drive home because some helpful shelter attendant would explain to Robin that getting a cat was a bigger deal than she thought. He expected Robin to be sad and maudlin for a while, but ultimately glad because Steve loves her, but they both know that not even her potted plants survive more than a month.

What Steve didn't expect was to meet the man of his dreams.

They arrived early in the evening because they both had to work, and the shelter was surprisingly less busy than they had expected for that time of day. The waiting area of the Visitor Center was blissfully empty, which was a relief to Steve, who had been dealing with noisy customers all day and could feel a headache coming on.

Meandering up to the registration desk, they were greeted by a perky and really pretty blonde girl. Her name tag read Chrissy and she greeted them with a dazzling smile that Steve couldn't help but notice was directed more at Robin than at him. Either she immediately recognized which one of them was here to get a new pet, or she was smart enough to notice how amazing Steve's best friend was.

Steve hoped for the latter, which meant that instead of a hairy, clawed monster, Robin might be taking home the number of a pretty girl to help her get over her breakup.

"Hi, my name is Chrissy, how can I help you?" the woman chirped, and Steve had to nudge Robin's shoulder because she kept staring at Chrissy instead of answering.

"Oh, uh, hi. I'm Robin, this is Steve. We were looking for a cat." Then, realizing how that sounded, she hastily backtracked. "Or not we as in together, because we're not. That would be gross, he's like my brother. He's just helping me find a cat because he's my best friend, totally platonic with a capital 'P'."

Wow, Steve thought, he hadn't seen Robin ramble like that since before she started dating Vicky two years ago.

Fortunately, Chrissy seemed to find Robin's rambling endearing rather than off-putting, as her smile only brightened at Robin's explanation.

"Oh, you two are so cute. I totally get it. My best friend also works here and people always think we're a couple. Which we definitely are not." Chrissy told them before picking up the phone from her desk. "Speaking of which, I'm going to call him and tell him we have some potential pet owners who want to take a look at our cats."

She dialed a number from memory and it only rang twice before someone apparently picked up. Chrissy explained the situation and asked if they could take a tour before ending the call.

"Eddie will be with you in a few minutes. One of our dogs has taken a special liking to him and is demanding some extra belly scratches. Eddie won't admit it, but this dog has him wrapped around her paw." She laughs fondly at the thought. "Anyway, you can sit over there while you wait."

As they waited, Steve couldn't help but notice that Robin kept looking over to where Chrissy was typing on her computer. He leaned over to whisper, "Maybe you won't die alone with a bunch of cats after all."

Before Robin could answer, someone cleared their throat next to them, startling them both. They whipped around in unison to find a young man standing in front of them, and Steve could feel himself staring, but was unable to stop.

Because Jesus Christ, right in front of him was the prettiest guy Steve had ever seen.

Eddie, Steve guessed, had dark, unruly curls that he wore in a messy bun at the back of his neck, with strands framing his face. He was tall, at least as tall as Steve, maybe an inch or two taller, but more on the slender side, with legs that went on for miles and a tiny waist that Steve was dying to get his hands on. Big, dark, doe eyes looked at them with a friendly expression, and full lips curled into an inviting smile.

Steve was a goner from the start.

"Hi there, you must be why Chrissy called me here. I'm Eddie, nice to meet you," he greeted them, extending his hand to shake theirs. His hand was warm and Steve could feel the calluses on his ringed fingers. It conjured up images in his mind of those fingers wrapped around things other than his hand, dangerous thoughts.

"Hi," Steve squeaked, immediately wanting to put his hand over his mouth. It seemed that smooth had gone out to buy cigarettes and Steve had a suspicion that it wouldn't be back anytime soon.

When Eddie looked at him expectantly, it took him an embarrassingly long time to realize why.

"I'm, um, I'm Steve, and this is Robin, my friend. Best friend. Platonic friend."

Yes, smooth was gone, and it had taken his dignity with it. Great.

Next to him, he could see Robin suppressing a laugh at his flailing, the traitor. This was what he got for trying to be a good friend: Mockery.

Eddie looked like he was suppressing laughter too, but on him it just looked endearing.

"Okay, Steve, Robin. Follow me, to the kittens!" Like a man leading them to war, he marched off, clearly expecting them to follow. Looking at each other in silent agreement, they did.

They passed a large fenced area, and Steve could make out kennels at the far end of it. Following Steve's gaze, Eddie explained, "This is where our dogs stay. Most of them are allowed out during the day in the fenced area you see there, but at night they sleep in their crates."

Eddie leads them to a large, plain-looking house. "This is the cat house. We keep them behind glass walls because the little minxes would definitely climb through the bars and disappear. Come on in."

Inside, they were greeted with the distinct smell of several animals in a rather small space, but Steve was pleasantly surprised that the smell wasn't that bad or intense. Next to him, Robin immediately started cooing at the cats playing on the other side of the windowed rooms, which caused Steve and Eddie to share an indulgent smile.

Eddie was great, showing them all the cats and telling them stories about where they had come from as far as he knew, what they were like, what they liked and disliked, and was clearly very fond of his charges.

Robin and Steve were both hanging on Eddie's lips, but for very different reasons. For while Robin soaked up every word Eddie said, Steve soaked up every tiny movement of that pretty, pretty mouth, imagining how it would feel pressed against his. He kept nodding along, humming his agreement here and there, sometimes saying "yeah" or "definitely," as if he could hear any of their conversation instead of dreaming of kissing Eddie senseless.

That's the only explanation he has for why, after maybe thirty minutes of looking at cute cats, Steve and Robin both ended up with cats in their arms while Eddie prepared the adoption papers. At some point, Steve must have agreed to adopt a little fur ball, and now Eddie was all excited and happy, bouncing up and down as he explained that they were hoping to find a home for this set of siblings where they could still see each other. Apparently, Steve and Robin had promised to bring them together to play whenever possible.

"You can't believe how cool this is, we had almost given up hope that they would find someone. Chrissy and I had even discussed doing it ourselves, but Cerberus, my dog, doesn't like cats, and Chrissy didn't want to take two cats at once. But she loves Buttercup, so maybe she can visit her sometime? I know she would love that," Eddie adds with a wink in Steve's direction, and Steve begins to feel lightheaded. "And to be honest, I wouldn't mind seeing Buttercup and Tornado again either."

Was Eddie saying what Steve hoped? Robin seemed to think so, because she perked up immediately. "Oh, you two could come over this weekend and see how they are settling in. Since Steve and I are neighbors, it would be easy to visit them both on the same day."

And that's how Steve ended up with a tabby cat in his house and the worst allergic reaction he's had since Joyce brought home a stray cat while Steve was over for dinner and some cat hair got into his food.

When he knocked on Robin's door the next morning, Steve felt terrible, not only because his sinuses were shot to hell and his mucous membranes were rebelling, but because he felt like he was letting Eddie down. He knew he was allergic, but when he realized what he had unwittingly agreed to, he felt so stupid and pathetic that he didn't want to back out and explain why he hadn't said anything before.

"Steve, oh my God, you look awful! What happened?" Robin greeted him as she opened the door with Buttercup curled up in her arms. The cat was purring like crazy and Steve was happy to see that at least one of them was doing well with the whole pet adoption thing.

" I might have forgotten to tell you that I'm allergic to cats?" Steve said in a thick, congested voice. To be fair, he thought it wouldn't be an issue because he was so sure Robin wouldn't go through with adopting a cat. Or that he would.

"You're what? Steve! You just adopted a cat. What did you think was going to happen?"

Fair point. It looked like coming clean was his only real option here. It's not like Robin hadn't done stupid things when she had a crush on a girl, okay?

"I didn't want to adopt a cat! Hell, I never thought you would go through with it either, but I certainly never planned on bringing one home myself. I thought we'd get there, talk to one of the attendants, then go home and sleep on it and you'd realize you didn't really want a cat and we'd never go back."

Robin looked extremely unimpressed with him now, and even Buttercup had stopped purring and was looking at him with one eye half open.

"So what happened to change your mind?"

"Eddie," Steve said in a low voice.

"I beg your pardon?" She had heard him, but she made him say it again.

Steve sighed and repeated in a louder voice, "Eddie happened. I didn't even know what he was talking about because I was distracted by his mouth. I didn't realize what was happening until it was too late and I didn't want to disappoint him."

"You're such a Dingus, Dingus." Robin thankfully didn't sound angry or mocking, just exasperated and fond. "So what do we do now?"

"Keep the cat and hope it doesn't kill me?" Steve tried, already knowing that wasn't the answer she was looking for.

"Steve."

"Robin."

Putting Buttercup down and grabbing her keys from the small table next to her, Robin stepped forward and closed the door behind her. With a reassuring hand on Steve's shoulder, she said firmly, "Listen, we have to get Tornado back. You look like you're going to keel over any minute."

"But Eddie -"

"Wouldn't want you to die either. He looked at your ass way too much to want you dead."

That made Steve perk up. "He did?"

Smiling indulgently at him, Robin nodded. "He did. So let's get you cleaned up and pick up some allergy meds on the way to the shelter."

That's exactly what they did, and by the time they got there, Steve was feeling a little better. Tornado was in his crate in the back seat, strapped down, and when Robin took him out of the car, Steve's heart broke a little at the sight of him. He really wished it wouldn't literally kill him to have Tornado living with him.

Chrissy greeted them as cheerfully as yesterday, if a little more confused.

"Hey Robin. Steve. What brings you back, is everything okay with Buttercup and Tornado?"

Explaining the situation to Chrissy would have been bad enough, but Eddie had to choose this exact moment to walk by and see them. He walked over to them, greeted Steve with a warm and dimpled smile, and Steve had half a mind to just tell Robin 'never mind' and go back home to his slow death by asphyxiation.

He would have done just that if Robin had not known him too well. When Eddie asked the same thing as Chrissy, she walked over to Eddie and gently placed Tornado's box in his hands. "Steve had a bad allergic reaction to him this morning."

It warmed Steve's heart that Eddie's first reaction was genuine concern. He took a step toward Steve before remembering that he was holding the cause of Steve's condition.

Setting the box on the floor, he closed the distance between them and placed a hand on Steve's arm.

"Oh God, are you okay, Steve?"

"Yeah, I'm fine now, we picked up some meds on the way and they've already kicked in."

Eddie's thumb traced his shoulder under his shirt and he wasn't sure if the lightheaded feeling was a lingering effect of his allergic reaction or just the way he was reacting to Eddie.

"So you didn't know you were allergic?" Eddie asked and Robin snorted beside them.

"Oh, he did," she muttered, and Steve wanted to kill her. The impulse intensified when Eddie raised a questioning eyebrow at him.

"Um, well, yeah. I kind of knew?" It sounded like a question, and Eddie's eyebrows had completely disappeared beneath his bangs. "I just didn't say anything," Steve added, aware that he was digging a deep, deep grave for his dignity if it ever came back from getting cigarettes with his smoothness.

"But why?" Eddie sounded genuinely confused, and Steve couldn't blame him. Saying it like that made him sound a little crazy.

"I was... distracted and only realized what I had agreed to when it was too late. You were so excited and happy that I couldn't bring myself to tell you that it was all just a small misunderstanding."

Even now Steve couldn't help but stare at Eddie's pretty and very kissable lips as he said this. Maybe he should see a doctor about this.

Or maybe not, because it almost seemed like Eddie was looking right back at Steve's now. "Distracted by what?" he asked, suddenly even closer than before, his eyes still on Steve's mouth. When did this happen?

Licking his lips impulsively, Steve felt a thrill run through his body at the way Eddie's eyes darkened as they followed the movement of his tongue.

"By...you," he admitted softly. "Your lips. They are very distracting."

A dimple winked at him as Eddie smiled at his words. "Are they?"

"Yeah.'"

They were so close now, breathing the same air as they talked, and Steve could feel Eddie's words as much as he heard them.

"Yours too, you know?" Eddie replied and why were they still talking?

Without thinking, Steve closed the last few inches between them and kissed the lips that had gotten him into this mess in the first place. He was willing to forgive Eddie, though, because by God the man could kiss, his lips as soft and supple as they looked, and his tongue warm and wet as it skillfully licked into his mouth.

They only broke apart at the sound of two people clearing their throats in unison.

Maybe Steve wouldn't take a cat home after all, but something told him he'd get something better to keep.

[toastedjeans]

This was originally meant to be just platonic but i couldn't help myself so.. here you go, pepstavo enjoyers

Tw for blood and injuries

It was finally done. That wretched tower was no more, and everyone had made it out alive, without sustaining any significant injuries. Well, at least not during their escape. The battle atop the tower had left everyone a little battered and bruised, some moreso than others. Nonetheless, nobody was lethally wounded.

Peppino, Gustavo and Brick made their way back to the pizzeria, with the smaller one riding atop his newly acquired giant rat, while the other insisted on walking back. Even after he was offered to be carried on the rodent's back, he refused, claiming that he was alright, despite his limping and pained expression he tried to hide. He had ran and fought the whole day, had been burned, struck by lightning, squashed into pizza boxes, stuffed in barrels and rolled around, and much, much more. Multiple times. All the while breaking through countless lines of enemies under immense time constraints. He was utterly exhausted, but wouldn't let himself show any weakness. He didn't need anyone's pity, nor their mockery.

When the establishment came closer into view, Peppino stopped for a second, almost stumbling over in shock. A bit of debris from the tower had seemingly been thrown all the way over here, hitting a part of his beloved restaurant and leaving behind a huge hole in the wall. Broken glass and wood was strewn about on the floor, dust and small rocks all over the place. He couldn't believe his eyes. As much as the sight devastated him, it made him significantly more furious. The whole point of bringing that tower down was to save his pizzeria from destruction, and now part of it had been destroyed anyway. It didn't even matter in the end. He would love nothing more in this moment than to find Pizzahead, just so he could kick his face in once more until he was fully unrecognizable.

Gustavo turned to look at his friend, noticing his sour expression as he stood at the broken wall, leaning against it. He could only assume what must be going through his head at the moment. After all, he knew how much the pizzeria meant to his friend.

Hopping off of his trusty steed, the small man made his way over to the other.

"Are you okay, Pep?"

Peppino's hands formed into tight fists, his jaw clenched, but then he simply sighed. It wasn't worth it to get worked up about this now. As he looked at the chaotic state his establishment was in, he quietly stepped inside, his aching leg making itself apparent again. He forcefully shut one eye, a small tear threatening to fall down his face, which he wiped away with his arm.

Gustavo followed his friend inside, a worried look on his face as he watched him, painfully slowly, bending down to pick up a few broken off pieces of a table. He wasn't going to do what he thought he would, was he?

Peppino winced as he struggled to get up again, holding his hand against his back in an attempt to stabilize himself. He ignored the pain spreading throughout his whole body, making his way over to the counter and placing the debris he gathered on it. His friend approached slowly, with Brick close by, sniffing around the wreckage in hopes of finding something to nibble on. He let out a short sneeze.

Gustavo watched as his fellow chef went to fetch a broom from the nearby closet, already sweeping up the floor. Or, at least as much as his aching body would let him.

"Peppino, come on", he started, "I know how much you love your pizzeria, but don't you wanna take a break first?" His voice was quiet and gentle, yet a little firm.

He shook his head, letting out a sigh, "I can't, Gus. You know I can't." He didn't even look at his friend, trying to push past him. "I have to fix all this", he gestured into the room, "and the debts aren't gonna pay themselves."

Gustavo sighed as he watched his friend struggle to move, his limping seemingly getting worse. He knew how stubborn he could get, something that sometimes could be a blessing, but it was mostly a curse.

"Of course they aren't, but-"

Just then, Peppino's leg gave in, and he fell to his knees, letting out a strained grunt. The other man quickly rushed to his side, carefully placing his hands on both his shoulders.

"You need to take care of yourself first."

Finally, he brought himself to look at the smaller one, exhaustion clearly evident in his eyes. His body trembled lightly, slowly losing more and more strength and energy.

"And if you aren't doing well", Gustavo continued, retreating his arms, "the pizzeria is gonna suffer from it. You know that."

But Peppino was persistent. With shaking hands, he pushed his friend aside once more, trying to stand up again. He couldn't give in just yet, not in front of Gustavo. He was supposed to be the strong one, the one in charge. What would he think of him if he just let himself show how weak he actually was? Not that he cared too much about what his friend thought of him, or at least he didn't admit that he did. The only thing he didn't want was to disappoint him, destroy this image of himself for him. He couldn't risk Gustavo seeing who and what he truly was, or at least to what extent. He was pathetic, an anxious wreck.

Of course, the other knew him well, flaws, insecurities and all. But sometimes, he couldn't help but worry that the only person he truly cared about would leave him behind after witnessing him in a state of vulnerability. Just like everybody else in his past would.

"This is all I have, Gustavo", he managed to push out, "I've handled that damn tower, I can handle a measly hole in the wall."

Gustavo's face fell, knowing how much he tended to push himself to the brink of his limits. Whether it was to ensure every customer's satisfaction, or to meet deadlines, he always tried to give his all, and even more. And if anything didn't meet his self-imposed high standards, it wasn't good enough. He wasn't good enough. Everything had to be perfect. And by extension, he had to be perfect. It was no wonder the man was chronically stressed.

When Peppino managed to stand up again, his body was shaking even harder than before. Preparing to take a step, he sharply inhaled and threatened to fall to the ground again, if Gustavo hadn't immediately reacted and caught him. Despite his small stature, he firmly held onto the taller one's body with ease, clicking his tongue to get his pet's attention. The rat looked up from the rubble, a small piece of cheese in its mouth, before trotting over to the two men with an affirmative squeak.

"Look, I know you could handle it.", he said as he laid his friend down onto Brick's back, who let out a quick huff, not used to carrying this much weight.

"If this was any other day, it would be fine. But look at you, you can barely even stand."

"Stop patronizing me." Peppino grumbled quietly, turning his head away from his friend in shame. He hated being this vulnerable, this weak.

Gustavo exhaled quietly, patting Brick's side to signal that they were going to leave, and started walking beside his furry companion. Despite them only knowing each other since the beginning of this whole tower debacle, they perfectly understood the other, as if they'd been a team for years. Like a loyal dog, the abnormally large rodent stayed by his side, following him to wherever he would lead them.

"I'm not patronizing you. You're my friend, Peppino. I care about you."

His friend was quiet for a few moments, still averting his eyes. He only muttered a few weak protests in response, which the other didn't quite catch. But perhaps that had been for the best. A continued argument would just wear them out even more, and he didn't want things to become heated between them. Especially not when they both desperately needed rest.

---

The front door opened, and the group of three stepped into the cozy little apartment. Gustavo was lucky his landlord didn't see them walk in, he did not have the capacity to argue about the presence of an enormous rat in his living quarters right now. Having pets wasn't allowed, much less a rodent of this size. Hopefully he could persuade them that it was his new service animal or something similar.

Brick cautiously sniffed around the room, making himself familiar with the new place. He walked over to the small couch in the middle of the living room, plopping down in front of it, as if trying to hint at something. The man who still lay atop his back let out a short grunt at the sudden stop.

After locking the door and getting a few supplies, Gustavo quickly joined his visitors, helping his friend relocate from one surface to the other. As warm and fuzzy as Brick was, it was finally nice to sit on something that wasn't living and breathing. At least the couch wouldn't complain about his weight. Verbally, that is.

Peppino's eyelids twitched when Gustavo lifted his arm to examine it. There were only minor cuts and bruises, nothing too severe that needed immediate medical attention. Still, the touch stung a bit. When he moved on down to his hand, carefully hovering over his knuckles, Peppino could feel his cheeks warm up a little. He instinctively pulled his arm back to his side, avoiding the other's gaze once more while pouting. His friend just looked at him with a mix of confusion and slight disappointment, before releasing a quiet sigh. He was fully aware of his friend's aversion to touch, especially his hands and face. And of course he didn't want to push things or make him uncomfortable, but it would certainly make it harder to check for injuries, let alone tend to them. Then again, he could have asked before touching him.

"Pino?" Gustavo's voice was quiet, and he patiently waited for his friend to look back at him. Sure enough, Peppino's head turned ever so slightly, ever so slowly, until their eyes finally met. As was so often the case, his brow was furrowed in general unease. It wasn't that he was uncomfortable in the other man's presence, far from it. He just hated being seen in the state he was in at the moment.

"Would you let me take a look at your leg?", the other finally asked, to which he crossed his arms in protest, huffing for further emphasis.

"It's fine! You're just wasting your time!" Even if the volume of his voice returned momentarily, he wasn't able to hide the way it sounded so strained. Yes, it hurt, his whole body did, but he would get through it. He had to.

Gustavo's expression fell a little, but he didn't want to give up just yet. It could be something serious, after all.

"At least show it to me. Please."

The bigger man hesitated, wringing his hands together. The concern in his friend's small eyes made his stubbornness waver little by little, and he finally released a breath he had been holding in. With slow and careful movements, he removed his boots and placed them next to the couch. Rolling up his pant leg, he sucked in a quick breath as the fabric brushed against his skin, slowly revealing what he had hidden from his best friend.

The cut on his lower leg was deep, the blood around it half dried. A thin crust had already formed on the sides. How he had gotten such a nasty wound without his pants ripping was beyond him, but at least the fabric seemed to have stopped the blood flow well enough. Fresh red liquid started to spill out of the gash once more, slowly running down Peppino's leg, which had begun to tremble.

Gustavo's eyes widened, his pulse quickened. He couldn't let his friend suffer with a wound like that. Something had to be done, and he would be the one to do it.

Without a word, he stood up from the couch to get some warm water, took some supplies, and sat down on the floor next to his friend. He gave the other man a hesitant look as he reached out to place his shaking hand on his knee. Peppino's brow furrowed with guilt and embarrassment, and even if the feeling of Gustavo's skin on his made his throat narrow and his chest heavy, he slowly gave him a short nod, allowing him to tend to his wounds.

Gustavo's hands were slow and gentle as he cleaned the big cut. The warm water felt nice on Peppino's skin, even if everything else was unpleasant and stung, making him wince in pain. Every so often, his friend would retreat his arms and glance up to check on him, to make sure he's as comfortable as he could be in a situation like this. He would give him an apologetic look before continuing to treat his injury, right before he did something he knew would be a little more painful. Brick had positioned himself on the couch, right next to the injured man, occasionally nudging his hand with his snout and offering comfort and distraction. Peppino was still wary about the huge rodent, but soon enough he found himself scratching Brick behind his ears and patting his back, while his best friend continued to tend to him. As much as he didn't like rats, this particular one seemed to slowly grow on him.

Peppino would never admit it, but it felt surprisingly nice to be taken care of for once. Usually he did everything by himself, very rarely accepting help from others. It wasn't that he didn't trust anyone else or that he was selfish. Although, sometimes he could be. But most of the time, he didn't want to burden anyone. Especially not people he was close with.

Gustavo was a dear friend to him, maybe even his only friend, always by his side, always supporting him. Even now, after he hadn't been honest with him, he continued to care for him, continued to stay with him. He just... couldn't understand why. Why would he continue to be his friend, when all he did was weigh him down, hold him back, burden him with his problems?

His face fell. He continued to pet the rat's soft fur, lost in thought. He didn't deserve to be treated with such patience and compassion. Why would he? All he did was complain and whine about his debt, and hide behind his constant anxiety. He wasn't good for anything.

And yet. The way Gustavo took care of him, the way he kept glancing back at him to ensure his comfort, the way his gentle hands felt against his skin. It felt strange, yet nice. Unfamiliar, yet warm and inviting. It made his skin crawl and his chest flutter, and it left him craving more. More of his touch, more of his warmth, more of his proximity. It made him feel lighter, more at ease, something he didn't even know he could feel like.

Gustavo's work was nearly done, he just finished wrapping the leg in bandages, careful to apply just enough, but not too much pressure. After all, he didn't want his friend and coworker to endure even more pain than he already did. He let out a sigh, his own exhaustion slowly catching up to him, and glanced up to Peppino. His cheeks seemed flushed, but it was hard to tell in the dim light of dusk. He wore a melancholic expression on his face, his eyes focused on the animal next to him, not quite realizing his treatment was over yet. As they wandered over and met with Gustavo's, the man's face remained still for a second, then flushed deeper, and he cleared his throat while turning his head away.

"I- uh... Thanks. For that..." Peppino managed to stutter, his voice barely audible. His face was still turned away, and he had crossed his arms over his chest, but his shoulders were hunched forward, as if he wanted to make himself smaller. His uninjured leg bounced with nervousness as Gustavo stood up from the ground and gave him a smile and a light chuckle, preparing to move Peppino's boots towards the front door. His friend held himself a little tighter, rubbing his arms as if he was cold. He still felt the lingering warmth of Gustavo's touch, or perhaps it was just the blood flowing through his leg, or the applied bandages. Either way, he couldn't help but yearn for more of this feeling, more of these sensations. More of Gustavo.

He shook his head. Ridiculous. He was a grown man, damn it! How could the closeness to another human being make him so... weak? It was ridiculous. He was ridiculous.

Gustavo returned to the other man's side with a big blanket and several pillows under his arms. He placed the biggest pillow on one side of the couch, fluffing it up for good measure, but stopped in his tracks when he noticed Peppino intently watching him, his arms held up to his chest.

"Are you okay with sleeping on the couch? I mean, I can lend you my bed too if-"

"N-no, I'm fine! It's. It's fine, I can- I can sleep here. No worries!" He waved his hands in front of himself, then formed an O-shape with his finger and thumb, forcing a nervous grin. Gustavo just smiled as he held back a giggle, his friend reminding him of the logo on his own pizza boxes. He sure could be cute when he was flustered.

After a moment of awkward silence, they both settled into their respective beds. Peppino finally managed to lay down, his leg cushioned by small, yet surprisingly soft pillows. The couch itself wasn't the most comfortable, but it beat the old and worn down mattress he usually slept on by miles. The blanket was so thick and warm, and it smelled so fresh too. This was certainly different, and a huge upgrade compared to his normal sleeping situation. He already wasn't sure if he would even be able to go back to his own bed after spending a night here. Or several nights. Or however long it took until he could walk without falling flat on his face. He hoped it wasn't too long. After all, he didn't want to take advantage of Gustavo's hospitality like this. It just didn't feel right.

"Oh, and Pino?", his host's voice nearly made him jump, he turned his head towards where it came from, "If you need anything... I'm right here. My door is open for you, okay?"

Peppino hesitated, then nodded and gave back a quick hum in agreement. He watched as Gustavo smiled at him, slowly turning around and disappearing into his own room again, and he sighed. He held his hand up to his face, forming it into a fist a few times, then brushed his thumb against his index finger. His brow furrowed once again. Why did it feel so nice when it was his touch, yet so... normal, almost dull when it was his own? Why was his smile so contagious, his laugh so magical? And why didn't he notice it until now? Has it always been that way, and he just didn't pay enough attention to him before? Should he tell Gustavo how he made him feel, or would he be mad at him, or even worse, disgusted or weirded out by him?

He felt a small nudge against his elbow, followed by a short sneeze. It was already dark, but he could still easily recognize Brick's face staring up at him from the floor, his big eyes focused on him. Peppino let out a slightly annoyed sigh, letting his fingers wander through the rat's warm fur. A delighted squeak escaped the rodent, and the man reluctantly continued to pet it, his previous thoughts pushed to the back of his mind, momentarily forgotten.

He'd have time to figure things out in the morning as well. The exhaustion finally caught up to him. For now he could rest.

[yandere-to-express]

Goth and the thembo

Chapter 2


cw for obsessive behaviour and stalking, but, well, you guys knew that was coming, right? maybe the cw should just say "peter",,
(there's also some misgendering, but i promise it's very brief and non-hostile/unintentional!)

Dog barking. Microwave beeping. Smell of the instant meal they just pulled out. Big stretch...  

Breathe.  

“Be quiet, Blossom,” they sighed half-heartedly, already drained only 10 minutes after getting home. The little chihuahua sneezed confrontationally, staring out into the hallway, alert. It was probably the neighbour’s kids getting home from whatever sports club they usually attended. That, or their brothers were coming home after visiting whatever new friends they’d made at their own schools.  

They decided they were too tired to care.  

Legs weaving through the suddenly interested cats and dog now they were holding a plate of food with careful practise, Y/n carried it upstairs to their unfinished room, the blank walls staring at them almost accusingly with boxes of things that still had yet to be unpacked as they clicked the light-switch on.  

Speaking of unpacking...  

Y/n sighed as they sunk into their mattress, spoon in hand as they half-heartedly ate the curry on their plate, the events of the day almost dulling their usual favourite flavour down considerably, cheap chicken tikka masala not covering their taste buds in a comforting embrace the way it used to. Maybe it’s just the way it was made over here.  

Anyway.  

Yeah, they made a new friend in the least likely place, but that was nerve-wracking enough. They thought...They thought that because they got detention something terrible would happen. And when it didn’t...They didn’t know, the impending sense of doom still hadn’t left entirely, so it was exhausting enough just processing it from the comfort of their home. It was a miracle they hadn’t devolved into tears at school, especially with how loud it was in the cafeteria today.  

They couldn’t let that happen. They wouldn’t , this was a new start. They weren’t going to blow it like they did back in Year 7.  

...No, they weren’t thinking about that right now. They’d unpack that memory when they had the mental capacity to do so.  

...What were they thinking about again? Oh, right, school today.  

So yeah, double-period History was boring until Peter showed up, French 2 was a wash (seriously, they were thankful they took it as a GCSE before they left England, they were further ahead than they thought they’d ever be), Graphic Design just went over the same old stuff they already learned back home, and Algebra 2 was even easier like, c’mon! Algebra wasn’t supposed to be easy! At least move them up a few classes if it was like that! They were so worried about the past two years of GCSEs (as well as the three months of Sixth Form that they promptly – and gladly – abandoned when the family moved overseas around Christmas) being earned would be useless now they were here, but it just meant they were too far ahead! And they weren’t allowed to join the Seniors so late into the year either! Back in England they’d been so worried about having enough intelligence, but now they apparently had too much of the stuff, and it was irritating! They’d rather keep being a “gifted” student back in Years 1 to 6, thank you very much. At least AP Physics was more of a challenge, but, well, it was AP Physics . It didn’t get much harder than that, in their opinion.  

Why was all this a problem? Because without work that would take more than 25 minutes to complete on average, Y/n was terrible at focusing. Worksheet finished? You’d think that they would ask for more, right? Wrong , they just stared out the window absently, maybe doodling in a book that they brought for that purpose if they remembered, trying their best to keep their cool when the class got rowdy and the teacher had to shout over the noise to call the class to attention again. It was worse than back home, honestly. The classes were bigger, for one thing, so that immediately meant more noise.  

Man, maybe they should have just gone straight to college. Oh well, too late now.  

They licked their spoon clean as they finished their meal, just opting to leave the cutlery and plate on one of the piles of boxes to take down in the morning, closing their curtains (their parents insisted that they at least hang those up) as they shrugged off their zip-up hoodie, tiredly undressing ungracefully and throwing on some pyjamas. After leaving the room for a few minutes to brush their teeth (hey, they were an idiot who ate unhealthily and kept dirty dishes in their room, but oral hygiene was still one of their top priorities! ...thanks for scaring that into them, Mum), they reached into a small box by their bed, pulling out an old pink DS, checking the cartridge and settling on the game inside, ignoring Blossom’s barking as they heard their brothers return.  

Pokémon Platinum would help them out for now...  

Y/n woke up with a start, eyes snapping open as they heard movement outside. They wiped their bleary eyes as they looked around. They’d fallen asleep with their DS, it seemed, the melody of Jubilife City at night out of place as their anxiety rocketed. Was this the beginning of a robbery?! Were they being robbed?! They scrambled to pick up their DS, tapping the Pokétch a few times to get a sense of how late it was and-  

Oh. 11pm. That was when their dad got home from work, which was confirmed by the door creaking open downstairs, his mumbles of greeting to what Y/n assumed was their Mum or a brother muffled by the floorboards beneath them.  

Man, were they dumb, huh? They let out a shaky chuckle at their own stupidity, shutting their DS and putting it on the makeshift nightstand (you know, just a stack of boxes, like what anyone else has in their bedroom) next to their bed. They lay back down, screwing their eyes shut in an attempt to sleep.  

Surprisingly, it actually worked!  

...Unsurprisingly, they missed the way the moonlight cast a shadow on the figure sitting in the tree just outside their window...  

Ok, that was way too close for comfort.  

That old dude who went inside almost saw him, apparently there was a family dog that hated people walking by, and poor Y/n looked terrified! They looked as though they were about to die (no, not them, they’d never die, he’d make sure of it)! But, fuck, if the streetlight was just a few inches closer to the house...  

Peter shivered as he looked back into his darling’s darkened room with his huge, almost luminous, cerulean eyes, safe in the knowledge that not many other people would be out at this time, and none of them would see them from the sidewalk. He waited for what felt like an eternity, watching as the rest of the lights shut off before making his next move.  

His mother and sister picked on him for looking scrawny, but he hardly felt it as he lifted himself up on the branch above and hoisted himself onto the balcony and into the doors that they must have left open by mistake (honestly, it was February! Never mind the dangers of the world outside, what about the cold?! Oh, he’d have to take care of them, help them stay safe and healthy)…  

Unless they were expecting him...?  

He felt a shiver race through him, caused by the excitement and the chill (it was 23 degrees out there, ok?!) as he tip-toed into the room cautiously, praying to whatever deity out there that he didn’t step on some old, creaky floorboard. Thankfully, his darling’s room didn’t seem to have any (good, they deserved the best room in the world, he couldn’t bear to let someone as adorable as them to live uncomfortably, and they were so small! He was actually a little worried some of the piles of boxes would topple over and crush them!), and he was right by their side in a flash.  

He stood, watching over Raine with a little uncertainty of what to do now, looking at the rise and fall of their chest. They were wearing some pyjamas with some yellow fantasy animal thing on it (Pikachu, right? So adorable ...), and they gave a little snort as they slept, a little bit of drool escaping their mouth.  

If Y/n knew they looked like that while they slept? They would’ve been mortified.  

But, to Peter?  

They looked like an angel sent from the heavens. His darling angel. Fuck, how could anyone look so adorable and beautiful?  

...Well, the cold was no longer an issue for him, it seemed.  

Peter knelt down, placing his chin onto the mattress as he continued watching them breathe. Watching as their face scrunched up a few times, muttering nonsensical things out loud as they dreamed (he had no idea what a cookie cat was, but fuck, they were just so cute!) . He stayed there for hours, ignoring the plea for rest from his eyes as they drooped more and more. After the first half-hour, he’d gotten bolder and moved his face closer to theirs, able to smell their wavy brown hair (they must have used coconut scented shampoo before school, he realised, but God , it was addicting, he’d have to get some of his own just to be reminded of the scent of them ) and gently wipe away the line of drool leaking from their barely parted lips.  

...Deep within him he knew it was gross, but he licked the liquid away in a flash and, stars above , that was even better than their smell!  

He whispered praise to them as the night dragged on, petting their hair and caressing their cheek tenderly. He even got a little absent, sleepy nuzzle on the hand back (he was never washing that hand again)! His darling kept mumbling stuff about ice cream from outer space, and choosing something called a Bidoof (whatever it was, they giggled in their sleep about it being God, and, in case you hadn’t guessed yet, he did another mental bluescreen at how adorable they were being) to fight something called an Arceus?  

But then, they said something that made his heart (and, ok, maybe his pants) swell and his face turn bright red.  

“Mmph, Peter...Bite me...Sharp teeth...”  

Oh.  

Oh boy.  

The goth kind of just...sat there, staring at Y/n in bewilderment.  

Yesyesyesyesyes darling, he could do that!  

He cursed under his breath, averting his gaze out of bashfulness (somehow, he had some shame still left inside!), and pausing as he noticed the sky outside was brightening.  

Fuck , he’d been there all night!  

Peter hesitantly got up, looking back at Y/n as he made his way back to the balcony. The sun was only just peeking up behind the horizon, but it was enough for some golden rays to hit his darling’s body.  

Yeah. He was right. They had to be an angel, they looked so fucking beautiful and peaceful like that.  

He wouldn’t mind waking up next to them like that in the bed, some day.  

He shook his head, brushing his ebony hair out of his face, gazing over Y/n face and body one last time, before hopping out the balcony and back into the tree, scaling down it carefully and landing a little clumsily onto the wet grass. He stuffed his hands into the pockets of his jeans and hesitantly walking away, back towards where the school and his own house was.  

He was going to be so exhausted today.  

...It was totally worth it, though.  

“Someone’s chipper today,” Lucy noted as Y/n skipped into the classroom, sitting next to her with a smile. “You’re even in on time! Did Detention really scare you so much that you didn’t wanna be late again?” 
“Good morning to you too,” they frowned teasingly, pulling out a little sketchbook and their pencil case. “Nope, I just...I dunno, I didn’t sleep in for once. I actually slept great for the first time in, what? Ever?” 
“You look it, your eye-bags are basically gone!” 
“Oh, no, that’s makeup. But! I actually had time to put some on for once!” 
“Aww, Y-Y growin’ up!” Lucy teased and wiping pretend tears away and, patting them on the back and jokingly wiping away a tear. “But, how was Detention by the way?” 
“Oh, great, actually. I got some work done and I made a new friend,” Y/n admitted, beginning to doodle. Lucy smiled widely, seeming to be genuinely happy. 
“Good for you! I’ve noticed that my crowd seems to put you off – don’t give me that look, I’ve seen your face, I’ve worn that face, I’m only still around those loud assholes because they’re Vio’s friends, so I know how you feel – but, seriously. I’m happy for you, now you’ll have someone less obnoxious than the soccer team!” 
“You’re talking to me as if I have no friends other than you,” Y/n raised an eyebrow at her, grinning. 
“You know what I mean! You only really hang out with me and Vio, as well as that nerd in your History and Physics classes. TJ?” 
“TK, and they’re a sweetheart, I’ll have you know.” 
“Yeah, yeah, I know, but, anyway! Who’s your friend?” 

Y/n glanced down at the doodle and realised that without thinking, they’d drawn the new friend himself.  

“Oh, take a look, I just finished a drawing of him,” they pointed. Lucy followed their finger, their smile dropping as her violet eyes widened, pupils contracting. 
“No,” she hissed quietly, whipping her head back to face the other, panicked. Y/n groaned at her expression. “Not him! You can’t be friends with him, he’s- well HE FUCKING CURVE STOMPED A JOCK AND TEEETH ARE ALL GONE!” 
“Trouble? Yeah, I know, TK told me, but he was nice enough to me!” Y/n whispered back, frowning. Lucy shook her head violently, ignoring how her earrings bashed against her cheeks as they swung on her ears. 
“You can’t! Peter King is- He's-” 
“If he ends up being horrible, I’ll just back off! I’ll be fine, Lulu!” 
“But!-” 

“Excuse me, girls,” came Mrs Stewart’s voice and, ew, there’s only one girl here, Y/n grimaced, Lucy frowning as she caught on too. “Could we have some silence whilst I do roll-call, please?” 
“Sorry Miss,” Y/n slumped, staring down at their paper. Lucy continued to look on with irritation at the teacher, absently squeezing their hand in comfort. 

Soon enough, registration passed, and the class continued with its noise before the first bell went off to signify the change in classes. Lucy looked at Y/n, eyes worried.  

“She’s a shit teach, huh?” 
“I’m used to it, it was worse back in the UK,” Y/n shrugged, packing their things away so they wouldn’t have to hurry when the time came. Lucy sighed. 
“I’m sorry, y/n, I- Fuck, not just that old bat, but about Peter. I’m just- I don’t want you getting hurt, ok? And, well, he makes others hurt a lot. But, if you wanna try, I won’t stop you. You’ll tell me if he does hurt you though, yeah? Vio and the boys’ll kick his ass for you, heck, I’ll join in! It’d put my brown belt to good use!” 
“Thanks, Lulu,” Y/n smiled, picking up their bag as the bell rang. “And, hey, I can beat him up too if I have to! I do swimming! I have the muscle!” 
“You’re a bit small compared to him, Y-Y.” 
“So’s everyone else!” 
“You’re 5’4!” 

They paused as they walked, before laughing loudly.  

“Ah, whatever, you probably won’t need to, anyway. See you at Break?” 
“See ya, good luck in the halls!” Lucy shouted over the noise, grinning as she made her way to her Business class. Y/n sighed, looking back at her momentarily before pushing on through the crowds. 
“I’ll fucking need it,” they grumbled getting pushed to-and-fro by all the taller students, pulling up their hood and tugging on the cord to block out the smell of deodorant and teenage sweat as they made their way to a hopefully quiet classroom. 

Media had better have some sort of challenge today.

[sneezingfetishftw-fics]

Insufferable (5/7)

Getting close to the endgame here, I think! I’ve been excited about this chapter of the Vox sickfic for a while. Previous chapters: 1 2 3 4

Next chapters: 6 7

Wavs: 1 3

————————————————

If Velvette believed in prayer, she would be praying for a miracle right now. Of course, ending up in hell tended to make one think that any god would be unlikely to help out. So she resigned herself to hoping for a new development.

When Vox stumbled out from the bedroom, he was lacking all of the enthusiasm and energy he’d had the previous times. His screen was full of tiny cracks, though it was unclear if this was a broken screen or just a malfunctioning display. The center of his screen had a bright spot but everything else was dull. “Ugh, what time is it?”

“Morning, Vox. It’s 10.”

“Shit,” he said, rubbing his sore head. “Didn’t I have an interview today?”

Velvette shook her head. “That was yesterday, and it’s already taken care of. All you need to do is rest, love.”

Vox sighed and collapsed on the couch, as if he had used up all of the day’s energy just by standing and saying a few words. “I feel fucking awful.”

Velvette just nodded. “I know.”

“And I just…” he paused, turning his head around the room. “Where’s that radio coming from? Why the fuck is there a radio in here?”

“I’m not hearing anything,” Velvette said. “And besides, there’s no more functioning electronics in this room anyway.”

“I could have sworn I heard… hhh’tzzzch!” A small shower of sparks fell from his screen.

“And that’s why there’s no functioning electronics in this room,” she added, resisting the urge to roll her eyes. “How’s that virus scan coming?” she asked, approaching his display.

“I have a virus?” Vox’s face froze, not like a broken program but rather like a shattered hope.

“And memory loss.”

“You sure you don’t hear that radio?”

She shook her head. “And hallucinations, apparently.”

“What are you guys talking about?” Val asked, walking in.

“Val, please tell me you hear that fucking obnoxious radio static.”

Val raised an eyebrow. “What the fuck are you talking about? All I hear is your fans whirring like a helicopter.”

“Fucking hell, I can hear his cackling too. Buzzing static and maniacal laughter and… heh’TZZZZCHT! Constant irritation.” He clawed at his arms. Valentino left the room and came back with an anti-itch lotion, rubbing it in generously. “Thanks, Val, but I don’t think that’s actually doing anything.”

Valentino shrugged. “Worth a try. Speaking of worth a try…” he found the volume controls on Vox’s side and turned them down. “Do you still hear the static now?” Vox’s mouth moved in response, but no sound emerged. “Damn it, he’s lost his voice again!” He blew some smoke into Vox’s vents and Velvette stared at him incredulously.

“You turned his speakers down, idiot! Of course you can’t hear him!” It was very strange to watch Vox sneeze with no sound. Just the flickering screen, the odd facial expressions, and the flurry of sparks. Eventually, she turned the volume back up just in time to catch the tail end of the fit.

“HHHH’TDDZZZZZSH! Heh’TZZZCHT! Hhh’TTTTZZZZZZCHHH!” Vox deliberately aimed the last few at Val to express his discomfort, and the other jumped from the shock. “Thanks for nothing,” he groaned, clawing at his throat. He grimaced and launched into a hacking cough, looking incredibly frustrated and confused when it was done. “You guys didn’t suddenly adopt a pet while I was asleep, did you?” Velvette and Val both shook their heads. “And Val, you haven’t seen Angel recently?”

“No, why?”

“Because I have the distinct sensation of fur in my mouth and it just won’t go away no matter what I do. Fucking gross.”

A warning popped up on Vox’s screen. “Sensors appear to be malfunctioning.” Yeah, no shit. Vox’s fans kicked into an even higher gear than the Vees had thought possible and he began to shiver so violently Velvette wondered if he was going to shut down for the fourth time since this disaster began.

“V-V-V-V-V-V…” Velvette and Val made eye contact with each other and then with Vox, having no way to tell which of them he was calling for. “V-V-Val, c-c-could you get me some… hhh’tzzzsh! S-s-some w-water?” Val nodded and came back with a cup of warm water. He handed it to Vox, whereupon it promptly fell out of the weak grip of the TV demon’s trembling hands. “Sorry.” Val began cleaning up the spill and winced when a sneeze from Vox electrocuted him through the puddle. “Sorry again.”

Velvette searched the cupboards for a pitcher with a spout, then filled it with more warm water and poured it into Vox’s mouth. She had to pause a few times to let him swallow, but eventually all the water was in his system. A small smile spread across his dim screen and he seemed a little calmer, though still clearly quite pathetic and uncomfortable.

His eyes went wide as he stared at a spot in the room. “Wait, what? Alastor… no. No, he can’t be here. There’s no way he’d get past security. It’s just… why does it feel so real?” He buried his face in the couch, trying to dull his senses but nothing worked. He began crying again, this time deep, wracking sobs that shook the whole couch as his fist pounded limply against the pillow. “Please, God, no! I can’t do this anymore!” Valentino’s eyes flitted towards the guns, but Velvette shook her head. Vox looked up at both of them, his screen crackling with energy that was somehow both weak and desparate. “How the hell am I supposed to deal with this?”

Before either of them could formulate a response, another warning popped up on the screen. “Virus removal has been halted due to insufficient resources. Recommend upgrading to stronger anti-virus protection… Checking for updates… No updates available. Try again later.” From the way Vox’s face fell so far it was practically off screen, it was clear he was aware of the message. “No! Please! I can’t… I’ll do anything!”

“Oh ho ho, anything, you say? This will be fun.” Velvette and Val winced as the voice rang out through the room, first from the sheer volume of it and then from the realization that now they could hear it too. This was far from the new development Velvette had been hoping for. But it was the new development they would have to face.

[slightlyunconventional]

my. h/awks snzcanons under the cut okay ! these have been brewing in my phone notes for a little while and ive been steadily adding to it sooo yeah :) this is to tide you over while i procrastinate finishing my fic. expect part two probably (d/abi coming soon)

also!!! pls pls pls share your own d/abih/awks snzcanons with me <3 im collecting them

- hawks’ wings reflexively like. splay out when he snzs but hes sooo embarrassed by that so to counter it he closes his wings around himself (when he actually feels it coming. surprise snz is a whole other story) which is!! so cute!!

- mentioned in a post before butttt when hes at home hawks paces around the room fanning his face just. desperately when he needs to snz (like why does it always take so long to come out) he just cant keep still

- hawks’ colds are always sooooohohoooo sneezy like he just cant catch a break from it. he’ll snz like five times back to back without a pause and as soon as he thinks hes done he’s gearing up AGAIN

- not allergic to much but hawks’ hayfever is absolutely awful. all through spring and half of summer he’s unbearably itchy and with a tingle in his nose that never seems to leave, no matter how many times he sneezes

- hawks is super sensitive to physical touch though- like physically tickling his nose with a finger or a FEATHER. or something

- stifler by habit, and he can do it hands-free (HASHTAG CANON!!!). however during a fit, he can easily start off stifling but very fast do the sneezes become entirely too difficult to contain

- his number one tell for when hes sick is that he talks so much less. becomes so subdued and reserved which is a crazy contrast to how much he usually just waffles

- this one is probably overly. indulgent. but i like to think his nose is very pliable okay. AM I GETTING TOO HORNY HERE…… anyway yeah it probably squishes a lot when he rubs at it. im so normal

- nose scruncher!! at any given moment right. particularly strong smell? nose scrunched. trying not to sneeze? nose scrunched. trying TO sneeze?? nose. scrunched. hes a nose scruncher

- sometimes he deliberately flexes his muscles like. crosses his arms over in front of his face when he sneezes and deliberately flexes because he knows it annoys dabi (bro editing this post rn LMAOO this one is so funny)

- never has cold or allergy medication in his apartment he just firms it until dabi either forces him to buy some or buys it for him. maybe he has a really bad hayfever day at one point and dabi is like have you tried taking medication for that you havent stopped sneezing all day and hawks is like theres MEDICATION for this?????

yeah okay thats all. i thought i had more than this but apparently not ! hope you enjoyed and i hope theyre coherent

[sneezemonster15]

I have several questions in just one ask for you.

I think sakura is a fujoshi too lmao did u see her reaction to the boy on boy action? Idk about hinata, but as u said she n sakura forced sasuke and naruto to marry them, even though hinata knows too little of naruto to know hes gay.

naruto and sasuke love each other,there was no one around in sasukes confession, why not say, hey i like you in 'that' way, usuratonkachi? Just confessing, no need to start dating yknow.

There are lots of gay portrayals in shounen now, it wasnt there b4. So kishi couldve let it out anyway right? In interviews and all, but no he has to label them as more bros than blood bros, spitting on the subtle purpose of his story, making his audience get it wrong. Whats the point of writing a love story when hes giving gods word that it is a story about two brothers?

Why WHY did he have to make them reincarnated brothers?

thats all, have a good day sneeze! Sorry if i loaded u up, but i see longer asks sent to u, so it wont be a problem right?

Hi. Hope you have a good day as well. Long ask isn't a problem.

1) Sakura is not a fujoshi, just a hormonal boy crazy girl. I have talked about it here.

2) It's not really a confession, it's Sasuke's thoughts. It doesn't matter whether anyone was around Sasuke's confession. Because the point was that Kishi could not have made his main characters confess their love explicitly in the manga. But it doesn't matter, because he did so much else. SO MUCH. And that is enough. Anyway, the ending was supposed to be tragic so as to facilitate the story line of Boruto, as in with the new generation kids. Naruto and Sasuke were never supposed to end together once Boruto went on board. If it weren't for Boruto, it would have been open ended, and the takeaway/impression would have certainly been that they did end up together. So you can take some comfort in that, but if you can't, I will understand.

3) Most people feel miserly about that one interview where Kishimoto called them blood brothers. But ignore the nuance of the whole piece.

Look how much he is struggling to explain their relationship. The interviewer was being quite assertive about getting his answer too. I am telling you, Kishi was sweating balls here. He couldn't have revealed the actual nature of their bond, and like I said, a lot of people can tell what the story was about. Like this interviewer. Who is being cautious but smart. Kishi is talking about loneliness and abandonment. Both Naruto and Sasuke suffered from it. Kishi finds it hard to put in words but he is trying to explain the underlying feeling of it anyway. It's not hard to see.

Look at this. Don't you find it weird that there is SO damn much conversation around defining this relationship? It's there in the manga in a major way and it's there in the interviews because that's what the manga is about. Kishi is explaining how some bonds are taken for granted because they already have quite a strong impression in the intuitive memory of the audience. Like bonds of family. Like Sasuke and Itachi. You can tell in a story who is family. But the bond between Naruto and Sasuke is hard to explain no? Even Sasuke wants to know the answer! Lol. And he gets it, in the end. Friendship is hard to explain, he says. And yet a lot of characters were pointedly portrayed as friends. Like Shikamaru and Chouji. Properly emphatically friends. Kakashi and Obito. Jiraiya and Tsunade, Inoichi and Shikaku, Lee and Neji, Ino, Shikamaru and Chouji.

All FRIENDS. And we got it very easily too. What he found difficult to explain was the 'friendship' between Naruto and Sasuke. Naruto keeps calling him friend. But obviously, Sasuke isn't satisfied. Again, until the end. Like the audience can obviously tell that when Naruto goes absolutely berserk at the mere name of Sasuke, or that Sasuke gives up his life for a person he didn't even like apparently, yeah that stuff is beyond friendship. Audience isn't dumb. Well not all.

One doesn't really have to go interview hunting to find the veracity of Naruto and Sasuke's love. It's all in the manga. It's the real source. But if you have to refer to the interviews, don't ignore the rest of them.

Everything depends on how Kishi is able to put their relationship into words. Hmm. He did. He didn't have to make them say 'I love you, let's date'. He made them say different words that were much more significant, that made more sense with them, that matched the quality, nuance and emotional heights of their love. Kishi does stress on the importance of words and communication though. I have talked about it here.

Love triangle? Yes, in team seven. Both Naruto and Sakura like Sasuke romantically. Naruto experienced love and became an adult, he surely did. Thanks to Sasuke. It was his memory and Naruto's feelings for him that goaded him to become stronger and more mature and determined af. It isn't a coincidence vote two was right after it was revealed that it was Naruto's seventeenth birthday, he has literally and metaphorically come of age. And then he tells Sasuke again how much he loves him, how he really truly felt about him. In chapter 698. And Sasuke concedes, he is finally at peace, now that he has heard it from Naruto's own mouth. It was important for him to know these 'words'. Words are what gave him his resolution. Naruto's words that he couldn't very well say before.

Kishi was writing this story at a time when it was not acceptable in shounen to have major gay characters. I don't think that's the case today either. Although what we do know is that Naruto anime did try to hetishize Naruto and tried to distract from many sus scenes by adding non canon stuff to it. From Wiki.

Especially not the MC. Naruto is supposedly the first shounen MC to have kissed another boy on the mouth. In canon. This was written under the facade of comedy, as a lot of scenes were especially with Naruto, Kishi had to find a way to create smokescreens and red herrings so as not to get caught red handed. It's not an easy job for the writer to do this and make it believable and effective and so impactful. The average shounen consumer was happy with it, those who looked for a fuller and more layered approach, and complexity in their media also loved it. There was something for everyone in it. This was no easy feat. This takes real talent. And kishi was motivated to do it and how. And he did it too. But it wasn't smooth as butter. He had to fight his editors several times on multiple scenes. Like the reverse oiroke jutsu you are talking about. Very sus, wasn't it? It was meant to be. Or the fight at the vote two. He didn't compromise with his story to the best of his ability. But imagine the pressure he was under. We need to dig a little deeper. It's never that black and white. If it was that bad, then it is safe to assume that Kishi didn't feel comfortable revealing the nature of their relationship explicitly. A lot of artists have gotten canceled or blacklisted for less. Plus, if the gay tones were so overt, the anime would have faced difficulties getting distributed in other countries, mainly North America, because of their syndication rules. From Wiki.

And I have a feeling that Kishi was also reticent because of his own orientation. There has been much debate on this. But I strongly suspect that Kishi relates with Naruto's character. He has said it himself that he sees himself in Naruto. Naruto is his projection, self insert. And Sasuke is his muse, the classic archetypical, dreamy, beautiful but deadly bishounen, that everyone desires, including men. Like Sasuke has been clearly depicted. And I think Kishi is in a similar predicament as Naruto.

4) Naruto and Sasuke are not reincarnated brothers. It's their chakra. That doesn't make them brothers. How exactly does that make them brothers? Where does Kishi make anyone say it or imply it? Madara and Hashirama also had Ashura's and Indra's chakras but people are okay with calling them gay for each other. They were also given very homoerotic scenes. Just like Sasuke and Naruto. But the same people who deny SNS ship Hashimada lol. Unfair, isn't it? They have the special chakras because they are the fated saviours of their world. That reincarnated chakras make them brothers, though is already a ridiculous argument, in no universe cancels out the rest of the story. That's not how it works. The point is Sasuke and Naruto were written as main act of the story. This was the main act, vote two. You know which other thing has a main act just like Shippuden? This.

A double suicide narrative was already in the making, and then Kishi makes sure that his main act is the same as the main act of Chikamatsu's shinjuu plays. Chikamatsu is considered as one the greatest, most prolific playrights Japan has ever produced. His work is pretty much a part of the cultural and literary imagination of Japan. Kishi wanted to pay homage to him, like many other modern Japanese creators.

The main act comes at the end, led by everything that has happened before. The hero and heroine have already tried everything else. But in the main act, they die together after the most profoundly emotional interaction/depiction that rends your heart. Although, in Kishi case, they think they are dead, but they aren't. They live. Kishi had already thought of this ending panel by panel and line by line many years before chapter 698 was published. Hehe. Writers are serious about these things, they have to be isn't it? It's their job. Anyway, that's how crazy this man is. And I love him for it. Don't underestimate him. He did a lot for fans. He is a wonderful artist. He had to give up at the end. And it sucks. But he did his best.

Hopefully this answers your questions.

[sleptwithinthesun]

requests are open! i’d love to see any allergy scenario with either chase or sam winchester!

requests are indeed open !! i haven't written anything here with s/am so i hope you enjoy 1.3K of allergic s/am. i tried getting a bit more... descriptive? with this one? if that's okay :)

Look, it's not really Dean's fault if his idiot of a brother decided that he could handle things on his own and got himself so drugged up on his allergy medication that he can barely see straight, much less fire a gun with any semblance of accuracy. Dean's responsibility, maybe, but certainly not his fault. 

It's not like the accountability changes their current situation, anyway. Sammy's lying down on his bed in their motel room, giggling at nothing and rubbing his nose every couple of minutes, while Dean's covered in dirt and a bit of blood from digging up the grave on his own and getting tossed around by the ghost. He'd thought that the medication would have worn off a bit by now, but apparently, Sam's still high off his ass. 

"Deand!" he croaks nasally as the door closes behind the elder Winchester, his excitement still coming through his tone in spite of the raw stuffiness choking his voice. Okay, maybe it is wearing off. "Where were you?"

"Closing our case," Dean responds. He's being gruff, he knows, but digging a grave up solo is a bitch of a task and he really, really wishes Sam had the wherewithal to realize that before he took his meds. 

Unfortunately, his brother nods sagely, like Dean's communicated secret information to him, and makes an attempt to sit up. It must cause something in his sinuses to shift, though, since he immediately screws up his face once he's upright.

"You okay there, Sammy?"

"I'mb finde," he lies, and poorly, given that he's scrubbing at his nose and flaring his nostrils for a brief moment before his breath hitches. Dean rolls his eyes. So predictable, his little brother is, like he forgets that Dean practically raised him. He knows each and every one of Sam's quirks and signals that there possibly is to know.

He sits down on his own bed as Sam hitches, breaths gradually getting deeper and deeper until—

"hHRRSH'ah!"

"Bless," Dean says distractedly, pulling off his outermost layer before starting on his boots. 

Of course, Sam's not done. His brother gears up for another sneeze, head tipping back as his mouth drops open, and then Sam's bending forward into his elbow with a slightly more contained "H'RRSCHh!"

"Bless."

"Ugh, thangks." Sam, instead of being a normal person and blowing his damn nose, swipes a tissue from the box on the nightstand and wipes at the underside instead. It's not going to do anything, Dean knows that from watching Sam have allergies for years.

He doesn't understand how he can learn all this and Sam, the one who got into Stanford, doesn't ever seem to realize.

Dean sheds his flannel next, leaving him in just a T-shirt and jeans. "Sammy."

He's staring off into space again.

"Sammy!"

"Wha'?"

"I'm going to take a shower. You going to survive?"

Sam waves him off, movements sloppy and uncoordinated. "Yeah, Deand. I was finde while you were ond the case, wasnd't I?"

"You were unconscious for most of that," Dean mutters to himself, but nods in acquiescence. "Just stay on the bed, okay?"

His brother's responding nod almost causes him to fall over, but Sam straightens himself up and shoots Dean a loopy grin.

Yeah, he's most definitely going to be asleep by the time Dean's finished showering.

---

"hH-hih? hih'hh... hhkt—!"

Sam pants, loud enough that Dean can hear it from the other side of the bathroom door. He sounds miserably congested, his breaths taken in through his mouth. Dean wastes no time in pulling on sweatpants and another T-shirt and exiting into the main room.

His brother looks awful, his bloodshot eyes puffy and nose tinged pink from the amount of friction that Sam's leveled against it, and that's without even mentioning the additional fact of Sam being stuck in a loop of hitching followed by scrubbing at his nose, scrubbing and scrubbing and scrubbing at it, as if the itch is simply too deep for him to reach.

"Christ," Dean says, rolling his eyes. "You're really in the thick of it, aren't you?"

"Gedd mbe oud of dis friggin townd," Sam mumbles, so congested Dean can hardly understand him.

He chucks the roll of toilet paper he'd carried out under his arm at Sam. "Blow your nose, Sasquatch," he orders, clearing the empty tissue box off of the nightstand. At least he's had the decency to confine his used tissues to the trash can.

Toilet paper tearing off the roll sounds behind him, and instead of blowing his nose, Sam sniffles yet again.

"Sam."

"I'b fide."

"No, you're not. Seriously, are you telling me that all the medication you took did nothing for you?"

Sam's breath hitches again, then settles into another false start, and he shakes his head lightly. "Id worgked for a liddle bid."

"Blow your freakin' nose, Sam," Dean orders, dropping his voice into the tone their father used to use when he wanted them to obey him without any further hesitations or questions. "I'm serious. You're only making yourself miserable. Either that, or you're going to give yourself a sinus infection."

Sam honest-to-God whines at him, pouting with those big damn puppy eyes and everything.

Dean rolls his eyes. This kid. "Blow. Your. Nose."

Finally, Sam relents, taking up a wad of toilet paper and pressing it to his twitching nose. Dean glances away, if only to let Sam hold onto the illusion of privacy as he exhales into the tissues. There's a couple long seconds of nothing except for the painful sound of air struggling to force its way through blocked nasal passages, and then a wet, gurgling blow as it turns productive.

It's like a dam breaking. Sam's barely taken in another breath, already halfway through folding the stack of toilet paper to keep clearing out his sinuses, when his chest expands, rising and falling rapidly as Dean's giant little brother tries to contain the barrage of sneezes brewing inside of him.

"De-hhe'eh! Deand," he gasps out, although Dean's already moving, ripping more strips of makeshift tissue off the roll and shoving them into Sam's hands, overtop the damp wad already in his hands.

"Just sneeze it out, you'll feel better after," he advises.

Sam shakes his head, eyes pinching closed as he tries in vain to postpone the inevitable sneezing fit. His entire face is contorted with the desperate attempt he's making to hold it off, nostrils flared wide and mouth hanging open as he takes increasingly shallow breaths. "Dohhnd't wadda... hih'hh'HUH!"

"The longer you hold it back, the more you're going to sneeze," singsongs Dean. Seriously, Sammy. One would think that the guy would have gotten over it by now.

"hh... hH'HAH'HUH—"

Sam manages to crush the first sneeze into near-oblivion between his thumb and forefinger, the only thing giving it away being the soft "hkt'ff!" From there, however, it's a losing game.

"hh'hRR'SCHH! HR'RSCH'uh! uKT'SHH'Hh!"

Dean can only go and rub Sam's back, at a total loss for what to do. Sam's allergies haven't acted up quite this badly in a long while, and to be honest, he's not sure if there's anything he can do besides wait the fit out.

"HK'SHH! KT'SCH! TSHH! TSCHH'uh! hh'huh'hHRR'SSH!" Sam pants, bending forward with his hands cupped over his nose and mouth, toilet paper a soggy mess in his hands. "h'RR'SCH-huh! hh'hDT! HRSSH! USCHH!"

"Christ, Sammy, how much do you have left?" asks Dean.

His brother only shakes his head, emerging from his palms, the outer rims of his nostrils slick with mess. "Cadd't... stob... hGKT'SHH! HH'SHAH! ATSCH'uu! TSCH'iu!"

It's a good sign when his sneezes get open and pitchy like that. Sammy's winding down, even if he doesn't realize it yet. He's clearly exhausted, though, given by how little his back is expanding with every sneeze that comes barreling out of his lungs.

"hDT'SHuu! H'ASCHH'iew-ADTSSH'uh! hh... h'HH... huh..."

Sam looks up and blinks, then, sniffling furiously. As if he hadn't just learned his goddamn lesson.

"Bless you," Dean finally offers. Sam only glares through watery eyes, though the effect is diminished by how spent he looks, with mess still outlining his nostrils and making his upper lip shiny. "Come on, dude, let's get you cleaned up."

[platinumrosetail]

Yandere shadowpeach dbk freenoodles sliktea greenflame spider Queen and Nezha x baby night fury/light furry mix reader

Like we are one of the eggs of toothless and his mate light furry.

But we end up get taken druing a fight and

Our egg is on a ship but somehow our egg rolls into a potrly and is in lmk world

and how the others find us is us hatching and they're stuck is so we end up in imprinting on them ( haha you are the father haha ) and they have to explain to there lovers what happened ( sun trying to explain his to his mate she did not cheat

Dbk the same to his scary wife tang to pigesy mk to Mei)

And they we see our mama and slowly turn into our human form which was still most likely look more Dragon then anything and sneeze end up doing a plasma ball lol that hits our Father lol

I always have a hard time when drawing a nightfury for when I wanted to make oc haha lol but anyway that’s off topic let’s get to it!

Warning: noob author, dark theme, female child reader, yandere platonic characters, and others.

Characters: shadowpeach, dbk, freenoodles, waterspider/silktea, greenflames (mk x mei), spiderqueen, nezha.

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

Shadowpeach:

He had found you when he was fighting a demon who was dumb enough to try and kidnap his master and apparently that very demon had the egg you’re currently in, so they decided to bring you along for safe keeping until you hatched.

(I’m deciding to do this in the past since I didn’t really have a way to put sun in a fight that much plus I thought it would be a good and fun idea.)

You had hatched soon after and imprinted on sun some time into the journey later, they couldn’t do anything about it so they decided to go to sun’s home. When they all finally arrived to sun’s kingdom; flower fruit mountain, they weren’t expecting another monkey like sun but black aesthetic to punch sun in the face making him drop little (Y/n) who landed safely on the ground confused on what’s happening and don’t know what to do.

It was Tripitaka who was able to cool down his disciple mate and explain to him that sun did not cheat on him but actually in reality saved the little one when they came across a mishap on their journey which lead to macaque getting embarrassed and softly apologized to sun, who didn’t really care just as long as his mate know he wouldn’t do something that terrible to him and added how macaque looked hot when he punched him.

You look at the other monkey who wasn’t your father and soon declared him as your mother by talking in their language, which you had somewhat swiftly picked up on the argument from pigsy and sun along with everyone in the group are speaking to each other.

Before y’all got to flower fruit mountain; pigsy and sun was having a argument in front of you while you sun bathe which annoyed you because all you wanted was sleep and they weren’t letting you so you did what you could only do and followed your instincts; which lead for them to have a face being hit by a plasma blast shot from you before you went back to sleep now finally able to have the quiet of it that you needed to do so.

They all soon agreed to one, never mention that again and two, to never fight in front of you even if you’re not sleeping yet, cause they don’t know what else you could do and don’t want to find out; for such a young hatchling you certainly have a powerful plasma blast that even the great sun wukong don’t won’t to face again.

Macaque soon grew attached to you and now saw you as his daughter and would only let Tripitaka, Sandy, sun, and bai long ma be near you, no pigsy as he speaks loudly and you’re usually asleep when he’s around and macaque don’t want you to go through the trouble of shutting pigsy up so he makes sure he doesn’t happen.

Dbk family:

Dbk had found you in a forest as he was just taking a walk to calm his nerves and decided that you would be a big surprise to his and pif anniversary.

He had kept you a secret for the most part with only redson knowing and doing normal check ups to make sure you’ll hatch all healthy.

You had soon hatched and quickly latched onto dbk, imprinting on him as your father and soon followed him wherever he went which was hard for him to keep you a secret but apparently not good enough.

Pif had soon found the hatchling, and thought the worst; she at first thought that she could just ask her husband about it but with how hormonal she’s gotten from her period she soon grew anxious about the outcome to that which lead to her growing angry with her husband.

(I don’t know if demons can have periods or something similar to it but let’s just go with it for the post.)

Dbk forgot that it was his wife hormonal week with how excited he was about his gift for their anniversary, it wasn’t until redson had point out that it was in fact her hormonal week.

When you noticed pif it was then that you made the conclusion that she was now your mother and started cuddling with her making her settled down with your purring before her husband was finally having a chance to explain about you.

Redson mostly spent his time studying you and also playing fetch with you; he studies you because he want to make sure that he can understand the things you need, like, and other things like that, one time he was drawing on the dirt ground of the garden they had before you came over and observing what he was doing before grabbing a big enough stick before drawing yourself, one you were done you felt proud of your work before noticing redson was going to step on it and started growling at him which made him lift his foot before doing it again and seeing it result in the same reaction to when he first went to put his foot down on a line of your drawing before going around the liners and ended up to you which you jumped on him and yelled brother with a proud and happy look on your face.

Freenoodles:

Pigsy was just getting ingredients for his food that he sells in his shop when he found you about to be kidnapped while you’re in your egg not even hatched yet, which being out his overprotective side out and make the culprit regret deciding to do that.

When tang first saw the egg he had many thoughts mostly logical but then he started going down the deeper and more anxious thoughts before asking pigsy why he has a egg in his hand softly with his head down.

Pigsy was worried about his husband reaction and noticed how his shoulders would shake a little, starting to panic he quickly explained how he had saved you from some kidnappers and decided to bring you back home with him so that the two could raise together like with how they did with mk.

Tang was relieved but made pigsy let him have free noodles from now on as a way to make up for scaring him like that; he somehow doesn’t know how to react to that but relented anyway to make it up to tang.

You hatched soon afterwards and imprinted on both of them. You would tear the seats that was in the shop which lead to tang having to always carrying you so you wouldn’t be able to do that or get a reason to do that.

Tang had accidentally bought catnip and was going to bring it back for a return but you seem to have got a hold of it and now was doing things similar to how cats do when they’re on this stuff.

Tang and pigsy noticed how you seem to be more like a cat and decided to see if you would do more cat stuff with toys, pushing stuff and other things like a cat would, but it wouldn’t be long before you started to grow human features, not much but just enough to make it show. Your wings had crashed into many things which lead to you being told to do that outside when it gets stiff, and of course to ask permission and make sure you bring someone that they know they can trust; like mk, sandy, redson when he visits for his boyfriend.

Waterspider/silktea:

You had meet him when you barely could open your eyes; he was searching for a missing cat that got lost and was close to where you were, apparently the cat wasn’t exactly lost but had sensed you and wanted to see what was what, which lead to him finding you hatching from your egg and eyes meeting resulting in you imprinting on him as your new father, plus finding the cat.

Huntsman was skeptical about you since you’re a dragon and are more damaging than a cat is but sandy won him over by saying how the two could teach you on how not to do things that would damage the boat or anything else along those line.

They took noticed on how you acted like a cat so they went from there with a few changes since you aren’t really a cat. They also got a laser just to see how you would react to it; never again are they using it as he has being chaos.

They see that you like fish and nothing more so they tried to get different fish for you so you wouldn’t get tired of it so fast which probably wouldn’t matter as that’s your species usual diet, but they do try to spice things up with ingredients that they knew you might like and wouldn’t harm you.

You then start growing more hum an features as you stay and live with them which was new since you only had dragon features before so they decided to meet up with mei to see if she possibly know why you suddenly stared growing human features.

She said maybe is was because of how long you stayed with the couple and started to gain characteristics from the two which would make sense now that they think about it. Then they left for home while saying goodbye to mei along with thanking her as well.

They started teaching you more human/demon like teachings and how to live in the city while keeping you close to them as a dragon demon is rare and only mei’s family and herself are the only ones they knew about so you might get kidnapped if the two weren’t careful about protecting you from people who would do that.

Greenflames (mei x mk):

Mei is the one who had found you since your egg was in her garden and she was just going for a little walk to past the time before her boyfriend would come over and tan sight of you in a field of small flowers of light colors; and with how your egg shell was a very noticeable color it was super easily to spot you, that had made her a little worried about any trespassers that would sometimes come to either sill something from them and if they spotted you before her, she wouldn’t know what to do of that thought as if wold bring some paranoia.

When mk’s girlfriend; mei, had shown you to him he at first didn’t know what to think as the thought of finding a dragon egg was both awesome and worrisome. Awesome because that would mean a new friend she you hatch and he can teach you a lot of things like a dad would, and worrisome as something terrible would have happened if mei didn’t find you first.

Since mei’s family is descendants to bai long ma the dragon horse that had accompanied Tripitaka and his disciples she pretty much was raised to know how to take and raise any kinds of dragons if that sort of scenario happened as weird as that is.

You had hatched a few weeks later after that and that brought a celebration in order; when they brought out a substitute for the cake you apparently blew fire in reson’s face on accident, good thing he’s fire resistant and a demon or else his face would of melt by that plasma blast that you threw at his face.

You like to swim in the pool that your new mother family own for fun, and sometime your parents would add some fish as well as change the water for you and the fish that you like to practice catching in.

They would grow protective as they both have a few possible enemies that would like to weaken them at any moment wether it’s to kill you or kidnap you; the enemy best hope it’s just kidnapping cause if anything happened to you while in the enemies hands then they are done for and not just by you, they would have mk and mei to deal with.

They would bring you to the gravity arcade a lot as it’s a fun place and thought you would have a blast and they would be able to teach you some moves on how to get prizes and tickets for the prizes and y’all would get to spend time together as a family would.

Spiderqueen:

Your egg had found it’s way into her lair and was resting in the other eggs not being found out about until you hatched from that egg. Syntax was the one in the area and so he quickly alerted his queen of this new discovery which she had found amusing very much.

She was glad of this knew discovery and was thinking this was some kind of sign of her finally getting what she always dreamed of; total control of this place and hopefully soon the world, and if that happened it would be the year of the spiders all the time then.

She likes how you have more color schemes to her as it seems almost like you were meant to be under your care than any other who would fully and foolishly miss the potential that you would gain as you grow to adulthood, which is why she usually have herself and her most trusted and only minions be the one to take care of you.

She wouldn’t let you go anywhere outside the lai in fear of losing you as she ha d grown to think of you as her own daughter and child and even then you have a tracker imbeddedinto you by syntax just in case something bad happened or if you decided to wander off forgetting you mother’s words.

If anything bad happened to you then she would make sure that the culprit regrets even thinking a lost dong that then turn around to scold your for forgetting to bring strong spider, huntsman and, and syntax and your bodyguard.

You would get everything that you would want as long as log as you’re patient and if it was in her capability to get it; she would even get the head of sun wukong if it was possible and when sh get stronger than before.

She was glad that she lived somewhat close to the ocean for yoyu to get your fish as that seem to be the species diet from what she and syntax could understand as they learn from watching you follow your instincts.

Nezhaa:

You were brought to the jade emperor who thought it was wise to give you to Newhart; who was skeptical at this outcome but ended up agreeing to the jade emperor’s orders as the jade emperor is in human terms his boss.

It was a new occurrence for him to have to watch both you and the map at the same time but he was able to get used to it some time later and since you wouldn’t be able to anything at this stage of your growth so he didn’t really have that much challenge from you.

But when you did hatch it certainly became difficult for him as you can be rowdy when bored and hungry, he was able to get some things from a store in the human realm over time that would cure your boredom and huinger thankfully.

He noticed that you hav characteristics form that of a cat so h decided to see if you would play with cat toys ;Ike a laser that he can control by hand and a mouse for you to play with while he’s busy at the moment.

You soon gain human features as you grow; finally being able to stand on two legs that look like a human rather than a dragon who would be on four legs usually though you seem to have still have dragon features that now m,Ames you a half dragon.

When you had used you plasma blast for the first time it was at him when you had became grumpy by him not being able to spend time with you; and with how you’re still young and very much playful he needs to entertain you but you don’t realize how big his responsibility is right now but he still tries to raise you.

If anyone tried to take you away from him then she will make it a very painful death, even if that person is of higher wing than him; he will make sure that it was some kind of accident musta to make sure he’s able to keep you as his daughter.

(A/n: i didn’t do them all the same because some i had already put down and then remembered about the request and some of them didn’t seem like they would do that sop I hopes that was ok and hope you liked what i did with it anyway😁 hope y’all liked it as well and hope y’all have a wonderful day/evening/night!!)

[zacharyleigh316]

A Friend to Bee

Suptober Prompt: Day 7 - Black Cat | A Friend to Bee | 2.8K | Teen and Up | Read on Ao3 (or below cut)

Dean befriends a neighborhood cat, and, against all odds, it might just bring luck his way...

“Achoo!”

As if on cue, the second Dean stepped over the threshold to his home, he sneezed, groaning at the way his eyes watered as a result. He quickly hung up his coat on the rack, and tossed his keys in the dish on the stand by the door, before fleeing into the kitchen, only to sneeze again. It was only a matter of time, Dean surmised, before his eyes burned, and he’d need to stubbornly fight the urge to rub them, as was his daily routine as of late—that, and popping allergy pills like candy. Pills of which he was currently out of, and thus doomed to suffer, slowly succumbing to his allergies.

Dean took his phone out and shot his brother a text, before setting out to put some leftover chicken and rice in a bowl. And, summoned by the prospect of food, the source of all of Dean’s current health problems—and well-being—jumped up onto the counter, signaled by another sneeze.

“You’re lucky you’re so friggin cute.” He muttered, putting the bowl down in front of the fur ball that could, quite possibly, be the death of him—if he couldn’t somehow find a way to manage his cat allergy.

It hadn’t been that long since they first encountered each other, Dean and his hairy, four-legged visitor—be it a miraculous act of fate or what have you—but it sure felt like forever, seeing as Dean hadn’t had a moment’s peace since.

Two weeks ago, on Dean’s way back home, he encountered the most unusual pair of blue eyes, that, upon further inspection, belonged to an even more unusually mannered black cat, perched perfectly poised atop the front steps to his home. He recalled how the eyes seemed to glow then, a trick of the lights Dean’s sure, but they drew him in nevertheless. Since then the cat has, beyond any feasible reason Dean could see, stuck around. Enough so that yes, he’s even begun to feed and water the damn thing—despite said allergy.

The little rascal didn’t seem too pressed to leave any time soon, and you could say that he even, perhaps, got used to having it around—not that he’d tell anyone that. He wasn’t sure who exactly owned his new friend, just that it had to be someone in the neighborhood, but sincerely hoped they wouldn’t mind how often he spoiled the guy’s pet.

Dean’s phone buzzed from where he left it on the countertop, and pulled himself from his reverie, reading the reply from his brother. 

<< hey sammy, were you able to pick me up some more of those allergy meds?

>> Yeah, they should be in the bathroom.

And then, a few seconds later, came another.

>> You know, you never told me why you needed them?

<< nunya

>> What?

<< sorry, let me rephrase that

<< nunya business

<< Wow, really mature Dean. I didn’t have to get them for you, but it sounded urgent, so I did.

<< The least you could do is tell me why. Or even how you ran out of the other bottle so quickly.

Dean sighed and looked over to the cat, who was now pinning him with its starling azure gaze, apparently finding him more interesting than finishing off the bowl of food.

“I dunno, what do you think? Should I tell Sam?” He asked, not really understanding why he thought the cat would answer, but directing the question toward it anyway.

Predictably, it just sat there and blinked at him.

Dean sighed again, deciding to just bite the bullet and tell his brother.

<< I maybe sorta got a cat?

>> You WHAT?!

>> Dean, you’re allergic to cats

<< uh yeah, Sammy, that’s why I needed the allergy meds duh

Dean let out a groan and pressed his forehead to the cool countertop, as his phone began to ring, Sam’s caller ID posted across the screen. He let it ring a few times before picking up.

“Heya brother-o-mine, shouldn’t you be working?”

“I’m on lunch break right now actually, Dean,” Sam whispered harshly into the receiver, straight to business as always, “what’s this about you getting a cat?”

“Well, it’s not technically mine. It just showed up one day, and won’t leave.”

“And you didn’t think to call authorities?”

“Authorities?” Dean snorted. “What am I going to do, Sam, get it arrested?” 

Dean could hear the eye roll through the phone. “I mean animal control, Dean. Or maybe even a vet?”

“Course I thought about doing that…”

“You can’t just steal a cat, it could belong to somebody. It could have a microchip or something. Maybe its owner is looking for it.” Sam sighed, and now it was Dean’s turn to roll his eyes.

“Dude, I’m not stupid, okay? ‘Sides, I didn’t steal it. It just showed up, and never left. I mean, the little guy comes and goes, but it always comes back and ends up staying for a few hours, before disappearing again.” He shrugged, despite his brother being unable to see it.

As if knowing it was being talked about, it padded over to Dean, and head butted the palm of his hand. Dean smiled, and ran his hand down the creature’s back, before letting out another sneeze.

“Ugh.”

“Yeah, sounds like a real healthy arrangement you’ve got there, Dean. Why do you even let it inside?” 

“That’s the strange thing, Sammy. I didn’t. It showed up on my doorstep, but I just let it be, and went inside. Don’t ask me how, but the damn thing is smart or something, and lets itself in. And out.”

“Uh-huh…” Sam trailed off, sounding skeptical.

Dean wouldn’t believe it either if he hadn’t witnessed it time and time again.

“I’m serious. I know it sounds crazy, but the cat is a friggin weirdo. I’ve tried to keep it out, but it always finds a way. Hence why now I just…let it do its thing.”

“Okay, well, even if what you’re saying is true, Dean, this isn’t sustainable. You need to find its owner, and tell them about their cat.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

“Now I’m serious, Dean. You can’t just keep going through allergy meds just because the cat likes to loiter.”

“Sure thing, whatever you say, mom. Don’t get your panties all in a twist, Samantha. I’ll take care of it.”

“I mean it, Dean.”

“And I promise, I’ll take care of it. Now get back to work, slacker. Don’t spend all of your lunch break talking to your big brother.” 

“Alright. Talk to you later. Love you, jerk.”

“You too. Love you, bitch.”

They hung up, and Dean put his phone back down onto the counter, turning his attention back toward the adorable, furry interloper, who was still staring unblinkingly at him.

“That was my baby brother, Sammy. He’s this big shot lawyer, and, don’t tell him this, but I’m a pretty proud big brother.” 

The cat meowed and tilted its head to the side, earning an amused chuckle from Dean.

“Can’t have his head grow bigger than it already is, y’know? Don’t know what’s in the water these days, but the kid’s huge, and I mean humongous.” He joked, shaking his head fondly.

“Anyway, Sam’s right. Not that I don’t enjoy the company, but you should probably get back to your owner, yeah? Got one of those, don’t you?”

Again the cat meowed, but Dean was, unfortunately, sorely lacking in the knowledge department for ‘how to translate cat language’. He watched as it went back to finish the food he’d set out, and chuckled, albeit a bit bitterly. 

“Yeah, I’d be bored of me too.” 

Letting the cat go about its business Dean pulled away from the kitchen island and sauntered into the bathroom. He figured that, in the meantime—or at least until he located the cat’s owner—it’d be wise to take some meds while it was here. Dean was rather fond of breathing, thank you very much. And the, however temporary, relief of itchiness was an additional perk. 

It was some time later that afternoon, Dean sat on the couch with the fur ball curled in his lap, when his phone buzzed with a text message. He leaned over to put his half finished beer down on the coffee table, and exchanged it for the phone, reading the text from Sam.

>> Have you tried following the cat when it leaves? Maybe you can do that.

Dean hummed thoughtfully, and looked down at the cat. He hadn’t tried that, no, but it wasn’t a bad idea actually. He’d have to try that next, though, if anybody in the neighborhood caught him following some dude’s cat to said dude’s house, he didn’t want to know what they would think of him. He’d rather sooner admit to being an avid fan of chick flicks than deal with the repercussions of being labeled a friggin creepy weirdo.

“What do you say to me taking you home this time?” He asked, raising a brow at the little shit still snoozing in his lap, who had the audacity to peel open one of its eyes, before opening the other and leveling Dean with a look that was oddly reminiscent of one of Sam’s bitch faces. 

Dean opened his mouth, a smart ass remark on the tip of his tongue, when the cat leaped off his lap and quietly padded over to the door, in lieu of responding, or well, as it’s response since it was an animal, and it couldn’t actually talk back—unless you counted the, albeit perfectly timed, meows it gave Dean sometimes.

With a groan, as his thirty-something almost forty-something body protested, he hefted himself off the couch and, against his better judgment, he followed the damn thing out his front door.

Thankfully his four legged guide was waiting for him, and even stopped every so often on the way to wherever the fuck, looking back to check if Dean was still behind, following. He couldn’t believe he was actually doing this, and that it was actually working. It certainly didn’t ease his anxiety, especially since he was completely in the dark as to where he was even being lead—to his death maybe—but of all panned out, maybe he’d bake his brother a pie or some shit. He’d see how he felt about it later.

Though Dean didn’t have to wait long to find out what his imminent death looked like, because after a ten minute or so walk down the street, the cat made its way up some steps to a rather unassuming house, much like his own—and everyone else’s in the neighborhood. This one was painted a pretty blue, nothing like the eyes of his new friend, but a softer, grayer shade.

On the door, as Dean approached, hung a gorgeous, decorative autumn wreath, with the words “Blessed Bee”—no that was not a typo, and to which Dean assumed was a pun referring to the little plastic bees dispersed within. Though, with an additional quick, cursory glance towards the house, the owner’s aesthetic was growing increasingly apparent, if not for the garden beds of flowers attached to each window sill, and the immaculately groomed bushes (hah) lining the front. 

Even the grass was a lively color, a rich, vibrant green, and neatly trimmed to boot. Dean couldn’t help the whispered, “Damn,” that slipped out in awe. This guy had some serious gardening chops, that Dean couldn’t help but be a little envious of. The only plant he could remember growing was a little succulent he nicked from the local supermarket for him and Sam when they were little, and he couldn’t tell you what became of it. 

The cat meowed, once again with the intention of pulling Dean from his reverie, and he, with a final resolve, reached up and knocked on the door. Though, nothing could have ever prepared him for what happened next.

The front door swung open, revealing possibly the hottest guy Dean has ever seen, looking all soft and—albeit artfully—rumpled, in a sweater and jeans, and holy fuck this dude’s eyes. If he thought the cat’s eye were an unusual shade of blue, they were nothing compared to this man’s, and if Dean didn’t say anything and just stood there frozen, gaping like a fish, being spotted and labeled as a creepy weirdo were the least of his worries.

“Uh…” he said, rather intelligently.

The man didn’t seem to mind, however, and just smiled, reaching down to pick up his cat, who was winding between his legs.

“You must be Bee’s new friend.”

Dean blinked, taking a moment to realize that, son of a bitch, the hot dude just spoke to him, and then another to realize that that is what he sounded like. Deep and gravelly, and god friggin’ dammit Dean was fucked. Truly and utterly fucked.

“Um…what?” 

Wow, nice going Dean, he mentally scolded himself.

As far as first impressions went, this was probably as worst as it could get. He’d spoken a total of three words to this strange (sexy) man, and they only seemed to feed the narrative of what a fool he was. He could flirt with women with the ease of driving his baby, no problem. But put a pretty guy, let alone a pretty guy with gorgeous blue eyes, in front of him and he was rendered speechless, dumber than a sack of potatoes, and probably as useful as one too. He was not good at this.

The man chuckled, and gestured to the cat in his arms, before giving who Dean knew now as Bee chin scritches. 

“My cat. She’s been telling me all about you.” 

“Oh, uh, all good things I hope?”

The man smiled again, and Dean felt his knees grow weak, like they could buckle at any moment, and he’d just melt into a puddle on this guy’s front steps.

“Hm, yes, I must thank you for taking good care of her. She likes it there very much.”

“Haha well, I’m glad? But, uh, about that…” Dean swallowed against the lump in his throat, and reached up to rub the back of his neck. 

“I’m actually allergic to cats.” 

“Oh.” 

Dean inwardly cursed as the man frowned, and furrowed his brows in concern. He looked down at Bee then, and gave her a disapproving stare.

“You didn’t tell me that.” He shook his head, and put her down, ushering her into the house. “Go on, shoo. We’ll discuss this later.”

They both watched her disappear around the corner, before the man turned back to Dean, now looking apologetic.

“My apologies, I didn’t realize you were allergic. Had I known, I wouldn’t have encouraged Bee to visit so often.”

“Don’t worry about it man, I just, uh, thought you should know, I guess? But really, ‘s’no big deal. I actually enjoyed the company.”

The guy smiled softly, and hummed. “That’s good then. I’m glad. She enjoyed the company too.”

“I’m Dean, by the way.”

“Castiel.” 

Dean nodded, feeling his cheeks heat the longer they stood there, just staring at one other. He shifted his weight from one foot to the other, and cursed himself again for his eternal awkwardness. 

“R-right, well…” he trailed off, not wanting to say goodbye just yet.

“Maybe next time you could come over too? If you, um, if you want. Bee knows where it is.”

Castiel beamed, and damn, if that wasn’t easily on Dean’s ever increasing list of favorite things about him.

“I’d like that very much, Dean.”

“Yeah? Awesome.” Dean grinned back, and then even wider when Castiel ducked his head bashfully.

Dean liked him so much already, it was wild. Even more wild that a black cat was beginning to be the luckiest thing that ever happened to him.

“See ya later, Cas?”

“Yes. And I’ll try to whip up something to help those allergies, if you’d like?”

“I have no idea what that means, but sure why not?” He shrugged with an easy smile, and started to back away, his eyes never leaving Cas’.

“Don’t worry, it’s not of import.” Cas dismissed with a wave of his hand. 

“Until we meet again, Dean.”

“Bye Cas.”

They waved their goodbyes, and Dean finally turned around to make his way back, but only after he may—or may not—have stumbled, earning another, rather amused, chuckle from Cas from behind him.

Dean laughed awkwardly, brushing off his totally-not-a-stumble, you know, as a man does, and raised his hand in one more final parting gesture, before hurrying off back home to bake that pie.

[longitudinalwaveme]

Captain Cold and the Blizzard Battle: The Kid's Book of Never-Ending Cold Puns

I was looking through some of the older posts on @gorogues's blog, and I was reminded that there was a kid's book that featured Captain Cold and the Top called Captain Cold and the Blizzard Battle. Since it was selling for six bucks on Amazon, I bought a copy, and I am now going to share my thoughts on it with everyone:

Captain Cold's stats (6'2", 196 lbs, brown hair, brown eyes) are taken directly from all those DC guidebooks.

The puns begin almost immediately. Len terrorized Central City with "cold-hearted crimes", the Flash "put him on ice", he has "nerves of ice", and "his cold heart lets him remain calm and collected even when the heat is on". The book also identifies the yellow capsule-looking things on his belt as cold grenades, though I don't think that those are what they actually are.

Captain Cold makes an entire blizzard just to rob an armored car. Seems a bit excessive. He also does it in May, because of course he does.

The blizzard also gets some kids out of school early, much to the kids' delight.

LOL, Len looks so proud of himself as he walks away with his loot.

Icicle (who is also in Central City, and is showing up Len), is stealing some "cold hard cash". Because cold puns!

Len gets away with his loot, since the Flash is more interested in stopping the Icicle (who's trying to get away with a hundred times as much money as Len) than he is in stopping Len. However, because Icicle is threatening his position as the best cold-themed criminal, Len can't even feel happy about his success.

Apparently Captain Cold's hideout is in an indoor tanning salon/steam sauna. He bought it with stolen money just so he could shut it down, because he just hates tanning salons/saunas that much. (I imagine that Mick was disappointed when he learned about that.) The fact that it's an excellent hiding spot for him is just a bonus.

And then Roscoe shows up! He's Len's pal in this story (which is hilarious, since they usually hate each other), and, even though Len invited him over, he still freaks out when Roscoe shows up (allegedly because he might have been the Flash).

"Aww, even you aren't cold enough to freeze a friend." And then Roscoe is instantly proven wrong when Len freezes his nose for no reason.

Roscoe has had "so many run-ins with the law today that my head is spinning".

Anyway, Len is bitter about the fact that Icicle seems to be better at his own game than he is, and tells Roscoe that he's lucky to be the only "spins-around-fast villain in the world."

Roscoe: "Thanks! But don't sell yourself short! What would we do without a guy like you?" Cheerful friendly Roscoe is both endearing and weird.

Len: "You'd call the Icicle. Or Mr. Freeze. Or any one of the other villains who have cold powers. Nowadays, it seems like there are dozens of them!" Len has a point. DC is full of ice-themed villains.

We then learn that, while Len got away with $10,000, the Icicle managed to get away with a million dollars (meaning that he also beat the Flash), and that at some point in the past, Len froze the Eiffel Tower. Why? Who knows!

Unfortunately, the Top then points out that Icicle froze all of Germany at the same time Len was freezing the Eiffel Tower, which I guess makes this version of Icicle the most powerful version ever.

Roscoe: "I hate to say it, but I know when a guy's been topped!" All these horrible puns make me smile.

Len wants to put the Icicle in his place for showing him up all the time, and, after Roscoe starts sneezing, he gets the idea to spread the common cold to the entire city. No, really. His evil plan is to spread the common cold to the entire city, and then rob some banks while everyone is too busy being sick to stop him.

In order to do this, he alters his cold gun so it can lower the temperature by about 20 degrees (instead of its usual, much lower temperatures), breaks into Bosh Labs to steal an experimental hypothermic rhinovirus (rhinovirus is the scientific name for the common cold, which I surprisingly actually did not know!), releases the virus into the air, and then makes the weather chilly so that the virus will spread really fast and get everybody sick.

Len won't be affected by the virus, however, because he also took the antidote from the labs (and also drank some orange juice, just in case.)

"He was about to conquer the entire city with a super-powerful cold! That had to be the greatest "cold crime" in history!" PUNS!

The plan works immediately, and everybody gets sick....but when Len goes to rob a bank, he learns that the Icicle has taken the credit for releasing the virus on live TV, and predictably gets angry.

"After all the years he had spent stealing from Central City, Captain Cold finally knew what it felt like to be robbed." This line is amazing and I love it.

Captain Cold goes to a coffee shop to get his favorite drink, iced coffee. Unfortunately for him, there's a very long line of people (all of whom are ordering tea, apparently), so he uses his cold gun to cut to the front of the line in a manner reminiscent of Gru in the Despicable Me movies.

The clerk gives Len regular coffee, so he freezes the poor clerk too and ices the drink himself...only to see the Flash fighting the Icicle through the window. And because of the cold Len gave him the Flash is losing!

Len goes back to his hideout, and Roscoe promptly shows up two seconds later, noting that it looks like the Icicle is going to "put the Flash on ice----permanently!"

For some reason, Roscoe always spins inside Len's hideout instead of just walking inside like a normal person. Which actually makes sense for Roscoe.

Roscoe has come down with the cold alongside everyone else in Central City. He thinks that the Icicle is responsible until he notices that Len isn't sneezing, at which point Len explains that he was the one who created the virus, and thus knew to take the antidote. Icicle wasn't affected because his entire body is made of ice, and thus can't catch a cold.

Len also reiterates that his cold gun can't affect Icicle...right before informing the Top that he's planning to go help Flash fight the Icicle anyway.

Roscoe's reaction: "That would mean saving your worst enemy---and mine! If you could, that is. No offense, but you said it yourself. You're just a guy with a cold gun. The icicle is made of ice. Your cold blasts can't hurt him, but..."

Len: "The Icicle can hurt me."

"The Top nodded, and then sneezed. "That doesn't sound like a fight you can win." " Len and Roscoe hanging out together is the best part of this book.

Len, being Len, is determined to fight Icicle anyway, and goes out to do just that. He saves the Flash from the Icicle, which prompts the Icicle to realize that Len's probably mad about him taking the credit for his crimes. The Icicle kind-of sort-of apologizes before telling Len to get out of his way so that "the better cold villain" can "finish off the Flash".

Shockingly, Len doesn't react well to this, and tells Icicle that if he wants the Flash, he'll have to go through Len first. Icicle replies with a title drop: "You just made a big mistake....You and I do the same thing. Only I do it better! But if you want a blizzard battle---you've got it!"

The two start fighting, and, while they're pretty evenly matched in terms of output, Len has a massive problem: as was underscored earlier, he doesn't have any real defense against Icicle's powers.

As the fight starts to turn against him, Len runs away and heads for his hideout. Icicle follows him, boasting about how dumb Len was to lead him to his hideout...and then Len promptly turns on all the saunas and indoor tanning beds, increasing the temperature in the room along with them.

This drains Icicle's powers, and Len promptly kicks the crap out of the powerless Icicle. "It takes more than ice powers to make a man cold. I always knew I was colder than you!" Oh, Len.

After he's sure he's defeated the Icicle, Len makes some more puns. "They say revenge is a dish best served cold....But it also tastes pretty good hot!"

Then the Flash shows up, immediately disarms Len, and knocks him to the ground with one super-speed punch. He's still suffering from the effects of the cold, but the fight between Icicle and Len gave him enough time to recover from his fight with Icicle.

Flash: "I just don't understand supervillains. It was so easy to follow the icy path of destruction that led here. So now I know where your hideout is, which means it isn't good for anything anymore. And with the Icicle out cold and your gun out of your hands, I won't have any problem taking you to jail...Was all of that really worth it? Just so everyone would know you were the one who unleashed this sickness on the city?"

In Len's mind, of course, it was totally worth it. Now that the Flash knows he unleashed the virus, everyone will know "that Captain Cold was the villain responsible for the greatest cold crime ever committed in the city!" So...happy end for Len, I guess.

No mention of what happened to Roscoe. Maybe he decided to go on a date with Lisa.

Anyway, this story was delightful and I loved it to bits. Having a story narrated entirely by Len was great, and I enjoyed that he felt in-character throughout. I could totally see Silver Age comic Len pulling a scheme like this, and Cold's strategic cleverness and grouchy possessiveness of Central City seems to come straight from Johns' Len. I also loved how hilariously petty he was throughout the story, from using his cold gun to cut in line for coffee to saving the Flash from Icicle just so he could prove that he was the better criminal.

The never-ending puns were likewise great, and I enjoyed that Roscoe got to be an important character in the book. Even though the role of Len's cheerful but slightly dimwitted pal would have worked better for Mick than for him, there's something extremely funny about having Roscoe in that role given how much he and Len hate each other in the main comics. And hey, he's still an endearing dork who makes top puns, so there are still some aspects of him that are recognizably Roscoe.

Finally, I enjoyed the art and the characters' slightly goofy facial expressions. I will probably do a separate post of the art at some point so that everyone else can enjoy it.

This is a great little book, and it was definitely worth the six dollars I paid for it.

[osscarh]

This is my first post ever and I thought maybe I could share a nice story with ya all. I've never really put it in complete order so it's time I do that.

As prelude, I own 3 cats. One of them, the oldest, is, at the time of writing this, 12 years old, with his papers noting that he was born the 6th of April 2012, 3 days after my dad's birthday. His name is Sacha, despite the vets who all name him Sasha (and also wrote that he's a girl for some reason? I mean he doesn't seem bothered but I don't think he understands English.) His name is kinda dumb but my bro named him. I prefer giving Egyptian names to my cats.

I got Sacha around 2015, I don't really remember which month. I was around 13 at the time and my first cat had just died. My mom was really feeling bad so we adopted Sacha from a center. His previous owners had placed him there cuz the lady got pregnant and apparently cats can mess with fetuses or something. Idk but I think his previous owners were lame cuz he stayed in that center for like 6 months and they took bad care of him. His claws grew in his paws, his fur got a lot of knots and he smelled really bad. He's half Persian so he needs a lot of care.

When he arrived home he was super sweet but really doing poorly. We toon him to the vet for his claws and hired a lady to remove his knots. He didn't like his new cut so the lady zooted him on I thinl weed? It was some drug, mfer has had more experiences with illicit substances than I and I'm kinda jealous tbh.

Sacha was my only cat for a while. My mom adopted Bagheera, a kitten born from one of her sister's cats when she divorced my dad around 2016 and Sacha stayed at my dad's place with me and my brother (the fucker who named him with such a lame name).

Anyway time passed, I lived my best life with my cat, took care of him, took him to vet every year for his vaccines (he goes outside), reconnected with my mom and adopted a kitten who was born in my mom's backyard and named him Settra. So that's why I have 3 cats. But back on track, in 2022 Sacha got an eye infection. We had to do a lot of ophtalmology to get it sorted and my mom helped a lot with that despite the fact that the cat wasn't even in her home. His eye's doing okay now but he needed new material be brought in his eye. Persians tend to be weak in eyes and nose.

Then when the summer vacations of 2023 ended, Sacha got sick. At first it was a minor cold so we didn't do anything, some snot in his nose, then around mid September he ate less. Come end of September and he was doing bad, still eating but always sneezing and his throat was inflamed. I brought him to the vet and he was given antibiotics that kinda helped.

By the beginning of October Sacha was doing pretty poorly and eating way less. He was always a fat cat so this concerned me a lot. The vet couldn't tell why the antibiotics weren't acting as he was supposed to have an infection so they gave him more and asked us to get a visit to a pet hospital 1h of travel away (Belgium is small, 1h of travel looks a lot for me but for American folks it's prilly shorert). So we did, got something planned for end of october. I wanted faster but they were full and he was still eating so not an emergency.

Meanwhile Sacha's health got worse. One of his eyes (not the one who had the surgery) couldn't open and he had little things in the part of forehead between his eyes that made a sort of scritchy sound when you ran your hand over it. Most concerningly, he wasn't eating. We (my mom and I) took him to another vet who did acupuncture with relative success, allowed Sacha to eat well for a day or two before going back to not eating.

I was getting really desperate so I mixed his food and fed him with a syringe for a week. I knew if my dad knew he wasn't eating, he'd suggest euthanasia as the costs of bringing a pet to the hospital are quite high. So I took his wet food, put it in my mom's mixer and mixed it for like 15 minutes when going back from school while dad was away, then cut it into even smaller bits and forcefed him with a syringe (his throat was super inflamed and small so he was probably in pain and I knew it but I couldn't stand to watch him thin like that).

On the 26th of October, we went to the hospital for him. My mom and I were reluctant to go there because it's an universitary hospital and we were kinda scared that he'd be put on life support and...I guess experimented on? We didn't want his life be prolonged if he was in constant pain but we went nonetheless. My mom took a day off work (again, she took a lot to get the cat to the vet) and I warned my Spanish teacher that I couldn't attend. She's a really sweet lady and I told her the story, she was super supportive.

The hospital was not all like we anticipated. The doctors were really charming and quite open with how much stuff cost. I speak French and the hospital staff spoke Dutch so we settled on English as a language to communicate with. Tirns out spending all that time playing dnd with strangers on discord paid off for me, I was able to talk with these docs no problem.

Of course without insurance it was expensive but it was doable to pay. They ran scans on Sacha and it was promising, they said he had an infection but had the right antibiotics for him. Since he didn't eat, they wanted to keep him there and we agreed. We gave our phone numbers and left.

When we visited Sacha the following day, they told us he had a lymphoma. It's blood cancer for those who dunno what that means (I certainly didn't till October). They asked us if we wanted to begin chemo.

I was fucking devastated. That cat had been with me through my parents' divorce, the death of family members, graduation, the lowest of my sick days and the brightest of my good days. I didn't want to leave him die of hunger without a fight.

My mom didn't have enough money to pay for it in full and my dad'd never use his money to pay for a cat's chemotherapy so I agreed to pay most of ot. I had a decent bit of money in a bank account, I basically never buy anything so pockeh money, student job money and birthday money stacked up. My dad'd never have allowed me to pay for that (neither him nor I even knew they had chemotherapy for cats) so I lied and said my mom paid for it.

He stayed at the hospital until the 31st of October, of course we visited him everyday and the hospital staff kept us informed with daily phonecalls to schedule a visit and tell us what was up. During that time (5 days since he arrived, 4 days since chemo started) they put a tube in his throat to feed him and started the chemo.

That. Shit. Worked. When we brought him home, he could open his eye again and even wanted to go for food (motherfucker do you know how much that tube costs?). He played with the other cats and we had a weekly checkup for him. I missed many Spanish classes. During his time at the center he really liked one doctor who calls him Sir and basically saved his life.

Of course he stayed at my mom's place. It was easier for feeding through his tube at first, my mom was in vacations and he needed 3 meals a day, then he stayed there. Wasn't gonna let him stay in the home of a person who'd let him die. I love my dad but fuck him for this. He admitted several times he'd have never brought my cat to that hospital (so he'd have left him die of cancer and hunger, poor cat was thinning by the day).

His tube was removed a month later and visits moved to once every 3 weeks. It's been continuing since then with me and my mom paying 50/50 for the costs. I missed a university travel to Athens because I couldn't afford it (something I'll never admit to my parents, I pretended there was drama and I didn't want to get involved) and I guess I won't leave the country this year. Honestly I'd have cut both arms to save that cat so it's a small price.

The people at the hospital love him too. He's really friendly so students can take his blood and try to take his heartbeat without worries. Problem is that he purrs too loud for a good lung listening to take place. Turns out Sacha loves getting pets and attention from groups of students and doctors who give him treats and headpats. He has done more drugs than me and has a better date game than me.

It's been quite a while now. Sacha's been doing really well and the recent reports note that he is in remission. I may have cried when I read that mail ngl. He goes outside and killed a big pigeon a few weeks ago. He plays with the other cats, he really likes Settra and for the first time in his life he does playfight. Bagheera likes him as a punching bag despite being smaller than him. My mom stays with him everyday and I visit half of the days of the week. He eats like a lion too, he went from 3 kilos to 4.7 kilos when he was last checked this Wednesday.

I guess this is a selfish post, it's kind of my way of both thanking the people who helped me like my mom, the docs and my Spanish teacher, without having to say thank you to their faces yet again, and a way of making my cat immortal in a way. Even with all the help, Sacha's gonna be gone one day, hopefully in a very long time. But this post'll remain for a while more so there'll be a trace of what humans did for that cat.

I also wanted to say that please don't be afraid to go to universitary pet hospitals if you have the means to afford it. It's a scary place, I didn't even know it existed but these people aren't out there vivisecting animals. They're really nice. And don't give up too early on stuff that matters to you, it's really worth to keep going, at least in this case.

And if you could do a few prayers for Sacha, that'd genuinely mean a lot to me.

Anyway here is the cat tax. I've included quite a few pics so this post can be even longer than it is.

Sacha as he was before he got sick:

Sacha as he was in October:

(Don't mind his lack of fur that's because he had too many knots and drastic measures had to be taken)

Sacha as he is now:

Sacha with Bagheera, on their favorite blankets.

Sacha and Settra begging to go outside (it's raining! I open the door and they don't leave!)

I love you, you dumb orange fuck.

[bretongirlwrites]

from the worldbuilding prompts - #30 for Julianne?

30. Dubious at-home cures for mild ailments

(or: why shepherd's pie has the cure disease attribute)

‘O damnation,’ said I, ‘o damnable, damnable thing! – I have got a cold.’

I must have got it in the before-times: since damnable and inconvenient the plains of Oblivion had been, I could not recall any daedra sneezing on me; the same however, could not be said of the mages, who’d come in droves from the snow into the Guild-hall. I should sooner have a thousand sneezing mages than a single moment in the Deadlands: but waking up after the latter fact, with one’s throat dryer than in the fires of Oblivion, and one’s nose running fit to flee some dremora, – it is the last straw.

‘I ought not to complain,’ said I looking at Corinne and Martin quite piteously: ‘I shall survive at least.’

‘Oh!’ said Corinne: ‘both you and Martin know a good deal of healing-magics, –’

‘Would it surprise you to learn, my dear Corinne,’ said I, ‘that try as we might, – and it’s our collective headache,’ my head pounding a little with the effort of it, ‘– no mage nor alchemist nor healer has ever managed to cure the common cold?’

Martin, who had been building our fire, looked at me with such astonishment, that I wondered at his ignorance of it: considered that people had surely come to him with the most terrible of diseases and afflictions and ailments, – but never thought, in the grip of such a pathetic malady as this, to go to a priest. Corinne, likewise baffled, could only pity me; and from some deep devoted place in her Blades armour, offer me her handkerchief. 

‘And especially not,’ said I, ‘in the middle of absolute nowhere. – Damn it all. – What do we still have in rations?

‘There used to be,’ I persisted, while Corinne was fetching the bags, ‘a woman of questionable skill in the City, who purporting to be a healer, sold her cure-alls at such remarkable prices, that the Society for Concerned Merchants was overwhelmed by the real alchemists; and the University investigated. – What on this beloved planet is this?’

‘Dried mutton,’ said Corinne, ‘I think.’

‘It turned out,’ I went on, ‘that this woman, unable to afford and maintain the proper equipment, did a sort of rudimentary alchemy in her marmite. In essence she was making soup. The remarkable thing is that, – though it did not cure anything, – her soup actually worked for certain reliefs. A sort of advanced wortcraft. – I presume this is a potato?’

The thing was so grubby, that even after washing it, I still feared to mistake it for a boulder, and lose it. Corinne however, who had got the water up to the boil, encouraged me to do whatever it was I was doing; and Martin, who was too tired to do anything but watch, awaited with a smile, the continuation of the story.

‘She held this against us,’ said I, ‘and the case stood. It’s the City… after all. She was allowed to continue practising, so long as she did not use the word potion. Such a word implies proper alchemy, and you know how it is… it did not much matter anyway. The last I heard of her, she’d gone over to Skyrim. Apparently they are fond of soup over there; and not so much of potions, – o my voice is going, –’

It had not been much of a dawn, – what with my cold; and the fog; and the memory of tribulations past: but when the water was bubbling, and our thoughts were all turned to sustenance, we may stretch our legs a little, and yawning, smile round at each other; no voices necessary. I almost forgot all else, in my memory of the story, the City which lay faint on the horizon: and when my experiment was ready, said only, and with increasing frogs:

‘I admired her. I really did. There’s a sort of expectation on us, to do things properly. Her things did not work as well as ours did: but they worked, they damn well worked. I haven’t often imitated her, until, – called by necessity, –’

Whereupon I, with a flourish and the nearest stick to a spoon I could find, poured out my creation into a bottle that Martin held out. 

‘There you have it,’ said I, ‘a potion, of fortify health, of restore fatigue: a soup-potion! I cannot cure a cold: but it will keep me going until Bruma, –’

‘It’s a shepherd’s pie,’ said Corinne at once voice rising: ‘a liquified shepherd’s pie. – A shepherd’s pie, in a bottle. – You could have made a damn shepherd’s pie.’

I fell silent halfway to drinking it. – Corinne looked at me. – I sheepish, looked away, at Martin. – And he though consternated, – and she though troubled, – and I though in the midst of the most inconvenient cold of my life, – raised a toast of pie-soup: and burst out laughing.