#he's just a hyper little noodle and is excited

[icicle-dragon]

For his birthday, Xue gets a little smile from Xiao and a practise polearm. He also gets lifted into the air by Zhongli, many doting headpats and a little trip to Mondstadt to meet up with Klee (and albedo).

Before accepting the gift from Xiao, he hugs him. "Thank youuu! Does this mean you're going to teach me how to use it?" He looks up with his big light pink eyes, hoping Xiao would say yes.

Then, hearing that he gets to go on a little adventure with Zhongli made his eyes light up so brightly. He gives Zhongli a big hug. The small dragon could bounce off walls he's so excited. He's thrilled to be going to see his friend.

[rottenpumpkin13]

The Firsts are forced to attend a company Halloween party, costumes required. What are they dressing up as and why?

SOLDIERs + Halloween

★ Anon gets a gold star for a halloween ask. You have come to the right blog friend >:) *evil laughter*

• ShinRa is hosting an ultra opulent and fancy Halloween party. It's one of those invite-only events with a guest list consisting of celebrities and politicians.

• And the 1st class trio are absolutely required to attend. No exceptions and that means Sephiroth is forced to partake in the festivities too—kicking and screaming, of course.

• They're having lunch in Angeal's office one October (it's takeout from the overpriced Wutaian place in sector 8) and racking their brains over what their costumes are going to be.

• "I suppose I could go as a gladiator...?" Angeal sounds befittingly unsure of his own words. He rocks himself on his swivel chair, stabbing his chopsticks into a pork dumpling. Just the thought of sitting through some gaudy event nauseates him.

• Genesis, who has long abandoned his fried rice, lounges beck on the chair across from him. He has both boots propped on the desk, something Angeal is far too distracted to concern himself over.

• "What you could do, my friend, is help me choose." He holds up the open notebook he's been sketching in for the past fifteen minutes. Both pages have detailed depictions of Genesis dressed in two costumes.

• Angeal's face drains of color when he looks them.

• "So?" Genesis's grin is wicked as he arches a single eyebrow. "Bloody Little Red Riding Hood or Prince charming?"

• Angeal leans forth, squinting at the Little Red Riding Hood sketch in particular.

• Angeal: Gen, if you wear that you're going to be arrested.

• Genesis: I am going to be praised for my nerve and versatility.

• Angeal: It's lingerie.

• Genesis: It's camp.

• Angeal rolls his eyes, then stomachs the last of his dumplings. "Go with prince charming," he mutters through a mouthful of food.

• Meanwhile Sephiroth is quietly eating his noodles on the couch while doing some arts and crafts himself.

• Genesis swivels the chair around to face him, planting his feet on the ground. "Oh, goddess help me, Sephiroth," he scoffs.

• Sephiroth stops chewing as he stills. He's hovering over the piece of plywood with a paintbrush in hand. "Yes?"

• Genesis is fuming. He drums his finger on the notebook, lips dripping with venom. "This is why you sent that poor trooper on that wild goose chase? To get you art supplies so you can concoct that atrocity?"

• Angeal shrugs. "I like it. It's smart."

• Sephiroth proudly holds up a sign that reads "COSTUME"

• Genesis tosses his notebook on the table with a groan. "You know what? Why don't we just do a group costume?"

• Angeal and Sephiroth exchange weary looks, but ultimately decide to hear Genesis out. They gather around the excited redhead, dodging his flailing arms and animated gestures as he sketches out another two costumes.

• And this is how the 1st class trio end up attending the halloween party as....

• Three medieval Knights! It's ornate enough to placate Genesis, uniform enough to comfort Sephiroth, and Angeal's inner child is healed. Genesis has a red cloak, Angeal a green one, and Sephiroth's is blue.

• Everyone's happy.

• Unfortunately Sephiroth gets wind of the gluttonous amounts of candy offered at the event and Genesis is drunk within the first hour.

• Angeal spends the majority of the party keeping drunk Genesis and hyper Sephiroth from "dueling."

[verdemoun]

I know that the time warp is mostly just VDL gang but hypothetically if it wasn’t how do you think characters like Hamish and Albert Mason would act in present time? They are my absolute favorite side mission things and I already finished them :[

Albert Mason would struggle so much god bless him but man could barely survive 1899 let alone trying to cross a street in any major city in modern era.

Arthur just has to pick him up by the scruff of his shirt to stop the poor guy getting hit by a car 90% of the time. albert mason needs a monkey backpack for his own safety moreso than sean does.

it's so fun imagining albert interacting with the rest of the VDLs. lenny would help teach him about photoshop and photo editing and after the initial moral dilemma of 'am i doctoring photos to suit my own goals? :c' albert would love photoshop. cackles maniacally as he removes his thumb from photos.

he would have multiple phones just because he liked the cameras on them differently. honestly he would just have a shelf of cameras. side point when people time warp they have everything that was on their persons at the time so he would still have his original camera but the struggle to get prints for an 1880s camera would force him to convert to modern technology. his favorite would be disposable film cameras even if the guilt over the environmental impact would keep him awake at night.

albert would also get along with kieran super well because he has such great vibes and they could infodump on one another. you know when two people with wildly different hyperfixations both just listen to one another talk? that's kieran and albert.

they adore sitting in the backyard as a little window of flourishing nature in the suburbia. arthur is still supervising nervously in case either one of them finds a way to get themselves killed but kieran is merrily tending to his vegetable patch while albert is taking photos of hummingbirds and butterflies

ALBERT WOULD GET SO INTO ENTOMOLOGY AND MACRO PHOTOGRAPHY HE WOULD BE SO PASSIONATE ABOUT SAVING THE BEES. he wanted to save the environment in 1880 imagine him learning about how much diversity there was in insects. this would have only started because there was a spider in his place and he was too scared of it and squeamish to kill it.

he would be a freelance photographer who would still hate pomp. hates taking wedding photos, any kind of formal event, even pet photography would bother him because he's used to real, wild animals not overgroomed dogs that barely look like dogs

but the second other creators asked him to take photos he would be so excited he would really struggle to ask a fair price for his services.

if he had a gun and knew how to use it he would shoot influencers on sight but he loves cosplayers and those hyper-realistic fantasy posable art dolls. he can be caught at any convention very much wondering how much to charge people because he's just so honored to be able to take photos of their creations like artists supporting artists he doesn't want to take their money but he's hella tired of instant noodles too

his true passion would be trying to photograph cryptids he would have an x-files i want to believe tshirt and arthur would go on expeditions to find mothman with him

phew one down lost my mind a little there I ALSO JUST FINISHED HAMISH'S QUESTS I LOVE HIM

he adjusts the fastest purely based on levels of 'do i look like i give a fuck'. oh, we're in the future now? wild.

getting a modern day prosthetic after walking around with a slab of wood for decades would be so mind boggling. let hamish sinclair get a running blade and after a realistic learning period he would love running and getting to enjoy the outdoors and hiking trails with far more independence than 1899 could afford an amputee

he would still share stories about the civil war making it clear he was talking about the civil war and people would just roll with it because what are you meant to do when an otherwise super chill and friendly veteran seems delusional. he has such a captivating way of telling stories it's frankly worth it

he haunts local fishing spots complaining about folks these days and their fancy high tech gear and no one knows how to make their own lure anymore but they all love him

he has the most hideous souped up all terrain all weather fwd mobility scooter he also named buell and he absolutely should not be allowed to drive it because he never received lessons and just decided to figure it out himself at the expense of every pedestrian in his way but he would love being able to go shopping by himself and not needing to rely on people

isaac calls him grandpa but always calls him hamish to his face because hamish would hate being called grandpa but hamish does 110% believe the kids are alright. he lets isaac tie a rope to the back of his scooter and hoons around with the kid on a skateboard.

pulling up to the matthews house blaring the shrill horn of his scooter 'get in loser we're gon' hunting'

he would still live on his own in a prefab cabin arthur very illegally helped him build on public land by the water in his own house building chapter. the fact it is still standing by the time john gets there is a miracle and they practically have to rebuild it from scratch

hamish is blissfully aware/pretending to be blissfully unaware of the absolute glare hosea gives him because arthur will always complain and whine when hosea wants to go fishing with him but if hamish asks arthur's skipping out the door with his fishing rod

no one is allowed to hate on hamish. as much as hosea is bitterly jealous of how well hamish and arthur get along because 'that's my son' hosea, hamish, javier and kieran would all meet up and go fishing on the pier together sharing tips, bait, handmade lures and cook fish on an open fire on the shore

when charles gets there arthur is as nervous about charles meeting hamish as a kid introducing his partner to his parents for the first time. they would get along so well but it wouldn't seem like it. they go hunting together and arthur is so anxious because charles and hamish have pretty much only said hello to each other and are otherwise silent the entire trip but asking each privately later they absolutely adored the other's company and can't wait to see each other again.

[hannahhook7744]

Hadie Headcanons revised;

Hadie is just a nickname. His actual name is Hayden Prometheus Olympian.

He is 8 years younger than Mal.

He is constantly following and mimicking people-- including Mal, his dad, Harry Hook, Gil, Uma, and the Badun Detective Agency.

He's a nice, easily excitable, hyper little boy who just wants to help anyone he can.

He wants to be a detective, musician, and/or cook more than anything.

His mom is likely Maleficent, the wicked witch, or Persphone.

He has a long list of nicknames including, but not limited to; Hadie, Mini-Me, Flameo, Flamey, Flameo Junior, Hades Junior, Death breath, the flame prince, the fire prince, the prince of the underground, the prince of true underworld , little prince, little flame, little blue, blue, the Olympian flame, little blue, the little blue boy, the Olympian prince, and Cebrus boy.

He wears blue and black eyeliner -- alternating the colors depending on the day.

He learned how to sword fight from Uma and is one of her favorite kids on the isle.

Hadie, unlike Mal, isn't allergic to spices, so he can eat as much as anyone allows him to.

He likes spicy candy alot and has a high tolerance for it.

He likes blue food and drinks, and anything his dad, sister, and Uma cook.

His favorite meal is a noodle mix that Mal makes him all the time.

Hadie's favorite desert to eat is a vanilla blueberry swirl cone with sprinkles and chocolate squace. Harry, Herkie, and Ben can't say no to him, so he gets it all the time.

He is a bit of a pyromaniac, which surprises no one and he also loves flowers alot.

He calls cebrus 'Spot', despite Hades best efforts at correcting him. Because of this, Cebrus responds to both names.

Hadie lives above his dad's restaurant, which is near his dad's cave.

He sometimes helps out at his dad's restaurant and around the palace once he's off the isle when the staff allows him to.

He went to Dragon Hall on the isle.

Hadie's favorite classes are Orchestra , Wicked Economics, Artists and Thieves, Weird Science, Tall Tales and the Tellers Who Tell Them. He is also in the Anti-heroes club (like the Baduns) and the Sea Ponies club (like Uma is). He also likes astrology.

Hadie's ridiculously innocent for an isle kid.

Ben ends up buying Hadie a bike when the barrier is brought down. Hades nearly had a heart attack.

Hadie gets along with his dad's side if the family surprising well because they all find him adorable.

Hadie has always secretly wanted to meet Meg, Hercules, and their kids. Mainly Meg because his dad and Pain and Panic talk about her often, so he knows how cool she would be.

The first time he met Ben, he immediately took an liking to him. Something Hades doesn't like.

One day, while out for Icecream with Mal and Ben, they got swarmed by popularity and Hadie-- shy little Hadie who doesn't like loud noises and bright lights-- runs off to escape it. He gets lost and runs into this lady with brown hair and her teenage son, and they help him find his sister. They tell him jokes to keep him calm as they do so. And that's how Hadie met Meg and Herkie. Meg quickly becomes Cousin Meg after this (since she married Hadie's cousin, Hercules).

Hadie likes the way Harry Hook does his make up and even copies the look, much to his dad's charge. Harry thinks it's hilarious, even if it annoyed him at first.

Pain and Panic are like his uncles.

Hades doesn't really keep that close an eye on Hadie other than to keep him alive.

Hadie is terrified of Maleficent. A fear he ends up sharing with his bestfriends- Chloe Charming, Red Hearts, Danny Darling, and Maddox, the Madhatter's son, when the barrier is brought down.

It's an unspoken rule on the isle that if you want to stay in one piece, you'll keep your hands off Hadie. No one has ever laid a hand on Hadie and gotten away with it. Mal, The Badun Detective Agency, whoever his mom is, and Hades always find out and it no one knows how.

He suspects it either came from Gil or Mal. He's not too sure though.

He looks up to Mal and the other members of the Core Four after what they did in Auardon. But he also looks up to Uma’s crew and the Badun Detective Agency.

He also wants to beba Detective.

He has a stuffed, makeshift Cerberus. Meaning a stuffed dog with two other stuffed dog heads sewn on it. He doesn't know where it came from because he just found it on his bed one day.

He accidentally found out that Mal was his sister not long after he learned to read. He found Mal's birth certificate hidden under the couch. He was 5. He promised his father he'd never tell anyone.

He had to literally beg and plead with Yin Sid so he could join the Anti heroes club even though it was technically his idea because of how young he is.

He knows basic self-defense (taught to him by Uma and the Badun Detective Agency) and is good at climbing things/ as well as parkour.

Hadie likes cooking, punk music, dogs, skulls, fire, and learning about his dad's side of the family.

He wears scruffed up, dirty, and torn up black sneakers that are in better condition than most people's on the isle as well as ripped up (slightly baggy) blue jeans, a black leather jacket that his dad says "he'll grow into" that goes down at his knees at the moment, and a black tshirt with a skull on it.

Hadie sometimes models for Evie's designs.

Evie is the one who made Hadie's jacket. It was a favor she owned Harry back when she was vanished.

Only 5 people know this; Hadie, Evie, Harry, Hades, and Uma.

Hadie is one of the only children on the isle who has toys. No one is stupid enough to try and steal them.

Mal, Uma, Yzla, and Freddie are trying to teach him magic. He likes this very much.

He also loves the circus to death because Herkie took him one time.

Which means you can often find Queen Mal, King Ben, Hades, Hercules, Meg, Herkie, and Hadie sitting together at the circus. Hadie also inherited his family's knack for exploring and their curiosity. Which causes a few heart attacks.

He likes making potions, cooking, baking, playing on the playground, rooftops, the arcade, and by the docks. He also likes pulling pranks, something he picked up from Uma and Mal. However, his pranks are more harmless unlike theirs.

He loves playing with animals and stargazing too. He also likes listening and playing music, and playing with toys. Especially stuffed animals.

He loved acting, plays, and dressing up as well as coloring, drawing, spray painting, painting, and basically any form of art.

He doesn't know how to swim because Uma is too scared about what will happen if his hair goes out.

He's allergic to shrimp. He couldn't hug Uma for a month after thr shrimp incident without passing out. Which is another reason why Uma didn't forgive Mal for a very long time.

Oh, and Diego also taught Hadie how to swear on accident. Yeah, that was not a fun night for him.

Hadie is scared of lightning. And sea monsters. And Zeus.

Harry use to sneak Hadie into Evie's room back when she was banished so she could have some company. Somewhere out there, in one of Harry's note books, there's a picture of a 10 year old Harry and a 10 year old Evie laughing together with a 2 year old Hadie in between them, giggling during one of these visits. No one knows that that picture exists except for Harry, Hades, and Evie.

Oh and after the barrier is brought down, Diego tries to teach little Hadie how to drive using Cruella's car. It does not end well because Hadie is short since he's nowhere near old enough to drive. So they crash through a wall and the whole thing ends up pinned on Diego. He did not have a good few weeks after that.

Hadie is usually left to his own devices on the isle. That changes quickly when the barrier is brought down, much to his disappointment.

He also has a little villian phase in his teens though no one takes him seriously in his later years. Especially not the Badun Detective Agency.

He constantly yells as a teenager that the Badun Agency is ruining his street cred.

His 4 bestfriends also do not take him seriously about the evil thing and drag him along on their little adventure.

He constantly banters and roughhousing with Danny Darling every chance he gets. Much to Red, Maddox, and Chloe's annoyance.

He also has his own villian song (see Chris villian on YouTube).

[marvelingjules]

As typical when I only have one weekend day off, it ended up very busy.

My phone’s battery was needing recharging way too often - 2-3 times throughout the day - and with my upcoming out of state trip I decided I’d feel more comfortable with a new phone that had a good battery. Mine was a good 6 gens back so it had an upgrade due anyway. Guy misunderstood the size I wanted and I didn’t catch it until after the transaction had been done but oh well. Ordered a good phone case for it that should be at the house for me tomorrow.

Did some laundry, got groceries again - enough for work lunches this week and next once I’m back, and for dinners this week and a little next. Plus some stuff I just hadn’t got yet - like a swiffer mop - during which I found some potential new dinner box mixes. Had one tonight - still too big for just me but I’ll take leftovers for lunch. It was good though I’d add more noodles and my own, better bacon. (I made it with turkey, since that’s what I had, instead of chicken too.)

Later this week I will need to restock Bailey on wet food, and I’m looking for a replacement ribbon toy, since he’s been loving his from the holidays to death.

The store was so much more crowded than I expected, and money is such a stressor for me (always has been, more so now with the apartment), that by the time I got to the self check I was legit shaking. I didn’t feel panicky in the way a lot of people describe panic attacks; I never do really? I go one of two ways - I cry hard for a good 20 mins and go numb, or I like… zone? Idk how to describe it, but I am almost hyper aware of all the noise-people-too-much of my surroundings and can’t think much past “don’t like this too much uncomfortable don’t like this”. Which writing down, yeah, okay, sounds like panicking but it doesn’t feel panic-like. Just overwhelmed.

Anyway, once I realized I was legit shaking I checked into myself and realized I was breathing a little fast and shallow - probably not noticeable to anyone else but I’m very aware of my breathing; asthmatic after all - and clenching my jaw hard and how tight my muscles were. So. I handled it, took some of my in the moment meds (because there was another store and back to my folks’ house after that too), and just took slow measured breaths.

And then when I was supposed to go back to my folks’ house tonight to pick up the air/dry laundry, I let them know I would be by tomorrow instead, because I just was done for the day. Yay for me letting myself have limits, instead of pushing past them bc I’m worried about inconveniencing others!

Still. There goes my day off. I work the next four, have Friday to trip-final-prep and then we’re heading out Saturday morning! Super excited!

[kaaytea]

Yaku Morisuke x reader

Summary: Yaku insisted that he didn't need your help, but the sound of glass breaking over the phone said otherwise.

Warnings: none

A/n: Yaku canonically has 2 little brothers now🥰 this is basically a gift for bug anon and @hikari-writes​ anyways enjoy mwah!!💖

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

"Hi baby!" You happily chirped into the phone, "I'm excited for our date! It's been a while since we've gone on one."

There was a pause on the other end, you could hear shuffling and a few muffled giggles.

"Stop it you two! I'm sorry (y/n) but we're gonna have to postpone our date, my Aunt fell ill so my parents asked me to watch Yuji and Shiori While they go look after her. I'm really sorry I know how excited you were"

You let out a small laugh and shifted your phone to your other ear as you went to pick up your bag, "It's ok Mori, we can just reschedule for next weekend. How about I come over anyway? It sounds like you'll need the help."

"Ah you don't have to do that, I can usually handle them and I don't want you to-"

Yaku was cut off by the sound of a glass breaking followed by two voices

"ooooo Oniisan is gonna kill yooooou"

"No! He's gonna kill you because I didn't do it!"

Mori let out a tired sigh, "On second thought some help would be greatly appreciated."

"I'll be over in ten minutes, sit tight sweetie!"

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

The Yaku family home wasn't too far from yours, being only a little over an eight-minute walk away. You'd been there plenty of times throughout the years after befriending Morisuke in junior high; your younger self would probably explode if they knew you'd end up dating that cute boy with pretty eyes and wavy, toffee hair who walked home the same way you did. The Yaku's basically became your second home at this point so helping Mori watch his little brothers wasn't that rare of an event.

You hopped up the steps to the humble house and knocked on the door, which swang open a few seconds after revealing a flustered Yaku Morisuke.

"Thank you for helping (y/n), I’m sorry.. this isn't exactly what I had in mind for us today," he said as you walked in, pressing a kiss to your cheek in the process.

"I don't mind helping you out Mori, sure it's not the same as a dinner date but we always have fun when watching the boys," you offered him a smile, which he returned, and followed him into the main room where you were immediately tackled by his brothers.

"(Y/n)-chan!" Yuji jumped up from his seat, abandoning the gaming controller he was holding leaving Shiori to win the game they were currently playing, and bounced over to you to hug your waist. Shiori followed closely behind his older brother and latched on to your waist as well.

"Hey you two!" You wrapped an arm around both boys and hugged them back, both of them looked up at you with big smiles.

They were looking more and more like Morisuke each time you saw them -which was understandable seeing as they're all brothers.

Yuji, the older of the two, shared the same toffee hair as his elder brother but Shiori's, while similar, was a few shades darker than Mori's. All three of them had the same chocolate-colored eyes and delicate freckles dusted on their cheeks though.

"Alright get off them, this might surprise you two but they need to do this thing called breathing," Yaku said from where he was leaning against the couch.

Both boys pulled away, Shiori lingering a little longer, and then dragged you over to the couch to play videogames with you.

Videogames were the most popular form of entertainment whenever you came to watch them. Yuji was scary good at games and almost always won when the four of you played; he could honestly rival Kenma's abilities.

Because there were only three controllers Shiori always sat on your lap so the both of you could take turns, but you had a sneaking suspicion it was because he was a little more attached to you and liked to be near you.

"Are you sure you don't want to play (y/n)-chan?" Shiori looked up at you from his spot on your lap with an innocent look.

"I'm sure Shi, I'm having much more fun watching you play," you leaned closer to him and whispered," Plus, I can help you beat your brothers this way."

He grinned at you and looked forward again to the tv. It seemed as though today's game of choice was Smash Bros Ultimate.

The three brothers started the game with Yuji instantly knocking Mori off the map resulting in him to yell out in frustration. Yaku could be very petty when he wanted so he spent most of the game targeting Yuji, leaving Shiori to sit safely on the sidelines. The game was coming to a close with Mori and Yuji both having one life left. Mori took a wild chance and ended up hitting Yuji off the map making the younger boy cry out in shock. That's when you guided Shiori over to Mori's character and won the match.

"No fair! (y/n)-chan helped you Shiori!" Yuji whined.

"I have no idea what you mean Yuji," you gave him a smile as he pouted at you; he took gaming very seriously.

"Ok ok, stop attacking (y/n) and Shi, why don't we go outside for a bit? The both of you have been in here playing games all day," Yaku got up and turned off the gaming console and tv then turned back to look at the two boys.

"Oooook," they both said before racing to the door. They pushed at each other in attempts to sabotage the other causing you to laugh at their antics. You were so engrossed in the younger boys race that you didn't notice Yaku standing in front of you until he flicked your head.

"You totally helped him win, didn't you" Mori stated with a playful glare.

You got up and pressed a kiss to his nose, "Maybe I did maybe I didn't. Why? Do you want me to help you win next time?" Mori blushed at your response then teasingly hit your shoulder.

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

You and Yaku sat on the wooden porch together watching the younger boys kick around a soccer ball. Mori's arm was around your waist, his thumb occasionally rubbing soft circles into your hip.

"Niisan?" Shiori had diverged from Yuji and now stood in front of Mori and you, nervously fiddling with the hem of his shirt.

"What's up bud?"

"Can...can you teach me how to play volleyball?"

Mori honestly looked like he could cry when the words 'teach me to play volleyball' left his little brother’s mouth. He'd been hoping that at least one of his brothers would become interested in the sport and it seemed quiet Shiori would be the one.

Mori stood up with a grin on his face, "Sure Shi! Come on, we'll teach you how to receive first."

You smiled watching Shiori run after Morisuke; Yuji and Shiori really looked up to him, it's like they think he hung the stars in the sky himself.

"Yuji!" You called out. The boy looked up from where he was kicking around the soccer ball, "Wanna come help me make dinner?"

"Yeah!"

Yuji happily trailed after you to the kitchen, hopping around from foot to foot as he blabbered on about a Tv show.

You honestly didn't know where he got all his energy from, everyone else in his family was significantly less hyper; though, his cheery attitude was one of your favorite things about him.

"Alright Yuji, what should we make?"

He stopped his bouncing and brought a hand to his chin, his face scrunching up as he pondered his options.

"Ramen!"

You gave him a nod and searched through the cabinets for the noodle packets you were, oh so familiar with. You pulled out enough for four people, placing them on the counter. You then moved to the refrigerator -just eating the packaged noodles wouldn't be the healthiest, so you decided to put your own spin on it. After a quick once over of the fridge you pulled out some carrots, spinach, and a few eggs.

"Ok Kiddo, I'm giving you a really important job. I want you to wash the carrots and spinach, think you can do that for me?"

"Yep!" Yuji gathered the vegetables in his arms and brought them over to the sink to start his job. Once you were sure he was safe, you started looking around for a pot and cutting board. You'd been to this house so many times but if there was one room you weren't familiar with it was the kitchen. Yaku's mother always insisted that she had everything handled and for you to go enjoy your time with Morisuke.

"(y/n)-chan I'm done!" Yuji called over his shoulder. He had perfect timing as you had just found a pot big enough to cook the noodles in.

You walked over to the sink, pot in hand, and gave Yuji a pat on the head -he was absolutely beaming at your approval.

"looks good, I'm gonna start cutting the carrots, fill this pot a little over halfway and then we can start making the noodles," Yuji nodded up at you and started filled the pot while you started cutting the veggies.

You were fully concentrated on your task, you didn't even hear the backdoor open.

"Careful!" You looked over your shoulder to find Mori taking the filled pot from Yuji, the latter had a slight pout spread over his face.

Yaku placed the pot on the stove top and turned back to the younger boy, "Don't do that next time, alright? You could have gotten hurt...it's ok to ask for help when you need it."

Yuji nodded pitifully, he's eyes down casted on the floor in a mix of shame and embarrassment. Mori huffed and ruffled Yuji's hair making him perk up a bit, "I think (y/n) and I've get it handled from here buddy. Go play with Shi, we'll call you both when the foods done."

"Ok!" All previous sadness had left Yuji as he instantly reverted back to his happy self, he bounced out of the kitchen and in the direction of he and Shiori's shared room.

"Thank you for helping Yuji!" You called out. His head popped out from the side of the doorway with a large smile on his face.

"you're welcome (y/n)-chan!"

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

After dinner and a few more rounds of Smash, Mori and you had tucked both boys into bed for the night.

You stretched your arms high into the air with a hum, "I should probably start walking home."

You felt Yaku latch onto your back, his chin resting on your shoulder and his strong arms pulling you into his chest.

"Nope you're staying here, I don't want you walking home this late."

You chuckled at him and leaned into his hold, he's always looking out for you.

"Ok...that means we're gonna go cuddle in your room, right?"

"Duh"

Being curled up with Mori was one of the best things on earth. Everything about the action was soft and warm; the embodiment of comfort.

"I love your brothers but they really are a handful."

"Try living with them," Yaku responded dryly.

You slapped his shoulder lightly causing him to chuckle at you.

You sighed, enjoying the feeling of Mori tracing random shapes on your back, and nuzzled further into his chest.

"How did Volleyball with Shiori go?"

"It was fun. He's not that bad of a receiver, though I think he'd make a better setter than a libero."

You hummed and placed a kiss on his jaw, "He does have the aspects of a good setter in him, liberos need to be a bit aggressive and crazy to throw themselves around and receive."

"Wow thanks babe," he deadpanned causing you to giggle at him.

"I loooove you~"

"Yeah, whatever you say," Yaku rolled his eyes then tickled your sides changing your giggles to full-on laughter. You shifted and twitch in feeble attempts to escape Yaku's grasp.

"OK OK IM SORRY, Y-YOU MADE YOUR POINT!!"

He stopped his attack and watched you with a soft look as you calmed down. That's when a sliver of light cut through the room like a knife making both You and Mori look towards the door.

"Oniisan...we heard a scary noise outside," Yuji stood in the doorway with Shiori behind him clinging to the back of his shirt.

Mori sat up, he may complain that his baby brothers were annoying but he still loved them with all his heart and couldn't stand to see them upset.

"Do you guys wanna stay with us tonight? (Y/n)-chan and I will make sure nothing scary comes to snatch you away"

Both boys nodded and rushed over to Yaku's bed; their brother was like a beacon of light and the bed a safe house, the childlike fear of standing in the dark room unprotected lapped at their minds.

You all had to squeeze to fit onto the bed but eventually, everyone got situated and relaxed. Both kids laid between you and Mori; Shiori was clinging to your waist with his face pressed into your stomach and Yuji was facing Mori hugging his arm.

Both Yuji and Shiori fell asleep instantly once in the comfort of You and Yaku.

You ran a hand through Shiori's wavy hair, you looked up to find Yaku watching you; he looked starstruck, an almost loopy smile on his face and a warm glow in his eyes. He reached over Yuji and Shiori and grabbed onto your free hand, his thumb ran up and down the back of it prompting you to close your eyes and start to drift off.

Everything was warm and cozy, nothing but the distant chirps of crickets and the soft breathing of the two sleeping boys filled your senses; the feeling of safety and protection evident in the air.

This single moment in time was better than any date Yaku could take you on.

[aangtheairbender]

Autistic Bolin HC / some ADHD HC

Did get diagnosed when he was little, but all that knowledge went out the window when his parents died.

Would have meltdowns and cry for hours when they were taken into custody by a adoption centre. No one really understood why they lasted so long or why it sometimes happened. They just thought it had something to do with the awful circumstances. Mako didn't know what to do either, but all of them saw that Little Bo was the most calm when they were together. And it wasn't like they were ever separated during that time.

Would also have meltdowns on the streets, because noting is constant or stable there. Mako who didn't know how to handle their new life, would get frustrated and yell at him to stop or behave or leave him alone. But after a while, he would comfort him and try to get Bolin to speak or calm down. It was hard for them both.

Could be so exhausted from it all, that he just needed a day to rest at the current home they had. Mako would always hide him well when he went out for food or needed to leave him alone for some time.

Also, on the streets, he could have hours or sometimes a day or two where he was mute. Selectively mute. Those happened more when he and Mako spent the first few years on the streets, before they learned to survive better. They doesn't really happen when he becomes an adult.

Does have texture issues regarding food (especially) and some clothing fabric. Likes soft food the best, which is why dumplings is a big fave and noodles comes on a close second. Rice works if it cooked the way he likes. Is less energetic regarding crunchy food like fresh vegetables and rice crackers. Has learned to push through it tho, because of his hard childhood. They couldn'r really be picky, but there have been times were he has had meltdowns because of food and even gotten sick because he tried to force food down that clashed with his texture issues.

He is able to ignore some of them most of the time. They do eat a lot at the Island or their dad's side of the family. He learned early on that he couldn't afford to be picky with food, so he is able to force food down if he must. Mako sometimes is sneaky and takes the food he knows Bolin can't stomach on his own plate and rolls a dumpling or two back on Bolin's plate.

Stims a lot with his hands. He either plays with his fingers or flaps them. Especially if he's nervous or really excited. Also bonuses his knees a lot or shake his ankle a lot when he is doing mundane things like sitting down and writing etc. Also walks in circle whenever he is really stressed.

When Toza gave them a home at the Arena, he decided that the best way to cope with Bolin's endless amount of babbling and energy, was to just exhaust him with pro-bending practice and daily task reguarding taking care of the Arena when it was closed.

Doesn't really know that he is autistic, is kind of just the way he is. Mako doesn't know either; he just learned to handle Bolin so he wouldn't have meltdown and got used to his reactions to things he liked and didn't like. Or what set him of and what didn't. It was just how Bolin was.

His hyper focus have come in great use through his lifetime. He went through a small phase were he wanted to learn sewing, because it helped him and his brother out, and focused entirely on that for a while. Same with some food recipes he has perfected while he wanted to be better at cooking. Have had his fare share of earth bending exercises where he has just almost spent every waking minute trying to workout.

When he tried to learn lava bending, Mako would usually have to get him out from whatever mountain or forest he was practicing in or drop off some food. He would have spent the whole day there if it wasn't for someone interrupting him and telling him it was time for rest.

Dose get some periods and days were he has a really hard time focusing and stimulating himself, so he struggles a lot with work and just comes off as too over the top for everyone else and too energetic. They tell him to clam down a notch or two- but he can't really help himself. It exhausting for everyone, but worst for Bolin.

A little bit too talkative sometimes and too overbearing without knowing it.

Is pretty great at masking.

Finds people confusing most of the time, since he can't really read a room or people for that matter. Tries to mimic other people, but it doesn't really help him. Likes Varrick for this reason, since he is most of the time straight forward about the tasks and stuff he wants to do or wants other people to do.

Army was also easy for him to adapt to, since they did follow a fairly monotone working schedule the first years in regards of change in the weekly plan. Likes also that officers and people up in the higher rank just tells him what to do, without giving him much choice to do otherwise.

I think Lin would actually pick up on it. Maybe even Asami and Opal too. Lin would pick it up when Bolin worked as an officer under her. There would be other neurodivergent workers in the department, and it's important that they know stuff like that because it can interfere with their work in regards on how they need to work to function and the reaction they will have during certain circumstances.

She would just observe him and kind of just pick up the clues here and there and it kind of just clicks the longer she observes him on work and off work. Since he hand't mention it, Lin ask one time and Bolin just gives him a blank stare.

Bolin goes to Mako and asks him about it, and Mako doesn't really have any clue what he is talking about- since he doesn't really know a lot about stuff like that either. Lin talks about what she has observed and Mako kind of understands that is more to Bolin than he though. Bolin just gets more confused.

Mako borrows a few books from the Island and reads up on the matter and a lot of the behaviour and things alike matches his brother behaviour. Also ask Opal about it, and she tells him that she kind of though it was something underlying, but didn't want to be rude to just ask it straight out. And Bolin had never once mentioned, so she just thought she was just looking too deep into something.

Mako feels kind of shitty since he didn't pick up on it sooner. Which was impossible for him since he didn't even know what it was. He just wishes he could make Bolin's life easier.

When Bolin actually get the diagnosis, he is both relieved and has a little crisis because he never understood while he did thing like he did. Mako tells him he will help him figure more of this out.

[patchofsunlight]

Stand You | Bakugou Katsuki x Fem!Reader

SUMMARY: Bakugou insists he can’t stand stupid Y/N, even while he changes his entire routine to fit her in it.

WORD COUNT: 5.1k

WARNINGS: if this doesn’t show up on tags for the fifth time i will simply give up on it, cursing, bakugou is a lil bitch but he’s also a softie, there’s a nosebleed at one point but nothing concerning tbh, aizawa and recovery girl find young love amusing, shouto is baby

Y/N wasn’t sure of exactly when she started thinking of Bakugou Katsuki as a friend. Maybe it had been during their first year, after the first time he allowed her to join his study group alongside Kirishima, Kaminari, Sero, and Mina; or maybe it had been a bit later, when she hugged him tight in the middle of a crowd, almost as if she could squeeze the pain being kidnapped by the League of Villains had brought him, and he let her — while All Might fought his last battle and all of Japan feared for its future, Bakugou let her hold him.

She was deeply aware of the fact he tolerated her at best, as he made that abundantly clear every chance he got. He didn’t exactly hate her presence, but she was on thin fucking ice, and, even though Y/N knew this, she still managed to somehow develop a crush on the angry ash blond, like the stupid idiot she was.

It was ridiculous, to be honest, especially considering how there was no way he would ever feel the same. She would go as far as saying he didn’t even know her name — “Stupid,” he called her (how enchanting!) —, so, yeah, there was absolutely no possibility of her feelings being reciprocated in any way, and the dumb hug they shared was nothing but a coincidence. He was a bit shaken, a bit shocked, and those few warm minutes didn’t really mean anything.

Y/N didn’t mind. She was okay being Bakugou’s friend, satisfied with study group meetings and the occasional sparring. That way, at least, she could be sort of close to him, and that was pretty much enough.

Katsuki wasn’t sure of exactly when he had stopped thinking of Y/N L/N as another stupid extra. Maybe it had been when he found himself walking a little slower while she accompanied him towards class, or maybe it had been a bit earlier, when she hugged him tight in the middle of a crowd, almost as if she could squeeze the pain being kidnapped by the League of Villains had brought him, and he let her — while All Might fought his last battle and all of Japan feared for its future, Bakugou let her hold him.

He didn’t particularly like her. She talked too much, too fast, too loud; she insisted on walking him to and from the dorms everyday; and she was weak, stupid, useless. To be completely fair, Bakugou would say he despised her.

And yet, he found himself around her way more often than necessary.

“Hey, Bakugou, wait up! Let’s walk together!”

He groaned loudly at the sound of her voice, having been hopelessly hoping she wouldn’t be able to catch up. 

“Fuck, no. Get out of my way, Stupid!”

He slowed down nonetheless, soon walking by her side. Her smile was bright and excited as she kept on blabbering about something Kirishima had done when they were paired up on training that day.

He couldn’t fucking stand her.

“— and then he threw me off the training mat so easily! Who taught him how to do that? I wanna do that!”

“I don’t give a fuck, Stupid.”

“— but I won the second time we sparred, so I guess we’re even. It was fun.”

Y/N never seemed bothered by his harsh words. In fact, she usually either ignored them altogether, unfaltering and patient, or laughed and added some opinion of her own to his rage. It was maddening — she couldn’t take a hint.

Moments like this were common, almost routine. If Bakugou didn’t know better, he would’ve thought the girl had taken quite a liking to him. It was an obvious conclusion, considering she was always around him in some way or another, trying to spark up friendly conversation and letting him know how her day went.

(It was so, so calming to have her here like this. He would never admit it, but hearing Y/N’s endless rants brought him a sense of security he had never really felt before. She talked too much, that was for sure, yet he didn’t really care. It was okay if it was her.)

He couldn’t fucking stand her.

“Come on, try again. We’ve gone through this already.”

“I can’t, Bakugou. I—I’m sorry.”

The ash blond sighed, running a hand through his hair. The bite to his tone had disappeared after a couple of hours, red gaze intensely attentive to the frustrated tears gathering in the girl’s eyes. Every other student had gone back to their dorms, and the librarian seemed very intent on shooting the duo angry looks as if to tell them to hurry up and leave already, finally allowing their long afternoon shift to end.

“Yes, you can. I know you can. Try again, you’re almost fucking there.”

Katsuki had never been good at positive reinforcement. He was better at screaming and cursing and insulting, and, yes, he had tried that with Y/N a thousand times before, but he could see how hard she was trying. He noticed how disappointed and tired she was, and he couldn’t find it in himself to be anything less than what he recognized as incredibly soft. He was glad they were the only ones in the library — he wouldn’t know how to explain himself if anyone saw him like this, watching this random girl who he refused to call a friend mess up her homework in various different ways, talking quietly to stop her from crying.

“We don’t have all fucking day, Stupid. You can do this, go on.”

Yeah, definitely not good at positive reinforcement.

“Okay,” she inhaled deeply, pencil moving slowly through the paper, her eyebrows furrowed in concentration. 

There was a slight crease between her brows as she worked, and Bakugou felt the sudden urge to rub it away, which he rejected immediately. That was ridiculous! There was no reason for things like this to plague his mind — L/N Y/N was an idiot, and he didn’t deliberately think about her in any way, form, or universe. She wasn’t worthy of his thoughts.

“Is this it?”

His attention immediately returned to the equations and messy notes on her notebook while he looked it over, a surprised glint taking his eyes.

“Yeah, that’s basically it. It could be better, but you got it right.”

“I did?”

“You did. I told you you could do it, Stupid.”

Katsuki choked on his own air when the girl jumped towards his place on the table, hugging him tightly by the neck while spouting a great variety of thank you’s and praise, disrupting the angry librarian. Bakugou could feel his cheeks heat up under the worker’s glare, both with irritation born from their silent attitude and from the weird warmth growing in his chest at Y/N’s attention. 

It was the first time she hugged him since the kidnapping accident, and it felt different. It wasn’t a comfort hug like last time, no — it was almost like she had been so happy she couldn’t stop herself from touching him, and that thought alone was enough to send sirens flaring inside his head. Every single inch where her skin touched his seemed to tingle, a calming sensation flowing through his body.

He instantly decided he hated the feeling, pushing her off harshly but still a tad more carefully than he would’ve if it was anyone else.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, no need to freak out. Let’s just get done with this already and go back to the dorms.”

She smiled widely as she picked her things up, shoving them inside her backpack and patiently waiting for him to do the same. Strangely, the explosion boy couldn’t find it in himself to meet her eyes, avoiding the light blush he feared would coat his features when he saw her staring at him like that, with that pretty — no, not pretty, no, he didn’t think she was pretty in anyway — with that stupid smile on her face.

“I’m glad we can walk back together,” the girl declared cheerfully the moment they left the big and lonely library, strolling through the empty path side by side, the sun nowhere to be seen. “It’s late already.”

“Whatever,” he groaned back, refusing to look at her yet still maintaining a pace he was sure she could keep up with.

He couldn’t fucking stand her.

Bakugou felt hyper-aware of every movement beside him. For a few days now, his heart would pump a bit faster whenever she smiled, and his skin would crawl with what he could only describe as the craving to have her hold him again.

It made him weak, and he wouldn’t have it. Bakugou Katsuki was a lot of things, but he refused to be weak.

Specially because of someone like Stupid.

“What grade did you guys get on last week’s math test?”

They always sat next to each other during lunch. It wouldn’t be that bad if it wasn’t for how her knee touched his ever so softly, her body too close for comfort because of Kaminari’s presence on her other side, pressing onto her enthusiastically each time he spoke. Kirishima had asked her once if she wanted him to exchange places with the electric boy, but she simply laughed it off — Kaminari’s manners were endearing, in a way. For some reason, those words gave Katsuki the urge to break Kaminari’s nose.

“I got an 87,” Y/N declared, delight dripping from her words while she played with the food on her plate.

“Y/N!” Mina’s smile was so big it almost didn’t fit on her face. “That’s almost 30 marks higher than you got on our last test!”

“I know!” Bakugou scowled at her excitement before she turned her head to look at him, a sunny grin directed entirely to him, stealing all the air from his lungs. “Bakugou is an amazing tutor!”

“Damn right I am,” he managed to rasp out, clearing his throat loudly before shoving a bunch of spicy noodles in his mouth. Kirishima and Sero exchanged a look.

He would never admit it, the raw pride that consumed his chest at her happiness. He knew how hard she had worked for that test, and was glad to see it went even better than she expected. 

“Maybe now you could tutor me, Y/N,” Kaminari wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, causing a laugh to escape the girl’s lips while she turned away from Katsuki to stare at him.

“I would love to, but I’m pretty sure I would make your grades even worse.”

“Hey,” Bakugou barked angrily, fighting off the blush creeping up his ears, “don’t sell yourself short, Stupid. You’re not that much of a dumbass.”

A heavy silence fell down on the group, surprised stares pointed to the ash blond. He could feel his stomach twist in anger at the unwanted attention, yet something about the way her smile widened at his words caused his irritation to decrease exponentially.

“What are you idiots staring at?” he lashed out despite the calm settling inside his heart at the sight of her, rolling his eyes at the bunch of morons he called his friends.

“No, nothing,” Kaminari’s voice was high-pitched in obvious lying that brought out snickers from everyone else on the table but Bakugou himself. “Nothing.”

“It better be nothing, Dunce Face, or I’ll kill you.”

“Of course,” Kirishima bit down on his lip to contain his laughter, “don’t worry about it, Bakubro.”

The day went by slowly and way more often than not Bakugou found himself stealing glances towards where he knew Y/N’s seat was. There was a weird whispering in the back of his head, reminding him of how her arms felt around him when they hugged in the library the week before, reminding him of the warmth that invaded his skin and implanted itself in his brain, reminding him of how bright her smiles were and how nice her laughter sounded.

Oh, there was something wrong. Did she have some sort of secondary quirk guilty of making him feel like this? Never before had he ever given her much thought, even though he had to admit his mind wandered to her sometimes and he did try to somehow be nicer to her, but it wasn’t because he cared for her or anything, right? Of course not! He just thought she wouldn’t be able to take his usual self and he didn’t want to deal with her crying or whatever. It wasn’t because he cared about what she thought of him, hell no! Bakugou didn’t waste his time worrying about others, that wasn’t like him at all.

Bakugou Katsuki didn’t think about L/N Y/N, he didn’t, he wouldn’t.

The ash blond forced his gaze away from her once more, trying to make sense of what should’ve been neat notes instead of the mess of scribbles staring right back at him. He snarled to himself, immediately considering his disorganization as entirely her fault. How dare she play with him like this? How dare she think herself worthy of his time like this?

He couldn’t stand her.

And yet, less than two hours later, there he was, listening to her rant about this one movie she desperately wanted to watch while they walked beside each other after class. It would be so easy for Bakugou to pick up his pace and leave her alone, but his body refused to obey his mind’s wishes, and so he kept himself slow enough for her to stay with him.

He couldn’t fucking stand her.

His whole body was sore, barely able to move his arms after overusing his quirk all evening. Bakugou knew he shouldn’t push himself this hard, but he refused to falter, refused to stay behind and risk being weak again. He needed to get stronger, smarter, and, for better or for worse, that involved long training hours. 

The path back to the dorms was strangely lonely without a certain girl keeping him company — not that Katsuki minded, he obviously didn’t. Some loneliness was very much appreciated after the last couple of weeks, which were filled with study group sessions and stupid walks. 

He sighed heavily when the 2-A dorm finally came into his range of vision, causing his tired figure to relax. He was almost there — he would soon be able to eat something, take a nice shower, and then fall straight into bed. He would soon be able to rest, and that was the only thing in his mind.

The ash blond kicked his shoes away the moment he reached the door, tossing them aside without a second thought. 

He would’ve liked to say he bee-lined to the kitchen.

He didn’t.

“Stupid, what the fuck are you doing?”

Y/N looked up from the common room coffee table, startled by the sudden interruption. She studied him for a second before answering, “I’m just looking over some homework. Why? Did something happen?”

He grunted in distaste, unable to stop himself from sitting down next to her on the couch. Every single one of his muscles felt like it was on fire from overexertion.

“It’s fucking late. Didn’t we study yesterday? Did you even have dinner yet?”

She tensed slightly at his angry questions, returning her stare towards the papers in front of them. “Yeah, but I just thought it’d be good to go over everything once more. I’ll just eat some crackers for dinner, it’s fine,” she shrugged nonchalantly, missing the way his eyebrows furrowed at her words, “where were you anyway?”

Katsuki simply rolled his eyes, arms crossed. “It’s none of your fucking business, Stupid. And you can’t have crackers for dinner, that’s not a proper meal.”

“What are you gonna do about it, Bakugou? Will you cook me dinner?” Her tone was teasing, joking, but he stood up immediately, snatching all the papers and notes from her and walking to the kitchen without a second of hesitation. “Hey, what the fuck!”

“Come with me already, you dumbass,” he snarled angrily, a tint of red covering his cheeks, “what do you want to eat?”

Her voice suddenly went soft, “Bakugou, I was kidding. You don’t need to get me dinner, I can just heat up some ramen or—”

“Shut the fuck up, Stupid. I was already going to cook dinner for myself anyway.”

He wasn’t, actually. He planned on eating leftovers from lunch, but he knew there wouldn’t be enough leftovers for both of them, and it was good to prepare some lunch for the next day, anyway. It wasn’t like he was doing it for her, of course not! It was just… Mutually beneficial. Yeah, it was mutually beneficial, not—not special treatment. He didn’t care about Stupid, he didn’t.

“Can I help with anything?” she asked nervously, face flushed from bashfulness and hands fidgety. Katsuki shook his head, ignoring the twitching pain on his forearms as he stirred the pot.

“Just sit down and wait.”

“Are you sure?” Y/N bit her lower lip with furrowed brows. “You seem tired, I don’t want you to do everything by yourself.”

An angry remark sat on the top of his tongue, but the ash blond hesitated. Well, if she helped with the simpler things this would be done faster, and he could go back to his room and rest earlier. Besides, the idea of cooking and spending time with Y/N in the kitchen caused some type of warmth to take over his chest — a warmth that wasn’t exactly insufferable.

It felt strangely soothing, hearing her hum while slicing vegetables and waiting for the noodles to cook through. It felt even more strangely soothing to sit before her on the kitchen table, staring anxiously while she took the first bite of his food. The worst, however, was the way her smile brightened up the room when she started rambling about how good it tasted and how much of a good cook he was and how he now had to cook for her more often. He disagreed loudly, the tip of his ears burning with embarrassment, saying he didn’t cook for her — he cooked for him, and she just happened to be there too. She cackled, and his heart seemed to burn.

He couldn’t fucking stand her.

Seventeen minutes. Y/N was seventeen minutes late.

Had she forgotten about it? God, she was the one who brought it up in the first place, and now she was the one making him wait. Katsuki felt incredibly stupid sitting in his dorm floor, a bunch of her favorite snacks neatly organized next to the nightstand and pillows on the ground for them to sit on. It was supposed to be a study date or whatever, even though he repeatedly refused to call it that (“it’s not a date, Stupid, it’s just one of our homework sessions like always!”). 

They had been spending a lot of time together between studying at the library, walking to the dorms, and cooking and eating dinner, and Bakugou had to admit he didn’t absolutely hate it. Don’t get him wrong, Y/N was still annoying and stupid and insufferable but—but something about her made him come back every single time, ignoring the knowing looks from his friends and the snickers from his classmates.

Despite his anger, a bit of worry started to blossom inside the boy’s chest. Stupid Y/N (and he hated how affectionate the mean nickname sounded to himself at this point) was rarely late — he had been seeing her after school hours enough to know. The girl was always on time and, when she wasn’t, she made sure to let others know why.

There was no text from her, though, and it made his fingers twitch uncomfortably with the urge to make a phone call and check if everything was alright.

Not that he cared if she was alright or not, because he didn’t. She was just—just some girl who decided to invade his life with no permission whatsoever and then stayed. He didn’t care about her.

And yet— 

“Hello?”

“IcyHot? What are you doing with Y/N’s phone? Where the fuck is she?”

Bakugou couldn’t muster any reason for why Todoroki would’ve been the one to pick up the call instead of her. They weren’t even friends! Yes, they knew each other and he was vaguely aware of the fact the two had sparring sessions every once in a while, but not enough so for Todoroki to feel comfortable using her phone or for Y/N to bail on their study date.

“Oh, Bakugou,” Shouto’s tone was as casual as always, almost as if this was a common occurrence (which it wasn’t), “hey. Y/N is with Recovery Girl right now. She got into a fight, but she is okay, just a few cuts and bruises. I was the one to stop the fight, so Aizawa asked me to wait around while she gets checked up on. Do you want me to tell her anything?”

Bakugou had been out the door when he heard the words “Recovery Girl”, speed walking to the nurse’s office while Todoroki rambled. He could feel his heart picking up its pace. Why would Y/N get into a fight? God, this wasn’t like her, and the prospect of someone purposely picking a fight with her filled him with the most raw type of anger possible.

“What the fuck did she get into a fight for?” he voiced his concerns, and he was pretty sure Todoroki just shrugged.

“These two boys were saying things about—”

“Todoroki? Who are you talking to?”

“Miss L/N, I’m still not done with you—”

Katsuki furrowed his brows at the commotion heard from the other end. He could easily recognize her voice, even though it sounded raspy and tired, but the next bit of conversation was too muffled for him to understand. The future hero could already see Recovery Girl’s office a few meters away, and it made him walk a bit faster.

“Give me the phone, Todoroki.”

“Miss L/N, you are still bleeding—”

The door opened violently. Y/N met Bakugou’s glare and felt a bad shiver go down her spine.

Shit, they were supposed to have that study date today. God, did he come all the way over there just to scold her? 

Heavy silence fell over the small group of people. Aizawa and Recovery Girl exchanged a quick look, the small lady’s arm still extended towards the girl in a failed attempt to grab her and drag her back to the hospital bed, even though she was definitely not as hurt as they made her out to be. Yes, she had a bunch of nasty bruises after throwing hands with two random guys from the year above her, and, yes, her nose hadn’t stopped bleeding yet, but she was mainly okay. Todoroki had gotten there pretty quickly and stopped her from making things worse, so she was fine.

“What the fuck did you do, Stupid?”

Yeah, he definitely went all the way there to scold her.

“Uh. Now, that’s a good question!” She consciously chose to ignore the smirk on Aizawa’s face, pulling her phone from Todoroki’s grip a bit more violently than necessary. “You see, I’m sorry for my tardiness, I know we had plans, we still can—”

“I asked you what the fuck you did, Stupid. I’m waiting for my answer.”

“Miss L/N picked a fight with two third years after hearing them talk about one of her colleagues in public. Thankfully, Mr. Todoroki intervened,” their teacher cut in, crossing his arms and staring as the girl cleaned up a stray drop of blood on her lips with the back of her hand. “She’ll be getting a written warning and will hopefully stay out of trouble.”

“Yes, sir,” she muttered, frowning when Recovery Girl started fussing over her again, sticking band-aids all over the small cuts on her face. Y/N had refused to accept Recovery Girl’s quirk treatment, aware that she was very busy and that it wasn’t necessary for the school nurse to tire herself out for just a few bruises. She was so intent on glaring at her elders that she didn’t notice the worry swimming in Bakugou’s red gaze.

“Good. Can you two get her back to the dorms?”

“Yes, I—”

“Fuck off, IcyHot, I’m taking her back by myself. Find something to freeze or whatever.”

Katsuki grabbed her by the arm, dragging her out of Recovery Girl’s office without a second’s worth of hesitation. He wouldn’t even look at her, fuming the whole way to the dorms. Still, he walked slow enough for her to not struggle to keep up.

“Are you mad?”

He snickered humorlessly, “of course I am, Stupid. How the fuck did you get yourself into this? And you fucking left me waiting, too, you idiot.”

Usually, Y/N didn’t care about his harsh words. Y/N didn’t mind his angry remarks. This time, however, she felt tired, and she had just gotten into a fight because of him, so she refused to take it. She had tried so hard to get close to him, to make him like her. The girl could feel tears gathering in her eyes from fury and sadness — how stupid was she to actually believe he would ever like her, be it as a friend or more? She should’ve known better. Dinner and studying and walking together meant nothing to him. She was just a bother, and she should’ve noticed earlier.

Y/N halted, pulling her arm away from his hand with rage and deception coating her every feature, “shut the fuck up, Bakugou. I don’t have to give you any explanations, you piece of shit. If you’re so pissed about it, why don’t you just leave me alone, huh? I’m done keeping up with your bullshit. I always try to be a good friend to you and you just keep doing this! You keep pushing me away and treating me like an idiot, and I deserve more than that!”

The explosion boy had a crease on his forehead, a cold feeling going through his body. The angry look in her eyes was something he didn’t recognize, and suddenly she felt so unreachable, so far away. He quickly decided he hated it.

Why did he hate it, though? They had nothing to do with each other. They were barely friends. Wasn’t this what he wanted? He couldn’t fucking stand her, he didn’t care about her. This was what he had wanted for months now — for her to tell him to leave, for her to not stand him too. Why did it feel so wrong, then? Why did he feel the urge to collect her in his arms like she loved to do with him? Why did he just want to hold her and tell her he was worried and that he couldn’t wait to spend more time with her, that he couldn’t wait for their stupid study date? And, yeah, it could be a date if she wanted it to. God, he’d accept any name or title she gave their meetings if only they could go on forever.

How long had this been going on? When did she make him so attached to her? Why hadn’t he noticed it before?

“Fuck you, Bakugou,” she muttered, slightly out of breath after her short outburst, face dark with frustration, “those idiots were talking about you and about how you should be a villain or whatever, and I got mad. That’s how I fucking got myself into this, because I care about you. Thanks for caring, asshole.”

The girl turned to walk away, and panic bloomed in the boy’s chest. He didn’t know why exactly, but he knew he couldn’t let her leave. He couldn’t let her leave him, couldn’t let her think he didn’t care, because he was just now seeing he did — so, so much. Of course he cared about her and all her silly manners that made their way into his heart and stayed there, on the edge of conditioning him to feel better whenever she was around. Of course he cared about her and the study dates and the sparring sessions and all the stories she loved to tell, of course he fucking did. Of course.

Katsuki was quick to grab her arm again, pulling her so close to him their chests bumped. Y/N furrowed her brows in confusion.

“Bakugou, what the fuck are you—”

“I like you. I really—I really do,” he shook his head, trying to gather his own feelings. “A lot. I was worried. I’m sorry.”

Y/N blinked.

“You were worried? About me?”

“Yes,” he scratched the back of his neck, looking away to hide his blushed cheeks, which didn’t go unnoticed by her attentive eyes. A smile played on the corners of her mouth, and Y/N let herself enjoy the rapid bumping of her heart, the flustered sight of the one boy she had fallen for. Flustered because of her. She could feel a rush of confidence building inside her chest. “I guess… I guess I care about you, too. Even if you’re absolutely insufferable,” he added clumsily, causing her smile to widen considerably, “I can’t fucking stand you, to be honest. You annoy me to no end.”

“Now do I?” she took a step closer, so close that he could feel her breath on his face and it made his head spin. “You don’t seem very annoyed to me, Bakugou.”

“Katsuki,” he corrected thoughtlessly, feeling his face warm up even more when he took notice of his own words.

“Right,” Y/N nodded, smirk on her face, “Katsuki, then.”

He opened his mouth to make a mean remark that would push her away enough to give him space to breathe, but he was suddenly interrupted by her lips on his. Before he could register it, she was gone, speed walking back to the dorms. After a few shocked seconds, he started running after her, calling her name angrily and trying to conceal the dark red on his face, neck, and ears.

“Hey, come back here, Stupid! What the fuck was that?”

Bakugou couldn’t have ignored the way his heart fluttered at the sound of her laugh even if he tried, a lazy smile taking over his lips immediately.

“I can’t stand you either, Katsuki.”

“Oh, shut up.”

[cartoonus-maximus]

My thoughts, notes, and theory noodles on "Fazbear Frights #5: Bunny Call" ...

This was a weird volume. Lots of William/Springtrap, a healthy dose of Cassidy/Vengeful Spirit shenanigans, and some meta commentary. And hey! I got another epilogue! So that was exciting.

Also, I just want to point out... Ralpho, our little bunny friend on the cover here? Yeah, according to the text, he's like 7 feet tall or something. (Bruno Madrigal may not have a seven foot frame, but this weirdo bunny bugger does, holy jeez!)

Spoilers under the cut.

"Bunny Call"

- a man named Bob MacKenzie is heading to a camp resort with his wife (Wanda) and their three kids. Bob works as an architect, and is knowledgeable about landscaping, and used to be a football player in high school.

- Wanda was a cheerleader in high school; she is now an extremely fashion-forward woman, and Bob thinks she's super sexy

- their kids are Cindy, their 3 y/o daughter with freckles, a winning smile, and auburn (red) hair in two pigtails; 7 y/o son Aaron, who also has freckles, auburn hair, and a generally happy disposition; and their oldest, 10 y/o son Tyler, who has dark hair and a lanky, athletic build, who is a bit moody and likes to set himself apart from his siblings.

- Wanda and daughter Cindy sing about the sunshine during the car ride. The boys join in, but Bob refuses to join his family for their spontaneous Family Singalong.

- "Bob might be driving, but he had no control. Not really. ... Was control really an illusion?"

- Bob is frustrated because he feels like all of his time and energy is dedicated to his job, his wife, and his kids, and that he doesn't have time or energy for himself anymore. (Hey man, you wanted to get married and start a family, so don't start whining about it now. It's fair to feel that way, but that's when you need to *make* some time for yourself, not vaguely whine about the lifestyle you chose.) (But I also understand his pov, as he seems to be very introverted and he needs a certain amount of alone time to function, but his wife, who thinks the whole family should be together and engaging with each other all the time, won't let him have any alone time.)

- Bob likes fishing, and he doesn't mind taking Tyler on fishing trips with him

- the family is going to a camp resort, called "Etenia." Everything in and around the resort is named something from various Native American languages, even though none of the tribes live in the area or have any connection to the camp. (This sounds painfully accurate to many North American resorts, tbh.)

- "One woman's heaven was another man's hell."

- Wanda sucks as a wife, tbh. She doesn't care that her husband needs alone time (at this point, it's pretty clear that they've had that discussion, probably multiple times, and she just doesn't give a rat's), she intentionally winds the kids up and gets them super hyper to the point where Bob can't handle them and then refuses to help him, and she just... generally expects Bob to be the only adult? She expects him to do all the work for their family, from big things (like his job) to little things (like unloading luggage from the car) and ignores his need for assistance, ignoring him and putting on lipgloss when he says anything about it.

- Bob is so frustrated, he considers driving away without his wife and kids

- "Bob *loved* his family vehemently, but here lately, he'd been *liking* them less and less."

- Bob goes to the main lodge of the resort to sign his family up for the assorted activities they want to do. There, the employee asks if he wants to sign up for a "bunny call," which is, apparently, a morning wake-up call for the family. She explains that the resort mascot, a man-sized rabbit named Ralpho (which Bob can't tell if it's a person in a costume or an animatronic) will enter their cabin to wake them up in the morning, screaming and banging cymbals and "spinning his head around." (That is a terrifying image, good lord!) The employee describes it as a "nasty prank they play on the children, terrifying them on their first day at the camp," and she seems to think traumatizing kids on purpose is normal and hilarious.

- "How had Bob missed the rabbit before when he'd looked around? It was like missing an anaconda in a pen full of puppies!"

- Bob is in such a foul mood with his family that he agrees to the morning Bunny Call, thinking it will be marginally funny

- (Worth noting: the employees are purposefully advertising their services for this cruel prank to the most unhappy and disgruntled member of each family they can find.)

- the family's cabin has a trapdoor in the floor, which leads to a little crawl space.

- (Wanda is a bossy bitch, and if I hear much more out of her, *I'm* going to divorce her on Bob's behalf!)

- little Cindy gets her face painted by a clown at the camp picnic, while the boys Tyler and Aaron play swordfight, hitting at each other with sticks

- "Tyler was like his mom - he didn't dwell on what he couldn't change... he just moved on to the next possibility around the corner!"

- little Cindy falls asleep in Bob's arms, and he relaxes, just holding his daughter and reminding him how much he really loves his family, and how he doesn't actually regret any of his life choices. (which is just a really sweet moment) He suddenly remembers about signing them up for a visit from Ralpho, and regrets his desire to play such a cruel prank on his wife and kids.

- "However put upon [Bob] felt about this trip, taking it out on [Wanda and the kids] wasn't justice at all. It was selfish, and childish!"

- Bob is woken up during the night, right before 12 AM, a guilty dream about Ralpho the Rabbit setting him into a panic

- "Still the same Bob, or was it? This Bob looked a little feral. This Bob looked like he'd made a deal with the devil. Had he?" (This is just Bob's inner monologue when he looks at himself in the mirror, feeling guilty about the cruel trick he signed his family up for.)

- Despite his guilt, Bob thoroughly convinces himself that the Bunny Call will be fine. His kids will be a little scared, and his wife will be annoyed, but that's fine. Even so, he still doesn't sleep well, and lays in bed fitfully for most of the duration of 12 AM to 6 AM. As the time gets closer, Bob decides that he doesn't want to play this prank on his family, and gets up to see about calling off the Bunny Call.

- Out in the wee hours of the morning, Bob meets Philip, another dad who signed his family up for the Bunny Call in a moment of frustration and is now regretting it. Philip is smoking a cigarette and playing with his lighter, flicking it on and off in his frustration. (It's mentioned here that Philip has blue eyes, and that he looks sinister in the dim light, but Bob can see enough of him to know that the other man looks normal in the daytime.) The two men talk, and Philip remarks that his own father wasn't a good dad, and now he's afraid he's become just like him. Neither father knows quite what to do, and they both feel like their snap decisions caused them to fail their wives and kids.

- Returning to his cabin, Bob watches over his sleeping family until 5 AM rolls around. He almost screams when there's a knock at the door, Ralpho standing on the other side. Stammering, Bob politely explains to the rabbit mascot that they won't be needing a Bunny Call after all, apologizing (to the person he assumes is wearing the costume) for taking up their time. Ralpho nods, then turns around and leaves.

- Minutes later, Ralpho returns, trying to break into the cabin. Bob begins physically fighting the rabbit, hitting at the rabbit and trying to forcefully keep the thing away from his family. Ralpho's behavior is strange and erratic, and the rabbit bleeds when injured, making it clear that is isn't an animatronic or a person in a costume. Bob genuinely fears for his family's safety, and combats the monster appropriately.

- Ralpho tries to get in first through the front door of the cabin, then each of the three windows, and then, finally, the trapdoor in the floor. Just as Ralpho goes to try a fourth window, 6 AM comes, and Ralpho vanishes, replaced by pleasant sunlight and Bob's family waking up, safe and content.

- Seeing the aftermath of Bob's frantic battle during the night, Wanda and the kids are confused and worried. Tyler and Aaron are very concerned when their father just silently hugs the two of them first thing in the morning, then whispers to his sons how much he loves them. Wanda is confused by Bob's behavior when her husband rushes to her and hugs her, repeating over and over that he loves her, before spinning her and dancing in place with her. Cindy is less puzzled, being only a toddler, and just excited to be suddenly scooped up and hugged by her father.

- "Cindy Lee, my buzzy honeybee!"

- Wanda admits that she feels something is wrong, but she doesn't know what. She also had strange dreams.

- Going out for the day, Bob idly thinks that the landscape looks almost like a cartoon, and that it feels too colorful and cheerful to be real. He doesn't mind, and is just happy to spend time with his family.

- The camp's breakfast is interrupted by the camp's owner, Evan, who has a few announcements to make. The first announcement Evan has is to apologize for the lack of Bunny Calls that morning, explaining that the camp counselor who does them (in the Ralpho costume) overslept.

- Realizing that he experienced something other than a Bunny Call, Bob freezes in horror, and stares off into space. .... And that's where the story ends.

- I guess the implication here is that Bob may have actually fought off some otherworldly beast that wanted to harm his family? Either that or his guilty conscience generated the worst waking nightmare experience ever.

- Everything about Philip, a random character who shows up very briefly, made me confused. Like, we're told that he has blue eyes, looks creepy, carries a big flashlight with him at all times apparently, plays with a lighter out of stress, and says that his dad "got lost" and became a bad dad after his mom died, and worries that he's becoming "like his father." Everything about him made my brain scream "Michael????" but I think he's just a random dude, and I don't think his presence actually means anything.

- In much the same way, my theory brain wants to connect Bob and his family to the Afton family somehow. Like, there's a father, a mother (who likes singing and dancing and makeup), two sons (one of whom is older and moody and looks like his dad), and a daughter (with red pigtails like Circus Baby, no less), and a rabbit monster that terrorizes them. On the surface, they sound vaguely Afton-like, but that's about where all similarities end.

- On a more meta note, I also wonder if Bob and his family were meant to represent Scott himself and his own family, since I know Scott has said before that he's experienced night terrors where he thought his own creations (especially OG Bonnie) were in his house, hunting down him and his family.

- I think "Bunny Call" is a little like "1:35 AM" and "Dance With Me," in that it focuses heavily on themes of parenthood. This one specifically focuses on fatherhood, and features a lot of dads who are very tired and disgruntled but, at the end of the day, love their families and would never genuinely wish harm upon them. But where "1:35 AM" does so in attempt to remind us that the Ella doll is/represents someone's daughter (Henry's daughter, based on the original novel trilogy) and "Dance With Me" does it to try to tell us that Ballora represents someone's mother (most likely the mother of the Afton family), "Bunny Call" doesn't have that pull to any existing character. We can connect the Ella doll to Charlie/the Marionette, and we know who Ballora is, but Ralpho isn't a character we've seen before. We've seen rabbit monsters, so we could relate him to any of those (William/Springtrap, Bonnie, Vanny, etc.) but it's not such a clear connection.

- If I had to guess what "Bunny Call" is actually about, I'd say it's about Scott's night terrors, and has zero connection to any of the in-world lore.

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

"In the Flesh"

- Now we're introduced to Matt, an adult man and video game developer. (Possibly named after MatPat, the Game Theorist himself, but definitely inspired by Scott's experience)

- Currently, Matt is working for a game company, working on a game of theirs called "Springtrap's Revenge." It's the newest installment in the "Five Nights at Freddy's" game series, and is a VR game. Specifically, Matt is in charge of creating the AI of Springtrap for the game, making the pseudo-intelligent computer program for the villain's character. (It sounds like something akin to the real-life FNAF VR game, "Help Wanted.")

- The Springtrap character dredges up memories from Matt's childhood, where he was terrified by an adult mall worker in a particularly bad Easter bunny costume. He thinks Springtrap is "nightmare fuel," and he's proud of how effectively scary his creation is.

- Matt's inner monologue compares Springtrap to classic horror characters Dracula and Hannibal Lecter. He means it in a "I want this character to become a horror icon that people will resonate with and remember for years to come" way, but I thought it was funny since PJ Heywood (the voice of William Afton/Springtrap in the games) said that part of the voice is actually inspired by the Mads Mikkelson version of Hannibal Lecter. (Also it's theorized that Vlad, the Dracula-esque character in "the Immortal and the Restless" shorts is meant to represent William/Springtrap, so there's that, too.)

- Matt wants his character to become an immortal horror icon. (Hmmm... immortal, you say?) He's watched a lot of classic, popular horror movies, and he wants Springtrap to be the kind of slasher killer that kills just for the love of it, like killing is an artistic form of self expression.

- "He wanted [Springtrap] to open your jugular with the same sort of joy as a kid opening a birthday present."

- This whole project has been very frustrating, with a lot of ups and downs, and Matt has been channeling all of his personal stress and anger and rage into Springtrap, treating the AI rabbit monster like his personal anger repository. (Which I love, because I've had this headcanon for awhile that Glitchtrap in the Steel Wool games isn't William's actual spirit, but rather a rogue computer program that contains a lot of William's knowledge and goals. So this game developer funneling all of his thoughts and feelings into the AI he's working on is very much in that same vein.)

- The main portion of the game that Matt's been working on is a maze game, where Springtrap hunts the player through the maze. Springtrap doesn't just follow the player around - he wanders the maze himself, searching for the player just as much as the player is searching for the exit. When Springtrap and the player meet, Springtrap lunges at the player, slashing them in the face with a large knife. Springtrap is shown cutting off the player avatar's ear for a kill trophy, just as the "GAME OVER" screen lights up.

- Another kill animation is of Springtrap killing the player by straight up using his metal jaws to bite the player's face clean off, hungrily licking the blood off his lips afterwards.

- Matt is incapable of beating the Springtrap game, even though he made the game himself. It's a big source of frustration to him, and he angrily smashes a coffee mug and then snaps aggressively at one of his coworkers when she checks to make sure he's okay.

- "Matt was starting to feel like the video game developer version of Dr. Frankenstein."

- Frustrated with losing his own game so many times, Matt sets it up to play on an endless loop all night, then leaves the office, forcing the Springtrap AI to wander the empty halls for hours on end, a punishment for killing Matt so many times. (You know... the AI just doing what it was programmed to do? Because it's a computer program?)

- "Sometimes, Matt felt like life was a game he couldn't win."

- Matt was a sucky husband to his wife. There's a lot said to showcase how sucky a husband he is to this poor woman, but I'm going to just leave it at this: he. SUCKS. Thankfully for her, Matt's wife divorced him after only a year of marriage, and Matt funnels his anger at her for leaving him into Springtrap.

- Matt currently lives in an apartment with his male friend, Jason (who shares a name with another member of team Game Theorist). Jason is also a gamer, and is very interested in seeing the finished product of "Springtrap's Revenge."

- Matt and Jason sit around in their apartment during the evening, watching "Rain of Stones." (lol, bootleg "Game of Thrones")

- Matt returns to working on his game the next morning, only to discover that his Springtrap AI has, somehow, gotten stuck in a loop of cloning itself and self destructing. A second Springtrap was created, and apparently killed the original one. Then, a third one spawned into existance, and killed the second one. Not only has this cycle repeated itself over and over, but the AI has been using the experiences of killing itself to get even more proficient at killing, and can now kill it's victim with an amazing speed, and in increasingly violent ways that Matt didn't originally program into it. (The Springtrap AI has apparently graduated from "knife slash" and "stabbing" all the way up to things like "disemboweling," which startles Matt.)

- "[The Springtrap AI] couldn't really destroy himself in the game, of course. He would always respawn." (He always comes back!)

- When Matt re-enters the game, he is unnerved to see that he can't immediately find Springtrap. Painfully discovering that his creation has died and respawned so many times that it's now glitched beyond repair, Matt tries to delete the damaged AI, intending to reprogram it again from scratch, but he is unable to scrub the glitched rabbit from the program.

- He restarts the game, hoping that the action might reboot the AI's system, and this time he is greeted by Springtrap: the rabbit character is lying dead on the ground, a victim of a disemboweling. He leans closer to study the character avatar, and is suddenly grabbed by the rabbit, a sharp pain hitting him.

- Jason sets Matt up on a blind date that evening, and Matt is colossal jerk to his date from the start. He and his blind date go on a double date with Jason and Jason's date, and Matt spends the entire time snubbing his date and trying to flirt with Jason's date, who clearly doesn't appreciate his advances. (I cannot explain how horribly obnoxious this man is during this sequence. He's such a self-entitled jerk.)

- Matt wakes up the next morning feeling weirdly nauseas, and soon finds himself over the kitchen sink, vomiting. He continues to throw up throughout the day, but still goes to work, determined to fix this game he's working on before the release date.

- Giving up on scrubbing or repairing the old Springtrap AI, Matt decides to put in a new one without scrubbing away any of the previous glitches. He decides the new Springtrap will be much more basic, and will simply follow the player through the maze in the style of a Pacman ghost.

- Unknown to Matt, a young man named Gene hacks into Matt's company computers, downloading an early copy of "Springtrap's Revenge" (before Matt can program a new Springtrap). Gene begins playing through the maze game, and is confused when he doesn't see Springtrap anywhere, or any other FNAF characters. Finally, he finds the disemboweled Springtrap avatar, and wonders what sort of plot the game has that involves the killer animatronic dead on the ground at the beginning of the game.

- Gene searches through the game code, trying to figure out what this new FNAF game is about. He sees a file labeled "IT'S_A_BOY.exe," and isn't sure what that means.

- Matt goes on a Tinder date that night. During dinner, Matt feels like he's starving, and keeps shoveling more and more food into his mouth.

- Matt orders rare steak, and is pleased when it arrives, pinkish-purple meat sitting in a pool of it's own blood. He has the urge to pick up the bloody meat and start tearing off pieces with his teeth, and he eventually does, and ends up happily gnawing on the T-bone and growling lowly like an animal. His date is more than a little startled, and makes up an excuse to leave the date with him as soon as possible. Unperturbed, Matt just eats the rest of her food as soon as she's gone.

- Later, Matt sees himself in the mirror, seeing how bloated his stomach looks.

- The next morning, Matt runs from his bed to the bathroom, vomiting up everything. His stomach still feels large. Any and all scents make him nauseous.

- One of Matt's coworkers expresses concern for his apparent illness later in the morning, and remarks that he looks a little jaundiced (yellow-tinted skin, something that can occur from certain deaths or select diseases).

- The game's beta test players explore the finished game (now with the new Springtrap AI that Matt slapped together at the last minute) and have some mixed reviews. They like the game overall, but question why the titular character was programmed so sloppily. Matt experiences a sudden mood swing, and lashes out angrily at the project supervisor, taking the reviews to heart.

- Matt has an extreme craving for junk food, and stuffs his face at a burger joint on the drive home.

- Jason has finally had enough of Matt's jerkish behavior, and is packing his things to move out when Matt arrives home. Hit by another mood swing, Matt begs Jason to stay, saddened and afraid of being left completely alone, but Jason ignores him, leaving anyway. Alone in the apartment, Matt actually cries to himself.

- ... Matt is pregnant, in case you couldn't tell. The pregnancy is unnatural, presumably caused by his own feelings of narcissism and disdain for everyone else given a physical form as the Springtrap AI. He's becoming hormonal, subject to mood swings he doesn't know how to contain. He's putting on substantial weight fast, and his body goes back and forth between morning sickness and an uncontrollable hunger.

- Matt feels a strange bump on his head, and wonders if he hit himself on the head sometime recently and just forgot about it. (This is called out as an important thing, but is never brought up again after this.)

- It's implied that Matt's physical appearance is changing to look like Springtrap, but it's never expressly stated. I think the bump on his head was maybe meant to be where a rabbit ear could be growing??? Unsure. That's just my best guess as to what it was originally going to be.

- Gearing up for another Tinder date the following evening, Matt finds that none of his pants fit. His belly is so big, he can't fit his pants over it, and his shirts are stretched too tightly around it. His skin is now more pronouncedly yellow-tinted, and his hair is strangely thinning.

- Predictably, he is horrible to this date, too. Literally, the first thing he thinks when he sees her is that she's fat (i.e., ugly, according to him), even though the text tells us she's pretty and has shiny hair and has a beautiful smile.

- Obviously frustrated by Matt's rudeness, his date points out how genuinely bad *he* looks, and has a good laugh at his expense when his shirt buttons suddenly pop off, his shirt stretched too far to stay on. Embarrassed, Matt is forced to run shamefully back to his car.

- Matt is contemplating his sudden weight gain the next day when he feels movement inside his stomach. It feels like something is inside him, beating against his insides, trying to get out. (The baby is kicking! 0.0 )

- Pain courses through him, and he starts trying to think of ways to get this unknown thing out of his body. His gaze lands on a set of kitchen knives on the counter, and he begins seriously considering cutting himself open to let this thing out. Not thinking any further than that, he grabs the biggest knife from the block, lays down, and begins disemboweling himself. (Like the Springtrap avatar in the game??? Did that one cut himself open, too???) (Also, like... don't give yourself a C-section. I don't think I need to say that, but I feel compelled to.)

- A small Springtrap the size of a newborn infant jumps out from Matt's sliced open stomach, jumping up to stand on the kitchen counter. (Immediate Plushtrap vibes.) Unlike it's video game counterpart, this little Springtrap resembles a fully biological creature, and has no machine parts to it.

- The newborn Springtrap sits down beside Matt, holding Matt's head in it's lap, and begins affectionately stroking Matt's hair and addressing him as "Daddy."

- Sometime later, Jason calls the cops after he comes back to collect the rest of his things and found Matt, cut open and dead on the kitchen floor. The officer Jason talks to sees a bit of green fuzz, like the fake fur from a stuffed animal, on the floor near Matt's body, but neither he nor Jason know what it could be from.

- ... Is it weird that I like the image of the newborn Springtrap comforting Matt as he dies? It's such a weirdly loving image, man...

- So this story obviously relates to the game "FNAF VR: Help Wanted" in some way. It's about a game developer that's working on a FNAF VR game, comes into contact with an iteration of Springtrap, and ends up bringing a new version of Springtrap into the world, this one smarter, stronger, and deadlier. It's something akin to Tape Girl (from "Help Wanted") encountering the Anomaly/Glitchtrap, presumably getting possessed by him, and ultimately causing the creation of Vanny. (It's not a perfect parallel, but the situation has a few of the same beats.)

- It makes me think that, since this book came out in 2020, that this story could have been trying to suggest that either Vanny or Glitchtrap was going to be the new and improved version of William (harder, better, faster, and stronger!), much like how, in this story, each new Springtrap is better and more deadly than the last. I don't know that this is the intended purpose of the story, but I think it's a possibility.

- Also, once again, a William/Springtrap story with themes of parenthood!

- I feel like the heart of this story is just some of Scott's feelings about his franchise, as told through the lense of a short horror story. Like, he feels as though he created a game, which was originally fairly simple and straightforward, but then the game (and it's resulting franchise) took on a life of its own -- it gained a very creative fanbase, full of theorists and artists and other game developers, who took the franchise and put their own ideas and emotions into it, making arguably better versions of it. (And the fact that he named the main character, however awful of a person he may be, after one of the YouTubers that has such a strong relationship with FNAF... feels pretty on the nose.)

- The story, to me, carries a very literal "death of the author" vibe, and it makes me think that it could have been Scott's way of saying "Hey! I made this thing, but you guys have made stranger, sillier, scarier, *better* versions of it, and I think that's pretty cool! I made the code, but you're the ones who really brought it to life." Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but that's what it seems like to me.

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

"The Man in Room 1280"

- A middle-aged priest named Arthur goes to visit Heracles Hospital, which is both named for the Greek hero (Herakles, aka Hercules) and guarded by a statue of Cerberus. Arthur meets and speaks with a new nurse name Mia, and they both find it odd that a hospital is guarded by the guard dog of the underworld.

- The hospital is old, and was recently bought by a wealthy man who had the entire inside renovated. With the renovations, the hospital now has all the necessary rooms and equipment to care for its patients, while the outside of the building was left largely untouched, leaving it a great stone building with old style windows and statuary, and the walls and floors inside decorated to match the exterior; the inside is described as resembling a "by-gone era," with "crisp white walls" and "black and white tile floors."

- "The result was a sort of time whiplash, where cutting edge technology shared space with crystal chandeliers and wrought iron scrollwork." (Uuuhhh... did you mean 'the ideal way to decorate???')

- Arthur is a priest, but specifically he visits hospitals to speak with and comfort dying patients. When Mia asks about his job, he describes himself as a "traveling companion" for those who are about to leave this world, and says that he tries to take away or lessen any fear of death that the patients may have.

- The angry, creepy head nurse of the hospice ward leads Arthur to a room where a special patient resides. She explains that the patient has been here for years (she pointedly doesn't tell him how many), and that the state has finally taken the man off life support. When pressed, she says that he doesn't have a family. She then explains that, even though the old man is no longer on life support, he won't die, which seems to anger her more than anything else.

- The special patient is kept in room 1280, a room far away from the rest of the patients, and there's a strange darkness over his room. Upon entering the room, the first thing Arthur notices is the smell: the patient smells like a strange, horrible combination of burning flesh, melted plastic, and molten steel. The air feels acidic, and brings tears to Arthur's eyes. The patient's body is in such bad shape, that Arthur can't even fathom how the man is still alive.

- Arthur turns to the head nurse, who tells him that they don't know who the patient is, or what his name is. Again, no family, and no one else has any idea. She says they took a DNA sample, but it didn't match anything in any system they tried.

- The head nurse points to a machine that the patient is hooked up to, explaining that it shows a readout of REM sleep cycles... and also shows that the man is suffering constant, horrific nightmares, based on his brain activity. She seems pleased with this knowledge.

- The patient is more corpse then man, with outer skin mostly burned away, organs and bones exposed in horrific ways, and most of his face gone, leaving the man with nothing more than open holes where eyes and a nose should be.

- When Arthur enters the room, he feels a strange presence, like something trying to bore a hole through him. It makes him feel cold.

- The head nurse shows Arthur another machine, displaying the patient's brain activity. She points at things and tells him that there are two separate brain waves showing on the hospital machines, explaining that she and the other nurses believe there are two entities inside the patient's body, tormenting each other and vying for control. She tries to convince Arthur that the man in room 1280 is pure evil, and is undeserving of compassion, while Arthur tries to explain to her that his job is simply to care for people, not to judge them.

- Mia has her lunch break downstairs, reading a thriller novel and eating the sandwich lunch her boyfriend packed for her. (Which I just think is a cute image.)

- Arthur sits beside the man's hospital bed for most of the afternoon. He notes that, when he speaks, although the man doesn't move or visibly react, one of the machines he's hooked to does, letting Arthur know that the man can hear and understand him.

- Tentatively, Arthur takes the man's hand, and is surprised when the bony hand grasps him back. To his surprise, the man raises a single finger, and starts moving it, writing letters of the English alphabet in the air. Getting out his notebook and pen, Arthur follows the finger's movements, copying down "F-A-Z-B-E-N-T-E-R-D-I" and eventually tries to read it as "Fazbenterdiscenter." With help from one of the nurses, Arthur deciphers this to be shorthand for "Fazbear Entertainment Distribution Center."

- Arthur starts trying to guess what this place means to the man, but all of his guesses get no reaction. Finally, he gets a reaction from the question "Is this a place you want to go?"

- When one of the nurses suggests that the only place the man should go is Hell, all of the machines hooked into the man start to go off, making a cacophony of noise in reaction to her comment.

- The nurses are fearful of the man in room 1280, and refuse to help Arthur very much. They don't actually know who the man is, but they believe him to be the embodiment of evil, which I would agree with (given that it seems the man may be a stand-in for William Afton), if it wasn't for their reasoning. Literally, the nurses here believe that the man is the embodiment of evil *solely because the machines pick up two brainwaves off of him.* That's it, that's their entire basis for their assumptions. Which seems really ignorant and needlessly cruel, both to me the audience member and to Arthur, the main character of this story.

- Arthur speaks to an administrator's assistant who works for the hospital, trying to find a way to transport the man in room 1280 to this Fazbear Entertainment distribution center that he wishes to go to. (The assistant's name is Pete, making this the second time we've seen that name used.)

- Arthur runs into nurse Mia on his way to return home, and the two discuss how the day went for each of them. They talk for a bit, starting to contemplate the concepts of good and evil and whether people can really be either good or evil, but their conversation is cut short by the arrival of Mia's boyfriend to pick her up.

- Mia does her rounds in the hospice wing the next day, tending to patients and their families. Her rounds end at the last occupied room, room 1200, and she wonders why no patients are kept beyond this point. Looking down the hall, Mia thinks she sees a shadow enter the storage room, and goes to investigate, and ends up overhearing the other nurses planning to kill the man in room 1280. The nurses insist that it isn't murder, because they don't consider the man a human being at all, and they consider this a crusade against evil.

- While Mia tries to decide what to do about this murder plot, she sees a little boy exit the storage room. It's a boy that she saw in the wing the previous day, apparently, and every time she sees him she is filled with a strange sense of fear and dread. The boy has curly black hair and rosy cheeks, a toothy grin, and wears a plastic alligator mask that covers the top half of his face. The boy catches Mia's eyes, grins and winks at her, and then turns and runs down the hall. (It's clear to the audience that this boy is Andrew, one of the child spirits who features in the ongoing story in the epilogues.)

- A few days later, the head nurse (Nurse Ackerman) has acquired what she thinks is enough morphine to kill the man in room 1280. She's researched the Fazbear Entertainment distribution center, trying to learn herself why the man would want to go there, and, after seeing the creepy toys and party décor that comes out of the place, she comes to the conclusion that the company itself is evil, and that no good could possibly come of allowing the evil that is the man in room 1280 to join with the evil that is Fazbear Entertainment.

- Head nurse Ackerman goes to kill the man in 1280 via morphine overdose, but is interrupted by a disembodied child's voice giggling. She doesn't find the source of the sound, but feels cold all over, even though the room around her gets mysteriously hotter, and feels nothing but fear and dread when she hears the giggling repeat.

- 2 vials of morphine do nothing to the man, and, as she reaches for the third vial, she comes face to face with the source of the giggle. It's a little boy (the same boy that Mia saw out in the hall), and seeing him shocks and scares the head nurse so much that she crumples to the floor. The sight of him unsettles her, filling her with an intense fear that she doesn't understand. Seeing him also fills her with sadness and agony, and forces her to remember her own son, who died from an illness as a child. A shadow then runs through the room, and destroys all the remaining vials of morphine, shattering them all on the floor. (Just a shadow, not a shadow attached to a person.)

- The nurses discuss the little boy that the head nurse saw, and it is revealed that doctors, nurses, orderlies, and even patients have seen the boy in various parts of the hospital before. Everyone finds him unsettling to encounter, but always assume he's just a family member visiting a patient or something. This is the first time anyone has seen him and connecting him with the room 1280 and the patient inside.

- The second nurse, Nurse Thomas, goes to smother the man in 1280 with a pillow. As she holds the pillow over the man's face, the pillow begins to fill with blood and a sickly green fluid. Just as the man starts to flatline, a shadow runs through the room, ripping the pillow from her hands and tearing it apart midair, covering her with the mixture of blood and green liquid. The man's heart rate returns to normal. (She is then apparently home sick for days after this.)

- This nurse didn't hear any giggling, or see a little boy. She literally only sees a shadow dart through the room. The nurses decide that this shadow thing must be a demon, or some other evil entity, and that it is the source of evil in room 1280.

- Arthur has been visiting room 1280 daily for the past 5 days.

- Sightings of the little boy have escalated in number recently, and the hospital employees are realizing that the boy doesn't belong to anyone here, staff or patient alike. The police are called to find the boy and figure out where he belongs, but none of the officers ever see the boy. No one has been able to touch or speak to the boy, and now rumors are spreading that the boy is a ghost.

- Arthur and Mia meet for a friendly lunch out on the hospital lawn, sharing some sandwiches that Mia's boyfriend made for them. Arthur complains that he's been talking with the hospital administrators, trying to get permission to arrange transport for the man in room 1280, but no one will cooperate with his request. Mia tells Arthur about the little boy, since Arthur hasn't seen him yet. She considers telling him about overhearing the murder plot, but decides not to, not wanting to get either of them in trouble with the other nurses.

- Our final nurse, Nurse Colton, plans to do her part to try killing the man in room 1280, taking into account that some outside force will try to stop her. She spots the little boy running into the storage room, but chooses not to stop to think about him.

- Nurse Colton sets up an array of candles on the floor of room 1280, telling any shadows listening that they are not welcome in here anymore. (This is something I've seen people do online when they want to either communicate with spirits or cleanse an area. I'm not sure of its effectiveness, and I don't know what it's called.)

- Approaching the bed, the nurse injects a syringe of air into the man's IV, planning to kill him by giving him an aneurism. The shadow rushes through, ignoring her circle of protection, and grabs the syringe from her, plunging it into her neck. When she pulls it out, the syringe is once again taken from her, but this time is dropped and broken on the floor. An explosion of hot air extinguishes the candles and then breaks all of the candles. She hears a giggle outside the room, and rushes out the door, where she runs into Nurse Mia. Mia is standing frozen in fear out in the hall, and points off in a direction, saying that she just saw the little boy run past.

- The two nurses agree that the little boy is... something other than a little boy. Whether ghost or demon, they don't say.

- Nurse Colton agrees to tell Mia about the mystery of room 1280, leading her into the room. Now that she's in the room, she comes to same conclusion as the other nurses - there is an evil here that must be destroyed.

- Priest Arthur has finally gotten permission to take the man in 1280 to a Fazbear Entertainment distribution center.

- As Arthur arrives at the hospital one day, he finally sees the little boy for the first time. The boy is on the outside of the hospital, peeking out at Arthur from behind the statue of Cerberus. When Arthur looks again, he doesn't see anything.

- Now agreeing with the other nurses, Mia tells Arthur that he can't move the man in 1280. She tells him that taking the man where he wants to go will only result in catastrophe. When Arthur presses her, she admits that she doesn't know why she feels this way, but she feels it so strongly she can't imagine it's anything other than the truth. Undeterred, Arthur bids her goodbye and returns to his mission.

- Arthur has the man bundled up and put into a wheelchair, then loaded up into a church van that Arthur will drive. Arriving at the Fazbear buildings, Arthur wonders why he has never noticed them before. The buildings are white and red in color, and are shaped in such a way that he thinks they look like children's playing blocks. The buildings are all old, and in a severe state of disrepair.

- When Arthur is trying to figure out which part of the loading yard he should take the man to, the man surprises him by suddenly raising a bony hand and pointing toward the biggest of the scattered buildings, which appears the be the main entrance/office of the place.

- There are Fazbear employees loading a shipping truck with unmarked boxes. (So we know the company is still in operation, at this point.)

- Arthur wheels the man into the building, where they are surrounded by warehouse shelves of boxes containing animatronic parts, costumes, toys, and other merchandise. Employees drive forklifts through the warehouse, or load the boxes onto conveyer belts to be transported between loading docks.

- Arthur's thoughts on the Fazbear character designs: "Despite their cheery appearance, Arthur couldn't be sure that they were intended to be friendly."

- The man suddenly begin convulsing, shaking so violently that his bones break in places and blood flies out from him. Arthur is understandably horrified. Ultimately, the man just bursts like a popped balloon, exploding in his seat, covering Arthur and the entire area around them with blackened blood and a sticky tar-like substance. In the man's absence, Arthur sees something that his brain can only translate as a "portal opening to Hell itself."

- Hearing a child's footsteps behind him, Arthur tries to find the source. There are child-sized footprints in the man's blood, leading away from his corpse, and Arthur wonders what exactly he has unleashed.

- What we'll learn in the epilogue/s is that the little boy is a dead child named Andrew, who died at the hands of the man who becomes the patient in room 1280 (William Afton). I believe, after his death, Andrew attached himself to the man, and has been haunting the man ever since, keeping him alive so as to torment him even longer. When they enter the Fazbear warehouse, the man's body falls apart, and both the man's spirit and Andrew's spirit leave to find other vessels. We know Andrew ends up possessing Fetch, our monstrous little robo dog friend from "Fetch," with no memories of who he is and with no control over his mechanical vessel. When Dr. Talbert removes the battery pack from fetch and attaches it to the Stitchwraith, Andrew's spirit is transferred into the Stitchwraith.

- Since Andrew's spirit ends up in Fetch for a bit, it's interesting that he's briefly associated with Cerberus in this story. (Monster dogs for the win!)

- ... I don't know where the man's spirit goes. I'm basing all this off of the two epilogues I've actually listened to (Books 3 and 5) and some stuff MatPat has mentioned about them, so I'm working with limited information at this time.

- As far as any potential lore implications go... I mean, this was literally a story about Cassidy attaching her spirit to William, and the two tormenting each for a very long period of time. It's been so long (since last I've seen my son) since they started, no one remembers or recognizes our William stand-in character, and our Cassidy stand-in character, Andrew, literally doesn't remember why he hates this man so much; he just has a vague idea that the man might have hurt him in the past.

- But, since the story is about Cassidy and William battling each other on the astral plane... I guess you could say that 'the Man in Room 1280' is just Ultimate Custom Night from the pov of people who have no idea what the hell is going on.

- Andrew 🤝 Glamrock Monty -> angry rage-filled alligator noises

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

"Book 5 Epilogue"

- Detective Larson is studying the photos of the Phineas Talbert crime scene. Looking at one specific photo, depicting a strange combination of junk parts, Larson has finally realized what the Stitchwraith is -- a doll's head on a metal robot endoskeleton, hiding inside a large trenchcoat, powered by the battery of a robot dog from Fazbear Entertainment.

- Larson is connecting dots in his theory: the Stitchwraith is connected somehow to the Fetch dog, and the Fetch dog is connected somehow to the "Freddy Murders," as he refers to them. This means that Larson's current case, the apparent murder of a scientist (Dr. Talbert), could be connected to an old cold case, the Freddy Murders.

- The Freddy Murders, apparently, was an unsolved case of arson, with the fire being possibly caused by one of the founders of Fazbear Entertainment. (Henry! What are you doing in the epilogues, old friend?)

- A (homeless man, I think?) named Grimm has been forced away from his previous hideout by the Stitchwraith. He sets up in a spot across town, but sees the Stitchwraith again, the monster dragging a large bag somewhere. Grimm follows the monster to see what it's up to, and follows it into Dr. Talbert's old factory.

- In the Stitchwraith's bag is the Ella doll.

- The Stitchwraith is haunted and powered by the spirits of two little boys named Jake and Andrew. Andrew is full of pain and anger, and admits to having infected several Fazbear toys with his feelings, causing the robotic toys to act out in terrible ways (this includes the Ella doll from "1:35 AM" and the Fetch dog from "Fetch," among others). Jake, on the other hand, is innocent and full of genuine love and compassion, and he's been using their shared Stitchwraith body to walk around at night, collecting the infected toys and bringing them back to Talbert's lab.

- Although a spirit, Jake only came into consciousness inside the Stitchwraith after the monster had killed Dr. Phineas Talbert and, apparently, stolen one of the scientist's trenchcoats. Jake has no memory of anything before then.

- "Jake hadn't done anything wrong. Why did he have to be the one to fix Andrew's mess? Wasn't he a good boy? Didn't he deserve to have some fun?"

- Something sparks a memory in Jake's mind, and he remembers a day of fun spent with his dad. The memory makes him happy, and he tries to focus, trying to remember more. He is interrupted by Andrew, who asks about the flowers that litter Dr. Talbert's lab, knowing that Jake has been tending to them.

- As Jake's memory unfolds, depicting a pleasant afternoon with his father at a baseball game, he loses grip on his place in the Stitchwraith. He realizes that, if he lets go of the Stitchwraith, his spirit can enter this memory of one of the happiest days he experienced, and will stay in that happy place forever.

- Sensing that his friend is leaving him, Andrew panics, and begins calling out to Jake. Jake realizes that no one has ever cared for Andrew before, and, if he leaves his friend, no one ever will again. He refuses to leave Andrew alone, and forcefully erases his own memory, choosing to stay here with Andew instead.

- (Bby Crying Child stand-in has the opportunity to rest, to move on, to go on to his Happiest Day Ending, but he refuses to take it because he doesn't want to leave Cassidy stand-in alone... ;-; BRB, I need to go cry.)

[lune-hime]

Garden of Tulips (Levi/Reader) Chapter 7

~Click me for more chapters~

“What did it look like?”

“Hmm?” Levi looked up from his place next to your sleeping form. “The titan that tried to snack on my darling granddaughter.” “Ugly as fuck.” “Aren��t they all?”

Levi recounts memories of the reader and their shared life together while she recovers from a serious injury.

!!WARNINGS!! - Violence, gore, smut, wholesome content ;)

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Tulipa esperanto ~ A tulip whose flaming petals sprout from a lush green base, signaling growth and the washing away of lingering burdens.

↞↠↞↠↞↠

“Thank you both for waiting! I’m just about done.” Felicia chimed from the stove as Levi entered the house. The pleasant smell of fried bread and pork mingled with the freshness of the tulips to create a scent he could only describe as being homey.

“We had no choice but to be occupied.” Oma grumbled from the dining room, one of the spaces Levi had yet to explore. He wandered into the kitchen after removing his shoes and observed Felicia’s bustling and extremely organized methodology. The pan bopped to the rhythm of her wrist while the kettle whistled in melodic time.

“It’s a shame we didn’t have time for tea. We’ll do it after we eat, then.” Oma called, leaning on the doorway that connected the kitchen to the dining room. Levi nodded and clasped his hands behind his back as he awkwardly lingered on the sidelines of the culinary bustle. His languid gaze drifted to the many framed photos that hung on the only wall not covered with ornate gold trinkets or the weaving vines of plants. His eyebrows furrowed as he observed a common theme.

So many of these photos of you were with that hard headed, horse-faced pain in the ass. From what you had told Levi, you had no memory of life without Jean. That he, Oma, and Felicia had been the only constant presences in your life since you were a child. Why did he feel a pang of jealousy? That was a petty emotion.

Oma had placed delicate plaques at the bottom of each frame that accompanied the memory. Levi wouldn’t have pegged her as someone so sentimental.

First Day of Kindergarten

“We’re going to be late, mommy!!” You wailed as your legs jittered like an excited shore bird. Jean stood beside you and rolled his eyes as your anticipation made your connected arms wiggle like a cooked noodle.

“Yes, yes I know. If I could just get this thing-okay, all set, smile big cuties!” Your mother’s gentle voice sang as she clicked the shutter. Jean immediately got over his minor annoyance and the two of you beamed at the camera.

“Lumine, the school bell’s ringing.” Oma chided lightly at her daughter in law.

Levi adored how your wide grin looked too big to be contained by your tiny cheeks.

Noel

“Jean are you even eating in the corps? You look like a twig when you need to be looking like a sturdy branch.” Oma chided as she shuttled more spaetzle onto Jean’s plate. Jean breathed a nervous laugh at her blunt comment.

“Well their food isn’t as good as yours is, Oma.” Jean replied as he gratefully took the plate. You shuffled past the two of them in the busy kitchen to pour yourself a glass of spiced wine.

“Get on my level, noodle-boy.” You teased, bringing your free arm up and flexing your defined muscles as the other held the ladle of wine. Jean threw an arm around your shoulder and squeezed, demonstrating that his noodle arms held more power than they let on.

Felicia had clicked the shutter just as laughter bloomed on your faces and your glass looked dangerously close to spilling over in festive happiness.

Apple Picking

“Freyr, move a little over to the left.” Oma instructed her son. Freyr took a step sideways and bounced, causing you to fly upwards in glee from your resting place on his shoulders. You grasped the sides of his chin as you both grinned at the camera. Crows flew from the canopy of the lush apple orchard behind you.

Levi drank in the features of your father as if he was studying a work of art. He was very tall, strongly built, and had a charisma about him that Levi wagered is why he was so popular in the capital. He resembled more of a lumberjack than a government official. His jawline was hard, like it was curvetted by a steel knife. But his eyes held a softness just like your own.

When Levi’s eyes drifted to the last photo in the row, the hair on the back of his neck stood on end. He gulped as he let the contents of the picturesque scene sink in. The four individuals looked lively and ecstatic as they proudly showed off their record breaking salmon catch. Your father, Freyr, stood on the far right holding the fish’s head with a confident smirk. You, having to be around 12, stood next to him inwards. Your weak grip was feigning your support of the giant creature’s weight. To the far left your uncle Rall stood perched with the tail held to his chest as he wore a more modest smile than his brother-in-law. Levi felt his arteries clench around his throbbing heart when he gazed upon the girl only a few years older than you at your side. The sweetness of her expression poured icy flames onto Levi’s conscience.

Petra and Y/N’s Catch

Levi felt as if he were the fish in your hands; milky eyed and cold scaled. He was momentarily sent spiraling into his guilt.

“Jean has grown quite handsome now hasn’t he...” Felicia chirped. Levi blinked at the proximity of her bubbly comment as it punched him from his daze. She appeared at his side with their shoulders centimeters from touching.

“You’ve always liked younger men, haven't you?” Oma snickered as she rummaged through the cupboard.

“Hey! I’m not that old Frau Vogel.” Felicia justified with a playful pout. She turned on her heels to grab the dishes from Oma’s hold but was gently slapped away by the determined old woman.

“Yes but you’ve known the boy since he was fresh out of diapers.” Oma quipped back. “Now if you’re done viewing the art gallery of my life, we have dinner to eat.”

The dining room seemed to glow amber. The walls were dressed with a deep cherry wood, carved with grand scenes of folklore that Levi wasn’t familiar with. The table and chairs were no less intricately carved and were birthed of that same rich wood. The table was fit for a family of high standing, its length providing the space to entertain many guests.

Felicia had set the table so that the three of you were sitting close together, leaving a vast empty space for ghosts to join. Levi wondered what kinds of people used to sit there. He let his mind be tempted with that notion as he gradually checked out of the conversation.

If she used to sit there.

After their meal, Levi was left with that satisfactory warmth he felt the day before. He gave his shoulder a good stretch when Oma returned from clearing the dishes.

“How about sitting down with an old woman for tea now?” She said with a small smile.

“Sure.” Levi responded softly. Oma hummed and faded back into the kitchen.

“Felicia went to go check on Y/N and insisted on doing housework.” Oma explained as she gathered the tea time materials.

“So we have a bit of peace-and-quiet time.” She added as she placed two cups of beautiful ivory china on the tea tray next to the tin of Queen Mary leaves.

Oma led the way to the living room which, to his fading surprise, was just as intricately decorated as the rest of the house. Arched windows that stretched from the floor to the ceiling displayed the forest to the back of the estate while a grand fireplace framed with pale brick lay in front of the opposite wall. Artwork, photos, and momentos painted all the walls to give it a cozy atmosphere that Levi was still getting used to. Oma placed the tea tray on the coffee table and sat down on one of the long, plush settees. She patted the cushion and Levi joined her, taking a seat on the other end of the couch.

An arid silence passed by them as Oma delicately poured the tea into each cup. He was hyper aware now of his past choice during that expedition. Whether it was a mistake or not. He was painfully cognizant of his absence. Sure Levi was curt, at times off putting, and cautiously intense with people. But his immense guilt for what happened to his squad was an underlying and consistent fuel for his awkwardness around your grandmother. It remained attached to him like a fifth limb, a presence that was always lurking even at the smallest intensities. Your love helped, eventually filling the gaping hole that had been carved there. But a hole is still a hole, forever a crevasse that would be a permanent addition to his soul.

He was deeply afraid to bring it up. Afraid of digging into old wounds, afraid of facing more of her family, afraid that your grandmother would deem him unfit to protect you. To call it an elephant in the room was a severe understatement. The unspoken truth was more the size of a beached whale. He had stopped seeing their ghosts in his own shadow. But even now seeing the familial resemblance of her in Oma he suddenly couldn’t bear to meet her eyes.

“I don’t blame you, Levi.” She said as softly as the clank of the teapot returning to the tray. Levi’s insides seized but he maintained his composure. She leaned back into the cushions with a sigh. When she craned her head to meet his eyes, his gaze remained fixed on the lone tea cup on the tray.

“For Petra.” Her name fell off Oma’s lips with a delicateness that made Levi’s throat itch with impending shame. “I saw you looking at her photo.”

The itch expanded to an inflation that embedded his incoming breath into the folds of his esophagus.

↞♞♘↠

Your body shivered in the remnants of your hysterical cries. You wished the sadness could have been swept up in the powerful current of your tears but it clung to you like a jagged rock resting just under the rippling water’s surface. Her absence felt like a vital organ had been forcibly taken from your body and the thief hadn’t bothered to stitch you up properly.

“Levi-” You breathed, voice heavy with the aftermath of your latest breakdown. It felt like a tiring journey from the empty bedroom to his office.

Earlier you had held each other, wept with one another, and began grieving together. But as the hours grew on Levi had drawn more reclusive. He had evicted himself from the bed in your fatigue and had resigned to his office chair. The form that occupied the space you almost didn't recognize. He sat deeply reclined in the chair and allowed the material to swallow him. His head dangled limply off his right shoulder, clouded eyes looking at nothing and everything at once. The only sign of vitality in this lifeless shell was the small puffs of air that left his nose.

It was fresh. Painfully fresh. Like a band aid that had ripped off multiple layers of skin. But you needed him right now and you knew he needed you too. The sudden loss of Petra was boring into you. You couldn’t imagine that loss times three that he was experiencing.

“Please we need to talk.” You whimpered as you slowly padded towards his crumpled stature. His swollen eyes and bloodshot whites betrayed his marbled features. He was hesitant to reach for you, to hold you, to touch you. He was sure a part of you must have despised him. Through his own pulsations of pain he could see your own distress. He desperately wanted to be there for you, to wipe away all that ailed you. But how could he do that when he couldn’t even wipe the pain from himself? Especially when he had a hand in inflicting such devastation onto you.

He could never forgive himself for that. For what he did to any of you.

Yet when you unfurled his limbs, climbed into his lap, and encircled yourself into his embrace he exhaled and held you right back.

“Don’t hide from me.” You said with an insatiable quiver. You felt Levi’s arms loosen and begin to pull away as you rested your head in the crook of his neck.

“Please...don’t.” You pleaded, desperate for his comfort. You quickly grabbed his wrists and placed them back along your spine. Levi breathed in frustration but didn’t move to withdraw himself again.

“There’s nothing I can do to bring them back.” He stated with a hopeless gravel.

“I know.” You replied weakly. Levi’s shoulder tingled with fresh tears. He squeezed his eyes shut in self disdain when he began to feel your shaking.

“You must deteste me.” He hummed dryly as the obsessive images of his fallen squad drew more tears from him once more. Each time he thought he was done crying their lifeless bodies bombarded him with more waterworks.

“Levi-” You cried as a sob raked your body.

“How could you even stand to be around me after what I did?” Levi bitterly pushed out as he tasted the salty flow of droplets.

“Shut up!” You coughed, sitting straight up in his lap to look him in the eyes. Your emotions were short circuiting and your patience was running thin for his blame but you hadn’t intended for your reply to come out so aggressive.

Your hands pushed down on his chest as your eyes fluttered shut. You took a moment to take in a deep, albeit ragged, breath. When your eyes opened Levi was fixated on the floor. You grasped his head between your hands and rectified his deflated body.

Your movement forced him to look at you, the two of you exchanging expressions beaten-down by sadness and frustration.

Thinking of the words you were about to formulate spurred more pressure behind your eyes before you articulated them. What was left of Levi's composure fractured as he began to drown in your sorrowful orbs.

You brushed his cheek to keep the both of you from floating away like paper lanterns. You could have lost each other out there today as well as your many comrades and the smoothness of his skin against your thumb kept you in this reality.

This was not the time for conversation, you had already had that. Already had assured him that their passing wasn’t his fault. That, sure if he was there maybe things would have been different but that his actions didn’t dictate their deaths. Telling him again would only be beating a dead horse and cause you both more anguish. The two of you were too weak for that right now.

“You trust me.” You uttered those words as a statement without a hint of question.

Levi nodded instantly. The motion was anamatronic-esque as he struggled to stay afloat.

“I’m here.” You stated softly, taking his hand and placing it directly over your overworked heart. A wave of calm washed over him as he watched his palm move with the deep rhythm of your breathing.

“You’re here.” You continued with a sniffle. You placed your hand on his chest, sighing in comfort as he breathed life into your palm.

“And if we focus on the what if’s we’re going to be hopeless forever.” You spoke the words with vulnerability that betrayed their prowess.

That shattered him.

You watched as his face scrunched with all the emotion he had hid this morning. His brow sloped into his quivering lip and he let out a helpless yelp. He was always trying to not feel. But he could only feign numbness until it embedded itself into everything he did. The void he was carrying now overflowed with singeing emotion that he needed to feel.

For them.

For you.

For himself.

Seeing him so broken caused you to crack too. But for Levi, the gruesome scenes that were replaying on a brutal loop were dulled by the warmth of your hand on his chest, the welcome pressure of your thighs against his, and perhaps the most by your beautiful eyes that despite being ravaged by tears were like a shining beacon in the turbulent storm.

He removed your hand from his chest and took them into his own. He raised your hands to his lips and pressed salted kisses to them.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” He croaked and intertwined his fingers with yours with such a force that his knuckles grew white. He begged for your forgiveness, bathed in your light to douse his sinful acts. For you must have been a saint to not have casted him out by now.

He kept apologizing because there was nothing else he could do. He lamented that he wasn’t quick enough. That their last moments were spent in agony and terror. That their deaths not only affected him but you as well.

Your limbs were entangled and foreheads were buried in shoulders for an uncountable amount of time. The two of you slowly dragged one another out of the suffocating mud of the expedition and into the present moment. When tears had dried and embraces grown less feverous, you spoke up.  

“Erwin is allowing me to go home for a few days.” You announced with a sad smile.

Levi hummed weakly as he ghosted his fingers along your scalp.

“Do you want to come with me?” Your invite hung on the air as Levi contemplated. He felt bad denying you but there was no way he would be able to face your family right now. That may have been selfish of him, but he just couldn’t.

He bit the inside of his cheek as you craned your neck to regard him. You understood his silence and nuzzled into his shoulder.

“Okay.” You kissed at the spot where his neck met his collarbone.

↞♞♘↠

“I’m sorry for your loss.” Was all that Levi could manage to say. He didn’t know how to make any apology enough for her grandchild’s absence. He felt disgust rise like bile in this throat all over again.

Oma nodded at his condolences and hid her lingering sadness behind seasoned professionalism.

“Thank you. I’m sorry to you too. You lost her just like the rest of us.” She responded with a mature kindness that made Levi want to poke his eyes out with self-loathing. If the loss hurt him beyond belief, he would never be able to know the extent of Oma’s pain, your pain, and Petra’s parents’ pain.

“I can see that you blame yourself.” Oma inferred with a caring tone. Levi’s hardened gaze remained on the table.

“I know what it’s like to lead a squadron. I know the helpless feeling of someone slipping through your fingers too quickly to catch them.” Oma consoled with a genuine seriousness that made Levi’s eyes flick up to hers. She sighed and placed her tea cup down.

Levi didn’t move as she scooched closer to place a hand over his. His fingers twitched at the calloused pads of her withered hand encircled his.

“It was one year into my promotion to a unit captain. I remember that day so vividly; the bitter smell of the canon smoke mixing with Hannes’ ripe gin, the way the wind gently rocked the trees just over wall Maria, the remnants of my throbbing hangover from the previous night’s excursions."

“I had ordered my unit to scale along the wall and raise the new cannons that had been provided the day prior while I joined Pixis at the guard post. We were having our daily banter when a thunderous quaking assaulted our ears and gave us whiplash with how fast we turned towards the wall. A hoard of titans, many of them abnormals, were rushing towards Wall Maria.”

“We had never experienced an attack so fierce, so alarmingly abrupt. My legs couldn’t carry me quickly enough to my unit before the fuckers started hurling themselves at the wall. The clash of skulls against the structure was deafening. Some of my soldiers decided to ascend, to fight them atop the wall and blast their brains out with the cannons. Others decided to take their chances at slashing their necks. However, the ladder couldn’t compete with the assault and soon their screams morphed into stains on stone.”

“After the attack, I too bashed my skull with guilt and regret. If only I had just waited to assign them to that job. What if instead, I told them to take care of the already positioned cannons. But would it have really made any difference? I’ve come to realize I couldn’t have ever anticipated a horror like that.” Oma’s eyes glazed over in sour memory.

“My point is, you can’t dwell on the what-ifs because that’s not how life went or ever will. You have to live with what life gives-and takes-from you.” Oma continued, holding Levi’s stare with one elderly compassion.

“You led them and inspired them to take action. Their sacrifices were just that; sacrifices they were willing to take for something they believed in.”

As she spoke, acute darts dripped in his squad’s long dried blood threatened to pierce the shield he had built up to their intrusions. But her kind words warded them off almost immediately and Levi felt more relieved than he could ever express to hear her sympathy.

“I’m sure you know it never truly goes away. But forgiving yourself for something that was out of your control dulls the sharpness of that blade.” She smiled flatly with soft eyes.

Listening to her story and feeling her presence sparked an understanding in Levi so deep that it felt foreign to him. It wasn’t the surface level sympathy usually set unto him by his comrades. Nor the solace and empathy you provided him. With Oma it was raw, unaltered. She had seemed to mine his soul and recover a luminous diamond out of the charcoal.

She brewed this sensation within him that peeled away the murky veil of his role of a steely captain. Underneath resided a more youthful soldier who still had much to conquer and learn. He realized he wasn’t actually as aged as he was required to act.

The hectic scenarios that had wracked his mind since he arrived at her doorstep were blown away with the gentle breath of her rapport. He squeezed her hand, instantly feeling her squeeze back.

“Thank you. That...means a lot.” He said as the ice on his brow melted. Oma grinned at his instant brightness, clearly pleased that she had managed to crack through his shell.

“What is it?” She asked with a wispy chuckle as she observed Levi’s minute crescent smile.

“Y/N gave me similar advice after it happened.” He confessed, feeling lighter than he had in years.

“Well, good. Means I raised her well.” Oma smirked fondly. She let go of his hand to uptake her tea cup once again.

“I would never let anything happen to Y/N.” Levi professed as he finally grabbed his tea as well. His grip tightened on his cup as if holding it sturdily cemented his promise. Oma’s grin widened at his dedication as they locked eyes once more.

“We are all responsible for ourselves, and all we can do for others is try our best to protect them. You have done just that, son.” She said after a hearty swig of her drink.

“You’ve been so good to both my girls, whether you see it or not. That’s all I could ever dream of in a superior officer, a friend, and a partner.”

Her heartwarming comment did exactly that to Levi. Except instead of blanketing him with a gentle heat it burned his chest all at once. The fire was so powerful that Levi couldn’t subdue the genuine smile that infiltrated his features. It widened his cheeks and parted his chapped lips in a beautiful display of appreciation.

Oma’s eyes widened and she coughed as her sip of tea almost slid down the wrong pipe.

“It’s a shame Y/N only gets to see those smiles.” Her wheeze was followed by a cackle. Her teasing made him roll his eyes but his smile didn’t diminish.

“Don’t tell her or she’ll think I’ve gone soft.” He chuckled himself as rich as the umber liquid in his cup. Oma winked as she took another sip.

“You know, I would have liked to have met you at Petra’s funeral but there wasn’t one. Her mother insisted on keeping things private.” Oma explained with a long exhale. Levi did recall you talking to him about that. Petra’s parents lived quite a distance away from you and Oma and became more private as the two of you grew up.

Levi nodded and pursed his lips. He definitely wouldn’t have been in the right mental space for that. Oma noted his silence and as if afraid he was going to creep back into his iron guard, sighed in contentment.

“I was so proud that she joined your squad.” She was basked in a lovely nostalgic glow as she mused.

“She looked delicate and slight but Petra had a fire in her like I’ve never seen in anyone else.”

“She did.” Levi agreed. His eyes fell to the fireplace as he traced his finger along the ivory rim of his cup. “She was one of the most skilled soldiers I’ve known.”

Oma hummed in agreement.

“Petra spoke so highly of you, you were truly her role model. She was ecstatic when you and Y/N got together. Couldn’t think of a better person for her little cousin.” Oma praised with the enthusiasm of a proud relative.

Levi let out an awkward huff and shook his head lightly as he brought his cup to his lips.

“You know she’s the reason Y/N wanted to join the corps?”

↞♞♘↠

The sun hung low in the sky when Levi’s squad found themselves lazily lounging at one of the picnic tables that framed the sparring area.  

“The cadets are going to arrive next week.” Gunther commented idly.

“Yes! My younger cousin is going to be joining the 104th class.” Petra beamed, clearly proud of her relative.

“Another cadet with your same beautiful genes? I can’t wait.” Oluo winked and Petra pursed her lips in unamusement.

“Keep it in your pants, Oluo. Or are you hitting on girls you haven’t even met yet?” Eld chided with a smirk.

“How do you feel about her joining, Petra?” Eld asked more seriously.  

“While I’m a bit bittersweet about it, I couldn’t think of another person more capable to be a new recruit.” Petra smiled sadly yet her eyes held excitement at being reunited with her kin.

“Hm, seems like the military runs in your family.” Levi commented, rolling his head against his shoulders to offer a loud crack.

“Yeah, Oma hated it when I joined so I bet she despised it when Y/N decided to fly the nest too.” Petra giggled with the lightness of a sparrow taking flight. A boisterous boom followed by an aggressive order caused the party to direct their attention to the arena.

“And so the hellscape is raised once again.” Gunther nodded to where Shadis was noisily instructing soldiers on where to place the cadet training equipment.

“The stick that’s within his ass imbeds itself deeper each year.” Eld yawned and stretched.

“I’ll be there to fight for her if he takes it too far.” Petra boasted in determination. Her declaration was fiery but her delicate features softened the promise. The special operations squad knew all too well, though, not to underestimate the strength that resided under that cute exterior.

“Hazing is part of the cadet experience.” Gunther shrugged.

“Need to get the nerves burning hot somehow.” Eld added.

“Oh come on, you guys are horrible!” Petra huffed.  

“I’ll make sure she’s well taken care of-” Oluo passionately interjected.

“That’s not necessary.” Petra cut him off with a jab to the ribs.

“You’ll back me up, right Levi?” She looked to their captain expectantly while Oluo's groans grew in pitch.

Levi shrugged in indifference. However the way Petra’s eyes glinted with eagerness made him more inclined to agree.

“If she’s not a brat.”

Petra threw him a pout as the crew’s light-hearted jokes floated up to meet the chromatic tendrils of the evening sky.

[dragonoffantasyandreality]

Kamen Rider Thunderbirds Chapter 3 (Bit 5 End)

Prologue, Bit 1, Bit 2 Updated, Bit 3, Bit 4 

Finaaaly! I finished Chapter 3! :D

Big thank you for @janetm74 for the beta read, thank you @myladykayo for helping me through the story. Tagging @willow-salix, @katblu42, @gumnut-logic and @dreamycloud)

So let’s end this chapter, right? :)

-0-0-0-

“So you are saying that you’ve been attacked by some unknown monsters?” Jeff asked, his fingers gripping the paper. The bandaged up boys nodded.

“Yeah. And we believed it was a set up." Virgil pointed out.

"It seemed like deliberate sabotage by those… things, so we came in and fell into their trap." Scott theorized. He continued explaining: in fact, the way the fires started was suspicious, the flames appeared in random parts of the building, according to the recent investigations. And according to the testimonies of the rescuees who were trapped underground, the humanoid fire-monsters appeared out of nowhere and they are the ones who started the whole fires, and then… they were simply waiting. The field commander finished that the poor fellas acted as bait for the monsters to finish him and his brothers off.

"Long story short: they were after our heads apparently." Gordon concluded.

Their father had a look of extreme concern. To think those threats with impossible yet fantastic power to bring down a building were after his sons was very alarming and pose a threat to their lives and security. Here he thought that time where they had to save the world from a mind-controlling alien sphere was a close call!

"Thank heavens the Kamen Riders came and saved us!" Alan chirped, his ocean eyes sparkled like stars with memories.

"Yes. You guys are very lucky. And those rescuees as well." Agreed Jeff, "However, we don’t know if we could trust those bug-eyed warriors.”

“But dad! They saved us!” Argued the youngster, “They saved us from these creatures! I am pretty sure they are our allies! Friends even!”

"Alan! We don't even know who they are!" Pointed out Gordon.

The young blonde crossed his arms and gave the most dramatic pout. Jeff sighed, gently shaking his head with a slight sympathetic smile, “They may be on our side now, but we still don’t know what their intentions are. Especially when they got those… other-worldly powers. So take their alliance with caution.” he said sternly.

The brothers nodded in agreement, including Alan who simply cocked his head to the side. They did tell John about the whole thing, in which the middle brother had mixed feelings. Concerned, relieved and interested. But mostly worried.

After the debrief, the atmosphere was a lingering silent worry.

“Hey kiddo, don’t be upset.” Gordon smiled optimistically.

“You sure?” Huffed his youngest brother.

“Yeah. As much as I am suspicious about them, I am also curious.” his innocent smile turned into a cheeky smirk.

Alan’s grumpy face slowly transformed into that of an excited gremlin that the redhead knew and loved, “Alright! How about we go talk to Brains? See what he thinks of this rescue.”

Gordon grinned, “Right behind ya, Sprout!”

And soon enough, the terrible two vanished through the door of the lounge, their excited feet echoed through the halls.

“What do you think of the Kamen Riders, Scott?” asked Virgil, placing a gentle hand on his older brother’s shoulder. 

Scott shrugged, “I don’t know.” He was mostly worried about those monsters. Those… things. What are they after? Why do they want International Rescue dead? Of course it was only one time, but what if they do it again? He was beginning to feel dread. Being possessed by an alien was bad enough, but almost getting burned alive by monstrous animal-headed gladiators with powers to control fire was out of the question!

“You know, I do have a hunch that our bug-eyed acquaintances are on our side.” admitted Virgil, “But, I also have a feeling that we’ll meet them again, considering the circumstances.”

Scott looked back at his brother. Sky blue meets earthly brown. There was a silent conversation. An understanding. And then a nod from the eldest brother. They sat there in compassionate silence.

The quiet must’ve been killing his brother, because all of the sudden the mechanic asked, “Say, would you like to play the piano again?”

“Why’s that?” Scott raised a brow.

“My fingers are sore from fixing the Mole in a rush back there.” Virgil smiled with a little embarrassment, as he revealed his bandaged hands.

Scott gently tapped his brother’s shoulder with a chuckle. He got up from the couch and walked over to Virgil’s beloved white piano. He sat on the stool once more, opened the lid and stretched his fingers, “What should I play?” 

“Anything, I don’t mind.” His musical brother shrugged, standing beside him.

As Scott thought which song to play, his mind drifted back to the moment when he looked into the eyes of the golden Rider. It seemed to him that there was something warm behind those bug-eyes… something human. Scott wondered if there's a sensitive soul behind that mask.

Maybe it was just in his mind, maybe it was not true, but it made him relax. Pressing the keys, he began playing a familiar, jazzy beat as he remembered that moment. After a few repeats of the rhyme, he went to the main part of the song.

“Ah, my favorite! Take Five!" Jeff exclaimed, "Just like you guys.” he chuckled.

Scott smiled at his father as a response. There were some remnants of his stress, but it didn't bother him as much as he was in the morning. Jeff gave him a relieved nod before continuing doing paperwork, quietly humming and tapping his foot to the beat. Virgil smiled widely at his brother before humming as well and snapping his fingers along with the melody of the immortal piece of Paul Desmond.

Scott jumped into improvising like he was here to woo the girls at a party. As he was playing, he thought back of their victory. And his tension melted away. Outside the villa, the soothing music echoed through the beautiful nature of the island and into the night sky.

-0-0-0-

The moon shone in the night sky and the cold was a constant companion. The sounds of distant cars driving through the streets could be heard from the top of the skyscrapers. On one of them stood four figures, taking their time enjoying the view from above.

The Kamen Riders were resting after the heated fight. Gills was leaning on a wall next to the entrance, between his legs lay his loyal dog. G3-X was finishing writing a report of the fight on his custom laptop. Kuuga was laying on top of the entrance, admiring the stars. And Agito was standing near the railing, staring into the lights of the city.

"Oi, Agito!" called Kuuga all of a sudden. The golden Rider turned to his best friend.

"Nando(What is it)?" asked Agito.

"Why wouldn’t you come up here and watch the stars?” suggested the red Rider, "It's beautiful up there."

"How can you see stars from here?" objected G3-X, "Ya can't see Shiitake with all those slagging city lights!"

"They can see them through their visors," scoffed Gills, making the robocop Rider whistle a sound of realization before turning back to his computer. 

Raider looked up and tilted his head as if trying to see them, but after a few moments he gave up as he put his canine head back to the ground.

Agito had taken a moment to stare at the city, then moved towards the entrance, climbed and sat next to Kuuga.

"Not too cold buddy?” the red Rider asked, only to receive a shake of the head from his golden companion. The two took a moment to appreciate the stars in the cold night sky. Few stars faintly glowed in the dark sky.

"Man, can't believe we just met with International Rescue in person!" excitedly said Kuuga, "I gotta say, they are quite tough guys, ne? Especially Noodle, he looks quite young!"

"Noodle?" asked the golden rider in confusion.

"The blond kid! The one I saved from falling into a ravine and returned the gun to?" Kuuga sensed Agito raising an eyebrow that cannot be seen from the cover of his mask. "We should give them nicknames. To… you know, to know who's who we're talking about?" He explained, shrugging.

A sparkle of mirth could be faintly seen behind the faceted eyes of his friend, a warm smile could be felt radiating from his breath. "Sure...But why the blond kid 'Noodle'?"

"Because his blonde hair reminded me of noodles. And to be honest, 'Noodle' sounds kawaii~! Don’t you think he looks kawaii, ne?” A big grin was radiating from behind the mask of the red Rider. Agito laughed wholeheartedly. Kuuga continued, "The auburn hair guy; I think we'll call him 'Kuma'! He looks so serious, strong and tough, like a bear! Remind me of someone…"

The golden Rider laughed again as he nodded. "So um… shall we call the leader 'Sky Eyes'?"

Kuuga rubbed his silver chin for a bit, "Hmm…the one who pilots that big-hyper-speedy-rocket-jet thingy? Why's that?" he asked.

"Because… his eyes reminded me of the sky...” The red Rider saw the sparkling human eyes behind Agito’s red bug-like lens. Kuuga nodded, agreeing that the name was well suited for the blue sashed commander.

"What about the redhead guy? What should we call him?" asked G3-X as he looked up at the two Riders, seemingly curious.

"Clownfish..." Gills dropped the answer. There was an awkward pause. "He smelled fishy..." He deadpanned. Everyone laughed, acknowledging his typical 'I don't care, deal with it' attitude as they accepted his answer.

"Noodle, Kuma, Sky Eyes and Clownfish. Sounds good for our mystery gang of rescuers!" Kuuga clapped and rubbed his hands excitingly

Agito chuckled softly before looking back at the stars once more. The more he stared at the little faint glistening lights, the more the made him think of sky… sky eyes… the man whose eyes were always drawn to the sky.

He felt a warm feeling as he remembered those cobalt irises. He wondered why he felt like that. He barely knows that man, let alone the fact that International Rescue seemed to keep themselves secret. Maybe he'll never know. But one thing for sure, they'll cross paths again. Because of those things...

Those kaijins… they were new. He had never seen them before. And they are as aggressive and dangerous as disasters. Agito… Yuuki sensed that whatever they were, they seemed to be after International Rescue. But for what? And why?

The answer will remain unknown, for now...

-tbc-

[bangchanshehe]

Play With Me pt. 6 (M)

Summary:You had a one sided love with your best friend Taehyung, but Jungkook was pursuing his one sided love for you. One night of sexual frustration causes for your relationships with one another turn upside down.

Jungkook X Taehyung X OC

Without hesitating you smiled at the buskers as if there was nothing wrong at all and without causing a scene or looking at kook you pulled on his shirt sleeve notifying him that it was time to go.  You had practiced this with Tae when the two of you felt like sneaking out of the dorms and living a little. And since BTS is so huge it is really hard for the two of you to be outside at all. Some of the group’s fans are so obsessed they can recognize Tae by his ears…. His EARS!

The day that they found tae the two of you had ran and ran and eventually had to split up because things had gotten out of hand. But after that one unfortunate instance you had come up with a plan on what you needed to do if you were ever concerned about being exposed.

First kook was to walk away from the buskers, so that all prying eyes would be focused on him as he walked away, and then in approximately 10 seconds you would grab something from your purse, discretely drop it on the floor, pick It up and then turn to find kook. You would quietly follow him and if there was no more commotion you would simply walk away with him but slightly behind him until things were completely safe. But if people began following you or watching you would simply tap on his shoulder and say “excuse me sir, I think you dropped this” hand him the item and then walk across the street into the nearest open store.

This would not only make you appear to be as a random stranger helping out another pedestrian but also give kook the heads up that people were catching on or following him and notify him to get the hell out as soon and quickly as possible, while I stayed behind and continued my role as “innocent bystander” for a little longer in public.

It was such a good plan that when you and tae had come up with it you were genuinely surprised. However, it still to this day had only been a plan and it looked like you were going to be able to finally put it to the test.

Kook had turned to leave and you had a pen in your pocket from work so you dropped it on your foot so it would fall quietly and then quickly picked it up. You glanced at it for a moment and silently prayed for your plan to work, and then glanced back behind you in the crowd. Kook was definitely a good distance away so you followed behind and quietly walked through the crowd to chase after him, but when you had clear vision of him it was obvious that people were standing around and talking of him as he walked away towards where he had parked just a few blocks down.

You had finally caught up to him and tapped him on the shoulder ready to give him the cue that it was worst case scenario. But instead of allowing you to go along with the plan he grabbed your hand and pulled you along with him in a fast paced sprint towards where he had parked.

You were completely caught off guard and nearly tripped over your feet but quickly pulled yourself together when you heard the screams of a few fans who were catching on and ready to chase after you.

“do you think that you can keep up if we go a little faster?” kook asked you as he looked over his shoulder to gauge how far away the fans were.

“yea” was all that you said as you tried your best to follow up with kooks full speed

You had always known that he was athletic and an incredible runner, but being side by side and running through the busy streets really put into perspective just how fast he was.

Your legs were just about to give out when you had reached kooks car and the two of you quickly jumped in. The group that was chasing you was a good 100 yards away from you two and kook quickly started the car and floored it out of the parking lot.

the two of you sat at a red light a safe distance away from the busy streets with fear in your eyes for almost getting caught. The music playing on the radio was completely inaudible through the sound of your rushing heart and yours and kooks pants for air. But as soon as you were able to catch your breath you mumbled “I don’t think any one took any photos. I don’t think they realized that it really was you until it was too late.”

Kook look straight at the road and nodded his head in understanding. And it was not until you had reached a calm point that he had quietly said “sorry that I ruined our night”

You looked over at him with shock in your eyes. “you didn’t ruin anything kook!”

You were hoping that he would look back at you so could give him a small smile. Instead, he continued to look at the road with sadness written all over his face.  you let out a small sigh and reached over the center console to hold onto his hand and physically show him how you felt since he didn’t want to look at you.

“I know that right now you probably don’t want to go anywhere else that’s public, but we can go to my apartment and I can cook us dinner” you offered

Quickly he snapped his head to face you and his eyes were filled with hope and excitement again. He gave you a small smile before he turned back to the road again and changed lanes so he could get on the highway. It made you contagiously smile to see how excited he had become in a matter of moments, and you watched him as he graceful drove through the streets towards your apartment.

In only 15 short minutes you were home and kook quietly followed you through the lobby and up the stairs to your unit. Once inside he ripped off his hat and mask and set them down gently on your entry way table. You walked into the kitchen and looked inside of your fridge and pantry as you gauged what you could make for a decent dinner.

“hmmm….” You turned around and looked at kook “what sounds better? Eggs and toast, kimchi fried rice or ramen?”

He looked back at you with disbelief at your options and then chose…”kimchi fried rice annndddd ramen” he said with an apologetic smile and you shook your head.

“have you really had anything to eat today?” you asked him concerned for his well being

You were aware of how tight the boys schedules are, and how insane the need to stay slim and toned was. Tae had often come to your apartment or called crying about how exhausted and hungry he was. And knowing how much tae loved food you knew that it killed him inside to not be able to enjoy some of what he considers to be the finer pleasures in life… aka beer and fried chicken.

He didn’t say anything but gave a fake laugh and a wide smile.

“not a single thing?” you asked horrified

“well… I ate a banana this morning” he said as if he had obtained some sort of accomplishment

“you ate a banana but nothing of what you made this morning for me?”

He looked away from you and down to his shoes as if he was embarrassed to admit what he was about to say. “no…” he peeked up at you and pouted “I wanted you to have your first real breakfast prepared by me”

You smiled at him sweetly and after a few moments of you not responding he finally looked back up at you shyly.

“while I love the sentiment of that jeon Jungkook, you have to take care of yourself.” You explained as sternly and sweetly as possible.

He smiled a little at you before he turned to face the living room “can I watch some tv while you cook?”

You hummed and nodded your head giving him the okay and watched as he got comfortable on your sofa and surfed through Netflix. Seeing him in your apartment alone was definitely a new thing for you. Sure he had been over countless times before, but always with tae and other members. It was never the two of you all alone, and you were almost half expecting for tae to come in the kitchen and start eating food straight from the fridge.

STOP that! You inwardly yelled at yourself. Tonight you had thought about tae countless times instead of just living in the moment with kook.

You pulled out your ingredients from the fridge and immediately started to work on your meal. And as you chopped onion and cracked eggs you vowed that you wouldn’t think about tae again tonight while with someone else. It wasn’t fair to Jungkook who only wanted to spend this evening with you.

After a few more minutes you yelled out “come get a plate” and he paused the tv and jogged into the kitchen with a  wide smile on his face.

“here, let me take that” he said taking the plate of kimchi fried rice out of your hands

You handed it to him carefully before picking up the pot full of ramen and following him out to your coffee table where you usually ate food. You both sat on the floor and watched tv while you ate your food or rather watched kook eat all of the food as if he were starving to death.

“what are you watching?” you asked him as you tried to follow along with whatever was happening on screen

“just some boring tv show. But we can watch whatever you want to watch” he said offering you the remote

You waved your hand as you chewed on a noodle letting him keep whatever he was watching on. You ate mostly in silence as you were both sucked into the show when suddenly a sex scene played. You gulped down your food and awkwardly looked over at kook, suddenly hyper aware of the situation that you were in. but kook seemed to be unbothered by it.

“are you done with your bowl?” he asked you out of nowhere, unbothered by you looking at him already

You nodded your head and kook stood up and quickly took your plate and pot to the kitchen. You watched him as he left so suddenly, silently thankful that the awkward situation was over and that at least he wasn’t in the room to watch you sweat through the heated scene.

You could hear the kitchen faucet run and you had yelled into the kitchen “don’t worry about the dishes ill do them later” but the faucet didn’t turn off.

“kook?” you asked thinking that he just didn’t hear you

“it’s fine ill just take care of it really quick since you cooked for us” he yelled back

You rolled your eyes and instead of yelling back and forth to each other you decided to get up and talk to him face to face. as you neared the kitchen kook looked frustrated with his eyebrows crinkled and sharp, serious eyes.

You stood next to him and turned off the faucet before turning to face him. “kook! Leave it! You’re a guest and I wont let you do my dishes!”

He only stopped moving and never turned to face you when he softly asked “would you please let me?”

You were only growing concerned as he continued to not face you “Jungkook… what’s wrong?” you asked him, putting your hand on his shoulder

He turned to look at your hand and then finally up to you “nothings wrong I just want to do this for you” he said with a small voice

“you don’t have to… its one pot and one plate” you said with a smile as you looked down at the sink

But as you panned your head down you noticed why he was being so stubborn. “oh” you said as faintly as a whisper but somehow he had heard you. He coughed loudly to draw your attention away from his erection and you quickly snapped your head up to look away.

“I’m sorry” he said quietly, ashamed of himself

You finally looked at him and gave him an apologetic smile “it’s okay, it happens”

You turned to leave the kitchen and let Jungkook take care of his erm… business, but he grabbed your hand forcing you to stop and face him again.

“will you help me?” he asked shyly

Your eyes went wide and your mouth dropped “what?” you asked in disbelief that you had just seriously heard that

Suddenly he cocked a small smile “help me like you helped hyung”

[sailorjupitersworld]

Fidget

@sizzlepopsoda it’s hella late, but it’s here. Hope you enjoy!

Jotaro:

It wasn’t unusual to see (S/o) fidgeting with some kind of toy. Whether it was a cube, rubber band, or some type of spinning object.

Currently, (S/o) and Jotaro were waiting for the rest of the Crusaders to get back from the bathroom. A fidget spinner rested in her hands.

Jotaro glanced at you. “How many of those toys do you even have?” He asked quietly.

She glanced up at him, “Oh, I have quite a few of these,” she pulled a small brown sack out of her bag and dumped it on the table. “Want one?”

There was an array of stim toys on the table.

Jotaro picked up a stretchy rubber noodle and inspected it, “These help you focus?” He asked.

“Well yeah. Focusing is hard for someone like me. It’s not impossible, but it is difficult. These just bring me back down to Earth.” She explained.

Jotaro nodded. It was hard for him to understand your ADHD at first, being he typically had such an iron focus. But he had come to enjoy your company. It wasn’t too long after that the two of you began getting intimate with each other. He understood your quirks and you understood his.

Avdol:

Avdol was very understanding of your behavior. When you were excited, your arms would flap, and you had a tendency to lose focus.

But Avdol just had this aura about him that helped bring you down. 

When you’d have issues focusing, he’d simply tap you on the shoulder or hand you one of your fidgeting toys.

When it came to flapping, Avdol saw it as endearing. Most saw it as childish or stupid.

But that’s not what it was.

It was just what made you who you are and Avdol loved it.

Polnareff:

Polnareff was a rather hyper person, so the two of you could be quite the ball of energy.

The two of you enjoyed jumping around and talking excitedly about anything and everything. 

It wasn’t irregular for the both of you to be told to shut up (usually by Jotaro).

Sometimes during down time, you’d sit in his lap and just mess around with your fidget toys.

The favorite part about your relationship is that you understood each other.

Both of you had trouble focusing and there was nothing wrong with that. Because you loved this big goof and he loved you.

Joseph:

Joseph was born in a time where being diagnosed with ADHD wasn’t really a thing.

So when he asked why you have those toys he was puzzled by your explanation. You then had to go into detail as to what ADHD was.

It took him a minute to completely understand, but when he did, he knew your ticks and when you needed help being brought back down.

The best part of being with you was when you got excited. He found it adorable when you’d flap your arms in excitements.

You had your quirks. Everybody did. And Joseph loved every single on of them.

Kakyoin:

Kakyoin was a very quiet to himself kind of person, much like Jotaro.

So it was odd to see the two of you get along so well.

You were both complete opposites.

But that didn’t stop you from falling in love.

Your favorite part about him might just be his earrings.

Sometimes, you’d wrap your arms around his waist and just fiddle around with them. If you listen carefully, you can hear him let out little chuckles.

It was a silly pass time, but it was your pass time.

Iggy:

Iggy definitely loves when you pick him up and give him pats. It’s his favorite.

[demialwrites]

Fallen Angel, Down to Earth

Fuck me, things have been rough with my mental health lately. So I slowly nurtured this fic. It was relaxing to write so it’s not too exciting. It’s a nice length, tho!

Hanging upside-down was more awkward than you previously thought. Especially since one of the biggest heroes of Wutai was the one holding you up. By the ankle and you were sure his hand was made of iron by the way he gripped you. If anyone saw Sephiroth holding you from plummetting to your death over a cliff, the story would spread like a nasty fart until everyone in Shinra knew. And laughed. You would have laughed, too.

You pled silently with him to put you down. You would have spoke the words but the hero himself but you were too engrossed in checking him out up-close. You did that instead, brows knitted in concentration. He did wear more belts than he needed to. His long, silver hair was glorious. And his eyes were a spring green that you'd never seen before. His black slit pupils dilated when your eyes met and you shivered. "Please, put me down, Sir!" you blurted. He smirked slightly before doing as you asked, giving his full bottom lip extra curve. He was surprisingly gentle, not just dropping you to the hard ground. "Are you hurt?" he asked. You sprang up, rapidly patting yourself down for injuries. You came up with nothing but extra dirt. "No!" Another slight smile. "Good." He turned from you and walked away. You stood there for a second before you realized he expected you to follow without being asked. You hurried up to his side. "So what do we do now?" "We find everyone else." Oh, right. You forgot you got separated from the rest while you were falling off the cliff. "Where could they be?" you wondered aloud. "I don't know. This shouldn't have happened." You followed Sephiroth around for a while, with no one in sight. You almost followed him around a corner when he quickly doubled back a step, shoving you back, also. "What?" you hissed quietly. He whipped around, hair brushing your knee. He squeezed your shoulder and put a finger to his lips. His pupils were wide again. You got lost in their blackness until a procession of bomb monsters floating past caught your eyes. They came from where you were heading. It was a much bigger group than you were used to. If not for Sephiroth's presence, you would have been terrified. You were hyper-aware of his hand still gripping your shoulder. He let go when he felt it was safe, checking around the corner again. You put your hand where his used to be. "C'mon," he said. You joined his side again. "Why didn't you just kill them...if you don't mind me asking, Sir." "There were too many for me to guarantee that I could keep you alive." Your shoulders relaxed down. "Ahhhh. That's nice." "I thought you might like that," he teased. To you, Sephiroth was just wandering around. But he pointed out evidence on the ground that proved otherwise. Bootprints and such. It surprised you how knowledgeable he was. He followed the trail until you started yawning. You tried to hide it. "The excitement of nearly dying probably tired you out," he said. "Let's stop for the night." As much as you wanted to keep going and return sooner to a warm, comfortable bed, at least you got more time with Sephiroth. Maybe you would learn more about him. He told you to set up camp while he took care of the fire to keep the chill at bay. You put down your bedroll, then looked up to find him lighting a suspiciously thick pile of branches with fire materia. Like he had snapped small trees in half. After some bland rations, you both settled down to rest. You got into your bedroll while he sat on top of his. You wanted to ask him about himself but the warmth from the fire was making you drowsy. He was gazing up at the clear and starry sky. You looked up as well. You gazed along with him in silence, the stars reminding you that the planet was spinning slowly on its axis while it orbited the sun. A massive, round cradle for all the tiny living beings on its surface. You yawned, the drowsiness increasing. So easy to lay your head down on that cradle and sleep like a baby. This experience with Sephiroth soothed away some of the intimidation you held before and you hoped you would get to work with him again. He did you a favour and found you himself in the halls first. "Hey, Sir!" "Hey," he replied. "I know you want to avoid the humiliation of everyone finding out what happened at the cliff. I'll omit from my report what exactly happened if you go on a date with me." "You don't date!" you blurted without thinking. It was always what you heard. He'd been asked many times and always turned them down. He was just teasing you. "You're cute when you're flustered. Are you turning me down?" He didn't seem concerned with your answer, just gazed at you with that same smirk as when he held you over the cliff. It had a softened, dreamier edge. It wasn't aimed at your eyes but lower. Your lips or maybe your body. You were still confused but had no reason to say no. "Yes, I guess..?" His gaze jumped back up to your eyes. "Alright, then. Where should we go? Normally, I'm too busy to go anywhere for fun." You suggested your favourite spots to eat. You would love to hear his opinion. He shook his head; too many people would bother him. That left you stumped. "I want to see your place," he said. "Show me how you live." "Me? It would bore you." "I'm curious." He leaned down closer. "Humour me." Your heart beat faster, butterflies went nuts in your stomach, and you agreed. On the night of the date, death was at your door. He had glowing green eyes. Actually, it was Sephiroth in black with the hood up on his hoodie. You smiled, laughing inwardly at yourself. His shadowed face unnerved you at first but you couldn't be surprised at his fashion choices based on his battle gear. The zipper on the hoodie was down halfway, showing a grey shirt. Black jeans and boots completed the outfit. He pulled the hood down and all of his hair out of the back of the sweater where it had been tucked and looked relieved. You assumed he didn't want to deal with anyone who would recognize him off the Soldier recruitment posters and didn't question it. He held out a white plastic bag that was tied at the top like takeout normally was. That got you a little excited. "I had one of the cafeteria chefs make something similar to the food you mentioned." "And they just did that for you?" He shrugged. "Yes." Like it was a normal occurrence. You wanted to peek inside the bag of takeout but instead, took it to the dining table. Instead of following, Sephiroth got distracted in the area just inside your door. "What's this?" he asked, picking up a knickknack and inspecting it. "Oh, I..." Sephiroth went around, picking up or pointing out various items with which decorated your apartment. You explained how you got each one and what drew you to it. It was like a child using a magnifying glass just to see how things look in more detail. Maybe this was his version of fun. You looked for an opening to turn it around and ask /him/ something but you couldn't bring yourself to interrupt. "Why don't we eat?" he finally said, turning from your personal items with a satisfied look. You embarrassed yourself by sneaking glances at his full, curvy lips while he sucked in noodles from his portion of the takeout. The date was looking up. A good view and the heavenly slide of greasy chow mein down your throat. Mmmm, fat. The cafeteria chefs didn't skimp on the meat and vegetables, either. Sephiroth finished his portion with a healthy appetite and said, "Not bad." There was an awkward moment until he told you he wanted to see what you normally did on a night like this. You thought, No, that's boring. I'm boring. How is he not bored yet? His expectant look won over. You went to your bathroom to grab some items. You came back and placed a couple of sheet masks on the table. He picked one up and eagerly read the package. "I see. Is this like a hair mask?" "Yeah!" You lit up with a smile, thankful that he caught on quickly. "I use those." "What?" "Surprised? This hair requires a lot of maintenance." He said that so casually but you couldn't picture him lovingly brushing and styling his hair. Either way, you had an out-of-body experience when Sephiroth, the most famous hero of Shinra, ripped open the mask and applied it carefully. Thankfully, your real body was numb enough without your soul to follow suit and put on your own mask on autopilot. Since he was wearing the mask, you decided it wasn't so bad to do the other thing you normally did on work nights; watch TV. You made a guess that he would want to watch a documentary because he spent all evening soaking up information. Turns out it was a good choice. He commented often that he had been to the various places filmed and how easily he had dispatched any monsters shown. It reminded you who you sat next to and you were glad he was friendly. You were starting to get sleepy from the all carbs and the late hour. Sephiroth, in contrast, seemed like he could stare unblinking at the TV screen forever. You shrugged inwardly; it was weird but least he was easy to please. Staring at him, it struck you that this entire time you wanted to see him humanized. Not the untouchable hero from the recruitment posters. This date had done just that. He was weird but who wasn't a little? You smiled at him. "This was a good date," you told him. He returned the smile. "I'm glad you think so." He held his hand out, palm-up. You put your hand on top. He closed his fingers and rested your two hands on his thigh. You fell asleep. Sephiroth let you sleep until he decided it was your bedtime. He nudged you awake and guided your half-asleep self to your bed.

[sanderssidesfanfiction]

Choking Back

A/N: Hey, guys! This story is inspired by @sidespromptblog​’s post, which can be found here! I don’t have much to say about this, except that I got so excited about writing it that I very nearly switched from the sheer amount of hyper I was! 😅 I hope you enjoy!

Warnings: Sympathetic Deceit, food

Deceit forced down another bite from his plate. Patton had made everyone dinner again, which Deceit both loved and hated. He loved it because he had an excuse to be around the Light Sides and pretend for a minute that he was a part of their little "group." But he hated it because, without fail, Patton would make something that had a texture which was just wrong to Deceit. He didn't want to say anything, though, lest he be kicked from the group and no longer be invited to any family dinners. He wanted, so desperately, to keep coming to family dinners.

But the food this time (spinach lasagna) made him nearly cry out of pure frustration. He hated the texture of spinach, and to put it in something that he could actually stand most nights (pasta was a comfort food) just seemed cruel, like Patton was mocking him on purpose. He knew Patton wasn't doing that, he hadn't even told Patton he had this issue, how was Patton supposed to know if Deceit didn't tell him? But it still stung, that he was so close to having a food that he actually enjoyed only to have it snatched away from him by some stupid spinach.

The others were laughing at a joke Roman had told, and even Virgil was cracking a smile. Everyone else had eaten at least half of what was on their plate, and Deceit was barely a quarter of the way through his. He prayed that whatever everyone did, they didn't notice that he wasn't eating. But the universe is a cold, cruel mistress, because Patton looked over at Deceit and frowned. "Deceit, are you not hungry?"

Deceit swallowed. He could lie. He could lie and say that he wasn't, he could get away with it, the others didn't know all of his tells. "I'm just not feeling very well," Deceit muttered. It was a half-truth. "I might need something...easier on my stomach."

"Oh, why didn't you say something sooner?" Patton asked, standing up and taking Deceit's plate away. "I'll make you some soup instead, if you like? Would that be all right?"

Deceit slowly nodded. "Just make sure it's not...not cream based," he said. He hated the taste of cream based broths.

Patton nodded. "Of course. Chicken noodle sound good?"

Deceit choked back a sob. That was one of the few foods he regularly enjoyed. "Sounds perfect."

Patton smiled and summoned a bowl, passing it to Deceit, who took it gratefully. He made sure not to eat it too fast, so that the others would believe he was just feeling a little under the weather. Virgil was talking about a new horror game that had come out that they probably shouldn't play, and Roman was arguing that the views would make it worth it, as if he wasn't scared out of his mind whenever they played those games. Deceit just followed the conversation silently, not knowing if his contributions would be welcomed at all.

As everyone started finishing their food, they grabbed their plates and put them in the kitchen sink. Deceit was sipping the last of the chicken noodle broth when Patton came back over and sat down across from him, where Roman had been not a minute before. "Deceit, can I ask you something and get an honest answer?"

Alarm bells ringing in Deceit's head, he put the bowl down and nodded.

"Why didn't you want to eat the lasagna tonight? Because when you feel sick, you don't eat the whole bowl of soup I make you. Usually, you barely eat half. If that. But you ate the entire thing," Patton said.

Deceit's human side of his face turned crimson. He hadn't accounted for that. Stupid, stupid! he chastised himself. "I guess...I guess I wasn't in the mood for lasagna," Deceit answered, eyes drifting away from Patton.

"I asked for an honest answer, Dee," Patton said, not unkindly. "You like most of the lasagna I make. What about this one made you lose your appetite?"

Deceit couldn't see a way out of this, and he hated it. But he had to be honest at this point. If Patton got mad at him, he could deny him family dinners, and while he might get mad if he told the truth, he still had a chance of being invited back. He wouldn't get that chance if he lied. "The spinach," Deceit mumbled. "I can't stand the spinach."

"Why not?" Patton asked. He didn't sound defensive, just confused. "It doesn't have much of a taste to it."

"The texture," Deceit admitted, screwing his eyes shut tight. "The texture feels bad in my mouth and makes me feel gross."

Patton didn't say anything long enough that Deceit risked opening one eye to look at his counterpart. Patton didn't look angry, or even annoyed. He just looked...upset. "Why didn't you tell me sooner?" Patton finally asked, voice soft.

"I...I wanted to be invited back," Deceit said, playing with the gloves on his hands. "I didn't want to lose...lose the family dinner. I needed...I needed to know that I could be around...around you all without being told to...told to go away."

Patton rounded the table in an instant and hugged Deceit tightly, but not so tight as to be uncomfortable. Deceit tentatively hugged Patton back. When Patton pulled away Deceit let his arms drop. Patton grabbed Deceit's shoulders. "Dee, I'm so sorry. I should have made it clear that you're always invited to be with us, no matter what we're doing. We all thought that you preferred being by yourself most of the time, and that's why you only came around for dinner."

Deceit felt loathing wash over him and turn in on himself in an instant. You idiot, you should have seen that! his mind screamed at him. Aren't you good for anything anymore?

Patton squeezed Deceit's shoulders, and Deceit pulled himself out of his thoughts. "What other foods make you uncomfortable?" Patton asked. "Do you have a list? Can I see it?"

Deceit blinked. "You...why?"

"Because I want to make sure I'm not making something that's a bad texture for you, Dee. Listen, just because I make something, doesn't mean you have to like it. You can tell me you're not a fan. You're free to do that. And I can make you something else. It's not a big deal. Even if you aren't having what everyone else is having, you still have a spot at the family dinner!" Patton smiled softly at him. "Because you want to help Thomas, too, even if sometimes it's hard to see."

Deceit's eyes pricked with tears. Was Patton serious? Was he really allowed to come to the family dinner and have food that he liked, even if no one else had it? "You mean that?" Deceit asked, voice thick.

"Yeah, I mean it," Patton said softly. "Do you have a list of foods you like or foods you don't like? I'll make you stuff from that list only when it's time for family dinners, and depending on what you like if I ask you to try something new at other times, we can add to that list. Sound good?"

Deceit nodded. That sounded amazing.

Patton grinned at him and gently coaxed him into talking about what foods he liked and what foods he didn't. And next week, his heart warmed up when he saw that everyone had plates full of breaded chicken breast, except for one spot, which had mac and cheese, his favorite food of all time. He sat down in front of the bowl of mac and cheese, and as everyone tucked into the food, Deceit was infinitely glad that he was considered part of this family...after such a long time of being rejected, he was part of the group again.

Taglist: @scorching-scotch @sidespromptblog @loganpatton @lilbeanblr @kittyboof8 @irish-newzealand-idian-dutch @sanders-trash-4ever @hamilspntrash @swords-and-kittens @phantomfander @narniasfinestavengingsociopath

[hoodedsuns]

Aftertaste of Cherry | Ten

Genre: Street Racer!AU, Fluff & a hint of Angst

Summary: Ten wasn’t one to go on late night adventures. He wasn’t really a risk taker and would much rather prefer being curled up in bed watching a movie. And yet he still somehow manages to end up at a very illegal street race, where he met you.   

Word Count: 2.1K

“Tell me again why you dragged me all the way here in the middle of the night?” Ten couldn’t help but huff out as he glared grumpily at a way too cheery Johnny, eyebrows raised as he silently questioned whether or not his precious free time was worth being sacrificed for whatever spontaneous adventure his roomate had once again decided to drag him into. Ten had been lounging on the couch in his faded black hoodie, mindlessly scrolling through instagram while waiting for his cup noodle to finish cooking so that he could officially start his netflix binge, when Johnny suddenly busted in through the front door with a smile that Ten had learned to associate with less than pleasant ideas.   

“Don’t be such a downer, you need some excitement in your life once in awhile!” Ten sneered at the implications behind Johnny’s words, hands wrapping themselves around Johnny’s neck as he faked strangling him, trying hard to suppress his amused grin when the older boy dramatically chocked before “passing out” by crumbling to the floor. Admittedly, he does spend most of his time in the dance room, but it wasn’t as though he was purposely cooping himself up in there. He just couldn’t help but accidently lose track of time and all sense of reality. “No but seriously, what are we here for?” The once miniscule bubble of anxiety that resided in Ten’s heart couldn’t help but expand and burst as the words “street racing” left Johnny’s mischievously quirked lips. 

Ten’s eyes darted around his surroundings, only now noticing the crowds of rather sketchy looking people who were dressed in all black, each of them easily blending into the darkness of the barely lit industrial road, the only real indicator of a human’s presence being the bitter smoke that would occasionally escape someone’s parted lips. He unconsciously wrinkled his nose in disdain at the thought of breathing in all that second-hand smoke that filled the air before he turned back to Johnny, hands gesturing around panickedly. “Isn’t this illegal?” It was a rhetorical question that Ten already knew the answer to but he still couldn’t help but ask, holding onto the futile hope that maybe whoever was in-charge of this race really did have the permission to legally use this scrappy looking place that they were currently standing in. In the event that the cops choose to visit on this very night, Ten knew that there was no way that he would be swift enough to escape the jaws of the law considering that this was their first time here which meant that they weren’t really familiar with this place, and Ten really wasn’t keen on having to explain to his parents why he was here in the dead of the night instead of being back in his dorm studying. Granted, he wouldn’t be studying right now even if he was back in bed but he’s confident they’d agree that it was a significantly better option than whatever was going on here.

“Don’t worry too much about it, what are the odds that the police will come,” Johnny attempted giving Ten a comforting smile but judging from how the latter was fiddling with the drawstrings of his hoodie anxiously, it was safe to say that he didn’t feel very comforted. “Look, I’m only here because my friend knows one of the racers and I just couldn’t turn down his invitation so since we’re already here just try to relax and have some fun tonight alright?”

Questions about this mysterious friend and his potentially dangerous racer friend immediately replaced Ten’s thoughts of murdering Johnny for being so nonchalant about this whole situation but before he could get any of them out, the sudden cheers and whistles of the people around him had caused him to lose his train of thought as he instinctively turned his head to where everyone else was facing. And that’s when he saw you in all your skin tight leather glory, a wild sort of beauty that he hadn’t ever experienced before. You stepped out of an expensive looking midnight blue car along with a purple haired male, rolling the stick of a pink coloured lollipop between your fingers before popping it into your mouth. You both sized up the crowd for a moment before the male’s eyes locked onto the tall giant that he was looking for, completely destroying any assumptions that Ten had about his personality as he bounded over to Johnny like an excited puppy with you trailing not far behind.

“You really came!” Johnny couldn’t help but chuckle as Yuta grinned at him, arms curling around Johnny’s figure in a hug as he gave him a firm pat on his back. “Oh, who is this next to you?” Ten’s brain had registered the fact that Yuta was referring to him and although he was already mentally reciting his introduction, the physical him didn’t respond, nor did he make any attempts to face him. He was staring at you unabashedly, eyes unable to leave your figure. It was as though you had caught him in a trance.

“This is Ten, hope you don’t mind that I brought him along, he really needed a change of scenery.” Ten finally snapped out of his stupor when Johnny placed a hand on his shoulder while simultaneously pushing him closer to Yuta. Ten stuck his hands out to initiate a handshake but to his surprise, Yuta stuck his fist out instead in order to fistbump him. Everything happened so quickly yet also in slow motion. With Ten still being slightly out of it, he didn’t have enough time to process the situation which led to him just awkwardly patting Yuta’s fist, causing you to burst out laughing in amusement. 

“Ah I haven’t introduced her yet, she’s one of the racers,” you took a step closer to the group wiggling your fingers in a cheeky wave. “You can just call her The Lion since that’s what everyone here-” with a rather loud slap to his back, you smiled in satisfaction as Yuta finally got the hint to stop talking about your embarrassing title in front of his really attractive friends before you do something worse. “Ignore that last part, its just some dumb nickname that the regulars here came up with and they refuse to stop calling me that no matter how many times I’ve told them not to,” you groaned while removing your lollipop from your mouth with a small pop. 

Despite that nickname sounding like something that would circulate around an elementary school full of toddlers instead of an illegal street race full of adults, Ten couldn’t help but agree with how well that nickname fitted you as you had an undeniably feral aura about you. Maybe it was the confident way you carried yourself, or the way your unruly hair framed your face, or maybe it was the way you observed everyone with the sharp eyes of a carnivore. When you had first made eye contact with him after stepping out of your car, he couldn’t help but feel a shiver run down his spine as he felt your eyes rake up and down his body with a lazy smirk. He felt like a vulnerable prey cowering under the gaze of an unpredictable predator.  

“You don’t look too happy to be here, what’s up?” You shifted yourself to stand next to Ten, the both of you having been abandoned by your friends right after your introductions as the pair immediately ran off to who knows where, lead by a hyper Yuta who probably just couldn’t wait to show Johnny some secret hideout he found. “Not much, just a little mad that Johnny kidnapped me here only to leave me for his friend without hesitation.” Chuckling at his usage of words, you hummed in thought to yourself as you silently looked him over properly. He was really cute.

“What did your friend mean by you needing a change of scenery, you having an argument with your girlfriend or something?” Ten shook his head with a small smile, arms rubbing away the goosebumps that had risen on his skin from a particularly chilly breeze and from the way your piercing eyes seemed to be analysing his every move. “The only thing I’m in a committed relationship with is dance.” Ten could’ve sworn that he saw your smirk grow into a smile at his reply but chalked it up to his habit of overthinking things. “Maybe I would have a girlfriend if I wasn’t so boring.” Widening his eyes at his own stupidity, Ten chuckled uneasily, not having meant to let his self deprecating thoughts be exposed to a stranger he had just met.

Sure, people complimented him on his dancing all the time, some even going as far as to call him a genius at it. But outside of dance, Ten wasn’t exactly the most interesting person. He didn’t go to parties, didn’t flirt with anyone, didn’t get up to any mildly illegal antics (until now) that young adults should be experiencing before they are fully shackled down by society. If you had asked the rather tiny group of people who knew of his existence for one word to describe him, chances were that most of the answers would be words like ‘dull, average, normal’, or any other synonyms for the word ‘uninteresting’ that they could think of.

“I think it’s pretty cool that you do what you want to do, even if it might be considered boring in someone else’s eyes.” Now that was a first. People usually told him that he needed to change into someone more exciting and that he needed to get out more. “You live your life for yourself so I don’t see any problems with doing what you enjoy doing. Afterall, if you enjoyed your time, it means that it was time well spent.”  

“Thank you…that means more to me than you can imagine.” You nodded your head at him with a genuine smile plastered on your lips and for a second, Ten swore that you looked like an angel. Honestly, it was a breath of fresh air to have someone tell him that being boring was okay, that he didn’t need to feel guilty for it.

“Hey what flavour is your lollipop?” You crunched on the hard candy with your teeth, breaking it off the white plastic stick that it was once stuck on, rolling the sweet shards around your mouth with your tongue.

“Why don’t you taste it for yourself.” Was the last thing that Ten’s brain processed before he felt your lips moving against his, slowly prying his lips open with your tongue and pushing bits of the broken lollipop into his mouth, the sugary taste of artificial cherry invading his sense of taste. Although his thoughts were having a hard time catching up to what was happening, his body had no problems with moving as he wrapped his arms around your waist, pulling you closer to him. He felt his heart speed up as the familiar feeling of butterflies that always went wild in his stomach before a performance chose to visit him once again but instead of feeling like vomiting out whatever he had for the day, it was an empowering sort of feeling, it felt like he was on the top of the world.

“The race is starting soon, stop sucking on your boy’s face and get your ass over here!” You groaned in disappointment as you pulled away from Ten, turning around to face the brazen-faced announcer who was smirking knowingly at the two of you. 

Ten felt his heart slowly sink as you started heading towards your car without a single goodbye or mention of your previous actions. Not to mention that he was starting to feel really self conscious under the scrutinizing gaze of the people around him who were curious as to who you had been with. Mentally cursing himself for getting his hopes up and for thinking that someone like you would be interested in someone like him, Ten looked around the parking lot for Johnny, desperately wanting to go home so that he could wallow in his disappointment in the privacy of his dorm room. That was until, you shouted to him from across the parking lot. 

“Hey! If I win this race it means you owe me a date alright?” Ten already knew that if Johnny was watching the exchange from some hidden spot, he was going to tease him for how quickly he transitioned from looking like a kicked puppy to a child in a candy store, but Ten couldn’t stop himself from nodding enthusiastically at you. He was confident that you were going to win, and you did, and he was once again left with the sweet aftertaste of cherry.