#i have been sitting on this since... december 2021 LOL | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

boo8008 · 1 year

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Three Months - Carmen "Carmy" Berzatto x Fem!Reader Chapter 02: Mince

Prologue | Chapter 01: Quadriller | Chapter 02: Mince

Series Summery: Its been one year since The Bear's soft open, and with everything running smoothly, Carmen's lost in his thoughts, until the final table of the night is seated.

Chapter Summery: After the minor introduction of you and Carmy, your about to prepare the first dinner post Covid and before Stevie and Michelle leave, one Carmen is also coming to. Only cooking dinner is not going as smoothly as you'd hoped.

Mince (v.) - to finely divide food into uniform pieces smaller than diced or chopped foods, prepared using a chef's knife or food processor

Word Count: ~3,865

My Notes bb: Hey….. How yall doin? Sorry this took so long to get out, work and life suddenly got busy and I didn't have time to write. I hurt my back though so it kinda forced me to write and crank this out. Hopefully its not as bad I as I still feel like it is but yea. Again sorry this took so long to get out. Hope you enjoy! (ps my therapist thinks this is a decent outlet though lol thanks Sandra)

2021 (December)

Carmen hardly ever came to dinner after those first few weeks, and Michelle said something about him working at Eleven Madison Park. While you were happy he head ended up at the high end restaurant, you knew he was working under one hell of an asshole. He seemed to be doing fine enough though. Granted, you would only catch small glimpses of him on nights when you stayed later than intended and he walked only into his room to sleep, with just a small mumbled ‘hi’ thrown your way. Eventually he managed to move out on his own and only came to dinner about once every two months when Michelle would insist on it.

Once covid hit though, you'd basically lost contact with him. Michelle even rarely managed to drag him into group facetime calls with you. They were mainly her or Stevie recounting their last two weeks of quarantine in a dramatic fashion and you and Carmen would be listening half heartedly. If Carmen was there, he seemed to just sit out on a fire escape in his building and smoke, thinking about other things. Everytime you picked up though, missing being around the two people you actually liked. You would use it as a little reprieve from writing yet another ‘easy recipes for quarantine’ article, or to have company while you organized and re-organised random spots throughout your apartment.

Mostly though you would use it to get away from the depressive thoughts of ‘what am I doing with my life?’ or ‘if something happened to me, only Michelle and Stevie would really know.’ you didn't realize how much you missed being around people until you couldn't anymore, just stuck with yourself and your cat in your apartment. You missed the mindless chatter from coworkers at your office and in person interviews with cranky chefs because they gave you more to think about than yourself. All you began to think about was how bad the piece you were working on was, even if your editor said it was great. You felt tired and tired of being tired. All you wanted was to have a nice dinner with Stevie and Michelle, and fuck even hearing from Carmen would be amazing even if it was another awkward conversation with someone you just barely knew.

In short covid sucked ass and made your already anxious brain even worse. Not to mentioned your sense of time became fucked and all of your normally scheduled daily things also hard to keep track of. While quarantine had somewhat ended, you all found yourselves too busy trying to get back into the groove of ‘normalcy’ and offices to have dinner again, canceling for meetings or being too tired. Leading to today, when after months of planning and rescheduling you had completely forgotten that dinner was not only being held at you place, but you were also cooking because Michelle and Stevie had nothing in their kitchen because they were leaving two weeks early to isolate before Christmas in Chicago, and to top it all off, Carmen was (for once) coming to dinner. You remembered only when Stevie sent you a text asking what time worked best to come over, and not wanting to cancel for the tenth time, you told them 7:00. So you left work early to run for the subway, then run to the grocers to get real food, and then ran home to start cooking.

Only cooking was not going as planned.

It was 6:30 and dinner was nowhere near done. It was like you had forgotten everything you knew about actually cooking, and you’re a food journalist for Christ's sake! This should have been something you could do fairly easy! You write about things like this all the time! Yet here you are, chicken suddenly burning in the oven from when you stepped away to check your recipe to make sure everything was going okay and you that were good to start the pasta. You quickly removed the now pucks from the oven and turned it off. You resolved to just sitting on the floor across from your oven and crying, thinking about where it all went wrong-not the dinner but everything. Quiet sobs racked your body as you sad down on your kitchen floor, forgetting about your phone and the fact your last text said “doors unlocked when you get here”.

Carmen didn’t want to go to dinner but knew he wouldn't hear the end of it from Michelle if he didn’t show up. And to be frank he wanted her to stop calling him a hermit too. So he grabbed his jacket after lunch service and headed home to shower and change, doing his best to not think of his shitty boss saying he was worthless for taking one evening off. He hadn't done that even during covid, constantly asking what the plan was or if the kitchen was open. He decided to head out early to your place sending a quick text and leaving. As he approached your door he could definitely smell burning, very unlike the pre-covid dinners you made. While not Michelin level, what you made were perfect home cooked and leftover meals to him. A nice change from his go to PB&Js with Doritos and a Coke. He checked his phone again making sure the apartment number was right and reread your last text again. He still knocked on the door before he opened it, out of habit.

“Yo its me,” Carmen called out, peeling off his jacket as he looked around the entryway of your small apartment. You jumped at the knock and stood up as the door opened, and as Carmen called out, you turned to face the sink in your kitchen.

“In here!” your voice was wobbly but you preyed he wouldn't notice. Carmen followed the sound and walked into the kitchen, seeing the blackened chicken on the stove and the mess of the rest of the kitchen.

“Jesus, the fuck did you try to cook?” he said it without thinking, and immediately you broke again. Crumbling in on yourself and to tired to try and hide it. Tears raining down your face and carmen short circuited, watching as you again sunk to the floor in a puddle.

“Shit fuck I-I’m sorry. Fuck! Wh-what can I do? What do you want me to do? Fuck sorry I-I’m bad at this.” he panics as he looks down at you crying. “Wh-want me to go? I-I can go- I should go. Shit, Sorry again.”

“S-s-stay?”

“What?” Carmen's pretty sure he heard wrong, after all he just caused you to meltdown from his social awkwardness.

“S-stay?” you say more clearly. You don't know why you ask it, let alone how it crawls out of your crying, shaking self. Its been so long sense you've been near someone else even a little close to you so maybe that's it. He stops for a minute looking down at you as you look up at him still crying. “Please?”

“... O-okay.”

He isn't sure why he stays, or why he sits down next to you while you cry, but he does. The apartment is quiet outside of you sniffles and the occasional sob but carmen stays put. Neither of you realize how much you've started leaning towards each other until your head is lightly lying on his shoulder. You’ve mostly stopped crying now but your face is still wet and your eyes are puffy.

He isn't sure what to say, with his mom asking if you were okay was off limits. It made everything worse. It lead to screaming and yelling and throwing things. He thinks about what someone normal, someone like Stevie, or Pete, or Natalie, what they would ask someone they hardly know if they saw them having a panic attack and decides to just do it, praying you’d be somewhat normal compared to his mother.

“You-you okay?” you'd almost forgot he was there, even if you were leaning on him, and sat up straighter, wiping your face.

“Yea, I’m-I’m sorry dinners ruined and for getting like that,” you say. Tears of embarrassment springing up at knowing that this (basically) stranger saw you cry.

“No no your fine-your cool,” he can feel panic rising again at making you cry again. “No no no offense but I-I was kinda in the mood for pizza anyways.” He's only partly lying, he wanted a home cooked meal but the pizza place he passed on his way here smelled greasy and amazing on his empty stomach.

“Are you sure? I still have the kitchen to clean and I just don't want you all to think that I don't care o-or anything that i-its our last dinner before you guys go back to Chicago for Christmas and I just-”

“Yea, your fine , its fine if we have pizza, I’ll text Michelle to grab it on their way over, they wont mind.”

“Okay…” you mumble, caving in on the choice of pizza and leaning your head back on the cabinet behind you. Carmens already pulling his phone out of his pocket when he spots the new texts from Stevie and Michelle on his lock screen.

Stevie: ‘Sorry gang, we dont think we can make it tonight, we still have a lot to pack 😕’

Michelle: ‘Yea I’m sorry i know its so close to dinner but maybe you two can get along without us????’

Michelle: ‘Sorry again lovelies xoxo 😘’

Michelle: ‘Dont be a dick carm 💛😘’

“Well fuck,” Carmen mumbled. He was now on his own to make conversation. “Looks like its just us for dinner. ‘Said they still have packing to do.”

“Oh,” was all you could think to say. Of course the universe would have the only two people you could actually converse with busy on the one night you were meant to see them.

“Yea…” Carmen wasn't sure how to proceed. Does he leave cause the only bridge between you both isn't showing? Does he stay because he already committed to dinner? God he feels so awkward.

“Well we could still get pizza?” you ask. “I mean you came all this way so it kinda feels like a waste.”

“You sure?”

“Yea, I mean I still gotta clean the kitchen but theres a place around the corner thats amazing after crying,” you say with a bit of a laugh to help bring up the awkward mood.

“Let me help you and we can go?” he suggests, already rising to his feet and offering you a hand.

“Are you sure? I mean the chicken I think is welded on there at this point,” you say. As your taking his hand and he pulls you to stand from your floor, you see his forearms flex and your mind short circuits as you look probably a second longer than you need to at the muscles and veins there. Luckily he doesn't notice because he's already turning and grabbing the now cool baking sheet with the chicken on it.

“Yea it’ll go faster, I think I can get this off too,” Carmen quickly took charge of washing the bowls, cutting boards, and other kitchen utensils you had pulled out in your frenzy to cook dinner on time.

In nearly no time at all the kitchen was clean and the two of you had left for the pizza parlor a block away. While yes the cleaning was a little awkward, the noise of the city on the walk made making any conversation difficult, meaning neither of you had to talk or struggle to make conversation.

“Pepperoni good?” Carmen asked as the two of you stood awkwardly next to each other, both of your jackets zipped all the way up thanks to the near unbearable cold outside.

“Y-yea, they make bomb garlic knots too if you want some,” you responded, skimming over the menu even though you already knew what the plan was.

“C-cool, um,” Carmen looked around the small shop, there was just the counter and a cooler for drinks, no seating. The place reminded him of the beef, dingy, and not that healthy, but god damn was this about to be the best food he could ever get. “Did you want to go back to your place? Cause… cause there's no tables and stuff…” Carmen cringed at the awkward way the words came out.

“Yea if that's good with you?” you said taking a step forward, the two of you would look at each other before looking away, as if the tiled flooring was so interesting. You decided to take a page out of Stevie’s book, he was better with people than you were so you prayed the attempted joke would land. “I mean we could eat out in the cold if your more comfortable?” A smile pressed its way onto Carmen’s face and you considered that a victory.

“Yea no, I love eating outside when its about to snow,” he snickered. “Reminds me of home.” You both shifted closer as the people in front of you pushed pass you both to leave with their pizzas. As you both stepped up to the counter Carmen was faster than you in not only placing the order, a large peperoni with a side of garlic knots, but also whipping out his wallet and paying, you on the other hand had barely stumbled out a hello and barely started shifting your bag to get out your own wallet by the time he was done.

“You didn’t have to do that,” you mumbled as you both stepped off to the side to wait.

“Yea well, its cool I got the money,” Carmen added. You only partly doubted it, he worked at the highest rated restaurant in the world but also lived in New York so it kinda balanced out. You both distracted yourselves for a few minuets looking at your phones, you taking to a word search game and Carmen playing the fun game of ‘who is this and why do I have their number?’ with his contacts. It felt a little more relaxing compared to earlier, more like the same air you both got when Stevie and Michelle would leave the room at your normal dinners, not pressured to talk but liking the fact another person was next to you.

“Order 447!” you and carmen both jumped as the number was yelled through the small shop. Carmen stepped forward and took the box and bag from the worker, turning to you, where you grabbed the bag and began to head out before he got up the words to protest that he's got it.

Luckily the only awkward part of the walk back to your apartment was the elevator ride up. As you both stepped into your apartment you were both greeted by the loud yelling of your cat as she rounded the corner to yell at you for leaving for a whole 30 minuets.

“Yea yea your fine baby,” you told her as you took the pizza from Carmen. “You good with just sitting on the couch? I don't want to do anymore kitchen cleaning.”

“Heard,” Carmen carmen said as he took off his jacket. He was looking down at the feline weaving between his legs and bent down to let her sniff him so he could pet her, instead she smelt him and abruptly ran back deeper in the apartment and he smiled a little at the cat, following it with his eyes to you coming out of the kitchen with two cans of coke, paper plates, and paper towels. Something in him stirred at the mundane and domestic sight but he waved it off as more anxiety.

“Wait-shit-your not allergic to cats are you?” you asked panicked.

“N-no,” Carmen's voice broke a little as he said it and he cleared his throat. “No… My, um, my mom never let us have one when I was a kid, something about the furniture. I always wanted one though.” Why’d his voice break like that? Why’d he bring up his mom? Fuck now he's gonna have to explain everything.

“Cool-cool,” you were turning to head deeper into the apartment again and Carmen followed, getting a better look at the place now that he wasn't rushing to the kitchen. “That's Mince, cause when I got her she was tiny and I wasn't thinking ahead.” He took in the living room, a nice, small sectional couch with a blanket over the back was against one wall, and a tv with bookcases full of nick-nacks and heavy looking books with holiday lights around it. The center of the room had a buttery carpet and the coffee table with the pizza and garlic knots on it.

“Make yourself at home,” you added. You’d never felt more aware of your actions than now, as Carmen looked at more of your space with posters and pictures around it and you were just trying to tell yourself to act normal. He took in the dining table with four perfectly mismatched chairs that was tucked into a corner on the other side of the wall from the kitchen. Mince catches his attention from the couch, batting at his hand from her spot on the arm rest. He again goes to pet her only for her to skip off and run to the opposite end where you are. Carmen finally takes a seat on the couch, the two of you as far as you could be. You both dig into the pizza and Carmen can’t help but think about how good it is.

“Fuck,” he groaned. It definitely compensates for the shitty morning he had and the rollercoaster of emotions he felt around you.

“Right?” you said through a smile. You were turning on the tv and poking around for something to watch.

“‘S so fucking good,” he said through another bite. “Chicago is still better though.” he mumbled.

“Fuck off,” you finally settled on Bobs Burgers that you left off on. You both ate in a mostly comfortable silence, focusing on the show and avoiding looking at each other. Once you felt you were full you settled back into the couch, and glanced at carmen sitting in your space, he had made himself more comfortable, and he looked nice there, leaned up against the arm of the couch with one arm draped over the back of the couch fiddling with a part of the blanket and his legs spread wide. You shifted your focus back to the television not wanting to make it more weird.

“So… did you finish packing already?” you settled on conversation to distract you from the thought of crawling into his lap. “For Chicago I mean.”

“Oh um,” Carmen was a little startled by the sudden conversation, but fuck it you already cried in front of him today, it was his turn to share. “N-no I’m just staying here, rather not watch my mom drive the car through a wall and my brother fight my uncle again.”

“Jeez, I’m sorry,” Steve had told you some of what happened that Christmas, mainly summarized as a big blowout of a fight between Michelle’s cousin Mikey and her kinda-uncle Lee, and her aunt Donna driving her car through the living room. God why'd you bring this up? He probably didn't want to talk about it. “Did you have any plans then?” Please let this be a decent change of topic you think.

“Just work, go home, smoke and eat, sleep, just like the last two years,” he says with a sigh. “Wh-What about you?”

“No, I was just gonna stay in and watch some movies.” Carmen answers with an affirming ‘hm’, not wanting to overstep and ask more questions. Even with the both of you wanting to talk more, neither of you know how to go from here. You turn you attention back to the television as Carmen turns his head a little to quietly observe you.

Curled up in the corner of the couch in a cozy, old, and ratty sweatshirt with some leggings and fuzzy holiday grippy socks, hair down, and face still a little puffy from the winter air and your tears, but still beautiful in the darkening light of your apartment, mundanely so. Not a supermodel ripped from the cover of vogue, or an unobtainable influencer with hair and makeup perfectly placed for pictures. You look like you belong there. You look real. Cozy and warm on your couch with the lights from the streets down below hitting you just so. Home he thinks, before quickly turning his attention back to the tv. Its not like he’d ever have a shot with you anyways, he’s always too busy, or too angry, or too much of an asshole in general. Where’d all of those thoughts even come from? He hardly ever felt at home with anyone, especially outside of the kitchen.

As the show plays on the two of you get lost in it and enjoying the act of being alone together, occasionally steeling glances at each other. You find yourself kind of liking being with him, not necessarily talking or interacting but the feeling of another person in the same room as you feels nice. Carmen won't say it but he's enjoying himself too. The show and coziness of your apartment make him feel relaxed more than his barren dingy apartment ever could, and the abundance of stuff artfully placed helps give him something to look at and think on rather than get lost in his anxiety and self doubt. Why does she have a Halloween decoration out its December…right? He thinks. Your both trying to think on how to ask for what you want but you beat him too it. Probably because you grew up with Steve and his weird ball of encouragement always on your side.

“Did you want to hang out? On Christmas I mean,” you finally get the courage to ask. Phew, not that bad.

“I mean I-I don't want to intrude,” Carmen starts. “Plus I have work the next day.”

“You could sleepover? If-if you want,” you prepose. “We can still smoke, eat, and sleep if you want. All the traditions you enjoy, a-and I don’t think I’m far from the line you need?”

You definitely aren't. In fact your apartment is somehow on a faster route to work than his own. The only reason you know is because of the Bake It Nice pop up bakery Eleven Madison Park does once a month that you always try to make time for. Carmen thinks on it for a second, and your sure he's looking for a way to let you down nicely.

“You sure your okay with me leaving at 5:00 in the morning?” he asks.

“Absolutely,” you say with a smile, and something in Carmen stirs. “Plus I can pass the fuck out again when you leave anyways.” he smiles at that, still unsure what feeling he's having right now, but he likes it.

“Okay,” he says and you both return you attention back to the show smiling like children. Your legs a little more outstretched towards carmen and his body begging to sink further into your couch. Relaxing to the feeling of you.

#carmy berzatto #carmy x reader #carmen berzatto #carmen berzatto x reader #the bear #the bear fic #the bear hulu #the bear fx #carmy x you #carmy x fem!reader #jeremy allen white

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sunlightandsuffering · 2 years

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I posted 4,631 times in 2022

That's 284 more posts than 2021!

4,493 posts created (97%)

138 posts reblogged (3%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@sunlightandsuffering

@liquorisce

@irememberthedark

I tagged 1,003 of my posts in 2022

#btl💕 - 183 posts

#elfkasa! and hunter! eren - 80 posts

#onlyfans au 📸 - 79 posts

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#reverse bite me au - 64 posts

#teacher eren and milfkasa - 55 posts

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#prince! eren and knight! kasa - 32 posts

#enemies to enemies - 32 posts

Longest Tag: 94 characters

#help i did this instead of writing bc i'm trying my best not to answer my reverse bite me asks

My Top Posts in 2022:

not sure if this will make the btl cut yet lol!

Mikasa awakes the next morning with a pounding headache and the smell of liquor oozing out through her pores.

It’s disgusting. She needs a shower, and several Advil. However, she’s not given the opportunity for either of those as Eren barges into her room, looking irritated. “Can I have my shirt back?” “What?” She questions blearily as she rubs her eyes, struggling to adjust to the light from her window, she needs a moment to mentally recover from waking up, it’s been difficult enough.

“My shirt,” Eren repeats, and she finally notices he is very much shirtless, and she looks down at herself in confusion, before looking around the room and noting that this is not in fact her bedroom at all. It’s Eren’s and this is Eren’s shirt she’s wearing. “Oh, sorry,” she mumbles, sitting back into his fluffy pillows as she fights a yawn, she doesn’t even know how she ended up in this shirt.

“I’ll take it off in a minute, I’m gonna get in the shower.” She blinks up at him, pleased with her answer, taking him in as he stands in front of her, miles of bronze skin over hard muscle, clear spring green eyes. He didn’t even want to come out last night and yet from what little recollection she has he’d taken her home, held her hair as she puked her guts up over the toilet and tucked her in. He’s so nice, and so unbelievably attractive. Sometimes there is no doubt why she’s so madly in love with Eren Yeager, who wouldn’t be?

Then, as usual, he shatters her illusion in the blink of an eye, “Sorry, I need my shirt back right now.” Before she can even react to the statement, cold hands find her waist under the covers, and she shrieks as he grabs at the hem of the fabric. “Eren!” But it’s too late, he’s already tugging it up her body and she yelps as her breasts are exposed to the chilly air, his hands making absolutely no move to avoid the perky mounds, he even gives one a little squeeze as he rather brutally tugs the fabric over her head. “What are you doing!” She sputters angrily as he rips it from her head, her hands immediately clutching at her chest to hide her pointed buds, how embarrassing. Eren makes absolutely no move to look away from her heaving chest as he holds his prized t-shirt in his hands, straightening it out, “Getting my shirt back.” “I was wearing it you asshole!”

He shrugs nonchalantly, “I needed it.” She struggles to respond to this, unsure where this entitled asshole has come from to replace her sweet roommate.

He admires her for a moment more, eyes raking over her disheveled form, and she struggles to hide her bountiful chest, although some part of her doesn’t want to. Not when his eyes are so hungry, the way he’d stared in such rapture at the soft milky globes.

She’s shocked still, her breath catching as one of his hands moves to trail over the tops of her perky breasts, “Nice tits Mimi, real pretty.”

Then he turns on his heel to leave, as if he didn’t just rock her whole fucking world and Mikasa is left to pick up the pieces.

66 notes - Posted April 24, 2022

Eren has had Mikasa for a few months at most, since he found the sweet little kitty whimpering outside his law office on a chilly December night. The beginnings of snow sprinkling the skies and a blizzard stirring in the air. It was the last day the firm was open before Christmas break, Eren the last out, ever the workaholic, he stood bundled up in his winter coat staring at the sleek black little feline. He had no time for her, none at all, he was a lawyer at a high paying firm, he worked in Big Law, upward of sixty hours a week, he lived most of his life in the office and if he wasn’t there, he was at home doing his work from his laptop. He had not time for a pet.

And yet, how many people had walked by the pretty little kitten before him, how many had ignored her malnourished little form, and how many more would walk by after him?

It was a moment of weakness perhaps, one that he would come to regret later, and maybe it was because he was lonely before the Christmas holidays, no family around to celebrate with, and no more work to keep him busy, but he squats down next to the little ball of fur, the most beautiful stormy grey eyes he’s ever seen on a cat.

He holds a hand out, makes a clicking sound with his mouth, tentatively hoping to coax her into his arms to take her home.

It doesn’t take anymore, she comes to him willingly, jingling as she goes and he discovers she has a collar, black, blending right in with her fur. The tag just says ‘Mikasa’, there is no owner information, no if lost return to address, just a name and he hums as he scoops up the little thing.

Mikasa, what an elegant name for a cat he thinks as he heads towards his car, tucking the surprisingly docile kitten into his coat. “Mikasa,” he hums, “I like it, maybe I’ll call you Miki for short huh?” He looks down at her, hands scratching behind her ears as he picks up his briefcase, “You want to spend Christmas with me Mikasa?” Surprisingly, the cat seems to nod back and Eren assumes it’s his imagination, but regardless, at least he won’t be alone for Christmas.

Eren finds out the hard way, with Mikasa around, he’s never alone.

They spend Christmas together and he falls in love with his cat, he’s never cared so much for another living being in his life. He didn’t realize how much he missed companionship, having a creature love you back, until he got his beloved little cat. She cuddles with him when he watches movies, bumps her nose at his laptop when he spends too long working, whines when she desires his attention and sleeps cuddled into his back on his bed. Eren truly loves his cat, and he pampers her endlessly. Whereas usually he spends Christmas sympathizing with the grinch, this year he goes to the pet store and buys about a million cat toys for his feline. Cat nip, a cat tree, one of those little laser pointers for her to chase. He loves his cat. But everything comes to an end and work begins again, so he has to start leaving his beloved cat home more often. The first day back to work is the hardest, she whines at the door as he tries to leave with his brief case and he squats down, frowning, “I’m sorry Miki, okay, I’ll be home around six, I promise.”

He scratches behind her ears and she wilts, but relents nonetheless, stopping her whines and allowing him to leave. She’s left with free reign of the house and the automatic feeder, and he feels awful every moment he’s at work.

Mikasa of course feeds into this when he gets home, she’s clingier than ever, won’t leave his side even for dinner, and she whines outside the bathroom door when he tries to take a shower.

He’s strongly considering working from home more often. He makes it a few weeks, and their routine becomes more normalized, although he still hates it.

He speaks to his manager, Erwin, also a cat owner, and he’s more than happy to help him out, allowing Eren Tuesdays and Wednesdays to work from home if he needs. Eren has always been a good employee, and this pays off. He leaves that same Wednesday morning, practically beaming as he treks up the stairs of his apartment, it’s a beautiful day too, maybe he’ll take Mikasa out on her cat-harness for a walk. It’s been a while since she got out. He knows she loves to explore the park.

He unlocks his apartment door, eagerly awaiting the image of his little ball of fur, she’ll probably come running when she realizes it’s him and not the amazon delivery guy.

However, Eren doesn’t find a cat at all, instead he finds a mostly naked, very beautiful woman in his kitchen cooking bacon, wiggling her hips as she listens to upbeat pop. He drops his briefcase to the ground with a thunk, and the woman yelps as she turns around, pausing the music as the lock eyes.

“Oh my god, Eren!”

Her voice is beautiful, sweet and melodic, she sounds immensely apologetic, quick to turn off the stove and come around the kitchen island, she’s wearing nothing but one of his t-shirts, the one Mikasa favours.

She’s the most stunning being he’s ever seen, long sleek dark hair that falls past her shoulders in silky strands, tucked behind her ears, milky thighs exposed and long slender legs, eye’s the colour of tropical storms.

She’s ethereal. And she speaks like she knows him, her mouth opening and closing, but he can barely hear her, his mind at a standstill as he tries to comprehend why there is a beautiful woman in his apartment and no cat. “Eren!” Finally, she startles him out of his trance and his freakout begins, where is his cat. He looks around frantically, ignoring the woman for the moment, searching for his beloved black little ball of fur, “Mikasa? Miki where are you?” He clicks his tongue as he looks around the kitchen island, he can’t deal with this right now, his brain says no. “Eren, please stop your cat isn’t here.” He whips his head around to look at her, his hackles rising, true indiscriminate rage roiling in his stomach, “What did you to with my cat?” His words are quiet, but they are cutting, barely restrained with rage. The woman just groans, “Eren! Look at me,” she gestures to herself up and down and Eren fights to keep his gaze to appropriate places. “Lady I don’t care about you, where is my cat!?” “I am your cat, stupid!” She finally bursts and it takes him a moment to compute. “What?” “I am your cat,” she repeats, much calmer, “I’m a cat hybrid, I can switch at will, here do you want to see?” He nods numbly. She sighs, but does so anyway, switching forms at will, right in front of his eyes, the beautiful woman shifts back into his cat and Eren is flabbergasted. “Oh my god.”

There she is, his beloved cat, all 7 or 8 pounds of her, the same sleek fur and beautiful eyes left under his now very oversized shirt. Eren doesn’t know what to do when confronted with the information that his cat is not just in fact a cat. She darts behind the couch, before she changes back and a pretty face pops up from behind the cushions, delicate shoulders bare and that beautiful voice again as she speaks, “Don’t freak out!”

“It’s too late, I’m already freaking out Mikasa! Or is that even your real name!?”

Her face crumples at his question and he almost feels bad, but then he remembers he’s been taking care of this cat for over a month now, and only now just finding out she’s actually part human. “Is this all some elaborate scam? Are you going to con me?” “Eren no,” she soothes, defeated, “Just hand me my shirt and we’ll talk okay, I promise I’ll tell you everything.” “You mean MY shirt.” She winces, but Eren throws it to her anyway and she disappears back behind the couch to shrug it over her shoulders. She sits him down on the couch while she takes the coffee table, glaring at her as she tries to explain herself. “My name is Mikasa, I’m a cat hybrid. This isn’t some elaborate con to steal from you, I promise. I’m from a long line of hybrids, and unfortunately, we’re often hunted down because of course, nothing is more interesting to humans than supernatural creatures.” He continues to glare, though he softens just slightly, but he can’t give her anything! No sympathy!! She’s been lying to him! “We used to live in the mountains, but most of my family has been hunted or killed. My older cousin barely got me out and well here I am. I just—” she sniffles a little as she talks about it, tearing up. “I’ve been hunted and burned so many times Eren, I don’t show people my human side anymore, I prefer being a cat. If people found out, especially since I’m a female, they’d take me, I know I’d be sold off. I rarely transform anymore, but I know you work often, and I thought maybe it was okay if I just stretched my limbs a little. I haven’t been human in so long, I haven’t danced. I just missed it.” She takes a deep breath before looking up at him mournfully, “But I’m sorry, if you let me stay, I promise it won’t happen again I’ll just be your cat.”

Eren groans, dropping his head to his hands, of course she has to have a reasonable explanation, fucking of course.

She looks so intensely sad, in front of him, this poor girl whose probably been through hell, all alone, all by herself.

He can’t very well be mad at her for that. “It’s okay.” She looks at him like he’s hung the moon and the stars, and he continues, “You can stay.” “Oh Eren really?” She throws herself at him and he groans at her weight, both because he wasn’t expecting it and because his cat is definitely all woman, he can feel it in her every curve as she smushes her chest against his, covering his face with cheek kisses.

“Thank you so much!”

He sighs as he allows himself to awkwardly pat her back, “Of course. And you don’t have to be a cat all the time, I don’t care. I can afford a roommate, just umm,” he pulls back slightly to look at her, trying to avoid the creamy expanse of her legs, “Maybe cover up a bit.” “Oh of course I will right away!”

She’s already running off to his bedroom to steal more clothes and Eren drops his head back to the couch, exhaling a long breath. He’d thought he was getting a cat, not a hot female roommate, he really hopes his work doesn’t suffer.

Mikasa is amazing, she’s everything he didn’t know he needed and more. She cooks, she cleans, she steals his clothes and forces him to stop working when he does too much, and best of all, she’s a living breathing human to spend time with. She has a personality, and she loves romantic comedies and cheesy love-stories like titanic, and she makes him watch it with her frequently. She’s sweet and soft-spoken, a little mischievous when she wants to be, but mostly she just seems to love him. She’s always worrying after his health, and doing his laundry, getting mad at him when he orders too much fast food.

She’s his everything, everything he’s ever wants in a woman and more. Except he can’t tell her that, because that would be weird, and like he wants something more from her, something overtly more sexual, which he would never try.

He doesn’t want to try and take advantage of her like humans past, so he spoils her rotten with gifts and luxury sushi on the way home from work, and buying her all the expensive clothes she wants.

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77 notes - Posted April 19, 2022

Happy belated birthday Eren, I love u and I know ur dick is big 🤧

“Mikasa what are you doing?” Eren asks, he’d gone to the shower thinking maybe she’d follow him, especially after that. But no, she’s just lying on his bed in exactly the same position he’d left her in.

He finishes wrapping his towel around his waist, wandering closer to the bed in concern, “Mika, baby are you good?” She nods a little, pupils blown wide, just staring up at the ceiling fan. “Okay, you’re not convincing me,” he grabs her chin, forcing her to look at him and her eyes focus a little. “Good?” He questions again and a silly grin splits her face, “Yeah, that was, that was really good ‘Ren.”

He chokes out a laugh, “You’re ridiculous, c’mon let’s shower.” He turns again, heading back towards the bathroom where the water is still running. He glances back only to find her still in exactly the same place. “Mikasa, c’mon,” he demands, what is she doing?

“Eren I can’t move.”

“Oh my god, you’re so dramatic.” “No really, my legs are still shaking a little, I don’t think I can get up.”

“Seriously?” he whispers to himself, striding back to the bed and sure enough she’s still jittering a little.

Well, damn cross that off his own imaginary list, make Mikasa orgasm so hard she can’t move, hell yes.

“C’mere,” he reaches down and hauls her into his arms, his towel coming loose slightly.

Mikasa nestles herself into his shoulder, sleek black hair messy from the bed and getting in his face but he doesn’t mind at all as he grips smooth thighs and a strong back.

This is gonna be fun, so, so fun.

80 notes - Posted March 31, 2022

Mummykasa!!

8.1 K

This is mostly fluff lol bc I didn't really have a plot for it 😂😂 so it's just mummykasa and stoner/tomb raider Eren being cute and having unneccessary sexual tension. Some of this will seem familiar bc I cut together the stuff i'd previously written and added some other stuff so I apologize if it's a bit of a mess. But the sex is definitely new lol!!

When Mikasa wakes up for the first time in several hundred years she expects a lot of things. Maybe to be met by the gods, the great Osiris. She’s not entirely sure what she’d hoped for if she’d really truly believed in the immortality their lore promised, but it was all she’d ever known so the expectation that she would live well after death was not unfounded. Her soul would be immortalized for eternity, and she’d live out the rest of her days in peace.

She’d assumed she’d wake up to some sort of great glow, maybe golden riches beyond her imagination, all the food one could eat, wine to fill her belly.

What she doesn’t expect is to open her eyes several hundred years later to a bright light blinding her forcing her to let out a little yelp which is followed very promptly by a scream that’s not her own.

She rubs her eyes, tears leaking from them as she adjusts to the now darkness, looking over to find a boy about her age laying on the floor next to her golden casket, next to some sort of light bringing contraption. “Are you Osiris?” She asks brazenly, surely this could not be the great god, although he looks to be attractive for sure, his countenance is not one of a god. He could barely pass for royalty, so what is he doing in the chambers of a princess?

“What the fuck?” Is all the boy says and Mikasa struggles to grasp his language, what is he saying? His accent is strange.

“Who are you and what are you doing in my chambers? How dare you trespass?” She asks authoritatively, for she is princess Mikasa, daughter of a great Pharaoh. She is not to be trifled with, her tomb is filled with riches, built in a pyramid all it’s own, she’d been assured by her father her grave would not be robbed before she awoke to the afterlife, so who is this man? “Fuck, I knew I shouldn’t have come down here after smoking, I’m losing my mind.” The boy is muttering to himself now and Mikasa’s fears worsen, just what is happening. “Commoner who are you I demand to know!”

The boy gets up and dusts himself off, grabbing his strange light contraption.

“I’m Eren and I’m robbing your tomb. Cool?”

He says and then promptly ignores her, going back to what he was doing before, rifling through the pots next to her casket. Mikasa awkwardly sits up, realizing she is wearing little more than disintegrating white rags, moves to cover herself with her hands.

“You should not rob me commoner, or my father’s wrath will be upon you.”

He quirks an eyebrow at her, “Yeah, yeah it’s the 2000s pretty girl, I don’t think your daddy is coming to save you.”

2000’s what ever does he mean by that?

“Is my father no longer alive, has he been buried as well?” She asks curiously, he sounds like this day and age is far from her own. “Yeah, I mean I’m pretty sure I must be hallucinating you anyway, but your family is long dead, I don’t even know why I’m down here, I’m an art thief, not an artifact thief but I needed some quick cash so I visited a minor pyramid, figured no one would notice if some of your stuff was gone.” Mikasa is appalled.

He is so blatantly stealing from her, his hands should be cut off for such a crime.

“Commoner your hands will be cut for your thievery,” she declares rather righteously. She probably shouldn’t be threatening him, but she doesn’t know what else to do, she needs her riches for the afterlife.

The pretty boy continues to ignore her, shouting a quiet “Aha!” as he comes across her gold bracelet inlaid with precious stones.

“This will work, I bet it’ll fetch a pretty penny before Levi can fence me my money from last job.” At this assertion Mikasa finally works up the courage to remove herself from her casket, although it’s a difficult job on such wobbly legs and if it weren’t for the thief in front of her she’d drop like stones.

“Woah there pretty girl,” the boy holds her up, her legs jelly and she’s forced to hold his arm for balance.

As soon as she feels strong enough she removes herself from him, she is wearing little clothing and this man is not her husband, she doesn’t feel comfortable baring herself.

“Wait, are you actually real?” The boy asks, following her out of his grasp and poking her cheek. “Yes! I am Mikasa, daughter of a great pharaoh and a princess, I am here in the afterlife to complete my journey of immortality.”

“Fuck.” The boy repeats the strange word again, bringing his hand up to his face and massaging his temples.

“Okay, I guess were doing this because I’m not just going to hand you over to the archeological society, god knows what those old bastards will do with you. I’m Eren, Eren Yeager.” “Eren Yeager,” she tests the words on her lips and finds she doesn’t hate the name.

“Eren, you can just call me Eren.”

“I am Mikasa.” She repeats and Eren nods condescendingly, “Yes I know pretty girl, you just told me that. Can you walk?” “Yes,” she responds but she is deeply confused about the turn of events.

She takes a step to show him she can in fact walk and promptly tumbles to the ground.

It is rather difficult to walk after hundreds of years not engaging in the movement.

Eren ends up just scooping her into his arms and Mikasa finds she doesn’t hate it there, he smells quite nice, something she’s never smelled before.

See the full post

90 notes - Posted January 6, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

this was gonna be poetic and pretty and about Queen Sovereign Mikasa and then I saw the 'met while buying condoms' prompt and i couldn't resist.

Shit, shit, shit.

Mikasa curses in her head about a hundred times as she loiters in the family planning aisle of the drug store. She's been there for ten minutes now, eyes scanning over the many colourful brands proclaiming that they offer the best protection, all shapes, all sizes, scented, unscented, latex, for those with latex allergies, even flavoured.

She swallows nervously as she squats down, leaning her knees up against the bottom shelf, eyes raking over all the possibilities. Fuck, she's sucha noob. She's never bought condoms before, is embarassed to even be doing it now. The guy has always had one rather luckily, but the other night upon stumbling into some random bedroom at a party she'd learn the hard way that not all guys kept them on hand. The adventure had ended awkwardly with Mikasa refusing to go without protection.

So, rather than find herself in the drugstore the morning after begging the pharmacist for plan B, she finds herself on a friday night scouring the shelves for condoms pre-emptively for a night out.

She curses yet again as Trojan and Durex stare back at her accusingly, competing for her attention with bright purples and dark navy hues, glow in the dark and strawberry flavoured options.

Mikasa briefly allows her eyes to skate towards the very limited sex toy section of the aisle, a few pink packaged vibrators promising her a better time than this. No hassle of having to purchase or choose which brand to buy, just a good time for the night.

Slim, manicured fingers drop the box of condoms, stopped in her tracks by a tall imposing presence behind her. Shit! She's taken too long, now someone is in the aisle with her. She can only hope it's just a really tall menacing woman. Mikasa tilts her head back just enough to catch a glimpse and it's definitely not a woman.

No, it's a tall, attractive guy who's looking at her in amusement as she squats in front of the condom selection. She whips her head back towards the condoms, pretending to browse conspicuously, dark hair shielding her face as she attempts to sink into the shelf, disappear into the wall of condoms. Hopefully, he'll leave quickly, maybe he's looking to buy pads for his girlfriend or something a few paces down. He does not and her dreams are crushed as he hums merrily, browsing the shelves above her. Mikasa tries her very best to go back to her decision, trying to choose between a few different brands, pick the best options, hoping he'll leave quickly.

Instead, after a few minutes she feels him squat down next to her, eyes very obviously on her and she peaks up at him nervously and fuck he's even hotter up close. Green eyes sparkling with mirth, a wicked smile on his face, biceps bulging as he crosses his arms over his knees. "Need some help?"

"I-no!"

He raises an eyebrow and she deflates, "Yes, I don't know what i'm doing." Whatever, she'll give into hot stranger for a few minutes, pretend he's who she's buying condoms for, and not that he's in fact just doing this out of the kindness of his heart with a pretty girlfriend to go home too.

Mikasa lets out an actual honest to god squeak as his warm fingers make contact with her own as he snags the condom box she'd been looking at from her.

"These are garbage, they feel like shit," he comments, chucking the box to the bottom of the shelf. "Oh," she whispers, like she's her brain isn't cycling through images of this darkly attractive stranger fucking her with said condoms. Then, he grabs her next pick, pushing it to the back of the shelf, "Also garbage, almost lit my fucking dick on fire."

Her mouth parts slightly and he keeps his eyes on her, smirking at her reaction as he grabs a flavoured box. "These are good for BJs I guess, I've heard they taste okay, but pro tip, usualy head is better without condoms." He winks and if it was someone even slightly less attractive, she'd have smacked this boy upside the head for his boldness. But as it is, all she can do is nod and wish to god it was her he was talking about as he tells her each condom factoid like it's common knowledge.

Finally, he settles on an XL box with lube and ribbing along the outside and he hands it to her, "These are the ones I use," he tells her and she nervously takes the box from his large hands, thinking about all the damage a boy like this could do to her, especially using XL branded condoms. She doesn't know much but she knows he must be obscene and she shivers a little as she takes it.

As if to add insult to injury he shrugs, "That is when I actually use condoms, definitely not a preference of mine, trust me it's always better without." His eyes are dark as he says the last part, hungry and her hands clench around the box, holding on for dear life.

"Thanks," she whispers to him, eyes locked on dark green and he shrugs, "No problem, you looked like you were struggling a bit." "Yeah, like I said, I'm not exactly well-versed in condom shopping." A strange look crosses the boy's face, his brows furrowing, "Well your boyfriend sounds like a jackass, he should have at least told you what to get." Mikasa chokes on her breath, struggling to get the words out before this beautiful boy misunderstands, "I don't have a boyfriend!"

"Oh," a pleased smile crawls up his handsome face, full lips curving up and oh that's a dangerous look, "Then who were you buying them for?" "Umm, well you know just in case, you never know..." She trails off, how the fuck is she supposed to tell him she's hoping to get laid at a party without sounding like a hoe, she's just horny okay, she has needs!

She can see he's struggling to hold back a laugh, "Well I'm glad you're practicing safe-sex I guess."

"I am," she says a bit too loudly and it's awkward for a moment before she shoots her shot because fuck it, "And you, are you buying those for you and your girlfriend?"

This time he really does laugh, a dark chuckle that sends tingles down her spine, "Nah, just in case." His eyes flash viridian and Mikasa stands nervously, this ridiculously hot boy following her, dusting off his knees. "Umm, what's your name?" "Eren, and you?" "Mikasa." "Pretty name," he tells her, hand reaching up to flick at her hair, tossing it over her shoulder playfully, "Well maybe I'll see you around Mikasa, I'll leave you to your shopping, I could see you were eyeing up the vibrators." She dies inside a little, waving at him meekly, he smirks "See you around Mikasa."

She might want to die, but she truly hopes he frequents this drug store often, she will camp out if necessary to find him again. He saunters down the aisle away from view and all Mikasa can do is think about the next time she'll see him. It's five minutes later, she sees him as he comes up behind her in the checkout line, smirking as he bumps into her. She stumbles a little, falling into his arms as his hands dart out to catch her waist. He looks down at her intense, hungry and she can feel her core heat at his touch, he's ridiculously hot.

"Careful, pretty girl," he whispers against her hair, close and she can smell his aftershave, he smells nice, clean, exactly like the kind of boy she wants to take home tonight. He takes his sweet time letting her go as he steadies her, hands caressing down her sides, a feel of her ass before he pulls away, grabbing some items from his fallen basket and placing them down ont he conveyor belt. He drops a pack of gum and some candy down innocently after her own items which are decidedly not as innocent. He fights back a smile as he notices not one but two packs of the condoms he suggested, and some lube, just in case. Mikasa wants the floor to open up and swallow her whole, the only escape from this hell.

"Two boxes I see, planning a busy night huh?" Mikasa isn't given the chance to defend herself as the cashier calls her forward and Mikasa follows her items up to the register.

She spends the majority of the transaction avoiding eye contact with the cashier and trying to come up with ways to slip this boy her number. Should she wait outside the door until he's done? Should she try to ask him out? Should she tell him he needs to take it a step further and show her how to use the condoms he'd reccomended. Oh god.

She's in her own world and the next thing she knows the cashier is tapping the debit machine in front of her to scan her card and great now she looks like an idiot in front of Eren, or as she's been thinking of him, Mr. Attractive.

She gives him one last look, an apology for even existing in his presence, he probably thinks she's a desperate loser.

Those green eyes say the opposite and he winks at her, waving her off and turning to the cashier.

See the full post

159 notes - Posted March 15, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#tumblr2022 #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review #LOL THIS IS SO FUNNY TO ME #I

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materialogy · 11 months

Text

It’s December 31, 2021. I’m sitting in the parking lot of the only business that will be open until midnight in a tiny ghost town outside of Big Bend National park. I saw a balloon trellis with “2022” decorating it earlier so I figured I might find some people to Hollar in the new year with here.

My service is full bars, 3G – much better than I thought it would be! So no data transfer. I have tried video chatting, posting, and sending people pictures but alas, the service only works for text and phone calls. I figured I would sit here and think about my year, where has it gone? We say that every year, as if we blink and memories of the past revolution around the sun flash before our eyes. I feel compelled to share how my year has gone. Call it loneliness? The lack of human beings I have seen that I care about, that care about me? That’s not to discredit the 100s of strangers I’ve had lovely (and not so lovely lol) interactions with in the past month and a half.

I started my year in Massachusetts, my home town, in my childhood yard with my oldest friend and my family, burning Christmas trees as is tradition on New Year’s Eve – but at a much smaller scale due to a certain pandemic. I got some ski runs in at the slopes of Loon mountain the next day, in another state that I absolutely adore (♥️New Hampshire♥️)

I drove back to my actual home of 5 years, Lima Ohio, to go back to work and begin construction of the $5,000 PC my employer trusted me to build (how did I get here lol, if you asked me what I thought my future career would be before college, I would have said “as far away from the IT field as possible”)

I took and passed a test to become a certified drone pilot by the FAA. Since passing, I have flown my drone over various scenery and cities in 14 states and counting.

I spun fire for the first time in a rock garden that is like nothing you’ve ever seen before with a dear friend. What a wonderful, powerful experience! This garden is in the back yard of a sweet, eccentric man in the hometown of Neil Armstrong, Wapakoneta. My Ohio people know 😏 I went on to spend every Thursday evening this summer jamming out vocally and on my mandolin with a group of 10-20 older musicians who I might categorize as the original hippies? Lol

I danced with great friends in the back room of a vape shop that I met from a video gig I had at the beginning of the pandemic. I picked up the bass guitar, an instrument that literally makes me feel like the most badass lady on the planet even though I am at a below beginner level haha.

I took pictures with my first film camera, and had a friend come over and teach me how to develop it myself in my dark bathroom. Definitely gave me an admiration for the blind! The film strip hung to dry on my shower curtain rod until I was able to invert the negative and see my extreme inexperience with the original medium of photography LOL.

I flew to Florida in March with two people, I now consider family after years of friendship in Ohio. We had a great time sitting by the pool and laying on the beach until we got back to the car to see the $120 ticket because we were so excited to run to the beach that we forgot to pay for parking! That was fun. NOT

Later in the year, I went on to participate in the marriage of these too amazing people shortly after buying their first home in the poppin’ town of Columbus, Ohio. Love you guys big time.

I got inked for the first time since I was 18! One cute and impulsive tattoo of a little bee, and one tattoo I’ve been talking about getting since I was 17 with my non blood sister ♥️. I’m blessed by the people in my life! And guess who the artist was? Another stunning soul I have gotten to know in the past two years, who has just finished building her schoolie to live and travel in!

That same artist friend of mine went on to give me the honor of tattooing her! A little brasil philodendron now resides on her shin by my hand. Love you Caroline ♥️

This year I bought new rollerblades and have traveled the country putting 100s of miles on them in various cities: San Francisco, Boston, Charlotte, Savannah, Tampa, New Orleans etc etc.

I took an exhilarating pre-travel flight to San Francisco with my covid raincheck ticket and visited with my aunt and uncle for nearly 2 weeks. Exploring the city, hiking the Bay Area elevation, singing in karaoke bars in Japantown, painting in an iconic art studio, flying the drone over their neighborhood. The memories are warm in my heart.

This year I parted ways with my partner of 5 years.

This year I packed up my entire life and the home I had spent 4 years in. (That’s a long time for a 23 year old!) I sold many earthly possessions, I packed my cats, I packed my piano, I packed my memories.

I moved my things to my parents house. &&& let me just take a moment to thank them for how wonderful and understanding they’ve been.

When I told them, hey, I know this sounds crazy, but I NEED to blow my savings traveling the country living in my car, they were not totally on board lol. But they ultimately understood that this was what I needed before the next job, and there’s no words that I could say to thank them enough for supporting me and for watching my cats and my greenhouse volume of plants while I go through my existential crisis that has lead me over 5,000 miles around the American continent.

I have been on the road for nearly a month and a half. I have hiked mountains, danced with strangers, kayaked with manatees, flown in a 2-person plane that is triple my age, explored museums and walked through historical locations. I have been sun kissed and sunburnt. I have spent all night changing the alternator in my car in the Walmart parking lot of a small Louisiana town. I have made coffee under many skies and on many beaches. I have superglued homemade window covers to the glass of my car because I’m tired of them falling on me in my sleep. I have cooked Mac and cheese in the top level of a parking garage at 2am cause what else am I gonna do when I’m hungry on bourbon street?

And now here I am, in a rural (understatement) town about a rocks throw from the Mexico border. I’m about halfway through my trip and if I was looking for answers to what I should do next or what my purpose is, I don’t think I’m gonna find that on the road.

What I have found is one hell of a life changing experience.

Reader, if you’re still there, here are a few excerpts from my travel journal entries:

“Slept in my first Walmart parking lot last night among a fleet of RVs, felt safer that way. Minutes from Folly Beach, SC, but I will drive inland soon to see an old friend. I’ll come back here tonight”

“Skated 4 miles on the Tampa riverwalk today and got a nice shower.”

“I am drawing some mutant palms among the yellow umbrellas & blue chairs on Treasure island. The Cabana boy told me yesterday that if I came back today, I could have a free cabana for the day.

& so I sit on the blue chairs under the yellow cabana, wondering how I found myself in such a beautiful moment.

Another day at the beach on Treasure island.”

“My skin is burnt from Florida’s hot rays. I thought it was kissed but my northern complexion was unprepared for the beating sun.

My eyes are crusted from dried tears.

A vagabond life I live.”

“Parked on the wharf, 2:00am, my eyes open to the sound of cooing owls. I decide to head out

To the beach I go, away from the little key that has a population of 700.

Tires screech to a stop on the bridge over the water leaving the town. The sky is stunning.

I have lost track of the amount of shooting stars my eyes have absorbed. It’s 3:20 am.”

“Overcast commanded the sky when I arrived in Panama City this morning. It seemed to swallow the high that was brought on by the clear night sky. I had a frustrating time with my stove as I lugged it through the sand. Complete with coffee supplies and complications, but I was determined to make my morning cup of Joe by the water.”

“Shards from massive sand dollars cover the white sand that is clustered into drifts like that of snow. It’s funny how I’m down where the weather is temperate, yet my mind goes to the cruel and icy landscape that is New England.”

“Skated around and fell with my coffee. I smell like coffee”

“I stayed in a parking garage and it was terrible. People were honking at every corner of the windy, multilevel structure. The sounds bounced off the concrete walls all night.”

“Hah my Friday night did not go as planned. I ended up staying up all night replacing the alternator in my car in a town I drove to to DoorDash. I woke up in that town and now I hit the road. Houston here I come.”

“Fire twirls before my eyes on the rooftop of a warehouse littered by art and junk at every level. Who knew this could be found on Houston’s Main Street.”

“Today I left the ground.

Today I soared the skies.

Today I coasted above the land that I have spent most of my life walking, driving, skating, swimming, climbing on.

It took me sideways.

It took my breath away.”

“The crumbly trail twists and turns as I follow it. I twist and turn like the water once did.”

#grungemetalandshit #grunge #grungy #love nature #young and wild #poetry of life #travel #travel journal #journey #retrospective #traveltheworld

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fridayyy-13th · 1 year

Note

for the honesty hour, what got u into tma?

okay okay SO. sort of a long story, buckle up. this tale actually technically starts a couple years before i even listened to the podcast; it's not really a necessary part of the story but i think it gives some neat extra context.

so back in 2018, i was getting into horror for the first time, particularly psychological horror (i still can't really deal with slashers or gore or anything, so psychological horror is my spooks of choice lol). and in the art class i was taking, one of my desk neighbors would give me recommendations. they had recommended Doki Doki Literature Club to me, and i'd loved it! so when they recommended me a podcast called The Magnus Archives, i went home and checked it out...by poking around on the wiki for a little bit to suss out the kinds of spooks it entailed. poking it with a long stick to see if it would bite me, as it were. i read through the wiki synopsis for a random episode (which was MAG 034 - Anatomy Class), decided it was too scary for me, didn't listen to it, and subsequently completely forgot about the entire thing.

jump forward to 2021, i once again had a vague awareness of Magnus due to following some artists for fandoms like Hermitcraft and YTTD who also made art for TMA. at this point it was kinda just in my periphery? i hadn't really given listening a second thought yet.

...and then in December i got covid for the first time, totally smacking down all plans of going out to do stuff or visiting friends.

so like, i had absolutely nothing to do for the holidays. i mean, i'd started playing Deltarune chapter 2, so i had that going for me, but that was it. i was bored outta my mind. and then one evening, i was scrolling aimlessly through tumblr at like 12 in the morning when a piece of jmart fanart caught my eye. i wound up searching the TMA tag, and after watching @/faerie--kei's fantastic Home PMV, i was Deeply Intrigued and Very Curious. the next morning i decided to start listening, and the subsequent two weeks absolutely rewired my brain.

and yknow how i mentioned that back in 2018 i had been told about this podcast, but didn't pick it up til three years later? the entire first thirty-three episodes felt strangely familiar, and then i listened to MAG 034 and went "OH HEY WAIT I READ ABOUT THIS ONCE DIDN'T I." and then it became my favorite episode!! so it came full-circle; the episode that initially scared me off became one of the ones i love the most.

i actually think i finished MAG 200 on the evening of Christmas Day? so that was a nice little gift to end my holiday, lol. i remember sitting on my bed after 199 like "wow. this is it. and i know how it ends." (due to aforementioned PMV.) "but maybe it won't actually end that way??? One Can Only Hope :)" and then i listened to 200 and yeah. ouch. i have been insane about this podcast ever since.

so uh the short answer is "the throes of boredom caused by sickness." i'm actually re-listening to it currently, much more slowly, since it's been a couple years. it's just as good as the first time, maybe even moreso because now i don't just have a vague idea of where everything goes, i know exactly when and how things go downhill. fun times :D

#tysm for the ask!!!#i actually haven't been able to find that jmart fanart since and it's been driving me up the wall for two years #it was a Christmas-themed piece; it had a simple background that i think was plain green with darker green gridlines across it?#Martin was holding Jon up in the air and they were kissing while wrapped up in Christmas lights #they were in the right side of the frame #and i think it was a more realistic art style #if anyone knows where to find it plsplsPLS link it to me i wanna see it again #anyway i rewatched the Home PMV and i am Feeling Things again lmao #friday chats #ask game #the magnus archives

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bluenet13 · 2 years

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5, 4, 3, 2, 1

Rules: post the top 5 works you’re most proud of that you released in 2022 (not necessarily your most popular), your top 4 current WIPs that you’re excited to release in the new year, your top 3 biggest improvements in your writing over the past year, your top 2 resolutions (ways you wish to improve your writing/blog) for the new year, and your number 1 favorite line you’ve written this year!

Thanks @chicgeekgirl89 for the tag!

5 Works

The lightnin' in my heart makes it worth it: My first Rookie story and what I hope is the first of many. Chenford stole my heart and I had the best time writing them. I also love every single character on the show and had a lot of fun writing them ganging up on poor Tim.

Silhouettes with no regrets: Heartstopper is one of my favorite stories and I loved writing a Tarlos fic inspired by the show. I really like the balance it has between my usual angst, emotional moments between the boys and more romance than I've ever written.

A Partner's Always Got Your Back + A Friend's Always Got Your Back: Two fics that could be a first and second chapter of the same fic; hence, why I added them both. This was my first time writing from a perspective other than Tarlos and I had so much fun. I love Nancy and I really enjoyed getting inside her head, and showing her sass, how badass she is, and how good a friend she is to her partner and Carlos.

The Green and Brown of Each Other’s Eyes: This one is also very special and easily one of my favorite fics I've ever written. I loved filling in the blanks of various show moments and showing in my own way the growth and evolution of TK and Carlos' relationship. It has some of my favorite lines ever and I just loved exploring Tarlos and sprinkling little parts of myself within their story.

Surrounded by Love: My father passed away in 2020 and I wrote this fic about TK dealing with the passing of his mother in honor of that storyline and my favorite character, and as a tribute to my father and my own grief. It's very personal and very special and easily my #1 favorite.

4 WIPS

The Courthouse fic: Tarlos, Nancy and Tommy + Owen and Gabriel at court when a bad guy breaks out; what could possibly go wrong? Been working on this one on and off since 2021 and it rarely cooperates. I started working on it last week again and might have figured out how to make it work for a bingo square but we will see.

Domestic Abuse: A NCISLA bingo square where Deeks suspects his neighbor is a victim of domestic abuse. My typical angst with some of my 'humor' in between.

A The Rookie fic of Chenford's first Valentine's Day together since they started dating.

An earthquake fic for my 'Natural Disaster' bingo square that I haven't started. Not sure yet if I want it to be for The Rookie and Chenford, or Lone Star and Tarlos.

3 Biggest Improvements

Better integrating my dialogue with the descriptions of what the characters are doing and what's happening around them.

I used to be very much an introspective writer and I spent a lot of time getting inside character's head and doing descriptions. Now I feel more comfortable writing dialogue and incorporating more characters into my fics.

I used to think I could only write fic for NCISLA and even that was mostly a fluke. I've now written for 8 fandoms and have learned to see I'm a good enough writer in my own way. I see how happy writing makes me and now that, for better or worse, it's probably going to be a part of my life forever.

2 Resolutions

Writing consistently: I wrote 13 fics in 2022. 12 in between January and May, and 1 in December. Enough said lol.

I want to get better at adding humor and romance into my fics. I love whump and angst but want to feel as comfortable writing other emotions and different types of scenes as I do with those two.

1 Favorite Line

From Can You Feel It?

Sitting back down on the chair with a sigh, Carlos grabs TK's hand again and sets it on his chest, over his heart. "Can you feel it?" he asks his ex-boyfriend. "Can you feel it beating for the both of us?"

Tagging @wanna-be-bold @ejzah @ravens-words

#my writing #fanfic #tag game

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maleux · 4 months

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It's me, Violet!

And Victor.

And I am back, baby.

I've probably remade an account on here 3 times total. I vowed to stay off Tumblr since a few months ago but honestly I just deactivated one of my other social medias and felt I needed to come back here. Like a full circle has been walked, a cycle has been complete. It's almost hitting the summer, it's almost hitting Pride month, and so much has changed, happened, and settled in my life. I'm turning 32 in a few months, and I'm wildly different than how people knew me.

Sitting here in my new apartment with my partner Mikal.. met him at my current job in December 2022. Been together ever since! I finally left my abusive mother and family, permanently in June 2021. Yeah remember me, I was constantly living with narcissistic abuse. Well, for more than 20 years really... Not like anyone on this godforsaken site could remember who I am and what happened to me. People from 2009-2014 that I met on here eventually all disappeared. I still remember who overglorified me, and who disrespected me and mistreated me. I still remember that person who tried delivering the cake to my family house. I still remember being in all these weird relationships with girls in different states or countries in my 20s. I still remember my grandparent's deaths, and I still remember when my relationship with my ex-partner was something I had to move on from. I remember every little win and setback I've experienced.

Curiously decided to look at the seemingly abandoned Tumblr of my former high school best friend. Think it's been 10 years since I decided to just stop bothering with that friendship. It's hard for me to really think of the fact I had a Mexican friend who was into Lana Del Rey and romanticized sadgirl shit, and pretty much fixated on relationships and broken love. I mean I guess according to the bio, which I don't think has been updated for a very long time - person ended up having a child. I can't say a whole lot, that is just my perception being colored by what I only remember during those years before I left. I left because I kind of got sick of that type of personality being around me. I knew it was not going to last in my future and the only thing I would have changed is just communicating that I wasn't feeling the friendship anymore.

Oh, what a wild life it's been. I think it's so funny I had a huge platform of disgusting obsessive girls and people constantly speculated my relationships and had parasocial connections with me all the time. And all the weird, awful things that happened during my relationship with my ex-partner and the people constantly barraging her with hate mail and messages implying SA, to the point I was involved with her state's police, because they were actually monitoring all my former social media before. Was I really that much of a threat or obstacle to that person? I guess what was the problem was my spiritual connection with my ex-partner, but hey I stopped writing about that because I know most people don't get it. I'm glad to know I'm not a selfish, greedy person at my core lol. Look at me, I have peace and solitude now. Sometimes I feel like my existence is surrounded by immature souls who are simply just clout-chasers. People don't operate for their highest self but for their most primitive desires and feelings, and it just bores me to death.

Back to my the current state of things: you fast-forward, and I end up living with shitty roommates, working shitty jobs, and dealing with more weird mixtures of jealous or manipulative type of people on the internet, along with only once being with an abusive narcissistic white man (my only relationship with a man at all until I met Mikal)

Like I've met so many people at this point who are genuinely jealous of me -- for things like looks, wealth, possessions, and qualities and personality. Wow, for someone living a hard life, I didn't think so many people could be so batshit crazy and delusional over just one person (me) minding their business.

Yeah, actually the irony is ...my life got better.

I've been through hell a lot unbeknownst to a lot of people. I already know I'm strong, I don't need anyone telling me that. But damn, honestly my life is rougher than a lot of other people's and how dare they compare themselves to me, dislike me off assumptions, not approach me in a trauma-informed way, and be envious of anything about me when I actually work very hard for everything in my life. I ended up in a healthy relationship and I live in a very good building now, and at least I'm not out here being chaotic, messy, and reckless. I'm just not the person I was anymore in the past, but there's that nostalgic part of me that looks back and sees how turbulent my life was in contrast to everyone else's.

Well, I'm still friends with my ex-partner. My best friend and partner though is Mikal. That's really all anyone needs to know. I do spirit work.. I have pets. I live very well. There's been a lot of opposition, adversaries, abusers, and antisocial types throughout my life but I do life a lot better than them. So, I'm happy.

I'll have to admit I only lived to the 30s eras so far but my life has been quite something, and I've been living to tell the tale for awhile now. Everyone else is so unhappy for not having lame, dumb things they want and I'm over here totally satisfied. I finally feel true satisfaction, a deep sense of accomplishment. A very deep sense of peace in some ways. It doesn't matter who has said what about me, who has tried to overanalyze me in the past. You don't know my pathology and values, you don't know a lot about my reasoning or decision making. I probably know people better than they know themselves or even me, I don't miss anyone and I don't miss anything that used to be in my life. I have what I need and I'm where I'm supposed to be. You see words like that all the time, but I'm saying it.

#personal

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myersmikey · 3 years

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First Snowfall (Michael Myers x Reader)

Original post date: December 24th, 2021

Summary: You and Michael play in the snow.

Warnings: None? Michael is a little shithead but not in a bad way lol

A/N: This idea wormed its way inside my mind on Christmas Eve and would not leave until I wrote it, edited it, and posted it all on the same day. It's adorable. Michael is also ambiguous here so you can imagine whichever version of Michael you want (OG, RZ, 2018, etc.) Also I think it's funny to imagine the neighbors staring out their window like 👁👄👁 at the neighborhood serial killer having a snowball fight with their neighbor lol /j.

Word count: 1.4k

"Wow!" you said, staring starry-eyed out the window. Breath fogging up the glass that displayed the first big snowfall of the year. Blankets of white fluffy snow covered everything in sight.

"It's really coming down out there, Michael! Did you see?" You turned your head around toward your quiet boyfriend. The only sort of response you received was a soft grunt.

"Do you like snow, Mikey?" You asked as you made your way over to where he was sitting. Michael shrugged, appearing disinterested. Tilting your head to the side slightly, you spoke again. "When's the last time you ever did anything in the snow? Like build a snowman!" Michael sighed before signing 'When I was a kid.'

You gasped in a fake exaggerated way. "No way! It's been that long? Well, we've got to change that." You reached down and grabbed his arm and gave a tug. "Come on!" The man blinked at you from behind his mask, unmoving. "Come onnnn, Mikeyyyy! Let's go play! I'm bored." You whined, knowing it would annoy him. He usually would give in to your pouting though. You tugged on his arm with all of your weight and much to your dismay, he wasn't budging an inch. You knew he was probably smirking under that mask too, that jerk.

"Fine. I'll go by myself." You huff and go over to your closet and pull out your coat, gloves, and hat. After you dressed yourself up for the cold, you made your way the back door. As you opened it you made it a point to shout "I'll just be out here having fun without you!" Before shutting the door behind you. The snow made that satisfying crunching sound under your shoes and you instantly smiled. You looked up and took in the sight. Big fluffy snowflakes fell from the gray sky with no end in sight. The bare trees had frost on them, and icicles hung from every house in the area. Illinois was no stranger to snow and winter, but it feels like it's been too long since the snow has been this pretty. It usually gets nasty really quickly.

It only took a few minutes before you felt that familiar feeling of being stalked. Michael was watching you and you knew it. It was time to make him see what he was missing out on. So, you reached down and began to roll snow into a ball until it got bigger and bigger...

-------------‐----------

Some time passed and you stepped back to admire your snowman. Complete with sticks for arms and a scarf, he was looking fantastic. You didn't quite have a carrot for the nose, but that's okay-... and suddenly an icicle was impaling your snowman's chest. What the heck? You peeked around your now deceased snowman to see Michael standing there staring at you. "Really Michael!? You had to make this guy another one of your victims! He's been alive for like... two minutes!" You shouted, putting your hands on your hips. Michael stared at you, and even with the mask on, you knew those eyes were saying "Yeah, and what are you gonna do about it?"

You turned toward your fallen friend and gave him a light pat. "I'm sorry, buddy. But I'll avenge you." You whispered to it. Grabbing a chunk of the snow off of the poor snowman, you rolled it into a ball and grinned and threw it as hard as you could at Michael.

Splat!

The snow hit him right in the face, well mask, and... oh. Oh no.

He wiped the snow off and you could now see that the snow got right into the eyeholes of the mask and is trapped between his skin and the mask. Oh my God. He was going to kill you for this. But you couldn't stop your howling laughter.

If looks could kill, you'd be dead a hundred times over by now. You kept laughing until you saw him tug his mask off. Your laughter faded as you took in his appearance. It wasn't an everyday occurrence that you got to see his face, much less in the daylight like this. But each and everytime it happened, you were reminded at how handsome he was. Then you saw the snow dripping down that handsome face and you had to cover your mouth to keep from laughing again. That is, until he tossed his mask down in the snow and stepped forward to the snowman and yanked out the icicle. "Oh no..." you whispered. You made him mad and now you were about to feel the same consequences as your poor snowman.

You turned around and took off running. There wasn't much of anywhere to hide in your backyard, but you had to get away from the Wrath of Michael Myers. "Shit fuck damn" you spat out every curse word imaginable as you bolted behind your shed and hid. You heard the sound of footsteps coming toward the shed. 'What do I do...?' You thought to yourself, heart hammering in your chest. You spotted the bush that was beside the shed and ducked behind there, hoping that Michael wouldn't notice you. The crunching sounds of footsteps grew louder before stopping right in front of the bush you were at. Clamping your gloved hand over your mouth to conceal your heavy breathing, you waited in still silence until the footsteps walked off. You released your mouth and sighed in relief. You realized that your relief came far too early when you felt something grab your ankle and drag you out and pull you up to your feet faster than you could process what was going on. A cold hand clamped down on your mouth before you could scream and it was then that you accepted your fate.

Your screams of terror were muffled behind the large hand over your mouth as you felt it. The icicle being shoved down the back of your shirt, against your skin and under your shirt and coat. The sudden cold was enough to make you squirm while Michael's strong arms held you in place. Oh, it's on now, jerk...

You licked the palm of his hand, causing him to pull his hand away from your mouth. It gave you just enough time to worm your way out of his grasp and fall forward. Grabbing a handful of snow, you stood up and rolled it into a ball. You spun on your heel and whipped it at him and he stepped out of the way just in time. You groaned and made another snowball before throwing it at him and hitting his chest successfully. You then ran behind the other side of the shed to catch your breath and grab some more snow. It was too quiet. You peeked around the corner and saw nothing. Was he still just standing there?

You heard a whistle above you and looked up. Michael was crouched up on the roof of the shed, a smirk on his face, and arms full of snow. "You wouldn't..." you said before you were knocked backward and all you could see was white. You stood up, brushing the snow from your face as he jumped down from the roof. "You sneaky, quiet son of a-" you were cut off by another snowball hitting your face. You finally just started grabbing fistfuls of snow and hurling them in his direction, not even bothering to roll them into balls anymore.

You ran at him and hugged him, actually managing to knock the man off of his feet. You both fell down into the cushion of the snow. You looked at each other, faces red from the cold, hair wet. It was quiet for a moment as you both just looked at each other. You were the first to crack a grin and then let out a giggle. And then you both exploded with laughter. It's been a long time since you've had this much fun. You glanced at him again, as he laughed harder than you'd ever see him laugh before. Hell, the most you've seen him do is snicker. And you realized how much you love this man. "Michael." His name slips off your tongue and he turns to look at you. You want to say those three words. You've known for a while that you've loved him, but neither of you have said the words to each other. You leaned down and gently kissed his cheek. Perhaps you'll tell soon enough. For now, you're happy with how things are.

"Come on, let's go inside. I'll make some hot cocoa."

#halloween #halloween 2018 #halloween 1978 #halloween 2007 #michael myers #og michael myers #peepaw michael myers #old man myers #rz michael myers #michael myers x reader #my writing #writing

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penismage · 2 years

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i was tagged by the lovely @comrade-cabbage to answer some lil questions :3

name: :)

sign: ⚣ (jk it’s gemini ☉ capricorn ☽ pisces ↑)

height: like 5’10, 5’9 ish idk. 176 cm

time: it’s currently 8:22 pm as i answer this question

birthday: may 23

favorite bands/artists: i love kesha so much. uhm i’ve been listening to fall out boy since i was in like middle school. tbh i don’t listen to music all that much and what i do listen to is sporadic i’m not consistent with artists i’ll listen to like an song from an artist ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

last movie: rewatched my big fat greek wedding, one of my faveys, the other night with @catgifsinthesenate

last show: uhhhmmm i’m genuinely not sure. probably rpdr as7

when i created this blog: this blog was december 2020 or maybe january 2021 but tbh it’s just exactly the same as my last blog but sluttier; that one i made in august 2013

what i post: everything lol text posts and jokes and memes and art and pretty pictures and hot guys just whatever honestly

last thing i googled: inches to cm

other blogs: i have a blog for fiber arts (knitting, crochet, embroidery, etc.) but i post extremely infrequently because i don’t do any of those as much as i’d like to and i finish even fewer projects than i do start 😅 @knitsmage and a side blog for reblogging porn that i never post my own stuff to lol that blog’s just for me

do i get asks?: i get some! but infrequently lol, mostly from my mutuals <3

following: 914

followers: 1,348

average hours of sleep: i really really try to get 8 hours or more every night but it’s really hard not to stay up late especially when i know i work the next morning and won’t have any free time the next day :/

instruments: i play the piano and i played the violin in school. i really wanna get back into the violin but they’re expensive and lessons are expensive and i’m far from wealthy lol. i also have a ukulele that i strum from time to time, and i’ve tried to learn a bunch of other instruments too to varying degrees of success

what i’m wearing: i was wearing scrubs when i started this at work but i didn’t waste an instant taking all my clothes off when i got home lol so nothing now

dream job: i do not dream of labor :) but the job i wish i had rn would probably be something like data entry where i can sit by myself with no customers or middle management and copy/type things up for a couple hours and then leave

dream trip: there’s a lot of places i wanna go tbh. i would love to go to germany and austria someday, and around other parts of europe too. i also really wanna take a cross-country train trip, i love riding trains so much. and i’d love to see every national park in the us

nationality: unfortunately am*rican ://

favorite songs: no <3

last book i read: heh i really don’t read as much as i’d like to 😅 i think the last book i finished was listening to pjo the sea of monsters again (and then didn’t finish the titan’s curse). the last book i started was, i think, house of leaves

i’ll tag uhhhhhh @daaaaanver @zelmoe @holleywoodsigns @adamsmasher @12-hour-630-mile @its-scoots and anyone else who wants to ofc!!

#lol i hate my actual name and ive tried out a bunch but none of them have felt right so i really don’t know what to put #i’m sure i’ve introduced myself to mutuals under like 6 different names bc i was trying them out and then decided i hate them too #fun ask game what did i tell you my name was when we started talking lol #also you cannot make me choose a favorite song how could i ever choose just a few #i love all the little recordings in my phone #about me #p

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niko-jpeg · 3 years

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WiP and Draft Post

All of the fics will be under the cut and there will be a brief description of each if you want to skip it. They will be organized from shortest to longest, and none of them are really heavily edited so if you find some mistakes, I apologize. Word counts are all estimates (except the first one). I didnt steal this idea from @psycho-chair you stole it from him.

Just comment which one(s) you liked and I'll write more! If you want any of these in a separate post for any reason, I will post them in separate posts.

Total Word Count: 17,659 FUCKING YIKES BESTIE

1: SOUL FUSED CHAPTER FOUR

Notes: Dont worry, SF is not cancelled. It is not discontinued. Its just on hold while I do Fail Boat stuff and get my life together.

Words: 59 (yikes)

Date: December 2021

____________________

Error had mixed feelings about Killer and Nightmare’s little gang of misfits. They were just kind of… there. He honestly had no idea where they came from or why they suddenly were a big part of his life, but he liked to think it was for entertainment value and not at all because he was getting attached to them.

2: UNTITLED 1

Notes: I genuinely dont remember writing this. I think it was supposed to be about Chara getting up to ghostly shenanigans or something, but I dont remember anymore.

Words: 100

Date: September 2021

_____________________

“Hey kiddo.” Frisk looked up from their book at Sans, who was sitting on the other side of the couch, just moments ago taking a nap. Toriel had asked him to look after Frisk (and Chara) while she went on a trip to Soia City, which was roughly a ten hour drive from the small town at the base of the mountain where they lived. She claimed it was so they wouldnt get lonely, but Chara suspected that the true motive was to make sure the two kids didnt burn the house down. Its not like Chara could if they wanted to, they mooched off of Frisks life force in order to even exist. They had even figured out how to momentarily manifest into a physical form, almost like a ghost for a few minutes.

A lot had happened since the monsters had resurfaced.

3: SPLATTERS OF INK CONCEPT

Notes: I have no idea where I was going to take this, but I guess it was just supposed to be a fun little short ft. some characters I have a very big soft spot for. Mew if youre reading this I am so sorry I have no excuses.

Words: 100

Date: November 2021

____________________

Before the Story: Basically just introducing the characters and how they were made. Airbrush is introduced the most as one of the Inklings who had a parental figure growing up. Airbrush asks Ink about the possibility of others like him existing. Ink vehemently denies it and changes the subject.

Reconnection (Airbrush): Airbrush was just sitting under a tree minding his damn business when a group of boys came and harassed him. He flees the situation and PJ finds him in the forest, looking to recruit him into a group called "The Splatters". The Splatters pick up after Ink and Error in secret, as well as get other "Inklings" to safety. The reason they hadn't been able to get to Airbrush was because Ink found him first. Airbrush says no and continues on with his day, though PJ doesn't leave him. They send Gradient in to try to convince but he has a breakdown halfway through his speech and gives up. Dizzy doesn't even try. It's Reimancy who gets through to him.

4: TRUST FALL CONCEPT

Notes: Okay so this one actually has a trigger warning! Mentions of eating disorders and a suicide attempt. Just an idea and excuse to write Dadmare lol. Of course, its at Cross' expense.

Words: 400

Date: December 2021

____________________

A set of three oneshots surrounding Cross and his time joining the bad Sanses. He's stuck with this idea that he needs to be perfect and any slip up he does is a weakness.

PART ONE: Perfect.

The first Oneshot is about how He develops this awful mental state where he starves himself and forces himself to throw up any food the others try to get him to eat, patrols the castle instead of sleeping, and takes any thing he does wrong personally.

One day, Dust or someone snaps at him and tells him he'll never be perfect and to just get over it after Cross starts venting to Dust about how awful he feels about not being perfect. Cross takes it the wrong way and tries to stab his soul, Nightmare stopping him at the last second.

Nightmare isn't negligent, he just hoped Cross would be able to work it out either on his own or with the others, since his relationship with his team was kind of… shaky to say the least. Nightmare forces him to fess up about his eating disorder and his various other issues and it's basically just pure fluff and comfort from there. Horror essentially force feeds him so at least he has something in his system, Nightmare officially places him under "Suicide watch" (meaning hes not allowed to be alone for about a week and if he's caught by himself then the watch time gets extended) and Horror goes mother hen mode on Cross.

PART TWO: Challenge.

The second one is focused on developing Cross' relationship with the others. Killer and Dust get into a fight and Nightmare forces them to do team building games like the flying hula hoop and the pillow pile game. Cross is still recovering from the whole ordeal the previous week but still participates because Noot Noot mom told him too.

Killer gets on friendly terms with Cross and the team gets to know Cross a little better than "Nightmares little weird guard dog".

PART THREE: Trust Fall.

Basically a big ol chapter full of fluff and Nightmare teaching Cross it's okay to trust others and that he belongs to the bad Sanses now and will always have a home with them no matter what. 5: ANOTHER SHOT PROLOGUE

Notes: This was a little Oneshot au I whipped up a few months back but never did much with because life. The idea was Niko moved to a big city and nearly forgot about the World Machine until they get back in contact through their phone and they go on another adventure. Also the Author is Niko's dad in this, though thats part of the mystery they're trying to figure out so shhhh ;)

Words: 1,000

Date: August 2021

_________________

As the light faded away, Niko stepped out onto the plush carpet of their room, a triumphant smile gracing their features. They had done it. With the help of the Player, they had saved the world and given everyone the happy ending they deserved. The sun was back for good.

Niko blinked a few times, adjusting to the lower light levels of their room. Everything looked just as they had left it, tidy and neat. They always tried to keep it clean, it made their Mama happy when they did. It was the most they could do for her.

Niko flopped over on the neatly made green covers of their bed, situated in the far left corner of their room and glanced out the window. It appeared the sun was just beginning to rise in the distance, painting the skies a soft purple. They sighed and sat up, fidgeting with their scarf. It was weirdly quiet.

“Well, obviously. The Player isn't here.” Niko mumbled, a regretful feeling washing over them. They probably weren't ever going to talk to them again. But, they had their own life, as did Niko. They just dearly hoped they wouldnt forget the god of that world. Or the world itself, for that matter.

Niko jumped off their bed and ran to the desk on the opposite wall of their bed, an idea hitting them like a train. There was a way to remember. They pulled open the top drawer and pulled out crayons and some paper, flicking on the lamp and plopping themself down on the cream carpet and pulling the crayons out of the box.

They drew the first people that came to mind, which were (for obvious reasons), Rue, Proto, and Cedric. They drew themself golding the sun next to the siblings, all of them smiling. Niko wanted to draw the Player, but couldn't quite picture what they would look like, so instead they drew the World Machine. Well, technically they drew the reflection that the Entity borrowed to talk to Niko. It could contact the Player any time it wanted.

The rest of the colorful cast Niko met along the way soon followed. Kip, Silver, George, Calamus, Alula, even Prophetbot were down on paper by the time the sun was fully risen and Niko’s mother was knocking on their door and asking them to get up.

“Coming mom!” Niko called, springing up and flinging the door open to greet their mama. Their mama seemed surprised at their enthusiasm to start the day.

“Well someone seems excited. Have a good dream?” Their mother asked as Niko got up on their toes and nuzzled her. “Did you… sleep in that?” She asked, stepping back to observe in better detail what they were wearing.

“Actually, I didn't sleep! Well, very much. Instead, I went to a really cool world where the sun went out and I had to fix it, and I got help from the people of that world and a god named the Player and-” Their mother laughed awkwardly. “I’m sure you did. It sounds very exciting, my child, but please, lower your voice. You’re being awfully loud.”

There was something stiff and unnatural about her reply. Did she not believe that Niko had done all of that? But they had! They even had proof. “Why dont I make pancakes? You can give the extra leftovers to Mrs.Fideli later too. Maybe you can hang out with Sona while you're there too.”

“Yeah! That sounds fun!” Niko replied, brushing off their mothers strange behaviour. Maybe they could tell their mama all about the adventure they just had over breakfast! That would be the coolest!

____________________________________________________________________________

“...and then I said goodbye to the Player and walked back into my room!” Niko finished, taking another bite of pancake. Niko’s mama sat across from them with a weird expression on their face. It looked to be a mix of confusion and alarm.

“That's very… interesting, sweetie.” Niko’s mother got up and turned the corner, entering the kitchen and grabbing a few pancakes, placing them delicately on a ceramic plate, coating them in foil and handing them to the child.

“W-why don't you go give these to Mrs.Fedeli. Please be back by noon if you choose to stay with Sona.” Niko grabbed the plate and nodded, grinning and giggling. “Sure mama!” They jumped out of their seat and ran to the door, tossing it open and running though, shutting it less than gently on their way out.

Their mama sighed shakily and wiped her hands on her yellow apron, watching the door for a few seconds before going to Niko’s room across the house. It was a relatively small cottage, meant for a small family obviously.

She pushed the door open gently, stepping inside and looking down at the floor. Crayons and paper littered the floor, just as they had that morning. She picked one up gently as if afraid it would explode and took a closer look at it. Despite the fact it was an eleven year olds drawing, it was obvious what the drawing was of.

She sat tentatively on her knees and looked through all of the drawings. They were all exactly what her child had described. And before her, HE had described.

She placed the drawings back on the ground and pulled out a simple flip phone, dialing a number and holding it up to her face.

“Hello? Yes it's me, Shara. I was wondering if that apartment on the eighth floor was still open…”

“Niko?” Niko looked up from their book at their mother, a little concerned about the resigned tone in her voice.

“Yes mama?” Their mother sat on the couch next to them and folded her hands neatly in her lap, shifting uncomfortably. It was around one in the afternoon, yet the pancakes from that morning still sat cold and now soggy on the table.

“A recent… event had transpired and, because of said event… we…” Their mama’s voice wavered a little. “What does ‘transpired’ mean?” Niko asked.

“It means something has happened… and… I’m so sorry, my child, but we’re moving.” Niko tilted their head at their mothers words. “Moving?”

“Next month. To the big city a few hours away. Permanently.” Niko froze. It took a few seconds for Niko to truly process what she was saying.

“What?!” Niko shouted, confusion painting their face. Niko’s mama looked away, tears welling up in the corners of her eyes.

“I’m sorry this is so sudden, but… we have no choice.” The perfectly good day Niko was having was shattered by this news. It was so sudden.

“B-but?! But mama, we can't just LEAVE!! What would Dad think?!” That small, innocent comment about their father caused their mama to burst into tears. “M-mama?” Guilt welled up inside them.

Their mother sobbed into her hands, ignoring the child's now frantic questions. "Mama?! Are you ok?! Mama!!"

"It's for the b-best…" Their Mama whispered, continuing to son inconsolably. Niko ran out of the room and out the front door to their neighbors house, knocking frantically on the door.

Sona answered the door and Niko did their best to explain what was happening. After failing, Niko dragged Sona's mother to their house. Now knowing that their Mama was being looked after, Niko booked it to the middle of a wheat field and broke down in a panic themselves.

They shouldn't have brought up their dead father. They really shouldn't have…

6: THE SILVER LINING PROLOGUE

Notes: This was supposed to be a reader insert a little bit like TGBM but with an actual plot lmao. I didnt get very far before I decided I had better things to do.

Words: 1,000

Date: September 2021

_____________________

You pressed your face to the glass of the window, staring out into the never ending sea of trees. You had seen nothing but them for the last few hours. It was starting to get a little repetitive.

You reminded yourself once again that this was now your reality. Why the new boarding school you were going to was in the middle of the woods was beyond you. The memories of the last few weeks played through your head once more, reminding you once again, that you brought this upon yourself.

“It’ll be worth it,” they said. “You’ll make lots of new friends and go on so many neat adventures!” they said. You somehow doubted their claims, but it's not like you really had a say in what your future held anyway. You were getting shipped off to this new school on an ancient looking bus regardless if you wanted to or not.

The chatter around you made a nice background noise to your thoughts. Every once in a while you could faintly pick up bits and pieces of people's conversations. There was a lot of talk about the new English teacher and plenty of excitement about the new term to go around. And then there were scrubs like you, huddled together to talk about what maybe to expect. You weren't sitting with them not because you were anti-social, but because you had no idea they were all sitting up front, and by the time you had made the realization that the newbies were sitting up front it was already too late to move.

“Attention all passengers! We will be arriving in five minutes, please be prepared to retrieve your things and report to the gymnasium in an efficient manner. Your dorm assignments will be posted on a wall in alphabetical order and you may pick up your schedules there as well.” Someone up front instructed. You sighed and picked up your bag, shoving your phone deep into a pocket in the front and pulling off your headphones. You had stopped listening to music when you ran out of songs on your playlist a half hour ago but didn't bother to take the headphones off. In hindsight, that probably made you look like an edgy anime protagonist, but oh well.

“Who do you think is going to go missing this year?” An older student asked another student behind you. You perked up and turned your head to hear better. “I dunno, probably one of the newbies.”

Go missing? You didn't read about people going missing in the little pamphlet they gave you before you got on the bus. You strained to hear anything more about the matter but the two guys behind you had already moved on to talking about the new teacher. Apparently getting a new teacher was a big deal? Why?

The bus skidded to a halt in front of the school building, which looked surprisingly normal. The students at the front of the bus timidly disembarked. You watched everyone get off, a few asking if you wanted to go first. Every time you decline, deciding you’d rather watch to see what the others would do first. You had read that this was a relatively small private school. It was supposedly a “second chance” school for people who had gotten kicked out of their previous schools. It was weird though, because they also noted it would not tolerate bad behavior. Even weirder was the fact that you were not in need of a “second chance”. You just moved a lot and your parents wanted to give you a consistent place to make friends and go to school. Even if said school was in the middle of the woods.

“Oh my god Stacy, LEAVE ME ALONE!” You jolted a little at the loud voice coming from two rows behind you. “But Cirrus, you're the only one here I know!!” Two kids about your age (you could guess the girl with long brown hair and pale skin was Stacy and the boy next to her with darker skin and white hair was Cirrus) hurriedly went down the aisle. Cirrus, the boy, seemed rather annoyed with Stacy.

“Yeah, only because you got us expelled last year from Foxfield! I don't want any trouble this year, ok Stacy?!” You got up behind them and followed, realizing you were now the only ones still on the bus. “It's not my fault we’re both freaks-”

You followed them off the bus and onto the gravel pavement below. You joined the crowd of people into what you could assume was the gym, given its size and the basketball hoops hanging from the ceiling. Cirrus and Stacy were still arguing in front of you, their conversation still centered around the topic of getting expelled from their old school, apparently for being in the wrong place at the wrong time and blowing something up.

The list of dorm assignments was on the opposite wall to the outside entrance. Cirrus, Stacy and you all seemed to have the same idea and casually walked over to the paper covering the wall with the other students.

You scanned the paper for your name and found it next to another name. Shit, guess you were going to have to put up with a roommate. You took a closer look at the name and blinked in surprise. “Cirrus Featherduster” was the name next to yours. You thought it was safe to assume that the Cirrus on the paper was the same one standing next to you. You checked the number and sighed. 305. Of course you were on the third floor.

“YES!! I’m not paired with you!!” Cirrus exclaimed, causing Stacy to jump. “Well, yeah. They would know better than to put us back together I hope.” Stacy spat, punching his shoulder. “I did get paired with… someone named ‘(Y/n)’ though.”

“That's me.” You said, poking Cirrus in a non threatening way. This time it was his turn to jump. “Dear god! Don't scare me like that!!” He hissed at you, swatting your hand away. “Nice to meet you and all, but geez dude!”

You grinned at him and he grinned back. Looks like he might be entertaining to mess with. “Hmph. I have a roommate too. What floor are you on?”

“Floor three I think?” Cirrus looked over the page again and shrugged. “I think thats what the ‘3’ in the number means.”

“Oh cool. If thats the case we’re on the same floor. HA! You cant escape me!!” Stacy laughed maniacally while you and Cirrus stood there for an uncomfortable amount of time. “Y-you done?” You asked after a solid minute. “Yeah.” Stacy snapped out of it and shrugged.

“Okay that was weird. Anyway…” You turned to Cirrus. “Since we’re roommates and neither of us really know what we’re doing, wanna get our schedules together?”

“Sure, why not?” Cirrus replied, grabbing your arm and dragging you along to the table to the left of the list.

“HEY!! Wait for me!!” Stacy called, speed walking to you and Cirrus all while complaining about how you were no fun.

7: CHAOS ENSUED.

Notes: I had a funky dreamand Error was there for some reason, so I decided to make something of my ability to remember my dream details very vividly. So I gave said dream a comprehensible plot and this is the result. I have no excuses.

This is supposed to take place in a multiverse where the XEvent was kind of… diverted I guess. Ink decided to opt out of the little “game” in favor of screwing with Error and forming the Star Sanses as an officially recognized group. Cross still is “not adopted” by Noot and crew, but they totally adopt him this time around. He's their baby brother lol.

The Reader is a creator who got pulled into the multiverse by an experiment gone wrong of sorts, but all that gets explained later. They gain the ability to do that stupid Gacha trope of their creations coming to life. There are a few other creators who got pulled in too, one of which is a big character in this. Reader is on good terms with both Nightmares Gang and the Stars, but more neutral than anything.

Sorry for the long explanation lol

Words: 2,000 words

Date: October 2021

___________________

Ink and Error had made a truce ages ago. Well, less of a truce, more of an agreement. A truce implies that they started getting along. Despite everything, Ink was still insistent on annoying Error and Error was still insistent on being a baby over it.

The multiverse had adjusted well to said truce, despite the balance of Positivity and Negativity still a little all over the place. Dream was stubborn, but Nightmare was more so. But at least the Creation-Destruction ratio was somewhat balanced.

“G-GET BACK-K HERE Y-YOU LITTLE S-SHIT!!” A glitched screech echoed through the Doodle Sphere as a very pissed looking Error chased Ink, who was grinning like an idiot. Ink had, yet again, successfully broken into the Anti Void and stolen one of the various not voodoo dolls Error made. This one was of a human. Upon closer inspection, it was a human both of the gods knew very well. And Ink was threatening to show it to them.

“I’M GONNA TELL (Y/N)!! I'M GONNA TELL THEM YOU LOOOOOOOOVE THEM!!” Ink taunted, sticking his tongue out. Error screeched some more and shot some strings at him. The protector dodged with ease and continued running around and evading Error’s attacks. This was basically routine. Ink’s new purpose in life was helping Dream fend off his brother and his gang. Oh and also harassing Error. Just for fun.

Speaking of Dream, the golden demi-god himself teleported into the Doodle Sphere in hopes of getting a word with Ink. Following closely behind him was a human. That human being you.

You were one of the few people allowed into the Doodle Sphere, the reason being you were a Creator. A few years ago, you had been involved in… an accident of sorts that sent you and a group of others through time and space, landing you in the Omega Timeline. Core had discovered you and the others on the outskirts of the main town and offered you a home until you figured out how to go back to your home world. You had personally befriended Ink a few months into the stay and shortly thereafter made friends with all of his friends too. You even managed to get yourself off the “destroy on sight” list of the supposed bad guys, who kidnapped you by accident once or twice thinking you were someone else. Who that someone else was you never quite figured out though. You suspected that Error grew fond of you the first time you got kidnapped and set up a second time to talk to you again. How sad.

Anyway, you jumped through the portal Dream created and landed firmly on your feet. You grinned at the sight before you, stifling laughter in your hands. Error had Ink tied up and hanging from the ceiling by blue thread, gripping tightly onto a plush doll of sorts. From a distance you couldn't quite figure out what it was, but didn't really care. Dream sighed and facepalmed, mumbling to himself about how he should've known. “(Y/n), can you break them up please?”

You nodded and ran ahead to the pair.“Error! Ink!!” Error whipped around with a panicked look, hurriedly opening a portal and tossing whatever he was holding through it. “(Y/n)! W-what a lovely surprise!!” Error greeted in a strained voice, his cheeks turning a shade of yellow. It was no secret he was a respectful simp for you. Everyone kind of just knew.

“Nice to see you too! Um, can we steal Ink real quick? Dream wants to talk to him.” You asked, nudging the tightly contained upside-down bundle of chaos. Ink smirked evilly and giggled maniacally. You shot him a weird look and he continued cackling. “Error, you should SEE your face right now!”

Error’s face turned four shades yellower. He began glitching like crazy and buried his face in his scarf. He looked like an angry kitten. With a wave of his multi-colored hand, Ink dropped face first onto the floor. “Take him. I got what I needed from him anyway.”

The Glitchy god of destruction opened a portal and stepped though, glancing over his shoulder hesitantly. He looked as if he wanted to say something. You waved to him and he smiled, glancing at the floor and mumbling into his scarf.

The portal closed and you shrugged, offering your hand to Ink, who was just sitting there on the floor giving you a smug look. “What?”

“Nothin’.” He replied, taking your and pulling himself up, before promptly dragging you back over to a very impatient looking Dream.

“Ink, what did you do this time?” Dream asked, pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration. Ink smirked and nudged his best friend's side playfully. “I decided I was going to bully him into telling you-know-what to you-know-who.”

Of course, you knew what that meant. You weren't the oblivious idiot that Ink seemed to think (or hope) you were. He was trying to get Error to confess to you. For the last year and a half since you had met him at Nightmare’s Castle, he had done his diddly darn best to talk to you at every given opportunity. Both you and Ink had picked up on the fact that he got all blushy faced when you talked to him and he always seemed to be in the same general area as you at almost all times, and Ink was not gonna let him live it down any time soon.

Dream rolled his eyes and sighed like an annoyed parent. “Ink, you have to stop. He’ll let them know when he wants to. You shouldn't push it.”

Ink pouted for a second, his eyelights turning blue for a hot second before switching back to the usual combination of yellow and green and random shaped. “So what did you call me for?”

“Ink. My friend. My best friend in the whole world. The chaotic to my neutral. You’ve been

ignoring me for the last week. I am now forcing you to participate in an obligatory hang out session with Blue and I. (Y/n) can come if they want to.” Dream stared Ink down menacingly. Why did he have to say the nicest things in the scariest ways?

Ink cowered and nodded reluctantly as you smiled nervously. Were they really going to drag you into this? Dream turned to you for your answer.

“I… I think I’ll pass. I have some house work to do today. Sorry.” You apologized. Dream looked a little disappointed but nodded. “That's ok. We’ll have to hang out together sometime else though!”

You smiled and agreed, opening a portal to the Omega Timeline and stepping casually through, waving to your friends. The portal closed behind you and you began down the streets of the refugee timeline, waving to people you knew and making your way downtown, walking fast, faces pass and your homebound-

You arrived at your house and pulled your key out of your pocket, stuffing it in and twisting, the tell tale sound of the door unlocking greeting your ears. You pushed the door open and stepped in the paper cluttered house. It was small and only one room, but it was home. You had done your best to make it look like the room you used to have before the accident.

You plopped down at your desk and pushed aside some papers, pulling your laptop from the mess and opening it. Sure, you had house work to do, but more importantly you had some art to make. Digital art was your only way of making things and not having them spring to life. You had learned your lesson the hard way when you drew one of the inhabitants of the OT and you suddenly had a bitty sitting in front of you on your paper. You gave the bitty to one of Ink’s friends, Fresh, who promised to take care of it. Sometimes you wonder whatever became of it.

You opened your art program and began doing some warm up doodles, completely oblivious to everything that was about to go down.

____________________________________________________________________________

Meanwhile, halfway across the multiverse…

Error sat on his beanbag chair, holding the small plush doll that Ink had tried to steal. Thankfully it was unharmed. He stared at the little doll, a faint blush on his cheeks. God he was such a simp-

He tucked it safely in his arms, wondering what the human was up to. They were interesting, so if he had to guess something equally as interesting.

The god of destruction leaned back, thinking about the first time they had met. It had been when they and the others had arrived. It had been a regular ol day of sitting in the Anti-void, eating stolen chocolate and stalking whoever he deemed worthy. Ink had suddenly burst through a portal and landed face down on the ground a few feet away. At that point they had started visiting each other in their domains, normally just to annoy each other. While neither of them took it seriously anymore, at the time it really was kind of hostile. The ink stain had practically dragged him by the scarf to the Omega Timeline. There, standing shyly in the corner, had been (Y/n). They looked worried and sick, but when they started talking, Error practically crashed. It was the same voice as the creator that had just suddenly disappeared. Then again, there were 17 others with them, all of which matched the voices and descriptions of the creators.

Error had gotten to know (Y/n) a little bit better beyond ‘holy hell it's the creators’ when Killer kidnapped the wrong human. They had to stick around for a while as they sorted the whole thing out, and Error had actually grown quite attached to them. They were funny and not afraid to kick people out windows who needed it. That was the day Nightmares Gang learned how aerodynamic Killer actually was.

When they were returned safely, Error had actually been a little sad. They had become rather good friends by the end of the accidental kidnapping session. From then on he had made it a point in his life to drop by and say hello every once in a while.

Sadly, ‘every once in a while’ became almost every week and he realized he was kind of obsessed with the human. Respectfully, of course. Not in a weird or creepy way. There was just something about them that was so… endearing. And that was the moment he realized he 100% screwed.

Well not quite. It was Ink finding the doll he had made of them (so they’d always feel close by) and connecting the dots that really meant he was thoroughly fucked. Ink didn't let him live it down since.

A tug on one of his strings pulled him from his thoughts. He knew that tug. Nightmare was requesting his presence, once again. Error signed and planted a small kiss on the dolls cheek, placing it gently on top of the Bean bag next to the Ink plush and the plush he made of himself. He ripped open a portal and jumped through, wondering what Nightmare could want this time.

Inside the meeting room was Nightmare, Horror, and the newbie Cross. The latter was curled up on a chair and looking sleepy.

"Ah, good. You're here." Nightmare looked up from the first aid kit that he was rummaging through. "I apologize for calling you out of the blue, but would you be willing to do a favor for me?" At least he was being polite about Interrupting his train of thought. "Cross is developing insomnia again and we ran out of melatonin. Can you run to a random timeline and steal some?"

Oh yeah, hadn't Dust made a comment about Cross practically refusing to sleep because of frequent nightmares? Error had almost forgotten it had been so long. The glitchy god sighed and nodded, ripping open a portal before he could even question why they needed it in the middle of the afternoon rather than nighttime. He wasn't opposed to running errands for the gang, but sometimes he wishes they would do it themselves. Eh, maybe he could drop by (Y/n)'s side of the OT and see if he could catch them out and about. That would be nice. He wanted to ask them to hang out sometime soon anyway, so maybe now was his chance.

Meanwhile, Dream was thinking. That wasn't a very uncommon occurrence. He did most of the thinking for his team anyway, mostly because he was the only one who had more than seven brain cells. Well, none of them have brains, but that's besides the point.

One of the things that came to mind was how he wished that Ink would stop harassing Error. Sure, it was frustrating to watch him uselessly try to make moves on one of his ‘beloved creators’, but he really did need to lay off.

“DREAM, ARE YOU OK?” Blue asked, bouncing down the stairs and landing not so gracefully on his face. Oh. Right. The hangout session. He was sitting on Blue and Honey’s couch next to Ink, so was jotting something down on his scarf.

“Yeah, I’m fine!” Dream smiled hurriedly in an attempt to reassure his friend. The blue soldier nodded and grinned, clearly glad to see them. “ALRIGHT, IF THAT THE CASE, WHAT DO YOU WANT TO DO TODAY-”

“Lower your voice Blue.” Honey called from upstairs. Blue lowered his head and looked a little guilty. “We’ve been working on that for the last week. It's not going very well.”

“Maybe we could help you then!” Dream suggested, jumping up from the couch excitedly at the prospect of helping his friend. Ink looked up in confusion. “What's wrong with the way you talk?”

“My bro thinks I’m too loud, SO I'M GOING TO WORK ON IT AND BECOME THE QUIETEST IN TOWN!!!” Blue exclaimed, jumping up and down. “Well clearly you’re not trying all that hard.” Honey came down the stairs, looking tired and grumpy.

Shame danced across Blue’s face as he grabbed Dream’s hand and walked out the door. “Sorry bro.”

The protector jumped up to follow them, exchanging a worried look with Dream.

8: SECRET SANTA THING

Notes: This was made for the secret santa thing for @skyedancer2006 but I decided I didnt like it very much. So, uh, merry late crisis I guess.

Words: 2,000

Date: December 2021

____________________

Another cold breeze swept over the hill and through the village, ruffling the grass and pages of Nightmares book. Nightmare shivered, pulling his legs closer to his chest and shuddering a little. All day, the weather had been nothing but overcast and ominous. Yet Dream had still insisted on going into that dreadful village.

Nightmare sighed, a puff of air forming where his breath met the cold air. He hoped Dream would get back soon. When he got back they could huddle together to share warmth and wait out the cold together.

The purple clad twin looked back down at his book, focusing on the words of the page instead of the chill in the air. Dream had brought back the book from one of his trips to the Village a while ago, but he never bothered to read it. It didn't seem too interesting, but now that he had started it he couldn't stop. Sure, the writing was a little questionable at best, but he was already invested in the characters.

He flipped the page, losing himself in the plot of the book. It was about a group of friends trying to track down a dragon and kill it so they could be famous. So far, the plot had been giving him the vibes that they were going to end up defeating the dragon brutally with the power of friendship, since that's just kind of how these things go.

Nightmare set the book aside, giving up on reading it in the pitch darkness that was the night. The lights from the distant village illuminated the distance slightly, casting a warm glow over the field in front of the twin’s tree. Faintly, he could see the silhouette of his twin hiking his way across the field separating the Village from the Tree of Feelings.

Nightmare waved, getting to his feet and wincing. His legs were numb with cold and he couldn't feel his toes anymore.

Dream waved back, making a gesture for Nightmare to come to him. Confused, Nightmare padded down to the base of the hill where Dream was standing with his hands on his hips and a grin across his face.

“Greetings?” Nightmare greeted, approaching his brother. The others' eyelights shone in the dark, as opposed to Nightmare's darker cyan ones.

Wordlessly, Dream grabbed his twin's hand and pulled him towards the village, a grin still plastered to his features.

“Wh- hey! Dream, what are you doing?!” Nightmare asked, trying to pull his hand from his brother's grip. Dream continued to pull him along without as much as a glance back.

Dream pulled him into the Village, the paths almost barren. In the distance, quiet music could be heard.

“Dream, what is going on?” Nightmare asked again, still receiving no definitive answer. Nightmare was getting a little uneasy about the whole situation, the Village was rarely ever almost empty. Then again, he wouldn't really know. He tended to stay away from the village.

Dream continued to lead him down the path, eventually leading them to the town square. Nightmares' eyes widened at the sight of the normally plain looking square now transformed into a bustling market of sorts, stalls lined up around the sidewalks and the music significantly increasing in volume.

“Okay for real, What is going on?” Nightmare asked, interest (and confusion) piqued.

“Well, today is the Winter Solstice!” Dream explained, wrapping an arm around Nightmare's shoulder. “They have a festival every year to celebrate it for some reason. Do you know what else is today?”

“No…?” Nightmare replied quizzically, shooting his brother a questioning look. Dream laughed and bonked him on the head with his fist.

“It's our birthday silly! And here's my plan on how we’re going to celebrate it!” Dream reached into his pocket and pulled out a large stack of G and thrust it into Nightmares hands. “I'm going to get you a gift, and you're going to get me one, then we swap at the end of the night or when both of us are done, since I know you aren't particularly fond of it here.”

Oh. So that was what today was.

“Wait, Dream, how did you get all of this?” Nightmare asked, staring down at the stack of G in his hands. It had to be at least 100.

“Why do you think I've been spending so much time here? I've been doing simple chores and things of the sort. Pays really well and they usually give me extra because I’m ‘sO dArN cUtE’. They treat me like I'm five sometimes and it's a little weird but whatever, G is G.” Dream explained, pinching his cheeks at the mention of him being cute.

Nightmare laughed, feeling bad for taking what Dream had worked hard to earn. But the logic checked out, so Nightmare went with it. “Okay… do you have anything in particular in mind that you would want?”

Dream shook his head. “Nope. See you in like, 30 minutes?”

Nightmare nodded and Dream sped off into the crowd, probably trying to lose Nightmares gaze. The cyan eyelighted twin sighed and skipped off, looking for something that would appeal to his brother. He had heard of birthday celebrations before, but never actually taken part in one.

Nightmare hummed along with the music being played by a group of musicians at the center of the square, the upbeat tune bringing the whole setting to life.

The stalls were selling an assortment of interesting things, ranging from food to cloth, and occasionally other random items. One caught his eye though.

A dimly lit stall in the corner was run by an elderly looking Rabbit monster. They were selling an assortment of blankets, some patterned, some plain. Nightmare considered for a moment, before continuing on.

“Child.” The Bunny called. Nightmare turned back to the bunny, confused. Was she talking to him?

“Yes, you. Come here.” The Bunny confirmed. Nightmare tentatively approached the stall, nervously fidgeting with his hands.

“Yes ma’am?” Nightmare asked politely, praying he didn't do anything wrong or offensive by just being here. The Bunny squinted at him and chuckled.

“You’re related to that other Skeleton child, correct?” She asked. Nightmare nodded, wondering if she was going to hurt him.

“Heh. He's a sweetheart. Here,” The Bunny reached over to a simple fuzzy green blanket, holding the folded fabric out to Nightmare. “Give this to him next time you see him.”

Nightmare took the folded blanket in his arms, admiring the fuzzy fabric. He knew technically the Bunny had given him it for his brother, but it was the first time anyone in the Village hadn't just looked at him weirdly and moved on with their lives.

“I- I will.” Nightmare promised, bowing to the bunny quickly out of respect. “Thank you.”

The bunny smiled as Nightmare turned to the crowd pushing his way through to look at the other stands. He stopped and bought a cupcake for Dream as well because while the cyan eyelighted twin did not like sweets, Dream had quite the sweet tooth. He still had a lot of G left but opted not to use it. He would give it back to Dream when they met back up.

Nightmare found the place they had started and Dream was already there, holding something behind his back.

“There you are!” Dream greeted, bounding up to his twin. Nightmare kept his gift behind his back as well, smiling at his brother.

“Wanna trade?” Nightmare asked. Dream nodded enthusiastically, declaring he would go first.

Dream pulled from behind his back a strange line of light cased in glass balls. Nightmare looked at them strangely and asked “What are those?”

“They're magic lights! You can put them on the tree and read at night! I saw them earlier today and knew that you would like them.” Dream replied bashfully, holding them out for Nightmare to look at.

“How do they work?” Nightmare asked, taking one of the warm glowing balls in his hand.

“Magic.” Dream replied smugly, wrapping them around Nightmare's shoulders. “And now I wont lose you in the dark!”

Nightmare smiled and pulled the blanket and boxed cupcake from behind his back, holding them out for Dream to see. “It's not much, but…”

Dream took the blanket and rubbed his face against it, purring. “It's so soft!” Nightmare smiled at his twin and took the blanket from him, carefully wrapping it around Dreams' shoulders and tying it like a cape.

“Now you won't be as cold as I was while I was waiting for you!” Nightmare smiled, petting the fabric one more time. “Holy cow that stuff is soft.”

“You were cold?” Dream asked, frowning.

“A little, but it's fine. Oh, here's your cupcake. I didn't really know which to get you so I got a vanilla one.” Nightmare gave the cupcake to Dream, who looked a little guilty.

“How about we head back now?” Dream asked, already taking Nightmares arm and pulling him away from the village at last.

They climbed the hill and Nightmare set up the lights, wrapping them around the banner they tied to their tree mom. It illuminated the area with a warm glow, making the area seem a little less lonely.

Dream had split the cupcake between them and wrapped them both in the blanket so they would both be warm. The snow had started shortly after, littering the ground in piles. Both of the twins were thankful for the blanket and each other to keep warm.

After all the snow had set, the skies were not so gloomy anymore. And with the help of the lights, Nightmare could finally read to Dream while they both tried to sleep. Maybe things were going to be okay.

9: TO THE LOST, FORGOTTEN, AND UNNAMED

Notes: This I plan on continuing and its based on a post Alex and I made because at this point we're just writing buddies and great friends. The idea is Nightmare has had 4-5 other teams that werent the Bad Sanses we know now. Cross wasnt aware of this and becomes invested in their now long past lives.

Words: 2,000

Date: January 2022

___________________

“Hey, can you do me a favor?” Dust asked from across the room. Cross glanced up from his phone and sat up, knowing Dust was likely going to send him down the hall again to get more pins. He had been working on a sewing project all afternoon and somehow STILL kept running out of pins. Thankfully for him, he had set up shop in the living room on a folding table right across from Cross, who had been mindlessly browsing Reddit or something.

“Sure.” Cross replied, shutting off his phone and standing. It may come as a surprise, but each member of the bad sanses had a sort of side hobby. Killer whittled, Horror cooked (though that was unsurprising), Cross played a few instruments, and Dust liked sewing of all things.

“In the closet there should be a clear box of thread. Might Have put it away in the basement though.” Dust informed around the pins he held in his mouth with his teeth, pulling a few out of the fabric he was working with. It seemed that he was making a sweater, but it was hard to tell from across the room.

“We have a basement?” Cross asked, doing a slight double take. He had explored nearly ever corner of the castle and never run across a basement.

“Yeah, its just storage though. You have to go in the broom closet on the ground floor near the entryway and pull open a hatch to get in.” Dust replied casually, shifting the fabric.

Cross hummed quietly, trotting down the hall for the third time that hour and pulling open the linen closet door, pushing the various boxes of supplies aside. Fabric scraps, boxes of bobbins, a dead bug or two… no box of thread.

“I dont think the box is in here.” Cross called down the hall.

“‘Kay, check the basement. Oh, bring a flashlight with ya!” Dust responded, seeming unbothered by the delay in thread.

Cross sighed and patted his pocket, double checking he had his phone on him. Skipping down the stairs, the oreo found the broom closet with relative ease. As Dust had said, there was indeed a trap door of sorts embedded into the ground.

The monochromatic X pulled the dusty door open with ease, another flight of stairs greeting him. Now he knew why Dust told him to bring a flashlight.

Flicking on the light on his phone, Cross descended the stairs timidly, each step giving a painful groan with the sudden weight. It was pretty clear no one had been bothered to upkeep this place.

The basement was musty and damp, as one could usually expect with a basement. True to Dust’s words, it appeared to be mostly storage. Boxes of… stuff piled high around the relatively small earthen basement.

Cross raised his phone light to get a better look at the surroundings. He could assume that the sewing supplies were with the creepy ass mannequin and piles of fabric in the far corner.

Cross strode towards the fabrics and shuffled through the mess, ignoring the way that the lifesized doll was positioned to “look” (despite not having a head) in the general direction of where Cross needed to be.

The box was near the bottom of the pile, but easy enough to dislodge from the rest of the supplies. Checking that the lid was shut, Cross began to walk back to the base of the stairs, glancing at the boxes piled high against the walls around him. If he looked hard enough, it almost looked like there was names or words written on the sides.

Cross stepped on something that wasnt the earthy floor of the rest of the basement, jolting him from his thoughts. The oreo took a step back, sticking the box under his arm and picked up what he had stepped on. It appeared to be some kind of… book?

Cross tilted his head and checked the back, taking note of how old the leather bindings and cover looked. There wasn't a name written anywhere on it that he could see. He propped the book open in his hand and turned to the first page, holding the light to the page.

Property of Cappri

The text was faded and smudged, but eligible. Cross’ bone brow furrowed. Who was Cappri? As far as the X was aware, Killer, Dust, Horror, Nightmare, Error and himself were the only ones in the castle. Maybe it was stolen?

Cross climbed back up the stairs, shutting the trap door with his foot and shutting the book with a soft thump. He would look at it later, right then he had a… friend? to deliver a box of thread to.

Skipping up the stairs once more, Cross deposited the box of thread on the folding table that Dust sat at. He thanked the oreo quietly and continued to sew, the now evident jacket coming together nicely from what Cross could see.

Cross shortcutted to his room and placed the black leather book on his desk, shooting Killer (who was unsurprisingly sprawled out on Cross’ bed playing on his phone) a look and retrieving his sketchbook from the set of drawers next to his desk. Horror and Error had helped him decorate and customize his room a few months back after complaining about how sterile and hotel room like his room was. And ever since he had strung up fairy lights, painted the walls brown and filled the shelves of his once barren bookshelf Killer had decided that the oreo’s room was the place to be and sometimes would go as far as to spend the night. And somehow, even when Cross set up a space on the floor for him to sleep, the eyelightless skeleton would always end up snuggled up next to Cross and under the blankets. It was like having the worlds biggest and most infuriating cat.

The night went on as usual. Horror made soup for everyone and Killer had to practically drag Nightmare away from his paperwork to eat. Dust finished the sweater, Cross accidentally dozed off on the couch, and Killer thought it would be funny to pour ice water on him.

Everything went normal until about midnight, when Cross excused himself from the group to go make a feble attempt at sleep. Only then did he remember the book he had picked up earlier.

Flopping over on his bed, Cross gingerly pulled open the old book and checked the front page for any more details on who’s journal it was.

Upon finding nothing, Cross flipped to the next page and began reading.

Day 7

Wow. Ive been here for a week now. Cant tell if thats sad or what.

The next part was ineligible

--. That stupid human (I think their name is Tris??) got in that asshole from Underfell’s way and the other newbie and I ended patching them up. When will they just give up? Its clear he isnt interested in making friends. I wish t----

More smudged text.

Cross frowned. From the way it was worded, in the context of whoever these people were living in the castle would make sense. But who were they? There wasnt a date or anything written anywhere he could see, so he would just have to keep reading.

He flipped the page, reading on.

Day 8

That stupid eyeless freak wont leave me the hell alone! What the fuck did I do to get his attention?! According to the others, hes been here for a while but no one knows where he ----

He just sticks to our “boss” like glue and leaves us alone most of the time, but all day he just kept ---------

I hate this god damn castle.

Day 9

The entirety of day nine was crossed out and smudged. The next few pages were ripped out or stained with time, making them unreadable. Clearly no one had bothered to take care of the book.

Cross pulled out a notebook from under his bed and flipped to a blank page, beginning to take notes of his thoughts and the people mentioned. So far he had Capri, the journal’s owner, the guy from Underfell, Tris, and the eyeless freak. He put “Name Pending” next to the two without specified names, unwilling to just call them those names. How would he feel if someone just walked around calling HIM “XTale Survivor”- oh wait.

By four in the morning, he had gotten through the whole of the journal and even translated a few strange entries from Wingdings to English. Still no name on the Eyeless guy though. After entry 43 the entries just stopped. Very abruptly. It was a shame too, Capri had promised to follow up on Scarlet (the Underfell Papyrus)’s backstory and compare it to their own au. There also probably wouldve been name confirmation for the eyeless one. Cross was pretty sure Nightmare was their boss, but some confirmation would have been nice.

A knock at the door jolted Cross from his thoughts, and only then did he actually check the time. 4:38 AM. Oh shit.

Cross tossed his books back under the bed and flew across the room, tugging on the lamp string and bathing the room in darkness, throwing himself onto his bed and pretending to be asleep. The light might have not traveled through the door and he may still have enough time to pretend he was asleep before whoever was on the other side of the door did so.

10: THE GOOD, BAD, AND MULTIVERSE PART TWO

Notes: Based around a concept I made when I first joined the fandom! You can read it here if you want: https://www.quotev.com/story/13951119/The-Good-Bad-and-Multiverse

Words: 3,000

Date: July 2021

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Your smile dissipated as your throat felt like it was closing. Even though you didn't turn around or see the guy, you had a pretty good idea of who it was. Sonder stopped too, looking at the figure that now was behind you.

You breathed a sigh and turned on your heel, a hand sticking out from behind a tree. A very bony hand. With, naturally, a pink whoopee cushion tied to the inside. You wondered if you should pretend to fall for it for the sake of comedy but Sonder didnt give you that option.

“Hello sir!” He called, bounding up to you and tripping over his own feet. Sans jumped out of the shadows to get out of his way and you realized that Sonder had fallen intentionally. You turned to Sans who was now staring at the face planted raptor.

“Hey kiddo. Your parents were looking for you before I left. Where ya been?” Sans asked, looking around the forest. He jumped back up to his feet and tilted his head. “What? I don't HAVE parents. The closest thing I have is the great Dr-” You stomped on Sonder's tail in a panic to shush him. The last thing you needed was the already self aware Sans asking awkward questions. “As for you, I… think I've seen you before?” There was something in his voice you didn't like, a ‘have we met before’ tone. His expression remained neutral as he looked you up and down, a hint of familiarity dancing across his face. You shrugged. “We’re tourists.” It wasn't a complete lie, as your ‘job’ according to Gaster was to explore the multiverse but be home by 7 so your parents dont worry.

Sans gave you a disbelieving look and asked with an obvious wink “Then whatcha doing all the way out here in the woods? Visiting the town wood be better.” You snickered and Sonder sighed. Quickly regaining his composure, he turned to you and replied “Y-yeah! We got lost, ain't that right (Y/n)?”

“Yep. In fact, we were looking for town when we wound up here! Crazy how bad navigation apps are nowadays!” You took the lie and ran with it, even going as far as to pull out your phone as subtly as possible and just hold it so it looked more realistic. Sans shrugged and waved you in his direction, you and Sonder following him as he began to lead you through the forest. He didn't say much after that, seeming to be thinking about other things. The deep green trees got lighter and lighter until...

“Woah.” The three of you broke through the mass of trees, standing atop of a hill that overlooked a quaint and simple town, Mt.Ebbot towering in the not too far off distance. Monsters and humans mingled amongst each other in the streets, everyone looking a little apprehensive about the weather. The sky was darkening still, the threat of rain hanging above the towns head as the townsfolk tried to do their thing.

“If ya dont mind me askin’, what were ya doing in the forest sir?” Sonder asked as the three of you began down the hill. “...” Sans didn't reply immediately.“I was looking for something, that's all.”

Sonder looked up at you and you shrugged. You may have been able to help pilot Frisk through the underground, but Sans was an enigma outside of the few interactions Frisk had made with him. You only did a neutral and true pacifist run, so you never had to fight him. Thank god. You had as much of an idea as Sonder as to what he may have been looking for.

Sonder struggled to keep up with you, so you picked him up bridal style. Much to your surprise, he was pretty heavy. You began to notice small details about the town the closer you got. A lot of the monster owned shops you could see were marked with the Delta Rune, characters you recognized were milling about, tending to their new lives, and much to your surprise, humans and monsters getting along really well. You certainly did not expect that, as most of the time you imagined the humans putting a little resistance against the monsters moving into their town. But, they didn't seem to have a problem. You smiled a little at the thought that maybe this timeline was the perfect pacifist ending you had worked towards.

“Here we are.” Sans did a small jazz hand-like gesture and you set Sonder down. “I forgot to ask, what’re your names? I could give ya some heads up on where the best places are if you’d want.” You smiled at the skeleton as he shoved his hands back in his pockets sheepishly.

“Oh! My names (Y/n), and this is Sonder. He's my… travel buddy.” Sonder shot him a toothy grin and Sans narrowed his eyes. “That's funny. I knew a kid ‘round these parts with the same name. Looked an awful lot like you. You sure you're not pulling my leg-” He stopped himself and sighed. “Nevermind. Stupid question, given I cant even figure out what the kiddo’s name was. We’re ya from?”

“We’re from…” You thought of a random legitimate sounding town name. “Valerian City! It's a bit far from here.” He shrugged casually. “I know. I live there too. The name Sans. Sans the Skeleton. You must’ve done a lot of walking to get here. Even more to get THAT lost.” You bit your lip in panic. Was he messing with you? “Most of us live out there actually. Most of the underground residents went there since it was bigger. But mostly out of fear of agitating the humans already here some of us moved to the city. I’m out here assisting Dr.Alphys move her research. Even though that's what I did last month. And the month before that. And pretty much every month since we reached the surface half a year ago. Makes me wonder how much research she actually has. She must have a ton. A skele-ton.” Sonder sighed and you suppress a laugh. “That pun sucked.” You commented bluntly, regaining your composure.

“Really? Then why are you smiling?” He shrugged at you and sighed. “Whatever. I better find Dr.Alphys. See ya ‘round kiddos.” He took a shortcut and you dropped your semi upbeat facade. “Holy shit that could've gone south so fast.”

Sonder nodded and looked up to meet your eyes. “I think he’s suspicious. We should probably hope he doesnt connect two and two. Sans’ are normally the first to pick up on strange multi-universal events. Closely followed by Floweys and Chara and Frisk duos. We should probably lay low.” You wholeheartedly agreed to that plan, and what better way to lay low than to further cement the lie you had just told the self aware skeleton.

And by that, you meant to be a literal tourist. This was, after all, your first time in an Undertale AU, so it only felt fair. Even if this wasnt where the main cast was, it would still be interesting.

____________________________________________________________________________

“T-that should be the l-last of it!” Alphys sighed, shoving the last box of information into the back of a minivan that belonged to her human research assistant, Coley. She had volunteered to drive Sans and Alphys out to Ebbotton an hour away to collect the remaining research. In fact, the human scientist was very insistent on letting her drive them and overjoyed when they showed her the CORE. All in all, Coley was very VERY over the top, but no in the same way that Undyne was.

Sans leaned against the red van, staring off into the still ominous skies. It was well past 6 in the evening but those kids from earlier were still there down in the town. Heck, they were visible from where he was standing! They were sitting at a park bench in the local park talking to each other about heck knows what. For whatever reason, the human, (Y/n)’s presence… it felt familiar. It was like a mixture of how it felt to be around that inkstain and his group, but more intense. And there was something else there, something like… familiarity?

“S-sans? Are you okay? You're not making a pun about the obscene amount of research I have.�� Sans snapped out of his thoughts and turned to the other two scientists. Coley was shutting the car’s trunk as Alphys approached the skeleton.

“Hm? Yeah, just thinking.” Hew replied, relaxing his shoulders and closing his eyes. “A-about…?” He opened one of his eyes to shoot Alphys a look, but she wasn't looking at him anymore. She was staring at the sky along with him. He sighed and replied “I met some really weird kids in the woods. Claimed their names were (Y/n) and Sonder. Except, not the Sonder we know. He looked… so familiar. Same with the human. I can't help but feel I’ve… maybe met them before..”

“W-well, maybe they're f-from the city?” Sans nodded. “They claimed to be, but I would have seen the monster kiddo when we brought everyone back. He wasn't accounted for.”

Alphys looked thoughtful. “That is weird. Do you think they have anything to do with that… oh what did you call him?” “Inkstain?” “Yeah, him and his gang?” She pushed her glasses up the bridge of her snout.

“It's possible. Oh, speak of the devil. There they are.” Sans gestured to you and Sonder, who were hiking up the hill to where the scientists were. “Heya Sans!” Sonder called out, pushing his way up the hill with you slowly following behind.

“Hm? Oh hey kiddo.” The two of you made it to the top of the hill as Coley got in the car and rolled down the windows. “You heading back now?” You asked, watching as Alphys got into the front seat. “Yep.” He shrugged and pulled open the car’s door. Before he got in, he looked over his shoulder with a confused look in his eyes. “You kids should be getting home too. You have a ride?”

You bit your lip and shook your head. “No, we uhm, promised we’d call the person who c-came to drop us off! He isnt going to be here for a while, even if we do call now.” Yes, finally! All those years of lying to your parents about your sleep schedule and how much time you actually spent on the internet came in handy. It was a little rusty, but the lie seemed to convince Sans.

The driver of the car overheard you and piped up “Wait! Maybe we can give you a ride. Where are you going?” “Valerian City.” You replied simply, recalling your previous exchange with Sans. “Ohmygosh so are we! Would it be ok if we gave you a lift? I don't like the idea of leaving a bunch of kids here. There's room back there right?” ‘Bunch of kids’ your ass. You weren't REALLY a kid. Neither was Sonder. He was likely over 100 years old. You elected to not ask that right now, but keep it in the back of your mind.

Sans sighed quietly and replied simply. “Yep.” “Great! We better get out of here before the rain begins though. I’m Coley by the way, and this is Alphys, the royal scientist. And I take it you know who Sans is.”

You turned to Sonder, who shrugged despite being armless. Wow, you two sure did a lot of shrugging. That's what happens when you put two indecisive multiverse travelling weirdos into situations where they need to have a solid opinion on something.

You went around the side and opened the other door for Sonder, who gestured for you to go in first so you would get the middle seat instead of him. But you refused. He refused again. You gestured for him to get in. “Ladies first.” “Wha- children first!” “Im 200 years older than you.” And with that, you got in the middle seat, with the armless raptor getting the window (lucky bastard).

____________________________________________________________________________

A gold clad guardian, sky blue shaded warrior and what appeared to be an artist happened to witness the whole thing from a nearby tree, with the aforementioned artist looking highly offended.

“Inkstain?! Is that what they've been calling me?!” Pouted the artist, crossing his arms childishly and shaking the branch of the tree the three were sitting on. “Hey! Be careful.” The guardian exclaimed, gripping the branch tighter. “YEAH! NOT ALL OF US HAVE YOUR UNNATURAL BALANCE, INK.” The warrior exclaimed rather loudly, The artist named ink shifted his sash full of paint a little and sighed.

“Just be glad he's not calling you ‘overoptimistic ray of sunshine’ like he was doing to me

last week.” The guardian sighed. “OR ‘VIBRANTLY LOUD BLUEBERRY’.” The warrior added.

“I'm starting to get the feeling he doesn't appreciate our presence here.” Ink commented. The other two nodded in agreement.

“It's not that he doesn't appreciate it, it's just that he finds us a little… on the strange side. We should get going. It's going to start pouring rain soon.” The guardian commented. “Yeah.” The artist agreed, teleporting to the ground, the blue one following suit. The golden guardian was going to do the same but hesitated.

“Dream? What's taking so long.” Ink asked, gazing up at his normally bubbly and positive friend. Dreams' mind seemed to be elsewhere, his eyes off somewhere on the horizon. “Earth to Dream? Dream. DREAM!!”

That got Dreams’ attention real fast. Ink never yelled at him, and he jumped so hard he fell off the branch and onto the ground.

“OH MY GOD DREAM ARE YOU OK?!” The blue one was laughing so hard he fell over too trying to ask Dream that, and Ink followed in Blues footsteps, but snapped out of it fast enough to help Dream get to his feet.

“Hey, you good? Ink asked, a small smile lacing his face. “Y-yeah.” Ink squeezed his hand and let go, also helping the blue one stand as well. Shortly after, it began raining and the three teleported out of the AU, Ink thinking about the new AU jumper, Dream contemplating something, and Blue thinking about Tacos. Classic Blue.

For just a little while, everything felt warm. Like all your worries had passed on and the world at peace, even just for a little while. Sadly, you were being dragged out of this warm sensation by a couple of voices, all of which sounded familiar.

“...wake them up....” “....es…..” You felt someone shake your shoulder. Snapping awake almost immediately, you search for the source of the hand and see Coley leaning over you. “Can you wake him up?” She asks, gesturing to the skeleton you were leaning on for support. Wait hold up what-

You jumped to the other side upon realizing that the not so soft thing you had been napping on was Sans. Like you were minutes ago, he was fast asleep against the window. The sun was setting beyond the window and in the distance you saw Mt.Ebbot past the towering office buildings and such you find in cities, the skies turning a pale orange. Looks like the rain passed.

You unbuckle your seatbelt and shake the skeleton gently. He opens an eye to glare at you for a split second before realizing the context behind you oh so rudely awakening him from his slumber.

He sighed and sat up as well as you jumped out of the car, stretching your stiff limbs and taking a look at the city. It looked like any ol city, plain and simple. Just, rather than humans littering the streets, there was an even mix of monsters and humans. You could feel the tension in the air here, as opposed to the smaller Ebbotton. Just an overall sense of unease that seemed to not exist in the town by the mountain.

Sans crawled out of the car and pulled out a ring of house keys, picking through them until he found the one he was looking for. “You kids know how to get home from here, right?” Sans asked, approaching an intimidatingly large apartment building. “Yeah. We live not too far from here.” Sonder commented, seemingly more calm than when you had left. “That's good. Maybe I’ll see you ‘round then. Until then.” He shortcutted out of existence and Alphys sighed. Coley smiled and waved you two off, allowing for you to turn a corner, out of sight from the monsters and humans.

“Thank god that's over and done with.” You muttered to your apparently older, smaller friend. He nods and sighs in relief. “That was crazy.” “For real. We almost got caught.”

11: UNTITLED 2

Notes: Okay if you made it here youre a fucking champ. Like bro. Thank you for reading all of that! Now for the finale and the reason I had to put these in order of longest to shortest. A sort of High school au- y'know what Im gonna let it explain itself.

Words: 7,000

Date: December 2021

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Long ago, two races ruled the earth. Humans and monsters. The peace they shared was unmistakable and refused to fade with time. However, a new race began to emerge. The Supernatural, as they were called, possessed great power that many could not even begin to imagine. Everything from creation to destruction, controlling emotions, right down to controlling time. Of course, they were feared and respected as gods. But after a war broke out between a few of the creatures, the other two races plotted to keep them all in one place and never allow them to leave.

And so, they built a city. The city was fortified with magic and the Supernaturals thrown into it, leaving them to live out their own lives. But as with many things, people began to forget these abnormalities of creatures even existed and acknowledged them as myths, beginning to inhabit the very city they were trapped in. To this day, humans and monsters share the earth and the Supernatural remain in the city, waiting for the day someone may set them free to wander the earth once more...

CHAPTER ONE:

“SOMEBODY ONCE TOLD ME THE WORLD WAS GONNA ROLL ME-”

Cross jolted awake, gasping as he shot up from his comfortable position hidden among the blankets of his bed. He reached onto the table next to his bed and fumbled with his phone, turning the volume down on the alarm. Kai had promised that it was a good alarm and would get him up instantly. While normally it was safe to doubt Kai, this time he had been right on the nose.

Cross sighed and checked the time. 7:00 AM sharp. Just as it was supposed to be. Ever since he had transferred to the new school with Kai, he had needed to get up an hour earlier every day. It sucked at first, but after the month that had passed it had become relatively routine.

Pushing aside the blankets, Cross planted his feet firmly on the ground and forced himself up, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. His room was a mess as usual, sketchbooks and papers littered about with the occasional sock to go with.

Yawning, Cross threw on a pair of slippers and exited the cluttered room, walking down the relatively short hallway to the central area of the house. Xavier and Papaya were already awake and sitting at the table, 100% ignoring each other. The Penaloza family tended to do that to each other.

Xavier, Cross’ father, glanced up from his notes to smile politely at him. Papaya continued to pay no mind to him, staring down at the piece of toast as if it had personally offended him. Papaya was a year younger than Cross, but had a far bigger attitude issue than him. Don't get him wrong, he was a nice guy, but he tended to be a little impatient.

“He lives.” Xavier commented, looking back down at his notebook and tapping his pen to his chin. Papaya glanced up for a second before snapping his focus back to the toast.

“We leave in thirty minutes.” Papaya informed, finally picking up the food and taking a bite with a loud crunch.

Cross stuck his tongue out absentmindedly and wandered into the kitchen, pulling open the fridge and grabbing a bottle from the door. Cross sighed quietly at the ecru shaded liquid and pulled the lid off, pouring the foul-smelling, borderline paste into the measuring cup built into the lid.

Cross took a deep breath and took it like a shot, trying not to get it on his tongue. It never worked, but the effort was there.

The liquid was pure magic, intended to be absorbed by one's soul usually for medical reasons. Cross’ magic levels had always been a little low but the older he got the more easily depleted and naturally low they got. Last year, it had gotten so bad that Xavier had taken him to the hospital because he had collapsed and become unresponsive. It sucked, but it was better than being sick all the time.

Cross resisted the urge to gag and swallowed it, instantly feeling less groggy and dizzy. It worked like, well, magic.

Everyday had essentially been the same since Summer Break had ended. Get up, get dressed, still somehow nearly miss the bus, catch up with Kai on said bus, stumble through the day running on a sip of coffee Kai would sometimes let him have and the hope that art would be soon, nearly miss the bus again, come home, have dinner, go to sleep, rinse and repeat. And that was okay as far as the Penalozas were aware.

The Penalozas were a weird group to anyone who didn't actively know them. Three skeletons, two humans, no real parental figure (unless you counted Xavier, but no one really did) and a sketchy family history. But to the members of the family, it was all they had ever known. And they didn't really care enough about what a normal functional family was supposed to look like to try and change.

Cross meandered back to his room, still sleepy. Pulling off the oversized shirt, he pulled open a drawer and put on whatever his hand touched first, that being a long sleeved black shirt and similar black leggings meant to look like pants. He tied a scarf around his neck and shoved the textbook he had been reading the night before into his bag and slung it around his shoulder, grabbing a white sweater for some contrast and shoving it in as well.

He glanced at the mirror hanging on the closet door, staring unhappily at his reflection. Despite all of his attempts in the past, he still looked like a ragamuffin. He gave up around the time that Frisk, the youngest, made it to middle school a year ago.

Frisk was the perfect example of what a gifted child should look like. He had perfect marks in all of his classes and was very steadily building a resume and would surely become something great. Chara was a little tricky, but was also showing a lot of promise. Hell, even Papaya was starting to take going to college seriously. He had picked up a weird interest in engineering that Xavier had welcomed with open arms. Where as Cross? He was just plain ol’ Cross. The quiet eldest of the siblings who liked to draw and had only a few friends. Smart, but not that smart. Talented, but not that talented.

“Cross! We gotta go!!” Papaya yelled from the other room, pulling Cross from his thoughts. The oreo (what a shock it must be, but this name also came from Kai) shook his head and yanked open the door, meeting his younger brother at the front door. Frisk and Chara, the lucky bastards, started school at 9:30 instead of 8:00. And their school was closer and still in the town of Satellite rather than in the neighboring Yinmon City.

Yinmon city was a weird place. It seemed to have been themed completely on neon lighting and eyestrain disguised to look like your average city by day. A lot of strange myths and urban legends also arose from the city, none of them making very much logical sense.

Papaya opened the door and didn't bother to hold it for Cross, the two stepping out into the cool morning. Despite being September, the weather had begun cooling off early that year. Not that anyone was really complaining.

The bus stop was pretty far down the street from their house, and the bus’ arrival was a surprise usually. Sometimes early and the siblings would have to enlist on Xaviers help to get there (or if Xavier was busy skipping the day entirely), sometimes two hours late. But never on time.

Papaya walked ahead of Cross, leaving him to his own slow pace. He knew Papaya didn't mean to be cold or rude, but it was clear they didn't have the camaraderie they used to.

Cross shut his eyes and hummed a small tune as the pair walked down the bumby, sidewalkless road. It wasn't a poor neighborhood, but not close to a rich one either. Just below average, since the average had sidewalks.

The bus stop was relatively empty except for one person, who very energetically bounded up to Cross and swung an arm around his shoulder.

Kai had been Cross’ best friend since the empty socketed one declared it on their first day of school. Cross had been adamant against it, claiming not to associate himself with the other. Sadly, the determination in Killer’s protruding soul wasn't there for show and by the next week they were a very close knit pair. No, “Kai” was not his real name. No ones birth name is ever Kai. His very very dead name was, well, dead. Normally anyone outside of legal situations got clocked in the face if they called him his old name.

There were only two problems with having Kai as a best friend. One issue was the fact that he was in and out of hospital a lot thanks to his soul condition. The school board had almost not let him go to school because of how unstable his soul was. His life could go from dandy and fine to in a hospital bed in ICU in minutes sometimes. On the plus side, complaining about their soul conditions was a great bonding activity!

Second was the fact that he had no parents and was in and out of the foster care system a lot. Sometimes Kai would have to change schools mid year and he would always be moving a lot.

“Criss Cross! Long time no see~” Kai joked, nuzzling Cross’ face and smudging some of the dark liquid constantly pouring from his empty sockets on his cheek.

“Kai, you saw me yesterday. And the day before that.” Cross retorted, wiping the smudge off his face.

Kai dragged Cross under the awning, Kai grabbing his bag from the bench of the small bus stop and standing near the edge of the road, waiting for the slowly approaching bus in the near distance to arrive. It didn't take long for the cliche yellow bus to roll up to the stop and let the students on.

The bus was quiet, as usual. Two skeletons sat in the front and in the back (the one up front had a labrador service dog, Kai had him in PE and claimed he was a nice guy despite his scary appearance and hole in his skull) and a few humans here and there, as well as a group of bunny monsters that Cross knew from elementary school. Adi was the nicest by far, but they were not a bad group.

Kai and Cross took seats behind the scary skeleton, Papaya sitting across the aisle from them. Kai had taken the window seat, leaving the other with the aisle.

“Next stop, Elmore Street in Yinmon City.” The bus driver announced unenthusiastically, shutting the doors and stepping on the gas.

Kai pulled out a thermos full of coffee and offered some to Cross, who gratefully accepted. Kai liked his coffee how he liked his men. Very very hot and ridiculously sweet. It was always a shock that early in the morning, but not an unwelcome one.

The skeleton in front of them glanced back at them with one very large eyelight and watched them not so subtly. Kai began monologuing about how his night went, paying no mind to the scary skeleton watching them over his shoulder.

The scenery passed by peacefully, the relatively empty fields of the outskirts of Satellite subtly transforming into the wealthier housing developments of Yinmon. Kai continued to babble on, Cross occasionally engaging in the conversation. The neatly dressed skeleton watching them never broke his gaze, and inevitably Kai took notice.

“Hey pal, can we help ya?” Kai asked, stopping his tangent about basking sharks (why were they talking about basking sharks?). The other skeleton blinked a few times, then reached over the seat and grabbed Cross’ face.

Cross panicked, reasonably so, and tried to push the others enormous hand off his face. The other squished his cheeks with his fingers, mumbling under his breath.

Kai laughed hysterically as Cross shoved the others hand away and hissed.

“Your face is squishy.” The other commented in a low rumble. Cross withdrew into his scarf, face igniting in a blush. He knew he had squishy cheeks, but that didn't give anyone the right to squish them.

“What the hell?! Back off!” Cross snarled before the other could squish him again. The other looked a little surprised, but back to amused. Papaya glanced over at them and rolled his eyes, going back to staring out the window.

“The names Alex.” The bigger introduced, offering his hand to Cross. He took it carefully, not trusting Alex not to try and grab his face again.

“I’m Kai. And marshmallow cheeks over there is Cross.” Kai replied, reducing his laughter to giggles. Cross swatted at Killer playfully.

“Nice to meet ya’.” Alex pat the seat next to him and the dog jumped up next to him. “This is Ms. Fluffles. You may pet ‘er.”

Cross reached over the seat and patted the dog's head timidly. The dog licked his hand and wagged her tail. Cross smiled and scratched between her ears, the dog getting increasingly excited about the attention.

“She's a good girl, ain't she?” Alex commented, patting the dogs back. Cross nodded timidly and continued to pet her surprisingly soft fur.

“‘ad to get ‘er after I got this hole in my head. More of a seein’ eye dog than anythin.” Alex continued, nuzzling her face.

Cross muttered a thank you and withdrew his hand, remembering he was still holding Killer’s coffee. He took a small sip, the hot liquid burning his tongue.

Kai snatched the thermos from Cross and chugged, paying no mind to the fact he was probably not going to be able to taste anything for the next week.

Alex turned back around and leaned against the window, watching as suburbia turned into city. The school they went to (Elmore Academy) was in the center of the city. To some it may seem unreasonable, kids from Satellite had to go to the school, but because of weird zoning they were forced to go to the school in the city instead of the much closer local High School.

Cross pulled out his phone and swiped it open, pulling up messages and checking the one notification he had gotten. It was from Chara 10 minutes ago.

Chara: Hey nerd

Cross rolled his eyes and typed his reply.

You: What?

Chara began typing his reply immediately.

Chara: Frisk was wondering if he could borrow 10 G for a thing at school.

Cross wracked his brain for where he could have stashed his money. He trusted Frisk to have enough integrity not to steal his hard earned 15 G he got from chores (though if he did it really wouldn't be the end of the world).

You: Yeah, check inside the white blanket in the closet. Why does he need it?

Chara did not reply immediately that time.

Chara: He didn't say. But what he did say was “Thanks”. Don't die at school dearest brother, I would miss you.

You: You too, Poison Ivy Eater

Chara: please let me live that down

You: No :)

Cross shut off his phone and stared out the window. They were almost there, thankfully. It was inevitably going to be a long day, but that was fine. Once it was over, maybe he could talk Kai (and by extension Xavier) into hanging out after school in the city and catching a different bus home. Which shouldn't be too hard.

“Elmore Street up ahead.” The bus driver announced over the loudspeaker. Most of the people on the bus began shuffling about, grabbing their bags and preparing to depart.

Kai chugged the rest of the coffee and shoved the thermos into his bag. The pair looked over Alex’s shoulder at the oncoming bus stop in front of their school. The school doors were crowded with people of all different types, ranging from human to sentient fire. There were another one or two skeletons in there as well, if you looked hard enough. That wasn't hard to believe though, given skeletons were a surprisingly common kind of monster in the City. Legend had it that the princes of the country were also skeletons even though their mother was not. But, the royal family had long since died out after an attack on them hundreds of years ago leaving no survivors and the country began electing presidents instead.

Alex got off the bus first, followed by Papaya and the bunnies. The skeleton with his hood up sitting in the back followed at a distance, glancing over at the childhood best friends for a mere moment before continuing on. Cross led Kai off the bus and onto the sidewalk in front of the school, Kai grabbing hold of Cross’ scarf before entering.

Kai had been doing that since they ‘officially’ became friends (just as Cross had always been wearing a scarf). Kai found it easy to get distracted or lost even in a school as small as their elementary school, so holding onto someone who actually knew what they were doing was a big help in keeping Kai from running off and chasing squirrels.

The halls were crowded. As usual. The school was far too small for the amount of people in it. Cross squeezed through the crowd and approached the stairwell where Kai and Cross broke off. Cross waved to his friend and Kai let go of him, waving back. Cross ascended the stairs two at a time and stopped in the entryway of the slightly less busy and loud second floor. Mrs.Wells sat at her desk in the front of the class, grading papers by the looks of it. The other students in the class were doing their own thing, barely interacting with each other. The Oreo took a seat in the back corner of the classroom like the edgy wanna be protagonist he was.

Cross stared out the window into the wall of the building next to the school. It was a simple brick wall with absolutely no redeeming qualities or defining features. It was just a wall.

The bell rang eventually, spelling the beginning of the day. Most of the students had trickled in at that point, all of them pulling the text book out of their bag. Cross reached into his own, feeling around for the overly heavy book and pulling it out.

DRAFT SECTION: This will not be staying the same, as I think I'm going to save this whole interaction (s) for a later chapter so I don't overwhelm the reader.

Mrs.Wells stood and addressed the class, pulling out a dry erase marker and beginning to write the day's assignment on the board. She was a strong believer in textbook work and usually just made the students work on their own in the books. However, she was nice enough and let him draw during class. The only thing that kept him from liking her class was the fact that she was a transphobic asshole who refused to call him by his name.

Around half way through the class, there was a brisk knock on the door. The teacher got up to answer it and talked with whoever was on the other side for a moment, prompting Cross to stop reading about Passive Voice for a hot second to eavesdrop.

The teached closed the door and another student came in. Cross recognized him as the skeleton from the back of the bus earlier. He had his arms crossed and a mean smirk on his face as he surveyed the class.

“Dust, why don't you go sit in the back with the other skeleton, Violet.” Mrs.Wells pointed at Cross. Cross cringed at the mention of his dead name, but pushed his books to one side to make room for his new desk buddy. The closer he got, the more he realized how big the hoodie he was wearing was and how the only thing keeping his eyes from being covered was a hat underneath the hood.

Dust swaggered over to him and pulled a chair from an empty desk, and placed it on the opposite side of the desk, resting his head in his hands and staring contently at the textbook.

“So, Violet-”

“It's Cross.”

Dust seemed surprised for a moment, but continued.

“Whatcha readin’?”

Cross checked the cover of the book and showed it to the other. Dust seemed satisfied and studied Cross’ eyes for a moment.

“Dust, take your hood off.” The teacher snapped from the front of the classroom, sitting back down and going back to grading papers. Dust slipped his hood off and gazed smugly at the front of the classroom, still wearing the hat.

The teacher rolled her eyes and continued what she was doing, leaving Dust to continue staring at Cross. Cross continued reading, pulling out a notebook to take notes. He flipped to a random page, half full page and began writing a few things down.

Dust leaned forward and snatched the notebook away from Cross, reading the page. Cross panicked and tried to get it back, knowing full well what was on the rest of the page. Dust’s bone brows shot up and he held the book out of reach.

“Wow, you drew this? Nice.” Dust commented, pushing Cross’ desperate hands away. Mrs.Wells looked up from her work once more and scowled.

“Violet, Dust, behave!” She snapped at them, prompting Dust to argue.

“But ma’am! She drew this! Isnt it cool!”

“Its HE drew this and give it back!” Cross lunged for it before anyone could see the drawings inside. It was just a few simple drawings of flowers, but they still weren't meant to ever be seen by another (unless you counted Kai).

“Both of you, OUT.” Mrs.Wells violently gestured to the door and Dust grabbed Cross and dragged him out of the classroom, flipping off the teacher in the process.

Cross shoved Dust away once they got into the hallway and growled angrily.

“What the hell dude?!” Cross crossed (pun not intended) his arms angrily. He had never been in trouble with a teacher so bad to where they sent him out before.

“Sorry ‘bout that. Now we gotta go to the Principal's office. Oh what a shame.” Dust replied, handing the book back to Cross and shrugging.

“Wh- SORRY ISN'T GOING TO CUT IT BUDDY!” Cross all but yelled. What the hell was up with this guy?! He was already halfway down the hallway and at the stairwell, giving him an expectant look.

“Well, what are you waiting for, the flowers to grow? Get over here!” Dust asked innocently, beginning down the stairs. Cross chased after him and caught up to him, glaring at the others back. He hadn't noticed before, but the other was wearing a blood red scarf. Huh. Scarf buddies. To scarf or to not scarf, he was still pissed.

Dust tossed open the door to the guidance office and entered like he lived there, waving to the administrator at the desk. The administrator pursed his lips but waved back.

Cross pulled open the door a little more timidly, following closely to Dust, who seemed to know what he was doing. Maybe this wasn't his first time in the office.

He turned a corner and knocked on a door labeled “principal” and a goat monster answered. Cross had never actually met the principal and had desperately hoped he wouldn't have to.

“Dust? Why are you here again?” The goat monster asked, tilting her head in a confused manner.

“Teacher sent me and her out of the classroom.” Dust replied simply, gesturing to Cross.

“For the last time, I'm a dude! What part of that are you not getting?!” Cross snapped.

“Oh, a Penaloza. Come in, both of you.” She instructed, pulling open the door. Dust stepped inside confidently, leaving Cross to stumble awkwardly behind him. How did she know his last name? Had she met Papaya before?

The office was surprisingly cozy. Two plush chairs sat across from a simple wooden desk with a computer and name plate on it. The name plate read “Ms.Toriel”. Dust took a seat casually, as did Ms.Toriel. Cross awkwardly sat in the other chair, waiting for someone to say something.

“Dust, you know you can't just keep getting in trouble to be here, correct? It goes on your permanent record.” Ms.Toriel stated, leaning back in her chair and pushing her glasses further up her snout.

“As for you, I do not believe we have met. I am Ms.Toriel, principal at this school. As a random guess, are you Xavier Penaloza’s son?” Cross perked up at the mention of his ‘father’.

“Y-yes. How did you know?” Cross asked awkwardly. Ms.Toriel smiled warmly.

“We went to school and worked in a lab together for a while. He was a good soul. It really is a shame what happened though.” Cross stifined. What happened to Xavier's career as a scientist was never discussed among the family, but Xavier’s friends (the few that he still had) referred to it a lot.

“When I saw your name on the registration paperwork I almost couldn't believe my eyes. I had met you once before, but you were very young at the time. I was also surprised to see he seems to have adopted two other children. Human children, at that.” Ms.Toriel continued.

Dust listened intently, seemingly interested in what Ms.Toriel had to say about Cross’ family.

“Yes. Chara and Frisk. Chara is coming to this school next year I think.” Cross replied. Ms.Toriel nodded and glanced at the clock on the wall adjacent to the desk.

“I will allow you two to stay here until the next bell, and then you both will have to go back to your classes.” Ms.Toriel informed. “And yes, we can work on the puzzle if that is what you wish, Dust.”

Dust perked up and smiled, prompting Ms.Toriel to pull out a puzzle box and set it on the clear desk. Dust scooted his chair forward and Ms.Toriel dumped out the contents, the two beginning the puzzle. Cross sat awkwardly and pulled out a pencil from his pocket, pulling his feet up onto the chair and resting the notebook on his knees, flipping to a blank page.

He doodled a few random things as warm up and then began sketching the scene in front of him. Dust had pulled his hood back over his head at some point, making his face not clearly visible.

Cross’ stomach dropped, realizing he forgot his bag and books in his English class. Great. Now he was going to have to go back into the classroom and likely get yelled at by the teacher.

____________________________________________________________________________

The day passed by relatively quickly after the encounter with the principal. Kai and Cross luckily had art at the end of the day together (even though Kai wasnt a huge fan of art), so he got to tell his friend all about the strange start to the day he had. Kai himself had never actually met Dust, but had heard that he secretly did drugs under the table and slept around a lot. It didn't come as a surprise to Cross (since he had heard similar things), but what confused him was why he was so… adamant about going to Ms.Toriel.

“I dunno, maybe its because shes a nice person?” Kai suggested as they worked on their still life paintings of a pear. Cross shrugged and glanced back over at the table where the plastic pear lay. He must be really off his rocker, because the shading just didn't look quite right.

“Eh, I wouldn't worry about it. It was probably a one time thing. Both of you are gonna move on with your lives and forget the other ever existed.” Kai suggested, adding a few messy strokes of brown onto the table portion of the drawing and blending them with the lighter brown.

“He's on our bus. What if he tries to talk to me? He kept deadnaming me the entire time we talked.” Cross asked, sticking his brush in the water jar.

“Clock him in the face if he tries or something, I dunno.” Kai shrugged and speckled a few brown spots onto the pear.

“Excuse me, can I borrow some of your black?” A human asked from the other side of the table.

“Of course.” Cross replied, the palette he and Kai were sharing over to the human girl. She took some with her brush and put it on her own before sliding it back. Cross thanked her quietly and continued shading.

A sudden wave of dizziness rolled over Cross, causing him to hold onto the table for support for a second. Stools were never a very good balance keeper.

Kai glanced over at him, his soul flickering with concern. You could always tell how Killer was feeling based on the brightness and shape of his soul.

“I'm fine.”

The bell rang shortly after and they had to put their painting supplies away. Kai grabbed Cross’ scarf and they began heading towards the front of the school to hop on the bus.

“Hey, I was wondering, would you wanna stick around in the city for a bit? I heard the cat cafe just got some new cats that we haven't met yet.” Cross asked over his shoulder.

“Ask Xavier. I'm sure my fosters are fine with it, they forget I even live with them sometimes.” Kai shrugged. Cross nodded and pulled out his phone, quickly typing up a message and sending it, leading the two of them out of the school and into the sunny afternoon.

Xavier replied back quickly, giving the two the okay to hang around. Cross and Kai broke away from the sea of highschoolers and began to wander in the general direction of the cafe, passing the subway entrance.

“Welp. Wonder what the new cats are like-” Kai began, but glanced over his shoulder and stopped abruptly.

“Huh? Kai, what's the matter?” Cross turned and saw it too. Dust was very subtly walking in their general direction.

“Weird. I thought he took the bus home.” Cross pointed out.

“He DOES take the bus home. I think he's following us.” Kai hissed, pulling Cross by the scarf at a faster pace than before. “If he keeps following us, run.”

Dust barely acknowledges the fact that they sped up as the two rounded a corner and continued following the directions they had memorized to the Cat cafe. They may or may not have been there a few times.

Dust continued to follow them at a distance. It was unlikely that he had decided to go to the cat cafe that very day at that very moment as well.

“Okay, on the count of three, we start running and aim to be in the cafe’s back alleyway. Got it?” Kai hissed lowly, not taking his eyes off of Dust over his shoulder. Cross nodded and waited for the count down.

“One… two…. THREE!” The two took off in a sprint, dodging people and lamp posts and nearly colliding with a few people. They were close, they could tell.

Cross and Kai threw themselves into the alley, pressing themselves to the side of the building, panting.

“Is he gone?” Cross asked between breaths, clutching his chest.

The answer, as it turned out, was a no. Dust casually walked by the ally and stopped in the middle of the entrance. His right eyelight began to glow and he raised his hand.

Cross and Kai’s souls lit blue and they were thrown in the air by their souls. Dust approached menacingly with a cruel grin on his face.

“You should see the look on your faces right now.” Dust stated, lowering them closer to the ground.

“What's with the look? Did you REALLY think I was just going to let a cutie like you walk right by me without getting your number or somethin’?” Dust asked, marching up Kai and booping his nose.

Kai looked thoroughly confused, staring at Dust.

“What.” Dust stated more than asked.

“You have terrible taste is all.” Kai said matter of factly. Dust snorted and rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, what of it?”

“Leave ‘em alone, freak.” A voice from the entrance demanded lowly. Cross turned to see Alex of all people standing menacingly at the entrance of the ally, Ms.Fluffles right next to him with her tongue lolling out to one side happily.

Dust gave Alex a weird look before smirking once more, placing his hands on his hips and sticking his tongue out tauntingly.

“Oh yeah? And what are you going to do about it?” Dust mocked. Alex seemed as if he were about to make a retort but stopped before it came out, his eye widening.

“What's wrong, big guy? You scared- Hey, what the hell are you looking at?” Dust waved his arms in front of the neatly dressed skeleton's face but Alex’s expression refused to falter. Cross turned to look over his shoulder curiously and his non existent stomach dropped.

“W-what is that?!” Cross exclaimed, struggling against the blue magic keeping him in the air. At the end of the ally, something that looked suspiciously like a dead boy lay. Blood was flowing from an open wound on its chest and a cloud of what looked like glitches covering one eye. Dust dropped the friends and took a step back, trying to process what he was seeing.

Kai made the first move and took a step forward and approached the person, nuding its side with his foot. Its eye shot open and it sat up suddenly, scowling at the empty socketed one.

“Can't you see I'm trying to nap?! Can you let a dude sleep in a suspicious ally way? For god's sake kid!” The seemingly skeleton yelled, pushing Kai away. Geeze, how many new skeletons was Cross going to end up meeting??

“Y-you're bleeding! We need to get you to a hospital- or something- what the fuck, I dont know, someone call an ambulance????” Cross stuttered, trying to organize his thoughts. To be fair, he had never seen blood that wasn't his own before.

“Im fine kiddo. Now fuck off before he gets back and ruins my nap oppertunities.” It said snarkily, rolling over and laying back down.

“Who?” Kai asked inquisitively, poking the person with his foot once more.

“He means me.” A voice said from above.

“Oh GOD DAMN IT REAPER.” The person shouted, taking a shoe and chucking it at the fire escape of the apartment next to the cafe. A figure moved to dodge it and caught it, tossing it back passive aggressively.

The person in the fire escape jumped down onto their level and stepped into the half light. They were yet another skeleton, but this one seemed different. Powerful, almost. They wore a strange black cloak with a hood over their head and a scythe rested on their shoulder. If Cross looked close enough, he could swear there were wings on his back as well. They looked like a stereotypical Grim Reaper.

“Who the hell are you?” Dust asked accusingly, stepping back and nearly onto Alex’s feet.

The newcomer rolled their eyes.

“Oh great, a bunch of teenagers. Who do you think I am?” The stranger retorted, pulling the scythe off his shoulder and leaning on it.

“A cosplayer?” Kai suggested inquisitively. The stranger stared blankly at Killer and sighed.

“Im the- y’know what, you wouldn't believe me even if I told you. Just get lost. I have a mortal to woo.” The cosplayer-strange-new-comer-person flicked his wrist and the group was sent flying back into the (thankfully) empty street. Cross landed on his butt in the middle of the street with an audible ‘oof!’, Kai landing beside him.

Dust and Alex had landed further back, both with confused expressions about what had just happened. Upon looking back at the alley, the two strange skeletons were gone.

“...”

“What the hell…?”

After a very very awkward bus ride back to Satellite, Cross had practically ran home and thrown the door open. He was 10 minutes past curfew and had a very high chance of getting grounded (because parents, am I right?). The Penalozas all sat around the table, generally quiet until Cross made his rather loud entrance.

“Ah, there you are. Why didnt you tell me the bus was late?” Xavier asked, his head placed on his hands.

“Uhh, things happened.” Cross replied, internally facepalming at how stupid he sounded.

“...I see. Well, come, sit. Your food is getting cold.” Xavier instructed, leaning back in his chair. The other children had clearly finished eating earlier and now just had to wait for Cross to pick at whatever was being served before being excused. Family rule.

Cross took his seat at the circle table sitting in between the kitchen and living rooms. Since their house was so small they had to keep the table small so they could all fit. The oreo glanced at what was on the table and sighed, dishing out a small helping of spaghetti. The less he took, the faster he could eat it and the sooner they could all go back to doing whatever they were doing before dinner.

Cross scarfed down the meal and pushed his plate away, signifying he was done. Xavier got up from the table first and sat on the couch, pulling out a notebook from what seemed like thin air and beginning to write in it. The other kids dispersed and headed to their rooms, the two humans sharing one and Papaya choosing to live in the basement as there was more room than if he and Cross shared a room.

Cross pushed open his door and stepped inside and around the sketchbooks littering the floor, flopping onto his bed on his back, subconsciously beginning to trace the jagged scar under his eye. He was still trying to process everything that had happened. It was such a strange day, having met two new possible acquaintances (well, maybe not Dust…) and then that whole thing in the alley. Who were those people? They seemed to know each other, and one had called the bleeding skeleton a ‘mortal’. Or at least that's what it sounded like. What had he meant by that?

Cross felt a soft buzzing in his pocket, alerting him of a notification. He reached into his pocket and pulled his phone out, rolling onto his belly and turning it on.

He seemed to have a notification from a new group chat he didn't remember joining. He opened the notification and read the message.

516 - 689 - 3393: Are we all here?

Cross furrowed his bone brow and pulled his other hand out from under his pillow to type a response.

You: Who is this?

Kai, much to his surprise, was also there and began typing after Cross sent his message.

Kai: Idk, all I can see is C is here

The 516 number began to type back.

516 - 689 - 3393: Its Dust, from earlier. I added Alex, Cross, and Kai. Are we all here?

516 - 774 - 8976: how did you get the numbers

516 - 689 - 3393: Elmore School’s database is easy to hack

You: oh.

Cross saved both the numbers in his phone and continued conversing.

You: Any particular reason you’re reaching out to us???

Dust: Yes. We can't just pretend like what we saw didn't happen and I have a proposal to make.

Kai: And what is that

Dust: We meet up after school tomorrow and look for those two people and get answers through any means. I dunno about you guys, but I haven't stopped thinking about this since we got off the bus.

Alex: Dude we literally just met.

Dust: Exactly. We do this one thing, then forget it ever happened.

Cross considered for a long moment, weighing his options.

You: I'm down if everyone else is. Got nothing better to do anyway.

Several people began typing.

Dust: Fantastic

Kai: What the fuck Cross

Alex: Eh, I'm fine with it too.

Kai: God damn it now Cross is gonna peer pressure me into this new fake investigation squad

You: You know it lmao

Cross smiled down at his phone and awaited Killer's inevitable (probably reluctant) agreement. Sometimes, silent peer pressure was the most effective peer pressure.

“You looking at hentai or something?” A voice asked from Cross’ door. Cross whipped around and scowled at Chara.

“No!” Cross tossed a pillow in his brother's general direction, the smug little shit sidestepping it.

“Bummer.” Chara took and running start and flopped over onto Cross’ bed, burying his face in the soft plushness that was his blanket.

“What do you want?” Cross asked, exasperated. Chara propped his head up with his hands and kicked his feet back and forth.

“To bother you. Duh. Xaviers too absorbed in his work to give a response and Frisk is doing homework.” Chara replied, rolling onto his back and splaying his arms. He was now in 8th grade and had entered his rebellious teenager phase. 13 year olds could be scary sometimes.

“And what about Papaya?” Cross asked, his phone buzzing.

“Whatcha talkin’ about?” Chara did his best blanket impression and looked over Cross’ shoulder nosely. Cross shut his phone down and pushed him off, flipping him the bird.

“Nunya. Leave me alone.” Cross requested, sitting up.

“Whats wrong sour pants? Are you mad ‘cause you dont know how to make friends-”

“Get out.”

Chara blew a raspberry and jumped off the bed, likely going to bother Papaya. Cross sighed and reopened his phone, reading over Kai’s “Fine I’ll help” quickly and shutting it off. It was almost dead, but he was too lazy to get up and attach it to its charger.

Cross flopped back over and sighed. He was tired, but it was too early to call it a night. So doodling it was.

The oreo pulled out the sketchbook he had shoved in his bag and flipped to a drawing he had started of a cat, silently wishing he had a reference. The night ticked on and by the time Frisk had finished all of his homework and was coming to say goodnight, he was already asleep. What a strange day it had been…

#writing #undertale #undertale multiverse #utmv #undertale au #niko.jpeg #The Various Sanses #There isnt a way in hell I'll be able to tag all of this #Oneshot game #XTale #Dreamtale #Horrortale #Dusttale #Ink Sans #Errink kids #Some original characters #Underswap #I give up thats all youre gonna get

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