#getting nice messages now; part of it feels like getting a letter that was sent from 5 years ago and only receiving it now

[avatar-anna]

Unknown Number

someone made a request about reader accidentally being given harry's number, but i accidentally deleted it, so if you requested it, here it is!

(the text chain will be from harry's point of view)

italics: y/n (unknown number)

bold: harry

Part Two

Part Three

Unknown Number (UN): heyy. i had a really good time the other night. maybe we could do it again sometime? xx (click to download image)

Harry Styles (HS): How did you get this number?

UN: you gave it to me?

UN: last night at the pub? marcus, right?

HS: No. You have the wrong number.

UN: is this a joke? are you fucking with me right now?

HS: No.

UN: oh my god

UN: i feel like such an idiot

UN: one of the first times a guy gives me his number at a bar and he gives me the wrong number

UN: probably on purpose too

UN: i should've known when he left his OWN APARTMENT the next morning but i was actually hopeful

UN: and now i've made an ass of myself here too. sorry to bother you i'll leave you alone. sorry again

(one hour later)

HS: It's okay. Sorry about that guy. Sounds like a jerk.

(twenty minutes later)

UN: it's fine, i guess

UN: i wasn't in love with him or anything but he could've had the decency of expressing his disinterest himself instead of hiding behind a fake number.

HS: That is quite a dick move.

HS: I'm not gonna lie, I wasn't expecting that text. I didn't open the picture either by the way.

UN: thank you. for a moment i was worried i was messaging a creep, but hopefully you're not a creep

UN: i mean you could be still and i'd have no idea

UN: maybe i should stop texting you

(ten minutes later)

HS: I'm not a creep.

UN: that's exactly what a creep would say

HS: I don't really know how to prove it to you. You're the one who sent me a photo of yourself half naked. You could be the creep.

UN: you said you didn't open it!

HS: I was trying to be polite!

UN: great now some 40 year old living in his parents basement has one of my nudes

HS: I'm not 40! And I don't live in my parents basement

UN: you text like an old man

HS: wuld u rather i txt like ths???

UN: no but i'm just saying i don't know many people my age who use proper punctuation in text messages

HS: Well I might not be your age, but I'm certainly not 40

UN: "certainly not." you're right. you sound like my grandpa

HS: I suddenly regret restarting a conversation with you

UN: you know despite the fact that you might be catfishing me, i've enjoyed this. i feel like i'm doing what all the other teen girls did in high school at sleepovers

HS: So you're out of high school.

UN: creep!

HS: You outed yourself, that's not on me.

UN: you...might be right

UN: can you tell me something about yourself to make it even? there's always a possibility that you could be lying and i have no reason to trust you, but...idk i feel like i can

HS: Well that's stupid.

HS: But I suppose since I've already seen you partially naked...

UN: i'm blocking your number

HS: My first name is H, and I'm 20 years old.

UN: h? just the letter h?

HS: You could be a creep too for all I know

UN: fair enough. i'm june

HS: Full name? Wow, you really are a dummy.

UN: don't get your 60 year old panties in a twist. it's a nickname

HS: June is a nickname?

HS: And I'm not 60.

UN: june. june bug. that's what the folks call me

HS: Folks? Now who sounds old?

UN: whatever

(thirty minutes later)

HS: Well, it was nice talking to you, June. June bug.

UN: you too h

(three days later)

June (J): you're a guy right?

HS: I'm sorry?

J: well when i first texted you i thought you were a guy, but you weren't THAT guy, so i have no idea

J: i just assumed but i thought i would ask

J: plus i need solicited guy advice and if you're not a creep i would really appreciate it

HS: We're back to me being a creep?

J: it's a risk every time i text you

J: so? are you a dude?

HS: Yes.

J: great! can i ask you something?

HS: Um...I guess...

J: ok. would you ever get offended if a woman covered their drink during a conversation with you?

HS: I'm not following...

J: like say we're at a bar and we're talking and i turn my head away for some reason but i put my hand over my drink until i look back at you to prevent it from being spiked. would you be offended by that?

HS: No. Why?

J: see? i don't think that's unreasonable. some loser got mad at me for doing that. well EXCUSE ME for not immediately trusting the guy i matched with on tinder

J: who was not as cute in real life i might add

HS: You don't have the best taste in guys.

J: that is not advice!

HS: Okay, here's my advice: don't swipe right on guys who have mirror selfies in their profile.

J: ...

J: ok fair enough but it's not like prince charmings are falling from the sky. it's hard out here

HS: I'm sure.

J: what you don't have the same problem?

HS: I don't really date.

J: in like a douchey way? are you one of those guys who say they just fuck?

HS: I just don't have time for dating, I guess.

J: so no special someone?

HS: No.

(four hours later)

HS: If you asked for advice, does that mean I can too?

(one hour later)

J: sorry i was at work

J: and i don't see why not

HS: What do you think about guys who wear skinny jeans?

J: hm...i think styled right it could be nice

J: YSL is kind of pushing the whole skinny jeans and chelsea boots thing which might eventually trickle down to the losers i match with on tinder so...why not? i say dress how you want

J: any guy who has a good sense of style is sexy to me

J: sorry if that wasn't the answer you were looking for

HS: Yes and no. I've been experimenting with different styles. Sometimes I get a little in my head about it.

J: doesn't everyone?

HS: I guess you're right.

HS: Do you follow fashion shows and things like that?

HS: That's not too personal, is it?

J: no, but it's kind of embarrassing

HS: Not as embarrassing as sending a complete stranger a picture of yourself in your bra

J: harsh...but fair

J: fashion is kind of my religion

J: i'm trying to become a stylist. keyword trying

HS: That's cool!

J: tell that to my family

HS: they don't support you?

J: nope! but i'm gonna do it anyway!

HS: Do you have a favorite designer?

J: it kinda depends on the year and who was creative director at the time, but the first time i got my hands on vintage vivienne westwood i was hooked

J: you?

HS: I'm just starting to explore the fashion world I guess you could say.

J: well lucky for you i happen to be a bit of an encyclopedia when it comes to house codes

HS: House codes?

J: oh boy. i hope you're comfortable. we might be here a while

(two days later)

HS: Have you ever had rumors spread about you?

J: i don't think so

J: oh wait! in eighth grade this girl in my class told everyone i made out with a boy at the school dance which was NOT true

J: it was just a peck

HS: Naughty.

J: it was harmless. why do you ask?

HS: There's a rumor going around about me. It's just frustrating when people actually believe it. sometimes it gets to the point where i start to believe it myself.

J: i'm sorry. i won't pry or anything, but i know what it feels like to not be understood

HS: I just hate the feeling of being under a microscope. It's exhausting. I feel like my life isn't my own sometimes.

J: that sucks

J: sorry that was in no way helpful, but i don't really know what to say. is there someone you can talk to about this?

HS: ...

J: oh! i actually feel kind of honored

J: well, obviously i don't know the whole situation, but maybe try and surround yourself with people who don't scrutinize you so much?

HS: Easier said than done.

J: true but i think if you have a solid group of people who know you and understand you and like you for who you are, it's easier to deal with things like rumors and being under the proverbial microscope, you know?

J: and don't be afraid to get rid of the toxic people in your life! it's not easy but you'll be better off in the long run

HS: sometimes it's hard to tell who's toxic and who's not

J: start with the people who would never believe a rumor about you, or the ones who would never START one about you

HS: Well said, June Bug.

J: thanks! maybe i should entertain a career in counseling

(one month later)

HS: Why June Bug?

J: i was born in the summer. it was a nickname my grandparents gave me. been called that ever since

HS: That's sweet.

J: there are worse nicknames i suppose. i have a cousin that got stuck with chip because he used to stuff his face like a chipmunk when he was little

HS: Yikes.

J: you're telling me

(three weeks later)

J: have you ever danced alone in your bedroom to stevie nicks?

HS: Have you?

J: i have, and can i just say she does NOT get enough credit as a songwriter?

HS: Edge of Seventeen?

J: edge of seventeen

J: i went on a date last week with a guy who had the AUDACITY to call her music mediocre

HS: You didn't see him again did you?

J: ...

HS: June!

J: just once! and only because he had really nice hands

HS: I don't get how that would make you stay with a stevie hater...

J: REALLY nice hands ;)

HS: You disappoint me sometimes.

J: ;))))

(fifteen minutes later)

J: hey you never answered my question about dancing in your room!

HS: ...No comment...

(one week later)

J: you ever been in love, h?

HS: I can't say that I have. Have you?

J: no ://

J: i think i want it too much. i've always just been in love with the idea of falling in love, you know?

J: but the reality isn't what i thought it would be

HS: I'm sorry.

HS: It probably won't help but I'm sure you'll find someone. You seem like a great person. Anyone would be lucky to be with you.

J: aw h you're making me blush!

HS: But perhaps you should stop looking for love on a hookup app

J: annnd good feeling gone

(two weeks later)

HS: Guess who has two thumbs and got invited to Paris Fashion Week!

J: no fair!

J: and that joke doesn't work if i can't see you point to yourself. it doesn't work period

HS: I will let that slide because I know you're just jealous.

J: are you kidding me? OF COURSE i'm jealous! i can't believe you get to see Alessandro Michele's work up close

HS: Who?

J: don't think because we only communicate through text that i can't strangle you

HS: Relax. I'm only joking.

HS: Alessandro is a friend ;))

(ten minutes later)

J: sorry i just had to scream into my pillow

J: what exactly do you do again?

HS: I told you. I work in the industry.

J: but that could mean anything! the cosmetics industry, the movie industry, the meat packing industry...

HS: Meat packing?

J: you know what i mean!

HS: I do a lot of PR.

J: see. that wasn't so hard now was it?

HS: Can I go back to gloating?

J: only if you promise to give me a full report afterwards you go to all the shows

HS: Deal.

(four days later)

HS: Favorite movie?

J: that's hard...

J: it's probably cliche but the devil wears prada

HS: Good choice.

J: what about you?

HS: The Notebook.

J: really?

HS: Yes. Why?

J: do you say that to impress girls or because it's actually your favorite?

HS: Would you rather I have said a film with lots of car chases?

J: no

J: but i went out with a guy who was a film major once

HS: Is that a bad thing?

J: let's just say it won't be happening again

J: he thought he was superior for disliking popular movies. i hate that

HS: Well, I love The Notebook and I love Ryan Gosling

J: now THAT is something we can agree on!

(six weeks later)

J: BIG NEWS

J: LIKE HUGE

J: GROUNDBREAKING

HS: And here I was thinking you forgot about me.

J: i texted you yesterday

HS: You asked me if my dick could move on its own.

J: a legitimate question! i nearly had a heart attack when i saw it in person

J: but i was also weirdly fascinated. my question was purely scientific!

HS: You said you had news?

J: right!

(twenty minutes later)

HS: Are you making me wait to create anticipation?

J: no sorry i got a phone call.

J: i got my first real gig as a stylist

HS: That's great! Congratulations!

J: thanks

HS: You don't sound excited anymore. What happened to all caps?

J: my mother happened

HS: Still not on board, then?

J: she told me it was a waste of time and that i should get a real job

HS: You're still gonna take it though right?

J: i don't know. maybe she's right. the pay is less than ideal. more like i'm being paid in experience, and it's not the clientele i was imagining...

HS: But it's a foot in the door, right? That's something.

J: i guess

HS: Make connections. Get good references. And who knows, you might actually enjoy yourself.

J: you're right.

J: it's for some up and coming band that's going on tour. pretty sure i was what they could afford

HS: Don't sell yourself short. You're gonna do great.

J: thanks. i hardly even know you and you're currently my biggest supporter

HS: What happened to Bill?

J: ancient history

HS: What was wrong with him? He seemed nice.

J: yeah

J: his girlfriend thought so too.

HS: On behalf of all men: Sorry. We truly are the worst.

J: agreed. what about you? still single?

HS: Yes, though people keep trying to set me up on dates.

J: the horror!

HS: Ha ha

HS: I just want to meet someone on my own terms.

J: i get that

J: i just want to meet someone who's actually a decent human being

HS: I'll be on the lookout.

(three weeks later)

J: i think i've decided that tour life is not for me

HS: oh?

J: yeah. sitting on a bus for hours and hours with only myself to keep me company? no thanks

HS: it can't just be you on the bus can it?

J: no but i have a hard time making friends right away. and a lot of the crew for this tour are older than me

HS: are your clients nice at least?

J: yeah. one of them tried to hit on me, which i guess i should take as a compliment, but i am on the clock. no flirting for me

HS: a professional then. or are you not into the musician type?

J: not sure. i haven't dated one before

J: i told you that the other day

HS: right. must've slipped my mind

HS: but back to taste in men. is it all about looks for you or do you like funny guys?

HS: are you the type to sleep with someone on the first date? because i feel like that's very telling about a girl

J: who is this?

HS: what do you mean? it's me

J: it's not. you're not texting like a middle aged woman and you're acting like a total ass

HS: Sorry. I thought I'd try something new. And I was just curious. Can't blame a guy for asking right? You did send some guy you barely knew a picture of yourself

HS: It was very wholesome by the way. Maybe try a little more skin next time and you'll get the response you want. You can practice here if you'd like.

J: oh my god

HS: What?

J: this was a mistake. i'm such an IDIOT

J: was this some kind of prank?

J: whoever you are, you're sick

J: don't text me again

HS: June, I'm so sorry. That was my friend he was just being stupid.

HS: Last time I leave my phone anywhere.

HS: June?

HS: June please.

HS: That wasn't me I swear!

HS: I'm sorry.

(three weeks later)

HS: Day 21 of trying to get you to respond.

HS You probably blocked me which is fine. I don't blame you.

HS: But if you DO happen to read these and are just ignoring me...

HS: I'm sorry. Again. For like the millionth time.

J is typing...

HS: June?

J: i should've blocked you

HS: Why didn't you?

J: because as insane as it sounds, you've become a close friend

HS: I feel the same. I'm really sorry about before. I swear it was one of my mates. I would never say something like that.

J: that's what makes this whole thing crazy! i don't actually know you, so how do i know if i can trust you?

HS: I mean you even noticed that he wasn't texting like me. I would never ask you questions like that, June. I never have.

HS: And I do NOT text like a middle aged woman by the way

J: i guess that's true

J: i think it just doubled down the fact that we don't actually know each other. this whole thing is ridiculous if you think about it too long. it gives me a headache sometimes.

J: i know we've joked about it but...this could be potentially dangerous

HS is typing...

HS: I could send you a voice note.

J: you would do that?

HS: You're right. This whole thing is ridiculous but...I don't know, I trust you, and I consider you a friend.

J: a friend you say?

HS: That's all I'm willing to admit for one day

J: and what about tomorrow?

HS is typing...

HS (voice recording): Maybe tomorrow I'll admit a little more.

(one day later)

Y/n hated how much her stomach flipped every time her phone pinged with a new message.

It was so reckless and dangerous and utterly ridiculous. She didn't know who H was, she didn't even know what time zone he lived in, and yet she felt like she knew him.

And after hearing his deep voice—deep British voice—on the voice recording, Y/n determined that he wasn't some creep in his forties like she'd originally thought.

Since sending that voice recording, they'd sent each other messages like that all night. And by all night she meant all night. They stayed up late sending voice recordings back and forth. It was the longest conversation they'd held to date, which was surprising considering that they often missed each other during certain hours. Just based on what hours of the day they texted the most, Y/n figured H lived somewhere in Europe, which gave her peace of mind considering he couldn't exactly kidnap her if he was a whole ocean away. But the last couple weeks their schedules seemed to be lining up, though Y/n chalked it up to all the traveling she'd been doing lately.

One thing she was certain of was that she adored H's voice. It was soft and deep, but got raspier the longer they spoke. And at times he would whisper in his messages, like he had to keep his voice down. The hushed tones made her shiver.

Y/n didn't call H, and he never offered. But she wanted to, boy did she want to. No matter how terrifying that thought was. A full-fledged phone call seemed more...real to Y/n. With the messages, she and H were still in their little bubble. It was stupid, but she needed that bit of separation. She was becoming attached to someone she'd never met.

Walking through the halls of a stadium in Canada, Y/n pulled up past conversations with H. It was too embarrassing to admit to anyone out loud, but she felt like she really knew him. He was endearing, had a silly sense of humor, had good taste in music, and was honest. Well, as honest as either of them could be. Outside of the one slip up with H's friend, Y/n believed what he said to her over text. Maybe that made her naive, but their conversations were legit. He felt like a friend, and she knew he felt similarly.

Maybe tomorrow I'll admit a little more.

Y/n had no idea what that could mean. She of course knew what she wanted it to mean, but what she wanted rarely ever lined up with reality.

Y/n looked up from her phone to make sure she didn't pass the right door. The one in front of her read, Harry Styles in big bold lettering. She quickly hurried past and continued down the hall to where the dressing room for Five Seconds of Summer was.

Harry Styles was a bit of an enigma. Even though she was on the same tour as him and One Direction, Y/n hardly ever saw him. And when she did, his nose was always in his phone, completely closed off to the world around him. He just had this vibe that said, "don't talk to me," and Y/n received that message loud and clear. The Five Seconds of Summer boys seemed to get on with all the members of One Direction, but Y/n usually made herself scarce whenever they came by the dressing room, for no other reason than too much testosterone in one room.

"You want to come out after the show, Harry?" Y/n heard one of the boys ask. Michael.

"Um...No. I think I'll have to pass tonight, boys. Sorry."

"What? Big date tonight?"

"Something like that."

Y/n felt frozen to the linoleum floor. She knew that voice. She'd spent all night listening to that voice.

"Holy shit."

[imahinatjon]

How it feels to be ignored PT1

Dazai & Chuuya ⛈️

In which they ignore you and it reveals some problems with your relationship

Part 2

Dazai

Its been over 24 hours now and he hasn't texted you back. You know he's okay because he's been online and he's seen your message - that and you asked Yosano to make sure he hadn't successfully died or something.

But nope, he's fine.

You don't think he did it on purpose, probably just quickly checked your message made a mental note to check it later, which he subsequently forgot about. Still, it hurts.

It also has you thinking. You've been in a relationship with this man since he was in the Mafia. You never were part of the Mafia, just someone he met during his time there, and someone he got into a relationship with.

Even when he ran away from the Mafia he kept things going with you, and even now he's part of the armed detective agency, he's still going with you, and you love him more than ever now. But it just doesn't feel the same.

You don't want to hog all his attention, but it somehow feels that he gives you even less attention now than he used too. He forgets about you often, doesn't reply to your messages, forgets that he agreed to come over, forgets when he's arranged to meet you.

You always message Yosano to ask if he's still there or if she knows where he is 30 minutes after the arranged time for your dates, and come to learn that he's perfectly fine, just caught up doing other things.

You just feel... left behind. Like your part of his past that he's slowly letting go of as he gets on with his new life. Just another thing for him to leave and forget about.

You even briefly wonder if there's someone else, but you trust him enough to not be like that.

It does little to provide you any relief though.

You can't take it anymore.

--------

It's been 2 weeks since he last saw you, your last date having been a quick walk through the park - which was nice, but... it didn't change your mind.

You decided not to arrange any plans with him after that, and wait for him to arrange with you. But he didn't. And so now? You head into the ADA office, ready to break up with him. Preferably not infront of all his coworkers, you will of course ask to talk in private.

Alas, he isn't there. Ranpo and Yosano are present in the office, talking by the formers desk, they catch sight of you by the door, both giving you a sympathetic look. Yosano knows what your here too do, and ranpo being - well, ranpo, you assume he knows too.

"He's out at the moment. You just missed him" yosano tells you.

"Oh..."

"You could... write a letter and leave it here? We'll make sure to give it to him"

"I... okay"

You reluctantly agree and yosano gives you everything you need to begin, even Pulling out a chair so you can sit at one of the current vacant desks to write.

And with the detective and doctor looking over your shoulder, you begin your letter.

"Dazai..."

Chuuya

Chuuya didn't usually ignore you, so when he did, you didn't worry too much. At least until it had passed 1 day mark, then you worried a little - you knew the nature of what he did, but also knew he could handle himself.

Still, it concerned you a little when you sent him a message on a day you knew he had no work and he still hadn't replied to you a day and a half later.

Now, you weren't an idiot, and knew what this was probably about - his work. He'd voiced his concerns before, at the start of your relationship, and again during - he's worried about your safety. It's why he rarely ignored your messages and even checked in with you often, he cares, a lot. That just happens to mean he also worries a lot too.

And he does this sometimes. Just stops replying to your messages, hoping you'll drift away and leave him - find someone new and much less dangerous. In the end he usually came back, apologising and telling you about how worried he was feeling and what his intentions were. And fine, sure... but, it had been upsetting you over and over for a while so whatever his reason was rendered pointless now - hell, shouldn't have even been a reason in the first place, it was a shitty thing to do. You know it, he knows it, even the clerk in the coffee shop you frequent knows it - she's been telling you to just do it and break up with him for ages "since that's what he so desperately wants"

She did clarify to you that she didn't mean that sincerely since he's proven time and time again that he doesn't want to break up with you, but she also said that you can't keep doing it. Can't be trapped in an endless cycle that was clearly impacting you more than you initially realised.

You listened to her, because of course you did, there was sense in what she was saying. He cared about you and you cared about him, but you needed to take care of yourself first and foremost - and staying around waiting for him to realise himself was not doing you any favors. It was an emotional rollercoaster.

And enough was enough.

So when he came back, it was the final time. On your doorstep in the rain, you told him it was over - just like he wanted.

You knew it was a lie, you knew that wasn't what he (or you) wanted, but you believed if to be for the best. You couldn't carry on.

And he accepted that. Played as though that's what he'd been waiting for this whole time. Bid you farewell and wished you luck in the future, before walking away, soaked in the rain.

Even if it made you feel a little bad, you didn't go chasing after him.

_________________________________________

My own boyfriend keeps forgetting to reply to me 🥲

I wrote this to feel better lol. Will check it at a later date for any errors and such.

[inevesgf]

happy birthday • carlos sainz

request rules here!

request ➔ hi love it’s my birthday so do you think you could write something for carlos pampering the reader on her birthday?

authors note ꕤ of course, here you go! i’m a little late to this so happy belated birthday x hope this is a good late bday gift. this one is a little sappy tbh .. also, new account layout, what do we think?!

birthdays were always special for you; they were a day where you could relax, party: basically do anything your heart desired. you usually had a small party with friends: one that resulted in a horrible hangover the next day, but this year, you weren’t feeling it. on this particular occasion, all you could have ever asked for was to be in the presence of who you loved most and that just happened to be your loving boyfriend.

loving boyfriend was maybe an understatement because you practically had carlos wrapped around you finger. anchor and chain, you had him sinking under your love. now with race season occurring, he seemed to always be busy. of course, he still made plenty of time for you, but part of you still missed having your lazy days in with him.

after spending the first part of your morning sleeping in, you were sad when you woke up to an empty bed. with races and practices, carlos was almost always busy, but you understood. saying he would be there for your birthday, your heart couldn’t help but break when you realized he wasn’t there. you rolled over out of bed, grabbing your phone to check and see if he had messaged you any warning. like you had expected, there had been one message from carlos. “happy birthday, mi hermosa chica ♡” it read, a small smile rising to your face, but falling slightly once you read the rest. “ran out for a bit, i’ll see you soon.” that message having been sent an hour ago, you had hoped soon would be in a matter of minutes.

you finally rolled out of bed, walking to the bathroom where you had laid out a cute birthday outfit. you spent your time getting ready, waiting to hear the door open, the call of his voice, or any other sign that said carlos was home. you lightly applied makeup to your face, putting on carlos’ favorite lip stick shade of yours. even though you had been together for quite some time, you always loved seeing his face light up and the compliments that would come with it. the clock on the bedside table read 10am as you brought yourself lazily to the kitchen. todays mood was meant to be cheerful, but carlos missing created a hint of sadness in the air that you had mistaken for guilt.

you felt guilty. you knew carlos was busy, you respected his job, but you still couldn’t help but wish you had woken up in his arms. it was a sense of jealousy that had formed in your stomach, but it slowly hindered once you had noticed the bright bouquet of flowers on the kitchen island. a big bouquet of red roses sat nicely decorated in a large white vase, rose petals and a card placed around it. a smile crept onto your face, grabbing the card as you opened it. it was lovely letter, wrote with care, marked with carlos’ signature at the bottom. you still couldn’t help but wish he was there with you, but the sadness hindered at the lovely letter. filled with love confessions he had spoke softly to you throughout your whole relationship, you tucked it away for safe keeping.

the first hour of your morning was lazy. what started off with planning a meal for breakfast resulted in you sitting at the kitchen island scrolling endlessly through instagram. you felt extremely lazy, but your special day was the perfect excuse to relax. your time at ease was interrupted with the door opening; carlos was home. suddenly, your laziness and fatigue disappeared and you felt as if you could run a marathon. “where is my special birthday girl?” his voice rang out throughout the home, and like a child, you rounded the corner to the front door with a large smile on your face. “hi, baby.” you whispered, approaching carlos for a hug when you noticed the two large boxes in his hand. “i got you some gifts.” carlos smiled ear to ear. he loved to spoil you with stupid souvenirs from races you couldn’t attend, snacks from the shops, and your favorite, his love. “well the flowers were beautiful.” you smiled, kissing his cheek as he ushered you over to the kitchen. “you’re going to love it, mi amor, it’s all hand picked by the best gift giver.” carlos smirked, setting them down on the kitchen island next to the roses. “and who is that?” you teased, draping your arms around his neck as you turned your gaze up to reach his. “me, obviously.” he spoke, placing a soft kiss on your lips. “now please open your gifts, the anticipation is killing me.” carlos’ excitement was funny to you, having you huff sarcastically before pulling away from his embrace.

you sat yourself on one of the stools, looking over for a reassuring look from carlos before you grabbed one of the boxes. “i really hope you like it.” a cheeky smile plastered on his face, both your excitement growing. “i’m sure i will, you always give the best gifts.” since you could sense carlos’ impatience, you started to unwrap the intricately wrapped box, pulling out yet a smaller box from inside. you pulled the flaps down, opening the box that revealed a beautifully decorated cake, ‘happy birthday’ wrote in pink icing. “it’s so cute! what flavor is it?” you smiled, looking over at carlos who had a proud look on his face. “red velvet of course, i know its your favorite.” it pleased you to know that carlos knew you so well. from everything down to your favorite color and your favorite film, he knew every detail of your mind. “you are so adorable, pretty boy.” you smiled satisfied as you gave him another hug, to which he pulled you close in by the waist. placing a small kiss to your temple, he looked down at you. “we can mope around later, just please open the other one, chica amante.” once again with his impatience, you wasted no time in grabbing the other box and opening it. inside laid a collar, one for a dog, that was pink with small flowers on it. “you’ve got to be joking me..” you whispered, a suprised look on your face that was the opposite of carlos’ gleeful one. “she’s outside.” he spoke, causing your jaw to drop. “you didn’t— there’s no way!” without responding to you, carlos ushered you to the front door and out to the porch where on a leash sat the cutest golden retriever puppy you had ever seen. “i know you’ve been wanting a little doggy to keep you company while i’m gone.” he smiled as you bent down to pet the dog, the dogs excitement to be pet mimicking yours in that moment.

“does she have a name?” you questioned, craning your head over to look up at carlos. “that’s your duty.” he smiled, kneeling down next to you as he began to pet the dog slowly. you thought for a moment, studying the dog. you always had to name everything perfectly. to dolls when you were younger and family pets; their names all had to match their face and personality. the baby puppy that wagged its tail infront of you had the longest eyelashes you had ever seen on a dog. they seemed to flutter in the wind like a beautiful butterfly and that gave you the perfect idea. “does she look like a mariposa to you?” you questioned to carlos, his face instantly lighting up with agreement. “absolutely, isn’t she perfect?” carlos smiled ear to ear, placing one of his hands on your back. “she is — and i couldn’t ask for a more perfect gift or a more perfect boyfriend.” the look on carlos’ face was one of flattery, as he leaned down to place a soft kiss on your lips. “you know i try.”

[officialgleamstar]

linda and autumn hug no 17!

listens to the song wasteland, baby! and stares at a wall and thinks about old woman yuri for ever and ever. not at all relevant to this fic, it just came on as i was writing this and now they'll forever be linked in my mind, i think

hug prompts! | ao3 link!

Linda struggled with the idea that she could just have affection now, that if she wanted it, she could just ask. Didn’t even need to ask, really, could just shuffle over and take it whenever she wanted.

She used to be a touchy person. Her parents and her friends all knew her as a girl who always had a hug available if someone wanted it. An adult life with Willy had snuffed out that spark and as much as she loved Ron, after his father’s death, neither of them had had the bravery to do much about the touch aversion they had developed.

She had a loving son. Ron loved to help her with her crafts and buy her groceries and generally assist her with anything she needed. Even throughout most teens’ moody years, he would sit by her side and crack dumb jokes to make her laugh. Risking their loving bond by bringing up the fact that they both flinched away from skin contact always felt like too big of a risk. They weren’t a touchy family, they never were, and Linda put aside the part of her that yearned for physical affection.

It had never seemed like the right time to come back to it, but standing in the midday sun streaming through her dining room, Linda was dragged back to that innate need. Autumn was hunched over a clunky laptop that Henry had handed off to her, hesitantly poking out a word by tapping each key one at a time. Linda wasn’t sure what she was doing - she had something about writing an email an hour ago, but Linda vainly hoped it wasn’t taking Autumn that long to write an email. Maybe it was. As scarily intelligent as Autumn was, all dry wit and intense focus and magic that swirled around her fingers, she had no grasp on modern technology. At times, the aversion felt purposeful, and Linda smiled at the thought.

It wasn’t like Linda was much better, really, but she could write an email. She had to when Ron kept sending her worrying chain mail that told her to forward to ten more people or else a terrible tragedy could befall her. She always had to check with Autumn to make sure that no spell was laced within the letters. Autumn had found no positives yet, but behind her back, Linda usually made sure to forward them anyways.

Thinking about it now, it sounded a little silly. Linda let out a breathy laugh. They really were just two old ladies, at the end of the day.

Autumn looked beautiful even as her face twisted with annoyance, hunting around for the next letter she had to punch in, and Linda started walking towards her. The wheels of her rollator spun near-silently as she rested her weight against it and Autumn didn’t seem to notice, too caught up in searching her keyboard. Linda paused before she reached Autumn’s chair, considering for a moment.

For all of her sharp edges, Autumn had never denied Linda’s need for affection. She was nothing like Willy. Linda took a steadying breath and pushed away from her rollator, taking the careful final steps to the back of Autumn’s chair. She wrapped her arms around Autumn’s shoulders, pulling her back, and Autumn tilted her head back to peer up at her. She didn’t seem entirely surprised and she gave Linda a warm smile.

“One of the twins sent me a YouTube video in an email,” she explained, sounding out the title of the website as two distinct words, and Linda smiled. “I’m just typing in the uh… the top bar message now, but it’s taking a while.”

“Did you try clicking the blue line to get to it?”

“You can do that?”

Linda chuckled, tilting her head to rest her cheek against the top of Autumn’s. Her partner shifted to accommodate, no complaints even implied through her body language, and Linda relaxed into the unconditional affection.

She always used to be touchy. It was nice to rediscover that feeling.

[thinplacesradio]

stacked sound equipment and a radio with glowing green numbers. the image is distorted by VCR static. white text reads:

[026] THE SEEKER... A CALLER WAITS. THE SEEKER HEARS A VOICE ON THE RADIO.

listen here, or anywhere you find your podcasts. transcript under the cut:

[static, radio tuning]

[traveling sales rep: don’t touch that dial! We’ll be right b-]

[a high-register voice, not the Host’s:]

Car radio, yet again. Fixed, for now. It’s from a 2005 Honda CR-V, which I know is old, but, as you know, it’s been acting up for months now, um, and it finally just gave out on me. I don’t even know what worked to resurrect it here, but, well. [tools moving] The mystery of life, I guess. I’m sure it’ll start jumping stations again any day now.

[beep]

I could use a distraction so we are back to the transmitter. I’m building it from scratch instead of from a kit, uh, which basically means I’m just buying the parts that would have been in the kit separately, so I don’t really know if I’m saving money here or losing it. [tools clink] It’s pretty much kid stuff, but hey. It’s nice to go back to the basics sometimes, I guess. I think just to make it interesting I might take one of the old desktops to see if I can link it to some visuals? With different colors representing, I dunno, different letters, maybe? Maybe… make it so the words will show up as you tap the code in? Or I could just leave it with the binary, do kind of a black and white thing. I don’t know. [sigh] I don’t know.

[beep]

[phone ringing] [voicemail]

Hey, it’s me, you know what to do!

[beep]

[phone ringing] [voicemail]

Hey, it’s me, you –

[beep]

No one knows where she is, why does nobody know where she is. I - I think there’s something wrong.

[beep]

[phone ringing]

We’re sorry. You have reached a number that has been disconnected, or is no longer in service. To -

[beep]

I didn’t quit my job today. This isn’t really a project log, but I almost quit my job today, and I didn’t, and I, I think that deserves to be noted down, somewhere. I love what I do. But - doing it doesn’t seem as important anymore when I could be looking for her. I know I haven’t found a single thing, but that’s no reason to stop. I - [sigh]

I don’t know why I’m talking around it like this. Someone that matters to me is gone, and no one knows what happened, or why, or if - 

I wish she was just ghosting me, specifically. Like, that’s not something I want, at all, but I would take it if it meant that she was safe, living her life somewhere else. [sigh]

I don’t. I don’t think she’s dead. I really hope she isn’t dead. Sometimes I’d be at work glancing at the chat and there would be no new messages. Or at home with my phone on the table building myself a new desktop, and there would be no new messages. But I could still feel her on the other side, connected to me with that, I don’t know, electronic tether. Even when she wasn’t there, it helped knowing that she was somewhere.

That’s how it feels, still. I think she’s somewhere. I just don’t know where.

[voicemail]

Hiiiii, iris! Hi-riss! That’s nothing, sorry.  I texted you but I guess you must’ve lost track of time? I’ll just scale the building here and crawl in the IT window - you guys have windows, right? I feel like I imagine you in like a scifi basement most of the time. Anyway. I’m here, I’ll see you soon. Get down here before I bribe the security guard to let me in. I... yeah. See ya. I’ll be here.

[beep]

[morse code beeping] 

T-E-S-T. S-O-S. [pause] Where… are… you? 

Stupid, Iris. Just, stupid.

[beep] [equipment rustling, clinking, scraping]

It was, um, same company, different cities. I called her on the phone before I ported in to fix her computer, and she was – warm? Tired. Not exactly funny, but trying to make me laugh. I didn’t, but I thought about it, just to see if she’d laugh back? She messaged me on the company chat after, to thank me, and sent me a link to an article we’d been talking about while I worked on her desktop. I don’t remember what it was about even though it feels like I should. There are a lot of things I’m already forgetting. But I messaged back, and then we didn’t stop messaging. Until eight months ago.

I always want to know more about everything. Too much, probably. I can never stop digging. But she was the only one who really wanted to know more about… me.

I’m glad I got to meet her, but - I was supposed to keep meeting her - I - 

[beep]

[morse code beeping]

Don’t… be… dead.

[beep] [equipment moving aggressively]

Rob told me today that if I’m not going to go out for drinks with them after work anymore my only hobby can’t be looking for someone who’s been missing for a year. Really kind of insensitive, honestly. [huff] But I have been reading too many police reports, so today I will be starting a new project altogether.

[beep]

It’s the car radio, again, always the car radio. I should just buy a new one at this point, but then I’d never find out what was wrong with this one. Alright, okay, we’re trying scanning again, here we go.

[channels scan] [we hear the Sales Rep, and then the Host, cutting in and out:]

- Thank you for - feel - on - as always, our number is 71–

[Iris scrambles to stop the station but misses it. She tries tuning it back.]

Wait, wait wait wait wait. W-wait wait wait. 102 point 1. Oh my god. Oh my God. Wait. Hold on. 102 point - Wait, come back. Come back. 

I don’t – I don’t understand – [the road prov-] that’s Ha -

[beep] [keyboard clacking] 

I’m not the only person who’s heard her. There are people on subreddits talking about catching a radio call-in show on one frequency, exactly when they needed to hear it, but then not finding it again when they look for it, but just - How do I not need to hear it?

Here’s what I know about “the Host,” from what they know about the Host. Um, she’s always moving somewhere. She cares about her listeners. She’s experiencing impossible things, and so are the people calling in. And there’s a number.

Here’s what I know about my friend. She listened. She hated her job and always wanted a longer break. She loves pigeons and thinks that if aliens exist they’re single celled and acidophilic. She misses her mom. She was always reaching out for something. She was my friend.

[frantic music begins]

I know her voice, even if I haven’t heard it again. I know it was her, and I know I’m going to hear it again. I’m going to find the station. I’m going to find her.

[static] [Traveling Sales Rep: visit us at the - diner just off -] [Various Garbled Voices: the - road - provides - the - road - provides -]

Thin Places Radio is a podcast written by Kristen O’Neal and produced by Kaitlin Bruder. 

The voice of Iris is Kaitlin Bruder. 

The voice of H[static] is Kristen O’Neal. 

Editing and sound design are by Kaitlin Bruder, and the music track you heard in tonight’s episode is: Junoon by RANA. If you have a question to ask, a story to tell, or a suggestion for the host, give us a call at ‪(717) 382-8093. The lines are always open.

[Junoon plays]

[star-gazer101]

Ortho, Letters and Puns!

Part One Part Two Part 3 Part 4 

Pairing: Idia Shroud x Reader

Characters: Ortho Shroud and Idia Shroud

Warnings: OOC-ness, a few puns, and a little bit of cursing

AN: Sorry it took so long. I was originally going to post on Valentine's Day, but had a hard time with the chapter’s ending until now. Hope you enjoy!

- Out of all things Ortho has seen and experienced, seeing the highs and lows of others–playing matchmaker was not one of them!

It had been three days since he had last seen his brother back in NRC and already his brother was working non-stop to gain the Prefect’s affections just as soon as he got back.

Rows upon rows of internet forums asking about what was a good gift for a potential significant other and so many, MANY unfinished products scattered across his desk that it became too much to bear!

Wasn’t the custom dorm uniform enough?!

“Brother, maybe you should take a break from this. You’ve been wearing yourself thin, more so than you usually do…”

“I just can’t Ortho!” Came the usual reply. “If I can’t find something they’re bound to like, they’ll come to realize just how pathetic I am and never talk to me again!”

And that’s how these past few days have been: Difficult to the very end. 

The young Shroud had suggested a different method of courtship that he had heard from a fellow, loud, first year, and then suddenly regretted it when Idia actually decided it was the better option.

Him and his big mouth! But he cared for his brother too much to say no…

Now here Ortho was; designed to fit the theme of messenger boy, to deliver letters to Ramshackle Dorm. 

Fortunately, the Prefect found him adorable as they accepted the message. (And promised to hang out once this job is over.)

Unfortunately, Grim would sometimes open the door. He really did not want to think about that incident ever again.

Thankfully there had been more upsides than downsides to this situation. However, he did wonder what his brother had sent them.

A poem perhaps?

Probably not. Idia is terrible when it comes to writing poetry.

-

“Here Prefect.”

“Oh, thank you Ortho! It’s always nice to hear from your brother whenever I’m away!”

“And big bro feels the same way! Hopefully you’ll have time to visit?”

“Not at the moment I’m afraid. The Headmage has me in a chokehold and won’t let me go until the work is finished. So…Maybe tomorrow afternoon? Just promise me to save me a spot at lunch with the others. It’ll be awhile before I’m done with whatever the hell he has on my ‘to do list’.”

Ortho sighed for what felt like the tenth time since he last saw you. And just as he promised, he made sure that there was a reserved spot as the other fellow first years joined him. Everything seemed perfectly normal…

Until Ace noticed he didn’t have his school uniform design on.

“So, Ortho. What’s with the lame get up? It’s even weirder than Loosey Deucey when he has to feed the flamingos.” (Which quickly earned him a kick to his leg by none other than Deuce himself.)

“Don’t insult my brother’s work,” Ortho warned with a glare. “But I have to agree with you on it. It does feel a little embarrassing,” he added with another sigh.

“Sounds rough.” Ace could not help but sympathize. “So what did you do to piss off your brother?”

So in the end, Ortho explained everything. From the delivery of messages and his dilemma of wanting to help his brother, but not wanting to continue being his delivery boy. There was a solidary of understanding between all of the first years at that moment. And Ortho for the first time felt relieved. 

“If you really feel that way, I think it’s best if you tell him. Don’t beat around the bush, just get straight to the point.”

Guess there’s no way of avoiding it…

-

“I’m really sorry, Ortho.”

In the end, Ortho didn’t have to say much. Just by expression alone, Idia could tell how stressed he was when he got back.

Was this the gift of discovering new emotions?

“It’s okay, brother. You didn’t know.”

“Of course I didn’t! But I should have known better! How am I supposed to be your older brother if I don’t notice how exhausted you are?”

“Idia.” Ortho had to put his foot down to get his message across. He almost felt bad for startling his brother. “You don’t have to keep apologizing. Otherwise, you’ll be back where you started when I first came in. And I really don’t want to start this conversation again.”

There was a brief pause until Idia finally responded. “You’re right as always, Ortho. I’m sor–I-I mean…Okay…Got it, cool.”

A relieved sigh was given from the younger Shroud. It’s good that his brother was learning. “Thank you for understanding big bro. And now that that’s settled, how about I take a look at your progress of the Prefect’s letter!”

“E-eh?! Ortho wai–”

Did you hear oxygen and magnesium got together? O Mg.

What did the science book say to the math book? You have got problems!

What type of fish is made up of two sodium atoms? 2Na!

…

…

WHAT?

“Idia, have you really been sending the Prefect bad science puns the whole time?”

Idia let out a nervous chuckle, a hint of pink showing up in his blue flames. “I-it’s pretty normie levels for my taste, but they seem to like the cringey ones the last time we hung out. I was just going to send them cat memes, but I don’t think they would get the joke after being isekai-ed and all–”

“IDIA SHROUD HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND?!” Okay, maybe he was overreacting, but at this moment Ortho was too upset at his brother for being an idiot to care how loud he was being. “I THOUGHT YOU WERE GOING TO CONFESS TO THEM! I EVEN WORE THE STUPID OUTFIT AND EVERYTHING AND YOU STILL DIDN’T SAY THOSE THREE SIMPLE WORDS?!”

Knock. Knock.

“Idia? Ortho? Is everything okay in there? Did I come at a bad time?”

“Shit! Player 2 is already here? I-I haven’t even finished the letter!”

Quietly counting down, the younger Shroud calmed himself down as his red flames died out and became a warm blue. Right, now was not the time for petty arguments. The Prefect is what matters, not them.

“Leave it to me, brother. Everything’s fine, Prefect. You can come in.”

And with those words said, you awkwardly entered their room. Judging by your messy appearance, it seems like Crowley had put you through hell and back from the last few hours Ortho had seen you.

Maybe he could convince his brother to blackmail the headmaster for you. Definitely keep that idea tabbed for later.

“I didn’t think I would see you again so soon, big sib! Are you actually done with your work?”

You gave off a bitter laugh. “I wish. Turns out all the janitors are all on strike and now Crowley wants me to do their work as well! I should have known things today were too nice to be true…Anyway, I just came here to let you know about my whereabouts before I take my leave. And I think I’ll stay over at your place to crash when I’m done. Is that okay with you Player 1?”

Idia was hesitant. “Not that I’m against it, but isn’t janitor work a magic based job? Our headmage can’t just put all that expert level stuff on someone with a handicap, especially one with no magic!”

A tired sigh. “Y’know, this isn’t the first time I worked as a janitor…Probably won’t be the last…”

Ah, that’s right. It was almost half a year ago that there were rumors running around about a magicless person turned janitor and a couple of first years causing chaos that resulted in a broken chandelier.

It only seemed like yesterday before he enrolled in NRC.

“...Ortho, initiate ‘Plan E’.”

“Got it!”

“Plan what now?”

“Don’t worry about it, big sib! Just leave it to us. Try not to resist.”

Before you even knew it, you were suddenly grabbed by the younger Shroud and were quickly bundled up in one of their softest blankets and placed on their less messy couch. Not that you’re complaining, but you still felt worried about the rest of Crowley’s work. “B-but what about–”

“Sevens, you worry too much. Ortho, the hot chocolate! Make sure it’s the one they like! I’ll take care of the rest.”

Guess he didn’t need to remind him after all. Progress.

Ortho carefully handed you the hot beverage as you quietly removed yourself from the covers. At least you were now smiling with fondness. 

Just like the first time you had entered Idia’s secret lair. How nostalgic.

“I take it that ‘Plan E’ means: ‘Operation: Pamper the Prefect’? If so, then I think it’s working.”

“Something like that. Big bro tried all different kinds of names, but they all came out too long. So, we decided to stick with ‘Plan E’.”

“Probably for the best,” You muttered while stifling a yawn. Ortho took notice.

“Just try to relax, Prefect. And make sure to drink all of your hot chocolate as well. If you feel up for it, we can play some multi-player games.”

Ortho continued to say more, but all of your thoughts were focused on the eldest in the background, typing furiously on his computer as he downed a can of his energy drink. If your guess is correct, he was definitely finding ways to stop the headmage from giving you too much work.

You really don’t deserve those two…But you are glad to have met them…

-

“How are they, Ortho?” Idia finally asked.

“Out cold.” Answered Ortho. “After finishing their drink, they passed out from exhaustion. I advise a hearty meal with lots of water once they wake up.”

“Guess I’ll try ordering from Woodcutter’s Café again. They never did get back to me on how they lost our limited edition dinner…You wouldn’t happen to know, do you Ortho?”

“Let’s not jump to conclusions, big bro.”

The eldest sighed, dropping the subject as he focused on you. “Did they say anything else?”

“Not much. But they did want me to give you this in response to your letters.”

“T-they did?” Idia took the letter from his brother and quickly read its content.

Ortho shook his head as he already knew what the letter reads.

How do geologists ask each other out? They say, “Are you a carbon sample? Because I’d love to date you.”

And if his brother had half a brain, he would know that he’s being confessed to.

[not-a-space-alien]

K&J x MMSS 3: Kane & Valen Part 8

Chapter 8 of the third crossover with @whumpsday!

Warning for this chapter: RIDICULOUS, dangerously sweet fluff

K&J masterlist

MMSS masterlist

K&J x MMSS crossover masterlist

SERIES IS 18+ ONLY.

Warnings:  Aftermath of torture, misgendering of a transmasculine character (non-malicious), offering sex as a favor (rejected), casual misogyny (in terms of gendered housework)

To be added to the taglist, contact @whumpsday

***

Jim leads Valen back downstairs and knocks on the door to the basement. "Kane, Valen's here. You can come upstairs, alright?"

He opens the door, and Kane comes running up the stairs to hug Valen, burying his face into his shoulder. Valen’s unsteady gait pulls them both down to the floor under the force of their collision. Both of them are crying, from sheer relief. Valen clings to Kane like he’s afraid to let go, chest hitching with strangulated sobs, hands roving Kane’s body–his hair, face, nape of the neck.

"I missed you so much!” Kane sobs. “I thought- I thought I'd never see you again!"

I don't know how you did this, Valen thinks, but thank you, thank you, this is twice now that you've rescued me.

Jim lets them have their moment for a bit, thinking it very sweet despite his extremely complicated feelings about Kane, before he asks, "Do you guys want a pen and paper? To talk, and stuff?"

Valen looks at Jim numbly. There'd been a time where his first thought would have been about how he could use persuasion to escape, but now all he can really think of is how foolish that is of Jim, and how Valen should protect Jim, despite the fact that the theoretical enemy here is Valen himself. Nevertheless, pen and paper would help him and Kane to communicate, and… Valen can simply not use it for persuasion. He doesn't feel the urgent need to escape from this place, not when Jim is so kind.

"Please. I'd love to talk to her. Thank you so much." Kane says warmly. "Thank you, thank you, thank you. I don't know how I can ever repay you. Especially after... what I've done to you. I promise I'll be good. We'll both be good." Kane's newest biggest fear is not just being sent back, but both of them being sent back. He hugs Valen tighter.

"It's... I wouldn't leave you there. Either of you." Jim fetches a pen and notepad and hands them to Valen. "Here ya go."

Valen beams as much as he's capable of while missing most of the skin on his face, but he immediately writes on the notepad in huge bubble letters and turns it around to show Jim it says

THANK YOU JIM

I LOVE YOU

Jim smiles awkwardly. "I'm glad I could help." He goes to make himself lunch, keeping an eye on the vampires from the kitchen.

Kane feels a pang of jealousy he knows is unwarranted. Jim saved and protected Valen. He could not. Of course Jim would get an I love you from Valen before he does.

It doesn't matter. They're together, and Jim is merciful, so everything is okay. Even once Jim starts hurting him, it'll be okay.

"I missed talking to you. That one day was nice, when we were free," Kane says with a smile. "I'm so happy we get to stay together."

Kane's words are happy, but Valen can see the slight dejection in his demeanor when Valen shows the positive message to Jim. He honestly hadn't even thought twice about how it would make Kane feel. He'd just thought that Jim might feel a little awkward about it, but he'd just wanted to show his gratitude as genuinely as he could.

But he saw the slight dip in Kane's countenance as he'd done it. It had been very brief, but Valen had seen that look before.

Valen flips to a new page in the notepad, scribbles something and turns it around to show Kane with wet eyes.

I've already told you I loved you many times before, you just couldn't hear it. I didn't realize I needed to say it. I love you.

Kane reads the paper with awe, tearing up again. "I love you too." he says softly. "And now you're safe. It's going to be okay, Jim won't hurt you, I think, even when he starts his revenge. I was the one who hurt him."

Valen's face falls. I don't want Jim to hurt you, he writes.

"I deserve it." Guilt floods through Kane. Jim has been so kind, even after what he's done. "I hurt him so much, Valen. I would beat him over the stupidest things, like talking out of turn or not calling me sir. I snapped his arm in half for trying to run away. He was so scared, all the time. I would do anything to take it all back."

Valen takes his hand and squeezes it, unsure of what to say. He's still a bit unsteady on his feet, but he follows Jim into the kitchen, where the human is making himself lunch. He takes a seat at the table, hoping that's all right.

He writes and shows Jim the notepad. May I ask what you plan to do with Kane? Valen is less worried about himself at this point. He's anxious about being a prisoner here, but Kane is right. Valen never hurt Jim, and he has no reason to hate him

Jim takes a look at the note. "I'm not gonna... do anything to him. I'm not gonna hurt him. Or you. But he can't leave, I can't risk him doing to someone else what he did to me. I'm sorry I don't really have anything concrete in place, I wasn't expecting this to be a... long term situation, like it's looking like it'll be."

Oh, that sounds all right. And it makes sense, with the way Jim had reacted to the sight of their torture. There would have once been a time when Valen would have despaired at the mention of it being a long term situation, just wanting to go home, but at this point he's just happy to be with Kane and being unhurt.

It takes a while with his unsteady hand, and with his propensity to….not be as concise as he could be, but he writes out:

That's very kind of you. I know you have the right to take revenge on him, given the severity of his transgressions against you, but I'm tired of having to watch people hurt him. I'm very grateful that you say that you won't hurt us. I think Kane will be very happy as long as you don't force him into the sunlight. It burns terribly, and we both were made to lie in it for days. As long as you don't do that, or send us back to the hunters, we will be happy being your prisoners.

Jim’s face falls as he reads the miserable note. And god, prisoners. It's true. With Kane, that feels okay. He was Kane's prisoner, now Kane is his prisoner. But this random vampire didn't do anything to him. But he can't just let Valen go.

"I won't, I promise. You're both safe here. Just... don't hurt me either and we'll get along fine, yeah? It'll be alright."

Despite Jim's apparent upset, Valen is extremely happy with the way the conversation is going, and tries to let it show, hoping that maybe Jim will see he's made the right decision.

Valen feels a little bad that Jim doesn't know he could use persuasion on him right now if he wanted to. It would probably make him feel terribly unsafe. Valen will wait until later to tell him, when it might upset him less. He has no particular desire to use persuasion at this point… it seems like everything is going okay, relatively speaking, and maybe down the road if something horrible needs to be averted he can try it, but for now... Valen doesn't want to hurt or scare Jim. Valen loves Jim so much, loves the kindness and compassion this man is capable of, and thinks he deserves the world.

He writes: Is there anything I can do to make us being here more pleasant? I know how to do women's work. I can't cook, but I can sew and clean. You can even have sex with me if you want to. I wouldn't mind. It might even be nice.

He feels a bit weird writing that last part, since sometimes people find it inappropriate to bring up, but Valen's barometer on that front is completely broken now. He just knows that men often want this from him, so he might as well bring it up.

And even though Jim says he's not going to hurt Kane... He does have every right to, or to change his mind about it later. It wouldn't hurt to do everything possible to put their captor in a good mood, and to make him want less to hurt them or send them back to the hunters. There is probably not much Kane himself can do to win Jim's favor, so Valen wants to step up to take care of him however he can, the way Kane did when Valen needed help

Jim's eyes widen as he reads the note, and he exhales a long breath. "Valen. I am never going to take advantage of you like that. I swear to god. Do you understand?"

Valen's eyes widen a bit in response to Jim's intensity. He nods. Okay, that's probably good, right? He sees it as taking advantage. That's what it would be. He'd almost forgotten. Jim really is a good person.

He points to the beginning of the note again, trying to ask but what about the rest of it? Cleaning wasn't really his favorite thing to do, but he actually enjoyed sewing sometimes when he wasn't being forced to do it.

"If it helps," Jim adds, jabbing a thumb at himself, "Super gay. I don't want to feel like you have to, like, pay me back for you staying here. Like you said, you're prisoners. It's not like you're here of your own free will. I don't even have anything that needs to be sewed, and you guys should just focus on healing up for now."

Valen has so many thoughts about what Jim has just said. Super gay. Good for you, that's so wonderful, that's so lovely, I love you. I'm actually a man, though, so that's not quite what you think you're saying, but it's going to be a whole thing to discuss that, so let's save it for later. It doesn't help, but it doesn't need to help, everything is fine. It was true that I really wouldn't mind it. Is that true? Maybe it's not true. I don't mind it with Kane though, if it's not Nick making us. Would I mind that? No I wouldn't. But that's not how sex is supposed to work, you're supposed to want it, not not mind it. Do I want it? Maybe that would be nice. Can we ask for condoms? That's probably the last thing we should ask about. But you don't sew because something needs sewn, Jim, I want to sew clothes for us, did you think I meant repair? I meant making clothes, so you don't have to lend us yours. I could make clothes for you. You deserve gifts. You're wonderful. I bet I could make clothes that would look nice on Kane. I bet I could make some nice clothes for myself. Men's clothes. I get to wear men's clothes here. We'll have to talk about that later. I want to make you feel at ease. If it helps.

His trainwreck of a train of thought is far too much to pick and choose what to write out so Jim can actually be subjected to it. If it helps. He picks up the pen and writes

If it helps, Kane has changed. I know he has. He knows he was cruel to you and he wishes he could take it back. I can't imagine him doing any of those things now. He has been nothing but extremely kind to me, even at cost to himself. My heart aches for how you were hurt, and the way you must be feeling, but rest assured Kane has nothing but good intentions for you now. He doesn't want to hurt you. It'll be alright.

Jim reads the note over a few times, absorbing the information. "...Thank you. That, that does help. Thanks. I'm glad he's been kind to you." To be honest, Jim has been a little worried about leaving someone so vulnerable, who can't even scream for help, locked in the basement with someone as violently abusive as Kane. This sets his mind a little at ease about that, at least. "It's not... really the same, is the thing. You're a vampire. You're a person to him, I'm not. It does help, though. Thank you."

That last part makes Valen so, so sad. Jim, you're a person, you've always been a person, Kane knows you're a person. Kane is so incredibly sweet and gentle and thoughtful and he would die for me and kill for me and cry when he thinks he's hurt me. Valen knows Kane used to be a monster, he knows what kind of monstrousness his kind is capable of, but he never saw it, it doesn't loom heavily on his mind like he's sure it does for Jim. He never saw any version of Kane besides his Kane, except for seeing him being rude in passing at a party, and hearing all the terribly cruel and unwarranted gossip about his condition.

Valen tries to smile at Jim, though he's sure it must look grim with the state of his face. He draws a heart on the page, tears it out of the notebook, and sets it in front of Jim.

Jim smiles and accepts the heart. "Thanks, Valen. You guys should probably get clean, though. You should avoid the face area for now. Bathroom's first door on the right upstairs whenever you and Kane wanna wash up. I'll put some towels and a couple extra changes of clothes in there for you. Lemme know if you need help with the stairs." He knows he needs to call Liz and tell her all about this mess. She still thinks he's killed Kane last night. He told her he would call her when he was ready. She's probably dying with anticipation to hear about how it went, and she's not gonna like the answer.

Valen gets up unsteadily and walks back to the living room, where Kane is. Upon seeing him, his heart feels full again. Kane is here, and Kane somehow knows how to make things better even in the worst circumstances, and that makes everything all right. Valen feels sad that Kane hadn't known Valen had always said I love you, but how would he know? Valen had never said it aloud, only to himself. Kane didn't know about the torrent of love Valen felt because it was too difficult to make him hear it every time it happened. But Valen could talk now. He needed something to let Kane know just how often he thought it, just how much he felt it.

He approaches Kane and writes Three taps = I love you. He shows it to Kane, then taps him three times on the arm.

Kane looks at Valen in awe, tearing up a little. He's never really felt loved like this before. He taps right back. "I love you too."

He hesitates a bit, trying to work up the courage, hoping he's not misinterpreting the situation. "Can I kiss you? Obviously not, um, not on the mouth though, because..." Valen's mouth is pretty nonfunctional right now. "If you want."

Valen nods vigorously, then leans into him, offering his forehead.

Kane gently takes Valen's face in his hands, fingers brushing lightly over the bandages, and places a kiss on his forehead. He then takes his hand, intertwining their fingers, and rests his head on Valen's shoulder. "Thank you for being in my life."

Valen taps on Kane three times. Then he slides the notebook over and awkwardly writes Shower? Jim said we should clean up. We are quite filthy.

"Yes. Please. I haven't had a shower in years." The hunters hadn't even hosed him off in the 2 weeks he spent there after their recapture, after he'd slept in the dirt mid-escape. "Please let's."

Jim helps them up the stairs when it becomes obvious they need help, points out the towels and fresh clothes, and leaves them to it. "I'm gonna go make a phone call." He moves off, leaving them alone in the bathroom.

"Do you need help washing, since you're injured?" Kane asks. "I could help if- if you want me to. Only if you're comfortable."

Valen nods happily. This is so wonderful. He starts to step up into the shower, but even with Kane’s help, ends up losing his balance and falling.

“Maybe we should take a bath instead,” Kane offers. “So we don’t have to stay standing.” They’d both managed to break their fast sometime in the past few weeks, but they’re both still relatively starved. Best not to push it.

Valen nods in relief. And…the idea of sitting in the bathtub together, tenderly washing each other, is too good to pass up. The tub isn’t huge, but it looks big enough for them both to get into at the same time.

Kane starts the water running, and washes his hands and arms in the sink so he won't dirty Valen further as he washes him. While the water runs, Valen takes his clothes off, the new ones Jim had given him, and folds them neatly up on top of the toilet.

When the tub is filled with warm water, Kane scoops Valen up and gently lowers him into the bath. "Is this okay?"

Valen is about to burst from how okay it is. He can't seem to stop blushing. He taps Kane on the arm three times, pauses, and then taps him again, pulling at his shirt, indicating him to come in.

"You want to wash together?” Kane asks. "I was going to go after. I didn't want to overstep."

Valen was always afraid to show this kind of affection in case there was no way to walk it back later. But… This is Kane, his Kane. He nods, swishing the water with his hands.

"Okay. I'd love to!" Kane climbs into the tub as well, sighing contentedly at the feeling of the warm water. "I missed this." He wets Valen's hair and begins massaging shampoo in. He's careful to avoid wetting Valen's bandages.

Valen closes his eyes at the feeling of his head being massaged. His throat makes the motions for a satisfied rumble, which comes out silent. After his own hair is nice and sudsy, he takes the shampoo and puts some on his own hands, and works it into Kane's hair.

They have to refill the tub twice as it darkens with blood and grime. Jim knocks at one point to announce he's left towels and extra clothing out for both of them.

At long last, they're finally clean. When they've dried off, Kane collects the towels and clothes–sweatshirts and sweatpants, boxers, fluffy socks.

"I can't believe I get to wear clothes again," Kane says in awe as he dresses himself.

Valen's heart breaks a little. Yes, yes wear all the clothes you want, Kane. We can do whatever we want now. We can wear whatever we want. We did it. He finishes wrapping the towel around himself and taps Kane again.

Kane is…surprised by just how extensively Valen is making use of the three taps sign. Had Valen really been thinking it this often? He takes Valen’s hands softly, rubbing them. The air is heavy and humid from the warm water. In the quiet of the bathroom, they can hear Jim talking on the phone distantly, but can't make out the words.

Kane is exhausted, physically and emotionally. "Are you tired? Do you want to share the bed?" He would sleep on the floor if Valen didn’t want to share, but he really, really hopes he does. Sleeping on a bed is luxurious enough, but with Valen?

Valen nods, squeezing his hands three times.

They go down. The two vampires struggle a bit down the stairs, but they're holding onto the railing and each other. "And Jim has me in the basement. The door is lined with silver, for his safety, but there's no painful things down there like with Nick. There's even a bed, and blankets."

Valen looks around for Jim, to thank him yet again, and show him how clean they look now. But the human is nowhere to be found. His bedroom door is shut. That's fair. Maybe he wants some privacy, or to get away from them a bit. Even friendly vampires can be scary.

Valen is ecstatic to see the shitty inflatable mattress. It has blankets. The two of them could probably fit on it together if they squished, which Valen wouldn't mind at all. He immediately crawls under the blankets onto the bed, feeling very, very cozy. There's also a half-bath down here, which is a good sign. A bathroom is something that a person would use.

Kane cuddles in bed with Valen. He also doesn’t mind squishing: it's the most comfortable he's been in a long time. "I can't wait to hear your voice again."

Valen is not sure when that will be. Jim is kind, but like anyone, he needs to feel safe. Jim has already been far more generous than anyone would expect of him, and it would be too much to ask him to let Valen speak when he knows Valen can use persuasion. The thought doesn't bother him as much as it used to. The notebook is plenty for now--he feels bad enough that Jim doesn't know he's already in danger of persuasion, technically, but Valen isn't going to do that unless something really bad is going to happen, like to save Kane or himself from the sun, and it doesn't seem like Jim wants to do that. Valen likes Jim, and he doesn't mind being here.

Valen snuggles closer and gives Kane three taps.

"I love you too." Kane says, nuzzling against Valen.

-

Meanwhile, Jim on the phone:

***

K&J x MMSS crossover taglist:

@barebarb

@cc1010foxy

@emcscared-whumps

@melancholy-in-the-morning

@pigeonwhumps

@secretwhumplair

@some-thrilling-heroics

@t0rture-me

@thecyrulik

@thejinglingcourtjester

@vehan-tikkun-olam-and-stuff

@whuarri

@whump-cravings

@whump-my-heart-away

@whumpycries

@wolfeyedwitch

@whump-addict

@why-not-ask-me-a-better-question

[sleepysnk]

a/n: welcome back to the beach! it’s been a while since i’ve updated, so i wanted to apologize for that. i hope you all enjoy this chapter 🫶🏻 i particularly enjoyed writing these past few chapters.

pairings: obito uchiha x fem!reader

warnings: modern au, some suggestive content, angst, mentions of alcohol consumption, fluff, mentions of cheating.

The Beach: Chapter Twenty-Five

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It’s only been about two days since Kakashi left your apartment, or, at least it’s felt like two days. You’d like to think that his visit has helped your situation, and it has, but your days still have felt like one long, blended nightmare that you couldn’t escape from. It was hard, but you were trying your best to keep your emotions in check.

You started noticing that your negative behavior was slowly clearing up. The once dark, sorrowful thoughts you had were starting to dissipate into more positive ones. It wasn’t a huge change, but you were starting to get somewhere. It sort of felt like you were moving forward.

Konan had managed to speak with your professors so you could get your hands on the work you had missed. Some of them were sympathetic, while others were more hesitant about it. You sent them emails and stated that you weren’t feeling the best, and you hoped to return to your classes soon. They wished you the best, and that was it. The only downside now was that you were swamped with work that you didn’t know what to do with.

You knew you’d have to finish it, because, if you didn’t, there was a risk that your grades would drop. You also had the problem of potentially being removed from a class if you didn’t show up. You were in some pretty advanced classes that involved attendance to do well, and you couldn’t risk losing one of those courses. If you did, your parents would be beyond infuriated with you for wasting the money.

Part of you just wished that you could get better already. It was horrible to know that your academics were going to suffer, and you didn’t want that for yourself. You were always top of the class, so your professors have every right to say that this isn’t like you at all.

Konan always informed you that this kind of process takes a lot of time. Rushing yourself wouldn’t be a good idea at all, so you should take things with baby steps. You had to agree with her on that, because you’ve been in this headspace before. Going too fast would cause you to burnout and you’d end up right back where you started.

So, you were taking it as slow as possible. 

Sitting in your bed, you were looking at your laptop. You decided you’d make some time after your shower to work on one of your assignments that you had missed. It was simple and easy, so you weren’t too worried about working on it for the time being. Luckily, you had some motivation today.

Speaking of showering, you were so glad you got into the clean water. Not showering for a while made you realize how much you missed the warm water against your skin. It was nice to feel clean. It was almost like that shower had washed off any bad feelings or emotions you had before, so it felt amazing.

Your fingertips brushed against the keys on your laptop. You only had a couple more questions before you were done with your work. Your mind began to think about what you were going to eat for the day. With your headspace starting to feel a bit better, you had the motivation to eat something. Your appetite was strong at the moment, so you wanted to complete everything  as quickly as you could.

Make something new? Not really. DoorDash something to eat? That sounded like an option.

Your eyes peered down to the notes you had in your hand. As you scanned the letters and words, you caught something in the corner of your eye. 

Your phone had lit up with a notification.

Reaching over to your bedside table, you picked up your cell phone. Just as you thought, there was a text message on your screen. It surprised you when you noticed that the text was from Kakashi. 

Your eyes flickered from the time above the message to the actual text itself. It was still the middle of the day, so you wondered what he was up to. He should have been in class right about now, but, it was Kakashi, he probably skipped class more times than you could count. 

You brushed that thought out of your mind and read the text message.

12:38 P.M.<- Kakashi: open up 😏 i got something for ya

Your brow arched upward when you processed the text message in your head. If he was saying open up.. then he must have been outside. 

Without questioning a thing, you pushed your laptop away from your legs and went to head towards your bedroom door. Your socks made a small shuffling noise as they pressed against the hardwood floor. 

You placed your hand on the cold knob, turning it so your door was now open. 

Now, out in the corridor, you headed in the direction of the front door. Your brain began to run questions about what Kakashi could be here for. The two of you had been texting the last couple of days, but he hadn’t said much about stopping by since the other day. You didn’t necessarily mind that the guy was here. Konan was still at school, so it was kind of lonely that there wasn’t anybody here with you. 

Standing in front of the door, you placed your hand against the wood to look out of the peephole. 

And, there he was, Kakashi was standing outside of your door with something in his hand. He seemed to be on his phone. It looked like he was typing, and that message was probably for you since you only read his message. 

Unlocking the door, you pulled it open to greet the male. 

When Kakashi heard the door open, he dropped his attention from his phone to you. He was happy to see that you answered. Usually, you’d be sleeping, but he wasn’t going to bring that up. 

There was this swell of happiness and relief that exploded inside of his chest when his dark eyes landed on you. You looked so much better than you did before. Not that he didn’t like how you looked in general, but, compared to before, you had this glow coming off of you. A glow that he hadn’t witnessed since he saw you at parties. It seemed like you were feeling much better. It may not have been one-hundred percent, but you seemed to be in better spirits.

“What’s up? I didn’t expect to see you here,” your voice broke Kakashi out of his thoughts. Hell, you even sounded better than before. 

He shoved his phone into his pocket, looking down at you with a small smile. “Sorry for dropping by so suddenly,” he lifted the object in his hand towards you, “But I was out, and I thought about you. I decided to get you some lunch,”

Your eyes focused on the brown bag in his hand. It was from McDonald’s, and there were small darkened stains from the grease. Though, you were absolutely starving, so you weren’t going to turn down the offer for food. It was almost like Kakashi came at the right time. 

A smile took over your features. “No, don’t worry, I wasn’t up to much anyway. I had some homework, but it could wait,” you shrugged your shoulders, “Do you want to come in?” 

Kakashi looked at the black Apple Watch around his wrist to check the time. The young man didn’t really care to attend his business class, so he figured he would spend some time with you. He wanted to see how you were doing anyway. Though it’s been only two days, he could tell you made some significant changes. 

He couldn’t wait to hear about it.

“Sure, I have a lot of time,” he looked down at you with a soft grin. 

You moved out of the way so he could enter your apartment. He gladly stepped inside, making sure to remove the black Nike slides off of his feet. 

You stood beside him, playing with the collar of your shirt. “Living room? Or, do you want to hang out in my room?” you nodded your head to the side. You could honestly care less where he wanted to go. 

Kakashi turned around so he was now facing you. “Living room is fine,” he shrugged, “Make sure you don’t let your McDonald’s get cold though,”

A giggle slipped from your mouth as he handed the bag to you. You took it from him, the smell of the french fries filled your nose which made your stomach rumble with hunger. It had been a long time since you had some McDonald’s fries. You honestly missed them, because, if you weren’t being honest, they were such a huge comfort food. 

You motioned for him to follow you through the kitchen towards the living room. He trailed behind you, looking around at the countertops beside him. It looked like you and Konan had been keeping the place fairly clean, because he could faintly smell the aroma of lemon in the kitchen.

Once in the living room, Kakashi watched you plop down on the cream-colored couch. You then placed the McDonald’s bag on the coffee table beside you. It felt as if Kakashi was having the same conversation with you from two days ago, but the only difference was that you looked completely different. 

Those once dark eye bags beneath your eyes were now gone. Your hair was combed, and your clothes looked fresh. The wrinkled black shirt was now traded for a vanilla-colored t-shirt with your town’s name on the top. The letters faded from constant washing. Your shorts were also different, and you wore socks around your feet. 

You also smelled devine, and Kakashi loved how beautiful it was.

Kakashi then joined you on the couch. He moved the chestnut-colored pillow behind him so his back was now laying against it. He shifted his full attention towards you. He wondered what was going through your mind at the moment. 

“So.. how have you been?” he finally broke the ice, causing you to look at him. 

You took a deep breath, your eyes looking downward at the fabric of your couch. You honestly didn’t know how to respond to his question.

“Honestly.. I don’t know? I’ve been better, not a lot better, but better than before, you know? I have motivation to do things that I could barely do before,” you crossed your legs on the couch, “I’m making slow progress? If you want to call it that,”

Kakashi nodded his head as you talked to him. He was glad to hear that you were feeling somewhat better than before. It seemed like you were becoming a better person, but he knew all too well that it takes a lot for those changes to happen. You were going through something that took a lot out of you. Changes don’t necessarily happen overnight. 

He twirled a piece of his hair around his fingertip. “That’s good to hear, I’m happy to know that you’re feeling better. You deserve to come back from this, (Y/N),” he looked at you with a genuine expression on his features. 

You laughed softly, Kakashi always knew what to say sometimes. You had to admit, he played a part in you finally getting off your ass to fix yourself. Konan did as well, and you needed to thank her for her help too. She practically dragged you to the shower the other day because she wanted you to get up out of your bed. 

Although you and Kakashi weren’t extremely close, you still were thankful for what he did for you. Not many people would come out of their way to check in on you the way he did. 

He really was a sweet guy.

“But, yeah, that’s really about it. I’m taking my time,” your eyes bounced from his face to the couch you were sitting on.

Kakashi sat up so he was now sitting up straight. “Come here,” he opened his arms to give you a hug. He had this welcoming smile on his features that made you melt on the spot.

You laughed before leaning into his embrace. Kakashi placed his arms around your waist, squeezing you lightly. The smell of your perfume was now stronger than before, but he couldn’t complain about it. You smelled sweet, almost like a fresh daisy.

The hug was gentle, Kakashi was always so soft with everyone. It was like you were hugging a stuffed teddy bear from your childhood. The hug was much needed too. It had been a bit of time since you had some physical affection from anyone like this. You couldn’t deny that it felt nice. 

You weren’t expecting what happened next, but you didn’t oppose it either.

Kakashi slowly settled backward on the pillow, bringing your body against his. You were now laying against Kakashi’s chest with his arms wrapped around your body. The sound of his beating heart filled your ears, and this warmth enveloped around you. The aroma of his cologne filled your nose, sending you into this zone that you didn’t want to remove yourself from.

He wasn’t sure if it was wrong of him to be holding you like this. A part of him wondered if you were secretly upset with this idea, but he didn’t want to find out. He knew you needed a friend right now. No, he wasn’t taking advantage of your vulnerable state. He was just making sure you were alright. 

His fingers went to play with the strands of your hair. You could feel your eyes slowly shutting as your body relaxed on his. You weren’t necessarily tired, but you were too comfortable to even think about getting up. 

As you both lay there, Kakashi began to think about everything that’s happened in the last couple of days. From Obito abandoning their friendship, to coming to your aid, he had his hands full with a lot of things. He wasn’t sure how he was going to handle it all, but he had to keep himself in check as well. He couldn’t lose himself at all.

Kakashi didn’t mind comforting you. He felt as if he was a person that was made to give more of his comfort than receive it. 

It wasn’t his first time coming to help you.

Several Months Prior

The music was loud inside of the fraternity house. There were so many people mingling, or dancing around to the songs that played from the speaker in the living room. It was a big night, and the turnout was an absolute success. None of the frat guys expected that there would be this many people around towards the end of the semester, but, to their surprise, there was.

Kakashi was living it up the most. He eyed a few girls that caught his attention, and he even dabbled in a little bit of drinking. There wasn’t too much alcohol in his system, but he had quite a few shots that evening. 

Lights danced along the walls of the house. It was already nearing midnight, and Kakashi wasn’t tired one bit. If anything, he had more energy than he did now then at the beginning of the night. This had to be one of the most entertaining parties that the fraternity house had held. 

With alcohol being involved, this meant that the young man would have some serious bladder issues throughout the night. Alcohol always ran right through him, so there were a few occasions where he��d have to step away to use the bathroom. He even caught a couple trying to get it on in the shower, and he had to kick them out. He told himself to remind Obito to not use that shower the next morning. 

The situation wasn’t different now. Kakashi could feel his bladder practically screaming at him to go relieve it, so, not wanting to risk the possibility of getting a UTI, he separated from his friends to go and do his business in the bathroom. 

Stepping up the long stairs, he passed by couples making out aggressively, people who were way too drunk to stand, or even people who were asleep on the steps. It wasn’t anything he wasn’t used to. Hell, Kakashi was once one of those guys who passed out on the couches and had to be woken up the next day so he could leave to head back to his dorm. 

Kakashi reached the top of the stairs. He then walked down the corridor that led to the bathroom. As he walked by, he could faintly smell marijuana coming from one of the many rooms. There had to be a smoke circle going on. He also could faintly hear the sounds of moans and cries coming from other rooms as well. It was the usual, girls and guys fucking each other like animals at parties. 

He couldn’t blame them though. Kakashi had quite the reputation as well.

Once Kakashi reached the bathroom, he frowned when he noticed that the door was shut. The light was on as well, so somebody was clearly inside of it. He hoped that it wasn’t that same couple getting it on again, because he would for sure tear down the door this time. 

He decided to be patient. Kakashi was always patient, so he figured he’d wait just a few minutes. Maybe someone was sick, or maybe the person really needed to piss like he did. He understood, so he wasn’t going to rush anybody out of there. 

Those two minutes turned to five, then almost ten minutes had gone by. The person behind the door still hadn’t come out, and Kakashi was starting to get antsy. The pressure from having a full bladder was killing him, and he swore he was going to piss himself if the person didn’t come out anytime soon. He isn’t the type to intrude or rush anyone, but this was getting ridiculous. 

He decided to gather the courage to knock on the door to see what was happening on the other side. Maybe some drunk weirdo passed out on the floor. 

Kakashi knocked on the bathroom door. It was just loud enough so the person on the other side could hear him. He knew the music could be pretty loud downstairs, so he wanted to make sure the person didn’t miss his knocking. 

There wasn’t anything, not a single movement. It sounded quiet on the other side, so he didn’t know what was going on.

He decided to knock once more. This time he was a bit more aggressive. “Hey! Can you hurry it up by chance? I gotta pee,” he leaned his shoulder against the white door. 

Silence, once again.

Kakashi let out a sigh. He started to wonder what he should do. Kakashi didn’t want to just start yelling at the person who was behind the door. He didn’t even know if that person was conscious or not, because anything was possible. He also wasn’t sure if there was one person behind it. For all he knew, there could be someone having sex in there. He wasn’t about to traumatize himself with that image.

The only thing he could really do was to open the door to see what was going on. Sooner or later, he was going to pee his pants, and he didn’t want to deal with that kind of mess. It’d also be super embarrassing for him. 

For a few seconds, he contemplated the choice of opening the door, but, with his bladder being at its limit, he didn’t have much choice. He also wasn’t going to bear the risk of getting a UTI because somebody didn’t want to open the damn door. 

Kakashi placed his hand on the cold metal doorknob. The door was clearly unlocked, because it wasn’t very stiff. 

He took a deep breath before slowly turning the knob, and pushing the door open. He didn’t open it too fast, but it was quick enough so that he could finally see inside within seconds. 

What he saw was the complete opposite of what he was expecting.

It wasn’t a couple having sex, there wasn’t a person unconscious on the floor, but, instead, there was a person sitting on the floor of the bathroom. 

It was you.

Kakashi saw you, your eyes were tinted red from the tears that were slipping down the apples of your cheeks. He didn’t really recognize who you were. To him, you were just some random girl crying on the bathroom floor. He wasn’t sure if you were intoxicated, or you were possibly high. One thing was for sure, you were really upset about something, but he wasn’t sure what that could be.

Immediately, the young man felt horrible for intruding on you like that. He knew how girls felt about their privacy, and he had no right to open the door like that. God, he needed to think more clearly next time he did something like this.

“I-I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to interrupt..” he had an apologetic tone in his voice. He honestly wanted to disappear out of thin air. 

Your head turned to meet the boy in front of you. Your eyes took in the sight of him. He had ash-grey hair, a black t-shirt, and grey cotton shorts. Even through your tears, you could see him pretty well. He had a concerned expression on his features as well. 

You could feel your cheeks burning with embarrassment. You didn’t expect anyone to barge into the bathroom like that, but it was kind of your fault for choosing a restroom to have your stupid breakdown. There wasn’t a single private area inside of this frat house, so you figured you’d use the bathroom for a few minutes to compose yourself. Though, you took longer than you expected.

Sniffling, you wiped away some of the tears that clung to your skin. “It’s fine..” your voice was shaky from crying, “I shouldn’t have hogged the bathroom like this..” 

Kakashi felt his chest tug from your voice. You were clearly upset, and, most of all, you were all alone. There wasn’t a single person inside of the bathroom with you. Nobody was trying to console you, or even comfort you. He couldn’t help but wonder where the hell your friends were. Hell, did you have a boyfriend? 

He knew you shouldn’t have been all by yourself like that. 

He scratched the back of his head, crouching down so he could meet your level. “Do you.. want to talk about what’s going on? You don’t have to of course, but you’re alone. If you need to vent, I’m here to listen, even if I’m just a stranger to you,” he looked down at you with sincerity. 

Your eyes lifted to meet his face. Part of you was hesitant to explain to this random guy why you were upset. He didn’t know you, and what if he tried to use it to get in your pants or something? Sure, he seemed like a nice guy, but you weren’t certain. Anything was possible with guys around this campus. 

You shifted around on the floor. “You wouldn’t want to hear it anyway, and how do I know you’re not some creep? I’m sure my problems wouldn’t mean shit to you,” you brought your knees closer to your chest. 

Kakashi knew you were right. You didn’t know him at all. A lot of guys had a tendency to use women’s breakdowns as a way to slip into their pants. He knew that wasn’t right at all. Kakashi had a reputation, but he wasn’t the type of guy to use those vulnerable moments as a way to fuck somebody. 

He wasn’t going to force you into telling him about what was bothering you. It was your choice, but he wanted to try and help you. If he was being honest with himself, he would want someone to do that for him. 

“Look, I don’t have any creepy intentions with you. If I wanted to be a weirdo, I’d skip your little breakdown and get right to the point. You’re right, I’m not someone you know, but I want to help you. You don’t have to tell me a single thing, but I’d rather have you leave without tears in your eyes than sitting on this floor in a crappy mood,” he chewed on the inside of his cheek to surpress the nervousness he had.

There was this feeling inside of your gut that was telling you he was being real with you.

You didn’t know if it was your mind playing tricks on you, or it was the possibility that you were still hazy from crying. There was just something about him that seemed sincere. He wasn’t acting weird, and his body language seemed as normal as ever.

Even if the information you shared with him went out one ear and out the other, you still had someone to vent to. Sometimes it was best for you to speak your mind, because holding it in does more damage than letting it out. You were a firm believer of that, so, in a way, you sort of benefited from this situation. 

Plus, he was a guy, so he could somewhat try to understand what was going on. 

Taking a deep breath, you looked up at the guy before you. “Okay, fine, but can we leave the bathroom first? I don’t want someone walking in thinking we’re doing something we aren’t supposed to,” you rubbed your hands against your knees to smooth out your leggings.

Kakashi chuckled a bit at your response. “Yeah, sure,” he stood up, “But, before we go, I really need to pee, so could we wait like two minutes?”

His laughter only made you laugh along with him. You honestly felt kind of bad for standing in the way of his bathroom business. “Sure, I’ll be outside,” you stood up, using the wall behind you to steady yourself.

You stepped beside him to exit the bathroom so he could do his business. The air out in the hallway felt much more refreshing than the stuffy air inside of the bathroom. 

“Hey, before I pee..” he said, which caused you to pause in your movements, “What’s your name?”

Turning around so you were now facing him, you gave him a small smile. “It’s (Y/N),” you replied, “And you?”

“Kakashi,” he placed his hand on the doorframe, looking at you with a grin.

You looked at the ground then back towards him. “Well, Kakashi,” you said, “I think you should pee before you pee your pants!”

A chuckle rumbled inside of his throat. He had to admit, you had a sense of humor along with you. He was kind of happy to see that you were smiling and laughing instead of bawling your eyes out on the floor. 

“Alright, I will, I’ll be out in a second,” he then shut the door, leaving you in the hallway by yourself.

You exhaled air from your nose, leaning against the wall beside the bathroom door. You had so much running through your mind it was practically exhausting you. You didn’t know what to do with yourself. You also weren’t sure how Konan got you to this party. You practically felt like crap every single day, so that energy was very random.

Your brain started to wander to those thoughts of him. Itachi, to be exact. 

It had only been about two months since your breakup. Yet, you still found yourself thinking about the Uchiha. Everything that happened the day you discovered him cheating on you constantly played inside of your head. You knew you shouldn’t have been thinking of him like that, but you could barely help yourself. You were so in love with him. You believed he was your soulmate.

Having to abandon your relationship was so difficult for you. You were so infatuated with the boy, and you questioned why he did that to you. His reasoning never made sense. Konan even stated that she believed his explanation wasn’t real, and he definitely made that up on the spot to seem like the better person. 

In the end, though, you knew you were the victim. Sometimes you didn’t want to believe that. You often told yourself Itachi’s actions were your fault, and that you should have made more time for your lover. 

Your thoughts were broken up by the bathroom door suddenly opening. Kakashi stepped out into the corridor with you, his hands were now sitting inside of his pockets. 

“We’ll go to my room.. it’s quieter there,” he nodded his head in the direction of his bedroom. 

You shook your head, watching the young man make his way a bit further down the hallway. It wasn’t too far from the bathroom, so you knew where you were in case this went south. 

Kakashi placed his hand against his door knob. He then opened the door to reveal his bedroom. It honestly seemed like a regular college guys bedroom. There were several posters that covered the smoke colored walls, and there were a few clothing items scattered around the hardwood floor. 

You couldn’t judge, you had a messier dorm than he did.

Kakashi stood by the door as you crept into his bedroom. Now that you were inside, you got a better look at the interior. He had a closet with mirrors to the right of his bed, and a dresser sat to the left with a few items placed on top of it. He also had a bedside table with a digital clock right beside it. The room also seemed clean besides the clothes on the floor.

His sheets were black with grey and black pillows. It also seemed like he had just made the bed a few hours prior. There wasn’t a single sheet out of place. 

“Make yourself comfortable,” he broke the silence between the two of you. He also took the second to shut the door behind him. 

You briefly looked at him before turning your head to meet his mattress. There wasn’t any other place to sit, so you decided this was the best place to talk. Plus, his bed seemed really comfortable for some reason. It looked a lot better than your crappy twin dorm bed. 

Sitting down on the sheets, you heard the mattress creak slightly. Though, it was quite pleasant to sit on. You’d honestly prefer this bed over the hard tile floor of the bathroom you were just in.

Instead of joining you, Kakashi kept his distance from you. He chose to lean against the wall that was right beside his closet. He didn’t want to give you any wrong ideas, so it was best for him to give you as much space as possible. 

“So.. what’s been on your mind? You can tell me as much as you want,” Kakashi decided to break the ice between the two of you.

You lifted your eyes to look at him. You honestly didn’t know where to start. There was so much running through your head that there wasn’t a single thought you could pinpoint that would be best to start with. It was hard, but you knew the main reason was him. He made your once beautiful mind into a dark stormy landscape that seemed to have no end.

You sighed, playing with the fabric of your shirt. “Honestly.. a lot, so much shit in my life has changed. I don’t really know how to explain it without sounding cheesy.. but I’ll try to tell you the best I can,” you shifted around on the bed. 

Kakashi crossed his arms, focusing all of his attention towards you. He was interested in what you were going to say, because, to be frank, he couldn’t really tell what was bothering you. Kakashi had a talent for trying to guess what somebody was upset about, but he couldn’t figure yours out. 

Your breath was shaky as you exhaled it from your mouth. “My.. my ex-boyfriend cheated on me not too long ago..” you began, “And.. I dunno, I guess I’m not over it. Everyone says he’s an asshole and I should be over him, but I can’t..”

Kakashi should have known it was over some guy, but he was surprised you had gotten cheated on. From your vibes, you seemed like such a pure and genuine soul. Why would anybody want to cheat on you? Kakashi always said cheating was wrong. It didn’t matter if it was a guy or girl. Those kinds of things were disgusting and it ruined perceptions of love for others.

He cleared his throat, sitting up so his posture was more straight. “What happened? If you don’t mind me asking..” he looked at you with hesitation in case you didn’t want to answer the question.

Your mind flashed the memories of Itachi sleeping with somebody else at that party. The dark memories of him trying to excuse what he had done made you cringe. It made you feel nauseated again.

Swallowing thickly, your eyes dropped to the floor. “Um.. to put it short, he slept with somebody else at a party. I never found out who, and, personally, I don’t think I ever want to. But he made it seem like what he did was.. okay?” you clenched your fist to try and hold in your tears, “He acted as if it was my fault.. and, sometimes, I think it is,”

Kakashi’s eyes went wide at your last sentence. You actually blamed yourself? He couldn’t believe you were saying such things. Sure, it was hard to comprehend the idea that you’ve been cheated on, but blaming yourself was never the right thing to do. It doesn’t matter if you’re a couple that fights or has small issues, you shouldn’t cheat on them if they make you pissed or something along those lines.

Those types of men that blame their significant others for their actions absolutely disgust Kakashi. Accountability is something he’s big on, and when people can’t take responsibility, he gets annoyed.

Especially with cheating, because why the hell would you blame someone else for that?

Kakashi approached you so he was now standing right in front of you. “Don’t blame yourself for that man and his stupid actions,” he looked down at you, “You are not to blame.. and I can say that with confidence, (Y/N),”

Sniffling, you lifted your eyes to meet Kakashi’s face. “But I am! I never gave Itachi the time of day for our relationship..” you felt warm tears trickling down your cheeks, “I didn’t give him what he needed.. and, now, I pay the price..”

Kakashi’s whole world stopped when he heard that name come off your tongue. 

Itachi was your ex-boyfriend? He couldn’t believe what you were saying right now. You had been the one Itachi had been dating for all of those months? You were dating his basketball teammate this entire time? It felt like Kakashi had been hit by a bus learning this information.

Nonetheless, Kakashi was pissed off hearing about this. Itachi had consistently preached about how he valued loyalty, and he never would cheat on the person he loves. Hell, Itachi never even seemed like the type of person who would cheat on somebody. He always kept it real with everybody he was with, even his friends. 

How could he do this? What the fuck is wrong with him? 

Kakashi took the spot beside you on his bed. His eyes shifted towards where you were sitting next to him. “I hope you know that couples don’t always have time for one another. It’s okay if you didn’t have a lot of time for him, and that is not your fault. You come first at the end of the day,” he placed his hand on your shoulder, “And if he couldn’t understand that, then he wasn’t the one for you, (Y/N). You know you deserve better than that.. and that isn’t a reason a valid reason to be unfaithful,”

You turned your head to glance at him. Deep down, you knew that he was right. Itachi tried to excuse what happened, and you knew that wasn’t the right thing to do. You were so madly in love with him that you could barely reason with yourself. 

You were just so tired of feeling nothing but sadness. You wanted to feel something again. 

It was an impulsive decision, and you knew that. You knew it’d most likely have consequences, but he was making you feel something for the first time in a while. You knew he could help you with it, and you just wanted to say fuck the rules.

Kakashi didn’t even know your lips were pressed against his until he felt the smooth taste of your chapstick on your own lips. His eyes went as wide as saucers when he saw you kissing him, and you were moving closer towards him as you kept going. 

He knew it wasn’t the right thing to do. You weren’t exactly in the best place to do something like this to him.

He placed his hands on your shoulders, pushing you further away from him so your lips disconnected from his. “(Y/N).. I’m sorry, but I don’t think we should be doing this. You’re fresh out of a relationship, and you’re still healing. I don’t think that’s best for you right now,” he looked at you with sincerity in his features. 

You chewed on your bottom lip. You wanted this more than anything if you were being honest. Kakashi listened to you, he was also very attractive and you were drawn to his energy. You obviously weren’t going to force him to do anything you wanted.

“I’m sorry..” you rubbed your hands over your tired face, “I’m so stupid, I just.. I just don’t want to feel like a robot anymore, Kakashi,”

He placed his hand over yours. He completely understood that feeling, and he wanted to help you more than anything. Kakashi just didn’t want to make the wrong move, nor did he want to come off as trying to take advantage of your sorrowful mood. 

“I don’t want anyone to think I’m taking advantage of you, because, truly, I want to help you. I just don’t want you making the wrong decision here,” he stroked his thumb along your hand, trying to soothe you.

He had a point, what if you regretted this later on? What if you told someone and they thought you or even Kakashi was in the wrong? 

In the end, it was your choice. You knew that Kakashi wasn’t going to force anything upon you. 

Looking at Kakashi, you met his soft gaze. “I want this, Kakashi, I’m sure that I want to do this with you. You aren’t forcing me, and I’ll only go through with this if you want to as well,” you replied, “And, if not, we can forget this ever happened,”

Kakashi chewed on the inside of his cheek. He wanted to help you, and, if this was what you wanted, he couldn’t exactly deny you. Your voice also sounded more confident than before, and you seemed certain that this was what you wanted to do. If it did you some good, then he would go through with it. 

“I’ll do it.”

[cinnaminsvga]

omg so i saw your account pop up on that bit at the side with accounts to follow and stuff and immediately was thrown back

i don't know how long ago it was actually but based on the fact I've recently revived my own writing account after like 3 years away and forgetting tumblr even exists, but it's been at least that long since I last saw your account but immediate like nostalgia

this sounds terrible but i genuinely can't remember what exactly I read of yours (other than probably most of it back in the day) but I just remember you were one of my fave writers, i don't really read bts anymore because i'm up seventeen's ass these days but ima have to go through your masterlist and reread stuff for the memories now

im pretty sure that there was one specific fic series you wrote that you made group chats for on kakao maybe, i was there for it i just have terrible memory. now watch it turn out it wasn't even you that did that 🥴

i actually meant to send an ask last night when I saw your account and followed you (i think i used to follow you from my personal but idk) but it was late so I thought "hey let's wait until tomorrow when you can string together more cohesive sentences, yeah?" and then this shit show happened. but at least im not actually screaming at you in this ask like i probably would've last night

anyway, just wanted to just idek just sort of reminisce a lil and tell you that it made me really happy to see your account after these years even if you're not always active, it's nice to see that you still pop back now and then 💖

(I apologise for the mess of this. i'd say im usually more eloquent but that's a fucking lie, im a complete mess all the damn time <3)

WOAGH this was an unexpected letter in my inbox i'll tell you what (a pleasant surprise!) but hello hello welcome back and thanks for taking the time to send a message after all these years :D the tumblr algorithm, in all its mystery and dysfunctionality, sometimes makes little fun things happen like this lol

judging by your description, that fic series you're talking about is very likely "the lonely hearts club", which i suppose is an smau rather than a fic but yenno... it was something alright... if you were there during the peak of it, when i had kakao group chats for it... then it must have been 6 years since youve been around these parts (i posted that in 2018!! aint that a strange thing!!)

also, i appreciate all and every screaming ask sent my way HAHA this was actually very fun to read because like you said, i'm not very active on this blog, but getting messages once in a while is still a sweet treat!! nice to know that strangers on the internet just feel... compelled to talk to me, yenno?? especially you, who had somehow stumbled onto my patch of land by some algorithmic miracle :D it's nice reminiscing with ya!! if you really were here back in 2018, then you've known me a long time (even if you forgot most of it HAHA but i dont blame ya... my memory is pretty foggy even on a good day) so thanks for making a short stop my way <3

[pickle-de-packle]

Prompt Masterlist

Here are some Prompts!

The categories are; Fluff, smut, angst, & soulmates. You can also send me your own prompts!

How to send prompts:

-Send to my dm’s or my asks

-(Category(s)),(Number(s)),(Character)

-OR FOR Soulmates; Soulmates(Type)(Number(s)),(Character)

-Ex. Fluff 25 with Sherlock Holmes

-Ex. Smut 15+17 with Dean Winchester

-Ex. Fluff 6+ smut 16 with Severus Snape

-Ex. Soulmates(Changed Vision) 1 with Hentzau

-Submitting your own Protmpt

-Ex. Fluff (insert prompt(s)) with Remus Lupin

Fluff Prompts:

‘I’m glad you decided to meet up with me.’

‘I love hearing your voice.’

‘You’re my favorite person.’

‘You. Me. Friday night.’

‘I’ll trade you a kiss for a hug.’

‘You look so nice in my clothes.’

‘Is there anything I can do for you?’

‘My favorite part of the day is seeing your face.’

‘Was there something you wanted to tell me?’

‘Do you feel any better?’

‘It’s my turn to cook tonight.’

‘What are we forgetting?’

‘I’ve got something to tell you. It’s a secret, so you can’t tell anyone else..’

‘You’re the only person for me.’

‘You smell nice.’

‘Since we met, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you.’

‘Can I kiss you?’

‘Can I hold your hand?’

Person A: ‘Don’t fall asleep!’ Person B: falls asleep.

‘How did you get up here?’

‘Can I come with you?’

‘I promise I won’t tell anyone.’

‘I wish I could spend more time with you.’

‘As if I could forget your birthday..’

‘Before you go, can you stay a little longer?’

‘I love the warmth of your hugs.’

‘I have something really important to ask you..’

‘I can’t believe she said yes!’

‘I never knew you felt this way.’

‘Your eyes are so pretty.’

‘How come I haven’t seen you around here before?’

Smut Prompts

“I missed you so much.”

“Like what you see?”

“I’ve been thinking about you all day.”

“You’re so perfect. And I’m so fucking lucky.”

“Try to stay quiet, understand?”

“We’re in public, you know.”

“I didn’t know you were so sensitive.”

“Don’t be so rough. There can’t be any marks.”

“Don’t smile at me like that. You know it drives me crazy.”

“I like it when you say my name like that.”

“I really don’t care. You still look hot and I’m trying not to kiss you senseless right now.”

“Are you sure? Once we start, I might not be able to stop.”

“No, I’m supposed to be making you feel good.”

“I thought maybe we can do a little more than just kissing.”

“Make me.”

“Stop teasing me so much…”

“You’re in trouble now.”

“Take off your clothes.”

“I’m waiting.”

“You’re so beautiful.”

“As you wish.”

“First one to make a noise loses.”

“You have no idea what you do to me.”

“I’ve wanted this for so long.”

“Already? Do I really have that much of an effect on you?”

“Mine.”

“The night’s still young.”

“We can’t do that here!”

“Behave.”

“What did you just say?”

“Come here.”

Angst Prompts 

“And that makes it okay?”

“Why are your eyes so red?”

“Why would I ever want to be with you?”

“Is that what you think of me?”

“If I told you I hate you, what would you do?”

“Am I the reason you cry every night?”

“When did you stop loving me?”

“Don’t you think you’ve done enough?”

“How did things go so wrong?”

“When did things fall apart?”

“Which part of me wasn’t enough?”

“How do I make you love me again?”

“How do you sleep at night?”

“Can you still sleep at night?”

Soulmate Prompts

~~~~Written

Each year imprinted on your arm, whispered in a dream, sent in a mail or whatever, is a hint to who/where is your soulmate.

Every night you receive a message about a random sentence your soulmate has said that day.

Meter of how dangerous your soulmate is

A touch from your soulmate will leave an imprint there (like a different colored area on your skin, or a symbol, or name)

Counter (maybe on your palm) that depicts how many times you pass your soulmate

You only get the first letter of your soulmate’s name

The first (or last) words your soulmate speaks every day is written on your arm.

The first sentence you say to your soulmate is written on yourself (after you say it, maybe).

The most important thing your soulmate says to you is written on you.

The most important thing your soulmate says (to you?) that day will be written on you.

The most frequent thing your soulmate says to you is written on you.

Your soulmate’s birthday is written on your arm.

The last thing you were thinking about before meeting your soulmate is written on them.

Written on you is a badly worded description of how you’ll meet your soulmate (Ex. Reality: Meet in coffee shop spill drink- - > Description: “You’ll meet in a place of high energy and it’ll be hot”)

Soulmate marks are only visible after meeting and/or touching.

~~~~Changed Vision

See color for the first time when you meet, fades away when they die

Will only see shades of your soulmate’s eye colour until you meet

Can only see color in places your soulmate’s been/touched

~~~~Different Abilities

See/hear/speak/etc for the first time when you meet

Being next to your soulmate heals injuries

A gust of wind blows against your skin, towards your soulmate. The closer they are, the stronger the wind.

~~~~Sharing

Get the same injuries as your soulmate does

When you get sick, so does your soulmate

Soulmates share the same handwriting

You share your temperature with your soulmate

Songs sung by your soulmate is stuck in your head.

Whatever music that is stuck in your soulmate’s head is stuck in yours too.

Unique song imprinted in your mind that only you and your soulmate knows

Have the same heart beat

Heartbeat morse code for soulmates name

Soulmate’s heart beat on your wrist

Whenever you lose an item (like a sock), it ends up in your soulmates’ possession somehow

Everyone receives a special accessory (hat, watch, necklace, bracelet, etc) that is exactly alike with their soulmate. Many people, when they meet their soulmate, like to swap theirs with the other.

~~~~Communication

Write something on your own skin, appears on the other’s skin as well

You can send one item to your soulmate every year (or whenever)

You have this limited stack of sticky notes. Write whatever you want on it, and that note will magically appear somewhere in your soulmate’s line of sight.

When concentrating, you can write in your soulmate’s thoughts.

~~~~Restrictions

It is impossible to lie to your destined soulmate.

They have to say each other’s name to figure out they’re soulmates.

~~~~Experiences/Actions

When you meet your soulmate, time stops for a month for everyone besides you two.

At the corner of your eye, you can see a blurry vision of whatever your soulmate is doing (like sitting down drinking coffee in your living room, even though they’re doing this in another area.

When you meet your soulmate for the first time, you get a flashback/relive their entire lives

Similar to above, except you get glimpses of their future

Hidden in dreams, but never interacting, is your soulmate

The first time you touch your soulmate, you’re forced to relive their best day and/or worst day of their lives (past or future).

If you haven’t met your soulmate but have been in the same vicinity of each other (like passing each other on a street or in the same building), that day will keep repeating until you find each other.

Something fills up before meeting your soulmate, like a heart ink tattoo getting colored in or a bottle filling up with liquid/sand/origami stars/etc. The moment it is full is the moment you meet your soulmate.

~~~~Compasses

A red string tied around your pinky is connected to your soulmate’s pinky (when the two of you are at a certain distance & only you two can see it)

A spot on your body gets hotter the nearer they are, colder when they are further away

Your soulmate leaves colored footprints only visible to you

You can feel a tug from wherever your soulmate is. These may either be automatic or have stronger tugs whenever your soulmate is in distress.

~~~~Hints

You get a blurry photograph of your soulmate and vice versa, somehow (Could be yearly, could be at a certain age, could be a photo of when you first met, etc)

Every year, you receive a puzzle piece. The whole picture is your soulmate’s name/appearance/location/etc.

Mysterious letter detailing to one person when they’ll meet, and another letter detailing where they’ll meet to their soulmate, but not both (Person A gets when they’ll meet, Person B gets where they’ll meet)

Letter about details of how the meeting between soulmates go (example: “you get pushed into a lake by a guy in a duck suit and your soulmate helps you”, etc)

Bubbles give you a blurry glimpse into your soulmate’s world (visions of possessions, friends, family, laughter, crying, etc)

Everyone receives a picture of their soulmate (at a certain age) taken the year they met.

You dream of the place of where you’ll meet your soulmate.

Counter of how many times you’ve passed by or seen your soulmate.

One soulmate owns a lock and the other owns the key to that lock.

~~~~Your Soulmate

If you and your soulmate possess the same item, it’ll glow

Reflecting in the mirrors is the blurry appearance of your soulmate

Receive a piece of cloth with your soulmate’s scent

List detailing the differences between you and your soulmate

Literal sparks fly when you’re near your soulmate.

[crystalninjaphoenix]

Secret Lairs

A JSE Fanfic

SepticHeroes AU: Part 17

Previous Part

Totally didn’t forget to queue this last night and am now just posting this now, haha. (If you were here for me posting it live you saw Nothing!) Anyway. In this chapter Jackie has a meeting with Lorelai, a fellow Hero, and also one with Spitfire Cat, regarding the new SAM the League sent him. And yeah. Keeping it short this time. Enjoy :)

===============

“You get a lot of packages.”

“Huh?” Jackie blinked in confusion. “Well hello to you too. Good to have a nice greeting when I get home from work.”

Chase looked over at him from where he was sitting on the sofa playing video games. “Hello,” he said with a grin. “But seriously. Feels like you get a lot of stuff.”

“I guess.” Jackie looked down at the box in his hands. The mail worker on the ground floor of their apartment building had flagged him down the moment they saw him, telling him something had arrived that morning. He had a suspicion what it was.

“Do you order, like, clothes or stuff online?” Chase asked.

“Uh yeah. Various stuff.” Jackie nodded. “Hang on, I’m gonna see if this is what I think it is. If it is, I’ll be right back.”

“Cool.”

Jackie took the package to his room and began opening the cardboard box, slicing through the tape with a pair of scissors. He opened the flaps and found... a different box. White and green, made of sturdy plastic. Bold lettering across the front proudly read The Semi-Autonomous Machine - by SepTech. A clear window also revealed the product inside.

“Yes!” Jackie pumped his fist in the air. He’d thought this would be it! The League had said they’d be shipping a SAM out to all the Heroes in the county, after all. Even though those deliveries had been delayed, Jackie kept his eye on the calendar, knowing it would be soon. And when he’d picked up the package downstairs and felt how heavy it was, his first thought was a SAM.

The model inside the box was the size of a volleyball, its metal a dull gray. But not to worry! The back of the box listed several features, including customizable color. How was it possible to change the color of metal? Technology was amazing. Jackie was about to open up the box and take the SAM out when he remembered.

“When you get your Machine from the League, I need you to bring it to me. Before you turn it on, or even take it out of the box. I don’t want to keep it. I just want a friend of mine to look it over.”

Spitfire Cat had said that a while ago. And he’d reminded Jackie about it in an email.

Jackie hesitated, staring at the SAM through the clear plastic window. He’d initially denied Spitfire’s request. But... something had changed since then. Jackie no longer distrusted Spitfire. Well, he still didn’t trust him, either. He’d be an idiot to fully trust any villain.

Except that he’d trusted Schneep, even after finding out he was the Specter. That whole revelation had thrown his worldview into disarray. It was hard to maintain a solid line between do-gooders and evil-doers when you found out your friend and doctor was also a practiced thief. So, the question was now, did he blur that line even more for Spitfire Cat?

He thought about it. And then he sighed, and walked over to his laptop. As soon as it booted up he went into the burner email and sent a message to Spitfire. I have the SAM from the League. The Semi-Autonomous Machine. You wanted a friend to look at it right? Well now’s your chance. But only if I can be there to watch whatever’s going to happen.

“Jackie?” Chase called from the living room. “You okay in there?”

Right. He’d said he would be right back.

Jackie picked up the SAM box. No reason to keep this a secret. They were commercial products, not just some tool for the League. He carried it back into the living room. Chase had his game paused, staring at him. “Look what I got!” Jackie said, grinning.

“...no way.” Chase gasped. “Bro! How’d you get one of those?! They cost a fortune!”

“Well, it was a gift.”

“Who do you know who can just give something like that away? And can you introduce me to them?”

Jackie laughed. “Just someone from work. A work friend. I got lucky, really. They were doing a giveaway thing.”

“Bro.” Chase was completely stunned. “We have our own robot. It can do anything for us!” Sitting on the sofa next to him, Frosty lifted his head. He stared at the box Jackie was carrying and growled. Chase laughed. “Oh, sounds like someone’s jealous. C’mon, boy, you know some robot can’t replace you.” He scratched Frosty’s ears and he seemed to calm down. “But seriously, Jackie. That’s insane. Open it up!”

“Oh. Uh... not yet,” Jackie said. “I hear there’s a whole startup thing and I don’t really want to do that right now. I’m tired. Worked all day.” Not technically a lie. There was a traffic accident while he was out on patrol, and he’d stepped in to stop the car from going out of control and make sure everyone was alright. Nobody died, thank god. But there were injuries. After all that... he didn’t really want to think too hard.

Chase stared at him. Then slowly nodded. “Yeah. Uh, sure. It’s your Machine.”

“I actually prefer calling them SAMs. It’s an acronym for the name.”

“SAM!” Chase grinned. “Aw, that’s adorable! It’s like it’s your kid and you named them.”

“I was thinking more of a pet, but yeah.”

Frosty growled again, but was satiated with more scratches. “Have any plans for the night, bro?” Chase asked. “Wanna play something?”

“Maybe. I have to wait for a work email, but if that gets taken care of, sure. We can play Smash or something.”

“Nah, you have to mentally prepare to Smash. We can do Mario Kart or something.”

Jackie made a face. “You know what you were doing with that phrasing.”

 Chase flashed another grin. “Perhaps. We’re both adults here.”

“Yeah yeah. Ask me again after dinner. I’ll be in my room until then.” Jackie turned around and headed back to his bedroom, where he shut the door behind him.

He didn’t have to wait long for Spitfire’s reply. We need to meet up. This Saturday, head to 8915 Waterlow Street. There’s a pub at that address called Hannah’s Bar. Wear something to cover your face, but not your supersuit. ANYTHING BUT YOUR SUPERSUIT. And you should probably hide the Machine in a bag or something. Go inside and ask the owner for a ruby eye cocktail. When they tell you they don’t serve that, say, “I’ll pay extra if you look in the kegs.” They’ll take you into the back. Follow them, and don’t ask questions. Me and my friend will meet you there.

Well. That was sketchy as all fuck. And also inconvenient. I have plans on Saturday, Jackie replied. Does some other time work? Saturday was the day Lorelai—the Hero known as Pink Sunset—wanted to show him some surprise League welcome. And he was not going to miss that.

Spitfire responded within ten minutes. Sunday, then. Evening would be best, 4:30 or later. But show up no later than 7:30. We need to finish by eight. See you then.

Jackie had a bad feeling about this. But he supposed this was what he got for working with a villain.

===============

Saturday came quickly. Even though he was supposed to meet Lorelai at two o’clock, he left the apartment around ten. Lorelai had said it would take a couple hours to drive to this secret meeting place, so Jackie figured he could fly there in double the time. He said goodbye to Chase, telling him that he was going to meet up with some work friends and he’d be home late, then headed out.

Lorelai had messaged him the coordinates soon after their talk, and Jackie plugged those into the Red Line’s GPS function to tell him which way to fly. Northeast. Interesting. While there were some smaller suburbs and isolated business facilities around Daindover, the northeast was mostly wilderness. Just fields and forests for a while. Not even many roads, only a single motorway that cut through said fields and forests. His intrigue and curiosity made the flight over less boring.

He reached the coordinates at almost exactly two o’clock. Looking down, he saw a small dirt road, leading to a small dirt parking lot in the middle of a forest. A campsite? There were a few cars sitting in the lot, and when he flew closer to the ground, he saw... a woman in a familiar pink and orange supersuit. Lorelai. She saw him at around the same time, and started waving her arms. Light flashed in the air, harmless pink fireworks going off around Lorelai.

Jackie landed in the middle of the lot, and took a moment to catch his breath. Lorelai hurried over. “Hey!” she said, smiling. “You found it! Glad I didn’t mess up the coordinates, ha. Well? What do you think?”

“Uh...” Jackie looked around, still recovering from the extended flight. He was pretty physically durable, but four hours of concentration could wear anyone down. Not to mention the cold wind. “It’s... a forest.”

Lorelai chuckled. “Well, yeah. We had to be discreet. C’mere. This way.” She walked over to the nearest tree, and Jackie followed her, curious. “You’re gonna love this, watch.” Lorelai grinned at him, then reached up and grabbed a small branch. She pulled. A mechanical CHA-CLUNK! echoed from inside the tree, and then a section of it slid upwards, revealing a metallic inside.

“Whoa!” Jackie gasped. “Secret entrance.”

“Yep. There’s a few around here, inside that tree, and that one, and those two...” Lorelai pointed out the trees as she spoke. Now that Jackie was paying attention, he noticed how all these trees looked basically the same. The same size, and with the same small branch jutting out from the side. “They’re only big enough for one person, as you can see, so be warned if you’re bringing a big group here. Everyone should come at different times.” She stepped back from the tree. “Here, you use this one. Just press the white button and it’ll go.”

“Alright.” Jackie stepped inside. She wasn’t kidding about them being only big enough for one person. He couldn’t fully extend his arms. “So it’s a lift?”

“Yeah. I’ll take another and meet you down there.” Lorelai gave him a thumbs up. “See you down there!”

“Uh, see you.” Jackie looked around, and quickly noticed the panel with three different colored buttons: red, white, and yellow. He pressed the white one, and the tree-door slid closed. Then he felt the floor move. It was just like any other elevator he’d been in, just much smaller. He was glad he wasn’t claustrophobic.

A few seconds later, the door slid open again, and he stepped out into a large room shaped like a half-circle. The walls were painted a cool blue on the top half and white on the bottom, and the carpet had a design of different-sized blue and yellow polka dots on a black background. White bar lights overhead lit up the area in an even glow. The elevator was on the curved wall, and he saw four other small metallic doors that no doubt connected to the other trees above ground. On the curved wall were two bathroom doors and a wide-open archway, through which drifted some faint, upbeat music.

Ding! Jackie turned around and watched one of those small doors slide upwards. Lorelai stepped out. “Pretty efficient, huh? You’d never know we were twenty meters below ground.”

“Twenty meters?” Jackie looked up at the ceiling, imagining the earth pressing on it. 

“Give or take.”

“Huh. You’re right, I never would’ve guessed that. The elevator was pretty fast.” He looked back down. “Hey, what’re the other buttons in there for?”

“The yellow one stops and starts the lift, while the red one calls for help in case you get stuck in there,” Lorelai explained. “I don’t know why they have the yellow one, to be honest. Probably for maintenance. Anyway!” She grinned. “C’mon, this is the place.” She started walking towards the archway, gesturing for Jackie to follow, which he did. “Welcome to the League Lair.”

Jackie stopped in the archway and stared. This was a huge, open area, easily the size of a basketball court. Maybe two. It looked like someone had mashed together two restaurants with a lounge and a public gym.

On the left wall was a long counter with a buffet of food, and on the right was another counter that blocked off a kitchen from the rest of the area. Round tables and chairs were dotted around, clustered close by both these areas. In the back, partly cordoned off by a half-wall, were professional-grade workout machines, sleek and streamlined, and the very back wall had been converted into a fake mountainside for rock-climbing. In the middle of this all were sofas and armchairs, sitting on top of plush-looking rugs and accompanied by coffee tables and a few TV stands—with TVs and all their accessories. The ceiling was high overhead, with mounted lights giving off a bright glow. The walls were painted black, but hanging on them were several large, colorful framed pictures. The furniture was sleekly designed, all smooth white and grays with highlights of other colors.

“What the...” Jackie trailed off, stunned.

“Pretty cool, huh?!” Lorelai patted him on the back. “You’d never guess this was down here!”

“N-no, I—I didn’t even think about—” Jackie laughed. “So, is this place for Heroes to hang out?”

“Anyone who works for the League can get in. Did you bring your badge?”

“Oh, uh, no.”

“Bring it next time. There’s a scan that happens once you get in the elevator, it won’t go down if you don’t have one. Usually.” Lorelai leaned close. “I thought you might forget it, so I asked the maintenance guys to turn off the scan for, like, half an hour around two.”

Jackie laughed again. “Well, uh, thanks.” He kept staring at this giant room, this League Lair. There were people in here. Almost everyone was dressed casually, business casual at most. The one exception was a familiar face sitting on one of the sofas. “Is that Terra-Man?”

“Oh yeah, it is!” Lorelai said excitedly. “Hey, Josh!” She waved and started walking on over. Jackie hurried to follow.

Terra-Man—(his name was Josh?)—looked up at the shout and grinned. He wasn’t wearing his mask. “Ah, Lorelai! Oh, and young Windstorm, too. How’ve ye been?” 

“I’m not that young!” Jackie protested.

Terra-Man—Josh laughed. “I know, I know, jus’ messin’ with you.” He grabbed the TV remote from the sofa next to him and paused whatever he was watching. “Well? What d’you t’ink? Nice place, huh? Nicer t’an the one we have back home, I’ll tell you t’at.”

“Y-yeah. I’m... in shock.” Jackie looked around again. “Are those... comic book pages?” Yeah, those framed pictures were definitely comic book pages.

“Yep. You know how the League produces comics about the Heroes,” Lorelai said, taking off her mask as well. “The ones here are prints retelling the adventures of Heroes in this county. Greatly exaggerated, of course. And the Council members, too. My favorite is this one of Red Huntress and the Shadow over on the back.”

Jackie nodded. “Are there any of you here?”

Lorelai shrugged. “One. Over in the corner. But I think it looks great. You’ve only been a Hero for a little while, so I think they’ll start making comics for you about a year in? Unless you do something really amazing before that. If the art is good, it’ll be put up in here! We don’t have much say in that, to be honest, it’s mostly Marketing’s decision.”

“...wow.” Jackie was completely overwhelmed. He knew that Heroes had comics made about them—hell, it was how he’d heard about a lot of them—but it was really starting to sink in that he could have a comic about him. Kids could read about him the same way he read about others.

“Like I said, much nicer t’an the Lair back home for me,” Josh added. “We don’ have comics on the wall, or a rock-climbin’ section. Jesus, t’at’s insane.”

“When are you going home, anyway?” Lorelai asked.

Josh shrugged. “Whenever t’ey need me to. You know me. I love t’is place. Some o’the best Heroes t’is side of the globe are from t’is county, and I choose t’believe it’s because of all the great perks you have.”

“So you’re just gonna mooch for a while?”

“Ah, you know me so well.”

The two of them chuckled, and Jackie laughed a little too, trying to match the energy. It seemed to work. At least, the two of them didn’t look at him weird or anything. “Oh, I-I should introduce myself to you. I’m Jackie.” He pushed his mask onto his forehead. “And your name is Josh?”

“Got t’at right.” Josh gave a little salute. “Likin’ bein’ a Hero so far?”

“It’s not that different from what I was doing before, honestly. This, though...” Jackie gestured vaguely at everything around them. “...this is all new. How many of these are there?”

“Well, there’s one per county in the UK and Ireland,” Lorelai said. “I can’t tell you much about other countries. America has a lot, but I don’t know the specifics. One per state, maybe?”

“Uhhh some of their states are bigger than most countries, I doubt it’s that.”

“Point is, there’s at least one in any country where the League has jurisdiction,” Lorelai continued. “Gotta give the Heroes some place to have their free time. I'm here a lot. Love the rock-climbing, it’s better than any gym in my city and well worth the drive. Josh is gonna hang out here a lot, seemingly—” Josh raised his hand in acknowledgement “—but it’s mostly local Heroes. Moonstone came in here at least once, but you know her. Busy with national team stuff. It was crazy, though. We had an obstacle course set up that day and got the top time. Then she made it float and got the top time while it was floating!”

“Holy shit, while it was floating?!” Jackie gasped.

“While it was floating! I know, right?!” Lorelai grinned, bouncing on her feet. “God, you know, I’m so jealous of your city. The last two superheroes from there—before you, I mean—could control gravity and time, do you know how rare those are?”

“Oh yeah.” Jackie felt a swell of pride. “They’re super cool.”

Lorelai giggled. “You’re super cool yourself, you know? I’ve never seen anyone zoom through a probation period so fast.”

“Aw, thanks.” And now Jackie was blushing, flattered. Was he really that good?

“Anything you want to do while you’re here?” Lorelai asked.

“Whatever you do, can ye do it somewhere t’at doesn’ block the TV?” Josh asked.

“Oh come on, it can’t be good watching in this wide open room. The sound’s got to echo.”

“The echo adds character.”

Just then, Jackie’s stomach growled. “You know what? I think we’ll start with lunch,” he said. “What do they serve here?”

Lorelai and Josh laughed. “Just about anything, really,” Lorelai said. “And everything has different options for different food restrictions, too. Come on, menu’s this way.”

Jackie followed her.

He spent a good three hours checking out the various features of the League Lair, including the workout machines and some of the video games they had. Lorelai and Josh were fun to hang out with. He could almost forget they were Heroes that he’d admired from afar for so long.

He left around five, and probably should have left sooner. It got dark quickly on the flight home, and that meant it got cold. He was so glad his new suit had insulation, but even with that, his face was freezing by the time he returned to his apartment. He said hi to Chase briefly, then went into his room and fell asleep almost immediately.

This had been a good, busy day. But tomorrow would be just as busy... and maybe not quite as good. It depended on what Spitfire Cat had planned.

===============

“You’re going out again?”

Jackie paused as he walked past Chase’s open bedroom door. He glanced inside and saw Chase sitting in his swivel chair, facing the doorway. “Uh, yeah.” Jackie smiled. “Don’t worry, I’ll be back in time to do that editing on your video I promised.”

“Right.” Chase nodded. “So, are you going to work, or are you hanging out with someone?”

Anxiety jolted through Jackie’s heart. “Are you implying something?”

“I dunno. Your schedule has just been pretty inconsistent since you got your new job. It doesn’t help my memory problems.” Chase shrugged. “But you can do whatever you want, y’know.”

Jackie let out a breath. “It’s just for work. Shouldn’t take too long, I hope. I’ll be back by eight at the latest.”

Chase laughed. “Alright. Hope you do whatever you need to. Don’t feel too pressured to help me edit. I mean, the commenters do love it when you make witty comments in text, but no pressure.”

“That sounds like pressure to me.”

“Only if you want it to be.” Chase swiveled back around to face the desk. “Oh yeah, you might want to come back through the side entrance. There’s gonna be repairs on the lights in the lobby starting in, like, thirty minutes. Might be easier to avoid it.”

“Got it.” Jackie gave him a thumbs-up. “See you later.”

“See you.”

Jackie continued heading out. Well, it sounded like he’d better come in through the window when he returned. That’d be easier than taking the side entrance.

There was a knot in his stomach from that whole conversation. The more he talked to Chase, the more uneasy he felt. He had to tell him. He had to tell him.

But he didn’t.

===============

Jackie followed Spitfire’s emailed instructions and headed to 8915 Waterlow Street. This whole thing was making him nervous, so he didn’t risk flying, instead taking the train and walking the rest of the day. His nerves were not helped by the fact that Waterlow Street was well-known for being... shady. It was full of run-down businesses that seemed to think throwing on some paint over brick walls made them look presentable. No need to clean their windows or fix their broken signs or cover up the spray-painted villain signs on the sidewalk.

Honestly, the whole north side of town was known for less-than-savory activity. There was a reason it was called the Villain’s Haven. Jackie felt bad for the people who lived in the area. They had to be scared. He wondered why no one seemed to move away.

Hannah’s Bar sat at the address where Spitfire said it would, identified by a hanging sign. The stone building looked like it had sat here for at least a couple centuries. Jackie made sure the blue bandanna covering his face was secure, then pushed open the door.

It was fairly dark inside, courtesy of dim bulbs and small windows. Completely empty, too. Except for a dark-haired woman standing behind the bar checking her phone. She looked up when he entered, and gestured vaguely to the menu written in chalk behind her.

Jackie took a deep breath, and walked up to her. “Hi. I’d like to order a ruby eye cocktail.”

The woman raised an eyebrow. She gave him a long look, assessing his hidden face and baggy hoodie. “That’s not on the menu,” she said.

“I’ll pay extra if you look in the back,” Jackie said.

She looked him over again. Then she stood up straight and lifted up part of the bar. “Almost right,” she grunted. “But I’ll let it slide because you clearly haven’t been here before. Come on.” Before Jackie could say anything else, she turned around and walked through a side door.

He hurried after her, following her into a small room with racks of bottles, including one of those checkerboard wine racks that took up a whole wall. The woman began moving bottles around, taking them out of spots in the checkerboard rack and putting them in new ones. Soon, something clicked. She pushed on a portion of the wine rack and it retracted, sliding behind the rest of it. A hidden doorway, revealing a staircase. “Go on,” she said, gesturing for him to go.

“...yeah.” He nodded, then descended the staircase.

Jackie expected to walk into an even darker basement. But, strangely, the staircase got brighter as he went down. Soon, he walked into a wide-open area that looked like... an American diner. Tables dotted the black-and-white tiled floor and booths lined the walls. A counter with bar stools ran along the back, another menu behind it blocking off the kitchen from view. Lamps dangled from the ceiling. There seemed to be a red and silver color scheme for them, as well as the rest of the furniture. Faint rock music filled the air, coming from an unknown source.

But strangely enough, the walls were decorated—not unlike the walls of the League Lair—with pictures of supers. These weren’t framed comic pages, but instead wall-size painting drawn to look like comic panels. And instead of depicting the Council of Heroes, these all depicted villains. Jackie recognized many of the costumes. But... these villains looked... heroic in these drawings. Their smiles were dashing, not menacing. As much as that threw him off, it made sense when he thought about it.

There were people sitting at the tables and booths, and they all paused in what they were doing when he entered the room. Every single one had their face covered in some way. Jackie shifted uncomfortably at all the eyes on him.

Then he saw motion. A wave. His eyes locked onto it. Spitfire was sitting in one of the booths, wearing his full costume. There was someone else in the booth with him, but they were partially hidden by some of the other customers. Jackie didn’t say anything, just hurried over. As he walked, the others watching him turned away, going back to whatever they were doing before.

“Glad to see you found the place,” Spitfire said as Jackie slid into the booth, sitting opposite him.

“What is this place?” Jackie whispered.

“It’s a... hangout,” Spitfire said carefully. “For certain types of people.”

Jackie glanced around. “Nicer than I expected for a certain type of hangout.”

“Some people have standards.” Spitfire gestured at the person sitting next to him. “I should introduce you. This is—”

“I am the Disassembler!” they interrupted. “No, wait, that sounds stupid outloud. Uh, I am the—not the Destroyer, uh—I am the Dismantler!”

Jackie blinked in confusion. The other person in the booth... was a teenage girl. Or, about that age. Even though she wore a black face mask, he could still tell. Maybe she was slightly older? Her brown hair was pulled back in a ponytail, and she wore a black jacket that had circuit board designs applied in silver fabric paint. “I... O... kay?” he said slowly.

Spitfire sighed. “This is the Dismantler,” he said. “Dismantler, this is the contact I told you about.”

“Hi.” the girl—Dismantler waved.

“I’m... sorry, I’m a bit...” Jackie paused. “Uh, how old are you?”

“I am an adult,” she said insistently.

“Right.” Jackie looked at Spitfire.

“Don’t stare at me that way,” Spitfire snapped. “Her dad’s one of my best contacts. That’s how we know each other.”

“He sells weapons,” Dismantler said helpfully.

“Gw—Dismantler, don’t just offer that up!” Spitfire gasped.

“I know who you are, by the way,” Dismantler continued, looking at Jackie. “Spitfire told me. And I don’t mind. Mom and Dad hate you cause you arrested my Uncle Soren, but I get it. You were just doing your job. So no hard feelings. I’m not gonna mess with your stuff or anything.”

“Soren?” Jackie repeated, picking up on the only specific detail from that. “Do you mean Soren Moizone? Also known as Pathos?”

“Oh. Yeah, I guess you’d know his name,” Dismantler said.

Spitfire’s head dropped into his hands. “I thought you said you wouldn’t say anything,” he groaned.

“Sorry.” Dismantler looked embarrassed behind her mask. “I got carried away. I just wanted him to know I don’t have a grudge or anything.”

“He wouldn’t have thought you’d had a grudge if you didn’t tell him your entire family history. That’s not—that’s really not safe, you know. He could easily figure out who you are now.”

“I don’t think he’d do anything to a teenager, though.”

“You said you were an adult,” Jackie said faintly.

“I’m eighteen. Still technically a teenager.”

Silence fell over the table. Dismantler looked back and forth between the two men. Spitfire was still doing the facepalm of the century, while Jackie was bewildered and a bit lost. “Uh... so I have this,” Jackie said, taking off his backpack. He tilted it so Spitfire and Dismantler could see the SAM in its box inside. “What’re you gonna do with it?”

Spitfire finally lifted his head. “We’re going to inspect it.”

“Inspect it?”

“Yep!” Dismantler nodded. “That’s what I do.” She leaned forward, reaching out. “Gimme. Please.”

“Y-yeah. Sure.” Jackie pulled the box out of the backpack—or more accurately, shoved the backpack away from the box, since it was big and kind of awkward—and set it on the table in front of him.

Dismantler grabbed it and spun it around to the clear plastic window. “Oooo! I can feel it even through the box,” she whispered excitedly. “Are those nanoparticles coating the surface? I bet they change the color.” She began opening the box, but it proved more difficult than expected.

“Here, I can help,” Spitfire offered.

“Laser open this flap and I can get it from there,” Dismantler said.

“It’s not a—yeah.” Spitfire pointed at one of the box edges. A thin, hair-wide beam of red energy severed part of it with the smell of burning plastic.

“Thanks.” Dismantler tore the box open the rest of the way and pulled the SAM from the protective packaging. “Oh yeah! Nanoparticles for color change! That’s so cool.” She set the SAM down on the table. Her eyes, previously a pale gray-green, started to glow white.

Any questions Jackie had were immediately silenced by what followed. The SAM started to pull apart. The metal plate of the coating floated away, and the camera extended until all its parts were separated. Countless wires unwound themselves, and the single tail-like appendage peeled open like a banana. Everything stayed where it was, floating, even as the Machine was slowly dismantled.

Oh. Dismantled. So this was her super power.

Once the SAM was fully disassembled, parts suspended in the air, Dismantler reached into the floating mess and grabbed some tiny, fingerprint-sized metal bits. “Got it,” she said cheerfully. In a matter of seconds, the parts of the SAM had once again converged into a solid device, lying unremarkably on the table.

Jackie was speechless. “I... I’ve never heard of... such... precise... telepathy.”

“Oh, I’m not a telepath, I’m a technopath,” Dismantler explained. “I can control technology with my mind. I’m not surprised that you’ve never heard of it, though. It was only recognized officially about ten years ago. But I’m pretty sure we’ve been around for longer. And I think I’m one because my dad works with a lot of advanced technology. I said he was a weapons dealer earlier, really it’s more of general smuggling.”

“Technopathy,” Jackie repeated in awe. Then he shook his head and got back on track. “What did you take out of my SAM?”

“SAM? Oh, that’s so much cooler than Machine! It makes it sound like a robot on a scifi spaceship.” Dismantler laughed. “But anyway.” She opened her hand and showed Jackie the small metal bits. “These are what we in the business call ‘bugs.’ You know, like trackers and listening devices and stuff like that. These ones also have wireless NICs, which are really hard to make, but basically they let the devices transmit signals to a source.”

“Someone bugged my SAM?” Jackie asked. “But... I-I hadn’t even opened it...” He looked over at Spitfire.

Spitfire just nodded. “I thought they’d do something like this. That’s why I asked you to let Dismantler look at it.”

“Why would the League bug the SAM they sent to me?” Jackie asked.

“Don’t take it personally. They probably did it to all the Machines they sent to Heroes.” Spitfire shrugged. “It might be alright if you left it in there. Depends on what you used the SAM for. But personally, I thought you should know. It gets creepy when you don’t know about things that listen to you. I bet they didn’t even give you the terms and conditions to sign.”

“They didn't,” Jackie admitted, speaking slowly. “But still... why?”

“League likes control,” Spitfire said simply.

Jackie leaned back in his seat. He felt a bit dizzy all of a sudden. “Well... a-at least that’s taken care of.”

“Not entirely.” Dismantler curled her hand back into a fist and retracted it. “There could be spyware programs on it. I don’t know. My super power only works on, like, physical hardware. I can’t help with any software. Like programs or viruses.”

“Oh.” Jackie stared at the SAM, suddenly uneasy.

“Don’t worry about it too much, though,” Dismantler said. “Just don’t let the SAM go anywhere you wouldn’t be expected to be. Or do stuff you don’t want it to see in front of the camera. Or talk about stuff you don’t want it to hear without putting a muffling device over it. Those are really easy to make.”

“Alright... if you say it’s fine, I’ll... yeah.” Jackie nodded slowly. “I guess... it would be weirder if I suddenly got rid of it. Um... I’m going to go home now.”

“Aw, don’t want to hang out?” Dismantler sounded a bit disappointed.

“Sorry. I have a roommate, and I-I don’t want him to worry too much.” Jackie stood up. He picked up the SAM, placed it back in the box, then awkwardly shoved the box into his backpack.

“I’ll email you if there’s anything else,” Spitfire said. “You said we were dropping the search for the Specter, but there’s still the Puppeteer. That was our original goal, anyway. If I find anything... you know.”

“Got it.” Jackie nodded. “I’ll see you around then.”

“See you around.” Spitfire nodded back, then turned to Dismantler. “Hey G—Dismantler, can I see those bugs?”

“Sure.”

As Jackie walked back over to the staircase, he glanced over his shoulder back at the table. Even from here, he could see the bright yellow glow of a solid-heat sphere. Spitfire was going to get rid of those bugs the only way he knew how.

===============

“Hey Chase? Do you still want me to edit your video?”

“Holy hell!” Chase jumped at the sudden voice. He’d been walking down the hallway towards his room when he heard it. Frosty nudged him, making sure he wouldn’t fall, and Chase hurried over to Jackie’s room. The door was open, and Jackie was inside, sitting on his bed with his laptop. “When did you get home?!”

Jackie blinked in confusion. “I don’t know, six-ish? I’ve been home for a couple hours. Where have you been?”

“I took Frosty for a walk,” Chase said. “And then I thought I’d get dinner while I was out. Just walked down to Wendy’s and ate there. Uh... anyway, yeah. Editing would be cool. Just give me a second to pull everything up.”

“Cool.”

Chase hurried over to his room, gently closing the door as soon as Frosty passed through it. He pulled out his phone and texted a number: Rebecca, one of the mail room attendants for the apartment buildings. He was familiar with her, enough that he’d asked her for a favor. Hey did u see Jackie come in thru the front lobby around 6:00?

A moment passed. Then she replied. No definitely not. And I didnt hear any complaints from the guys working on the lights. Theyve complained every time someone walked past.

Jackie hadn’t come in through the front lobby.

But he also hadn’t come in through the side entrance. Chase knew that because he had watched that entrance for hours since Jackie had left. It wasn’t too hard. He just sat on a bench and kept glancing up at the door every few minutes or so. He’d brought his phone and a portable charger, bouncing between checking social media and reading some new e-books he’d downloaded. So he could have been distracted, maybe? And missed Jackie going in? But he doubted that. People rarely approached the side entrance, so the people who did got his attention right away. All residents. None of them Jackie.

How the fuck did he get into the building? There were only two entrances! Had he lied about the time he came back? Where had he gone, anyway? And why had his backpack been full of stuff?

Chase closed his text messages and opened up his notes app. He used the notes a lot to make up for his terrible memory, and recently, he’d been noting Jackie’s weird inconsistencies. He was out a lot. Usually said it was for work or a work-related thing. Which, sure, Jackie had said he was working with law enforcement, he was probably on-call as cases happened. But Jackie seemed to be always on call, no matter what time of day it was. Even for a job like this, he had to have specific hours, right?

Not to mention Jackie had been acting... strange lately. He seemed nervous. And Chase felt like he was avoiding him. Was he hiding something? He’d tried asking Schneep if he’d seen Jackie lately or noticed anything weird with him, but Schneep said it had been a while since the two of them had seen each other, and that if something was going on, Chase should ask Jackie about it in person. JJ said something similar when Chase texted him.

Had Jackie gotten involved in something... dangerous? Something that would earn him a lot of money? Because frankly, Chase didn’t believe Jackie got a Semi-Autonomous Machine from a work giveaway. Those things went for thousands. No job would just give that away. And Jackie couldn’t have that much money to spare. Otherwise he wouldn’t be rooming with Chase in a mid-tier apartment.

He knew he had to confront Jackie about it soon. But when? Tomorrow seemed too soon, and next week seemed too late. Especially if Jackie really was in danger.

Maybe a couple days from now. Yes, that seemed good. It gave him enough time to be sure about stuff. Chase made a note of that, then went over to his computer and started opening up the editing software. If Jackie offered to help, Chase would let him help. And maybe he’d try to get Jackie to open up while he did so. But he doubted that would work.

Chase really hoped Jackie was alright. He hoped his friend wasn’t wrapped up in anything harmful.

[a-chaotically-small-lunta]

Impulsive defense

This is a short-ish story of Blair, a young child who David took in as his own. After receiving a note from Micheal, David made his way to the city.

Warning: mentions of abuse, drugs, alcohol, blood, death, and fights.

The city was loud, cars rumbling around and people always having someplace to be. David had a love hate relationship with cities. On one hand it was where he was raised and provided so many resources to borrowers that no one would miss. Not to mention people who see borrowers in the city think they’re just large rats. On the other hand though, the city was dangerous. Too many people not watching where the go or what they do, all the cars and vehicles, not to mention the rats…both human and animal.

David eyed the alleyway waiting for the group of drunk men to leave. He was planning on visiting his friend, Micheal. Micheal was a borrower David had met while traveling around the city looking for anything useful and to spot any safe places for other borrowers. They met after David entered the human’s home and noticed the walls weren’t just filled with the usually dust and scraps, but rather were clean, had tools, places to rest, and many other signs that there was a borrower living here. David was invited to stay with Micheal and his wife Yael. They all bonded quickly, David was even invited to meet the birth of their child, Blair.

Once the drunk men had left, David quickly made his way across the alley and behind the large dumpster. Scanning the wall he found the small broken brick. He moved the small piece, exposing the inside of the walls. Quickly he ducked in and moved the piece back in place.

As David walked along he thought about why he was invited. Micheal said his wife had passed away, and that he just needed a friend for comfort. David understood all to well the feeling of losing a loved one, so when he received the message, he quickly made his way to the city off in the distance with the help of Laura who offered to take him after he told everyone about the note. A storm was going to pass by and she was willing to get a hotel for the night.

Eventually he found the small wooden door and knocked. Rustling could be heard from the other side until the door swung open revealing Micheal. He looked terrible, sickly even. His usual bright brown eyes were darkened and his dirty blond hair was a mess, with parts sticking up at odd angles from unknown substances. David didn’t want to know or even ask.

“Oooohhhh David! What are you doing her bro??” Micheal said leaning against the doorframe and slurring his words.

“Uhh ya sent me a letter talking about Yael, I thought I’d come by and ya know support ya.”

Micheal paused and stared off for a few seconds, “oooooohhhhh Right.” His voice sounded harsh before quickly changing back, “well come innnn….”

David, a bit confused, walked in while watching as Micheal flopped back onto the puff balls of a couch. Looking around he noticed that the house was a mess, tools and items scattered across the floor. A few pieces of furniture were flipped over and broken. The place didn’t used to look like this, it was a nice house and now everything was destroyed and gross. David noticed a dresser made of a matchbox and other materials was pushed in front of one of the doors that lined the wall.

“Uhhhh kinda let ya-self go huh?” David said glancing around trying not to stare at the globs of mold and food in the corner of the room and the ceiling.

“Brooooooo….yea maybe. Yael has been gone for awhile.”

“Yeah…when did she die?”

“Like a few months ago”

“Ohhh, and ya only told me now? I mean that’s fine and I’ll be here for ya but I would’ve been here earlier to help ya out and stuff”

“Nah nah it’s fine, soooo fine….”

“Okay…so you okay?”

“yeeeeee dude I’m TotAlly fIiinnnee. Happier toooooo wooooooo”

David paused a bit confused, perhaps he’s just drunk right now, his mind is lost a bit, “Mmh…where’s Blair by the way? How did they take it?”

“Who? Oh!!! Yeah he’s fine…but he uh is grounded right now”

“Oh…why?”

“Mmmmh lil dude almost got us caught the other night, so he has to be grounded…dude you want something to drink?”

“Uh no thanks…”

“Nahhhhhh bro lemme get ya something”

“Micheal” David said in a stern voice, “are ya okay? Ya seem out of it”

Micheal froze and stared at David, his eyes seemed to never focus fully on David.

“Yea..yea…I’m fine just…need a pep up or something…” Micheal got up and walked over, “stay here, make yourself comfy I’m gonna grab some stuff…it’ll be a sec…good stuffs in the storage heh” as Micheal clumsily walked away David looked around the torn up house. What happened here…it’s a mess. He seems way out of it…like he’s been drinking but where’d he get the alcohol? Jeez I didn’t think he’d let himself go so fast. Only a month and it looks like he’s been out of it for months. His muscles and body are thinner too…man what did you do.

David sat and thought as Micheal walked away, the second the door clicked behind Micheal a small knock was heard. David whipped his head towards the knock, which seemed to come from the blocked door. Another knock was heard and a soft muffled cry came from the other side.

David quickly walked over and shoved the dresser out of the way, unblocking the door. He pulled the door open and in front of him was Blair but the poor kid looked terrible. Blair had brown eyes and dark brown hair but usually the kid seemed so bright. On David’s other visits the kid would happily bounce around and looked full of life. Happily talking about adventures and asking David about any cool new stories. The Blair in front of him looked drained. Their hair was matted, they look like they haven’t had sleep in days. Their skin looked sickly and they were covered in bruises.

“Blair? What happened to ya kid?”

Blair stood and glance at the door Micheal had left through before looking back at David, who had crouched down to be even with the kid.

“Da-d…”

David froze in shock, “what do ya mean?” Blair froze as if terrified to say anything, “it’s alright, ya can tell me. Ya can tell me anything okay?”

Blair took a shaky breath and looked at David, tears threatening to fall out of their little sad eyes.

“He..for a-awhile he’s be-been finding stuff…st-stuff that ma-m-makes hi-m act weird… he start hitting m-me…and m-mommy… mommy tried to d-defend me whe-when he got tha-that way…he said if we let you kn-know that he’d h-hurt us…hu-hurt us worse…dad…he…he hurt mommy too much…sh-she stopped moving…I…I” tear spilled out of the kids eyes as he cried out, “I WANT MY MOMMY!!!”

David was shocked when the kid ran and wrapped their arms around him. He gently wrapped his arms around the kid. “Hey it’s okay…I’m here. I’ll protect ya…I have so many questions but I’ll ask ya later..” He held onto the sobbing child, how long has this been happening? Years??? Why did Blair tell him now? Were they desperate? What made them break out of their father’s forceful grasp?

“Let’s get ya ou-“ David paused as he felt the child grip onto him tighter as the door clicked, revealing Micheal

“What did you say” Micheal’s voice was stern, serious. In his hand was a homemade glass bottle…it was filled with a clear liquid that had a thin layer of powder on the top. David didn’t know everything about alcohol or drugs, but he knew enough that mixing them was not good.

“WHAT DID YOU TELL HIM?!?!” Micheal shouted at Blair, stepping forward. David quickly moved the kid behind him.

“Enough! Back off Micheal! You’re not okay, whatever you’re doing is not okay. You need help. I’ll help you but I can’t let you near them.” David stood firm as Micheal glared at him.

“YOU DON’T KNOW SHIT! IM THAT BASTARDS DAD! I DECIDE WHEN TO PUNISH THEM! And it needs punished.” Micheal started to step forward and David slowly backed away. The small child whimpered gripping onto David.

Micheal smashed the bottle, flinging glass and alcohol everywhere. “BACK OFF DAVID…Don’t make me hurt you too. Back off and listen to me. Unless you wanna get hurt too”

He shock his head, David wasn’t gonna leave the kid alone. He wasn’t gonna hand them over to them. He felt torn, his friend was lost…he wanted to help him…but he needed to get Blair out of here. When he didn’t move, Micheal started to run towards him.

David froze, everything felt in slow-mo. Micheal running towards him, the child screaming. But David’s mind was racing.

No no no. I can’t.

*Step*

“Don’t try anything fucking insect”

*Step*

no no…don’t hurt them please…they were just protecting him.

*Step*

Can’t let him hurt them. Won’t let them hurt them.

*Step*

Images flashed in David’s mind. Seeing his friend in a drunken rage, and seeing that drunken bastard’s fist dripping with blood.

The second his friend was readying to strike a punch with the bottle, David drove a fist right in Micheal’s face.

Micheal stuttered and looked back, astonished at what happened.

“Get to the door Blair. Don’t look back.” David whispered. Blair quickly ran to the door and Micheal tried to chase him only to get punched in the stomach by David.

“No no, ya ain’t going anywhere. Ya staying here to sober up…get help.”

Micheal slashed the bottle cutting David’s face. David tripped Micheal and grabbed his blue knife, holding it in defense. He’d worry about any cuts and bruises later. His body was shaking.

Micheal glared before chuckling, “oh using your mommy’s knife??? Mmmmmmh???? Are you scared David? Of me? All drunk like this? Remind you of something?”

David glared and tightened his grip, “Ain’t gonna let a drunk fucker ruin another child’s life. Don’t care if you’re their dad, don’t care now.”

“Ohhhhh David, what are you talking about? I’m fixing it.”

David quickly wielded his knife to block the lunging bottle.

“You aren’t like this? What happened?”

David pushed forward, staggering Micheal a bit.

“What do you mean? I’ve always been like this! I’m just a good actor. Ever since that kid came into my life, shits always been about it. Never on me.”

He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Was the man he knew just a facade? Something to make life seem normal? Why would he do that?

“Micheal we can work this out, we can find you help”

“I DONT NEED HELP!!!” Micheal lunged and tackled David to the ground. Trying to stab his face with the bottle. David was quick and blocked the bottle, earning a long cut on his arm. They stared into each other’s eyes.

“I just need you to join your parents. Ironic that’ll you’ll die the same way the did…just at a smaller scale.”

Why would he say that? WHY WOULD HE

David lost it, he threw Micheal off him and slashed the knife at him. Aiming for his chest. David slashed and slashed in blind fury, he thought he was seeing red before, but now it was brighter. He didn’t care anymore. He was on edge when he first saw him and every second this Bastard talked pushed him closer and closer. He finally snapped. Telling Micheal about his past was something he thought would strengthen their bond, show his trust. And he used it against him.

The two men wrestled around knocking things around and off places. Smacking each other’s heads into furniture and walls breaking most of them. David punched and slashed, eventually shattering the bottle with the knife with a well placed stab. With his weapon gone Micheal became more furious and tried scratching and biting David, but David quickly dodged and using his knife as a shield blocked most attacks. Sometime during the fight he pulled out the other knife and duel wielded them against his former friend. He pushed Micheal around until he managed to stab one of his knives into Micheals hand against the floor, causing a scream of agony to fill the air. David held Micheal down and with a knife to Micheal’s throat leaned down and whispered “I’d kill ya, it’d be like putting down a sick animal. But I’ll give ya a chance to fix yourself. Doesn’t matter if ya do though. Ya ain’t ever gonna see me or Blair again. So stay down, or I’ll keep ya down forever. You know it’s not my first time killing someone. Don’t make me add to my count.” David hissed out the last part before, slowly backing off the exhausted man. He yanked his bloodied knife out of Micheal’s hand and shoved his foot onto his chest. Glaring down for a second before walking to the door.

Micheal didn’t stand back up, and laid on the ground breathing as David walked out the entrance. He looked over and saw Blair against the wall, covering their ears and curled up.

“It’s over kid…let’s get out of here.” David said, extending a hand to the kid.

“Di-did you k-k-kill him?” Poor kid looked worried over their father. It made sense, though. They did love their father and just wanted the best for him, even though his father didn’t love him back.

“Nah kid, just knocked some sense into him. He’ll be okay, but for now I’m gonna watch over ya until he’s better alright?”

The kid looked down almost sad but relieved about the news. The kid nodded and grabbed David’s hand.

“Alright, let’s go then. I got a friend who brought me here, and she’ll bring us back to my home okay?” They nodded and David paused, “just so ya know…they’re a bean,” he watched the kid stiffen in fear, “but don’t worry, she won’t hurt ya. I trust her fully. She’s a good one, promise” the kid loosened a bit but still seemed on edge.

David guided the kid back towards the alley and walked through the walls of each building until they came across the hotel. He was grateful that Laura had offered to bring him to the city due to the bad weather. Flying a bird in a storm is never the best idea, and David only did that if there was no other options and he needed to leave. David watched the kid, noticing the kid eyed some of his cuts. Oh yeah…wounds…forgot about those..whatever.

Eventually the pair made it into the hotel walls. Heading up, David looked into each room trying to find Laura. He knew the floor she was on but had forgotten which room. Soon he found her room by peeking in and seeing her laying upside down on her bed. Her long curled brown hair a frazzled mess as she had a bored look on her face. Her rectangle glasses were on the verge of falling off but she didn’t seem to care.

Carefully David stepped out of the wall, holding onto Blair and giving them a gentle rub reminding them that everything was okay.

Once near the human David shouted, “Hey Laura! I’m back!”

Laura was startled and instantly slide off the bed, hitting her head on the floor. She glance over and smiled, “ow, you’re back that was quick, so ho-“ she froze spotting the child, “did you kidnap another kid?”

“First off, I’ve never kidnapped a kid. I tend to find them alone or abandoned, secondly…yes in a way but it’s fine…I’ll explain everything later.”

Laura made an annoyed face before awkwardly pushing herself off the ground and back onto the bed. She swung her legs around and got out of the bed before she lowered herself onto her stomach in front of the pair, “alright well you better explain, but for now.. Hello there, I’m Laura. You must be Blair, David’s talked about you and how you’re so brave and have this call to adventure.”

Blair stood behind David, clearly terrified of the bean, but as she softly spoke he slowly poked his head around and started to get closer.

“Don’t worry I won’t hurt you. Even though I’m a bit of a clumsy mess,” she chuckled, “hey you look hungry,” and with a glance towards David, “and like you’ve been through hell. Want something to eat? I got snacks and stuff”

The kid shyly nodded and with that Laura pushed herself up to a sitting position before extending her hand onto the ground, “go ahead and climb on. I’ll set you two on the bed and grab the snacks okay?”

With a small nudge of encouragement from David the pair of borrowers climbed onto her hand. Once they were secure and settled, Laura slowly lifted them up and onto the couch, not once standing. They both walked off with Blair still holding onto David, Laura stood up and walked over to a bag that had been thrown into the corner of the room. She returned with a small water bottle and two clear bags, one filled with snacks like pretzels, chocolates, nuts and the other with bandages and creams.

She set the items down and opened the bag of snack and water, setting them both down in front of the pair, “go ahead and get what you want, just don’t eat too fast” she smiled and watched as the kid cautiously approached the bag. Reaching in they grabbed a few things and snacked on them. Sitting next to the bottle watching the bean.

David walked closer to her grabbing some bandages to treat his wounds, “so you’ll tell me what happened?” She asked.

“I’ll give ya a summary, Dad’s a drunken addict who abuses the kid so I fucked him up a bit”

“Oh…oh, you okay?”

David paused as glance at Laura who was giving him a concerned look, “I’ll be fine…”

“Talk to me if you aren’t okay?”

“I will.”

“You’re lying but okay.”

David glared at Laura who only smirked, “what it’s true,” she said defensively, “you usually don’t like talking about stuff like that and that’s okay. I’ll be there when you want to.”

“Yeah yeah, I’m just worried about the kid is all.”

They both looked over as the kid was enjoying themselves with the snacks.

“It’ll be okay, we’ll figure it all out tomorrow. It’s late and you guys look like you need some sleep”

David simply nodded as he worked on bandaging himself up.

Eventually Laura laid onto the bed next to the pair yawning, “alright it’s probably best we get some shut eye, so…”

Laura squeaked as she felt a hug around her finger, which was causally laying on the bed near the borrowers. She glanced down at her hand to see the tiny child holding onto her.

“Thank you for the snacks”

Laura smiled, “it’s no problem. Here may I try something?”

The child nodded, and Laura gently scooped the child up and moved herself to laying on her back. She placed the child right on top of her heart as she laid back against the pillows and pulled the blankets back over her lower body.

“You okay there or do you want to sleep on the other pillow with David?”

David who had already laid on the other pillow looked over to see the scene. He shook his head. Laura knew that her heart beat was soothing to kids, hell David knew it was soothing, he just didn’t like being held for so long. Made him feel powerless.

The kid listened to her gentle heartbeat and shook their head, “this is nice” they snuggled up and Laura gently placed the thinner sheet over their body as a blanket. It didn’t take long for the kid to knock out.

“I’m surprised they took to ya so quickly” David said

“Well you showed them I was trustworthy so I guess it was easy to build trust up with them. Poor kid though…with everything that happened…”

“Yea…” David glanced away

“Don’t worry we’ll talk about it later.”

“We’ll have to ask the kid for more details. I don’t know much. Hell I don’t know who or how that letter was sent. Ugh I’m so confused and frustrated!” David pouted angrily.

“Hey calm down, you have your reasons for what you did. Just rest for now okay?”

David sighed and nodded. With a smile Laura took off her glasses and laid down to fall asleep, one hand carefully over the sleeping child. David however wouldn’t fall asleep, he stayed alert watching the shadows and walls for a few hours. Making sure Micheal wouldn’t come out of them. Eventually David passed out, he’d have to deal with this tomorrow morning sometime but that’s for later. The kid was safe now and that’s all that mattered right now.

[i-am-beckyu]

the ppl in the overworld are a little bit of both. they can look over humans kinda like guardian angels, but they can also be more like gods and look over their world and adjust things like weather or time of day. there's more where that came from buuuut that's spoilers >:3

some realms, the overworld & underworld specifically have like a mark system. i haven't gotten it completely figured out yet (except for dream's. his is cool :D) buuut like it's set up as like one mark is superior to another mark. (and another useless worldbuilding thing is the population in the overworld & underworld can be either born or spawned in, and in tommy's case, he was spawned in)

tommy in the overworld wasn't five (i think that's what you meant by asking, maybe i read it wrong) , i think in one of the drafts i wrote he was 119 or smth i can't remember. i'll probably adjust that to make it fit the non-existent timeline. but he does spawn in at five! another part of the life trial is getting a little sample of mortal life, just to be able to connect with mortals better while back in the overworld working, since the schooling system in the overworld touches that topic but doesn't go into deep detail. but yeah spawning in he's only five so 100% his appearance mixing with his very-much-not-five mentality just spits out "i'm not a child" energy (and remarks) dfgfjfsdj

BINGOO you hit that! ofc he doesn't want to leave, he's emotionally attached to them all :')

ASDHGDFS I ALLURE?? i- is that a bad thing for a viewer?? i mean idk i agree with quackity (totally random to bring one specific moment of him up lmao sorry) i am randomly very secretive about things,,,, so i definitely gatekeep things a lil too much but i meeean alluring isn't necessarily negative??? but i can try to be more...non-gatekeep-y dsjfsd

oh and yeah dream sent the message :] what ever could it be? (spoiler alert: his first task! and the letter is a hello and instructions. paper & pencil come in later)

hhh i feel like i can say a lot but at the same time it's like...just scene stuff that is either spoilers or just boring interactions between ppl,,,,, maybe i can dig up some old serenity writing for u instead :D (or both, who knows)

HMMM what do i want in return for the crimebois draft? hmhmmmm HMMMMM i would likeee mayhem trio fanart!! can be anything you want, i just need to see some more fanart of us >:D

i gotta find that fic tho and maybe just update it a lil bit,,,

mm now i get 3d's liking of splurging. it's so fun! :00

Oooooo okie so fancy and kinda majestic nice!

And yeah I meant he’s 5 in the mortal realm with what I now know as 119 old mentality which now begs the question: does time work differently in different realms? Or are people in the overworld like immortal?

Awwww heck yeah! Get emotionally attached!!!!

And Awww he’s got tasks to do. I hope some of them are really obscure and have everyone around him questioning Tommys sanity.

And you are a little secretive but so am I! I like surprising people ❤️😉

Lol I think I can do that.

[altarflame]

My Day in the Life of Children, Now

It’s Saturday. I slept in late, got up gradually. When I went to pee, Elise (15) was ready to intercept me with childlike eagerness, about the construction paper ghosts they (non-binary pronouns) were adding to the fall leaves hanging from the dining room ceiling. I praised the careful placement. They are also full of stories about being on their high school’s parade float in the big parade, yesterday.

I offered Jake (16) a fried egg on toast as I made some for me, Sterling, and Elise, but he’d just made himself spaghetti and was getting ready to head off on his bike, to his girlfriend’s.  

Aaron (21) had still not texted since leaving the state two weeks ago by plane, but today was to be his return flight, and Grant and I both know he was expecting a ride home, even though that airport is 4.5 hours from us roundtrip. My driving foot is acting up and my right calf feels tight all the time - I drove over 200 miles for work yesterday! I certainly don’t want to do this. Grant swears he told him he had to arrange return transport because we weren’t doing it. Aaron wouldn’t reply to texts. Sterling saw that bus tickets home from the airport were only $35 - less than the gas it would cost us. I sent Aaron this info, he was like “But I don’t want to ride the bus.” I feel frustrated but glad he’s communicating. Sigh. He is willing to just bus it, admits he’s had a good time and actually gives me a couple of sentences.

Elise was excited to be going to a birthday party that MIGHT be a sleepover, this afternoon - depending on whether they had a good time in the first part, liked the house/family enough, etc. They put bats up with the other autumn things in the dining room, too - with googly eyes. I dropped them off, just a few minutes away. 

Isaac (18) and I sat at the dining table talking about  the Aaron Conundrum. Isaac is afraid Aaron is fragile right now, which is something I am also basically always afraid of. Isaac is leaving for 2 weeks soon, to go visit friends in South Florida. He’s a much more conscientious planner (they’re both using their own money from their own jobs for these trips, which I just get notified of - which is fine when middle of the night road trips aren’t expected from me). Isaac is gonna pay for a driver’s ed course when he gets home, because he thinks it will make up his confidence gap with driving.

I went out on a great bike ride with Sterling, who was on skates. We passed Isaac biking away somewhere on a trail, while we were out.

After we returned, Jake got home from his girlfriend’s house, very upset by her complicated home and family dynamics. We talked about it one on one in his room for 15 or 20 minutes while I gathered up Elise’s sleepover things (the two of them share a room, and Elise decided they do want to stay at their friend’s and messaged me a requested list). It’s difficult to know how to have boundaries - Jake or me - with his gf’s people, because we don’t want to jeopardize his ability to see her, but also, this shit is ridiculous and neither of us exactly approve...

I knocked on Ananda’s (22) door and asked if she’d like to come with me to take Elise their things. She did. We talked about her shift at work and her degree program’s foreign language requirement. Elise’s friend’s mom seemed really nice, and Elise was super grateful I’d brought her the bag. I reinforced my “call or text at any hour and I’ll pick you up” guideline, and then Ananda and I ran to Publix for coconut milk to come home and make cacao with. 

I was in the kitchen with the blender for that, while Ananda waited to show me a movie trailer she’s pissed about, when Wolfgang (nephew on Grant’s side) started texting me about his various sadness. Multiple deaths in the past few months, it’s big stuff. We talked off and on via messenger for the next hour. It kinda reminded me to message his twin, Patrice, about her pregnancy and her moving options and her baby shower. 

I have decided to write my sister’s kids letters. I’ve done postcards and birthday/holiday packages, but they don’t feel behooved to reply to those things, and I think they would with letters. I might even send return envelopes and stamps. I kinda suspect my sister is trying to limit their ability to communicate with anyone, not explicitly me but I’m not important enough to get them on messaging platforms or what have you, if that makes sense, and it kinda hurts my feelings because honestly wtf. I text her things to show them but like. Sigh. 

I just asked Elise for a 1am status update if she’s awake (she’s never stayed at these people’s house and it would be fine if she WAS sleeping, but I doubt that); she immediately replied that she’s having a blast. Nice contrast to how Aaron is miserable that the bus station sucks, the bus will suck, paying for this has sucked for him, and also everything sucks :p 

I’ve been listening to a podcast while playing Tetris, as I half watch my phone, and considering writing projects, and how to get Patrice’s baby’s blanket crocheted by her baby shower, and how I need to finish this quilt I’m half done with for Ananda, first. It’s good to have weekends but I’m really glad I’ll be off for 9 days straight later this month. I contemplate things I’d like to accomplish with my plants tomorrow, and how to have a block of time for sex, and how glad I am to be less bloated than I have been these past days, from UTI antbiotics that were seriously kicking my ass. Jake’s birthday is Tuesday and we’ll take him to Moe’s and bake him a carrot cake, but mostly he’s having his party next weekend.

That about covers it :p

[launh]

Little rant about anxiety aid my municipality offers and the stupid way I'm going about that bc aaaaaaaaaaaa

Ok I understand that this is entirely and completely my own fault. But. Due to my anxiety disorder I'm currently unable to work, and my municipality offers a fund to help students who cannot work for a longer periode of time due to reasons like mine (or like a physical disability etc). So I wanted to submit a request for that, and it said I needed to submit a formal reason I can't have a job. Cool, fine. So I asked both of my therapists and they said "oh no this practice doesn't do those things, maybe ask your gp?" so I asked my gp and my gp said "oh no we don't do those things, maybe ask your municipality?". And so at this point I'm already a little frustrated, why tell me I need an expert's opinion if none of the experts within this municipality offer those. Like. This is a trap, is it not? So my mum called the municipality (because I have severe phone anxiety) and they were like "idk sounds like a you problem" which is fine, that's a very good response and I'm happy they said that. I looked at the submission form again, and quite a few things I needed to submit were quite vague. So my parente convinced me, can't hurt to just try and submit this form with just my official dsm diagnosis as the formal proof. What's the worst that can happen? They email me back saying "nice try but no <3" and I'm back where I started no harm done. Now this is the part that is my own dumb stupid fault. Obviously they did not email me a rejection. They tried calling me and sent me an email saying I need to call them because they have a question for me and sent me a letter saying I need to either submit the formal proof or at april 4th my submission will be binned. I could not answer the call as I was in class, but I assume the message is the same as the letter (they didn't leave a voicemail). I read the letter and I thought, well, fine, I have tried everything I could to get that formal proof and no one is willing to give it to me, and now the municipality has reached out to me three separate ways so if they don't hear back from me, on april 4th it'll be like it never happened. But no. They call me every day. And I know I need to at least send them an email back like "ah sorry for wasting your time but I don't have formal proof because even though both my therapists and my gp agree I can't work they don't do formal proof, so you can bin the submission soz" but they're calling me all the time and I never pick up because I panic every time the phone rings so now I can definitely never pick up because they hate me and I can also not send that email because they hate me but I need to send that email because otherwise they will hate me. Man. Sometimes it feels like any accommodation for my anxiety the world offers is just like "oh you don't have a pen? here fill in this form (only pen allowed, if you use pencil or marker we will kill you) and then you'll get a pen at the end" babe how do I fill in the form then. without a pen.

[etakeh]

After listening to this two-parter on Dr Dobson, I realize that I, and my kid, kind of dodged some bullets.

I'm at a particular age where I was a small child in the early Dobson years, and had a small child in the late 90s, when things got really rolling for him.

This is going to be long, but I'm feeling some things. Feel free to skip my commentary and go listen to the podcast, I won't be offended. I do think it's worth listening to, especially since Garrison Davis is the guest, who has a personal connection to the "gay conversion" stuff from the second episode.

If you want my personal feelings on the thing, read on.

My dad was religious, after a lapse of two wives between his religious parents and his current wife. They were the type of Christians where...well like this.

I grew up with my mom, visiting dad on holidays. The one time I spent actual Christmas day with his new family, he sat me down and asked me if I knew what "the true meaning of Christmas is".

I was maybe 12. Not exactly the age where I could have avoided this knowledge, but he (I'm sure at the prompting of his new wife) assumed I didn't know. That I hadn't been exposed to that information, somehow.

If he'd been a better father, he'd know that I went to church with my great-grandparents, that I'd gone to Sunday school and Christian day camps. I mean not because my mom was particularly religious, but it was a free babysitter for a woman raising three kids with, you know, no father. In fact, when she talked about god, she was angry. "Why does god let babies die" etc.

anyway. They assumed it was ignorance that kept me from being a full-blown Christian. There's no way I could have heard The Word and not want to be actively Jesusing.

So, I have anecdotal evidence that I was a "strong-willed child". I have recently found letters from my mom, to my dad, detailing how "out of control" I was. Begging him to play a more active roll in my upbringing. or maybe just visiting every now and then.

I was kindygarden/1st grade when this book came out.

Not having had my dad take an active part in my childhood, I didn't have this "parenting advice" visited upon me. Thanks? I guess?

Fast-forward to the late 90s, and I am a single parent with a "strong-willed child" of the kindygarden/1st grade age. I now lived, by a long string of situations, not far from my dad and his not-so-new wife. It's nice, they are remarkably good grandparents. She did all the grandma things, baking and crafts and reading to my kid. My dad let my kid tromp around with him around the property, played video games with them, and built a pretty badass playhouse for the two grandkids.

But they kept trying to sneak in religion. He'd get them a new video game that was cartoon Christian history, she'd read a fun illustrated book of bible stories. That kind of thing.

And they both started suggesting I took these parenting classes that were being given at a local gathering place. I wasn't super smart about it, but when they gave me a flyer and it mentioned "Focus on the Family" I absolutely struck it down. I didn't say that was why, I just let it slide til they stopped asking me. They didn't want to push and stop letting them see my kid, and I didn't want my kid to lose the legitimately good time she had with them.

And now I'm listening to this podcast.

I sent my kid this message after the first part

I was fully joking. My kid is not neurotypical, so the kinds of "discipline" they were promoting would absolutely not have worked. And if it had, it would have fucked my kid up. like it probably did to a lot of kids.

Then I listen to the second part. that gets heavily into gay conversion therapy.

And send my kid this

cause you know what? my kid is queer. It wasn't a recognized thing when they were kindygarden aged, and I'd like to think I wouldn't have gotten overly influenced by this program, but I'm sitting here thinking, What if I had?

What if I'd decided to run with it. How fucked up would that be.

There's a chance my kid would have gotten sucked in as well. and/or that we ended up having a falling out because of it. and/or that my kid could have ended up dead.

It's honestly kind of terrifying.

So I guess thanks mom for being so angry at god, and thanks to dad for being so annoying about god. Between the two of you, it worked out.

and to my kid, You're welcome . Where's my prize.