#i think we can all agree that a cat with a dagger or straight up casting spells would improve the game experience

[indigonite]

my main criticism for Baldurs Gate 3 is that you can’t keep wreaking havoc if you accidentally polymorph into a cat

[satanwithboobs]

self-care | GN!MC x OM brothers

tw: mentions of reckless behavior, the brothers are demons so they essentially roofie MC but.. for their own good...? it’s not okay and I’m pretty sure Beel is the only one who feels like they did something wrong.

a/n: okay so this is really long (nearly 2,400 words), and it just sort of happened. mainly inspired by my history of reckless behavior when it comes to my health and my resolve not to let the stress of my upcoming week make me resort to bad habits. and before anyone wonders... the anecdote in the story? yeah that really happened. I gave myself stomach ulcers because I kept taking ibuprofen (it was for a horrible tooth ache) and I didn’t eat anything but saltines for days while I finished up a final project. word to the wise: don’t be like me. I’m dumb.

self care is important, everyone! I know a lot of people are starting school again, so please!!! take!! care!! of!!! yourselves!!

—

Lucifer was the first to notice something was up with MC, though initially he paid it no heed.

Naturally, he had always prided himself (of course) on his superior attention to detail, and

He had noticed them drinking cups of coffee and energy drinks a whole lot more often than usual, but given that finals were coming up, he figured they were simply trying to keep more awake for the sake of their studies.

None of this was healthy, of course, but he’d wait to scold them if it truly became worth his while to do so.

And so, he went on with his business, offering them advice as he had on many occasions before. He had even been kind enough to tutor them without the aid of his whip or his fire, something he would never do with any of his brothers. At one point he even let a snide comment under their breath go with just a stern warning.

He truly had gone soft, but he supposed it was best if he didn’t traumatize the human he and his brothers had formed such a strong bond with just for the sake of grades.

And while he had been the first to notice their new habits - all of his brothers had eventually caught on to what was going on.

It was the Saturday before finals that they all finally acknowledged that something needed to be done.

—

“They’re looking truly frightening!” Asmo exclaimed, and while typically his statements were brushed off by the rest as pure hyperbole, they all had to agree with this one. “They’ll get wrinkles in no time if they keep this up...”

“Yeah, somethin’ needs to be done,” Mammon commented, earning nods from his brothers — a truly rare occurrence in the House of Lamentation.

“Maybe I can plan a spa day!” Asmo interjected, an excited expression on his face.

“I don’t think havin’ ya feel ‘em up all day would help anythin,” Mammon grumbled, earning a scowl from the fifth-born in return.

“Perhaps...” Satan started.

“No,” Lucifer retorted, earning a look from the wrathful fourth-born.

He simply continued as if daggers weren’t being glared in his direction, “I don’t care how many times you try and paint it as a benefit for us all, you will not get a cat.”

Satan muttered something that sounded a lot like, “dammit,” under his breath, along with a couple of choice words that Lucifer ignored for the sake of pushing the conversation forward.

“I know! There’s this new TSL ultra-special extended-cut series box set that we can marathon! It has never-before-heard director commentary, along with a limited edition SIGNED replica of the—”

“That’s just gonna wind ‘em up even more!” The second-born responded, getting fed up with this already.

In truth, he was mainly irritated at himself for failing to notice that MC had gotten so bad. He was their first guy, he should’ve known!

“For once, I have to agree with Mammon,” the Avatar of Pride earned six dumbfounded looks with that, with Belphegor actually opening his eyes and Beelzebub nearly choking on the bite of food in his mouth.

“MC needs sleep, not distractions,” he went on without missing a beat, “I very much doubt they’ve had more than four hours of sleep in the last five days, so that must be our first priority.”

“How do you suggest we do that? It isn’t like MC will concede easy, we all know how stubborn they are,” Satan asked.

“Simple,” Lucifer proclaimed, as his gaze fell upon the youngest brother, who had already fallen into a deep slumber once again. “We use force.”

Upon feeling the eyes of all his brothers fall on him, Belphegor stirred, a single violet eye opening. He grumbled, not bothering to sit up properly as he regarded the eldest with a tired expression.

“What?”

—

Lucifer had explained the very simple two-step ‘plan’ to Belphegor (step no. 1, corner the human so they can’t slip away - step no. 2, Belphie makes them sleep), and they were about to begin discussing when to put their plan into motion when footsteps echoed outside the common room.

MC walked in, looking a bit more than a little worse for wear (while their clothes and hair looked fine given the circumstances, the bags under their eyes had become so prominent that they were basically their own entity at this point).

“Oh, that’s where you guys were. I was wondering why the place was so quiet,” they tried to joke, but it came out in such a monotone way that it just sounded more like a simple statement.

Their brow furrowed a bit when they got no response from the seven demons, but they shrugged it off and put their bag down on the table, beginning to take out the many books they were going to need. They’d been barricaded in their room for quite some time, but they had needed a change of scenery. Not to mention, their bed had been way too tempting...

The silence in the room was deafening - even in their bleary state they could tell something was off - so eventually they turned around to see six pairs of eyes scrutinizing their every move (Belphegor was asleep, which didn’t surprise them.

“You guys are starting to freak me out,” they stifled a yawn and moved to grab their coffee, in desperate need of another pick-me-up.

If they had any hope of grasping the concepts in Devildom Law, they’d need it—

They were confused when they didn’t find it where they had left it - on the table, two seconds earlier - but not so when they noticed that Lucifer had suddenly appeared right next to them, their coffee in hand.

“Uhh, Luci? Kinda need that,” they let out a laugh and outstretched their hand, silently asking for it back.

“No, you’re cut off,” he declared, earning a sigh from MC. It wasn’t like they had been caught dancing on the tables after a few too many shots of Demonus. It was just coffee.

“You guys are worried, aren’t you? Well, don’t be. It’s not like I haven’t done this sort of thing dozens of times before, I’ll be fine,” they tried to reassure, though in truth they had never been forced to study nearly as hard as they had for the classes at RAD.

“No, what yer gonna do is let us take care of ya’. Don’t ya trust us?” Mammon said gruffly, earning a look from the human.

“Yeah... you’re really fragile, being a human, and..” Beelzebub started, before trailing off with a frown, remembering they didn’t particularly like being told that. Even if it was objectively true.

“Seriously? I’m being lectured by a bunch of demons on healthy lifestyle choices?” They said, exasperated. “I already said, I’ve done so much worse before. Not sure if I ever mentioned it, but this one time I was up for three nights straight in college.. Gave myself stomach ulcers during finals week because all I had to eat was a sleeve of saltines and some ibuprofen—” they laughed a bit before realizing - upon seeing everyone’s concern only increase - maybe that particular story wasn’t the best one to tell right at that very moment.

MC turned back to Lucifer, shooting him a pleading look. “I need to do well on these finals, Lucifer. I’m not going to make you guys look bad by completely bombing them all.”

The look in his eyes softened for a moment, before he sent someone behind them a terse nod.

Of course, they figured out just a little too late that this was far more than simply a discussion about their unhealthy sleeping habits.

They didn’t even need to look behind them to feel the overwhelming presence of the youngest brother weighing down on them.

While Belphie had done this sort of thing to them once or twice on accident while taking a nap nearby, it had never felt this.. overpowering.

They shot Lucifer a look, and he responded with a somewhat sympathetic look of his own.

“You can’t be serious about...” they trailed off, trying and failing to stifle a yawn. “About.. this....”

MC soon fell into the waiting arms of the eldest, out like a light.

Lucifer let out a soft chuckle as he scooped them up bridal-style, giving a quick nod to Beelzebub who had picked up his twin the same way.

It was a side-effect of the youngest’s ability; he could make someone of his choosing fall into a deep sleep if he wanted, but he’d always do the same.

It was kind of annoying, but it wasn’t like he didn’t spend most of the time sleeping anyway. At least he had full control over how long the other person slept and would always wake at the same time they did.

Now that he thought about it, he’d have to find an excuse to do this again sometime. Naps were way less fun when the person you’re napping with insists on getting up before you wanted them to.

“Pretty sure that’s a record for Belphie,” Satan mused, “I’ve never seen someone pass out like that in less than 10 seconds.”

—

Beelzebub happily chomped down on the many food items he had been supplied with as he waited for his twin and MC to awaken.

The rest of his brothers would have hated having to wait so long, but as long as he had food and his two favorite people in front of him....

Beel looked up from his snack when he heard the pair stir.

An annoyed expression settled on MC’s face as they opened their eyes, completely erasing the peaceful look they held moments before.

Beel frowned, knowing they had a reason to be annoyed, but also knowing that this was all for their own good.

Their face softened ever-so-slightly when they noticed Beelzebub, the one brother they could never stay mad at.

They were about to sit up when they realized there was an arm loosely caged around their waist. Behind them, they could feel the soft and slow breathing of the youngest demon brother, as if he wasn’t already awake.

They attempted to move away, but the loose grip quickly tightened, pushing them flush against Belphegor’s chest.

A satisfied hum escaped their ‘captor’ when MC gave up and sighed.

“You’re welcome,” Belphegor said tiredly, nuzzling his face in their neck, much to their chagrin.

“I can’t believe you guys...” they finally said, their voice still rough from sleep. “How long?”

Beelzebub frowned again, knowing they wouldn’t like the answer. “18 hours,” he finally said, bracing for the response.

“Wait, 18 hours?!” MC rolled their eyes when the demon behind them groaned at the exclamation. “I’m going to miss—”

“I arranged for your deadlines to be extended, don’t worry,” MC stiffened when they heard the eldest’s voice, knowing their inevitable lecture was likely to come sooner rather than later.

They moved to sit up again, though this time their living restraint let it happen, turning over to hopefully get just 5 more minutes of sleep...

The human winced upon seeing the stern gaze Lucifer was giving them, though his eyes were notably softer than usual.

“While I appreciate the unwavering dedication to your studies,” he started, moving to sit on the edge of the bed near the two former sleeping beauties, “you do need to take care of yourself.”

“Achievement means nothing if you end up comatose before you reach the finish line.”

MC looked down, guilt settling on their face. Fair point from the Avatar of Pride.

“I—” they tried to start, but a gloved finger pressed against their lips before they could get anywhere.

“No arguments.”

MC sighed, tossing a defeated look to the eldest. All they got in response was a chuckle and his signature smug look.

Silence permeated the room for a moment before Lucifer spoke up again.

“You will report to my study promptly after dinner every night without exception until you are finished with everything,” he said, the edge in his voice coming back in full force. “Understand?”

MC nodded in response. Figures he’d implement something like this.

“Good. I will help you study a portion of the time, while Satan will help with the rest.”

The human resisted the urge to groan at this. Great, two drill sergeants for the price of one. Literally.

They felt their cheeks flare with heat when they felt Lucifer’s gloved hand cup their cheek as he leaned in to place a soft kiss on their forehead.

“Your well-being is important to all of us,” he said, pulling back. “Never forget that.”

“Lucifer is—” Beel interjected mid-bite before he quickly swallowed. “—right.”

“Won’t hear me arguin’ on that!” Mammon piped up as he filed into the room with the four brothers who weren’t already in there to begin with.

“Lucifer said I could plan a spa day when you finish up! Just you and me... sounds heavenly, doesn’t it?” Asmodeus announced, tossing a wink toward MC.

“Oi! If you think I’m gonna let that happen, you got another thing comin’, Asmo!” Mammon growled, earning an eye roll from the Avatar of Lust.

“You have nothing to worry about, as long as I’m your tutor,” Satan interjected before a true fight could break out.

“You better finish up quickly, because there’s this new game is coming out—!” Leviathan practically vibrated with excitement before letting out a terrified sound.

“Don’t put too much stress on them,” Lucifer’s aura flared.

“Oh, uh...” Levi corrected, looking a bit like a wounded puppy. “T-take all the time you n-need...”

MC couldn’t help but crack a smile at the brothers’ antics, their previous annoyance at the unexpected 18-hour nap all but gone (though they would have to speak to Lucifer about boundaries.. while they agreed that their health was important, essentially supernaturally drugging someone still wasn’t okay).

“You guys are too much,” they said, their cheeks flaring. “Just how did I end up stuck with all of you?”

Silence fell upon the room for a very brief moment at the question, before chaos (naturally) resumed its regularly scheduled programming.

[ponds-puddle]

Day Out ~{Shinso}~ (4/??)

word count: 1790 

part one / part two / part three

SERIES MASTERLIST

- 

“So about the homeless man,” your friend Jirou said as she plopped on your bed. You huffed stubbornly at her comment.

“I told you that he’s not homeless.” 

“He never gets off on his stop,” she said dully, “Maybe because he doesn’t really have any specific stop so he just wanders around your neighborhood at night. Good job, Y/N. You have a homeless man for a stalker.” 

“Jirou, he isn’t stalking me. If he was, wouldn’t I have run into him a second time a lot sooner?”

“He’s good at what he does,” she drones before looking at you, “You’re not his first.” 

“Jirou, you’re so uncalled for.” 

“You’re uncalled for,” she scoffed lamely before dropping her head back onto the bed dramatically.

“Did you ever truly grow up past five? I don’t think I’ve seen you change a single bit from then on.” 

Jirou laughed at you, not phased by your comment. The two of you have such a strange but beautiful relationship. Rather than being sweet to one another, the two of you just constantly roast one another. It’s a lot more entertaining that way. 

Truth is that you’ve known Jirou all your life. The two of you grew up next to each other. The two of you had that perfect friendship thing. The windows in both of your rooms faced one another. The two of you were destined to be friends and no one could tell you two otherwise. 

“Seriously though, Y/N…” Jirou said stiffly. You turned curiously at the girl, “Are you sure you’re not putting yourself in any danger meeting him at night? My patrol isn’t too far away. I can always walk you home at nights.” 

“Jir,” you said sweetly, “I promise that I’ll be okay. If anything happens, the way to my house has lots of plants. So I’ll be fine.” 

“Do you think that he’d do anything?” 

The air seemed so thick, “No.” 

Jirou didn’t look at you, but your eyes never once left her. You were somehow very certain, almost one hundred percent certain, that Shinso wouldn’t hurt you. There was no reasoning behind your thoughts. But there weren’t any to think otherwise either. 

“I believe you.”

“Good, now can you, like, insult me or something now? That was way too serious for us.”

Jirou laughed, She definitely agreed. 

-

“Why are you here? It’s not the middle of the night,” you joked with the purple haired boy sitting in his usual seat on the train. You were glad you weren’t the only one who automatically went to those seats if they’re open. Something about them seemed comforting. They were familiar. 

“I do have a life, you know.” 

“Actually I did not know that,” you commented pointedly as you sat beside him, “I don’t know much of anything about you.” 

“Same here,” he said while turning to look at you, “I think that’s part of the fun, don’t you?” 

You wanted to agree with him on instinct, but you didn’t, “Actually I would like to know more about you. I feel like knowing you would be more fun, you know?” 

The way you said it was so innocent, but Shinso could tell that you were throwing a tiny dagger along with your words. You were serious about it. You were determined to be friends with him, and for a moment Shinso felt afraid of this smiling creature in front of him. So stubborn. But at the same time so irritatingly interesting. 

“Yeah,” he said in a puzzled tone, wondering what it was about you that was making his heart beat so fast right now. 

“You good?” 

“Yeah just… thinking,” he shook it off, finally looking you in the eyes, “It’s nothing.” 

God his eyes are beautiful. 

All your life you have surrounded yourself in varieties of colors. Everyday of your life was filled to the brim with vibrant and intense colors. But not as intense as the color of his eyes. They could almost compare to lavender, but you have never seen a shade of lavender sparkle the way his eyes do. Maybe it was the reflection of the stars and lights in his irises, but whatever it was made you rethink whatever you once believed to be your favorite color. When you were with him, his purple outshines every other color you’ve seen. 

“What are you thinking about?” Shinso asked you sweetly, leaning his cheek into his palm. He looked so cute with the way his face squished against his hand. You suppressed a giggle, instead just giving him the softest of smiles. 

“I really like the color of your eyes.” 

Shinso froze slightly, his eyes widening slightly at your confession. He allowed his expression to stray from the norm for just a second more before replacing it with his usual smirk. 

“I like yours too.” 

A bright blush invaded your cheeks, humoring Shinso. He didn’t comment on it however, not wanting you to cover it from him. 

“What are you doing today?” 

“Grocery shopping, you?” 

“I actually just got off work. I wasn’t sure what I was gonna do today.” 

“You could join me if you want?” 

“I wouldn’t be intruding?” 

Shinso picked up your work bag before standing up and holding his hand out to you. Your hand reached out and met his as if on instinct, allowing him to pull you up from your seat. 

“You wanted to get to know me right?” he asked smoothly, suavely moving a piece of hair behind your ear, “Now’s your chance.”

- 

“How old are you?” 

“24, you?” he replied, spinning the produce bag before placing it in his cart.

“23, and your questions can’t all be asking the same thing to me. That’s cheating.” 

He rolled his eyes, pointing at the apples behind you, “Three please. And it’s not cheating. Maybe I just like your questions?” 

“Make up your own,” you laughed, handing him the bag of apples you had packed. He gave you a quiet “thank you” before placing it in the cart.

“Fine,” he sighed dramatically, drawing a laugh out of you, “What’s your favorite animal?” 

“Elephants!” you said excitedly. Shinso’s eyebrows raised at your enthusiasm, “Sorry, I just really like them.” 

“It’s your turn,” he laughed as he walked away with the cart, his hand coming out to hold onto your elbow. In the little time that he has known you, he’s realized how spacey you could get. He was sure if he didn’t keep his eye on you, you’d end up lost. He thought you were the cutest thing in the world. 

“Right,” you said with a little hum, unphased by him pulling you along, “What do you do for a living?” 

Shinso frowned. He couldn’t really tell you he was a hero. Not after he lied and said that he didn’t have a quirk. He stayed silent for a moment, pretending to be interested in a box of mac n cheese in his hand. 

“Shinso?” 

“Hm?” 

“What do you do for a living?” 

“Oh I-” 

“Shinso!” a loud voice broke through. He sighed in relief, not really sure what he was going to reply to that anyways. The relief didn’t last long, however. Not when he saw who had called him. 

“Kaminari,” he sighed, causing you to frown. Why did he seem so upset to see the boy? 

“I haven’t seen you in so long!” he dramatically hung himself on the boy, forcing him into a hug. 

“Think maybe it was on purpose?” 

Kaminari gasped, pulling away from the boy and holding his “broken” heart, “Shinso, after all we have been through? You wound me.” 

“Oh go short-circuit,” Shinso laughed, causing Kaminari to join in with him. You watched the two boys with a small smile on your face. You had never seen Shinso talk to anyone else before. He seemed so different with his friends than he does when he’s with just you. He’s meaner, but you can tell that it’s all jokes. You wonder what he would sound like when angry.

“Who is this?” 

“Leave her alone, Kaminari,” Shinso said with a straightened spine, knowing exactly how perverted his friend could act. You looked up at the stranger with a smile, not sure why Shinso had suddenly gotten so serious.

“Don’t listen to him,” you said as you stepped up to be stood beside Shinso, “I’m Y/N.” 

Denki looked between you and Shinso for a moment, “No way,” he gasped.

“Kaminari,” Shinso said warningly.

“Dude, she’s way cute,” he gushes, stepping closer to you. It didn’t feel threatening, but you could tell that Shinso wasn’t too happy with him advancing on you, “When’d you get yourself a girlfriend?”

“She’s not my girlfriend,” Shinso said stubbornly, beginning to look for a way out of this conversation. He was hoping Kaminari wouldn’t mention the whole hero thing. He wasn’t sure how he could talk himself out of that right now. 

“Then you’re single?” Kaminari’s eyes were now attached to you. You looked up at Shinso, seeing his uncomfortable features. A frown fell onto your lips, you didn’t like seeing him look like that. 

“No,” you lied, “Shinso is actually helping me pick out something to make for my girlfriend tonight. It’s our anniversary today. I’m a hopeless cook, but Shinso,” you placed your hands onto Shinso’s arm, causing him to look down at you, “is an absolute saint and my own personal hero and offered to help out. We’re actually in a little bit of a time crunch, so is it alright if we cut this short? I wanna get everything put out before she gets off work.” 

The farewells didn’t last long. However when Kaminari went in for a hug, Shinso gently pulled you to the side. You watched with a stifled laugh as the boy fell straight to the floor. You wanted to help the boy stand, but you were at a loss when Shinso took your hand and pulled you away from the loud blonde boy. 

“Sorry about that,” Shinso said gruffly, letting go of your hand. A small pout threatened your lips at the loss of contact.

“It’s fine, but you owe me dinner now.” 

Shinso looked down at you in surprise, only to see you staring straight ahead with a proud smile on your face. He smiled softly, “You sure your girlfriend won’t mind?” 

“The only girls I have in my life are my best friend Jirou and cat, Nakoma.” 

Shinso’s face broke out in a smile, “You have a cat?” 

Seeing the excitement on his face warmed your heart, “How about we have dinner at my place tonight? You can meet her?” 

He seemed to think about it for a moment before nodding, “Yeah I’d like that.” 

[highqueenofelfhame]

far away from sane - one

i’m going to preface this by saying that nobody has read this over so i don’t know if it’s good or if i just think it’s alright, who knows. only time will tell. I looked over this twice for grammar and editing and stuff but i’m sorry if i missed anything.  Thank you @starborn-faerie-queen  for your genius prayer to anneith. I owe you one. Not sure what the ‘one’ is but like certainly something let me know when you’d like to collect lmao.

TW: blood mostly. // 2435 words

Celaena had said it before, and she would likely say it again: the lying in wait before a job was the worst. Some people relished in it, seeing it as something religious almost. In fact, she knew a handful of assassins that worshipped their chosen deity in the moments before pouncing on their prey. Celaena wasn’t particularly religious herself. Too much had happened to her in her twenty four years to really believe that anyone up in the sky was looking out for anyone but themselves. Sometimes she felt like the sun was shining on her a little brighter than it did on other people. When she was a child, her mother had told her she was Mala blessed. She was not inclined to agree.

Still, when she slipped up the alley by the temple, she paused. A quick glance to her watch told her she still had an hour before she needed to be at the warehouse. An entire hour to kill, and what better way to spend her time than giving some old religious bastard a heart attack? She couldn’t think of anything, so she silently slipped through the front door of the small temple, splashed some holy water at the tapestry of the gods, and made her way toward the small confessional booth. 

Celaena settled inside on the uncomfortable, hideously upholstered bench and waited quietly. After seventy-two seconds, and just as she was about to leave and give up on spooking a foolish old man, the divider on the priest’s side of the partition slid open with a heinous screech that sent a shiver sprinting down her spine. Dim, warm light peppered over her lap through the grated holes of the window. Never too careful, Celaena adjusted her hood to be sure that ever defining feature about her was swallowed up in darkness. 

“Anneith, goddess of wisdom, we beseech you. Hear our prayer,” she recited, eyes looking to the little holes that separated her from the priest on the other side of the booth. A low, humming voice accompanied hers as she spoke and Celaena found herself slightly annoyed that he didn’t sound as ancient as she had hoped. “Forgive me Father, for I have sinned. It has been… gods. If I’m being honest, like sixteen years since my last confession. I… I don’t know where to start, actually.” 

Celaena tapped her finger against her watch and made a mental note of the time while she contemplated what she should confess, exactly. It wasn’t like she had a shortage of sins, but if she came on too strong straight out the gate, it would be hard to slip out of the church and into the night unnoticed. She sighed heavily and looked back up at the partition as she twisted her mouth in thought. The holes in this particular confessional were too small to see even a hint of the man that sat on the other side of the booth. Good. That meant he couldn’t see her, either. 

“I haven’t been in one of these things since I was a kid. My mother and father would take me to temple and I would fall asleep leaning against my father and wake up when he lifted me into his arms after it was all over. Church happens so early in the morning for young minds, you know. You should consider pushing back the time.” When the priest said nothing, she huffed an impatient sigh. “Anyway, I’m pretty sure the last time that I was in here it was for shoving my cousin down the four steps that lead up to our front door because he’d taken my ice cream. If you ask me, he should have been the one repenting. He stole -- and from a little girl no less. But I was the one in trouble.” She snorted, giving him a moment to say anything at all but the man was made of stone and said nothing. “I’m here now because I have a long, long list of sins, father. Longer than anyone else that has been in this crumbling building. Well, that isn’t true. There is one man, I think, that would top me. But I doubt he’s ever stepped a single toe into a church, much less tried to atone for the things he’s done.”

Celaena glanced down at her watch again, then settled back against the chair and dropped the bomb to end all bombs: “I’ve been killing for as long as I can remember. Well,” she shrugged to herself, “since I was eight.”

“Killing?” The priest finally asked, a trace amount of surprise laced in his tone. 

“Animals. People. Animals first, because that’s how they train you. The people come second once your technique isn’t so shoddy. And if I say so myself, and I do, my technique has been flawless for the last ten years. There’s a learning curve, but, well, that isn’t why I’m here. I’m not here to brag about my perfect skill or about the secrets that I’ve heard whispered in the dark. I bet you’ve heard your fair share of secrets, haven’t you, father?” Celaena glanced down one more time, already working the door open slow enough that it wouldn’t make any noise. The man didn’t say anything, likely at a loss. Or maybe he was already calling the police on his cell phone. “Anyway, what do you think my penance would be?”

“For killing people?” He finally answered. Celaena smiled to herself as she opened the door enough to slip through.

“Yes,” she said, and then disappeared through the small opening she’d made and disappeared into the shadows of the church, then the shadows of the street. She wasn’t a complete maniac, she didn’t begin cackling as soon as she was out the door. Though she did wish more than anything that she had been able to see the look on the man’s face when she revealed such dark truths. Wished he had been able to see the smile pulling at her lips while she spilled her secrets to him in the dark. 

Instead she weaved up and down the streets and alleys, climbed onto roofs and hopped from building to building when they were close enough. She didn’t stop moving until she reached the warehouse that she knew the stupid fucks were hiding in. She could see all three of them sitting around a shitty metal table, taking turns throwing down cards. Celaena was too far to hear anything that they said beyond a low murmur of voices, not that it mattered. They had all signed their deaths away to her when they’d had whatever part in killing Sam. It was made worse by the fact that they sat around a table now, playing games mere days afterward. She had hardly been able to eat since his blood had been splattered across her face, and they were playing stupid card games? They could beg and plead all they wanted under her knife, but it didn’t matter. Every single one of them would cease to breathe in the next eight minutes or less. 

It hadn’t been hard to figure out which of the safe houses they would be at that week. The men of the Assassins Guild had never been smart. Smart enough to get away with murder, yes, but not smart enough to beat Celaena. They could call her a bitch all they wanted, but growing up with the lot of them she was always Arobynn’s favorite, always the most skilled assassin of them all. Arobynn had crowned himself the king of assassins, but Celaena had earned her title as the assassin queen, had fought for it in violent shades of red over the years. The student had become the teacher, and tonight she would school all of these idiots for thinking they could take Sam from her and get away with it. 

After waiting another two minutes, Tern and Harding both stood from the table and began their laps around the property. Mullin stayed seated, idly shuffling his cards while Celaena snuck inside and up behind him. With a simple flick of her wrist, her favorite daggers had extended into her hands, and moments later a blade was at his throat. The assassin queen didn’t bother with pleasantries, didn’t inconvenience herself by trying to go easy on the rat beneath her fingertips. She pressed the blade into his skin and fought off a grin when a bead of blood dripped down his flesh. 

“Which one of you did it?” Her other hand twisted into his oily hair as she pressed the blade harder against his neck. “Normally I wouldn’t give you any credit, Mullin, because you could never out run me. But since I was in a little bit of shock, whichever one of you did it had a few minutes time to get away. You can tell me who it was and I’ll consider letting you live, or I can slit your throat right now and let you bleed out before your friends get back.”

“They were your friends once, too,” Mullin grit out, to which Celaena snorted.

“None of you were ever my friends. I could counter your shitty argument with the same one, he was your friend, too. He still lived with you, for gods’ sake. And you or one of your nitwit friends shot him in the head like he didn’t matter. So, I will give you one more chance, Mullin. Which one of you stupid fucks ki—”

She was violently cut off by someone yanking her head back by her ponytail. While part of her wasn’t surprised that someone had found her, she also knew they had found her a little too soon. Their fifteen minute patrol hadn’t been nearly long enough. Neither of the men should have been back yet, but here she was with one at her back and two at her front. Mullin now held her dagger in his hand, the one she’d had at his neck but dropped from the surprise attack. Harding stood beside him, which left Tern  keeping her hands in a vice-like grip behind her back, his knife pressing into the throbbing pulse in her neck. 

Stupid. She had been so rutting stupid.

Her eyes slid to Harding, who was kneeling to open and rifle through a wooden crate beside the table. When he stood he was unravelling an iron-tipped cat-o-nine tails. She refused to give any of these bastards the satisfaction of being afraid, so she kept her jaw locked and her eyes clear. Mullin approached her, pulling two pairs of handcuffs from his pocket that he used to lock her arms behind her back. Just as she poised herself to bring her knees up into his groin, her feet were knocked out from beneath her and she was helpless to catch her fall. Instead, she ate the concrete, teeth singing as her chin knocked into the ground and blood pooling in her mouth because she bit her tongue on contact. Celaena spit in the direction of Mullin and Tern, her blood splattering across the ground. It didn’t take long for her to feel the warm stickiness of blood dribbling down her chin while one of them unzipped her suit from neck down to her waist. 

And then they began whipping her. And whipping her. And whipping her.

Until black seeped into her vision and threatened to pull her under. A set up. It had been a set up. Killing Sam had likely been part of that set up. Arobynn had been mad at her for leaving the guild and had killed Sam to make her angry. He knew she would be reckless and a little stupid after losing the one person that meant absolutely everything to her and he had been right. And now she was going to die face down on the floor of a dirty warehouse in the slums of Rifthold, in a pool of her own blood. Poetic. 

“Just leave her,” she registered someone saying, but she couldn’t tell which voice it was. Everything sounded the same with the loud ringing in her ears. Someone was kneeling down beside her, looking at her face but she was seeing double and couldn’t figure out who was who. 

The man’s head snapped up as she heard a second set of ringing that sounded an awful lot like sirens. 

“What the fuck? The cops?” Vaguely, she registered blue and red lights flashing in the windows,  clearly getting closer as the vibrancy became hard to look at in her state of distress. Footsteps ran away from her followed by a lot of shouting. Gods, she wished they would shut up. Her head was hurting, her tongue hurt from biting it when she’d been kicked to the ground earlier. As footsteps ran toward her this time, she tried to focus on anything that wasn’t the mind-numbing pain. 

Tried and failed, until someone was crouching beside here and a set of bright, livid green eyes was in her line of vision. 

“I’ve got her! We need a medic!” The man yelled over his shoulder, leaning down a little closer to her. Celeana’s eyes moved down to where his pinky finger had dipped into the edge of her blood pool. A hard shiver made her body begin to tremor and she realized just how cold this room had become since she’d first entered it. The man rose up a bit, ripping his coat off and draping it over her body. She wanted to scream at the pain, at the raw sensation the jacket rubbed into her mangled skin, but she didn’t. “Can you hear me?”

She blinked once for yes, unsure if he would understand her code until he said, “Yes? One blink for yes?” She blinked again in silent confirmation. Once, she had known this man’s name. The man with the silver hair and bright green eyes that had been tracking her like a hawk. He had always been close, but too far. Celaena had always been a few steps ahead. Now, bleeding out onto the cement she couldn’t even remember what letter his name started with. “Stay with me, Celaena. Stay with me.”

She tried. She really did. 

But the darkness encroaching the edges of her vision was a lullaby and with one final blink at the man, it dragged her down and sang her to sleep.

@starseternalnighttriumphant @highladyofthesith @scarznstars @court-of-glass @tintinnabulary @musicmaam @awkward-avocado-s @aelin-queen-of-terrasen @clockworkgraystairs @shyvioletcat @westofmoon @the-regal-warrior @ame233 @empire-of-wildfire @thewayshedreamed @singme-t0sleep @royalsqueeze @stupendousslimepeanutcroissant @katelynchang @damebadwolf @wingsway @i-love-all-books @musicdreamer003 @in-love-with-caramel-macchiato @mu-si-ca-l @3am-reading @stardustsroses @booknerdproblems @prettygalsread @angelofmusic81 @sleeping-and-books @cool-ish-nerd @noodlecatposts @meltalgel-ig @fancysludgeshoelamp @greenbriaars @wifeofchrishemsworth @ccrtana @cityofsuns @rowaelin-fireheart @sunsummoner @spyofthenightcourt @joyceortiz13 @brokenbutnotquiting @emilyrose111294 @feyresarrow @tangledraysofsunshine @silvermindwarrior @superspiritfestival @maastrash @ashleyfroberg @cursebreaker29 @moondancer-204 @jesstargaryenqueen @januarystears @vasudharaghavan @city-of-fae @firedoorcinemaclub @rowaelin-cressworth @annejulianneh111 @blackjacks-donuts @crackedship @runawayrowan @that-other-pineapple @mynewdreamwasyou @highlordswhores @abookishfreak  @tottenhamboys20   @empress-ofbloodshed @morganofthewildfire @starborn-faerie-queen @b00kworm @musicdreamer003 @bamchickawowow @ireallyshouldsleeprn @booksofthemoon @ashlynn231 @mariamuses @sanakapoor @harrymoncheri @ladywitchling  @smalltddygothgf @booksbqueen​

[hale-13]

Zero Days Without Incident

By Hale13

For the Summer of Whump Day 20 Prompt - Defiance

The ‘Days Without Incident’ sign in Tony Stark’s private workshop has nothing to do with engineering or science mishaps and all to do with a bet between him and a certain Spiderling.

Words: 1783, Chapters: 1/1 (Complete), Language: English

Fandoms: Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)

Rating: Gen

Relationships: Peter Parker & Tony Stark

Characters: Peter Parker, Tony Stark, Happy Hogan

TW: Stabbing

Read on AO3 or below the line break.

“Peter you have thirty minutes until your curfew,” Karen warned him, already plotting a course home and throwing it up on his HUD.

It was a balmy spring evening and Peter had spent most of his patrol leisurely swinging through Queens or relaxing on a hammock made from his webs. There had been a few petty crimes he had dealt with, some grand theft bicycle, a cat stuck in a tree but, all in all, he couldn’t really complain. He loved being Spider-Man and helping his neighborhood but it was nice to have a slow day sometimes.

A scream sounded in the distance.

“Spoke too soon,” he mumbled, altering his course and picking up speed. “Can you get me directions K?”

“Of course Peter,” Karen answered, as chirpy and happy as normal, re-routing him away from his apartment and toward the sounds of discourse in the distance. When he dropped in on the scene it seemed to be a mugging in progress and Peter rolled his eyes – didn’t people have anything better to do on a random Tuesday in April? God just seriously rethink your life choices.

“I would say its knife to meet you but I’ve definitely used that pun in the last couple weeks and I don’t want to be accused of not being original,” Peter called down, making both the assailant and victim flinch and look up to where he was perched on the wall above them. “Where did even get that thing? The renaissance fair? Who robs people with a full on dagger anyway? Run out of kitchen knives?” Peter quipped, flipping down and pushing the mugger away with a well placed kick to the arm that made the man stumble back.

“This has nothing to do with you bug,” the man snarled, brandishing the weapon at Peter now and making him roll his eyes. “Don’t get in my way and I won’t have to use this on ya.”

“Spiders are arachnids actually, not bugs” Peter pointed out, shooing the stunned woman out of the alley and on her way out of any potential danger. “And how about you not stab anybody today huh? If you promise to behave I won’t web you to the wall and call the police. Sounds like a fair trade right?”

The man snarled at him with irritation. “You talk too much.”

“So I’ve been told,” Peter agreed easily with a nod. “But what do you say? Ready to give up your life of crime for the straight and narrow?”

“No,” the man grumbled and, with literally no warning, lunged forward and stabbed his knife directly into Peter’s gut.

They both stared at each other in stunned silence before Peter processed the pain with a loud ‘fuck!’.

“You motherfucker,” Peter grunted, backing away to lean against the wall, holding the knife still with one hand so as to not dislodge it. “I can’t believe you stabbed me!”

“I thought you would dodge! You always dodge!” The man said, reaching up both hands to dig into his hair. “I stabbed Spider-Man what the fuck!”

“God this is just-,” Peter grumbled using his free arm to fire webbing at the guy and secure him to the nearby dumpster. “I’ve gone three weeks without having to go to the MedBay! Three weeks! All I had to do was last one more and then I got to pick the movie at movie night for the next month! God I can��t believe it! Mr. Stark is going to be so insufferable now!”

“You could just… not tell him?” The man asked hopefully, not even bothering to struggle against the webs and Peter blew out a breath as he sank down to sit on the gritty ground – he was starting to feel a little cold and dizzy from either the blood loss or shock, he couldn’t tell which. Not that it mattered, his fierce anger overshadowed everything.

“Not an option,” Peter grunted, leaning his head back and closing his eyes against the helpful countdown timer Karen had started displaying the second Tony had entered the Iron Man armor and started jetting to him. “He already knows.” Curse the Baby-monitor Protocol! He and Ned would need to remove it again…

“He track you or something?” The man asked questioningly, head quirked to the side in obvious curiosity.

“Or something,” Peter agreed.

“That’s wack man,” he said. “An invasion of privacy. A, uh… violation of your constitutional rights as a free American!”

“Do you honestly think Tony Stark cares about an something as simple as an invasion of privacy? I’m lucky he hasn’t microchipped me yet,” Peter pointed out. Or, at least, he didn’t think Tony had microchipped him. He’d have to check that and remove it post haste if he found something.

“Dude,” knife guy said commiserating and Peter had to fight the eye roll. Of course the person who stabbed him felt remorseful now.

“I know,” Peter agreed, peering down at his side to look at where the knife was embedded into him. He was pretty good around blood as long as it wasn’t his own and, looking at the way his suit was slick and blood was beginning to pool under his thighs in a puddle made Peter lightheaded so he closed his eyes again. “He’s probably going to be pretty pissed at you by the way,” Peter warned. “He has pretty good lawyers so I wouldn’t have high hopes of getting out of this without jail time.”

The man groaned and Peter just shrugged. Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time and all that – also don’t stab people and leave them to the ministrations of their helicopter mentors. Same thing really. The sound of repulsers neared and Peter braced himself – he wasn’t looking forward to dealing with this.

“I guess that we can change the ‘Days Without Incident’ sign back to zero eh Spiderling?” Tony teased as he landed in the mouth of the alley, disengaging his suit and walking over to kneel next to Peter. “You were doing so good too – your longest streak ever in fact.”

“Don’t remind me,” Peter hissed as Tony prodded around the wound carefully with a pre-gloved hand. “Can you not touch that?”

“No can do buddy,” Tony said, not sounding the least bit apologetic. “Gotta anchor it in so it doesn’t fall out on the ride back. Happy’s on his way to pick us up.”

“Oh great,” Peter groused, letting Tony lean him forward a little so he could start wrapping roll gauze around the knife. “He loves to complain when I get blood on the seats.”

“Only when you get impaled,” Tony said brightly, pulling the gauze tight almost vindictively and making Peter wince. “Wouldn’t want to deprive him now would we?”

“You could just let me bleed out and die here,” Peter suggested seriously. “Since my life is basically over now anyway.

“You’re such a dramatic little shit,” Tony groused, tying off the gauze and levering Peter up off the ground to slump into his side for the extra support. “Now say ‘goodbye’ to your friend, he won’t be seeing the real world for a long, long time,” Tony’s voice had an edge of steel as he said this, dragging Peter to the end of the alley and ignoring the muggers ‘Aw man, c’mon!” as they passed. Peter just shrugged a ‘what can you do?” and wiggled his fingers in a facsimile of a wave as he was pulled away.

Happy, to his credit, was efficient and must have already been in the area because he was quick to pull up with a surly look already cemented onto his face as he surveyed where Peter was leaning into Tony and dribbling blood onto the sidewalk in large, heavy droplets. “I already called the cleaning crew,” he told them through the open window. “They’ll be here before the police to scrub up any possible radioactive DNA.”

“Best forehead of security ever,” Tony crooned lovingly as he carefully situated Peter onto the pile of towels Happy had put into the backseat to soak up the blood and keep it off his leather seats. Happy glared at the both of them in the rearview mirror before rolling up the partition. Tony snorted in undisguised mirth.

“How you feeling kiddie?” He asked as he peeled Peter’s mask from his sweaty face. “Not going to pass out on me again right?”

“Uh…” Peter groaned, squeezing his eyes shut tight to stop the spinning and grey dots that were clouding his vision. “No promises. Sorry.” Tony just let out a put upon sigh like he expected as much and pushed Peter to lay down across the seats, grabbing one of the extra towels to press tightly around the knife and making Peter let out a whining moan at the pressure. “Yeah I might pass out,” he said faintly as his vision started to tunnel.

“Go on then,” Tony said, running a hand through Peter’s damp curls and smoothing them away from his face. “At least you don’t sass me when you’re unconscious.” Peter felt the man lift his legs to slid a few wadded up towels underneath… like that would actually help keep him awake.

“Rude,” Peter grumbled before losing his grip on reality – he trusted Tony to take care of things for now.

——————————————

“I hate this movie,” Peter grumbled groggily, as he pulled himself awake some time later. He was lying in one of the beds in the MedBay, attached to a blood transfusion and with a thick padding of gauze on his abdomen. Tony, seated next to him and munching on popcorn, just sent him a shit eating grin and held up the whiteboard that had been hanging in his workshop displaying ‘Days Without Incident’ with a large 0 written under it in obnoxious red ink.

“This is such bullshit,” Peter said petulantly, picking at the tape holding the IV in place. “I can’t escape! Go watch your garbage movie somewhere else.”

“Excuse me you brat,” Tony said imperiously. “The Breakfast Club is a cult classic thank you very much and besides,” he continued, offering Peter the bowl of popcorn, “someone clearly has to educate you on good movies.”

“I’m going back to sleep,” Peter said, flicking a kernel of popcorn playfully at his mentor (and missing damn – he must be on drugs) and letting his tired eyes slip closed again.

“Sore loser,” he heard Tony tease as he fell asleep and that did it. When he won their next bet they were marathoning the whole Star Wars series from beginning to end, including all of the Clone Wars and the Mandalorian, and he didn’t care what Mr. Stark said.

[sleepylixie]

Never gone, my love

Demon-Hunter!Changbin x Demon-Queen!reader  (Fits the Halloween moodies, me thinks)

2.8k words, Fantasy Angst Oneshot.

Warnings: Strong Language, gore, blackmail, murder by decapitation, a healthy dose of violence overall. An obsessive romance? 

A/N: HELLO! Tis me! Before anything, the inspiration for this fic comes entirely from the amazing fic (My love is Come to me) written by @silverlightqueen​- Oof, what a queen! Reading that piece had me lowkey mind blown and itching to give it a spin myself and so, Never gone, my love was born. Guys, no joke, I enjoyed writing this fic so insanely much. I’ve been missing from Tumblr for the sole reason of not having the inspiration or the guts to write and post anything anymore. Recently, I’ve been learning and making changes to that attitude of mine, so HERE WE ARE! I’m here to bug everybody with my fics and writing again!!

ONTO THE FIC!!! Hope y’all like this!

What is a queen without a king? Unhinged. 

What is a queen with her king? Unleashed.

The silver rings on my fingers glinted wickedly, winks of light reflecting off them from the hellfire blazing outside. Being queen was no mean feat, even if the queen in question was of part- noble blood to start with. Not everybody was happy with Satan’s oldest heir being a daughter- if anything, they expected me to take to my mother’s path and become a low-rung sex fiend, running errands day-to-day, begging for a good fuck. Imagine their horror when I turned out to be my father’s daughter instead, the woman that is begged for. Holding power came to me as naturally as playing the seductress and it was only a matter of centuries before my father and his court relented, finally giving me an ascendancy to my own realm of Hell.

If power is currency, I am a feral tycoon, trading in smiles, sex and savagery. I played the game I wasn’t expected to play and here I sit, on the Fifth circle’s throne, dripping in authority and gemstones.

No, I’m not the type to dress so frivolously every day. It was the coming of All Hallow’s Eve and my subjects were all too happy to enjoy the lines thinning between our world and the mortals’. The air was electric, alive with the sounds of fear, lust, anger…. Sin. It was a symphony to my immortal ears. While my people revelled in their festivities outside my castle, I had my own celebrations well underway.

“I know you’re outside, my love!” I called out, elongated canines flashing against the smirk on my blood-hued lips. “Why don’t you join in the festivities,” I grinned wider, “it’s all for you anyway.”

If I had breath in my lungs, it would have been knocked out of me by the man who stepped into my throne room. Jet black hair, sharp chin and sharp eyes narrowed as he took a step, and another into the chamber. He was dressed like any other of his stature would be- comfortable fighter’s clothing over his muscled physique, harness over his shoulders, thighs and waist with weaponry all over his frame and disdain on his face.

“What is it going to take for you to leave me alone, Y/N.” Seo Changbin wasn’t the type to mince words and oh, how I loved that about him. I let my smile grow further into a snarl, baring teeth. “You know the answer to that too well, my love.” I cooed, allowing myself a flash of satisfaction at the way his jaw gritted in annoyance.

My demon hunter love. Oh, what has that curse done to you.

“Cut the bullshit, Y/N.” His eyes bore hateful holes into my own as he looked me up and down, wrinkling his nose at the sight of my royal regalia. “You know that’s never going to happen. When are you going to stop with your infernal games?”

I clicked my tongue, standing and walking down my throne’s podium, jet black smoke and orange sparks trailing behind my dress.

“You loved these infernal games more than I did, darling. When will you stop depriving yourself of what’s truly yours?” My stilettos clicked against the black marble floor as I made my way closer to where Changbin stood, ramrod straight in front of the double doors. “When hell freezes over.” He snarled back, watching my every movement.

I knew how I looked to him, a vision in debauchery, a shining beacon of temptation dipped in black corseted silk and silvery green gemstones. It is exactly what he hated about me- what he was cursed to hate about me. “I’m sure I can arrange that fairly easily if that’s what you wish, my love.”

My cold, beautiful love. Oh, what has that curse done to you.

He was the strongest, cruelest son of a Hell’s prince, smitten by my power and I, by his strength. We were inseparable, indomitable, bonded by mischief big and small until he was taken away from me.

He sucked in a breath, momentarily thrown off-guard before regaining his bearings. “You’re not strong enough for that, sweetheart,” he spat out the endearment like a curse. “You’d have done that a long time ago if you could.”

I looked him in the eye, unfazed by his argument. My heavily braceleted hand rose, palm first, wreathed in a ball of hellfire. Fire that blazed so hot, it was almost white. I let it burn bright between the both of us, illuminating the previously shadowed chamber around us.

There was an almost disappointed- no, frustrated look in Changbin’s eyes as he took in the utter carnage around him. Body after mortal body lay on the floor of my throne room, all limp, pale and unmoving.

“You- They said it was one dead body!” Changbin spluttered, his angry expression giving way to horror as he took in his vicinity. “This is just the beginning of what I can do. What you could do. You reveled in this debauchery as much as I did, darling.” I responded nonchalantly, allowing the hellfire to light up the chandeliers above us. “I’m sure you remember that one All Hallow’s Eve when we went on a rampage like this.”

“There is nothing fun about MURDERING INNOCENT HUMANS.” Changbin exclaimed and I shrugged, delighted at finally getting a rise out of him. “But you don’t know them. You don’t care about them. What does it matter to you? They’re just more souls for my people to feed on.”

“This is basic human empathy, Y/N!” He snarled at me and oh. There it was. The otherworldly strength that even the curse couldn’t take away from him. It set my nerves aflame, my body singing in it’s presence, it’s familiarity. “There is nothing more abhorrent than the way you keep killing and killing like these people don’t matter.” His voice rose in volume, raspy in it’s pitch. “What will it take for you to understand that I am not. YOURS. There is nothing under this godforsaken world that will let your devilish hands take over me, or the mortals on Earth-”

“What do you care about Mortals?” I screamed back, the fire in my nerves sparking into a wildfire at his words. “You’re NOT MORTAL.YOU’RE LIKE ME. YOU’RE MINE.YOU LIE TO YOURSELF. ”

Silence stretched between us as he stared at me again, stunned by my outburst. But then again, this isn’t something he hasn’t heard before.

The race of demon hunters is an abomination come to life. That coming from a demon princess is the highest order of abhorrence. Even more so because.. My love is the first, and worst of them.

The elders in the first mortal civilization felt the need to find a way for them to bring demons from the thralls of temptation and make them immune to the point where they can slay their kin to protect humankind. I was there. Trapped and in pain because of my childhood innocence , forced to watch as those infernal mites plunged my love into the light that turned him away from me, since time immemorial until now. Forced to watch as he rose from the flames, eyes alight with hatred as he plunged my father’s dagger into my chest.

“Admit it, my love,” I purred, stepping closer to him, leaning closer to his ear. “You miss being mine, as I missed being yours. You missed sitting on that throne, as King. Some part of you misses this.” I turned around and threw my arms out, encompassing the massacre in front of us.

I let out a velvet laugh as I made my way back to my throne. “This was all yours, until you walked away.” Taking my seat, I looked down at where Changbin stood, having moved from the doors to the middle of the room. “All I ask is for you to return to where you belong.”

“Maybe if you die for more than a few hours after I kill you, I’ll consider it.” Changbin snarled at me, looking for all the otherworld like a king without a crown.

I forgot what loss, pain and heartbreak felt like after that day, all those millennia ago. That is, until I found him in my chambers again, bristling with human weaponry and the need to kill me thrumming through his veins. So began our cat-and-mouse game, him wanting to sever his last connection to the Otherworld and me, savoring the sheer frustration I left him. You see, I forgot loss, pain, heartbreak- but I didn’t forget possession. He was mine, for glorious centuries, until he was taken away from me. I vowed to bring my Changbin back again and Satan’s daughter never goes back on her words.

“Or what if hell freezes over?” My pleasant question stopped Changbin short, head cocking to the side in slight confusion. “You see, darling, I might be Satan’s daughter, but I made my way here from the bottom.” I picked at my fingernails, looking like I didn't have a care in the world- which, of course, I didn’t. “ After you left, I gave and took many more favors to get to this fine evening. They call me Hell’s Whore, for all the things I was willing to do that even low-grade scum wouldn’t. You see, the darkness owes me a favor,” The color draining from his face stoked at the ice-cold fire burning in my mind. “And the darkness never fails to deliver.”

“What did you do,” Changbin breathed, his hands going, almost unconsciously, to the knives sheathed at his thighs. I smiled my sweet sinner smile at him, crossing one leg over the other as I leaned back on my throne. “Oh, nothing. Just asked for hell to freeze over Earth on All Hallow’s Eve night if you don’t agree to turn back.”

The curse was very simple. The only way my love would ever come back to me was if he chose to make the Turn himself. It was a clever ploy, because immunity to temptation was rooted into every demon hunter’s veins from the moment they are created. Luckily for me, I wasn’t beyond playing dirty.

“What the fuck?” Changbin exclaimed in rage, his feet carrying him of his own volition up the steps to stand over me in front of my throne. I continued smiling at him, not a hint of remorse on my face as I looked up at him. “You have a few minutes to decide, my love.” I purred, not breaking eye contact. It was that split second of uncertainty that flashed through his face, which urged me to move, pushing him down onto the twin throne that sat beside mine, empty for centuries without it’s true owner.

“And I’d suggest you make yourself comfortable.” I whispered, my lips mere inches from his face. The glare he levelled at me was one for the books, raging wild fury and utter desperation all wound into one.

“Stay where you are, darling, or I’ll butcher these precious mortal bodies one by one.” I grinned as I straightened up, sauntering back down the stairs to nudge my foot against one of the bodies closest to the throne. “I’ll have you know that none of these mortals are dead,” I giggled. “Only unconscious from the fear of the Otherworld. Delicate creatures, these mortals. It’s a wonder why you want to be associated with these weaklings.” A growl ripped out of Changbin’s throat as I stifled another laugh.

“How do I know you’re not bluffing? About the darkness?” Changbin shouted behind me, still rooted to his spot on the podium. I didn’t respond, only humming softly as I picked my way through the many bodies, looking for all the world like I was frolicking in Eden’s Garden. The singing of a blade flying through the air brought me out of my fake reverie, spinning and catching it by the handle just before it pierced my skin.

“Tch. You really didn’t think I’d make it this easy for you to kill me.” You wagged the knife point first at Changbin, who was still on the podium- what a sight he made. He was made for the throne, but his entire form bristled like he was seated on hot coals instead of opulence. “You don’t know if I’m bluffing until Hell actually freezes over, my love.” I responded, just loud enough for him to hear. I pulled up one of the limp bodies I stood amongst, a young girl who barely looked 16.

Changbin’s knife twirled in my fingers as I gripped the handle, moving the blade almost sensuously over the skin of her throat. “Maybe the massacre should start with her.”

It was a soft prick of pleasure that slid through my veins at the look of panic that danced across Changbin’s eyes. “You wouldn’t dare.” He growled. I did nothing but stare him in the eye, allowing the point of his knife to dip slightly into the child’s neck. Drops of ruby blood blossomed at the wound and the scent. Oh, the scent of human blood. What a magnificent feast.

“You have 3 seconds left, my love.” “What-” “Three,” “What the-” “Two,” “No, wait-” “One-”

“OKAY. FINE. FINE. STOP.”

“What was that, darling?” I cocked my head, pretending like I hadn’t heard him. “I’ll do it.” He sighed in defeat.

Oh. “Do it then,” I urged him, still having the knife pointed edge down into my young victim’s throat.

“You’re a fucking menace, Y/N .”Were the last words I heard before his eyes closed and his body slumped back into the throne, his face deliciously blank.

Did he Turn? The stabs of curiosity danced across my spine as the moments of silence stretched ahead, one, two, ten. And then he stirred. First he sat up, cracking his neck from the awkward position he’d fallen back in. His hand brushed back his hair and then, he opened his eyes. Bright red eyes, twin to my own.

I stared at him in barely veiled disbelief and he stared back, the glow in his eyes fading from neon to ruby. Then he smiled, and I knew. There was only one person in the Otherworld who had that smile of ice and terror. I couldn’t help but throw him a grin of my own, canines bared in an amused snarl of unholy victory. Like he was never gone, my love.

The knife twisted in my hands and went clean through the mortal girl’s throat, twisting away as her head fell off of her body in a shower of blood. But I couldn’t care less about the bloody mess on my arms, shoulders and cheek because I was walking my way back to the twin thrones. Changbin watched my every movement with a predator’s gaze, leaning back onto the throne-his throne, with a sense of stone-cold authority as his ringed fingers tapped the velvet on the arms of the chair. He was made for the throne, my love.

Soon, I stood in front of him, a snap of my fingers bringing forth the cold-iron and obsidian crown that was a male contrast to the feminine tiara that rested on my brow. “My King, my love.” I whispered, setting the crown atop his head. He was meant for a crown, my love.

“My Queen, my love.” Changbin’s smirk sent a jolt of wicked familiarity through my body, a thing of fiendish beauty. He took one of my hands into his own, raising it to press a gentle kiss onto my knuckles, the red eyes never leaving my own. When he tugged at my hand, it was with a sense of belonging that I allowed my body to fall onto his lap, uncaring of anything and anybody else. He nuzzled his nose into my neck, tongue darting out to taste the splatter of mortal blood that had found its way onto my skin. A low groan fought its way out of his mouth at the taste. He was never the type to hold back, my love.

“Oh, how I have missed the taste of human blood.” He rasped against my ear, a shiver making it’s way down my back at the proximity I’d missed so much. “Almost more than I felt the lack of you.” I hummed, placing kisses from his cheekbone to his ear. “Not as much as I missed you, I wager.” I murmured against his skin, nipping softly at his ear. His grip on my waist tightened as I pulled back, smirks mirroring each other. “What would you have me do to prove you wrong, my Queen?” Changbin’s expression was nothing short of vicious excitement as he matched me stare for stare. He was always a fierce one, my love.

“Rule over Earth with me.” His eyebrows raised, almost imperceptibly. “So you’re truly Hell’s Whore?”  I chuckled, capturing his lips with mine for a brief yet passionate kiss. “No, my love. Darkness is mine.”

Changbin laughed, the deep sound ricocheting off the hollow space in me that he had left empty for the past centuries. “For you, my Queen, my Love….gladly.”

It was like he was never gone, my love.

[blackypanther9]

Part 25 - The bitter past...

Warning: Deaths, which could be a little shocking.

No one's POV....

"....okay...", you said.

Loki looked at you and smiled a little, you really did trust him.

"But promise me, you won't freak out. No Loki and no Odin. I don't need you two argue about that, okay ?"

They both nodded at you in agreement. You took a deep breath and started telling.

Your POV.... Flashback....

I got to my 4th birthday a black cat with orange, yellow mixed eyes. She was my totem and was meant to be a protector. My parents never got one, because they didn't need it. They used some magic and could easily create their animals. No matter...we soon found out, that I have more than just one totem. I started learning Magic with 3 years and on my 5th birthday I should have made the swear, to protect the artifact we had. The day when it happened, it was my 5th birthday too. I had a cake, my cat cuddled with me until she went on a hike in the forest and my parents told me, when my cat comes back...I do the swear. After 4 hours...she still didn't come back. I went to my Mother.

"Mommy, Tanie is still gone. Where is she ? Can I go out and search her ?"

"Of course, darling. But if you don't find her or some strangers are here...come home instantly."

"Okay Mommy !"

I hugged my Mother and ran outside the cave to find my cat. And I found her...I wish I hadn't. I saw her fur, she laid on the ground and I thought she is just sleeping. I went to her...big mistake... As I came closer I saw blood on her and...and...her head was missing. I gasped and ran back as fast as I could. I found my parents very quick and hugged them tight. Crying from shock.

"Hey, little one. What's wrong ?", my Father asked me.

"Tanie is dead ! Mommy ! Daddy ! Tanie is dead !", I cried in my Father’s leg.

"What ?!", my Mom was shocked.

"I found her and her head wasn't on her body anymore ! My sweet little cat is dead !!!"

Then we heard horses and shouting. My Father shoved me to my Mother and went outside. As he came back he was in pure shock.

"Who is it ? One of our kind to pick us up again ?", my Mother asked in hopes.

My Father shook his head.

"It's him. It's the Allfather. It's Odin. He found us.", he said.

"No..."

"Darling, we need to hide Destiny, before he finds her. He won't get the artifact."

My Mother nodded and shoved me in one really dark hole in the cave. She used an illusion to make it look like a wall. I still could see through, but I wished I didn't. My Father and Mother came to me and whispered.

"If the strangers are going deeper in the cave and you see a chance of escaping...run out. If they see you, you are dead. Run and never turn back around.", my Father told me.

I nodded, crying.

"Don't cry dear. We are always by your side. When you ran out of here and far away enough, change your looks. Change your hair color and eye color. Rip your clothes, anything to make yourself look different. Run to your friend Michael and tell him everything.", my Mother told me.

"And what about you ?", I asked.

"Oh...dear... Remember this every time. Keep it in your head what we tell you now.", Mother said, I nodded.

"Even if you don't see, feel and hear us...,", my Mother started.

"even when we are dead...,", my Dad continued.

"we are always by your side. We are always right...here.", they both said.

"No matter what you do, we are always proud of you.", Mother caressed my cheek.

"And no matter with who you share your life and knowledge...we will always supor-", my Father wanted to finish but turned away.

"They are here."

"Then we should go Ryan.", Mom said.

"You are right, Anna...we should."

And with that they walked away. Not far enough to be out of my sight tho...And then I saw them... I saw him. Two guards and an older man....Odin in front of them. My parents let weapons in their hands appear and stood in fighting stance.

"What do you want ?", father asked.

"I want the girl and the artifact. What else, Ryan ?", Odin said.

"For that you need to kill us first.", my Mother told them.

Odin looked at my parents and laughed.

"You aren't joking. So be it.", he said.

And they all started fighting. My Father got wounded after a mean trick of the guards and my Mother shoved the guard away. She used magic to pin them both to the ground, but Odin didn't get affected. He attacked my Mother, grabbed her on the neck and threw her at the wall. She turned Jotun and attacked with ice. I was so scared and shocked, that I didn't even realize that I turned into my Jotun form. Odin avoided her attacks and my Father stood up slowly. He was in his Jotun form also. He tried to attack Odin from behind, but Odin felt it and stabbed my Father right in the heart. It looked out ! I was shocked.

"NO !! RYAN !!", my Mother screamed.

Odin let my Father’s corpse slid down and looked at my Mother. She looked at him with anger and hate. Her whole body was consumed with dark magic. I was scared.

"YOU MONSTER !!", she cried.

"Oh no my dear. You are the Monsters. I just kill them.", Odin said amused.

My Mother attacked with her magic. Odin dodged and shot her with his staff. She lost the magic, crashed into the wall, groaned in pain and stood up again.

"HOW CAN YOU SAY THAT WE ARE MONSTERS ?! WE NEVER DID ANYTHING TO YOU !! IT WAS NOT OUR FAULT AND WISH TO DIE !! YOU SEE US ALL AS MONSTERS BUT THERE IS JUST ONE THAT EXISTS IN ASGARD !!", she yelled at him.

"And who is that ?", he asked her amused.

"You.", she said smiling.

Odin frowned and went over to her. He raised a sword and...he beheaded her. I covered my mouth in pure shock. The spell on the guards went away and the illusion will fade any minute, I knew that. Odin went more inside and the guards ran after him. After I didn't hear them anymore I came out and ran outside. I ran and ran. And that's when I heard a voice in my head.

'Change your looks, stupid girl !'

I had no idea how and in what. I just kept running, until I tripped over something and fell. My clothes got ruined and everything hurt.

'Summon a dagger, Destiny.', the voice told me softly.

But it was still the same voice. I did as the voice told me.

'Grab your hair and cut it with the dagger.'

I did as I got told.

'Burn the cut away hair, or they will find out.'

I summoned fire in my hand and burned the hair I cut away.

'Put a spell on your hair. It can't stay like that. Make it blond or black.'

I put a spell on my hair and chose the color black.

'Ruin your clothes more.'

I did as it said.

'Good girl. Now something unpleasant...'

"What is it ?"

'You need different eyes, but you don't know any spell for that, just for your hair and it won't work on your eyes.'

"What do I need to do ?!"

'Don't freak out ! Stay silent and cut your eyes out.'

My jaw dropped.

"No ! I don't wanna be blind !", I whisper-yelled.

The voice sighed and my hands moved on their own. They didn't do anymore, what I wanted. I tried to fight it, but the unknown force was stronger.

'Stop fighting. You will thank me later.'

"No stop ! Please !"

My left hand covered my mouth and my right hand with the dagger rammed into my left eye socket. I screamed, but nobody heard me. The same happened with my right eye and I was blind for 3 minutes. Then I saw the forest again.

'There. You have dark blue eyes now. I regenerated them. I would never let you walk around blind.'

I was glad I saw again.

'Now stand up and move ! Michael is 3 minutes from here. Just run straight ahead and we bump into him.'

I did and the voice was right. Michael asked me shocked, what happened and I told him everything. He asked me, if I would like to live with him and I agreed. The rest you know, Loki. The next day we met.

End of Flashback.... No one's POV....

Loki stared at you in shock. You looked down at the ground. You didn't want to let them see your tears. Loki saw it anyways. Odin looked at the ground. Loki stared daggers at Odin as he wanted to say something.

"How could you ?", Loki whispered dangerously low.

Odin didn't say anything. He just stared at Loki with sorry eyes.

"ANSWER ME ! HOW COULD YOU ?!", Loki freaked out.

"Loki ! You promised to stay calm !", you turned and yelled at him.

He looked at your tears streamed face. He stared back at Odin with anger. He turned you around and held your head up, so Odin could see it.

"Look at her. You made her go through so much pain. This is your doing. Are you still thinking that Frost Giants are Monster ? Because if they really are, than why do they cry ? Why does she feel feelings ? Why do I ? Tell us.", Loki told Odin with anger and disgust in his voice.

Odin stayed silent for a few minutes.

"Not all of them are Monsters. Destiny and you...you both aren't like the rest.", Odin said.

You looked up.

"Liar.", you said.

"What ?", Odin asked.

"For you we are still Monsters. Just now I realize what is really going on here. And I hate it. You think all Jotuns are Monsters with no emotions. Maybe you should think this over, because Laufey ruled and nobody stopped him, because they feared him. The only Monster is always the king and queen. They all do as they get commanded and you see them all as Monsters, because they fulfill their commands ? Wow. Good Logic !", you yelled at him.

You shook Loki off of you and stormed out of the throne room.

"Destiny !", Odin called.

"Leave her alone, Odin. She needs time and a shoulder to cry on. Because you fucked her up.", Loki said.

You heard fast footsteps, coming towards you. You started to run faster.

"Dest ! It's just me, Loki !"

"Go away ! Leave me alone !"

"Never !"

You ran out of the palace and into the forest. You ran to the tree house, climbed up and got inside. You ran to your house and locked the door behind you. You went to your bedroom and fell crying into your bed.

Part 26

Masterlist with all Chapters of this Story click here !  

[thecasperanfamily]

Ficlet with Archie getting into a fight with the neighbour's dog to protect Bebe Lin?

The gratingly cheerful ringing of the doorbell slammed into Douxie’s ears and bounced around in his skull like a hyperactive gnome. He snorted as his head jerked up off of his pillow, crusty eyes blinking owlishly against the morning light. He pawed at his nightstand for his phone. 9:14 am. He groaned as he dropped the device back onto the nightstand.

“No civilized human being should be going around banging down doors at this ungodly hour...” he grumbled, pulling himself out of bed and heading for the front door with all the grace and energy of a zombie emerging from its tomb. He quickly changed his mind on the matter when he discovered that the person banging down his door was Claire Nuñez, and that she was holding a casserole dish.

“Hi, Teach!” she beamed. “Sorry, it’s a little early. Jim and I were going to have brunch in the park, and since your place is kind of on my way, I thought I’d drop off these enchiladas. Mama and I made them for you. Figured you probably don’t have much time to cook with a baby around.” It was at this point that she finally noticed his disheveled appearance. “...Did I wake you up?”

“No, no, I’ve been up for hours!” Douxie lied. “Come on in.” He stepped aside to let her in, and took the dish from her. The brightly-patterned kitchen towel wrapped around it did very little to conceal the heavenly smell of its contents. “...You’re an angel, Ms. Nuñez,” he sighed. “And your mum, too. I’ve just recently discovered a man can only subsist on frozen lasagna alone for so long before he starts losing his sense of taste.”

“Honestly, I’m surprised it took you this long,” Claire replied, settling down on the sofa while Douxie took the enchiladas to the kitchen.

“Can I get you anything?” he called. “I was just going to brew myself a cuppa.”

“Tea would be great, thank you. I won’t stay too long. I just wanted to check on you.”

“Probably wise,” Douxie admitted. There were a few minutes of comfortable silence as the wizard bustled about, bringing the water to a boil and setting up the tea tray. He brought it out to the living room and, after shoving a plush toy off of the coffee table with his foot, set the tray down with a flourish. He then immediately collapsed into the nearest armchair, thoroughly exhausted.

“It’s been a week now,” Claire began, politely ignoring the way Douxie was gulping his tea like his life depended on it. “How’s everything going with Samuel?”

“So far so good,” he answered, emerging from his cup with a sigh of relief. “We’ve taken to calling him Little Merlin--Zoe made us shorten it to Lin. He was uneasy the first few days, but he seems happy now.”

“What about his powers?”

“Highly unusual, to be sure,” Douxie mused, staring into his teacup thoughtfully. “But nothing dangerous so far. I can understand why his fosters were scared, though. It’s unsettling even for me. I’ve never heard of magic surfacing at such a young age, and when he’s upset, it’s like the whole room goes cold all of a sudden.”

“Where is he now?”

Douxie choked on his tea and bolted out of his chair. “Oh gods I don’t even know--!”

“He is with Archie in my garden,” a soft voice interrupted. Nari had evidently crept inside while they were conversing, and was now helping herself to one of the biscuits on the tray. She gave Claire a polite nod while Douxie fell back into his chair with a groan. “He awoke quite early this morning. Archie and I thought it would be best if we looked after him, since you were up so late last night.”

“Archie knows how to babysit?” Claire put in.

“Surprisingly, yes,” Douxie answered. “I mean, he did practically raise me, but I wasn’t expecting him to take to a baby this much. I can hardly tear him away from Lin’s side.”

“Aw, that’s so sweet, though!” Claire gushed. “I mean, I never would have guessed--” She stopped short, distracted by a movement outside the front window. Douxie looked up from the biscuit he was dunking and followed her line of sight. A cloud of golden-brown fluff was shuffling around the front yard, nose to the ground and tail swishing happily from side to side.

“Oh, that’s Cooper, the neighbor’s dog. He keeps getting out of his yard, but nobody really minds because he’s the sweetest thing on four legs. No offense to Archie.”

“He has a gentle soul,” Nari agreed, brushing biscuit crumbs off of her shirt. “I have spoken to him a few times. He reminds me quite a bit of Douxie. They have similar values.” She smiled coyly at the sound of Douxie’s indignant sputter.

“Yeah, I can see the resemblance,” Claire snickered. Cooper went out of sight around the side of the house, and the conversation resumed. “Do you have any potential guardians for Lin in mind, or are you still looking?”

“I have one or two old wizarding friends I can try,” Douxie said. “But getting their current contact information is a bit of a hassle. And anyways, right now I think the most important thing is figuring out exactly what Lin is and why his magic is manifesting like this. I was thinking about calling Blinky, ask him if he’s read anything about--” The discussion was once again stopped short, this time by ruckus coming from the back yard--a cacophony of plaintive yelps and draconic snarls. Douxie, Nari, and Claire all bolted out of their seats and raced for the back door. Douxie wrenched it open and dove outside, magic already gathering in his palms, only to find Lin sitting perfectly safe in a patch of clover, looking very confused but otherwise unharmed.

Archie, on the other hand, was about as far from calm as Douxie had ever seen him. His back was arched, spines standing up straight and sharp, the fur on his tail puffed out like a bottlebrush. He was glaring daggers at Cooper, who was curled against the back of the house, quivering and whimpering and rubbing at his snout with one of his paws.

“Archie, what the hell?!” Douxie burst out, trying to scoop his Familiar up before he caused any more damage.

“Unhand me at once!” the cat-dragon yowled. “If it wasn’t for me, your human kitten would have been swallowed by this brute!”

“He's a golden retriever, Arch! The only things he wants to swallow are dog treats and tennis balls!” Douxie shouted, struggling to hold the writhing mass of black fur and scales in his arms. Lin, obviously upset by the commotion, started to cry. Claire inhaled sharply. Douxie hadn't been exaggerating. She could feel the weight of Lin’s unease pressing down on her. Nari slipped around Douxie and approached Cooper, taking his face between her hands and whispering words of healing and reassurance. Archie finally stopped flailing and settled for simply glaring at the dog while hanging upside-down in Douxie’s grasp. Lin, becoming more upset the longer he was ignored, wailed all the louder.

“Claire, could you--?” Douxie grunted, unwilling to risk setting Archie down.

“Yeah, I got him.” The young witch scooped Lin up in her arms and bounced him gently. He settled down almost at once, staring up at Claire with large, curious eyes. “Hi there, Lin,” she cooed. “Nice to finally meet you.”

“As far as first meetings go, I feel like that could’ve been a bit smoother,” Douxie grumbled. Archie kicked him in the chin with his back paw.

“Cooper did not suffer any grave injuries, but he does wish to go home now,” Nari reported.

“Good. And don’t come back,” Archie snarled.

“Your instincts are admirable, Archie, but they are misplaced,” Nari replied as she coaxed Cooper away from the wall and ushered him on his way. He eyed Archie for a moment, then bolted away, tail tucked between his legs.

“Better to be safe than sorry,” the Familiar spat. “You can’t trust dogs.”

“Arch, we haven’t been chased by any dogs since the 1910s,” Douxie groaned. “You need to lighten up.”

“...Fine. Now put me down.” Douxie dropped him unceremoniously, and he landed on the grass with a draconic snort. He shifted back into his feline form and curled around Claire’s legs, beaming up at the baby in her arms proudly. A very long and awkward silence followed.

“Uh...” Claire glanced nervously between Archie, Lin, and Douxie, before finally landing on Nari, who gave her an encouraging nod. “...A-anybody want some enchiladas?”

Thanks so much for reading! ✨

[aspenflower17]

Finding You (Part 17 of ??)

Hello everyone! Thank you all for being so patient! I had pretty bad writers block and couldn’t figure out where I wanted the story to go from the last chapter. I was also dealing with some irl problems as well. It seems like a lot of creators were having the same problems though January and February though. Hopefully March will make everything smooth out! I think I figured out where to go from here (I have the end all planned out, but getting there without ruining the pacing is what’s been giving me problems). I appreciate everyone’s patience while I figured things out, and hopefully I can get back on a normalized schedule!

Anywho, if you’re new to this story and would like to start at the beginning, here’s the link to part 1. Every chapter should have a link to the next part at the end, so hopefully you decide to read it all :D

Tags <3 : @simpingforsatan @naimena @hachimochi @wrathandgreed @magi-minminxiii @rensphilia @a-dream-at-night @chloelikesobeyme @getbehindme-satan @theuglypugling @oofthelazyweeb @mammonismyfirstman (I’m not great about putting this on every chapter, but if you want to be added to the tags list, just comment below asking to be added (I don’t want to assume everyone commenting wants a tag so just make sure to mention tag in the comment) or you can send me a DM :) Also, I just went through all the chapters so far and I think I have everyone. If I missed you just remind me and I’ll put you in!)

Word Count: 2566

TW: some angst relating to last chapter but that’s about it

Satan sat in his room, contemplating whether telling Mc about Michael was a good idea or not. It’d been a couple days since she’d come over and he hadn’t heard anything from her. It was worrying him more than he wanted to admit, but he knew from spending a lot of time with her as a human, it would be a better idea for him to leave her alone until she was ready to talk to him. From the way she speaks about him, it’s pretty clear their relationship is a bit strained. Actually, it reminds me a bit of me and Lucifer, though with obvious differences. 

While the Avatar of Wrath would never admit it aloud, he did have a kind of respect for Lucifer. It took a different form than anyone else’s mostly because he knew him. All of him. Flaws, strengths, weaknesses, secrets. Well, at least up until his birth. He’d had no idea about Lilith and what Lucifer had done. Lucifer had definitely changed a lot since the Fall, but Satan could generally figure out what he was thinking or how he was going to respond to a situation. So, what was going on with Mc and Michael?

Obviously he didn’t want her talking with him at least. There was probably some fear she’d fall, taking the path of her ancestor but for a being in the Devildom. He couldn’t see any war resulting from her Falling. It would be from her own choice, with no forbidden fruit or humans involved. He was pretty sure Michael didn’t feel anything romantic for her, so it probably wasn’t anything involved in wanting her to stay for him. So why?

He was pulled from his thoughts by his DDD ringing. Hoping it was Mc, he answered by the second ring, “Hello?”

“Congratulations! You’ve won an-” Satan growled and hung up. Stupid solicitor.

There was a knock at his door, “Yo Satan. I got somethin’ for ya’,” Satan sighed, but got up to answer the door. Pulling it open, he saw Mammon and Mc on the other side, “Said she wanted ta talk ta ya. It sounded urgent so…” Mammon smiled a bit apologetically.

“That’s quite alright. Mc, hello. How lovely to see you. Do you want to come in?”

“I’d appreciate that. Thank you,” Mc entered his room as Satan shot daggers through his eyes at Mammon.

“A little warning next time would be nice.”

“Oi! If ya hadn’t been so… gloomy lately maybe I wouldn’t have been so worried- No, ya should just be grateful to the Great Mammon. I’m not an errand boy ya know,” and with that, Mammon stalked off down the hallway.

Satan rolled his eyes, but didn’t say anything back. He understood Mammon was just trying to help him, “Well, it’s nice to see you Mc. How… Are you okay?” Mc was turning slowly, looking at his room in awe. He would’ve just figured she was simply impressed by his room like she had been the other first time she’d seen it, but she looked rattled.

“Oh! I was just… Umm… Your collection is really impressive,” she deflected his question, smiling. The unease remained in her eyes though.

“Yes. This is my personal collection,” Satan answered, leaving his question unanswered.

“It’s quite… impressive,” as she turned, Satan caught her frown again. Does she not like how messy it is?

“Though they’re not all on shelves, I make sure they’re all kept in good shape. I honestly just don’t have enough wall space or bookshelves for them all.”

“Oh… I understand. I tend to get book piles too,” Mc answered, a bit caught off guard. 

So it’s not the mess. What could it be?

“So, what are you doing here? Not that I’m not happy to see you. I just haven’t heard from you for a couple days.”

“I’m sorry about that and just showing up out of the blue like this. I had a lot to think about after… last time, and some things to research. Then inspiration randomly struck for my next art show. Not to mention, Michael’s been keeping a close eye on me ever since he blew up. I wanted to see you, and I didn’t even think to message you first. I’m sorry about that.”

Satan was at a loss for words. She wanted to come see me. She wanted to see me so much, she just showed up. I should really say something to her right now, but I’m not sure what to say.

“You’re not angry with me, are you?” Mc turned back to him, looking worried.

“Of course not. I was afraid you were possibly upset with me, and Lucifer I suppose, for what we told you. I know hearing something like that must be hard.”

Mc smiled, “Well, that’s good to know. As to what you told me… I do trust you guys. More so than I trust most of the other angels in fact… But you are demons and what you told me was… Anyway, I was researching what you told me to see if I could corroborate your story and I did find a couple different mentions of Lilith, one of which told of a connection between her and the fruit. I couldn’t prove or disprove the claims that he… That he was the one that shot her, but with how defensive he immediately got after I mentioned seven angels falling instead of six… I… I can’t bring myself to believe he’d do something that terrible yet, but I do believe you guys on everything else, and… it’s not beyond the realm of possibility. In any case, the Celestial Realm definitely covered up much of the war, including its causes. I had a suspicion when I originally learned about it, but figured it was all just in my head,” Mc looked Satan straight in the eyes, “I want to thank you for being honest with me.”

“How are you so sure we didn’t lie to you? Like you said, we are demons.”

“Call it a hunch,” Mc smiled, “Anyway, I really appreciate it, and I wanted you to have this,” she handed him a very lifelike drawing, “I thought you might like cats, so I frew my favorite one from the Celestial Realm.”

Satan couldn’t believe his eyes, “Leo?”

“Huh?”

“That’s Leo. I… half adopted him a while ago.”

“How can you tell?”

“Well, he’s got hearts all over him right? The one on his forehead and chest are the most prominent, but there’s a couple more on his back and stomach right? Hold on. I have a couple photos here,” and Satan went rustling through a drawer. It was hard to find a photo of him without Mc, but he knew there were some. Leo was a cat that he and Mc had adopted together. She’d used all her charm and reasoning skills to get Lucifer to agree to allowing a cat in the house. She had promised him it would only be the one cat, though they secretly were planning on getting another once Leo passed. They unfortunately didn’t get the chance to see that happen, as Mc passed away before Leo did. Lucifer had allowed Satan to keep the cat as a way to cope with Mc’s death. He listened to me! I told him to go find his Mom once he left me, and he did! I’m so happy!

He finally found a good picture to show Mc, “See? Same cat.”

“Oh my! You’re right! That’s incredible!”

“So, you said he was your favorite?”

“Yeah. Because of how transient most cats are, they don’t spend long in the Celestial Realm. He may not spend a lot of time with me, but I do see him around a lot, and he has comforted me before. A lot of the other angels think he was a pet of mine from my human life, and that's why he sticks around.”

“Well, who wouldn’t want to stay with you?”

Mc looked up at Satan, “You really think that?”

“Of course. Why wouldn’t I?”

“You didn’t even know me then. What if I was boring or really dumb in the human realm?”

Satan slapped himself internally for not being more careful, “I highly doubt you were either of those two things. I know when people come down here, they don’t lose any of their personality.”

“Really?”

“Yup. It makes the whole process of breaking them so much more entertaining,” seeing Mc’s worried expression, he cleared his throat and moved on, “With that line of thinking, angels would be the same way. Your placement was just decided by how good you were in life.”

“What if I was a Wanderer though?”

Satan sucked in a breath at that. She had been a Wanderer? There was a chance she could have ended up here with him?

“There’s a lot of theories on why someone might Wander. None of them are conclusive though. I wouldn’t worry too much about it if I were you.”

“Satan?”

“Yes?”

“When the time comes, will you answer my questions?” Mc didn’t look at Satan, but he had the feeling this was an extremely important question.

“Of course I will.”

Satan watched some tension leave Mc’s body, as she turned to him and smiled sincerely, “Thank you.”

“Well, of course. That’s assuming I can answer them.”

“I have a feeling you’ll be able to,” she answered cryptically.

“Very well then. Since you’re here, would you like to stay and read? Or we can go somewhere if you’d like,” she turned to him, and he couldn’t help the words that fell from his lips, “I just want to spend some time with you.”

Mc looked a bit shocked, but then she smiled softly, “I’d really like that.”

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

They decided on reading, but not before they went downstairs to grab some snacks. As predicted, Beel was there as well.

“Hey Mc,” Beel grinned, his feast not yet begun.

“Hi Beelze… Actually, is it alright if I call you Beel?”

“Huh? Why wouldn’t it be okay?” Beel cocked his head to the side in confusion.

“It’s just… I don’t know you very well, so I didn’t know if it was alright. Plus, they always refer to you as Beelzebub in the Celestial Realm.”

“Wait… Do they talk about us up in the Celestial Realm?”

“Not a lot, but when speaking about our history they do talk about you all, especially Lucifer.”

“What do they say about me?” Beel had grabbed his wrist.

“Yeah, what do they say about us? I wanna know,” Belphie’s head popped out from underneath the table, making Mc yelp a little and grabbed onto Satan’s arm. His hand automatically covered hers, a reflex from when she had been a human.

“Oh yeah. Belphie’s here too,” Beel added happily, watching the angel and his brother.

Belphie smirked, eyes on their arms, “So, what do they say about us?”

“You give me a near heart attack and then carry on like nothing happened?” Mc asked, a bit embarrassed.

“Your fault for not looking,” Belphie grunted, looking at Satan who was nearly frozen in place, his eyes focused on the point of contact, “You woke me up so maybe you should be apologizing to me.”

“Belphie, don’t be mean. You were hiding weren’t you?” Beel asked.

“Well, yeah, but that’s not the point. And how long are you going to keep clinging to my brother like that? I know he’s stronger than me, but I’m not going to hurt you.”

Mc looked to see she was still grabbing Satan’s arm, “Eep! S-Sorry! I didn’t realize,” she removed herself and took a step away, face burning.

“That’s quite alright Mc,” Satan managed to get out.

“So, what’d you guys come down here for?” Beel asked, frowning a bit at Belphie.

“Ah, right. Snacks. We came down for snacks,” Mc said quickly, face still flushed.

“I can help with that,” Beel said, “Come over here Mc and I’ll help you pick food out.” By the time their snacks were decided, both Mc and Satan had to carry them up to his room.

“We have way too many snacks,” Satan observed, “I’ll still have some in my room a month from now.”

“Awww, come on you guys! I went down to resupply early to avoid Beel taking everything, but it was really you two I needed to watch out for?”

“He was already there when we went down. He sent us back with all this,” Satan answered, not really wanting to deal with Levi at the moment. The twins had already taken up enough valuable reading time as it was.

“Of course he would. He never thinks about me when he cleans out the fridge. It’s not like it’s easy for me to just leave the house to go get something, but no one ever thinks about me. It’s probably because I’m a-”

“Oh, do you want these then?” Mc cut him off, extending her full arms.

“Wha…? You’re giving these to me?”

“Sure. Why not?” Mc smiled at him.

Levi’s eyes went wide and his lower lip quivered a bit, “You’re so kind. You’re truly an angel now.”

“Because I wasn’t before?” Mc chuckled.

Levi’s eyes got even wider and he looked down, “W-Well, I-I… Just… Thank you for the food. I think I need to go back to my room now!”

“Oh, sure. Here you go,” the snacks were handed off, Levi only dropping 3 in his haste, and then he was walking as quickly as he could down the hallway towards his room.

“That was weird,” Mc commented, watching him hurry down the hallway.

“He’s weird,” Satan sighed, extremely grumpy that Levi not only interrupted them but then said something so thoughtless, “Don’t worry about him.”

“Sure,” Mc replied, though he was sure she was still wondering about it.

“Let’s just get to my room before we’re interrupted by anyone else.”

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

Satan closed his book and stretched, enjoying the increase in blood flow throughout his body, “How are you enjoying- Oh,” Mc, who he had given the bed to, the place she had read before they would read cuddled together, was asleep. She was breathing deeply, book still clutched in her hand.

Chuckling, Satan padded over to the bed, and pulled a blanket over her. Coincidentally, it was one she had given him. She had been convinced it was the best blanket for reading ever. He had put a perseverance spell on it so it never got worn past where it was comfortable. Now that he had it for a long time, he found himself agreeing with her.

He allowed himself a moment to admire her sleeping form, the muntins in his window throwing a line across her face. She adjusted in her sleep, pulling the blanket closer. She smiled sleepily, murmuring something that almost sounded like his name. She truly is just as beautiful as before she left that last time. The last time I ever saw her alive…

His hand caressed her jaw line before he knew what he was doing, “I’ll never lose you again. For as long as you’ll allow me in your life, I’ll be here. I promise you that,” he whispered, leaning down and lightly pressing his lips to her forehead.

She stirred at the contact, eyes opening sleepily and focusing on him, “Mnh, Satan?”

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

As always, likes, comments and reblogs are always welcome! Until next time!

[bgn846]

Marshal’s Creed FFXV Fanfic

Summary:            

Cor dresses up for the annual Halloween gala in hopes to win a bet. Can he beat out everyone else at the party with the best costume?

Notes:    

I had a fun prompt from my friend @ragewerthers for Cor Leonis getting invited to a Halloween party.... but what in the HELL is he supposed to go as?!  Do Regis and Clarus help him?  Do the boys help him?  Does he decide to go scary?  Funny?  Mythical?

I hope you all enjoy, I had fun writing this! :)

Work Text:          

“What is he wearing?” Regis asked under his breath from where they were standing near the steps to the throne.

“Not so sure, but it seems pretty popular with the ladies,” Clarus admitted as he craned his neck to see better.

“Dear six, he looks half-naked!” spluttered Regis after a moment.

“Sorta, he’s got pants and maybe something someone would consider a shirt on.” Though Clarus was still clueless as to what Cor had dressed up as.  The annual Halloween gala was always a fun event. However, the marshal never dressed up.

Ever.

It was only the quick thinking of Regis with the tempting draw of a bet that enticed their friend into wearing anything special this year. A hefty amount of 500gil sat waiting for Cor if he dressed up and won one of the sundry costume awards to be gifted that night.  The prizes given out were little awards trinkets, and the bragging rights until the next party.  Of course, Cor could care less about any of that, the only reason he’d even agreed, was to prove Regis wrong and maybe relieve him of some decent spending cash.

The king had figured Cor wasn’t creative enough to even stand a chance. Regis had merely snorted and waved him off when the marshal assured them he’d win something.  Now, as Clarus watched their friend navigate through the crowd he was beginning to think Regis might have to pay up at the end of the night.

The squeals of impressed party goers only got louder as Cor approached, as did the flash of lights from photos being snapped. The crowds dispersed once he’d reached the king.  Cor yawned once seemingly bored with the whole affair already. “You might as well give me the money now, Regis.”

“Never!” the king hissed, “You aren’t going to win, look at you! What is that, it looks like a pile of rags!”

Before Cor could answer a young staffer passing by interrupted them with a shout, “Awesome costume!” They left just as quickly as Clarus began to examine the outfit in more detail.

“I’m afraid I’m lost as to what you are, care to enlighten us?”

“Eh, this? I have no idea, Noct helped me pick it out.  Said it was the best costume to wear and had Ignis go online and order me one before I could say no.”

“You asked my son to help you?”

“Nope, he found out I was going to dress up and he nearly flipped. How could I say no, he begged me to let him help.”

“Still what the hell are you?” Regis asked in exasperation.

“An assassin I think?” Cor supplied with a furrowed brow. “Honestly, the kid was talking too fast for me to catch the exact name, but he said it was from a game.”  

“Why in the heck would an assassin wear that? Your entire right side is exposed, seems like a defensive nightmare.”

“I’ll admit it’s not exactly realistic but it’s comfy at least.” Cor offered with a shrug.

“I don’t know why you let my son talk you into this, you look ridiculous.” Regis was about to add more when another party-goer/staffer wandered by and started staring. They were of course after a picture of Cor.  The staffer was young and blushing like mad but still managed to ask for a selfie.

“I’m sorry what were you saying majesty? I got pulled away to have my picture taken because I’m going to win.”

Regis sneered and turned around to walk away.  Clarus couldn’t help but snicker at the sight. Regis was a sore loser so a part of him hoped Cor wouldn’t win, but he probably would. The marshal, though not a youthful twenty-year-old anymore, could hold his own in the looks department. He was only in his forties now but still trained just as hard. His well-defined six-pack was evidence of that.  Clarus suspected that most of the girls wandering over were trying to get a better look at what he’d been hiding under his guard uniform.

Cor for once didn’t mind the attention and even smiled for a few shots.  It was nice to see his friend out of his element for once.   “Have you seen his highness?” Clarus asked, figuring Noct would have at least had to help Cor get ready. Otherwise, the man wouldn’t have known how to wear the costume.

“Yeah, he’s coming soon, he was getting picky about his nails.”

“What?”

“You’ll see, he’ll match grumpy pants over there,” Cor announced with a chuckle. “Regis thinks sporting little tiny fake fangs makes him a good vampire. He’s so wrong.”

“Oh dear,” Clarus could only guess what Noct had conjured up. Ignis would have been key in gathering his needed elements, but the idea was most likely the princes. “What are the others dressing up as?”

Cor barked out a laugh, “I only saw Ignis and Prompto but it appeared they were wearing matching black suits.”

“That’s it?”

“Almost, if you don’t count the wolf tail they both had clipped to their belts and the wolf ear headbands.”

“I’m so confused,” he sighed. However, right as he was about to ask for more details a sudden hush overtook the room. Looking up he noticed what had caused the reaction. Ignis, Prompto, and his son were stalking over towards them. They all matched and looked quite formidable.   However, Noct seemed to be missing. The black suits had matching black shirts and ties to go with. One might take them all for security guards aside from the addition of the animal ears atop their heads. One thing Cor hadn’t mentioned was their eye color. Each had donned a pair of contacts that made their eyes look golden and cat-like.

As they neared, Clarus realized there was a fourth pair of legs hiding behind Ignis. This must be the prince. Waiting patiently as the group finally came to a rest in front of them, Clarus was treated to the reveal. A pale hand with amusingly long pointy black nails slowly crept out from behind Ignis arm.  It reached out and pointed straight at him.  Then in a move that had Clarus snorting with laughter, Noct curled his fingers and beckoned him closer.  

“You’re nuts if you think I’m letting you near me with those daggers,” he laughed.

Noct merely shook his finger and carefully leaned to the side to show his face. The prince’s hair was slicked back and someone had drawn in an exaggerated widow’s peak.

“I see you’re taking your role far more seriously than your father.”

“I shall win,” was all Noct uttered before he hissed and retreated behind his bodyguards again.

With a quick bow, Ignis led the way back out into the party.  The advisor was playing his part very well and looked like he’d snap a person in two if they even tried to talk to the prince. Prompto was fighting to hide a smile as they turned to leave. Gladio offered Clarus and eyebrow waggle and a wink before he left.  They were having fun it seemed.

“So forgive me for being a little behind on my fantasy lore, why are they all wearing animal ears and tails?” Clarus asked kindly.

“He’s a vampire and he needs his werewolf pack to protect him.”

“Ah, I see. Noct basically thought up the perfect costume, ensuring he doesn’t have to talk with anyone.”

“Pretty much, he’s clever in that way, unlike his old man!” Cor teased as Regis joined them again.

Ignoring Cor’s comment, Regis stared at Noct’s retreating party and tilted his head, “Was that my son?”

“Yep you missed the reveal; he’s a vampire with a coven of werewolves.”  

Regis simply smiled and straightened his shoulders slightly, “He takes after me in so many ways.”

Cor groaned loudly and rolled his eyes, “You wish, look it I’m gonna go mingle and get some more votes in my favor.  I’m winning this contest tonight, be ready to pay up.”

Regis tried to whack Cor in the shin with his cane, but the marshal was quicker and leaped out of the way. He laughed and casually wandered away, complete with a smug look of satisfaction.

“He’s such a brat sometimes,” Regis huffed.

“He’s only five years younger than you.”

“Shut it; let’s go see if we can convince the judges to ban him or something.”  

Cor did not get banned.

Clarus had the joy of watching his friend claim a very special award, the citadels’ sexiest costume. Apparently, the panel of judges was also distracted by Cor’s exposed right side and six-pack.  The few other contestants in that category didn’t stand a chance.  No manner of makeup could fake muscles or a square jawline.

Regis didn’t have to pout for long though when his son won the night's overall best costume design. The king was proud of his son and his friends. They’d banded together to create a memorable look.  Noct stayed in character when he accepted his award and tried to bite one of the presenters.  Gladio sprang into action and held him back.  The room erupted in laughter and cheers.

Suddenly thankful they could all enjoy moments like this together; Clarus smiled and looked over to his friend and King. Regis must have had a similar reaction as he returned a warm smile of his own and a small nod.

The rest of the night was a blur; Cor had come playfully demanding his money. Regis denied him, but Clarus knew he’d pay up in the morning.  His liege kept trying to accuse Cor of cheating since he was only wearing half a costume. The marshal would then wiggle his award in front of Regis’ face as a rebuttal.

The music soon turned up loud enough that they couldn’t talk anymore. Opting to retreat to the far corner of the room the three friends sat and relaxed.  They spend the remainder of the evening commenting on the costumes and the terrible music.

The End.

AO3 link is posted in the comments.

[perseusjackson-jasongrace]

Kingdom Collisions II

I've just finished a book and it made me cry so happily I thought I'd post a fanfic to commemorate it. Also I'm probably going to start an AWAE/AoGG account soon because I cannot fathom living my life without a space dedicated to my darling loves. Anyway that isn't relevant to the post. This is just a fun little fic I've been writing on the side to try incorporate more descriptions into my writing (I'm a known dialogue whore). I see fit to write it whenever I feel like, so updates may be far and few between, however I do hope you enjoy whatever does come out. I adore this moody ansgty side to jercy. It's been fun to explore.

Masterlist, cat-eye aquamarine

Leave me alone.

[we have known loneliness forever]

Why did I ever agree to this?

[so we do not quite know what it is like]

I never asked you to say yes!

[to want]

Fuck you.

[one another]

-lonliness is a two-sided conversation//badpoetry

Percy doesn't even look at his husband. Doesn't acknowledge his perfect hair, or blazing eyes, or how close they're sitting. He just stares directly out the car window, arms folded across his chest. The rolling hills and wild lavender dance past his vision as the car bounces along the gravel road. They are almost to their destination, to solid ground and quiet, peace. Despite the circumstances he is excited to be back at the cabin his family has owned for so many years. He relishes in the fact that he can escape somewhere that is untainted by the rest of his life. Throngs of people, and public demand, and never ending scrutiny. 

He is nothing short of pissed that he has to share his safe place with someone he despises so sweetly it is honey on his tongue to talk to them. But his mother had insisted if they were to act like a married couple they would have to go on a honeymoon and he had only agreed if he could choose the place. She wanted to send them to some private beach in Spain where they could pretend to be alone, oblivious to the paparazzi that were sure to follow, and the people who wanted to meet not one but two crown princes. It was his final stance that if he were being forced to spend time with his husband, it would at least be where he could enjoy it.

"Prince," A crackling voice says through the speakers.

Percy clicks a button on the arm rest, "Yes Mr James?"

"The security team has secured the area, would you like us to drop the bags off before you head inside or after?"

"Whenever suits you Mr James, I'm going for a walk."

Jason who had since then, fallen asleep, jolts awake as they go over a particularly bumpy area.

"And your husband Prince?"

"Ask him yourself, I'm sure he has much to say on the matter." Percy huffs, turning away.

"Prince Grace,"

Jason glares at Percy unimpressed with his dismissal and his rudeness towards the driver.

"Yes James sir?"

"Would you like your bags dropped off before or after you enter the area?"

"Before please, I feel it will help me settle in much easier if everything is already there."

Percy wants to scoff, who talks like that? This pretentious, stuck-up, goodie two-shoes is who. He wants to stick his tongue out, settle their rivalry like five year olds battling to see who can scowl for longer. Mostly, desperately he just wants to get out of this damn car. His leg bounces in time with the bumps, and his hands fidget in his lap. For all his princely training nobody ever managed to get him to sit perfectly still. His mother had finally given up and started carrying drawing pads and pencils wherever she went.

"Can you stop moving!" Jason growls.

"If it bothers you so much get out and walk." He spits back.

An eye roll is the reply but by then the car finally rumbles to a stop and a security detail is opening their doors.

"Princes,"

"Thank you Madison, Arlo." He manages to grit before he stomps off down the path and disappears into the woods.

"Where are you going?" He hears his husband yell. He doesn't bother to reply, someone will tell the Prince.

He kicks at the dark soil and pulls breath after breath into his lungs. He needs to calm down. Just then his ears catch the soft bubbling of a stream and he heads in the direction of the noise. The woods are quiet and cool. A soft breeze flutters between velvety leaves and needled pines, stirring the undergrowth. He wants to become one with the trees, become a branch that sways in greeting and grows friends, and feels the wind wrapping around it every evening. He just wants to stop being human for a little while. 

And then the stream is underneath him, soaking his fancy shoes and fine thread socks. He laughs, tugs them off and sits down in the middle of the cold, flowing water. He can feel it run into him like ice in his veins. He dips a finger in, then another, his whole hand and shudders at the smooth caress. It has been so long since he just got to be. Here in this little stream, pants soaking, hands turning blue he has never felt so faraway, out of his body. The world narrows to his fingertips, to the bead of water running down his ankle and joining its family once more. His brain is far and long forgotten, simply taking up space in his skull. He decides right then and there that if he ever comes back to this world he'll come back as a rock in the stream. To live in this beautiful, ever-moving world, where the cold is a kiss and you can never meet the same drop of water twice seems a good life indeed.

Just then he hears a rustle behind him. In an instant he’s on his feet, pulling a dagger from his suit jacket, a white-knuckled grip on the hilt.

"Whoever you are come out right now. I am not in the mood."

"Relax," A deep smooth voice says, "It's just me."

"Oh," He pulls his lips up in half disappointment, half relief it wasn't danger. "What do you want?"

"Mr James wants to know if you want five or ten of the guards here for the remainder of the time here."

"I want zero." He frowned, "I just want to be left in peace for the next few days."

"Well it's not an option so choose." Practical, always so practical.

"Leave five here, there's three other cabins about half a mile out on either side of ours that should be enough space. Everyone else can go home."

"Of course, I'll leave you to it then." Jason nods, stands there awkwardly for a moment longer and then disappears into the greenery once more.

Percy doesn't know what to do, doesn't know whether he should scream or cry or laugh.

He hadn't let himself think too hard about the events of the last few weeks. He had shoved every feeling but contempt and general dislike deep deep down into his cage and threw the key into the deepest parts of his ocean of thoughts. He wasn't sure he had the strength to unpack everything that had happened. When his mother had came to him all those weeks ago a heartbroken look in her eyes he knew whatever had happened would be nothing short of a disaster. Within the week he was promised to Crown Prince Jason Grace of Caelum and had been shoved into endless, meetings in which wedding arrangements and economic agreements had to be made.

He didn't even meet the Prince till the night before they were to be wed but by then Percy had despised the whole ordeal so intensely he hadn't any happiness or hope left in him to be kind to the Prince. And even if he did gave some it would have vanished completely upon their introduction. Jason looked at him with such calculating authority he had reminded Percy of an old tutor who thought children should be seen and not heard, and learn whatever was given to them without question. Jason had been stiff, and unyielding, and looked just as unhappy or even unhappier to be meeting him. At dinner Jason only spoke when spoken too, he didn't fidget even once, and worst of all he somehow still managed to charm his mother in about five seconds. One dimpled smile, and a cute story about his first time riding a horse and Queen Sally Jackson had accepted him as one of their own. Percy on the other hand was ignored the entire dinner, and on the walk in the gardens, at the insistence of his advisor, they hardly said two words to each other. Whether it was because Jason was lost in his own world or letting his displeasure for the whole ordeal simmer and burn into their company as Percy was he would never know. Either way the walk ended with a gruff, formal goodbye before they headed to their rooms.

Percy shuts out the politics of the arrangement and how his life has turned into this unrecognizable hurricane of chaos. He cups some of water in his hands and drops it over his curls. Letting it drip down his temples and catch on his collarbones. The coolness soothes him, as water has always done. Finally when his blood is no longer boiling with hidden anger he steps out of the stream, picking up his discarded shoes and socks and sinks into the earth with each step.

The cabin has a soft orange glow in the windows, and the many cars that escorted them have disappeared. He throws his belongings by the door, shucks his pants off and steps inside. The interior is just as he remembers it. Where the castle was dripping with opulence and royalty, the cabin was simple and stripped to the bare essentials. He had always loved the place. Even when he was little and his mom would whisk him away for a secret weekend. She would pack hoards of cookies and ice-cream and light the fire immediately. They would sit on the soft, fleece rug, her with a book and him with his sketchpad, sipping cocoa and spooning ice cream straight from the tub. Then he didn't have to be the prince one day inheriting the crown and she didn't have to be the Queen dealing with every problem under the sun. They hadn't been back in a good few years and he misses everything about the space. He is silently grateful that Jason has lit the fire. Something familiar to hold onto.

"You're back." The Golden Prince says.

"Astute observation." He rolls his eyes but the blonde doesn't look up from whatever he's doing.

Percy walks into the space, shrugging his suit jacket off and unbuttoning his wrinkled white shirt. He hears a sharp inhale and glances up to see a red cheeked Jason staring at him.

"Why aren't you wearing any pants?"

"Oh," He laughs softly, "Yea they were wet so I took them off before I came in."

He sputters and blushes, glancing down and then peaking back up again.

"You alright there Prince?"

Jason clears his throat, and Percy watches that golden Adam's apple bob. His skin prickles with heat and he knows its time to go.

"I'm going to shower. I'll give you a tour afterwards if you want."

"That would be great."

With a nod in which they both avoid eye contact and general pleasantry he disappears into one of the three rooms of the cabin.

His shower is scorching, water pummeling against tired muscles. His mother always says a good shower and steaming cup of tea can fix more problems than a board of professionals. So far she hasn't been wrong.

"Hey," He walks back into the lounge sometime later, looking down as he ties the string on his pants, "You ready?"

The house is dead quiet, save for the crackle of the fire and the soft wind that whispers in the grooves of the floor.

"Jason?" He frowns, moving to stand in front of him.

The Prince is fast asleep, head lolling forward, book still clasped in his hands. Percy takes in his husband for the first time. Unobstructed by either of their waking emotions, or the general hustling that had shrouded their lives. Jason, he grudgingly admits, is beautiful. His hair looks soft and golden, and when it catches the light of the fire he's sure it's made from sunshine itself. And his skin is such a startling contrast to Percy's rich brown colour. The Prince's body, now folded into an awkward bent angle as he lay across the velvet-cushioned chair, is lithe and graceful. Corded with muscle but somehow still smooth in a way only an uptight Prince with a personal trainer may ever achieve. At least, he thinks sordidly, if I'm forced to marry someone he is as darling as Jason.

The blonde stirs softly, hand twitching, before he settles back into his position. As awkward and unhappy the two are with each other Percy can't leave him here. He's sure the Prince will bend into a chair himself if he slept like that all night long. So he gently taps his husband's shoulder, waking him almost immediately. Jason has never been a particularly heavy sleeper, and it is worse when he finds himself in a place he doesn't know. He blinks up at the world, blue eyes bright. They reminds Percy of the cat-eye aquamarine, the gemstone sat at the base of every crown ever made for his kingdom. He wonders what it says that the colour of his husband's eyes are also the colour he most associates with home. Just as quickly he expels those thoughts, content to bask in his clear dispassion and irritation for as long as this should last.

Jason scrubs a hand over his face, "Sorry you wanted to take me on a tour?"

"No, no there's time for that tomorrow. Why don't you head up to bed."

"Oh, okay. Goodnight then,"

"Goodnight Prince," He says stiffly.

"Sleep easy."

A nod in return and they both retire to their rooms, content to put the last week far behind them. Bury it under dreams, and hopes, and the promise of a tomorrow where nothing has tarnished it yet.

Percy left his window open, watched the tree outside it sway gently. Maybe tomorrow he would climb it and become acquainted with the birds in the nest.

He falls asleep, finally, to the chirp of crickets and the soft rustle of whispering leaves.

[98prilla]

Understanding

@coquettishcass you can never escape what your art has inspired. 

A direct continuation to Comfort, Patton helps Deceit tell the others about his struggle with depression. 

He is… scared. Not an emotion he will ever admit to, not out loud, but he is scared out of his mind.

He can feel everyone’s eyes on him. He can’t seem to summon his usually sly smile, he can’t seem to meet anyone’s eyes.

He can feel Virgil’s eyes on him the most. They are hard and cold and burning daggers, but the more he looks, the more puzzled his gaze. He knows Virgil can feel his fear, his anxiety, at being here. So different than his usual surety, but he doesn’t have the strength for his usual facade.

“I should just go.” He mumbles. Patton squeezes his hand, says no, at the same time Roman spits out a low, growled, yes. He flinches, he’s still too tired for this, too empty for this.

“Roman!” Patton scolds and he feels Roman’s incredulous gaze.

“What? I’m just saying what everyone is thinking. I don’t know what fantasies he’s been spinning that made you invite him to this meeting you’ve called, but I’m sure they’re just lies.”

He jerks away from Patton, stumbling back as if struck, liar, echoing in his ears. That’s all he is, after all. All he’ll ever be. Roman’s words cut straight to his core, because they are everything he knew Roman would say, he is not welcome here, never here.

“Dee?” He jumps, startled. He hadn’t realized Virgil had moved from his customary spot on the stairs, was now next to him.  

He’d forgotten Virgil is taller than him. He stands in Virgil’s shadow now, unable to meet those dark violet eyes, unable to respond to the concern emanating from him in waves because his voice is stuck in his throat. He is seeing a thousand memories behind his eyes, of before Virgil left, before Virgil hated him, and he doesn’t deserve Virgil’s care, now. Virgil shouldn’t feel obligated to care.

He has never felt this small. He can hear Patton, standing in front of him defensively, explaining to the others about his depression. His bad thoughts. His nightmares.  

Patton had asked his permission, to hold this meeting, to tell the others, and he had given it. He knows he wouldn’t get the words out, knows the others wouldn’t believe it, coming from him. But they listen to Patton, and Patton had asked, instead of just blurting it out he had asked, and Patton had already helped so much, so he had agreed.

Now he wishes he hadn’t. Wishes he was hiding back under his covers, because Roman is still arguing, disbelieving, and Logan hasn’t said anything, is just staring at him, and Virgil is so close, so close, and he wishes he could reach out, wishes he could give him a hug, but he lost that right years ago, he won’t ever ask anything of Virgil, even though he is almost shaking from the effort of not, is on the cusp of shattering under that fathomless gaze.

“I’m sorry.” He manages to rasp out. He is hugging himself around his middle, cold again, afraid again, as he hears Patton finish his explanations.  

“When did it get this bad?” Virgil asks lowly. He thinks Virgil knows, it is easy enough to guess, and he shakes his head, refusing to answer, refusing to make or even let Virgil consider himself to blame.

“S my fault. I hurt you I… I deserve… this." He gestures at himself, all of himself.

His rumpled clothes, not even his usual outfit, just sweatpants and a long-sleeved shirt. His hair, curly and tangled and disheveled, the bags under his eyes, darker even than Virgil's, his near constant, small, shivers. And that is only what they can see. There’s so much more, he is so damaged, he is just a master at hiding it. Roman isn’t the only one who can act.

“Falsehood.” He jumps again at Logan's quiet word, eyes landing on the logical side, who for once isn’t hiding all of his emotions. He can read concern and consideration and… not quite pity, empathy, maybe, before he looks at the floor.

“Deceit. Depression is an invisible monster. It makes you think you should be hurt, it makes you hate yourself, it makes you think the world would be a better place without you-” He knows this and yet…

“Wouldn’t it be?” he doesn’t realize the words have slipped past his lips until he hears Logan’s sharp inhale, Patton's soft coo of distress, a muffled curse from Virgil. Roman is the only one who's silent, and when he finally gets the courage to look up, his silence is not what he expected.

Roman is frozen in place, face a mask of almost horrified awe, but as he watches, it becomes softer, and then Roman's eyes meet his.  

He flinches as Roman makes his way across the room, until he is right before him, and he is waiting for the sing of steel, for the ice of pain, for it all to end.

Instead he is pulled close, and tight and warm and he realizes Roman, Roman of all people, is hugging him.

He thought Patton's hugs were something, Roman's are altogether different. They are stong and fierce and overwhelmingly scream of safety, of protection, of defensiveness from the rest of the world, of love.

“No, God no, Deceit. I'm sorry, I’m so, so, sorry. I thought… I thought you liked playing the villain, I thought that’s what you wanted, to be spooky and mysterious and the bad guy. I didn’t know… didn’t know it was hurting you, that I, was hurting you. I’m sorry.” Of everything he’d expected Roman to say, an apology had never even crossed his mind. The fact that Roman means every word just baffles him further, and he doesn’t even know what to say if he could summon words.

“Roman is correct. I had assumed, wrongly, that based on your antagonistic behavior you did not desire our friendship or companionship. I see now your behavior is more similar to Virgil’s scare tactics when he first appeared than to true enmity. I apologize, Deceit. If you would like, I will look into different treatments and methods of living with and managing depression. We can work together to determine what is most effective in minimizing the symptoms and length of your episodes, as well as what we as a group should and shouldn’t do to help avoid on setting these episodes in the first place. Despite all of these measures, there will still be episodes, and days you are not ok, and that, too, is natural. It is not deserved, it is not your fault, and we will all help support you through them.” He nods, that’s all he can do, he doesn’t understand why they’re being so kind, he doesn’t understand how to comprehend this overwhelming niceness, doesn’t know how to explain to them how little he deserves it. Then Roman pulls back, and he almost protests the loss of warmth, but now he is facing Virgil.  

Their eyes meet for a single moment, before he looks away. What can he say, what can make things better, what won’t tear them apart even more, because this, between them, is of his own making, was borne of his own self-destructiveness, is own damn fault and always has been. He has always been the problem.  

Then Virgil lets out a small breath, and opens his arms, and before he can help himself he is propelling into them, so fast that it almost knocks Virgil over, but he doesn’t care, right now, because it is Virgil, and he is solid, he is real, he is warm, he is there, he is holding him, he still smells exactly the same, coffee and ink and paper, and maybe a hint of tea, now, too, but it doesn’t matter, nothing matters except this moment.  

He doesn’t know when they ended up on the floor, but his legs must have given out at some point, because they are both kneeling, and he his clinging to Virgil and sobbing again, and trying to stutter out incoherent apologies, and it hurts like hell, but feels so damn good at the same time and he doesn’t think he will ever, ever let go of his storm cloud again.  

“I know, I know, dee. It’s ok, it’ll be ok, I promise. You don’t... you don’t have to do this alone.” His sobs are dying down into silent, sniffling tears, and he responds by gently butting his head against Virgil’s chin, like a cat demanding attention, and he feels a prism of light explode inside of him at Virgil’s breathy laugh, at the small smile that flickers across his face, at the fondness in his eyes as he looks down at him, at the warmth present there after having been so, so cold, for so, so long, and it nearly breaks him again.  

“... you gonna let go anytime soon, Scales?” His breath catches. That had always been Virgil’s nickname for him. He hasn’t heard it years, hasn’t thought about it in years, and the question has him burrowing back into Virgil, mumbling a very shaky, very determined no, his heart seizing at the very idea. “ok. Imma move us to the couch then, if that’s ok?” Virgil asks, and he nods, feeling Virgil scoop him up, gently sit down on the couch, and the whole time he doesn’t let go once, lest Virgil disappear from his fingers and this is all a dream.  

He feels warmth settle on the other side of him. He glances up, surprised to see it’s Roman who has wrapped an arm around his shoulders, is cuddled around him, filling him up with more of that intoxicating warmth he’s been lacking for so, so long.  

“Is this ok?” Roman asks, his voice is so... different, now. Where it was once steel cold as his katana, now it is warm and hesitant, a little unsure, a little protective, not of Virgil, but of him. He just nods, curling tighter against Virgil, as Roman curls tighter around him, and he can’t help but let out a small sigh of happiness.  

He hears Logan settle in his armchair, can feel his small smile from across the room as he flips open a book. Knowing him he’s already studying up, researching, he’ll be taking notes all day now, idly sharing facts and statistics, each of which will make him feel just a little bit better, just a little less alone, because even though he knows objectively thousands of people out there have depression, it still seems like he is impossibly the only one with this pain.  

He hears Patton, humming and moving around the kitchen, probably baking something, that’s what Patton always does when his emotions are heightened to an unsustainable level. He wonders if Patton would be surprised to find that he has the same mechanism, cooking when stressed, because then at least he has control over something in his life.

Distantly, he hears Logan call for Remus. He hears Remus pop up, surprised and unprepared, because no one has ever summoned him before, and they start speaking, oddly serious, for once. He realizes Remus is speaking about him, his condition, that Logan has asked if Remus wants to help research, that Logan gives him a stack of books to read through. He can imagine Remus’s awe at being trusted with any of Logan’s books, knows the care he will take, because he craves their approval like a drug, and Remus cares about him more than is good for him, and will do anything to help. He already has the most knowledge of depression anyways. Dark creativity is his department, after all.

Well, Remus can wreak whatever havoc he wants, today. Logan summoned him, Logan can deal with him. He’s still tired, still hasn’t caught up on sleep, and he feels the dull thrum of familiar fear rising in him at the notion. But Roman is snuggled up against him, his head on his shoulder, Virgil is holding him close, and no pillow could possibly compare to the absolute wonder of the real thing, and he feels himself slipping under, into the dark, but before, just before, he hears it.  

“Love you, scales.” and he means it.

[danganronpastories]

Double date Part 2

( @broth-y here’s part 2 for you. The actual date, I hope it’s alright. I also used an idea that @soudam-appreciation had, I thought it was cute.)

The movie theater had soft blue carpeted floors, with tiny colored squares that were also designed on the carpet that looked like confetti. There was people everywhere: Buying tickets, getting snacks, at the arcade on one side of the movie theater and just heading to their designated theater room.

The boys were getting their tickets, their was music playing over the speakers, tvs on the walls showing trailers and people walking around. Gundham looked around, “Theirs so many mortals” he thought. Gundham’s breathing started to speed up, he fidgited with his scarf and scoffed his boot tip on the carpet. The mortals around him were starting to overwhelm him. “Hey” Gundham jolted when the voice broke through his panic. Kazuichi was holding his hand, rubbing circles on Gundhams palm. “Hey baby, just focus on me til we get to our seats ok, don’t pay attention to anything else. Just focus on me, everything's ok” Kazuichi soothed, holding his hands soothingly, giving Gundham something to focus on. “Are you guys ok?” Mondo walked over with their snacks, Ishimaru was carrying their tickets. Gundham spoke up quietly “Yeah, we’re fine, let’s go”. They all walked to their theater room.The movie was a scary one, full of jump scares and a creepy ambiance. Kazuichi was clinging to Gundham, face buried in his chest. Gundham was rubbing his back, and kissing Kazuichis hair every so often. Honestly though Gundham was just faking being calm, he was actually terrified and with every scare he would slightly jump and would have to put on his mask to fake him being stoic.Ishimaru was sitting on Mondos lap, more focusing on playing with Mondo’s shirt than the movie. Mondo chuckled and kisses Ishimarus forehead. Mondo was the only one who wasn’t scared, it was just a scary movie, he didn’t think it was that big a deal. After the movie the boys went back to Mondos house. Mondo and Taka grabbed two tent bags and the other two grabbed their own and some other bags Mondo and Taka wanted them to carry. They went to a car in Mondo’s driveway. Mondo turned to Kazuichi “you can drive right Kaz?” Mondo asked, his pompadour swishing when he turned. Kazuichi nodded, wringing his hands. “Well you drive and i’ll give directions to our destination from the passenger seat ok” Mondo explained, his voice joyful and excited, even if his voice was somewhat gruff. Kazuichi nodded, “Yeah, I can do that” Kazuichi agreed enthusiastically, smiling his shark tooth smile. The boys got into the car, Mondo gave instructions to their destination while Kazuichi drove somewhat nervously. Gundham and Kiyotaka sat in the back, talking well more like yelling excitedly. Taka was talking about the newest subject he had just learned, while Gundham answered or gave remarks in his normal speech patterns.By the time they got to their destination it was sundown. The sky was a bright beautiful orange, while streaks of pink covered the orange, the edges of the sky were darker and the sun went down like slowly dripping paint. They were in a grassy field devoid of human life, the fresh green grass swayed in the cold crisp breeze in a beautiful hypnotic dance. Tree’s were all around the field, dotting the edges like a border of some beautiful artwork hung on the wall.Kazuichi drove the car off the dirt road with a slight crunch onto the edge of the grassy area. Gundham was the first one out of the car, he had figured out the moment he saw the tent bags that they were going camping, and god was he ecstatic. He ran to the middle of the grassy clearing, looking around like a kid who had never seen the woods before. That was false considering Gundhams talent but he was still excited. “Hah this is truly a place where demon beasts roam!” He yelled excitedly. Kazuichi closed the drivers side door with a click and looked lovingly at his boyfriend. He laughed a laugh to himself before running full speed at his beloved. Kazuichi hugged Gundham from behind but the force of Kazuichi running full speed hitting Gundham from behind sent them both to the ground. Kazuichi propped himself up on his and knees while Gundham rolled over to his back. “G-Gundham i’m so sorry, I didn’t me-” Kazuichi was interrupted by soft lips hitting his. Kazuichi gasped at the sudden contact before melting into the kiss. “Fellow friends, help us unpack at once before you start your shenanigans” Ishimaru yelled, waving his arm up and down in straight angles. Mondo laughed before shouting “Yeah fuckers, we don’t have all day!”. Kazuichi pulled away slowly and helped Gundham up. The boys unpacked the tents, and it was obvious to anyone that Kazuichi had no idea how to set up a tent. Gundham decided to give his boyfriend a job so he didn’t feel left out. He kissed Kazuichis hand and Souda blushed bright red. Kazuichi, my darling could you please grab our personal bags?” Gundham asked, in his deep silky tones. Kazuichi nodded, finding his voice had died in his throat. While Kazuichi went to grab their bags, Gundham and Mondo set up the tents and Kiyotaka blew up the air mattress. Once the boys had set up their sleeping quarters they set on their new task: The fire. Immediately Mondo glared daggers at the pink haired boy and the boy who should not be wearing a scarf in the middle of spring. “You two, don’t even touch the fire. Last time we let you handle fire, you both almost burned my shed down” Mondo retorted with a seething force.Kazuichi backed up, scared of Mondo’s tone. Gundham smiled wide, made a show of swishing his hair back and laughed uproariously “Hah your shed was no match for the dark lords magic flames” Gundham proclaimed, making a pose. “Ugh Gundham if you don’t shut up I swear to god, i’m gonna kick your ass!” Mondo roared, taking a step forwards in Gundhams direction.  While Kazuichi backed away now very scared, Gundham stood firm. His arms dropped and he chuckled lowly. A dark shadow fell over Gundhams fae, leaving only his red eye glowing, he tilted his head slightly. Mondo tensed, Gundham to him resembled a cobra about to go for the kill. Gundham raised his head a bit, “Hah I’d like to see you try” Gundham challenged menacingly, it felt like he was spitting venom from his lips. Kiyotaka sensed how ugly this situation could get, and while he knew Mondo was strong Gundham was known to be a terrifying fighter, especially provoked like this. Ishimaru hugged Mondo’s waist “Mondo, you promised me you wouldn't get into any fights” Ishimaru pleaded. When Mondo saw the puppy dog eyes looking up at him his heart melted, and the resolve to fight left him. He relaxed and pet Ishimarus hair, who in turn leaned into his hand. “Ok baby, I won’t fight” Mondo said softly, and Ishimaru smiled softly. Kazuichi decided to use his secret technique to calm Gundham, Kazuichi really didn’t want to see Gundham almost kill someone today.Kazuichi slipped under Gundhams arm, beside his chest and started petting and playing with Gundhams hair. Gundhams scary disposition melted and Kaz caught him as his boyfriend fell comfortably into Kaz’s arms. “I think you guys can make the fire now, I think Gundham’s out of commission” Kaz told the two, giggling a bit at Gundham, he really reminded Kazuichi of a cat.  “Got it” Ishimaru answered and Mondo and him cleared out a patch of grass, Mondo kissed Kiyotaka’s cheek and he blushed and hugged him. “Ishimaru, honey I need to start the fire” Mondo said lovingly, caressing Ishimaru’s cheek. Ishimaru made a pouty face and clung on for a few more minutes before helping Mondo start the fire. Meanwhile Kaz was sitting in the tent, with their air mattress and made bed with the normal blanket underneath them and the weighted blanket that Gundham used to sleep better. Kaz was petting Gundhams hair, the man in question’s head was on Kaz’s lap. Gundham was making a sound that resembled a cat’s purring and Kaz was trying to have his heart not explode. ��You’re so cute babe” Kazuichi whispered, Gundham grumbled and uttered “No i’m very fearsome.” Kazuichi looked at his boyfriend, “of course you are babe” Kazuichi just decided to go along with it. Gundham sat up at the sound of a crackling fire, “we should go out now” Gundham told Kaz and the two made their way out. Kazuichi brought out smore materials and Kiyotaka held hot dogs and skewers. Kaz jumped up and down, he was so excited to make smore’s. “smore time, smore time” Kaz whispered in a sing songey voice. Gundham chuckled and kissed Kazuichis cheek.  Ishimaru set up the food for everyone and the couples went into comfortable chit chat while they ate hot dogs, smores and basked in the warm orange glow of the campfire. For two hours there they were in peace. Ishimaru sat on Mondos lap, both stopping to kiss every 5 minutes, the other two didn’t mind, they were both cuddling and flirting with each other. They were in their own little safe bubble, with only the cricket sounds and the moonlight to keep them company this night.  Soon they all went to their tents to get some rest. Kiyotaka cuddled into Mondos chest and Mondo gave him sweet kisses and pet Taka’s hair. “I love you” Ishimaru proclaimed, giving Mondo a kiss on the cheek. “I love you too Taka, with all my heart” Mondo answered. He rolled onto his side, pulling Taka close. Mondo blushed and started to sing softly, Ishimaru smiled and snuggled close beside Mondo. Mondo sang until he heard Taka’s breaths go steady then he fell asleep as well.  Meanwhile in the other tent the boys found out they were missing something. “Shit Gundham, I think you forgot your headphones” Kazuichi told Gundham, who agreed. Kazuichi held Gundhams hand, “do you think you’re gonna be able to sleep darling?” Kazuichi asked. Gundham went quiet, he could hear the crickets chirping their symphony, the wind blowing through the grass, the leaves rustling with the wind, and if he listened real close, nocturnal animals scurrying around on the ground. “Yes I think i’ll be just fine”  Gundham answerede, smiling. The two settled down into bed, Kazuichi rested on Gundhams chest, Kaz’s right hand intertwined with Gundhams left. The two quickly fell into a deep sleep, both fitting perfectly together, like two puzzle pieces.

[zuffer-weird-girl]

Idk if I already sent you this please ignore if I have but what would Kai do if he saw his s/o walking in the house with and giant box and ask him what would he do if she brought home 13 kittens and then he’s like what’s in the box and she’s like I think you know you can add kaito and Kin if you want it’s all up to you what you want after all you are the writer and I’m the one asking you for a favor

Kai hates cats... dear god this man is only suffering.

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

You silently entered in your house and cautiously closed the door in fear that someone might have noticed your arrival.

"Mom!"

Of course... it had to be your Kaito with Kin following right after him.

"What's in the box mam-" you shushed both of them with a desperate expression, putting a finger over your lips.

You looked at the halls to check if your gremlin of husband haven't acknowledged your presence.

"You two have to be very very quiet okay?" You whispered before indicating with your index finger for your children to follow you to another room... far away from Kai's office.

"What's this mystery all about?" Asked the boy monotonously as he tried to sneak a glance at the box you were holding.

Kin immediately shushed him, immitading your actions as Kaito only deadpanned at his little sister.

You settled down carefully the box on the ground and asked for Kin to close the door. The moment she got back and kneeled on the floor along with you and her brother, you smiled while opening carefully before saying.

"You two can't tell dad just yet ok? It's only temporary... maybe."

Both of them arched an eyebrow; at least Kin tried to; befofe going wide eyed at seing the thirteen little kittens inside.

"Kitty!" Kin whisper yelled while going to pick up one who had one blue eye and another one green.

"Dad is gonna kill us." Kaito pointed as he smirked down at one who sadly had one part of the ear bitten as he carresed his chin.

"He is not." You told as you looked down at the cute creatures "I found them on the street and I thought it was just to cruel to let them out... specially with that amount of snow..."

"Can we keep them all?" Asked Kin while giggling at the little licks the cat was giving at her cheek.

"I guess we won't convince dad to keep 13 cats... will we mom?" Kaito asked, remembering the first time he asked his father for a puppy.

The answer he received was a cold glare and a dark 'no, they are disgusting and gives too much work, also carry diceases'.

Kaito even shivered at remembering his father's face on that day.

A knock on the door made you three jump and yelp but immediately relaxed at seing only Kuruno and Haru.

"You two scared the hell out of us!" You whisper yelled at Chrono who only put his hands up in defence.

"Mrs (Y/N) why all the cats? Oh god look at this one who is all white dad!" Haru said picking up one of the cats and showing to her father who furrowed his eyebrows before looking at you.

"Do you know how Kai feels about pets... especially cats..." he pointed at the feline in front of him who pawed at his finger.

"Uh... interesting." The man muttered resulting a giggle from his daughter.

"Mom come on!" Kaito pleaded while finally picking up the orange kitty with the ear bitten off "Try to convince dad! You're the only one who can convince him!" Kin nodded already making puppy eyes at you, your older som catching her strategy imitated her actions.

Oh shit, karma is a bitch.

"Kiddos, conving your father on buying junk food is totally different then owing a pet..." you whisper.

"Maybe if we put some of them in adoption?" Chrono suggested "At least the amount of animals is less.."

"Not a bad idea... but we still have the cats..."

You all started a discussion on a strategy to convince the yakusa boss to let the kitties stay... not noticing the way the man himself was approaching the room, noticing the murmuring.

"What's going on in here?" His voice echoed in the room making all of the people in there frozen cold on the spot.

You slowly looked up and saw piercing golden eyes looking straight at the box.

"What. Is. This?" He ssked darkly.

You, already knowing you're fucked, just accepted your fate and looked at him before saying

"I think you know what this is..." you murmured, noticing that his gaze had only hardened.

"Out." He demanded, mentioning at the box.

Excluding you, Haru and Kurono he received whines as a payback.

"Dad no fair! You never let us have a pet!" Kaito proclaimed which Chisaki only lifted one of his eyebrows up.

"For a good reason. You already know my thoughts, and your mother as well."

"Please daddy! Look at how cute they are!" Kin entered the argument showing with her little ha d at the kitties.

"I see nothing but felines who are meant to grow to be a pest and carry diseases to this house." He said in disgust approaching even more his mask.

Kurono made a signal to Haru to leave along with him, the little girl showed the cat, silently asking what to do, which the only answer she got was her father pointing at a very irritaded Overhaul.

She agreed and slowly let go of the white kitty. She was more of a bird person anyway...

"I can list all the damn diseases and sickness those things can bring into this house if I want to. They are not living in here." He said sternly, trying not to give in on those fucking puppy eyes of his children.

"(Y/N)." He groaned impatiently while massaging his temple with his gloved fingers "Explain."

"They were out there in the cold Kai I couldn't just let them out in the snow like that!"

"Since when it was your obligation the lifes of some stray cats?" He asked in disbelief as you got up to be in his front.

"Honey, please. I swear I will put them to adoption. Just let them stay only for this night."

"And keep one." Kaito said while he scratched behind the bitten ear off orange cat.

"Out of question." Kai growled at his son who only glared back.

"Please daddy? Just one." Kin out her look up at him hugging the diferent eyes colored kitty in her arms.

"You tell her to stop with that look." He said to you while looking at ceiling in desperation.

Kin couldn't help but giggle at her father's actions.

On the other day, Kai was the first one to get out of the bed and demanded that you got up too, so in this way those creatures were out of his house as early as possible.

He ignored; at least tried to; his son and daughter gloomy faces as you and him left the house to the donation.

He noticed how a bit of sadness was at your eyes and he felt that weird knot forming on his stomach as he tried to reason with you... to not feel that weird fellow anymore at least.

"Thirteen cats... angel, no way we could take care of that... we already have those brats." You sended him a sad little smile as the woman took away the little kittens.

"Its ok Kai. You also don't like them, so is understandable." You started to walk towards the exit, but Chisaki only stared at you for a few seconds...

Goddammit... you weren't ok.

He could take a pout or a sad look from his childs, he wasn't going to pamper them to be spoiled brats... but just seing you in this state was torture.

You looked behind you and noticed your husband haven't moved a muscle and you tilted your head in confusion.

"Hon? We're not going back?" He nodded shortly after before following you outside, holding you close to at least win a smile of yours.

He was going to regret this so fucking bad...

~

"Angel. Brats. Come here in the living room." He said out loud.

He mentioned for his two kids sit on the couch while you to be in his sideas he kneeled on the floor with two boxes.

"Listen. You two had to reason between these two boxes to get a... earlier Christmas present. Choose wisely."

The eleven years old boy changed suspected glances at his younger sister before the two murmured about their choice.

One of the boxes was bigger than the other and it seemed to have more content as well.

"Earlier Christmas present?" You asked smirking at him "What are you planning my devil?" You whisper in his ear, giggling at feeling his shiver.

The only answer you got from him was pinch on your cheek as he murmured 'be patient'.

"The smaller one." Kaito said pointing at the box while his sister nodded.

"You both sure?" Kai asked, containing his smirk when the boy and girl nodded. "Alright then. Oppened it."

The children kneeled on the floor and opened the box, immediately gasping in awe at seing the orange kitty that Kaito had picked just the other day.

Your jaw almost hitted the floor as you looked in disbelief at your husband, whose only shrugged.

"I'm not, neither your mother the one responsible of them. You two will have to take care of it, and if someone in this house catch a diseace because of this feline he is out. Understood?" The kids nodded vigorously while playing with their new cat.

"B-But y-You-!" You tried to form words before Chisaki just patted your head.

"They would be whining around along with you anyway... but I'm going to be far away from that thing." He growled looking at the cat whose was bitting Kaito's sleeve as he played along.

"You softie..." you said in adoration towards your husband.

He scoffed, trying to hold back his blush.

"... are you... happy with it at least?" He asked with a bit of hope, not looking into your eyes.

You hugged him tight, noticing how his kuscles tensed for a bit but instantly relaxed at your touch.

"I'm always happy with you my devil." He hummed monoustly as he discretely gave you a kiss after he lowered his mask down to his chin.

"Its a good thing to hear this angel."

He suddenly jerked up to hsi feet getting a few steps back as he glared daggers at your direction.

You were confused until you noticed that your side was the kitty mewling at him.

"Get that thing away from me." Hee growled.

You giggled hopeless while Kaito; being Kaito; only picked the orange kitty and ran after his father in mockness while Kin ran right after giggling at her father discreetly desperation to get away from the cat.

You admired the scene, laughing. Chisaki maybe had just cabed his own grave with this but you loved him more than ever now...

Who are you kidding? You always did...

[fishfingersandjellybabies]

After Party - freedom au

Characters: Jon Kent, Damian Wayne, Bruce Wayne, Clark Kent, some Dick Grayson and Alfred Pairing: jondami Summary: After a night of shmoozing with local elites, they just want to spend some time together, alone. Of course, their superhero dads just have to drop in, right then - literally. A/N: This is probably maybe a year or so after The Easiest Difficulty and they’re both upper-20s Jon’s just really REALLY in love with Damian, mkay. No straight up mention of Lois being informed because in my brain, when Damian called the fam, they relayed it to the Supers. Though in the other two fics, I know Damian was very stoic about not being a hero anymore, he still struggles with the choice himself, especially in situations like this. Sorry if ending is awkward. If you like what I create and want to support me more/get more bts kind of stuff, support me on Ko-Fi or Patreon!

Freedom AU

~~

Jon couldn’t stop staring at Damian as he said goodnight to his coworkers, as they left the convention center. The fundraiser for the animal shelter went off without a hitch. Nothing had been counted yet, but they all had the feeling they’d doubled their goal – at least.

But Jon watched as Damian smiled and waved – genuine smiles – while he shot off a few last text messages, and they walked to Jon’s old beat up truck with the last of the decorations from the event. But he didn’t stop staring, even as Damian shut the door to the truck bed, and they both climbed into the cab.

He started the car, but didn’t take it from park, glancing around the lot, watching the last few volunteers drive off after a job well done. Then he grinned and laid his arm along the back of the bench seat, looking back to Damian, who was still typing away on his phone.

So, it took a few moments before Damian fixed his glasses and murmured, “You going to hit the gas any time soon?”

Jon silently shrugged, watching as Damian loosened his bowtie. This shindig had been a semi-formal affair. That didn’t stop Damian from dressing to the nines, of course.

With no verbal response, Damian looked up himself, and narrowed his eyes at Jon’s attention. “What? What are you looking at?”

“You, obviously.” Jon smirked. “You look great.”

“You said that earlier this evening.” Damian mumbled, breaking eye contact. “You do too, by the way. Old Mrs. Barundy couldn’t stop talking about how handsome you were. Pretty sure that was the only reason she donated as much as she did. Also asked if I would raffle a date with you at next year’s affair.”

“And what did you tell her?”

“I told her I’d think about it.” Damian admitted. “I will gladly sell you for the wellbeing of my animals.”

“Good to know.” Jon laughed, shifted a little. “…You did great tonight too, you know. I’m really proud of you.”

“…Thank you.” Damian put his phone down and smiled. “And thank you for accompanying me this evening. I’m sorry I couldn’t spend more time with you.”

“You’re the head of the most successful shelter in the tri-state area at a fundraiser for your work, of course you were going to be pulled in every big wig’s direction.” Jon waved off. But he shifted again along the seat, stretched his arm a little further so his fingers now brushed the back of Damian’s neck. “But now it’s done and over with and just you and me.”

“Mhm.” Damian smiled a little bit now, and Jon knew he was onto his game. “…You still haven’t put the truck in drive.”

“No, I haven’t.”

“Do you plan to any time soon?”

“Not really.”

Damian barked a laugh, turning in the seat to face the other. “Jonathan Kent.” He warned playfully. “We are not making out in the cab of your truck.”

“Why not?” Jon grinned like a Cheshire cat, giving up all semblance of subtly, practically throwing himself across the seat. “Everyone’s left.”

But Damian was still laughing, even as Jon tugged at his bowtie, pulling it off completely. “We are not some horny teenagers after a school dance.”

“No, but you do look great, and you just raised probably almost a million dollars for the animals.” Jon was already brushing his nose along Damian’s jaw, voice getting quieter and breathier by the syllable. “So I think you deserve a reward.”

“…I can wait until we get home for my reward.” Damian whispered, slowly wrapping his arms around Jon’s neck anyway.

“Yeah, but I entertained madam mayor’s drunk husband all night, so I deserve a reward too.” Jon returned. “And I think I’d like my reward right now.”

He didn’t wait for a response, gently pressing his lips to Damian’s. Damian instantly returned the gesture, practically dragging Jon on top of him in the process. Jon grinned, gleefully boxing Damian in against the passenger door.

“You’re…lucky.” Damian breathed when he could. He still had one arm around Jon’s neck, but the other had returned to his front, and was swiftly and expertly unbuttoning the first few clasps of Jon’s shirt. “I like…you.”

“I am.” Jon agreed, as Damian ran his fingers along Jon’s bare chest up to his throat. He ducked his face along Damian’s own neck, kissing until he found the spot he wanted to mark. “I’m the luckiest guy in the whole damn world.”

Damian gasped a breath as Jon bit gently into his skin, and dug his own nails into Jon’s back, clinging like Jon would disappear if he didn’t.

When Jon pushed a little too deep, sucked a little too hard, Damian laughed at the sensation, and a little mumble of “Tickles…!” was whispered into Jon’s ear. So, at the insistence of Damian’s hands framing his jaw, Jon backed up a little, a small tease – What, a little hickey too much for you, the great Damian Wayne? – already starting vibrate in his throat.

But when he looked into Damian’s ocean green eyes, half-lidded and adoring, his throat went dry, and his heart stuttered. He couldn’t say anything, he could barely even breathe.

Damian just smiled up at him, cheeks flushed and chest heaving slightly. Quietly, fingers of one hand stroking along Jon’s face, he reached up and tugged Jon’s glasses off.

“Much better.” Damian hummed, dropping the glasses to the floor of the cab while pulling Jon back in. When their lips met this time, Damian took control, and Jon was instantly putty in his hands. All he could do was stabilize himself with one hand along the window seam of the passenger door, the other wrapped as tightly around Damian’s rising hips as he could hold.

So they weren’t paying attention to anything else – of course they weren’t. Too wrapped up in each other, in the sensation of loving and being loved, of being alone with the one he held most dear.

So they didn’t see the body falling from the sky. Didn’t notice until it crashed into the bed of their truck.

At the sudden motion of the deafening crash, after their teeth clacked together in surprise, Jon immediately dropped his body onto Damian’s, instinctively trying to protect him as quickly as possible. Damian, for his part, went along with it, arms wrapped around Jon’s torso.

The truck bounced for a few more seconds, and it wasn’t until the car was completely still that Jon raised his head.

“What the fuck was that?” Damian spat beneath him, already trying to shimmy upwards to look for himself. Jon held him down for a second more, just to make sure the coast was clear.

“Not sure.” Jon murmured, looking around the still-empty parking lot. His eyes narrowed, though, as he reached the grass field nearby. “But something landed over there.” He nodded towards the dust rising in the dark, then back to his truck bed. “…And in our car?”

“Fuck.” Damian cursed again, even as Jon finally deemed it safe enough for him to sit up. He shifted back to his side of the car, kicking the door open, just as Damian did the same on his side.

As soon as they got into the open air, they heard an agonized groan coming from the mass that was feet away from landing on top of them. Jon had his fists and powers at the ready, even as Damian all but ran up to the lump, grabbing at the fabric that seemed to cover it.

But he’d barely moved it at all before he gasped, eyes going wide behind the blue frames.

“Batman?!”

The figure shifted a little, revealing Batman’s face, his mask half torn off. Not that you could recognize Bruce Wayne under the blood his face was covered with.

Damian was already climbing the side of the bed, not even bothering with the door, shoving the now crushed boxes Batman landed on to the side.

“Father…” He whispered, trying to turn Bruce to a better position than the one he landed in. As he did, he glanced up the sky, where his father clearly came from. “What happened?!”

“Luthor.” A wheezed reply came from the side, and Jon whirled around, gripping his fists even tighter, eyes lighting up red. He released his strength almost immediately, though, as he recognized his own dad limping pathetically towards them. “Being…asshole.”

His uniform was no better than Batman’s, a large slash right through the S-shield on his chest being the most prominent flaw.

Jon ran at him instantly, barely catching him before Clark collapsed.

“Dad…” Jon breathed. “…Dad!”

“Help…Bruce.” Clark drawled, head lolling to the side. “I…I d-dropped him. He’s…he’s hurt bad…”

“Jon!” Damian called. Jon glanced back, and saw Damian staring at them. He raised his hand to point towards Clark. Jon followed the gesture to his father’s side, and found the hilt of a glowing green dagger sticking out of his skin. Jon’s eyes widened as he looked desperately back at Damian, whose face was grim. “…Get him in the truck.”

Jon nodded, and began dragging Superman towards his truck bed.

~~

Damian sighed as he hung up the phone, absently staring at it in his hand as he lowered it from his face. After a moment, he shook his head, and slowly climbed back up the stairs. When he reached the landing, he went to the closest room and leaned against the doorframe, watching Jon for a moment, as he held his father’s hand.

“Pennyworth and Grayson are on their way. Should be here soon.” Damian whispered under the beeping of a heart monitor. Of two heart monitors, with one attached to his own father in the other room. “Drake is looking into whatever conflict they had with Luthor tonight, and will update us when he can.”

Jon nodded, leaning back in his chair. Damian winced as he exposed all the blood still on the sheets, and mess of bandages on the floor. He’d done the best he could, with the medical knowledge he had. But, admittedly, he was years out of practice, since leaving the capes and masks behind, and these days tended to only work with patients of the four-legged or feathered variety. Not humans, and most definitely not Kryptonians.

“They’re going to make it, Jon.” Damian reminded, both for himself and his lover. “They’ll be okay.”

“I know.” Jon sighed and pushed his glasses up his nose. He looked back at Damian and smiled sadly, holding his hand out. Damian took it, and allowed himself to be pulled to Jon’s side. Jon kissed his fingers and wrapped that arm around Damian’s waist. “This must be how Mom feels.”

“Hm?”

“Helpless. When he comes back like this from missions.” Jon muttered. “I mean…there’s nothing we can do. We can’t go out there and chase Lex down.”

“…We could.” Damian countered quietly.

Jon looked up at him, leaning his chin on Damian’s stomach. “No. We made our decision.”

“Do you regret that decision, right now?”

“…No.” Jon admitted. “I don’t regret it for a second. Not even now.” He squeezed Damian’s hip. “Do you?”

Damian shook his head. “I do feel guilty about it, though.”

“Feel guilty about not feeling regret?” Jon asked. Damian shrugged. “You only feel that at this moment. Because back in the day, you and me might’ve been out there fighting with them, and it’d have been our job to watch their backs.”

“We’re their sons. It’s always our job to watch their back, isn’t it?” Damian countered.

“I don’t think they’d see it that way.” Jon chuckled. “Besides, I’d like to think we watch their back in other ways.”

“Like?”

“Emotionally.” Jon offered. “Being actual human beings – yes, I see the irony of that for my dad.” He smiled. “Moments like now.”

Damian returned the smile, running his hand over Jon’s hair.

“Besides, even if we were still in the game, we don’t have any intel on what went down tonight, where it happened, or who besides Lex was involved.” Jon closed his eyes, and leaned into Damian’s hand. “So we couldn’t do anything even if we wanted to.”

“We could.” Damian repeated. “…We would just be going in blind and probably make complete fools of ourselves.”

“Yeah. Pass.” Jon laughed. He turned his head and kissed the palm of Damian’s hand. “…We aren’t anywhere near Metropolis.”

Damian blinked. “No, we’re not.”

Jon sat up, looked back at Clark. They’d removed the Kryptonite dagger as soon as they got to the house, but there was still a sickly green tint to his skin, though it was thankfully slowly fading. “We’re not near Gotham either.”

“Your point?”

“Where did whatever happened…happen?” Jon wondered out loud. “I mean…if it happened in either of the cities, they’d have to of come incredibly out of the way to end up…here.”

“Maybe that should be question number one when one of them wake up.” Damian suggested. “Or…Grayson can ask, when he starts his investigation.”

“I vote Dick.” Jon grinned again, but this time there was a little gleam in his eye. “Because I’m tired, I don’t want to be involved in that crap, and because our dads interrupted some very important business-”

Damian was about to laugh when a groan came from the other room. Instantly, he untangled himself from Jon, who was already moving to stand, and darted across the hall.

Bruce was still on the bed – their bed, as he was in their room – but was struggling in an attempt to sit up. Jon stopped at the door even as Damian rushed forward, pushing his father back down as gently as possible.

“You’re alright.” Damian called sweetly. “You’re safe. You’re at my house.”

Bruce blinked even as he collapsed back down. “…Damian?”

Damian smiled, sitting on the edge of the bed. “Hello, Father.”

Bruce glanced back to Jon, eyes immediately became sad. “…No.”

Jon smiled and waved, even as Damian chuckled a little. “It’s alright. You didn’t bring any baddies here.”

“You shouldn’t be involved.” Bruce slurred, fingers twitching. Damian immediately took his hand in both of his, and glanced at the heart monitor nearby. “You shouldn’t have to even see-”

“Deep breaths, Father. Don’t panic.” Damian soothed. “You did nothing wrong.”

“I’m sorry.” Bruce breathed. “I’m so sorry, Damian…”

Damian kept his smile. “Pennyworth and Grayson are on their way. Drake is conducting the investigation. We’re just…the accidental middlemen.”

“Good. That’s…” Bruce winced in pain as he shifted a little. “That’s good.”

“…May I ask, though?” Bruce looked up at him. “What happened tonight? And how’d you end up here?”

“Luthor was trying to have a pissing contest with Clark again.” Bruce sighed. “Caught us off guard with a little more muscle and henchmen than normal. Got a few lucky shots in.”

“Oh, just a few?” Damian smirked. Bruce laughed, but grabbed at his side with his free hand after a moment.

“It was in a city not far from here. We had to retreat. We were…” Bruce frowned. “Clark grabbed me. I thought I heard him say something about maybe hiding out here for a while, to regroup or…or something. He said he was going to try to call first, to ask if we could stop by…?”

“Father, you know you don’t ever have to ask. You’re welcome here whenever, whatever the reason.” Damian promised.

“Sorry Dad apparently dropped you out of the sky before y’all made it, though.” Jon chimed in. Bruce waved him off.

“Glad he at least was able to drop me somewhere somewhat…soft.” Bruce shrugged a shoulder. “…Where did I land anyway? Did Clark get in contact with you two? How did you find us?”

“We never got a call, but you fell into the back of Jon’s truck.” Damian sounded almost apologetic. “On the left over decorations from the shelter’s fundraiser this evening.”

“…Your fundraiser.” Bruce breathed. “Did my donation come through?”

“Father, I think there are more important things right now than if your donation made it to the fundraiser.” Damian snorted.

“It’s something you worked hard at. Something you’re proud of.” Bruce rambled. “I want to be there for you. I know I’m not…”

“And I want you to rest.” Damian retorted, cutting him off. He knew his father felt enough misplaced guilt, not coming around much as Bruce Wayne, as a normal person; they didn’t need to rehash it now. “We can talk about mundane things later. Alright?”

Bruce stared blearily up at him for a moment, then twisted the hand Damian was still holding to grasp his back. Tears began to well in his eyes. “It’s so good to see you, son.”

“And you, Father.” Damian promised with a smile. “And once Pennyworth gives you and Clark the all clear, Jon and I would love for you two to stay a few days, if you can spare it.”

Bruce opened his mouth to respond, but was drowned by the sound of a doorbell, and the various animals answering its call with howls and meows of their own. So instead, he just smiled and nodded, as Jon ducked away to answer the door.

Bruce and Damian sat in silence, Bruce’s eyes fluttering slightly, as they listened to the faint conversation at the door. Moments later, the sound of heavy, frantic footsteps up the stairs.

“I’ll start with your father.” Damian heard Alfred tell Jon. He moved to stand and no sooner had he settled on his feet, he was being dragged into the arms of his eldest brother.

“Are you okay?” Dick mumbled against his hair. Damian huffed a laugh and rolled his eyes, even as Dick pulled back, eyes darting across his body.

“I’m fine.” Damian chuckled. “As I’m sure Jon tried to tell you, we weren’t involved in whatever happened. Just so happened to be in the right place at the right time aft-”

“What is that?” Dick demanded, pointing at Damian’s neck. Damian put his hand against his throat, but felt nothing, so turned to look in the nearby dresser mirror. “A bruise? Or a…”

Oh. Right.

“…It’s nothing.” Damian lied. But the heat was already rushing to his cheeks, and Dick was already smirking knowingly.

“Gross.” Dick winked. He spun Damian around and shoved him towards the door. “Please get out and let me talk to Bruce before I barf over how precious you and Jon are.”

Damian scoffed, but did as he was told. As he stepped into the hallway, he found Jon doing the same out of Clark’s room, closing the door behind him. His worried face melted into a smile when he saw Damian, though.

“You got kicked out too?” Jon asked.

“Of course.” Damian sighed, stepping into the circle of Jon’s arms. “Civilians only get in the way of investigations.”

“So…what do we do now?” Jon asked, leaning his chin on top of Damian’s head.

“Go downstairs and wait, I suppose. Make Grayson and Pennyworth some coffee for their troubles.” Damian listed. “Try to ignore the desire probably brewing to jump back into the old uniforms and avenge our fathers. Maybe sleep.”

“Could we…” Jon hummed in thought. “…Maybe continue where we left off in the truck?”

Damian hesitated a moment, then looked up at him.

“Or,” Jon tried sheepishly. “I’d even take grabbing a blanket and having hardcore cuddle time. It is almost two in the morning after all.”

Damian blinked, waited another moment, then said. “I guess Grayson was right.”

Jon tilted his head.

“You and I are absolutely, ridiculously, childishly gross.” Damian groaned in defeat. But he gently took Jon’s hand anyway, and together they walked down the stairs. “But…I’d be content with one leading to the other.”

Jon laughed, but let himself be dragged into the kitchen. As Damian started the coffee machine, he absently searched for a few blankets, setting some to the side for Dick and Alfred.

“Hey…Dames?”

“Yes, Beloved.” Damian hummed.

“…How long until everyone else in our families show up and stay for a few days?” Jon wondered allowed. “I mean, surely Mom and Conner know by now too…”

As the machine dripped, Damian plopped onto the couch, and Jon came trailing after him, fluttering the blanket over them both. As soon as the blanket stilled, a few of the animals jumped onto the couch to join them, while others puddled around their feet. “Oh, I’d be surprised if they weren’t all kicking our door down by sunrise. Even Todd.”

Jon laughed as Damian threw his arm around his shoulders. “Impromptu family reunion, with us as hosts.” He curled into Damian’s side, and closed his eyes as Damian kissed his cheek. “Can’t wait.”

[imagine-loki]

Gifted

Title: Gifted (Sequel to Giftless)

CHAPTER NO./ONE SHOT: 42/?

AUTHOR: nekoamamori ORIGINAL IMAGINE: 

Imagine that you are Stark’s niece and you secretly share a strong relationship with Loki since he entered the crew. One day you get hurt so bad during a mission that you are about to die.  Loki knows a spell that will save you and share his immortality with you but you and he will be linked forever sharing thoughts, pain, emotions…

RATING: T NOTES/WARNINGS:  Also on AO3 click here

You were stuck out in the cold for far too long. It took forever for the fire department to clear the tower after the ‘fire’. Fury didn’t want to tell the cops, or the press who had arrived about Balder attacking you.  

When they finally let you back inside, you and Loki tried to sneak in among the crowd. You didn’t want to talk to Fury, Tony, or Bruce. You had a feeling there would be daggers drawn the moment any of them tried to talk to you right now. You weren’t particularly pleased with any of them.  Unfortunately, Fury caught you trying to sneak in. Tony caught Pepper and flung her over his shoulder while Pepper yelped indignantly. Tony was glad that she was ok and wanted to make sure she stayed that way.  “Stop that. You’re not hurt,“ Tony scolded her, worry in his voice. "And if you try to guilt me over your poor cat ears from the fire alarm, and my niece…” Pepper had cat ears, quite a lot of the time as she was learning to control her powers. 

"Geez, Tony. Like I’d do that,” Pepper grumbled. “Now put me down,” she whined.

“Nope. You’re safe where you are,” Tony replied. She stood no chance overpowering Tony, though she could usually keep him in line, except when he was that worried.  Tony was worried now.  

“All of you, Veronica, you too,” Fury signed his words as he spoke. “My office. Now.” He pointed a finger at you. You hadn’t even done anything this time.  “Don’t you even think about disappearing. My office.“ you glared at him and pointed to the tape on your mouth. "We will discuss it in my office. Move your asses,” Fury ordered. You clutched your blanket more firmly around yourself and Loki wrapped a protective arm around your shoulders. Tony led the way to Fury’s office with Pepper still draped over his shoulder.

“Your uncle picked up bad habits from Thor,” Pepper complained. You shrugged miserably. You knew what happened wasn’t your fault, but you still felt bad about it.

“Darling, it is not your fault,” Loki reminded you, sensing your emotions. Fury growled. Loki turned and glared at him. “It is not,” he told Fury firmly. “You cannot blame a victim for being attacked,”

“It’s still her power that caused all of this,” Fury insisted. You heard the hesitation in his voice, though. He just wanted something to be angry with. You filed in to Fury’s office. There were only two chairs besides Fury’s in the room. Veronica got one of them without question. The rest of you had an extremely polite argument of 'no you take the other chair’. “Kat, just take the damn chair,” Fury growled at you when he got tired of the argument. You sank into it, but shrank back from his anger. Fury was about the only one here you wouldn’t and couldn’t stand up to. He had basically been your dad for the last five years you’d lived in the tower. He was also always so loud and drill-sargenty. Loki stood behind your chair, his hands on your shoulders, a reassuring presence.  

“Tony! Put me down!“ Pepper whined. Tony shifted Pepper so she was cradled in Tony’s arms instead of thrown over his shoulder. "This isn’t better,” Pepper grumbled, but hse was purring, so her argument was invalid. You tried really hard not to laugh. You couldn’t laugh properly right now anyway, so it really was best not to try.

“Soldiers,” Fury snapped. You all looked at him again with equal looks of embarrassment and shame. “Report,” he ordered, staring straight at you. You huffed, grabbed his keyboard off his desk, and turned his computer monitor. You typed a lot faster than you signed. So you typed up your report while Fury and the others watched the screen. Loki occasionally added a detail or two. Veronica signed her part of the evening’s events. Fury took in everything that was said. “Kat, I know this isn’t your fault, but this curse is a danger to all of us, especially if Balder can attack you even with Loki’s magic. There’s a solution. No one in this room is going to like it, but I don’t care. You’re all going to agree to it anyway, or Kat will have to spend her time in a detainment room downstairs until R&D or Loki’s people come up with a permanent solution,” Tony, Loki, and Pepper all growled at that suggestion. The detainment cells were awful. You were not getting locked up for something you couldn’t control.

“What is your solution?” Tony asked, trying to keep his voice calm. You knew it was only intense training that kept his temper in check.  

“There is a safehouse outside of the city. It’s miles from anyone…” Fury started.

"No!” Tony yelled. “You can’t send her out to the middle of the nowhere alone,”

“You will not send her anywhere alone,” Loki added, though his voice was calm.  It was the dangerous sort of calm that only he could pull off.  

“It’s a precaution. I’m not going to stop you from going to class, or even from coming here to work in the infirmary, as long as Loki’s with you, but you cannot sleep where you’ll be a danger to others. It’s too dangerous. That rules out both here, and your apartment. So here are the options. Either you agree to stay in the safehouse, or I’m locking you in detainment right now until R&D comes up with a solution,”

[Safehouse it is] you signed.

“Then I am going too. I am not leaving you alone, especially while Balder is after you,” Loki insisted.

“That is a stupid-ass decision,” Fury replied. “Balder has already proven he can get through your magic,“ he reminded Loki in a growl.

"I can protect myself,” Loki grumbled.

“Fine, but I take no responsibility for your decision,” Fury grumbled. He gave you more stupid rules that you only half paid attention to. Something about only leaving the safehouse for class and healing people in the infirmary. The adrenaline of tonight’s adventures was wearing off. “Go pack a bag, both of you. I want you at that safehouse before she crashes again.” You glared at him, but he was right. He was also unaffected by glares.

[Take this stupid tape off] you signed at him angrily. He shook his head.

“Can’t. It dissolves in 24 hours. Bruce hasn’t figured out how to make it dissolve any faster. That is why it is a last resort.” You glared at him and somehow managed to summon a fireball and sign angrily at him.

[This was put on your face after I woke up]

“You knocked out half of the compound before Veronica hit the alarm and no one knew why or how, especially since Loki was one of the ones you incapacitated. Of course I’m sorry now that I know the whole story, but I had to act in the entire tower’s best interest. Now both of you get out of here. All of you are dismissed.” You all rushed out of Fury’s office. No one liked being there and you were pissed.

“Kat, are you going to be ok?” Tony asked. 

You nodded. [I’m fine, Uncle Tony. Stop being overprotective. I’m not even going to be alone] you signed at him quickly, grumpy with lack of sleep and this stupid punishment. You still gave him a grudging hug. And would have kissed his cheek, but circumstances…

“Do you need you to kiss his cheek since you cannot?” Loki asked with a glint of mischief in his eyes. You tried to laugh, it wasn’t a great laugh, but they got the point.

“That would be a firm no,” Tony grumbled with sarcasm in his voice.

“I’ll do it for you,” Pepper volunteered, and proceeded to kiss Tony’s cheek.

“An elegant solution. Come, darling, we need to pack so we can get going. Fury wants us to drive there,” Loki reminded you of part of the conversation you had zoned out on. You nodded and headed upstairs. You didn’t care much about packing clothes. You and Loki could both summon new clothes whenever you felt like it. You were more interested in making sure you had your laptop, phone, a few books, and various chargers. You also packed a few clothes, just in case. Loki’s bag looked pretty similar, but also included the handheld game system you had bought him a couple years ago. You handed him your car keys. You didn’t feel confident driving right now and he didn’t argue.

Tony and Pepper were waiting for you at the front door. You said your goodbyes to them and Loki summoned some real clothes for himself, just in case you were pulled over. You highly doubted that would happen, and the cops would probably be more concerned as to why you had unremoveable tape over your mouth than what Loki was wearing. You still kept your head down, hiding behind your hair as you walked out to your car. Luckily, all of the cops and firefighters had left.

You zoned out for the drive to the safehouse, but managed to stay awake. You also didn’t get pulled over. The safehouse was a little two bedroom house in the middle of nowhere. You trudged into the house and looked over both bedrooms and picked the one with the larger bed.

“Darling, before you even try the self-sacrificing, not sleeping thing, remember that we are safe for the night because of that tape, which I will be killing Doctor Banner for,” Loki told you as you set your bags down. You nodded. He was right. You couldn’t hurt him and you could handle nightmares. “Are you sure you’re ok?” Loki asked before you could crash in the bed.

/I’m fine/ you replied simply. /Just tired, and still pissed at Fury, Tony, and Bruce. It’s been a long night and I need some real sleep. Balder gutting my friends constantly and then harassing me in my dreams is really draining/ you whined. 

He chuckled. “Very well”

The next day was awful for both of you.  You still had classes, and had to keep an illusion up all day so no one would see the stupid tape. At least they were all expecting you to sign everything all day anyway. You and Loki both didn’t eat all day. He refused as it would be rude. You told him repeatedly that he was being stupid, but he wouldn’t listen. The end result was you both being hangry on your individual ends of the couch until about 4am when the tape finally dissolved and you gorged yourselves on pancakes. Somehow the little hole in the wall pancake place was open at 4am and they fed you as many pancakes as you wanted. Neither of you questioned why they were open at 4am, or why a bunch of supers in costume were eating there at 4am, looking like they just got off patrol.

The next two weeks were also hell. You tried to sleep as little as possible. You didn’t want Loki in danger. After a week of your refusing, and his having to soothe you through more than one depressive episode over the whole situation, the isolation and helplessness of the whole situation was getting to you, he promised to leave the house for the night as long as you promised to get some sleep and let him shield the house. You agreed out of desperation and passed out the second he was gone.

You were both grateful a week later when Frigga called you to return to Asgard. She had found the cure at last.