#i drew these wallys right after each other. back to back.

[carnivalcarriondiscarded]

thinking about puppet!Home. also thinking about that tidbit saying that Wally had to learn how to be gentle first as to not break things. combining both for maximum effect

[blissfulxsins]

Little things-Wally Clark

You and Wally were smitten with each other. It didn't help that your boyfriend embodied golden retriever energy at all times. His bubbly personality was what initially drew you in.

Wally's love language was entirely physical touch so it was no surprise that you could find each other constantly seeking out the other's touch.

It was a pretty typical thing to find you two cuddled up on the sofa, much to everyone's dismay. Wally ran his fingers across your hair as you rested your head on his shoulder and fiddled with his necklace nervously as you often did in times of uncertainty. The discovery that Maddie could speak to someone from the living realm had really rocked you. Millions of questions raced through your mind as your fingers clutched at the cool gold chain as you soaked in the comfort and safety wally offered.

"Hm?" Wally hummed with his eyes closed as he rested his head atop yours.

"What?" You swallowed quietly, avoiding his questioning glance. He could always tell when you needed his attention the most.

"You're fidgeting, what are you thinking about." He asked before pressing a reassuring kiss to your temple. A quiet sigh left your lips as you relaxed slightly in his arms before replying.

"If maddie can talk to the living-I just thought about-" She said quietly thinking about her family, a really sensitive subject as her family had returned to the school every year on the anniversary of her death, 25 years she had watched her parents weep in each other's embrace as they mourned the loss of their daughter. She watched as the wrinkles appeared and the gray hair grew, all the while she was trapped eternally at 17.

You were lucky to have Wally, you never felt more comfortable than you did when you were laying against his chest messing with that god damn gold chain that you had become obsessed with.

"No matter what happens, i've got you, you know that right?" He asked as he lifted your chin slightly with his fingers so that your eyes met his. Your fingers dropped the cool change as you melted into his embrace and your lips pressed against his.

"I think I would love you in any life." You said after you pulled away, your forehead resting against his

"I'll settle for this one for now." He winked before dipping his head back down.

credit to the lovely @pssyinboots who posted about playing with wally's chain and i rannnn with it so i hope this isn't terrible!

[fnaffersblog]

(For the sun and moon ask post thing if you’re still doing it.) Numbers: 2, 6, 10, 24, 32.

I am!! Thank you!

2. Who is your most hated character?

There aren't any character I really hate on the show! The story progression of every character interests me, and how they interact with each other, and I really do love each and every one of them. All the funky secondary characters, all the AU characters, even the ones we only get mentions of or hear in the backgrounds of episodes, like Nice Eclipses Sun and Moon bring their own theories and discussions with them. Even characters I'm impartial to I don't really hate? I'm just more like 'eh' when they show up at best and cringing at worst.

As I have to pick one, however, Lord Monty or the Garbage Can Guy. Didn't really care for them, and nothing in recent episodes has pulled my interest for them.

6. Who is your least favorite villian?

Hatsune Miku! :D Drop kicking her into space.

Bloodmoon.

10. Who is your least favorite AU character?

Do the Rainbow Friends count as AU characters? I'm never all that interested in crossover episodes with different franchises, so any of those characters (AKA The Rainbow Friends, Wally Darling, ect.)

Otherwise, Lord Monty.

24. What is your all time favorite episode?

What if I said skibidi toilI'm very partial to the 'Minecraft But THE UGLIEST TEXTURE PACK with SUN and MOON'. I go back and watch that episode often, probably the only one I've purposefully pulled up to watch multiple times. It's just a fun, cute episode.

I also really like the one chunk Minecraft challenge episodes, for the same reason.

32. What is your most favorite plot-focused "in VR-CHAT" episode?

OOOOOOOOOOF. This is such a hard quessstion. Nearly half the episodes on the channel are VR-CHAT episodes and very few of those are not plot-focused/lore episodes. (465 vids, 188 VRCHAT Eps) And since all the lore episodes are connected, picking just one from a set of episodes is REALLY difficult for me, because I tend to look at groups of episodes as a whole, rather than individually.

You've got the interview and the episode right after in the bunker. I'm a bit nostalgic for those, the animations and animatics of those two episodes folks did is what drew me to the show.

You've got Eclipse showing up to infect Moon and the introduction of Lunar.

October. Just... All of October.

The Death of Eclipse, Sun and Moon's Secret Sister, Bloodmoon is Shut Down, The Trapping Episode, How Sun Met Moon, Killcode and Moon's Final Conversation, Moon's DEATH, LUNAR'S DEATH, Moon's return, Sun and Moon's New Enemy, Original Moon Returns, Eclipse is Dying, Earth Confronts Eclipse. Over 100 episodes to choose from, there are SO many good ones, and we're still fuckin going!

If I had to narrow it down to one that I personally like, Just One, I think I'd go with 'Sun LEARNS MAGIC!? in VRCHAT'.

It's... I'm always a sucker for the 'person pushed over the edge gains incredible powers because of their emotions' trope. That alone made the episode sing for me. I'm pretty sure I whooped in real life when Sun broke out of that cage.

Alongside that, it's the first appearance of hallucination Bloodmoon. It's the follow up to 'Sun is TRAPPED by Moon in VRCHAT' which is another beast of an episode that I like for different reasons. It's retroactively the beginning of the end for Old Moon, the episode where he makes the decision to follow Eclipses plan to go in and eradicate Killcode for good. The last time Eclipse and Old Moon spoke to one another, their final interaction before the reset. I personally love the interactions between Old Moon and Eclipse in this episode, it feels like they're playing chess with each other. "Energy Spike Detected!" Sun's reaction to seeing 'Bloodmoon'. "I SAW it. You... You DISENTEGRATED. Into ash! Atoms."

"SHUT UP!"

It felt like a turning point in the show. It set up SO many plot points, some of which are still being delved into and going back and watching it again after all this time and noticing the little details, like the way Eclipse says goodbye to Old Moon, or the way Sun tries and assure himself that 'Bloodmoon' isn't real. It's...

It's a really good episode.

[creepyalienghost]

Christmas Prank War

Merry Christmas everyone!

———

Wally franks wasn’t the only prankster that worked in Joey Drew studios. Heidi and Porter were two of others in the many pranksters there at that studio. Although many wouldn’t expect Porter to have been one. He was always quit and acting in a more serious way. Heidi on the other hand was the totally opposite. She was loud and fun and extra. She never confirmed to the fashion and wear clothes her way and she never let any man speak down to her. Which is why Porter fell in love with her and she loved him.

It had started a few years ago when Porter saw Wally prank her and decided to help her prank him back. After that he came to love pranks would always do them with her. Which is why this December was a dream of theirs. Joey had stated it was prank war month. He would allow any and all pranks around the studio unless it cost him money. Heidi and porter glances at each other. He saw her eyes light up in a mischievous way. This would be fun.

After getting together and discussing ideas together for a while,they have decided to do a Christmas themed prank for their first one. “Hopefully they others won’t have the same idea.” Porter said.

Heidi thought a bit. “I think it would be far enough for us to do it first.” She replied with a wink. “But we can also sit a trap with it. Maybe with a bit of confetti as well!”

Porter smiles at her. “I love the way you think Heidi” he replied.

“Aww thank you hun!” She kisses him on the cheek. “Alright we let’s right what we will need for the prank.” She grabs a pen and starts listening the things. “Mistletoe is the main thing we will need.” She spoke as she wrote. Porter nodded watching her write. “String as well. And then confetti.” She said.

“Don’t forget about the tape, Heidi” Porter listed.

She gasp and pointed her pen at him with a wide smile. “Tape! I almost forgot that.” She replied and listened it. “Thank you.” She glances at him, her cheeks going a soft pink. “I think that’s all we need?”

“Great! We can retrieve the supplies tonight.” He said.

“It’s a date” Heidi replied and giggled at his now red face. “I’ll see you tonight hun.” She kissed his cheek once again before leaving.

“I- uhh i..yea.” He said stuttering over his words. “I’ll see you tonight.”

——-

The next morning they both drove to the studio a little bit earlier to set up their trap. Along the way, they were trying to decide on the location of where it should go. “I think it should be the door going into the music department.”Porter offered.

Heidi thought this open and nodded. “You right! The music department is the most active department! So many people go in and out. Good idea Porter!” He smiled at him.

Once they arrived they hurried to the music department and made sure it was all clear before getting to work. “Alright here put the confetti on top. I’ll do the string trap.” She handed him the mistletoe and confetti.

“Sounds like a plan.” He replied getting to work before someone sees them and ruin the prank. He carefully pours one of the many confetti packs as she starts to hum. Porter has said before that she should’ve been in the music department, singing. She had such a lovely voice for music however she told him drawing was her passion and how she grew up with it and around it. She also amazing at drawing to. She once showed him her sketches and he realized how much drawing was to her. She was amazing at it and deserved to have the world see her art.

It wasn’t long before they finished the trap for the first unsuspecting couple. Now all that was to do was to wait for people to arrived here. They waited by going next door for some breakfast so they don’t look so suspicious to the others. After getting her coffee and bagel she sat with Porter. “Hey who’s the one couple you wanna see the most get pranked?”

Porter chuckled and took a bite as he thought. “Hmm. Maybe Wally and Tom. How about you?”

She smiles widely. “I wanna see Allison and Susie.”

Porters eyes widen. “Don’t they despise each other?”

Heidi shakes her hand no. “I don’t believe they actually do. Well maybe at first but I seen the way they look at each other. They definitely like each other.”

Porter shakes his hand, laughing. “ studio drama!”

After half an hour flew by, they headed back the studio. By this time the studio was starting to get busy. Sammy Lawrence was key now unlocking his office, Wally Franks was starting his rounds and many others were already working or just arriving. Porter looked over to Heidi with a smirk. “Ready?

She smirked back. “ oh yeah!”

They both got in a hidden corner and grabbed hold of the string, ready. The first couple couple was Sammy and Jack. Heidi laughed at how red their faces had become. Sammy crosses his arms, being his stubborn self but eventually kissed Jack. Rules are rules after all. After resetting the trap they got Wally and Susie. Wally was so shy while Susie thought it was cute and gave him a kiss on the cheek. Heidi almost died of cuteness. On there brake later on they had caught both Norman and Tom by surprise. Never of them wanting to kiss the other but did once those around chanted. “Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!”

The two both had a blast of their first day at the prank war and couldn’t wait for more to come. Heidi was already thinking of new pranks.

———

It was getting closer tours the holidays which means the nights we’re getting longer and the weather getting colder. Good time for some hot chocolate. But Porter also gotten an idea for park or his beloved Heidi.

With a wide grin he finished the real drinks and then sit up the trap. He started with filling water in an empty mug and quickly sitting it upside down with a piece of paper, sliding it out afterwards. Next her covered the top of it, which was really the bottom of the cup, with whipped cream and topped that off with some chocolate chips. Once he was finished he text Heidi phone and hides her real drink.

After a good minute she runs in and hugs him. “Hey Porter! Thank you for making me one.”

Porter chuckled and wraps his arms around her for a hug. “You are welcome my dear.” He kisses her head. “Hope you enjoy it.”

“Oh I well.” She replied heading to the drink. “You know i love some good hot drinks.” He picked up the mug and jumped out of the way of the water quickly then glanced at Porter who was now laughing. “Ohhhh I see how it is, hun.” She giggled.

Porter got her real drink and handed it to her as he still couldn’t stop laughing. “Here’s your drink.” He replied in the middle of his giggle. “I’m so sorry.”

Heidi sips it and raises it up a little. “Delicious love. Thank you so much.” She giggles as well then gets a smirk on her face. “ Consider yourself my next target.”

Porter stops laughing and stares at her. “W-what?…”

Heidi didn’t say anything else to him. She just winked at him with her smirked and left the break room.

“Oh …oh no…” Porter chuckled nervously. Who knows what she’s going to prank him with and when will it be. Nothing would be safe.

———

Christmas Day was here and Joey had given them all a few days off to enjoy the holidays. But the prank war wasn’t over. Heidi still has been thinking of ways to get back at Porter. And she finally got an idea.

It was early in the morning, The house was warm and the Christmas lights were twinkling and she was hiding all of his presents and then only placed one down and waited for him to arrived.

He came at around 10 in the morning and hugged her right as she opened the door. “Merry Christmas!” She said first followed by a kiss. “Please come in. I made us breakfast and coffee.”

“Merry Christmas!” Porter replied back, stepping inside her home. It was cozy and colorful. Art lined the orange walls, call little statues of figures were on her selves next to her books on art, paint and fantasy books and that wasn’t the Christmas items. Her lights were the multicolored lights instead of the white lights most people used. her tree was blue instead of green. And she made her own ornaments which was impressive.

After breakfast they two sat on the couch with Heidi a holding sliver Christmas gift with a beautiful light blue bow on It. His gift was the traditional green package with a red bow tied in the center. “Here’s your gift hun. Open it first.” Heidi smiled and handed it to him.

“Aww. Thank you.” He took the gift and began tearing through the paper. opening the box he stopped confused. There was a few lumps of black rocks in it. Coal.

“Pranked you!” She giggled and grabbing another gifted under the couch. “This is your real one.” She handed it him.

He chuckled, taking the gift. “Good one! I totally forgot I was on the list.” He replied and opened his real gift. Once he saw it he smiled widely. In it was two tickets to a band he recently had gotten into. “Oh Heidi. This were expensive! You shouldn’t have!”

Heidi came and sat next to him. “Don’t worry about the money hun. You and whoever you take deserves to have a fun night out.” She smiled and kisses his cheeks. “And it doesn’t have to be me ether.”

“Oh it just might dear.” He replied then kissed her deeply on the lips. “Merry Christmas Heidi.”

“Merry Christmas to you hun!”

[ragingbookdragon]

The Brother's Keeper

A Dick Grayson and Batsis One-Shot

Word Count: 2.7K Warnings: Explicit Language, Angst, References to Past Abuse

Author's Note: Another story edited and re-posted! Enjoy! -Thorne

Despite having not lived at the manor for almost a decade, she still knew every hallway and room like the back of her hand, every sound was a familiar net of reassurance she could count on. The hum of the hidden wall closing behind her, the creaking of the third step from the top that they always avoided, the clicking the bats above made. She descended the steps into the cave, balancing the heavy manila files in one hand, the other holding two protein shakes, knowing her father probably hadn’t consumed nutrition in at least a few hours since he called her.

Her eyes fell on him where he sat at the Batcomputer; he’d changed out of his suit and was in a pair of joggers and a long sleeve shirt. She walked over, setting the files down beside the keyboard. “Here’s the files you asked about, dad. I alphabetized them too…and color tabbed ‘em but that’s not important.”

He glanced at her with a warm smile before nodding and turning back to the screen. “Thank you, sweetheart. I appreciate you doing so.”

She leaned an arm on the back of the chair, propping her chin on his shoulder as she stared at the screen. “New antidote for Scarecrow’s toxin?”

“He’s synthesized a new formula, so I need to make a new antidote in case anyone gets gassed,” he replied, tapping at the screen until the numbers were apparently in approval with whatever he was thinking about—who knew.

She hummed, taking note of the lack of noise. “Where’re the chuckle-heads?”

He chuckled and tipped his head towards the locker room. “They put their suits away and went to change.” She nodded again and patted his shoulder before walking off in the direction of the room.

When she got there, she didn’t see them, but she could hear them harking on one another in the locker room, and she moved in that direction. She stepped into the room and took in the image of the four of her brothers standing in front of the mirrors in their underwear, pointing at each other like they were shocked to see the other.

“Do I even want to know?” she asked, unblinkingly.

Their heads shot up and they saw her; Dick greeted, “(Y/N)! What are you doing here? You usually don’t come to the manor.”

(Y/N) shrugged and stepped inside, taking a seat on one of the cool metal benches. “Dad needed some files over a few previous encounters I’ve had with galactic enemies. And me being here brings me back to my original question.” She gestured to them with a wave of a hand, brows furrowed in confusion. “Why are you guys in your tighty-whities?”

They snorted, and Jason turned around. “We’re comparing scars.”

(Y/N) let out a ‘pfft’. “Of course, you are.” She paused for a second and observed them. “Who’s got the gnarliest one?” Immediately, they pointed at Damian who simply motioned to his chest, and she looked at the faded scar that rested over his heart.

A frown instantly drew her lips, and Damian, being ever so vigilant, caught it and shook his head. “It wasn’t your fault, sister. You tried to save me.”

She met his eyes and murmured, “I didn’t try hard enough.” She glanced at Jason, seeing the scars line his chest, her voice just as soft. “For either of you.”

Jason’s lips pulled downwards, and he walked over, sitting on the bench beside her. “The fact that you tried is good enough for us, Queenie.” He reached out, patting her head.

She sighed and shook it off, giving them a smile before she turned to Tim. “Any on you Nerd-bird?”

He grinned and turned around, running his hand along a scar that rested along the left side of his ribs. “When I fought Ra’s, he got me right here.”

(Y/N) looked at it, then leaned back, a curious look in her eye. “Other than dad, aren’t you the only person he’s called ‘detective’?” Tim gave her a firm nod and she pulled a grin, nodding at him. “Look at the Nerd-bird kicking all our asses in the game. I’m proud of you.” He gave her a sheepish smile and she turned to Dick. “We’ve all had brushes with death, but I don’t think you have a lot of noticeable ones. Which is surprising because out of all of us, you’re the most reckless.”

The others laughed while Dick glared at her, then he shrugged and showed his back, and they saw faint white lines that resembled lightning strikes. “When Wally came back out of the speed force, he accidentally shocked me. Of course, it wasn’t enough to damage me severely, but it’s here.”

They looked at him once more, then Tim tipped his head to the side. “What about you, sis? You’ve been doing this longer than we have. Do you have any good ones?” (Y/N) looked at him before pulling off her jacket and pulling off the tank top she had on. She stood up, walking to the mirror and staring into it.

She pointed to one that lined across her left breast. “Even covered by my bra, you can see how badly this one was.” She paused running a hand down it, gaze far. “When Jason died, I got into it with Joker some time after.” (Y/N)’s eyes drifted to Jason’s, who’s were wide with shock. “I beat him worse than dad did, but he left me with this one before I did.”

“I…didn’t know you did that, Queenie.”

“Of course not Jason. I didn’t tell you.” (Y/N) pointed to a patch that rested on her right hip. “Took a bullet for Tim a few years ago.”

“That was when Deadshot was running around, right?”

She nodded, answering his question. “Mhm. They say he never misses. But that day, he did.” Her hand moved and she touched a curved scar that ran down her neck. “After you died, Damian, I found Talia and we had it out.”

“What happened?” he questioned curiously.

(Y/N) met his eyes in the mirror and frowned. “She and I gave each other a fair share of wounds…but I think the ones I gave her hurt more than the ones she gave me.”

“And those were?”

(Y/N) looked back at her reflection and stared at herself. “The infuriated words of a grieving sister.”

Silence enveloped the room and after a few moments, Dick pointed to a particular scar on her back that ran down the length of it. “How in the world did you get that one?”

She looked over her shoulder and reached behind her, fingers brushing over the raised, jagged skin that had sealed unevenly. “On my back?”

Dick snorted and nodded. “The only one on your back sis.”

She went silent for a moment then she admitted, “…Tarantula gave it to me a few years ago.”

No one noticed the way Dick froze for a split second at her admittance, and Jason asked, “Why did you and Tarantula get into it?”

Her eyes met Dick’s for a flash before she looked at Jason. “She killed an informant of mine and I got even with her.”

“Looks like she rocked your shit, Queenie.”

The others laughed, save for her and Dick, then (Y/N) muttered darkly, “I beat Catalina Flores within an inch of her life that night.” Her statement brought their laughter to a grinding halt, and she continued. “Hell, I almost killed her. But I didn’t.”

Damian crossed his arms, raising an eyebrow. “And why not? It would not be the first time you’ve killed someone.”

(Y/N) rolled her shoulders and moved back to her clothes, pulling on the tank top and jacket before turning to him. “Because then she would’ve gotten of scot free, and she wouldn’t have to live knowing what she’s done.”

Jason’s eyebrows furrowed and he followed Damian, crossing his arms and leaning against the lockers. “Not to be nosey, but the way you’re talking about her almost seems like you’ve got a vendetta against her. And I mean like, me to Bruce vendetta.”

(Y/N) met his gaze before reaching down and tossing his muscle tank to him, then passing the others their shirts. “The informant she killed was a good friend of mine. There was…a lot of fury.” She paused, meeting Dick’s gaze once more. “There still is.”

The others simply stared at her before pulling on their shirts, and she looked at them. “I’m gonna get dad to go out and eat somewhere with me. You guys go on out and start working on him, would you?” The three nodded and started towards the door, (Y/N) following.

She was almost out of the door when Dick’s voice reached her quietly. “…(Y/N)?” She paused, turning around, and looking at Dick, who wore an unreadable expression; he glanced up at her, his eyes searching as he inquired, “Was there another reason that you two fought?”

“Me and Catalina?” He nodded and she shrugged. “There might’ve been. But the immediate fight was about my informant.”

Dick stared at her for a few moments before whispering, “…You didn’t start your informant network until I donned Batman.”

(Y/N) tipped her head back and leaned against the door frame, eyes narrowed as she mentally picked his words apart as only an older sister could. “What are you getting at, kid brother?”

He fell silent all at once, but when he finally found it in himself to bring his eyes to hers, she saw such pain in them. “Did you fight her…because of me?”

“No,” she immediately replied, firmly and confidently.

Dick’s eyes widened momentarily, but he looked down and nodded. “I see.”

She kept staring at him, then cleared her throat and turned, grabbing the doorknob. She pulled the door open and stopped, murmuring, “Dick.” He glanced up at her, but she faced forward and said, “I don’t know what happened to you in Blüdhaven all those years ago, and frankly, it’s none of my business.”

Dick’s heart sunk at her words, but then she looked over her shoulder, a solemn tone matching her stance and gaze as she affirmed, “But I am your sister…and I run the best damn informant network this side of the galaxy.” She paused, her words taking on an underlying tone. “There isn’t anything that happens in Gotham and our sister city that I don’t know about.”

Something passed between their eyes and she declared, “I am the family keeper. And I will always be the safety net that catches everyone when they’re in their darkest hours. When there’s something you can’t handle, I will for you.”

Her words made his eyes shine with unshed tears and she gave him a faint smile and a wink before she stepped out of the locker room, leaving him sitting alone, his thoughts drifting back to the rooftop in Blüdhaven.

***

She walked across the floor of the cave to see her father standing there, Jason and Tim hanging off his arms and Damian around his neck; he wore the expression of a tired dad and she couldn’t help but laugh at him. “Having fun, dad?”

He shifted slowly as to not knock one of her brothers off and glared at her. “This is your fault.”

“Guilty as charged father dearest! But it’s food time! Let’s get street tacos.”

Jason grunted at her and shook his head. “No, let’s get gyros!”

“Gyros are disgusting, Jason.”

His features contorted in something only described as an insulted disbelief and he declared, “Just because you don’t like limes and lemons, does not mean gyros are gross, (Y/N).”

“We’re not getting gyros, Jason,” she shot back.

“What about Chinese food?”

(Y/N) looked at Damian and nodded. “I’m down for tacos or Chinese.”

“Can we stop and get some shawarma?”

“Tim, which part of tacos or Chinese sounded like shawarma to you? It’s one or the other. Take your pick.”

“But last night was pizza night! And if I eat Chinese or tacos, I’m going to eat more carbs than I need!”

“You do need more carbs, twig-boy.”

“That was mean, sis.”

“Truthful. I mean how have you not been snapped in half yet? You look like a toothpick.”

The others laughed at her comments, and Bruce looked at her. “Where’s Dick?”

(Y/N) tipped her head back to the lockers. “Still changing.” She motioned to the stairs. “You guys go ahead. I’ll wait on Dickie.” They nodded, and she watched her father trudge past with her three brothers hanging off him.

A smile crossed her lips and a few minutes later, she heard footsteps behind her. “Where’d everybody go?”

She turned around and nodded to the stairs. “Told them to go ahead and get ready.” (Y/N) had barely made it up the first ten steps when she felt Dick stop beside her, and she glanced back at him. “Dick? You good?”

He gazed up at her. “Thank you, (Y/N).”

She gave him a knowing look and said, “I didn’t do anything, Dick.”

“You did.”

“Agree to disagree.” They stared at each other for a second then she tipped her head to the stairs. “Let’s go get some food, kid brother.”

He nodded and started climbing the steps beside her. “I don’t tell you enough, sis…but I love you.”

(Y/N) rolled her eyes and mumbled, “God, you are so sentimental.”

“It’s one of my perks.”

“More like a curse…but yeah…it is.” She paused and he stopped beside her, and she reached over, wrapping her arms around his waist. “I love you too, little brother.” His arms wound around her, and they shared a moment before she patted his back. “Alright. Let go. I’m done being overly affectionate.”

He laughed, letting her go and she walked up ahead of him. He kept his eyes trained to her back, and he remembered something she once told him.

The two of them walked silently down the twisting and turning garden path, following the little white concrete plates that made the trail. Dick looked up from his hands, calling out to the older girl in front of him. “(Y/N)?”

She hummed in response but didn’t look at him. “What is it, Dickie?”

“Why won’t you let me walk beside you?”

(Y/N) glanced over her shoulder. “Because I’m protecting you.”

His head tipped to the side and he stopped walking. “But were at the manor?”

“And something could always happen. I’m in the front, so that if something comes, I can protect you while you run.” She turned around and looked at him. “One day you’ll be old enough to walk beside me instead of behind me.”

Dick’s eyes widened and he jumped excitedly. “When! When do I get to walk beside you instead of behind!”

(Y/N) giggled at her little brother and reached out, holding his shoulders to stop him from jumping up and down. “When you don’t need me to protect you anymore…you can walk beside me.”

“When will that be?”

(Y/N) pulled her hands away and spun back around, continuing her walk. “When it happens…you’ll know.” It was all the answer she gave the young boy, but he continued following her, still behind.

Dick blinked, the memory flashing away as fast as it had come, and he saw her back once more; he called out to her. “When do I get to walk beside you instead of behind?”

(Y/N) halted, mid-step and she glanced over her shoulder, a faint smile playing her lips as she replied, “When you don’t need me to protect you anymore, you can walk beside me.”

“And when will that be?”

She huffed a laugh chuckled at him before she turned back around, though she paused just as she was about to cross the threshold and peered back at him. “Don’t you already know the answer to that?”

“I’m not sure I’ll ever know the answer to that one, sis.”

(Y/N) shrugged and turned back around, declaring, “Then I guess you still need me to protect you.”

Dick watched her disappear into the manor, listening as she got into the argument that her brothers were bickering about with each other, and he smiled faintly. “Yeah…I guess I still do.”

[inkdemonapologist]

THEYRE GETTING ALONG GREAT,

[BatIM Call of Cthulhu Masterpost]

Sammy and Prophet have both been trying to, uh, compromise and collaborate with each other more during this latest threat, via written notes and messages passed through the others, but they still definitely have vERY DIFFERENT IDEAS on how to help, and Prophet’s “HAVE YOU CONSIDERED: USING THE INK MACHINE AS A STARPOOL AND TOSSING YOURSELF IN” advice came in right after Sammy’d taken enough sanity hits to start developing a really intense fear of being transformed into something inhuman, so obviously that went over very well

Anyway they can’t actually directly talk to each other like this but this is, BASICALLY WHAT HAPPENED,

Additional out-of-context quotes from session 8 under the cut:

[Sammy is played by me, Joey is played by Boo (inkyvendingmachine), Henry is played by Maf (inkcryptid), Jack is played by Mochi (whatyouwantedmetosee) and Thren (haunted-hijinxer) is our GM!]

[Sammy] And Joey... made a scene– [GM] He Sure Did.

[Sammy] And then Henry would just, go back home! Because unlike the rest of us he has a family. [Joey] Joey has a family! That’s the studio. [Sammy] *deadpan* That’s true, what was I thinking.

[GM] Ohhh, so he’s doing the dream thing. [Joey] Yeah, I’m assuming he manages sleep using that. [GM] Magic-induced sleep, that’s fine! [Joey] Now he just needs magic-induced eating! [Sammy] I can’t believe (except I can) that Joey is piggy-backing off of Sammy making it to sleep, in order to sleep.

[GM] I hadn’t considered before, but it seems very correct, that if Joey uses a bunch of magic in the studio he might have to stay there if he doesn’t want some kind of, physical backlash. [Jack] Tries to leave the studio and just, passes out, [Sammy] INCREDIBLE?? [Joey] I can’t believe we’ve just justified Joey’s fears. [GM] I mean if he doesn’t use up ALL his magic points, he’s fine! [Jack] sO WHEN HE INEVITABLY DOES THIS,, [GM] Yes, this is an unrealistic expectation for Joey Drew.

*Joey and Sammy awoken by a knock on Joey’s office* [Joey] I guess the question is, are we lucky enough that it’s Jack or Henry knocking on the door, or– [Jack] Or is it Mister Franks, [Sammy] OTHER PEOPLE WORK AT THIS STUDIO! [Jack] Luck roll! A really bad roll is Wally, a really good roll is one of the boys, and then a middle roll is someone else! [Sammy] Theoretically, we both have secretaries, … [Jack] it’s just Grant, crying at the door like “STOP SPENDING MONEY… IM BEGGING YOU…”

[GM] At least Henry doesn’t have to make skill checks to get his department on track– [Sammy] Yeah, because it’s not his department! [Jack] Actually Abby succeeded HER check, to get HENRY on track, [Joey] Joey’s hogging Henry, and Abby has just learned now to steal Henry first, and deal with Joey later, because if she tries to talk to him about it, there’s a 50-50 chance it won’t work [GM] Joey just says “yes” to everything, and then still steals Henry,

[Jack] I’m trying to work out what I should roll to figure out if Jack is gonna be evil… [Henry] Roll Mischief!

[Joey] He’ll bring up that she’ll have clearance to go right to his office when she gets here. [GM, as Allison] She says “Thanks,,,” in a way that suggests she wasn’t like, super worried about that, [Joey] AlliSON, [Sammy] ALLISON YOU’RE ON THIN ICE

[Jack] All cats work under the Yellow King. [Jack] Except the Lurker. [Jack] And also Beans, who works under Jack. [GM] Best assistant. She deserves a credit. [GM] ….she might have a credit, oh no, is she in the cartoon credits??? [Sammy] I mean we’re lucky if we get in the credits, so,

[Jack] I actually kinda love that; the next cartoon just happens to have a cat in it, looks like we’ll have to get that Talented Assistant Lyricist–! [Sammy] This is the most difficult voice actor Sammy’s ever had to work with.

[Joey] If no one shows up on their own, I don’t think Joey’s going to hunt them down, because he does want?? the cartoon??? to be done???????

[Allison] You have to admit, this place is VERY suspicious. [Joey] *audibly grinning* It’s an animation studio! Don’t know what you’re talking about!

*finding a letter with a picture of an orchid and a picture of a soup can as the signature* [Joey] HMM, Orchid Soup… [Sammy] Yeah, I was gonna say, found Henry’s “orchid soup”, [Jack] …………*laughs* whY IS THERE A PICTURE OF SOUP THOUGH? [Joey] *laughing* [Jack] We found orchid soup but it didn’t– it just raised more questions! thERE’S JUST MORE SOUP!! [Sammy] [Sammy] [Sammy] [Sammy] OH! CAMPBELL!!

[Jack] *giggling* Lady Orchid… and Lady Soup…

[Allison] Whoever made this circle… somebody poured everything they had into this. [Jack] If they poured their entire self into something, they’re DEFINITELY taking after Joey’s notes! [Jack] Joey just has a note that says “Note: Works Best When You Pour Your Entire Being Into This” [GM] “Or your employees!”

[Joey] There’s a cult mob in the area, [Allison] Not again. [Joey] Also we’re definitely not friends anymore. [GM] Allison wonders if that’s what had you guys……. busy, the other day. [Sammy] I REALLY thought she was gonna say “tied up,” it was gonna be a good pun, [GM] I think she considered it, and then decided to be classier. No accounting for taste; I’m sorry if Jack is disappointed. [Joey] Jack just does the teeniest of headshakes,

[Joey] They’re in the area, and they WILL recognise us, and they’re not all… human, maybe. [Allison] What do you mean by that? [Sammy] Saxophone definitely wasn’t human. [Allison] ….saxophones aren’t human, yes, that’s correct…

[Sammy] Allison definitely understands that he is Mega Gay at this point. [GM] I think there’s little doubt of that; I don’t know what I’d be rolling for LGBTQ awareness, but I’m going to say– [Sammy] *laughing* You mean to tell me there’s no stat for LGBTQ awareness on this sheet??? [GM] …I mean we’ve been making Gay Checks since the first scenario, [Joey] We really just need to implement a Gay stat, at this point

[Joey] I ROLLED A ONE FOR OCCULT……….. but I rolled an 86 for Intelligence,,, [Sammy] JOEY DREW, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN

[Joey] YOU NEED TO USE INK. TO PUT THE BENDY IN YA.

[Jack] Go hang out in Jack’s office! [GM] You’ll get ink all over the nice cot! [Sammy] Don’t… give him… ink for drawing. That’s not. We’re going to try to train him, to… [Sammy] *cracking up* wE’RE GOING TO TRY TO PAPER TRAIN THE PROPHET,, STAY ON THE PAPER, [GM] Stop wrecking the furniture!

[Henry] We just need to give our prophet proper enrichment! [Jack] Stuff a pumpkin full of meat for the Prophet, [Henry] Let him roll it around, [Sammy] I don’t know what Prophet would do with a pumpkin stuffed with meat, but Sammy doesn’t wanna think about that happening. [Henry] Sacrifice it, for his Lord! Obviously! [Jack] Why would his Lord want a pumpkin full of meat??? [Joey] WHY NOT! [Jack] *cracking up* ITS HIS LORD, NOT HIS GOURD [Henry] No, the gourd is what we’re GIVING to the Lord! [Sammy] *groaning* [Joey] *cackling* Don’t give him too many; then he’ll have a HOARD of GOURDs for his LORD! [Sammy] *distressed noises* [Henry] And then he might get BORED of his HOARD of GOURDS for his LORD!

[Sammy] *describes the gourd conversation* This was just happening, while you were gone, and you abandoned me to this. [GM] This is a good explanation for that official Halloween art. [Jack] …..where do teeth factor into this. [Henry] It’s what he got! It’s his REWARD! For the HOARD of GOURDS for his LORD!!

[Joey] Anyways…. we seem to have gone off, down a thread…. or a CHORD, [Sammy] I knew. I knew it was something.

[Sammy] Jack’s office is nicer than mine??? [Joey] Jack has a very nice office because, one: he’s not allowed in the sewer anymore, and Joey’s first plan to make sure that this never happened again, was to give Jack such a nice office that there’s NO reason for him to go back into the sewer, and two, now Jack can never leave him. [Sammy] MEANWHILE SAMMY CAN’T LOCK HIS OWN DOOR BECAUSE THE PUMP SWITCH IS IN THERE

[Joey] That one’s on Bendy. [Bendy] …poking fingers together,,,

[Sammy] Like, “Everyone go with Sammy and make sure he doesn’t do anything” “Okay!” “*Sammy immediately does something*”

[Sammy] Whatcha got Jack? Does Jack use inkwells? Important question. [Jack] I feel like he trends towards using pencil, just because it’s easier for edits, but would probably also have ink? [Joey] Quick… shove a pencil into his hand…,

[Sammy] I don’t know if I’m fully in control of Prophet during his, like, fervour, right now, but Sammy probably knows where Jack keeps his ink! [GM] I think that’s something he could still act on, and probably in fact is acting on! [Jack] Hopefully he can still act on the fact that PLEASE DONT WRITE PROPHECIES ON JACK’S WALLS, [Sammy] Ehhhhh, [Jack] Please use the paper, he has so much of it, [Sammy] EHHHHHH, [Joey] Jack just tries to step in front of him and hold paper up, on the wall – again, this is just paper training Prophet [Sammy] MOVE HIM OFF THE WALL, PUT HIM ON THE PAPER,

[Sammy] Your Mythos skill is getting so big! Sammy’s is like… freakin, six or something! [Jack] You keep – you know that thing, where you have work and you have another company to do the work for you? [Sammy] ...outsourcing? [Jack] YES! Thank you. Sammy keeps outsourcing all his Mythos to the Prophet.

[GM] I don’t have any content for Norman, but I like to believe in my heart that he was there, and then just faded away when Joey showed up.

[Sammy] *waking up*…Ugh, what happened…? [Joey] Joey just gestures to the wall. [Bendy] He didn’t know what to do about it either…. [Sammy] …..THERE WERE THREE OF YOU IN HERE!

[Jack] Was Jack told to not let the Prophet do this? [Sammy] No…. Sammy sorta thought that went without saying… [Henry] Well, he asked REALLY nicely, [Jack] He is standing so politely…!

[Sammy] *posts updated Sanity* [Henry] Oh… oh… oh Sam,,, [Henry] That’s… that’s smaller than Joey’s CON!

[Sammy] I left you a note on the paper and everything! [Jack] I don’t think he gets how paper works.

[Joey] I don’t know if Henry’s coming with Joey? [Henry] I remember someone wanted Henry to come… [Sammy] I thought it would be a good idea just so Joey and his “I have no POW when I’m outside the Studio” self isn’t, all by himself, with a magically powerful person aND ALLISON??? [Henry] ……….Henry’s gonna come.

[the-iceni-bitch]

Search No More

Pairing: Andy Barber x fem!Reader

Words: Guessing cuz I’m on mobile again, 1.5k?

Summary: Andy has a new job and needs you to save him from forced camaraderie.

Warnings: explicit language, explicit sexual content (unprotected vaginal sex), alcohol consumption by adults of appropriate age, Neal Logiudice (cuz fuck this guy), SMUT, 18+ ONLY!!!

A/N: Another one from the WIP folder that is specifically for @imanuglywombat’s “Is that even a sex position?” challenge, week three. I figured a nice soft position would be perfect for our favorite floofy lawyer boi. Please check out the other great fics this challenge has given us and enjoy!

Check out my masterlist and join my taglist if you want!!

It had been a slow night at the bar, so your staff practically insisted on sending you home early, Jesse shoving out the door as you protested feebly.

“Take a night off, boss.” He grumbled amicably as he ushered you towards your car, handing you your coat and bag as a light snow started to fall. “Maybe go snuggle with that boyfriend of yours that’s always hanging around. Where is he tonight anyway?”

“There was a new faculty mixer.” You said with an eye roll. “You’re sure you’ll be fine, Jess?”

“We’re always fine.” He said dismissively with a wave of his hand as you climbed into your vehicle.

You texted Andy as you started your car to see where he was and he practically begged you to come meet him at the party, whining about how sinfully boring law professors were. You got the address from him and headed out, arriving in the posh Newton neighborhood in a little under 30 minutes.

There were a few partygoers hanging around outside, and you cursed to yourself when you saw them wearing cocktail attire. Leave it to Andy to forget to mention a dress code. Thank god your dry cleaning was in the back.

You tried to find something relatively conservative and settled on a simple satin sheath that was probably a little shorter than was appropriate but it’s not like you had a lot of options. You started to awkwardly disrobe in your front seat, shimmying out of your jeans and pulling your sweater over your head. A surprising knock on the window made you yelp while you were bent over the console with the back of your dress unzipped to grab your emergency heels.

“Ma’am, we’ve gotten some reports of an extremely attractive woman getting naked in a 2003 Acura, any chance that’s you.” A gravelly voice said behind a blinding flashlight.

You growled and opened your driver’s side door into Andy, almost making him drop his phone in the street. He let out a chuckle at your scowl as you stepped out of the car and straightened up, starting to pull the zipper of your dress up your back.

“I would’ve changed at the bar if you let me know this was a cocktail party asshole.” You snarled at him, turning to let him help you draw the zipper up the last few inches.

“Or, you would’ve gone back to your apartment to try to find something else to wear, and I would’ve been stuck listening to professor McDrones-A-lot talk about torts for god knows how long.”

“Aww, are your new coworkers boring, babe?” You teased him as he wrapped an arm around your waist and guided you inside.

“God, they’re so fucking boring.” He murmured into your hair before turning to introduce you to some ancient man with elbow patches. “Professor Donaldson, this is Y/N.” He said, throwing you a wink. “She was just telling me how interested she is in tort reform.”

“Splendid! Are you a lawyer my dear?”

You shook your head and did your best to listen politely as you glared at Andy over the old man’s shoulder. He gave you a stupid grin before heading to the bar to grab the two of you some drinks.

“What the fuck are you doing here, sweetheart?”

You cursed under your breath and turned to glare at Neal Logiudice, the absolute last person you wanted to see.

“Hello Neal.” You grumbled.

“Get out of here, Wally.” He said, dismissing the professor he had very rudely interrupted. “Go find some other asshole to bother.”

The old man just huffed and gave you a sympathetic pat on the arm as he hobbled away.

“That was rude.” You said, your eyes roaming the room in search of Andy. You didn’t feel like dealing with Neal’s bullshit tonight. “Why are you here Neal? I thought this was a faculty only event.”

“Alumni are invited too. And you still haven’t told me what you’re doing here.” He growled, stepping closer and invading your bubble. “Cuz you’re definitely not alumni or faculty. You work your way through all the lawyer dick at your bar and come looking for more?”

“Lovely.” You said dryly, frowning at the smell of whiskey that enveloped the man. “You’re drunk.”

You felt a warm hand on your shoulder and turned your head just enough to see Andy scowling behnd you. He slotted himself beside you and wrapped his arm around you in a protective embrace as he and Neal stared each other down.

“Logiudice.” He said menacingly, and you rolled your eyes as the levels of testosterone in the room shot up suddenly.

“Barber.” The giant said with a sneer. “I see you’ve moved on to the leftover dregs of the Newton law community. I hear that pussy’s had every defense attorney cock in town.”

Andy let out an absolutely feral growl and you just managed to hold him back as you glared at Neal.

“Jesus, Neal. Glad to see you’re not bitter.” You said with little humor as your arm strained against Andy’s chest.

“No bitterness here, sweetheart. Just waiting for you to work your way to me.” He leered at you, giving you a lascivious wink.

You let out a sigh as you started to shove Andy away from the idiot, grateful for all your experience manhandling drunks as he fought against you every step of the way.

“He’s not worth it, baby.” You murmured once you had achieved a good amount of distance, your hands smoothing his jacket over his chest in a soothing gesture as Neal let out a guffaw behind you.

“I dunno, I kinda feel like punching him in the face is definitely worth it, sweetheart.” Andy said as he took some deep breaths and turned his gaze back to you.

“Maybe not at your first event for your new job though.” You teased him, tugging softly on his beard and making him grin at you. “Where’s my fucking drink?”

“Shit, I got distracted. I’ll be right back.” He said apologetically, starting to turn away from you.

“Oh no, you are not leaving me by myself again. All I need is to get cornered by some crazy professor who wants to tell me all about bird law.” You said as you tagged after him, the two of you weaving your way through the partygoers as you made your way to the bar.

“What the fuck is ‘bird law’?” He beamed at you after ordering your drinks, leaning against the bar and cocking one eyebrow at you.

“Jesus, I think you might be too classy for me, Barber.” You teased. “We’ve gotta work on your pop culture references.”

The two of you managed to have a relatively pleasant evening, even though you had no idea what anyone was talking about most of the time. But you loved watching how relaxed Andy was around you, and how passionate he got whenever he started to debate with one of his new colleagues. He was in the middle of a particularly heated discussion about the evolution of laws regarding sovereign immunity when he noticed you gazing at him, and his face broke out in a grin.

“You’ll have to excuse me, guys, I didn’t realize how late it’s gotten and I worry I’ve been neglecting my date. Let’s continue this on Monday?”

He made his way through the party, saying some quick goodbyes as his hand rested on your lower back. You let out a soft moan when you reached the foyer and he pressed you into the wall, his lips brushing against yours before he broke away to find his coat.

He returned after a few minutes and wrapped his arms around your waist, his mouth moving against yours hungrily as he guided you out the door.

“Jesus, Andy!” You whined when he lifted you slightly as the two of you made your way to his Range Rover. You bent your knees so your toes wouldn’t drag along the pavement.

“I dunno what you expected when you were looking at me like that, sweetheart.” He teased as he wrapped one arm around you tightly and brought his other hand to fumble through his coat pockets in search of his keys.

“I couldn’t help it.” You murmured in his ear as he pressed you against the driver’s side door, working to open the door to the back seat. “All that law talk does things to me.”

“Yeah?” He muttered around a grin, finally getting the door open and setting you down across the back seat. “You didn’t find it boring?”

“Not when it was you, Professor Barber.” You said in a husky voice, winking at him as he climbed on top of you and pulled the door closed behind him.

“Fuck honey.” He growled as he tossed his coat in the front seat before burying his face in your neck. “You’re gonna need to call me professor more often.”

“Mmm, professor.” You hummed as he ran his teeth over your throat before sucking a bruise over your collarbone. “I had some questions about affidavits I was hoping you could help me with.”

He gave a dark chuckle against your chest as his mouth kept moving lower, his lips brushing over the swell of your breasts as his hands moved under your back to unzip your dress. Once he had it open he yanked it off you and tossed it aside, bending over you again to nip at your skin as you dragged his suit jacket off over his shoulders.

“Why do I feel like you just want to hear me say affidavits?” He teased as you drew his tie off and started to work on his shirt buttons. He wrapped your thighs around his hips and ground himself into you, making you whimper as a fresh rush of arousal flooded your panties.

“Fuck, say more lawyer words, professor.” You whined as he drew the straps of your bra down your shoulders, drawing your breasts out of the soft lace and wrapping his lips around one of your nipples.

“Amicus brief.” He teased as his tongue laved over your nipple and you felt your pussy clench around nothing.

He moved to give your other breast the same soft attention as you worked on undoing his belt, your breath coming in shallow gasps as he worked you over. You finally drew his belt off and he sat up to remove his slacks, his lust blown eyes never leaving yours as he dragged his pants and boxer briefs down over his legs, tossing them on top of the rest of his clothes in the front seat as his cock bounced up against his abs, making your mouth fill with saliva at the sight.

You didn’t give him a chance to dive on top of you again, instead climbing into his lap as he knelt there and sucking his lower lip into your mouth. He groaned against your lips as you brought a hand down to wrap around his dick. You dragged his length through the slick that had soaked your thighs before shoving your panties aside and guiding him to your entrance.

Andy let out a deep sigh as you sank onto him, taking his full length in one smooth motion until he was fully seated in you. His tongue pressed between your lips and curved against yours as you wrapped one hand around his neck and the other around his bicep.

“You’re so goddamn perfect, baby.” He muttered against your lips as he started moving his hips at a languorous pace. “So fucking warm and wet for me.”

“Mmm, Andy.” You moaned as you nipped at his lips softly. “I love having you inside me.”

“Yeah, pretty girl?” He murmured as he started to move a little faster. “You love feeling my big cock in that tight little pussy?”

“Fuck, I need this cock, baby.” You hissed, resting your forehead against his and staring into his eyes. “Nobody fucks me like you do.”

“Shit. You’re squeezing me so good, honey.” He muttered as he ground against you. “I wanna feel you cum on my cock.”

“Fuck, I’m so close, Andy.” You whined as his hips thrust against you even harder. “God, right there. I’m gonna cum”

“Do it, I wanna see that cream all over my dick.” He buried his face in your neck and gave one last violent push of his hips.

You let out a cry as every muscle in your body went rigid, your fingers digging painfully into his neck and shoulders. Your pussy clenched around him for a beat before fluttering in your release as your torso rolled against his and a wave of intense pleasure washed over you.

“Jesus, baby.” He murmured as you came down, straightening his legs one at a time as he held you to him tightly.

You were still kneeling and the new angle had him hitting you even deeper than before, making stars burst behind your closed eyelids. Andy bent his knees slight behind you and leaned you back to rest against them as he moved his mouth to your breasts, making you whimper as his tongue brushed against your nipple.

“God, I could spend all night like this.” He murmured as he started pulling you down to him over and over, making you devolve into a mewling, whimpering mess. “My face buried in these perfect tits and my cock buried in that perfect pussy.”

You felt yourself clench around him at the praise and dug both hands in the hair at the base of his skull, pressing his mouth to your chest as you arched into him. His cock twitched inside you in response as he let out a deep groan, his hips meeting yours desperately.

“I’m gonna cum again, shit. You close, baby?” You felt him nodding between your breasts as his hips stuttered. “Fuck, I wanna feel it fill me up. I love when your cum inside me.”

“Goddamn it.” He hissed, and that was it for both of you.

Your knees squeezed his hips painfully as you tugged at his hair, a moan coming from deep in your chest as your orgasm ripped through you. Your cunt fluttered uncontrollably as your muscles spasmed around him, milking his cock for everything he could give you. He shouted your name against your chest and dug his fingers into your waist as his spend filled you up, painting your velvety walls in hot ropes that mixed with your own release and seeped over your thighs in a thick mess.

He collapsed back against the seat with a groan, taking you with him as he still held you tightly. You nuzzled into his neck as aftershocks still shook through you, your pussy clenching around his softening cock at random intervals.

“Well, fuck me Professor Barber.” You teased as he buried his face in your hair.

He let out a groan and grinned at you as he brought his face to meet yours, his tongue slipping between your lips as he kissed you deeply.

“God, I fucking love you.” He whispered without thought as his hands ran over your spine. His hands stopped suddenly as he realized what he’d said and his held his breath as he waited for your reply.

You just buried your face in his chest hair and sighed before whispering “Love you too, Andy.”

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[mochegato]

Hope on Board

Chapter 1 - Boy’s Night Out

“Okay,” Dick boomed, bringing the room’s attention to himself.  “Weapons on the counter.”  He raised an eyebrow at the disgruntled objections around the room.  “We are going out to have fun.  We are not going to take guns or knives or arrows to the bar. This is a night off.  This night is to relax and blow off steam.  Boy’s night out.”

“Having a gun does relax me!” Jason mumbled around the bite of apple in his mouth.

“Naw, it’s the shooting that relaxes you,” Roy pointed out shoving his head away as he walked past him.

“No guns!”  Dick grabbed the gun out of Jason’s thigh holster as he passed by and tossed it onto the counter.

“Hey!” Jason yelled, grabbing Dick’s shirt and violently pulling him back to face Jason.  “Don’t touch my guns.”

Dick held his hands up in surrender and waited quietly for Jason to let go.  Once Jason had backed off and taken another bite of his apple, Dick shook his head.  “See that there, is exactly why we need a night out and no weapons.  I expect all weapons on this counter before we walk out that door.”  He stared Jason and Roy down.

“Why are we going to a club if we just want to talk?” Tim pointed out with a defeated sigh.  “Loud music, people bumping into you, lights flashing… not the ideal atmosphere for talking.”

“We’re also blowing off steam and a distraction while we talk so Jason doesn’t get bored and start fighting is not a bad idea,” Dick pointed out.  “Which brings us back to no weapons.”

Jason huffed and walked over to the counter keeping eye contact with Dick as he started removing his knife and his backup knife and his small knife and his backup gun and laid them on the counter one at a time.  “Thank you, Jason.  Roy?”  

Roy sighed and removed his knife and a gun. Dick raised a skeptical eyebrow at him.  “What?  I’m not a paranoid asshole like him.” He motioned to Jason.

“Tim?” Dick questioned with a stern look.

“Like I carry weapons on me when I’m not in the suit,” he scoffed.

Dick stared him down waiting for him to admit having weapons.  When Tim didn’t fold under his stare, Dick nodded and looked back to the group.  “Fine.” He reached behind him to pull off his tee shirt, throwing it over the back of the couch and grabbing a button up shirt instead.  

Tim stared at the shirt he put on as he buttoned it.  “That’s what you’re wearing?”

“Yeah… what?  I like it.”

Jason opened his mouth to comment but instead glared at Roy when he smacked him upside the head to stop him from saying what they all were thinking.  "If Wally were here, you'd let him say it," he muttered.

"Well, Wally's sick isn't he?  So he's not here." Roy muttered back.

Dick looked between them and finally gave up waiting.  He shook his head and moved to the door.  “Let’s go. We’re going to hang out, drink, dance, and have fun.”

“And get laid,” Roy cheered.

“Not about getting laid,” Dick singsonged as he walked through the door.  

“But we’re totally going to,” Roy whispered to Jason.  “Well, we,” he motioned between himself and Jason, “are going to.  Tim’s boy is out of town and Dick’s on his own with that shirt.”

“Whatever, I just can’t believe he thought those were my only weapons,” Jason scoffed.

“Or that I didn’t have any,” Tim agreed.  “Either we’re getting better or he’s getting worse.”

<><><><><> 

The bar was more crowded than they expected, but they had still been able to find a table far away from the dancefloor where they could actually talk and watch the other patrons while they drank.  

“Dick, we need another round,” Roy pointed out, motioning toward the bar.

“And?” Dick scoffed not even looking at him, keeping his eyes on the dancefloor instead.  

“And we want the drinks now not in an hour,” Jason retorted quickly.

“We all know if any of us go it’s completely hit and miss when the bartender acknowledges us and with the bar as busy as it is, it could take a while.  But every time you go up, he makes a beeline straight for you.” Tim continued flatly.

“Heh, straight,” Roy chuckled.  

Dick rolled his eyes but got up anyway.  “Fine. I’ll just buy all night long.”

“Now that’s what I call a good night out,” Jason cheered, holding his beer up toasting Dick.  “Get me two.”

Dick pushed through the crowd and finally settled into a spot leaning against the bar.  As soon as he appeared, the bartender made his way over to him, bypassing patrons who had been waiting since before he got there.  Dick sighed at the proof the others were right. He ordered their drinks with a smile. No use upsetting the man pouring their drinks and controlling whether they got served or not.

He looked up and down the bar while he waited for their drinks.  His eyes caught on a woman a few people down from him.  She was waiting patiently and gorgeously for her drink.  Her dark hair was pulled up in a high bun, but tendrils had fallen around her face from vigorous dancing.  Her body was covered in a light sheen of sweat and her long-sleeved, bright blue crop top looked like it was meant to flutter lightly over her top but instead it clung to her sweat-covered body as she moved, occasionally giving a flash of the black bra underneath.  She was flushed from dancing giving her a luminescent look.  But the thing that truly drew his attention was her smile.  She had the most gorgeous, welcoming, exuberant smile on her face.  It lit up her whole face, causing her eyes to crinkle.

He started to push away from the bar to talk to her when he saw a man drape his arms over her shoulders. His head was positioned so the back of his head was blocking Dick’s view of her face so he couldn’t see if her expression was happy about the intrusion or upset, and his yellow and red shirt that hung loosely off him blocked Dick's view of her body language.  Dick leaned back against the bar, but kept an eye on her in case the embrace was not welcome.  How bad was it that he kind of hoped it wasn’t?  However, it quickly became apparent that it was not unwelcome.  “Come on Bugaboo, let’s get back out there.  I want to have fun tonight.  Maybe find someone to finally make out with me.”  

The woman rolled her eyes at him.  “Adrien, almost anyone here would make out with you.  Straight men would make out with you if you asked.”  She and the man nodded to the bartender in thanks when he dropped off their shots.

“It can’t just be anyone though.  I’m looking for a sign.  I’m waiting for the universe to show me my future.”  He stretched out his hand in front of him as if showing off his future.

“In a nightclub that is probably a front for one of the mob families,” she deadpanned.  He shrugged at her.  “I cannot stress enough how much that’s not how this whole thing works.  The universe isn’t going to give you a sign, especially not in a dive bar while you’re drunk.  You make your own destiny, my child, this isn’t Serendipity.  Now, drink,” she commanded.  

Dick watched as they clinked their glasses together and downed the shots before returning to the dancefloor.  His eyes followed her as she started dancing.  He hummed to himself, clearly together but not together.   Their boy’s night had been going on long enough, hadn’t it?  They had been talking long enough that it would be acceptable for him to get on the dancefloor himself soon, right?  He hummed to himself.  He might have to try to find her later.  He tore his eyes away when the bartender brought his drinks.  He winked at the bartender in thanks and returned to their table.

He brought the drinks back to the table, joking and reminiscing with the three of them.  The point was to get closer to each other, after all.  All throughout their conversation, he kept an eye on the bar for the woman he had seen earlier.  The next time she went up to get a drink, Dick excused himself to get one as well. They were close enough.  He wanted to get closer to someone else now.  The others at the table raised their eyebrows, giving each other knowing looks.

By the time he made his way through the crowd to get near the bar, the woman was facing off against a man who was easily twice her size and mostly muscle. “Hey, asshole!  Back off!”  

“Excuse me?  What the fuck business is it of yours?” he growled, crowding her personal space in an effort to intimidate her.

The woman clearly didn’t get the message, furrowing her brows in an angry glare.  “Grabbing someone’s ass and attempting to grab other areas as well without their permission is sexual assault, fucker!  She clearly does not know you and does not want you touching her.”

“You have no proof of anything,” he snarled at her.  “Now sit that pretty, tight, little ass down and maybe I’ll let you kneel in front of me a little later.”

The woman’s mouth dropped as she stared at the man.  “Yep, that’s the expression you’ll be making later.”  He reached to pat her on her ass.  Dick lunged to grab his hand before he could reach her, but he was just a beat too slow.  Instead, the woman grabbed the man’s hand and twisted along with his momentum, pushing him down as she twisted.  She moved her feet slightly to trip him, throwing him even further off balance.  She twisted his arm at an uncomfortable angle as he fell, forcing him to turn over on his stomach so she could pin him to the floor once he finally landed.  “Also, sexual assault?  Illegal, asshole.  Doing it to more people, surprisingly, doesn’t make it less illegal.”

“It isn’t sexual assault if you want it,” he jeered at her.

She scoffed at him, making sure to keep the pressure on her hold as she did.  “I doubt there has ever been anything living or otherwise that has wanted you looking at them let alone touching them.”  Dick chuckled at her response.

“Excuse me, what is going on here?”  A man Dick recognized as the bouncer asked.  He was eying the woman who was pinning the man down with heavy suspicion.

“That man sexually assaulted that woman and when this woman pointed it out he tried to sexually assault her as well,” Dick answered for her.

The bouncer looked between the first woman, the second woman, the man on the floor, and Dick.  He finally nodded and grabbed the man by his jacket collar.  “Come on mother fucker, we’re going to get your picture then you are never coming in here again, understood?”

“Do you know who I am? You’re making a monumental mistake,” the man screamed as he was getting dragged away.

The black haired woman didn’t bother watching the man as he was hauled away.  She shifted her focus entirely onto the blonde woman who had been assaulted.  “Hey, are you okay?  Can I get you a drink to steady your nerves?”

The blonde shook her head. “No, thanks.  I’m okay.  It happens. You go to a club, it’s going to happen.”

The black haired woman and Dick both gaped at her.  “It shouldn’t happen ever.  If anyone ever does anything like that to you again, kick their asses or call someone over to do it for you.  He had no right to touch you.  Going out to have fun doesn’t make you an open target,” Dick interceded.  “Assholes like that should feel unsafe in clubs not you.”

The blonde shrugged at him. “Thanks for your help anyway.  Can I buy you a drink?”

The black haired woman shook her head and gave her a gentle smile.  “No, thank you.  I just refreshed mine.  Have fun, yeah?”  The blonde nodded and waved before returning to the dancefloor.

The black haired woman collapsed onto a barstool with a sigh.  She chuckled and shook her head as she looked at her drink.  “Thank you by the way.  I don’t know if the bouncer would have trusted just my word.”

“Not a problem.” He took a seat next to her.  “I’m glad I could do something to help.  I tried to grab him before he could get to you but I wasn’t as fast as you.  You were really impressive.”

She shot him a glance from the corner of her eye but didn’t really stop to look at him.  The charming smile he shot her faltered when she didn’t look close enough to actually see it.  His liquor fueled mind frowned at the lack of attention.    “Thanks,” she mumbled.  She drank the rest of her drink in one gulp, which Dick thought was quite impressive considering it was full and not a shot.  

She laid the glass on the counter harder than it seemed like she meant to and continued to stare at it for a few moments.  “Hey,” he leaned a little closer to her while still giving her space.  “You okay?  You want another drink?” He motioned to the bartender for two more drinks for them.  

She rubbed her face and took a beat before turning to finally face him with a thankful smile.  “You really don’t have to.”  

Dick’s charming smile made it back to his lips, even wider than it had been before.  “No, but you deserve it for protecting the club.”

She shook her head.  “It wasn’t…”  She looked down at his shirt and balked, staring at it suspiciously. After a few moments, she looked up toward the sky with an annoyed scowl that still looked adorable, like an irritated kitten.  “Am I a joke to you?” she called out.  

His charming smile morphed into a look of confusion.  “I’m sorry?”

She waved her arms like she was waving away the concern.  “It’s nothing.  Interesting shirt.  Fan of ladybugs?”

He looked down at his shirt as though seeing it for the first time, “Oh… uh… I just liked the pattern. I don’t think I would have even recognized them as a ladybug if you hadn’t explicitly pointed it out.”  The woman looked back up toward the sky with a menacing look he didn’t quite understand.  He thanked the bartender when he served their drinks and turned back to her.  “Do you… uh… like ladybugs?”  

The woman gave a defeated sigh and looked down to her shoes.  When she looked back up, a resigned but amused smile was on her lips.  “No, it’s just… my friends used to call me their everyday ladybug.”

Dick cocked his head to the side studying her curiously.  There was something going on, but he couldn’t quite make it out yet.  But there was no way he was going to miss an opportunity to dance with a beautiful, strong, sweet woman.  “I’m Dick.” He stuck his hand out to shake hers.

She took his hand and gave him a bright smile, “Marinette.”

He looked over to the dancefloor and back to her.  “Do you want to dance?”  Her smile brightened, making his heartbeat pick up.  She pulled on the hand she was still holding and guided him onto the dancefloor, drinks still in hand.

Chapter 2

@dickinette-february

[bluebird722]

Masks in a Maze

Characters: NTT!Raven and TT!Red-X

Rating: M for lemon

Summary: The Titans must infiltrate a masquerade in search of any suspicious activity, but maybe it begins within one of them...

The ball had not even started when it was supposed to, as the Titans discovered upon arrival. Attendees were standing together, holding glasses of champagne and talking to one another. Everyone was wearing a mask—some similar to Nightwing’s, some so covering that even the Changeling’s green hair and skin would have appeared to be a covering.

“All right, Titans,” whispered Dick, “remember the plan: Keep an eye out for any suspicious activity. If anything feels wrong, report to me or find one another, but be subtle.”

“Got it.”

“Understood.”

After Garfield, Victor, Donna, Raven, Kori, and Wally whispered their promises to obey, each Titan separated, the skirts of the females’ dresses fluttering behind them in seas of vibrant colors.

Raven forgot how Dick even heard of this ball, let alone suspected that someone might pull a heist on what was the city’s annual fundraiser/celebratory gathering to support the local children’s hospital, but that explained the ball’s theme—masked masquerade, a reminder that even the unknown, the anonymous were heroes. She braced herself for the nearly five hundred attendees, and so far, it seemed to be working. Emotions could not suffocate her; she had meditated and reminded herself to stay focused on Dick’s instruction, even if it meant dancing. Unfortunately, that meant having to find a partner.

Several young women around her age had gathered by a pillar, either whispering to each other or admiring the artwork. Raven noticed Donna thank a waiter for champagne and tried to follow her advice: Make eye contact with a man, smile, and break eye contact. He will want to chase you before you attract another man. It seemed easier said than done. Nearly every man—not counting her teammates—was in the company of whom she perceived to be more attractive women. Raven eyed a strand of hair that framed her face and wondered if she should have done something other than a French twist for her long black hair.

She tried not to fidget with any part of her gown, as though such an action would ruin it. She did not like shopping for this event, even though she had Kori at her side to provide options. They all looked beautiful on the hangers, but, ironically, this gown, the one that made her feel so insecure, was the one Kori approved of. The color, a royal navy and almost the opposite of her normal colored dress, was too slimming. The mermaid gown with the train was difficult to walk in, even though Kori thought it was somehow suitable for dancing in. It was strapless, and the back bared her shoulder blades, but even with long gloves, she still felt like she was exposing too much skin. At least the mask was shaped like a swan and hooked behind her ears like a pair of glasses.

She watched the mayor go up on stage, thank everyone for their attendance, and announce that the dancing should begin. Raven took a deep breath. Not all of the women beside her had left and found partners, but she shifted her feelings so she could concentrate. As the band began some symphony, she watched for anything unusual, but all she could find were masked dancers preparing to dance. She thought that she saw the top of Victor’s head but realized that it was part of a mask.

“It’s no fun being a wallflower, is it?”

The whisper and warm breath in her ear made Raven jump. She turned to her left and made eye contact with the stranger—eyes a piercing blue, almost concealed behind a mask framing an angular face and a head of curly black hair. Even by looking at his face, she knew that he wore a cape of black silk with an interior of red silk.

She inhaled, but her lungs felt frozen.

The stranger smiled. She tried not to fantasize about those lips and what it would be like to kiss them, and they didn’t even look chapped. “Um…no…” she whispered back.

He took her hand, covered in a bicep-long white glove, and kissed the curve of her wrist. Concentrate, she reminded herself. If you lose control of your powers, he will suspect who you are…

“May I have this dance?”

Raven nodded, still wide-eyed and open-mouthed. He guided her to the doors close to the band, and they joined in to a composition that she remembered from Black Swan. She knew that she should keep an eye out for any sign of impending trouble, or even of her teammates, but it was hard to look away from the eyes that gave her the sensation of looking down in a wide ocean. She could envision herself swimming, the water rejuvenating her skin and filling her with an energy to keep going.

They kept dancing for what seemed like hours, yet she wasn’t tired. She felt like the mini ballerinas in the musical jewelry boxes. For a moment, she envisioned herself and her partner becoming one, unwilling to ever separate. She pressed her chest against his and clutched his shoulder. He responded by slowly stroking up the back of her dress.

“This night is turning out better than I had hoped,” he whispered into the sensitive skin of her neck.

Raven pulled away, still holding onto his shoulder and hand. “How is that?”

Her partner refused to look away from her eyes. Raven’s torso began to perspire under the material of her gown. “Let me show you something.”

Raven took a deep breath. She knew that doing so would pull her away from the overall intention of why she was here, but she knew that refusing might make him suspicious. Maybe he was the one whom Dick was suspecting, or maybe she was overthinking.

“Where shall we go?” she whispered.

He pulled away and led her outside into the crisp spring air. Raven couldn’t help but shiver once she stepped outside. Why didn’t she think to bring a shawl to this event?

Her partner chuckled, and she heard a clasp. “Where are my manners?” he asked himself. Raven felt the smooth fabric of silk encase her shoulders and exposed back, and shivered even more. “Forgive me, Rachel Roth. I did not even assume—”

Raven’s eyes widen. “H—How did you know my name?”

True, it was not her birth name, just one that she used for legal matters, but how could he have suspected?

“Rachel Roth?” he asked. He shrugged. “I couldn’t help but recognize you from that portrait that you posed for, from that photographer James Silke.”

Raven’s throat dried. “H—How—Wh—What—”

“I don’t know,” he said. “I just recognized you by your cheekbones, your nose, even your lips, even with that mask you’re wearing.”

Raven’s cheeks flushed. Not only did he know her “name” and recognize her, but he also saw her naked, sans two silver bracelets and matching hoop earrings. She didn’t know why she agreed to pose for James Silke, other than that the pictures were for charity, and she thought that it would help her feel more in touch with herself. As long as she covered her breasts and didn’t show offer her nether regions, she didn’t feel like she was “exploiting” herself for men’s and women’s lusty eyes.

And he knew her name… Did he know who she was. Was that enough for him to recognize her as Raven of the Teen Titans? Raven worried that she had walked into a trap. She turned her head only to realize that they were no longer beside the ballroom. In fact, everything around them was green. With a sinking heart, she realized that they had made their way into the nearby maze. She refused to meet his eyes. “Whe—How did we…”

He looked amused. “You don’t remember? We’ve been walking through the maze for a while. You must have lost focus.”

Raven felt her heart racing and worried that she had indeed walked into a trap. The only way to escape was to use her powers, but that would blow her cover, and then the bad guys, if any, would know that she wasn’t alone. She listened hard but could not hear any human voices. Even the music was faint.

“Relax,” he said. “I didn’t mean to scare you. I only wanted to keep walking.”

Raven pulled his cape tighter around her arms. “But you just met me—I mean, you know who I was from a photograph of me naked…”

“And I knew that the external beauty matches your internal beauty,” he reassured her. She glanced at him with unsure eyes. “I did not want to scare you—only to get you…” He rubbed her arms reassuringly, and Raven moaned. It felt comforting. Without thinking, she leaned into his arms and rested her head on his shoulder. It was a comfort that she worried that she would never have again.

He muttered something unintelligible. She lifted her head to meet his eyes. “What was that?”

“May I kiss your neck?” he repeated. “I believe in consent before I do something that might make a woman feel uncomfortable.”

Raven had never before experienced such a thing and nodded. “If it pleases you…”

He gave in to temptation, but then he kissed her twice. She moaned. “I like that.”

“I’ve only done it twice,” he said, “but I must admit that it’s already addicting.” He kissed her neck again, this time up to her ear, and Raven smiled in pleasure.

“Yes,” she purred. “A little more…”

He moved on to her hairline, behind her ear, and even the back of her neck. Raven gripped the fabric of his costume and arched her back. She decided to return the favor and pecked the bare flesh peeking over his collar.

“It’s so creamy and addicting,” he murmured into her neck, “but…may I give you a real kiss?”

Raven even more slowly pulled away. “What?”

He eyed her swollen lips in hunger. “Yes. A. Real. Kiss.”

Keep calm, she reminded herself. She scanned the exposed skin of his face and sensed honesty, infatuation, genuine attraction, lust…but no deception, no false sense of integrity.

Biting her lip, Raven nodded.

Her handsome partner smirked and with the tip of his thumb traced down her lower lip. The desire in his was growing. She stared into his eyes and their pupils even as he lowered his face and then his lips on top of Raven’s.

Raven closed her eyes and drew her arms around his neck and shoulders to bring him closer. Even though she kept her emotions tame, she absorbed the euphoria coming from him. His hands pressed against her back and to his chest. Any time they pulled apart, they came back together. Eventually, it heated up to something more, but Raven didn’t care until she lost her footing. Then she realized that he had picked her up and pressed her back against the wall of the maze.

“I don’t want to stop,” she confessed.

Her partner grinned. “Neither do I,” he admitted. He dove back in for another kiss. She wrestled with the heavy fabric of her skirt, and he must have suspected, for he used one hand to push the skirt to her waist, and then her bare legs immediately wrapped around his hips.

“Anyone could catch us,” she worried.

“No,” he said. “We’re too far in…” He kissed down her throat and lapped at her pulse.

The vegetation of the walls were uncomfortable against Raven’s skin through the cape, but she concentrated on his lusty lips puckering all over her collarbone. “Don’t stop,” she panted, and he dipped down to taste her cleavage.

“I don’t want to,” he said with a smirk. Then he lowered his head and bit her nipple through her dress.

Raven’s hair was starting to fall out of its twist, she could feel, but all she cared about was his costume. If he could do that to her chest, it made sense she should do the same. She pushed the jacket from his shoulders and sensed shock from him until he removed it for her and kissed her on the lips again. She instantly unbuttoned his shirt and flattened her palms against a smooth, hairless chest. Did he wax, or was it fate?

“You’re eager,” he said huskily. Raven bit her lip in greed, startled with herself. “Don’t be embarrassed, Rachel, just let me know when to stop.”

Raven heaved. She knew she had to; it was a wonder that her powers didn’t blow up the maze yet, but at the same time, she didn’t know when or if she would ever see him again. She looked into his eyes and sensed eagerness and worry at the same time.

“I don’t want to.” She knew that she kept repeating herself, but she didn’t care.

With a grin, he kissed her again. This time, she smoothed up his back and tickled the hair from his underarm.

His hands met at her back, and Raven focused on their kissing until she heard the sound of a zipper separating. Then her whole back was exposed, and the bust of her dress was loose over her larger than average breasts. She closed her eyes and let him kiss down her sternum and push down her dress, exposing her bare breasts. Then he held her wrists together behind her back with one hand and kissed the swell of her breast.

Raven gasped and arched her neck. Her hips wiggled against his pelvis, and the dress fell further down her body. He kissed up to one nipple and studied the perfectly dark color. It made him think of a fruit with a tempting taste. Without hesitating, he took it between his lips and swirled the tip of his tongue around her areola and occasionally over the tip. His other hand squeezed her other breast and slowly tweaked her nipple but began to go faster and harder.

Raven nearly sobbed as an odd sensation began to sprout in her abdomen. Her forehead broke out into a sweat, and something was growing between her legs. She wanted to grab a hold of his head so he kept his mouth on her nipple, sucking on her breast like he was being paid to. Then his other hand wandered from her other breast to trail down her ribcage and caress her abdomen. Then he let go of her wrists and suddenly managed to push the gown from her waist to over her head. Raven shivered and tried to press her body against his, but he sucked on her other nipple as vigorously as he had with the other.

The wandering hand circled around her navel and dipped into it, tracing around the interior, and when she rubbed her crotch against him, he knew that he did something right. He fondled her belly button a while longer and slid his hand down as best as he could under the high-waisted briefs she wore.

As soon as he grazed her clit, Raven gasped. “Oh…” Her partner ignored her. His one hand sneakily slid away the briefs, as the other kept fondling her clit. Slow circles were her preference. He loudly slurped on her nipple and pushed his fingers into her.

“Faster,” she winced.

He ignored his aching wrist and took to kneading her as he twisted and sucked on her nipples at the same time. She drew long, shaky breaths, and choked when he flicked at her clit. He watched her naked skin gleam in the moonlight and hoped that she could return his needs afterwards.

She was getting close, so he pulled off her high heels, taking her briefs with them, and set her feet flat on his shoulders. Confident that she would stay that way, he laid his hand over her mouth and clasped his onto the moist V between her thighs.

He knew that fingers were a nice touch, but he used his tongue first—first up her slit, then circling her clit again, then into her. He fucked her with his tongue and rubbed his palm over her sweltering abdomen and the top of her thigh at a pace uneven with his tongue that suckled on each fold, collected whatever juices she excreted, and moved on to the other, and then back to penetrating her. She actually rolled and lifted her lips in response, and it only increased her pleasure.

Raven quietly squealed into his hand, her fingertips clutching his hair. She was pouring over his lips, and her nipples were erect. As she collected herself, he stroked his fingers around the interior of her pussy and traced small circles around her taut nipples using the liquid she excreted. This seemed to relax her.

She watched him circle her nipples in such tenderness that she took a deep breath. “Again,” she stuttered.

Immediately, he stopped and lifted his head. “What?”

Raven pulled him closer so she could unzip his trousers, already tight on him. Purring to himself, he helped her lower them down and caressed her delicious curves. They were even better in person.

“Is this your first time?” he asked hesitantly. When she nodded, a part of him lit up in excitement.

“This may feel uncomfortable,” he said, “but let me know if it hurts.”

Raven nodded and rested her head on his shoulder, making faces as he tried to push in. It was like her body didn’t want to lose its virginity or was too scared to take in a male organ.

When he managed to push in the tip, it didn’t hurt, but she clenched around him and swallowed. “I am fine,” she reassured him through shivers. “Just…slow…”

The discomfort grew until all of him was in her. It felt strange yet good, like something she didn’t know was missing form her life but she found and possessed. He shifted his hips and made sure to rub against her clit for extra pleasure. He was slow to pull halfway out and push back in. Eventually, Raven had to whisper it to him with a kiss to the ear.

“Faster.”

He took his time going faster, careful to keep a rhythm and then increase in speed. As he went faster, he breathed into the black hair mingling with the vegetation behind her. They clutched each other as though loosening their grips would break them apart. Raven scrunched her eyes closed and panted with every thrust. Her lover gripped her thighs and became high off her scent, which only drove him to move faster. She winced every time he touched a part of her that made her feel like she stood tiptoe on the edge of a cliff. She knew it was coming and clenched her teeth.

“You’re almost there,” he grunted as he went so fast that it was almost dizzying for him.

Then Raven let out a mixture of a shudder and a squeal, arching her back and clenching around him. She tried to stare at the starry sky, but she couldn’t keep her eyes open. She drifted a hand over her breasts and down her abdomen as though her body cooled down from its adrenaline high and settled back into place, like if she dove into the ocean and the cold water rejuvenated her entire body. She looked down at her partner, who had his head over her heaving breasts, keeping his orgasm to himself.

“How do you feel?”

He panted for a while longer and then lifted his head so he could meet her eyes. “Fulfilled,” he shuddered. Raven couldn’t help but chuckle. Then he did the same, and they were joined in small laughter until he pulled her from the maze. She still held onto him and kissed his forehead.

“Thank you,” she purred. “That was amazing.”

He smiled and softly kissed her. “I agree,” he breathed. Then they kissed even more until they heard an emergency siren.

“Oh no.” Raven tried to peer over his head but could only see green. “It’s… It might be from the ballroom…”

Her lover was slow to pull out, though she did shiver, and they stood on trembling legs as they searched for their clothing. He finished just as she tried pulling the dress up to her waist, and zipped up the back for her. Raven smoothed down her hair for any loose leaves.

“Come on,” he said as he took her hand. “I remember how to get out.”

Just as they neared the entrance and saw flashes of blue and cherry lights, Raven stopped and gripped his hand. “Wait—how will I be able to—When will I see you again?”

He turned around and stared into her face. “We will reunite again, I promise,” he reassured her. “It will be sooner than you might expect…Raven.”

A deep shiver ran down Raven’s spine. “Wh—What did you call me? W—Who are you?”

He smirked and pulled her into his arms. “X. Red-X.” Then he kissed her hard and vanished in the opposite direction of the doors that they walked through.

Raven’s head was buzzing, and her lips were tingling, and her legs were shaking, and she didn’t comprehend what had happened until she stepped inside and saw the ballroom a mess of broken champagne glasses, scattered music sheets, exploded instruments, people bleeding from glass cutes, and a shattered chandelier that her startled teammates, mingled with the other partygoers, surrounded in groups, too afraid to get close.

[paladin-of-nerd-fandom65]

Little Robin and Momma Bird

 In honor of First Day of Spring 2021 which for comic fans is the birth date of Richard John-Grayson Wayne, Member of the Flying Graysons, Bruce Wayne’s Adopted Son, Barbara Gordon’s classmate, Wally West and Roy Harper’s best friend, Princess Koriand’r’s true love, the first Robin, The Boy Wonder, Leader and founding member of the Teen Titans, Nightwing, Protector of the City of Bludhaven, Renegade, Ex Apprentice of Slade Wilson, Agent 37, Big Brother to Jason Todd, Tim Drake, Cassandra Cain, Duke Thomas, and Damian Wayne, in varying times and places Father of Mar’i ‘Nightstar’ and Jacob ‘Jake’ Grayson and above all else and beyond all those titles, son of John Grayson and Mary Elizabeth Lloyd Grayson; here’s what I hope is something short and sweet. 

 Now with long intro out of the way, the following is dedicated to @mothnem @lightdusk96 @hood-ex @thattimdrakeguy @tarisilmarwen @fireflyxrebel-writes @nightglider124 @nyxqueen97 @wisegirlandseaweedbrainforever @arabian-batboy @meara-eldestofthemall @robxstar @bluerene and so many others for being my friends in light of this occasion. Please like, comment and especially reblog for any corrections and constructive criticisms. It’ll be very appreciated. 

  Please Enjoy....  

 The sun gleaming and bright rays shone through the small trailer window, lighting the small bedroom with many bright colors of its own decorated throughout. The beige carpet, still an ever bit of simple yet practical use of being the floor, was littered with small shapes of varying sizes, almost all being made of plastic. In particular, these spread out toys were action figures, representing the recent phenomena of spandex clad and awe inspiring individuals that are the ‘Superman’ from Metropolis and the rest being merely the few robotic and unnatural opponents he faces in protecting the oppressed and those in need. The resident of this small bedroom was for all accounts a fan of Superman, something not too unprecedented given the caped champion’s crusades in correcting the wrongs and dangers Metropolis and the larger world face the best he can ever since his first day to the public. 

   And given these are action figures of Superman, it shall be of no surprise said resident was indeed very young; a small acrobat of the famous Haly’s Circus currently asleep and softly snoring away in this room’s bed, blankets draped and covering almost every part of him, even his face. It’s his 7th birthday as of today, this wonderful first day of Spring. Now if only something or someone can get him awake to enjoy such a day. That’s where a certain Mrs. Mary Grayson enters our picture. 

  As she gently pries open her son’s bedroom door as to not awaken him, clad only in a grey t-shirt and black pants as used for pajamas last night, Mary carefully trudges across the beige carpet towards the bed being occupied by said son. Sure, both her and him have slept in until nearly 9:30 am as of now since their family group, the Flying Graysons, have a day off from practice for today, but frankly had Dick remembered that today’s his birthday from earlier, he would been by now sneaking into his parents’ neighboring room, awaking them both his father John and her up about said day, probably  the best he can think of for a gentle reminder. But due to recent influx of performances across the West Coast, Dick lost count so now it was Mary’s turn to gently remind him and in the best way she knows how. 

  As Mary’s bare feet carefully skirt around the action figures spread across the floor, even picking some up along the way (maybe reminding Dick to next time pick up his toys before bed will come in later tonight), she eventually reaches her son’s twin sized bed and the red, green and yellow pattern blanket that draped over the little guy overnight. In her right hand was a blue fine point marker pen with washable ink while her left gently leans to one end of the blanket where a small tuff of black hair sticks out. Gently caressing her left hand the black mass, Mary can hear a content giggle coming from under the blanket, no doubt her son feeling the familiar, loving motion John and her regularly do as parents can. On normal moments this happens, Dick would playfully push the hand ruffling his black hair away. This time, he just simply lightly giggles in his sleep. Mary was sort of banking the hair ruffling being enough to awaken her son to this bright and beautiful first day of Spring. As soon as her hand though stops with the affectionate ruffling and once more snores are heard coming from Dick, her lips turn into a soft yet mischievous smile; it was time for Plan B. Sure Enough, when looking over to the other end of the blanket and seeing her son’s own two feet, so far socked but with her there not for too long. That marker in her hand has its cap screw off. 

  On some occasions when she was basically passed out from a long night on the trapeze, Mary wold wake to find the soles of her feet with scribbles and doodles all across, most of them featuring the Flying Graysons logo prominently. She almost immediately knew the culprit behind such drawing but often times just leaves it be and even walks on her two feet with drawing and all since the marker ink easily comes off so it was overall no big deal. Besides, her son was just having some harmless fun so why would she dare try ruining that; sure she was strict on some parts of his behavior but this ain’t one of the them. Now though, as she lightly tugs the two socks off her sleeping son as to not awake him, revealing two velvet soles and the ten toes and with her marker in hand, it was time for payback if you may. 

  Starting with lightly drawing smiley faces on his big toes, Dick’s reaction was almost immediate as a slightly louder giggle comes from the blankets and his toes clench. Mary briefly backs off the marker until the toes relaxing and using her free hand, she lightly grabs unto the big ones, leaving his feet still. With that, she can proceed with the rest as sure enough, various other faces across his other toes are drawn along with flowers and even an elephant on the arch of his right foot. As for that last one, the giggling had reached its loudest and looking upward, Mary couldn’t help but smile at the results. Plan B was a success, Dick was awake and laughing his head off due to the scribbling.

   “Momma!” he yells between hearty giggles, “That tickles!” 

   Mary grins a bit, “Oh really?” 

  She continues with that elephant on Dick’s right foot, now holding him still with arm entrapping his ankles tightly, making sure he can’t pull his feet back from that blue marker as it continued its path. Though Mary notes that even then, Dick wouldn’t want to. He had not once told her to stop, indicating that he was enjoying this instead. Frankly, after a long time doing this to her, she couldn’t blame him. All Dick does on his part is lay his head on the pillows, the blankets off of him, allowing Mary to see him clad in a similar style of PJs to hers only with the coloring being a blue t shirt and grey sweat pants instead. To the left of him was his precious stuffed elephant Peanut; ever since being first given that on his 4th birthday, he keeps it close to him whenever going to bed. All this time afterwards, Mary still hasn’t been able in getting her son a second stuffed toy like Peanut much to her disappointment but hey that’s a thought for another time, she has one more spot to draw before she can move on for the rest of the day, the arch on Dick’s left foot.

  At first, Mary thought of drawing the Flying Graysons logo for the finishing touch but instead opts for a more casually yet fitting wording. With that in mind, her blue marker makes contact with the velvet of her son’s arch and starts its ink dripped path. By now, the 7 year old was still in full hysterics over his Momma’s drawings but he will admit, at least it was better waking up from his trapeze swinging dreams like this rather than the sun’s rays shining on him as it usually happens. Finally though, he feels the marker stop and opening his ocean blue eyes, sees his mother put the cap back on. Putting the marker away in her pocket, Mary places a soft kiss on her son’s forehead while giving him another hair ruffle. This time, now fully awake, Dick gently pushes her hand away. 

  His blue eyes meet his mother’s own blue eyes and a wide smile stretches on his face. 

  “Thanks Momma” he chirps happily in Romani Chib. 

  Another motherly kiss, this time his cheek, “You’re welcome, Just wanted to make sure you didn’t forget about your special day today, My Little Robin” 

  As Mary stands and makes her way back to the door, Dick stretches his arms, letting out a yawn from his mouth doing so. 

  “Breakfast will be ready in 5 minutes” Mary states with a warm smile on her face.

  “Cereal, Momma?”

  “Any type you like that we have of course” 

  “I’ll be there soon” Dick says, a wide grin on his face. 

 Mary has a humming giggle of her own before making her own to the kitchen to no doubt prepare her son and her’s bowls for the day. Though of course, they were just getting started. 

  Dick swings his feet to step off his bed and begin trudging to his breakfast, he briefly wonders on what his mother drew on him before putting the marker away. As such, flexing his leg to where he can see the soles and toes of his two feet, Dick smiles of all nice stuff Momma left. Indeed, there were flowers on the balls of his arches, goofy faces on each of his ten toes, what looks like a circus ball on his right heel, a trapeze bar on his left heel, a short yet cute elephant on right foot’s arch and at least the words on his left arch. 

‘Happy 7th B-Day Little Robin, Love Momma’ 

  Now that was love from a mother alright. Dick certainly will never forget this. Now to get the table without stepping on his toys on the floor. 

[hello-im-not-a-possum]

26. Pipe

It wasn’t Wally’s firstborn son, Vincent, that took over his company, nor was it his middle child, Jonathan. Instead, it was his youngest daughter, Samantha, who took that knowledge working with pipes and put it to good use, although the repairwoman and plumber couldn’t imagine herself using a pipe like that before... (Set in the FIFE AU, RIGHT at the start, as in, as soon as the Ink’s Freeing everyone because it hasn’t been fed.)

Joey couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief when he heard the knock at his door and the muffled greeting from the other side.

“Franks’ Repair and Plumbing.” After a short pause, the voice on the other side spoke again. “..Anyone home?”

He took his cane and hobbled over to the door, opening it and jumping back in shock when he saw who was behind it.

In a lot of ways, the repairwoman was the spitting image of her late father; same black eyes, same nose, same eye shape, same skin tone, same lost tooth that was clearly gotten in a fight, ...Same hat; a newsboy cap that Wally wore when he didn’t want to ruin the baseball cap he liked with ink. In her case, it could’ve been the EXACT same hat as it looked very old and worn, and it was stained by ink before she even set foot in his apartment even though he doubted she worked with the stuff considering her job.

There were still clear differences keeping her from looking like a clone of the janitor he killed; like her jet black hair kept in a tight low bun and that she had a much more muscular physique, but the resemblance was still uncanny to him.

“You wanna stop gawkin’ an’ get your shit fixed or do ya wanna keep pissin’ your pants in shock, Gramps?”

Her nametag read ‘Sammy’ and her rudeness certainly reminded him of that musician.

“I… Well,” he cleared his throat “you just so happen to remind me of old friends of mine. And it took me off guard.”

“Uh huh. Let’s just cut to the point, you say you called me for a problem with a rare machine of yours?”

“Yes, it hasn’t been working for five days now and it’s been pumping... ...stuff through my plumbing!”

“A’right, can ya show me da machine?”

“Gladly.” He hobbled into the room where he normally kept it with the repairwoman following him and muttering something under her breath. “Here we are.”

“So dis here is the ink machine?” she circled around it and tapped it with her wrench here and there and muttered more things under her breath as she took a close look at it. “Eitha you should’ve called me in way sooner, or ya shoulda scrapped this hunk of junk and not even bothered in da first place.”

“Well, can you save it?”

“Hmm…” she popped her gum and shrugged. “I’m no miracle worker, but I can try. Don’t get your hopes up though, I’ve never seen anything like this before...”

Joey bit his lip, it was an expected response, but it wasn’t a good one. As Sammy continued to work on the machine, the former animator limped to the entrance to the Ink Demon’s realm, took a quick peek inside, and slammed it shut as he saw Henry speed towards him. He cursed under his breath as Henry started beating on the door.

“What da fuck is that noise?” Sammy called out from the ink machine’s room. “Sounds like someone tryin’ ta break a door down ta murdah ya!”

“I-it’s just the washing machine in the basement!” Joey tried to keep the door shut with all his weight pressed against it. “Remember how I said that the ink machine is messing with the plumbing?”

“Maybe I should go check dat out too then, one bad pipe tends to take the others down with it when you’re not careful...”

“N-no! I’m sure it will go back to normal if the Ink machine’s fixed…”

“I can’t do this with distractions goin’ on, I’ll just shut it off real quick an’ get back ta work on this.”

“I’m sure it’ll die down on it’s own soon! Don’t get up!”

Propping a chair up against the banging door, Joey speed-limped to his desk and drew like wildfire; the Ink Demon emerging out of the machine without Henry going to it first, the Demon breaking down the boards and stuff around it and going right towards Henry. He stopped holding his breath in anticipation when the thumping died down on the other side, the story waiting for him to properly restart it so he could tell it again.

For a few hours, he left his desk untouched as he counted down the seconds for her to hurry up and fix it and leave. The already long hours feeling like an eternity as the hurdle standing between him and his goals grew more and more infuriating with each and every single tick of the clock.

Luckily for him, it sounded like she was making progress, but she wasn’t doing it fast enough for his liking. Thankfully she was far too focused on the machine itself to notice it’s effects on the rest of the house.

Like the groaning swollen searcher oozing out of his bathtub tap, or his kitchen sink slowly filling up with ink with the stolen hearts of ink creatures floating and bobbing away in the messy sink. He swore that the TV turned on on it’s own and started playing “Tombstone Picnic”, but Sammy didn’t seen to notice in spite of the cartoon playing very loudly. Joey just silently prayed she’d get those damn pipes inside it fixed and get out.

“Okay, I think it’s fixed now.”

The phrase was music to the old man’s ears and as he walked in, he could in fact notice an improvement with the machine itself.

“Wanna give it a test whirl ta be sure?”

“I think I will later, thank you.” He staggered as he fished his wallet out of his bathrobe pocket. “I’ll call you if I notice anything out of the ordinary again.”

“So what’s it supposed ta do, anyway?”

“Oh it just makes... things...” Joey handed her a check. “Nothing too interesting...”

The Ink Machine on the floor sputtered to life on its own and spat out a large glob of ink, a long metal pipe, and a tape recorder that was slightly encased in the dark stuff.

“That’s supposed to happen.” Joey lied as he reached for the plug and pulled it out.

“Uh... okay..? Have a decent rest of your day then...”

As she turned to leave, the tape recorder on the ink clicked on on it’s own as well, and a very familiar voice came out of it.

“...Sam..an...tha..?” The speaker crackled in a voice that made her tear up as she heard it. “Sammy, is dat you?! It’s me, Dad! Dis ain’t a recording! I’m in da tape! I’M IN DA TAPE!”

Joey cursed under his breath as the repairwoman turned back in shock and heard a softness enter her voice that he didn’t know that the woman was capable of.

“...Daddy?”

She ran back and scooped up the tape recorder in spite of the old man trying to wrangle it away from her.

“Daddy, can you see me?!”

“Yes!” The Tape recorder let out a surprised, and relieved sounding laugh that seemed like it turned into crying. “I was startin’ ta worry dat I’d never see ya again!”

“I’m here, Daddy” She hugged the tape recorder tightly, the shock of just having her father back outweighed all of the supernatural happenings around her. “I’m here...”

“Othas are down here too! your Uncle Sammy, Norman, Tom, Susie, pretty much everyone who’s eva worked at da studio!”

“What?! How?! And why?!”

“It’s Joey! He’s made some kind of... pocket torture dimension!”

Knowing where this was going and knowing that he was far too weak and frail to take down the amazonian woman of a handywoman himself, Joey opened the Ink Demon’s door and prayed it would come out and attack her. In the meantime, he himself fled into the animated studio just in case.

“SAMMY! LOOK OUT!” The living tape recorder warned as inky tendrils webbed all over the living room. “RUN!”

Sammy grabbed the pipe out of the pile of ink and charged.

“NO! NOT AT DA INK DEMON! AWAY FROM- Huh??”

Wally paused as he saw Sammy shove the Ink Demon off to the side and proceed to run after Joey.

“Sorry Daddy.” She said as she paused to set him down on the table. “But I’m gonna need both hands ta beat down dat sorry son of a bitch.”

“Go get ‘im tiger! I’m rootin’ for ya!”

While her small detour and Joey using his knowledge of the layout to his advantage managed to get some distance between them, the pipe wielding Valkyrie with murder in her eyes was quickly closing in on him.

“THIS IS FOR WHAT YA DID TO DADDY!”

[akiraidraws]

Imperfection AU: Beginnings Chapter 2

Summary: With the help of the ink machine and a little magic, new life is created. A new little toon in the shape of a little devil darling. But when he turns out to be riddled with imperfections can Henry save him from Joey's wrath?

Trigger Warning:Violence, light swearing

Walking into the room that housed the machine, Joey made his way over to a strange man that Henry didn't recognize. The man was taller than Joey and himself with broad shoulders and short darker blonde hair styled in a military cut. Except it was longer towards the front and curled slightly with only the back in the usual buzz cut. Inspecting the man, Henry noticed that the patch on the strange man's chest read 'Gent'.

Ah, he was one of the engineers Joey had hired to build the machine.  

From what Henry could hear of the conversation, the man, Thomas Connor it seems his name was, and Joey were going over some final details of the machine.

So, this man was the head engineer from Gent that Wally had told him about. Well, more like he complained to Henry about.

Tom, correcting Joey on what to refer to himself as confirmed that everything was in place and that the machine was ready to use for whatever it is that Joey had planned.

The conversation coming to an end, Joey dismissed Tom.

Tom glanced Henry's way as he walked past him, a neutral expression plastered across his features. Henry noticed a small scar that cut across Tom's left eye, and continued up past his brow. Probably from a past work injury. Maybe military? Tom on the other hand was looking Henry up and down as if studying him before he turned away from Henry with a small exhale and walked out of the room.

Henry's brief encounter with the man left him feeling just a little intimidated and with a slight sense of unease, don't get on Tom's bad side. Duly noted.

Usually Henry wouldn't judge a book by it's cover, but something about Thomas Connor just felt... off. It's no wonder Wally had such a distaste for the man.

Turning his attention back to Joey who was now facing the large machine with his back turned to Henry, his eyes wondering to the floor at Joey's feet. It looked like there was some sort of large circle messily painted on the floor with black ink. A pentagram? Some sort of binding circle maybe? Henry wasn't sure, he didn't really know too much about Joey's... hobbies.

"Joey, what is this?"

"Oh, this? It's nothing to worry about. Just a little something to strengthen the incantation."

"After all, we don't want any mistakes now, do we?"

"I guess not..?"

Henry watched as Joey walked over to a mid sized wooden table that was along the wall to their left. He grabbed an armful of well used black candles and placed them at each point of the star within the circle. After making sure each candle was properly lit, Joey walked back to the table and grabbed a thick purple book with a black binding along the spine and a similar looking symbol to the one on the floor.

To say that Henry felt uneasy about this was an understatement, but any second thoughts he may have been having were interrupted by the sound of Joey's voice.

"Henry, if you could just stand right over there." Joey gestured across the room to the far right wall.

"And be careful not to step in the ink, please."

Henry strolled to the other end of the room and crossed his arms giving Joey a quizzical look.

"Watch the machine. You'll want to see this, trust me."

"... Okay." Henry said as he looked the machines way.

He didn't believe a word of what Joey had said but he was willing to entertain his notions. After all, Joey had plenty of experience in this type of thing so Henry trusted him enough to stop if things got dicey.

Joey flipped through the pages of his book with ease and began to chant when he landed on the desired spell.

The ink used to form the circle began to glow a harsh gold and the candles flames swelled. Henry rushed to cover his eyes, momentarily blinded by the unexpected flash of light. In his moment of blindness he failed to notice a small pastel blue orb that radiated from his chest and made its way within the pentagram. A piece of his very soul. As soon as the blue soul piece touched the ink, the harsh gold immediately faded away to a soft pastel blue.

A blue that spread upwards forming an almost invisible wall around the symbol painted on the wooden floor.

A sudden gurgling noise from the machine drew Henry's attention as he uncovered his eyes. He was still blinking away the stars in his vision when ink began to pour from the machines large nozzle with a plethora of sloshing and splashing sounds. The ink was rushing out in alarming amounts but never left the bounds of the circle.

As the last words of the chant left Joey's lips he snapped the book closed with a loud resounding 'CRACK!". Almost as if on cue, the candles flames fizzled out and the ink stopped flowing save for a few drips that lingered on the nozzle of the machine. The pool of ink on the floor began to recess and form a small figure in the middle of the circle.

Henry couldn't believe what he was seeing as a figure began to take shape within the ink puddle. It was small and it was... moving?

Henry must have taken an involuntary step forward because the next thing he knew Joey had him by the arm pulling him away from what was happening before them.

"Wait, Henry! It's not done yet!" Joey all but shouted.

"I-I cant believe it..."

"I know! Isn't it exciting!?"

Henry nodded and turned his attention back to the figure within the ink.

With the last of its little body formed, the excess ink evaporated away like it was nothing more than water in a hot skillet. The last of the ink gone, the soft blue light emanating from the circle burst like glass and faded away leaving only the newborn creature in its wake.

The creature managed to shakily prop itself up on its small arms and onto its knees. It looked from Henry to Joey then back at Henry and smiled a familiar blocky smile on its yellowed face. Its black pie cut eyes looking nervously up at the men before it, its horns twitching before going still.

"Is... is that? Bendy?" Henry asked cautiously, taking a few steps forward to get a better look.

Joey didn't respond. He made no effort to move from where he stood as Henry left his side and approached the little toon devil.

Kneeling down in front of him, he was so small, so... infant like.

Black pie cut eyes watched the man in front of him as Henry tilted his head to the side curiously. An action that Bendy mirrored.

The toon copied every movement that Henry made.

Henry smiled and let out a laugh at the way Bendy was mirroring him.

As a result, Bendy let out the cutest little giggle that Henry had ever heard.

There was no doubt that this little toon was in fact, a baby. Well, maybe not a baby per say but he was definitely in an infant like phase of his life. New, and small, and so so innocent.

"Hello, little one. My name is Henry and that-" motioning over his left shoulder "is my good friend Joey."

Bendy reached his little yellowed hands out and beamed "Henry! Hen, Hen-Henry! Henry!"

"Yes. Yes, that's right."

"Henry!" Bendy giggled as he repeated the name a number of times to Henry's amusement.

Henry reached out and placed a hand under each of Bendy's arms carefully lifting him up off the floor to get a better look at the toon. Bendy letting out a small squeak as he was lifted from where he sat. Henry was shocked to see that in place of the usual skinny legs and large shoes were a set of almost gazelle like legs minus the hooves. His legs simply petered off into rounded hooveless points. And now that he was looking closer he could see what appeared to be a little pointed tail curled slightly around the toon’s dangling legs and it was twitching slightly. The little demon whined and wriggled as he tried to free himself from Henry's grasp.

"Hey now, it's okay. I'm not going to hurt you. Don't be scared." Henry cooed as he pulled the toon to his chest and gently caressed the tiny demons cheek in an attempt at comfort.

He was so small. Henry could cradle him with a single arm.

Bendy looked up at Henry and then over his shoulder, his eyes going wide. He grasped Henry's shirt tightly and buried his face in Henry's chest, whimpering. His tail trying to wrap itself around the mans waist but being too short to do so.

Confused, he turned to look over his own shoulder now, coming face to face with Joey who was leaning forward just behind him. Looking rather displeased with the situation at hand. Joey was glaring at the little toon in Henry's arms.

Bringing himself to his feet, Henry turned to face Joey.

"Why are you looking at him like that?"

"This is all wrong. How could this have happened?!"

"Huh??"

Joey sneered disgustedly at the little toon. Using Henry's soul piece should have worked, should have made the perfect toon. So why didn't it?

Joey snatched the frightened newborn toon from Henry's arms, knocking him to the floor in the process. He was going to return this little abomination to the ink like he had done to the countless before him. Imperfection will not be tolerated. Bendy crying out loudly in fear as Joey made his way back to the machine. Dazed from the impact, Henry quickly collected himself and picked himself up off of the floor. Adrenaline was rushing through his veins. Bendy's wails grew more frantic sending a shockwave of alarm through Henry's core. His eyes now set on Joey. He rushed towards Joey wrapping his arms around the smaller mans shoulders in a vice grip causing him to drop the toon like a rock. Bendy hit the floor with a loud 'thud', knocking the breath out of his little inky lungs. Dazed, confused and frightened, Bendy was frozen were he lie, curled into himself with his tail wrapped tightly around his small body. Henry immediately abandoned his hold on Joey and scrambled for the newborn toon on the floor scooping him up into a protective embrace.

Angry, Joey dives at Henry shouting.

"Give it to me!! It's an abomination!"

Henry's temper flares as he bristles. His hold on the little toon growing tighter while he shields Bendy from Joey's grasp.

"He's just a baby, Joey!!"

Joey dives for the toon in Henry's arms once more. The two men joined in an intricate dance as Henry dodges Joey's prying clutches. Set on protecting the frightened whimpering bundle in his arms.

"I knew it was a mistake bringing you here for this! Of course you would try to protect an abomination! You've always been too weak for your own good!!" Joey hisses. His own temper flaring at Henry's intervention.

"Really?? Well how's this for weak?!" Henry roared back, planting his foot squarely against Joey's chest sending him reeling backward into the cold metal of the machine. Knocking the air out of the fuming man.

Henry hated doing it, but no way in hell was he going to let Joey harm the defenseless little bundle he had cradled protectively in his arms. He stood defensively, ready for Joey to make another move.

But it never came.

Joey sat up slowly, rubbing at the side of his head. A pained expression plastered across his features.

"Fine." Joey spat coldly. His gaze focused entirely on Henry.

"You want it, then you take it. But you would do well to keep that abomination away from me, Stein."

[youllallriseintheink]

Prison Cell, chapter 1

Well, this one took on a life of its own. I intended to write a simple one-off taking place in an AU where the studio became the sketch dimension before most of the sacrifices were made. Turns out that this is going to take longer than that. While this AU will have an emphasis on horror, especially in the later chapters, I also want to show the resilience of some of these characters.

---

Joey Drew Studios was once an animation studio. Functionally, it still was. But before everyone’s eyes, it had become Hell.

The machine had been hard to ignore, but easy not to look into. No one seemed to know what it did save for a few, but no one was about to quit over it during the Great Depression.

The cult behaviour, in retrospect, had been the first sign. It isn’t everywhere that your boss demands an item from your workplace as a sacrifice to the Gods. But back then, it had seemed nothing more than a minor inconvenience. Pedestals had been set up in the break rooms. Sometimes your coworkers would go there to pray. It was strange. But again, not worth looking into, and not worth quitting over.

Joey had always been eccentric. Joey had always been unreasonable. Joey had always had an angry streak. If any of that was getting worse, it was getting worse at a fairly slow rate.

All of it happened so slowly. Until it happened all at once. The machine malfunctioned. It went into overdrive. Gent workers had rushed to quiet it. They turned off its power supply, and nothing happened. In desperation, they broke the pipes that had once fed it ink, and nothing happened. Finally, they frantically tried to dismantle it as it spewed ink, and... nothing happened. Even the strongest of men could not so much as loosen a bolt from the machine.

Then, something happened. An rapidly-growing area surrounding the machine lost its colour and detail- reduced to lines on a page.

In a last-ditch attempt to fix the machine, Joey and the closest members of his inner circle entered the ink machine room. No one knew what had happened. To outsiders, it had sounded like the ink machine had exploded. No one who had been in the room at the time emerged except for Sammy Lawrence, who came out limping and covered head-to-toe in ink.

From that point on, no one could leave. Doors to the outside were locked, and windows showed only black void. Sammy talked to many people in private in the coming days, and firm lines were drawn between those who were loyal to the cult, and those who weren’t- those who were donning masks and uniform. Those who were loyal left the studio occasionally- for meetings or to pick up supplies. Those who were not loyal had no way of knowing how they did.

Joey Drew still existed. Early on, there were rumours that he was dead and that his loyalists were merely following him in spirit, but before long, most people knew someone who had seen his new form.

Work remained much the same, albeit with a few fewer people, who had either not been in the studio that day, or whose primary duty was now distribution and getting supplies because they were some of the only people allowed outside. Everyone fulfilled their role. Gent workers maintained the machine. The others made cartoons, which, apparently, were still making it out to the outside world somehow. They ate. They slept. They mourned their losses. They formed small groups and tried to keep hope. A few small insurrections began, but but quickly ended in violence and were abandoned. With no access to medical professionals, no one wanted violence.

While no one in the studio had it easy, Susie Campbell held an additional secret. Every few days in the dead of night, a creature would come to her- a creature with a mask and curling, demonic horns made of ink. She’d wake up to the horrible creature sitting on her chest so she couldn’t move, and it would put a syringe in her neck and draw blood. This went on for weeks. Locking the door didn’t stop it. Eventually, it made her want to sleep as little as possible, and she began to wander the halls at night, oftentimes falling asleep in random places.

One night, after falling asleep in a hallway in the music department, she was roused by Norman Polk.

“Hey. Come with me tonight,” he whispered, helping her up. “That thing’s been stealing your blood, hasn’t it?”

“Yes,” Susie whispered back.

“I know someone else in that situation. But don’t worry- it doesn’t bother him anymore, either.”

Norman led Susie into one of the offices. Two cots had been set up, and one already had a person sleeping in it. “You settle in. I’ll go and look for another cot to bring in here. If the demon wants your blood, it’ll have to go through me.”

“Thank you,” Susie said. She wanted to say more, but didn’t know what to say. She was fast asleep before Norman returned.

Before the transformation of the studio, it would have been strange to see the two of them together, but times had changed. The big, strange, sneaky cryptid had gone from someone you avoided to someone you wanted on your side. And yet, on a social level Norman still mostly left the music room to themselves most days- he preferred to eavesdrop or hang out with the people who’d accepted him before all of this.

That changed after he started sharing a room with Susie, though. She started inviting him to talk with her and Wally, or any of her other friends in the music room, and he’d agree to it, mostly because he wanted to spend time with her. Eventually it became well-known what he was doing for his ‘guests.’

It continued like that for a few weeks. The creature found other victims before it found her. Then, one night, it slipped into the room, and it did not like what it saw. Two of its previous victims, including Susie Campbell. Susie was tucked into Norman’s arms. She opened her eyes for a moment, saw him, and went back to sleep. She felt safe and protected, and it made the demon’s blood boil. Blood wasn’t worth being clobbered for- not while he could get it elsewhere. But something had to be done.

The night after, Thomas Connor and two men nearly as strong as he was, each wearing loyalist uniforms and masks, entered the room. They pulled Norman out of bed, handcuffed and gagged him, and began to lead him away. Susie woke up to the feeling of him being pulled off of her.

For a moment, she was stunned. The next, she was yelling for help. The man in the other bed woke up as well. Susie had never gotten to know her “roommate,” but that didn’t matter now. “Come with me,” she said. “We need to wake people up!”

“What? Why?”

“You’ll see. Just trust me!” Susie had thought this day might come for quite some time, and she’d planned for it.

And so, the two followed the loyalists down the hall, banging on the doors and yelling to try and wake people up. Susie cursed herself for not finding out where people had been holing up. Her partner eventually found Emma Lamonte. Finally, one of the doors opened- it was Henry Stein- another person who could fight decently enough. “Henry, you’ve got to help. They’re taking Norman away. Hurry!”

Henry looked over to see it happening, and hesitated.

“Henry, if they get him on that elevator, we’ll never see him again!” Henry jolted into action, and soon he and Emma were in close range of the three loyalists.

It ended about as quickly. Emma managed to mule-kick one of the men in the stomach and knock the wind out of him before another one of the men snuck up behind her and began to choke her. Thomas was still holding Norman Polk as he squirmed in attempt to escape. Henry attempted to punch out the man strangling Emma, and he managed a few blows, but the man she’d kicked recovered and restrained Henry until Emma was unconscious. Once she was unconscious, her attacker rejoined Thomas, and they dragged Norman to the elevator. Before morning, Emma had been taken, too. Henry had run.

---

“I should have gotten in there,” Susie’s roommate said, breaking a long, tearful silence between them.

“You couldn’t have done anything. Those men were twice your size.” It hadn’t been as though they hadn’t spent the duration of the fight banging on doors in hopes of finding allies.

“I know.”

“What’s your name? I haven’t seen you around the music department.”

“Grant Cohen. Finances.”

“Oh. Norman’s talked about you. Well, I’m glad you’re from another department. Tomorrow, I’m going to try and get as many people together as possible- a rescue party, I guess. You could help. Tell everyone in your department to meet in the recording theatre after hours.”

Grant laughed bitterly. “Sure. I’ll gather all the bravest souls in accounting and finance.” There was a pause. “Don’t you get it? We’re helpless. People haven’t been forming big groups because when they do, things like this happen. And anyhow, I’d bet anything that Norman is dead already.”

A part of Susie agreed. But that wasn’t the useful part of her right now. “Look, I’m not going to try and convince you. But personally, I don’t like feeling helpless just because I can’t knock out Thomas Connor.”

---

The following evening, Susie had gathered quite a number of people. Henry’s friends had come, terrified that he was essentially a wanted man and that he had to be hidden from loyalists. Grant had showed up with a few others from accounting that had agreed to come along. And of course, the music department had all noticed Norman’s absence.

Susie began the meeting by telling the story of what had happened to Norman. Surprisingly, what followed was a number of other people coming out about various grievances. A few others had had the same experience as Susie, of having their blood harvested. There were also a few from other departments who had refused to work and had been punished by having one of their bones broken in the night. Wally complained about having to mop up blood.

“We need to handle all of that, too. But first can we talk about Norman?” Susie said, trying to regain control of the meeting.

“If he got onto the elevator, he’s probably dead,” Abby said, as gently as she could. “Or at least, he’s on one of their levels. There’s no way we can go down there and rescue him. But, since you’ve brought us all together, we might as well get organized. Maybe there’s a way for us to defend each other. And figure out who will be running the projector from now on.”

A knock at the door sounded, and everyone in the room went perfectly still.

“Do we open it?” Susie asked.

It seemed entirely ridiculous that the loyalists would try to get in by politely knocking.

“If they’re right outside this door, this meeting is over anyhow, and we can’t stay in here forever,” Abby reasoned.

On the other side of the door was Sammy Lawrence, holding a cardboard box. He was wearing the uniform of the loyalists, but thankfully he was alone. “I am not your enemy. I come bearing gifts,” he said.

Abby carefully opened the box, as though she were disarming a bomb. Inside were a few loyalist uniforms and masks of different sizes. She inspected them carefully and found nothing suspicious about them.

“Why?” Abby asked.

“Joey is working on a way out for all of us. None of us are getting out without his help. That is why I’m a loyalist. But, evermore since the machine cursed us, he’s been… worsening. I still have hope that he will get us out of here, but until then, you need to stand up for yourselves. Consider these a tool- they could let you visit the lower levels. But I beg of you- don’t interfere with loyalist work. Loyalist work is what allows some of us to visit the outside, and us going to the outside is what keeps you fed. Remember that.”

Abby nodded. “Thank you. This is very… courageous of you, Mr. Lawrence. But we’re still going to escort you to the elevator now. We can’t risk that this is just you trying to spy on us.”

Sammy did not resist as Henry and Jack escorted him to the elevator, and he left for the lower floors without issue.

“Well," Abby said, “I guess we have a way of finding out what happened to him after all.”

[creepyalienghost]

Memories of the past

Joey stood from his seat in the corner and reached over for his Cain leaning on the wall. He took one more look at the party before hobbling down to his quite office, the noise from the music and them chatting fading away with the distance. He needed to be alone for a while, needed to be with him memories. He closed the door and walked to his chair, sitting down. There he quickly spotted the photo of him and his best pal, Henry stain.

Today Henry was retiring and Joey through this party to honor him. Everyone arrived when cards of best wishes and gives for the man. He deserved them. He was such a great and talented man with a good head on his shoulders. He helped shape up so many lives around as well as shape up their Business for the better. Joey wouldn’t be in this vary spot without him.

Joey’s fingers gripped the smooth frame and brought it closer to his face. He remembers this photo being taken by Henrys little sister when she came to visit. They have always been a close family, one of the many things Joey admires of Henry. Joey examined the photo. It was captured on the day Henry won the art competition. He was so happy that day. They both were. Henry had such an extraordinary talent for drawing. Even better then himself.

Why just a month prior to this was taken was when he and Henry first meet in college.

—-

For the first year in college Joey decided to take art, Business and English. Art is as the last class he had that day. A good way to relax his mind and have some fun. That day he was also late for it. When he got there, there was only one set left. Next to a brown headed guy with bright green eyes. He took that seat next to him and laid his supplies on the table. “What did I miss?” He ask. The brown headed guy glanced at him. “Nothing important, just missed him fighting a goat.”

That made Joey chuckle and Henry smiled at that. “I’m Henry by the way. Henry stain.” He held out his hand.

Joey shook his hand “I’m Joey. Joey drew.” He introduced himself.

The whole class that day was great! The professor spent the first hour with an art game to get to know someone there. Joey had learn that Henry had 2 sisters and a grew up in California. The second half was spent with working on there first project. Drawing of what they had learn from there partner.

After class, Henry had invited him to an art auction that night. Joey had never been to one before but had loved to go and excepted his offer. He had wear his best suit that night and when they arrived everything looked so professional. The men there had their suits and ty, the woman had there gorgeous dresses with there hair done. Everyone there was dressed their very best.

The tables were was covered in a fine golden table cloth, topping with little silver decorations in the middle of each like crystals. The servers who are task going around with drinks and food had on outfits to match the decorations. Joey thought it all looked so glorious. He wondered how Henry got into this? Later on Henry would tell Joey about his father, who was an art professor and who took his kids to things like this.

That night he had watched many people there racing to keep the art pieces they desire. Large Paintings that took so many hours of hard work, Hand crafted sculptures that were Beautifully design and many different items that so many wanted to get there hands on.

——

Joey sat back, getting more comfortable in his office chair as he remembered the first night he and Henry spent together. That was the vary start of there friendship. After that day they hung out together every day after there classes, exploring the city around them. They would often love to go to the art museums to learn about the paintings and the book stores to lates books! One of those days Henry had started there business idea.

———

It was a nice crisp autumn day! The wind ever so slightly blew around you, the sun hide behind the clouds and the temperature was just right. The perfect weather for Joey. Especially for the week of the art festival. There wear no classes that day do to the festival and of corse he and Henry went.

When they arrived there, there was the sound of music playing in the distance making joey wanting to dance. When they got though the gate Joey found face painting station near by. Susie Campbell, one of their friends, was one of them who painted and was transforming a little girl into a magical Princess.

As him and Henry walked together though the crowd tours the ride they came across a tent for a cartoon that was quite popular. Many children were gathered around trying to get pictures and autographs from there favorite characters. He and Henry stood watching the Excitement of it all.

That’s when Henry leaned in tours him as he continued watching. “We should make our own cartoon show.”

Henry was joking about it then, but he himself couldn’t stop thinking about it, even when they were months from graduating. Why boy make a cartoon show? They both loved the arts and were good at drawing. They needed writers, musicians, actors and a building though.

It wasn’t Intel the last month of college, Joey ask him about really making a cartoon studio. Henry wasn’t sure at first if they should try it but soon they came to an agreement. They would start a studio together in the next few months.

They both already knew some friends that would love to join there Studio. Joey ask Susie and she with some friends of hers agreed to join as an Voice actress. There was also his good friend Norman who’d work the projector. Henry found Sammy who promised him he could be the conductor and together they started to gather a band together. Dot, Wally, Alison and the others came along once they had the building sat and started hiring other people.

—————

Joey chuckled and sat down the picture frame. This place has grown hugely since then. So many more departments, so many more people. And with it relationships grow to. Alison and Tom happened for a few years before Alison left for Nathan and Tom stayed, Sammy and Norman has a happy and Heathy relationship still to this day, him and Susie Campbell had a thing for a while before they decided to just be friends. Henry though found love outside of the studio.

A beautiful woman name Linda. He had first meet her in an art store. He was buying more drawings books while she was buying more paint. She was a painter and damn good one at that. Her work was magnificent and sold for a great price! Joey once bought one for his mother.

They first became friends and bounded over the there passion for the arts along with other things like movies shows, and music. After around a year they officially became a couple and around five years later they finally announced they were getting married. Everyone was so excited for them to and Joey was honored when Henry ask him to be his best man there.

—-

The day of Henry’s weeding was here and Joey was of course with him helping. Henry finished buttoning up his under shirt and came over to Joey, who was waiting with his suit for him. “How do I look jojo?” He ask stretching his arms out for show.

“Almost complete!” He answered with a smile as Henry chuckled. He was so proud of his best friend for coming this far in life and knew Linda was a lucky girl to have a man like Henry.

Joey helped him into his suit on both arms then he smothered out the kinks and lumps before stepping back to get the whole picture. “What about now?” Henry ask again, only this this time spinning around for show.

Joey chuckled at him as he fixed Henry’s ty, making it nice and proper. “Now you look good!”

“All thanks to you Joey.” Henry gave him a huge grin and brought him into a hug.

Joey patted his back before they separated them a knock came from there dress room door. “Come, it’s time.”

Joey stood in his place a few feet away from Henry as they all wait for the bride. It was only a few minutes wait before the music started and everyone stood for the bride. She was stunning in that dress as she came down that ally, her father giving her away. They said their vows to each other and kisses to Seal the deal.

It wasn’t that long before Linda became pregnant with a little girl and Joey was touched when both Linda and Henry ask him to be her god father. Joey of course accepted the request. When she was born they named her after him, drew.

——

Joey whipped a tear away from his check. Drew was a smart kid growing up. Talented to. All three of them had influenced her into the arts. She would Afton beg for her father to be brought in the studio and sometimes he would let him. When she was here she never gotten in the way of others work. She would stay back and watching the band play as Sammy Lawrence guides them or listen to Susie Campbell do her lines. Sometimes she would play pranks with Wally when people were on break.

She loved all things art but takes after her father the most with Drawing. Which is why she’s about to take over Henry’s place in being one of the owners and within a few years the whole studio, once he could no longer work. He wouldn’t want his work going into any others hand.

Joey drew sighed as he looked around his office. It was good to remember memory’s sometimes but he m supposed it was time to head back to the party now. He gripped his cane, stood up with its supporter and walked out of his office.

[inkdemonapologist]

Silly thought, but how would your Escape AU Sammy react to just... being dropped into the Hell Studio AU for like a day (or week)? He probably won't have a fun time but given how pure and wholesome that AU usually is, maybe he would enjoy some of it? (NOT Through a Mirror Darkly! There's 2 Sammys that have suffered enough in there, we don't need to traumatize another!)

HAHA I WAS ABOUT TO SAY, IS THIS A CRACKED GLASS AU,

I think….. Well, I have some questions about the nature of the Ink in Hell’s Studio and whether the characters would recognise each other, but setting that aside for a second I think just Showing Up In Hell’s Studio would be pRETTY TRAUMATISING. Bendy is alive -- Sammy’s actual nightmare -- as are Alice and Boris, and there’s the pipes and the ink and the leaks everywhere, and even if it were just normal mundane ink, that whole atmosphere would just feel like… he’s back, he’s back in the Studio, and everyone else is acting like it’s normal. There’s ink flooding the rooms and the demon is here and everyone’s just treating it like an inconvenience! It’s fine, and everyone is friends, and nothing has ever gone really truly wrong. I think he’d feel very crazy, like he was being unintentionally gaslit. At least in JDS proper, there was a sense that something wasn’t right -- Jack and Norman and Wally and Thomas, even when they weren’t questioning it, they all knew something was off, but here? Sammy, calm down, nothing’s wrong! While I trust the Hell’s Studio folks to be thoughtful and not immediately dismiss him as being nuts, there’s no reason for them to like… believe him? Unlike in Through a Mirror Darkly, where others had seen the place Sam came from and understood that things were different there, Escape AU Sammy’s terror and anger and paranoid prophecies would seem wildly misplaced. And the more they tried to convince him that he might be mistaken or confused, the more unhinged Sammy would feel.

Actually, let’s go back to those questions I had because this gets more horrifying the more I think about it.

(1) So obviously everyone Looks Different because Mak and I have different designs for the characters. How would this practically play out? Like, if Escape!Sammy meets HS!Susie Campbell, does he have a sense that this IS Susie, or is it just this other person with her name and her voice that looks nothing like her? Sammy’s run into this concept before, because uh, Susie sure did, uh, start speaking with, Allison’s voice, after she went through the machine enough to become Alice Angel,,,, And someone named Joey Drew, who speaks with Joey’s voice, suddenly looks much more harmless, has this wacky, cartoonish obsession with summoning demons, and is genuinely close friends with someone named Henry Stein, who speaks with Henry’s voice… Look, Sammy’s been sent to another dimension before: it was a dimension created by Joey’s machine, and he was trapped there. Ironically, something like the Story Theory seems to be the explanation that would make the most sense with the information Sammy has; these are characters, this is a story -- a nicer version of the story, a cartoon version, where everything Joey wanted turned out okay. But if the Joey he knows is in control, it isn’t safe.

And (2) Is… is it the same Ink that runs through the machine? The Ink in Hell’s Studio is clearly also supernatural, but would Sammy recognise it as Ink Machine Ink? Would he hear the same call? Would his cravings kick in? Or would he only have the leftover itch of a past addiction, with no additional compulsion since the ink is less malevolent here? Regardless, if Sammy could Feel that it’s more-or-less the same stuff behaving differently, I think it would freak him out a lot, and I’m not sure how good he would be at resisting urges even if he’s not Literally Incapable Of Resisting. It’s REALLY NOT hard to imagine Sammy, trapped in a strange and smiling nightmare, with no one who makes any sense and nothing solid to hold on to, falling back into the same terrified pattern, giving himself back to the Ink because it’s literally the only thing here that he knows, the only part of all this that feels REAL. 

Maybe not. Maybe he would give up, play nice, take whatever place in this dimension he’s given and be as well-behaved as he can be, angry and alone but painfully well-behaved, until the Joey of this world can offer him a promise of home; something he would, at that point, do anything for.

I do think that if everyone knows what’s going on, it might be…… less horrifying, haha. If Hell’s Studio Joey Drew opens a portal and Escape AU Sammy Lawrence falls out of it and Joey’s immediately like, “oh dear, I think I summoned you from another dimension but NO WORRIES I’m going to work on getting you home right away!” then maybe Sammy could… wait it out without losing his mind. It would be an awful place to be, and he would have all the same struggles of feeling like he’s back in the studio while also dealing with simulacrums of his friends who don’t understand where he’s coming from At All, but knowing what’s going on would mean he could try to shake it off and keep himself together for a week.

I don’t think he would enjoy it.

[paulfwesley]

A Split Second (Part 2) [Bryce Lahela x f!MC]

Pairing: Bryce Lahela x f!MC (Dr. Claire King).

Chapter Rating: T (one use of the f-word)

Word Count: 2.4K.

Description: A confrontation. Who will make it out? TW: guns, violence, blood. Part 1. 

Disclaimer: Characters, storyline, and parts of the dialogue are taken from Pixelberry’s Choices’ Open Heart. They fully own the characters, dialogue, backgrounds, etc. MC Claire King’s background is my own creation, based off of MC in-game’s personality.

Author’s Note: OKAY did NOT expect that reaction! I’m glad everyone loved the first part, and I hope you all enjoy part two! Let me know if you want to be added or removed from the tag list! 

Tagging:@n-whas @anotherbeingsworld @frenchieswiftie @mightyloveoak @jaydito-tjjd @vamped99 @graphitekayla @bitchloveskcbaseball @jamespotterthefirst @commander-rahrah @macy-ray85

Enjoy! 

Bryce Lahela was a lot of things. 

A surgical resident. A guy with great hair. A guy who had magic hands. But he never expected to be a coward. 

Which he was. He was a coward for avoiding Claire; dodging her calls, avoiding hang out with their friends if she was there, running to the opposite side of the hospital if he even caught a whiff of her jasmine perfume wafting down the hall. Even still, he longed for the sight of her face, the sound of her laugh, the way she fit perfectly in the spot between his shoulder and his neck.

And he felt like such an idiot. When he first decided to try and cheer Claire up, it was just as a friend. Sure, he had some lingering feelings from their first days as interns, but one look at Claire and Doctor Ramsey in the same room and it was clear which doctor she had her sights on. He had given up all hope of trying to catch her attention and reserved himself to just being a good friend, trying his best to ignore the way his skin felt like it was on fire whenever she accidentally brushed his fingers, the way a thrill ran through his core whenever she smiled at him. 

And then Doctor Ramsey left, and Claire was left in shambles. Oh, she did a very good job of hiding it; smiling, laughing, engaging with her friends, staying on top of her patients and proving that she was deserving of the role of the Junior Fellow on the Diagnostics team. But Bryce knew her. Every smile didn’t quite reach her eyes, brightening her baby blues with joy that Bryce could lose himself in. She was quieter in gatherings, losing herself in her beer bottle and only speaking when spoken to. She didn’t banter like she normally did with her patients; they showed up, she diagnosed, and then they left. She couldn’t even find the joy in the job she loved because she couldn’t find the joy in her life. 

That was where Bryce drew the line. It was when he went up to her and asked her to go Go-Karting, like they did when they were in the midst of the drama with Mrs. Martinez. And even though her smile still seemed a bit forced, it was much better the next time they hung out and watched a movie. Horror, at his insistence, and she spent the entire movie in his shoulder. Bryce wasn’t going to lie; there was a reason he didn’t suggest a rom-com or a comedy. 

And then the night where they hung out as friends, and everyone went to bed one by one until it was just him and Claire, when she looked in his eyes with such a deep longing and vulnerability that he knew was reflected in his, he impulsively leaned over and kissed her. And when she didn’t pull away, when she tentatively pressed her lips back against his, wrapped her arms around his neck, sighed gently against him, he promised himself that he wouldn’t let it get serious, because that wasn’t what she was looking for. It wasn’t; she just wanted comfort, and well, Bryce was willing to give. 

For a long time, things were good. With each passing day, Claire became more and more like her old self. Bryce would turn the corner and catch her telling a story of a brave, fantastical mermaid to a six year old girl who had her eyes squeezed shut as she drew blood from her, and then he would watch that girl hug Claire because she made her feel safe. She always started the conversation as soon as they sat down in their usual booth at Donahue’s. At the end of each shift, when she met Bryce in the locker room, she smiled and wrapped her arm around his back, snuggling herself into his chest and telling him about her day. And at home, when their limbs were tangled together, and her breathing tickled his shoulder, Bryce thought life couldn’t get any better. 

And then Ramsey came back. 

His good life was shattered. Ramsey was back, which meant that Claire would go back to her pursuit of him. He knew her; Claire wasn’t the type to give up so easily on something. And he knew, when she decided to hang back and “check in about tomorrow” with Doctor Ramsey. Bryce wasn’t an idiot. But then again, maybe he was. Because he did the one thing he told himself not to do. 

Bryce figured it’d be easier to have a clean break; give the both of them some space to reset before he was ready to be around her without really being able to be with her. To program his chest not to tighten whenever he saw her across the hall, to control his hands when they itched to touch her when she sat beside him, to ignore the jump in his stomach when he saw her eyes light up when she laughed. That would take time. How long? He didn’t know. 

He was walking down the hall in Edenbrook, trying to think of where he could spend the lockdown (the surgical floor? He could catch up on his charts, but all work and no fun made Bryce Lehla a bored man. He wasn’t sure where his friends were either, and no one was answering their texts, and he was too afraid to try and find them in case Claire was with them; he didn’t want to be stuck there) when he turned the corner and someone collided with his chest. “Whoa!” he jostled, his hands automatically reaching out to catch the person who bumped into him. He looked down to see Sienna in his arms, eyes wild, panting, tears on her face. He frowned. “Sienna? What-”

Her eyes widened. “Bryce!” she choked. She pointed back in the direction she came from. “It’s--it’s Claire!” 

Bryce’s stomach dropped. “What? What about Claire?” 

Sienna choked out a sob. Her entire body shook underneath Bryce’s fingers, and he tightened his grip on her in an effort to keep her grounded. “Sienna, what happened to Claire?” 

Sienna’s jaw trembled. “S-shooter,” she breathed. “We’re under lockdown because of a shooter. And he’s here for Claire.” 

That was the last thing Bryce Lahela heard before he took off. He pointedly ignored Sienna’s desperate calls of his name, of her telling him to come back so they could find help. The only thing he heard was the thump of his blood in his ears. His heart hammered in his chest, his sneakers squeaking loudly against the linoleum. Bryce ran as fast as his legs could take him, but it still wasn’t fast enough. Not her not her not her not her not her not her--

He screeched to a stop when he turned the corner. Right in front of him stood Claire, her hands up, the hairs on the back of her neck standing up. She turned when she heard movement, and she gasped at the sight of him. Red rimmed her eyes, tears spilled down her cheeks, her parted lips wobbled. “Bryce--” she spluttered.

“Hey!” he heard, and he was forced to tear his gaze away from Claire to look at the man standing in front of them. He didn’t recognize him, but he pointed a gun in his face. Bryce’s arms immediately went into the air at the sight of the fury storming in the man’s eyes. “If it isn’t pretty boy!” 

Okay, so Bryce didn’t know him, but this man someone knew Bryce. “Sir--”

“Shut up!” the man shouted, his hand shaking, from anger, or nervousness, Bryce didn’t know. 

Claire discreetly took a step back, closer to Bryce. “Wally, it’s okay, he’s a friend-”

“He’s no friend!” Wally seethed. “He’s that guy you’re always with! At the bar, at the movies, at the park! He’s always there! You’re always smiling with him, kissing him!” His grip tightened on the gun. “How could you kiss him? After everything that happened between us?” 

Claire furrowed her brows. “Nothing happened between us, Wally,” she said in the gentlest, softest voice. “You came in after a car crash, I treated you, and that was it.” 

“No!” Wally cried. Tears poked out of the corner of his eyes. “Don’t you remember?” 

“Okay buddy, just take a breath--” Bryce tried, but instead Wally took a threatening step towards the two of them. 

“Shut your fucking mouth before I blow your brains all over the wall,” he growled. 

“No!” Claire’s eyelids flew open as she stepped directly in front of Bryce. He immediately put his hand on her shoulder and tried to force her back, she her feet stayed rooted in place. Her hands shook and her lips trembled, but she still had a strong resolve on her face. She wasn’t going down without a fight. Bryce couldn’t help but stare at her in awe, despite the situation. “Wally, I see so many people every week--” she started.

“But how could you forget?” he seethed. “What you said to me? You said, you said, ‘Any woman would be lucky to have you, Wally’, remember? Remember?”

She gulped. “I remember,” she said quickly, though when her eyes briefly flickered over at Bryce, he knew she was lying. “I remember. But I wasn’t talking about me.”

“Of course you were,” Wally said quickly. “You just didn’t want to make the first move. That’s why I started following you around. I found you at that bar, and I finally had the confidence to go up and talk to you. You were walking out with that guy, and just as I started walking towards you, you stopped and kissed him in the street!” he growled. “What does he have that I don’t, huh?” 

“Wally, it’s not about you,” Claire said in her steadiest voice, though Bryce could hear the tremble. “I’m sorry if I made it seem like I was into you, but--”

“But nothing!” Wally cut in. “You’re just like every other bitch out there. You play with a man’s feelings and then turn around and ignore him!” He flicked the safety off. “Not anymore. If I kill you, then kill me, we can be together, with no one else around to keep you from me. Everything will be okay.”

All the colour drained from Claire’s face, and anger flashed in Bryce’s chest. He staggered forward, throwing up a fist. “You son of a bitch! If you even harm one hair on her head--”

“Hey!” Wally shouted. He took a step back but kept the gun trained on him. “I’m the one with the gun, asshole! So just stay back. This is between me and Doctor King.”

“Wally, please!” Claire cried. “You don’t want to do this.”

“Yes, I do!” He exclaimed. “Don’t you see, Claire? This is the only way we can be together!” 

“Wally,” Bryce cut in. Claire looked over her shoulder at him, eyes pleading for him to shut up, but he wasn’t never good at that. “If you love Claire like you say you do, you’d never even think about hurting her.”

“What do you know about it?” He growled.

“Because I love her too!” Bryce revealed. He didn’t look at Claire, but he could feel the intensity of her gaze burning his cheekbones. “I love her too,” he said softer. “I know everything about her. I know she makes fun of Grey’s Anatomy when she watches it with her friends, but she truly loves the show. She’s a weirdo who burns her toast to a crisp and butters both sides. She’s the clumsiest person that’s ever existed; she could trip over thin air. She sang in an a Capella group in university and isn’t the least bit ashamed.

“She’s also the strongest person I know. She’s… she’s been through a lot in the past year. She’s been betrayed, she experienced a loss, and… and she went through a bad heart break. But she always made it seem like it wasn’t so bad, because that’s just the person she is. She’ll take on everyone else’s pain and problems and never talk about her own, because she doesn’t want to burden anybody.” Bryce gulped, his mouth dry, his throat tight. “And I have spent the last few months tortured, because I had to see her in pain because I didn’t know how to take it away. I wake up everyday thinking about how I’m going to make Claire smile, because she always knows how to make me smile, even when she can’t. And now… now I know she can never be mine, because she loves someone else.” He shook his head. “But all the same... a bright light like her… someone who just knows how to make your day better, who you know would never harm anybody, who makes this world a better place just by existing,  if it were to ever leave this world, it’d be a much darker place, and I know you don’t want to be responsible for that.” He drew a deep breath, and this time, he risked a peek at Claire. She stared at him, her lips parted, her eyes filled with awe, tears spilling down her cheeks. “When you love someone, when they hurt, you hurt.” He turned back to Wally. “And I’ll die before I let her hurt again.” 

Wally’s face had changed throughout Bryce’s speech. The anger in his eyes shifted to a sort of mutual understanding over the love they had for this one girl, though Wally’s type of love wasn’t quite right. Then, when he talked about Claire’s light, Bryce swore he saw something like sorrow, like he had just visited a world where Claire didn’t exist, and he didn’t like it. But when his gaze landed on Claire, staring at Bryce with wonder, like he was the sun, like every word that just came out of his mouth made all of her dreams come true, the vexation resurfaced, brighter and hotter and angrier than before. He moved his hand clutching the gun. “Then so be it.” 

“NO!” Claire screeched, her eyes jumping from Wally teasing the trigger back to Bryce.  When it finally registered to Bryce what Wally was going to do, he reached for Claire, shouting, “Claire!” just as Claire moved to push Bryce out of the way. 

The gun went off with a loud pop that echoed, the barrel smoking as the bullet whizzed through the air. An anguished cry broke the silence, reverberating off of the walls and carrying down the hall. 

A split second. That was all it took. 

Just a split second.